Lightning ignites West Virginia's Big Moses gas well, creating a two-hour fireball
In June 1895 a thunderstorm set the high-pressure Big Moses gas well in Tyler County, West Virginia ablaze, producing a flame that rose up to 200 feet and lasted about two hours.
Drillers on the Moses Spencer farm near Sistersville hit an immense natural-gas reservoir in September 1894, creating the Big Moses well, famed for its extreme pressure and daily output estimated between 35 and 100 million cubic feet. Conventional methods—massive casings, water injection—failed to stop the flow, and the venting gas produced a deafening roar that attracted onlookers. A thunderstorm on June 14, 1895, delivered a lightning strike that instantly ignited the gas plume, sending flames 150 to 200 feet into the sky.
Crowds from the surrounding countryside gathered to witness the rare spectacle, which burned for about two hours before the gas pressure blew the fire out. The uncontrolled well persisted until August 27, 1895, when it finally ceased flowing, marking a dramatic episode in early American oil-and-gas history.
Why it matters
The incident illustrates the challenges of 19th-century energy extraction and the dramatic power of natural-gas reservoirs.
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