Ed Vasicek: Gas pipe miseries: A positive twist | Opinion

I don’t know about you, but gas pipeline replacement works in the city are getting old. Sometimes it was downright miserable.

According to an April 16 article in the Kokomo Tribune, the NIPSCO project will “install 77 miles of new gas pipelines. … The project was supposed to be completed by the end of this year, but the schedule was postponed to 2022 after the crews were forced not to enter customers’ homes during the pandemic last year. … “

That seemingly relentless inconvenience is the price we have to pay for the gas service folks. Our country friends usually have electric stoves, electric water heaters, and electric dryers – but they can pay up to twice as much in energy bills. We save a fortune in the long term and make our misery more bearable in the short term. Think about a winter power outage: it must be nice to put on a pot of soup or bake something to heat our homes, isn’t it?

The residents of Kokomo have long been a “gas-loving people”. Our city became famous for its gas springs. According to publichistory.iupui.edu, “The first well in Kokomo was southwest of the Washington Street Bridge over Wildcat Creek, across from Foster Park and near what is now the downtown business district. It was drilled in late 1886 by a Pennsylvania company hired to continue drilling until they “ran out of money, got out in China, or found gas, whichever came first”. More wells followed – four in 1887. In 1888 a group called the Kokomo Board of Trade advertised 10 wells and a total capacity of 46 million cubic feet of gas per day. The headline read, ‘Kokomo – Indiana’s Great Manufacturing Center.’ “

I remember reading somewhere (sorry for not documenting this folks) that gas was so abundant in Kokomo that Kokomo Opalescent Glass once had a free supply. The gas boom in Kokomo helped establish our city as an industrial city and put us on the map.

Some of you, my readers, live in 19th century houses that still have gas pipes from the gas lighting era in the ceiling (hopefully they are no longer plugged in!). In my parents’ house, electricians used the old gas pipes to anchor new electrical boxes. Gas lighting leads to things like evening services and a variety of evening activities. The streets were now lit and the city’s shops were no longer restricted to day-to-day operations.

But in the past it was not customary to heat with gas. Where I grew up, we were the last family on the block that still had coal heat. My aunt and uncle had their coal stove converted to gas like a lot of people did in the 50s and 60s.

We finally switched to gas space heaters. A heater was actually part of a series. The range was greater than most, and the heater was built into the side. A long pipe led the exhaust gases into the chimney opening. We had another space heater in our dining room. Together they kept the house warm.

Like most readers, I am now blessed with a gas stove controlled by a thermostat. Even in the coldest weather, our house is cozy and cozy.

We can get annoyed if we have to change our routes or bypass road closures. It’s no fun feeling like you’re driving through a pinball machine, dodging skittles, and praying for the temporary iron plates to hold up as we drive over excavated areas. But at some point the construction vehicles will irritate people in other cities, and we will continue to enjoy the benefits of natural gas!

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