PETROLEUM AND GAS. 
 
 ORTON. 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ENGINEERING LIBRARY) 
 
Cornell University Library 
 TN 872.03A5 1887 
 
 Geological survey of Ohio.Preliminary re 
 
 3 1924 004 656 041 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004656041 
 
Missing Page 
 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF OHIO. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REPORT 
 
 UPON 
 
 Petroleum and Inflammable Gas, 
 
 EDWARD ORTON, State Geologist. 
 
 REPRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 COLUMBUS, O. : 
 
 A. H. SMYTHE. 
 
 1887. 
 
 
A 33&8T5- 
 
 /coer 
 university 
 
 \LI_BR/iRY 
 
 Copyright, 1887, 
 
 BY 
 
 Ed-ward Orton. 
 
 V 
 
 HANN & ADAIR, 1'RItfTERS, COLUMBUS, 0. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 'HE original edition of the Preliminary Report on Oil and Gas in Ohio, by 
 Edward Orton, State Geologist, consisting of twenty-five hundred copies, 
 was published by order of the Legislature of Ohio in June, 1886, and was 
 distributed by the members of the Legislature. No copies were placed on sale. 
 The recent interest in natural gas and petroleum awakened in this and adjoining 
 States by the experience of Pittsburgh, and also by the astonishing developments 
 at Findlay and Lima, has led to an eager and general demand for information upon 
 these subjects, and all available sources of knowledge are brought into requisition. 
 The inquiry for this Preliminary Report has been wide-spread and it still con- 
 tinues. In view of this demand, it was suggested to the proper committees of the 
 Legislature, at its late session, thai it might be well to reprint the Report and thus 
 meet this continued demand, but inasmuch as Volume VI was about to be ordered 
 it seemed to the committees unnecessary to anticipate it further. There was, 
 however, considerable delay in providing for the publication of Volume VI. It 
 was presented to the Legislature on the first day of February, but the necessary 
 legislation pertaining to its publication was not consummated until the middle of 
 March. While every effort will be made to expedite its issue, it is plain that a 
 number of months must elapse before the volume will be ready for distribution. 
 But the demand for information on geological points involved in present explora- 
 tions is constantly increasing, and therefore the author has decided to fill the gap, 
 as far as demands are made upon him, by the reprint of this Preliminary Report, 
 and thus to put the information that it contains within the reach of those who 
 desire it. 
 
 The Report is educational in aim and character, and it undertakes to set forth 
 sound and conservative geological answers to many of the questions that the 
 people of this and adjoining States are so earnestly asking at the present time. 
 It is obviously desirable that this popular demand for the teachings of science on 
 the important practical interests involved should be met as fully and promptly 
 as possible. 
 
 The present volume contains, as its name implies, an exact reprint of the 
 Preliminary Report of 1886. The past year has been fruitful in additions to our 
 knowledge of the geology of the State. Never before in its history have such 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 opportunities been afforded to learn the details of its stratigraphical order and its 
 structural arrangement. If the author were to write with present knowledge a re- 
 port of the same scope as that published last year, he would find it necessary to 
 change a number of statements, especially in regard to the geological scale of the 
 State, while the facts of development of oil and gas territory would require a very 
 different presentation. The Preliminary Report is, however, reprinted in its orig- 
 inal form in this new edition mainly for two reasons: first, to avoid confusion in 
 quotations from it and references to it that may be hereafter made, and second, 
 from the lack of time to re-write and re-cast the sections that especially need re- 
 vision. It may be further urged that it will aid in the realization of the astonish- 
 ing developments that are being made in North-western Ohio, if we have before 
 us a picture of the facts as they appeared in 1886. 
 
 A supplement is added, in which the proper corrections, rendered necessary by 
 the discoveries of the last year, are given, and the extensions and the present 
 status of the gas and oil fields of Western Ohio are also briefly pointed out. The 
 production of a number of the mo»t important gas and oil wells is also given. A 
 few statements are also added pertaining to the very encouraging recent experience 
 of Indiana towns in the search for natural gas. 
 
 The geological map of the first edition is replaced by a map showing the gas 
 fields of the State as at present developed. An interesting and instructive map is 
 added, showing the topography of the Trenton limestone in Western Ohio and 
 also giving indications of its level in Eastern Indiana. 
 
 E. O. 
 
 ■ Columbus, O., April rj, 1887. 
 
