The first recodrings of such phenomenae were from the Greeks, who, in the mountains, observed such jets of flame. One of them became the sacred Oracle of Delphi.
Britain became the first country to use natural gas. In the 18th century, coal derived natural gas was used to light lamps. But natural gas was actually identified in the 1600s in America when colonists observed Native Americans lighting seeping gas coming from the ground. The area around Lake Erie where this was observed became a center for natural gas companies.
William Hart is regarded as the father of natural gas in America. He constructed a well near Fredonia, NY in 1821 solely for the purpose of extracting natural gas from the earth's crust. Fredonia Gas Light was founded, and became the first natural gas company in America.
When gas lights faded away and electric lights came into use, natural gas industries looked for other ways their product could be utilized. In 1885, Robert Bunsen created the bunsen burner, which could be used for cooking and heating food and other things in the home. The heating of homes with natural gas didn't come until the construction of many sturdy, lengthy pipelines from wells to large population centers.