PETROLEUM and INFLAMMABLE GAS 
 
 IN OHIO. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REPORT 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD ORTON, STATE GEOLOGIST, 
 
 SECTION I.— INTRODUCTION. 
 
 An Act of the Legislature, passed May ist, 1885, made it 
 the duty of the State Geologist to put into the hands of the 
 Supervisor of Public Printing, ready for publication, on or before 
 October ist, 1885, the manuscript of a chapter on Petroleum and 
 Inflammable Gas in Ohio, with suitable maps and illustrations, 
 which chapter was to constitute a part of the volume on Economic 
 Geology, the preparation of which was ordered by the act above 
 named. 
 
 During the summer and autumn of 1885, however, the explor- 
 ations for natural gas and oil were going on with more force than 
 ever before in the State, and new facts in regard to their distribu- 
 tion were constantly coming to light in various quarters. The 
 subjects were acquiring very much more economic importance 
 than they had previously possessed, so that the chapter upon 
 these subjects that was planned for the new volume on Economic 
 Geology was found to be out of proportion and inadequate to their 
 present and rapidly growing importance. The original chapter, 
 in short, it was found necessary to expand into six or eight chapters 
 in order to cover properly the new fields and the new facts. In 
 other words, the chapter was growing to the size of a volume. 
 
 It was therefore concluded that the proper policy was to hold 
 back this manuscript until the assembling of the Legislature in 
 January, 1886, when the facts of the case could be stated and 
 
6 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 suitable provision could be made, if deemed best, for the publica- 
 tion of all the work prepared. 
 
 The attention of the Committees on the Geological Survey in 
 Senate and House was promptly invited to the facts here stated 
 and immediate action was requested. 
 
 The result of the consideration of the question by the House 
 Committee was the introduction of a bill by Hon. T. F. McClure, 
 of Vinton county, Chairman of the Committee, providing for the 
 publication of the chapters on Petroleum and Natural Gas, under 
 the title of Volume VI, Geology of Ohio. The chapters submitted 
 and which were to constitute the new volume were the following: 
 
 Chapter i. The Geology of Ohio, reviewed with reference to Oil and Gas (with a 
 
 Geological Map of the State). 
 Chapter ir. The Origin and Modes of Accumulation of Oil and Gas. 
 Chapter hi. The Trenton Limestone in Ohio as a source of Oil and Gas. 
 Chapter iv. The Berea Grit in Ohio as a source of Oil and Gas. 
 Chapter v. The Remaining Horizons of Oil and Gas in Ohio. 
 Chapter vi. The Macksburg Oil Field, by F. W. Minshall. 
 Chapter vii. Methods of Drilling Oil and Gas Wells, by Fred. H. Newell. 
 Chapter viii. The Uses of Natural Gas and the Methods of Using, by Emerson 
 
 McMillin. 
 Chapter ix. Table of Elevations above Sea level of localities in Ohio, by Professor 
 
 C N. Brown. 
 
 The bill required that the manuscript should be delivered to 
 the Supervisor of Public Printing on or before May 1st, 1886. It 
 was estimated that this volume would consist of 400 to 500 pages, 
 aside from the maps and illustrations. 
 
 The bill passed the House of Representatives with but a 
 single opposing vote, but when it came to the Senate Committee 
 on Geology it did not secure the same favorable regard. The 
 Committee foresaw that the publication of the chapters on oil and 
 gas at the present time would necessitate the publication of another 
 volume at an early date on the remaining subjects embraced in the 
 bill by which the preparation of the new material was provided for, 
 and accordingly they counted it better to hold back the chapters 
 above named until the remaining subjects could also be included. 
 A bill embodying these provisions and fixing February 1st, 1887, 
 as the date for the completion of the entire volume, was introduced 
 into the Senate on May 10th, 1886, by Hon. A. W. Glazier, of 
 Washington county, and was passed by the Senate on May 12th. 
 The bill also required the State Geologist to prepare an abstract 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 7 
 
 of the results of his investigation on oil and gas, to be ready for 
 publication on or before June 15th, 1886, said abstract to be pro- 
 vided for from the appropriation of May 1st, 1885. This bill 
 passed the House on May 15th and became a law. 
 
 The present paper has been prepared in compliance with this 
 action. It contains some of the general statements pertaining to 
 the subjects, and some of the more important results of the investiga- 
 tions of the survey for the last year. No further use will be made 
 of the abstract herewith printed, but in subsequent publications it 
 is expected that the chapters above referred to will find place, in 
 which more extended and orderly discussions of these topics are 
 contained than would be proper here. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE NEW INTEREST IN NATURAL GAS. 
 
 The introduction and use of natural gas on the large scale that 
 has been in progress in Pittsburgh for the last three years has 
 made a profound impression upon competing manufacturing cen- 
 ters, especially upon the towns and cities of eastern Ohio. The 
 cheapness of the new fuel, the economy resulting from several 
 different factors in its use, the improvement of product in a number 
 of lines of manufacture, all combine to give a decided advantage 
 to the centers that have been fortunate enough to secure it, and to 
 make competition seem almost hopeless to the towns that are 
 without it. 
 
 In consequence, an earnest and eager search for natural gas 
 has been begun and maintained in eastern Ohio. A large amount 
 of money has been spent, and more is being freely spent in seeking 
 to discover sources of gas adequate to the new demand within 
 practical distances. 
 
 The interest awakened in the new fuel has not been confined, 
 however, to the regions in most direct proximity to the Pittsburgh 
 field, but north-western Ohio has also been stimulated to try the 
 fortunes of the drill. The geological range and conditions of 
 eastern and western Ohio are quite unlike, and inferences from 
 one field cannot be safely carried to the other, but to many people 
 the drilling of a well 1,000 or 1,500 feet deep in one place seems 
 very much the same as drilling to an equal depth in any other, 
 and conclusions as to the probable results, however unwarranted, are 
 confidently drawn. The occurrence of high-pressure gas at a 
 
8 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 depth of 1,200 to i,8oo feet in the Ohio valley, for example, 
 gives no warrant whatever for expecting to find high-pressure gas 
 at the same depth in the Maumee or the Miami valleys. But 
 fortunately, the search which was thus begun and conducted, has 
 resulted in the discovery of a new horizon of petroleum and gas 
 in western Ohio, which now promises to be the most valuable of 
 our entire series. 
 
 In November, 1884, high pressure gas was discovered at a 
 depth of about 1,100 feet, in Findlay, Hancock county. The 
 surface signs of gas were very obvious and abundant there, and 
 had been noticed and recorded since the county was first settled, 
 but the source had not been discovered nor even conjectured. It 
 was a complete geological surprise to find the Trenton limestone, 
 one of the most wide-spread arid important strata of Lower Silurian 
 age in North America, but which nowhere rises to the surface in 
 Ohio, a source of gas and later of oil in large amount and of great 
 value. This limestone was known to be petroliferous to a small 
 extent in Canada, it is true, and in Kentucky and Tennessee also 
 it had been known to yield oil and gas in quantity, but it had 
 been repeatedly tapped at various depths and at various points in 
 Ohio "without a sign," and consequently there was nothing to 
 warrant a geological expectation of such a discovery here. In 
 fact, the drilling might have been done almost anywhere else, as 
 the results are showing, without any large success. Out of scores 
 of trials already made, there are but three or four centers of any 
 important production so far reached in this part of Ohio. But a 
 flame shot up from the pioneer well at Findlay that showed to the 
 people of that entire section that a new source of light and heat 
 and power was now available, at least to some small portions of 
 the county. 
 
 Findlay became to northern Ohio and Indiana what Pittsburgh 
 was to the eastern portion of the State. Her success incited every 
 ambitious and prosperous town to send the drill to the new horizon 
 to see what was there held in store. It so happened that two of 
 the towns that first followed her example were successful — Bowling 
 Green in reaching a moderate supply of gas, and Lima, in finding 
 oil. These early successes almost exhaust the list of successes to 
 the present time, but they greatly increased the ardor and enthu- 
 siasm of the early search throughout northern Ohio. While the 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 9 
 
 work of exploration is still going forward on a large scale, the 
 many failures that have occurred have sobered the judgment of 
 the people to some extent, and those that drill now recognize the 
 great uncertainty involved. They see that to secure a valuable 
 supply of natural gas, something more than the drilling of a deep 
 hole into the earth is essential, and all of the questions connected 
 with the origin and accumulation of gas and oil are discussed with 
 more interest than ever before. 
 
 ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM AND GAS. 
 
 It is not necessary to consider the origin of natural gas and 
 petroleum separately. They have a common history. They are 
 produced from the same sources, accumulated by similar agencies, 
 and stored in the same reservoirs. In order of formation, petro- 
 leum is probably first. It is the more complex in composition and 
 thus nearer to the organic world from which it is derived. Gas is 
 the same substance on the downward road to the simplicity of 
 inorganic compounds. No process is known by which gas is built 
 up into oil, but the breaking up of petroleum into gaseous pro- 
 ducts is seen to be constantly going forward in nature, and it is 
 also effected in the large way artificially. 
 
 Petroleum never exists free from gas, but it is sometimes 
 asserted that gas is found that has no connection with petroleum. 
 This claim is probably a mistaken one, and if the dryest gas could 
 be followed throughout its underground reservoirs, it is altogether 
 probable that accumulations of oil would be found along the line 
 in every case. There is no horizon known that produces either 
 substance to the entire exclusion of the other. 
 
 As already implied, petroleum and gas are derived from the 
 organic world. Both vegetable and animal substances have con. 
 tributed to the supplies, and these separate sources give different 
 characters to their products, as will be presently shown. There 
 are certain other theories in regard to the origin of petroleum, it 
 is true, which have been advanced by eminent chemists, but which 
 do not match at all well with the geological facts involved. These 
 last named theories refer petroleum to peculiar decompositions 
 chiefly of water and carbonic acid which are supposed to be carried 
 on at considerable depths in the earth where these substances are 
 brought into contact with metallic iron or with the metallic bases 
 
10 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 of the alkalies at high temperatures. Never were more artificial 
 or unverifiable theories presented for the explanation of natural 
 phenomena, and it is surprising that they should have obtained 
 any currency whatever. Something might be said for them, per- 
 haps, if we had no other possible way of accounting for the facts 
 to which they refer, but when they are compared with the theories 
 of organic origin they have no standing-ground. The truth is, we 
 are constantly manufacturing from animal and vegetable substances 
 in the large way, both gas and oil that are fairly comparable in 
 both chemical and physical characteristics, with the natural pro- 
 ducts. Further, we find vegetable substances passing by natural 
 processes into petroleum and allied compounds, so that there is 
 no need whatever to invent a strained and fantastic theory based 
 on remote chemical possibilities, in order to cover the ground. 
 These chemical theories teach that the process of oil and gas 
 formation is a continuous one, and no reason is apparent why 
 stocks may not be maintained from such a source even when they 
 are drawn upon. Perhaps it is this feature that has recommended 
 these theories more than any other. Any doctrine that gives us 
 unwasting supplies of force is sure to be popular as long as it can 
 find the semblance of justification, as witness the hold that the 
 claims for perpetual motion have on the public mind. 
 
 The petroleum and gas of shales and sandstones are in the 
 main derived from vegetable matter, and as the principal stocks 
 are found in sandstones, vegetable matter may be said to be the 
 chief source. The oil and gas of limestones are presumably 
 derived from animal matter, inasmuch as the limestones them- 
 selves are known to be, in the main, a product of animal life. 
 
 The vegetation principally employed in this production is of 
 the lower kinds, sea-weeds and other allied groups being altogether 
 the most conspicuous elements. The animal life represented in 
 limestone oil, and gas, is also of the lower groups. Plants may 
 have been associated also with animal matter in the formation of 
 limestone oil, to some extent. 
 
 HOW WAS PETROLEUM FORMED? 
 
 To the question, how were these bodies formed out of organic 
 matter? there are various answers. 
 
 They are most commonly referred to the agency of distilla- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 11 
 
 tion. Destructive distillation consists in the decomposition of 
 animal or vegetable substances at high temperatures in the absence 
 of air. Gaseous and semi-liquid products are evolved, and a coke 
 or carbon residue remains behind. The " high temperatures " in 
 the definition given above, must be understood to cover a consid- 
 erable range, the lower limit of which may not exceed 400 or 500 
 degrees F. 
 
 Petroleum and gas on the large scale are not the products of 
 destructive distillation. If shales, sandstones, or limestones hold- 
 ing large quantities of organic matter, as they often do, and buried 
 at a considerable depth, should be subjected to volcanic heat in any 
 way, there is no reason to doubt that petroleum and gas would re- 
 sult from this action. Without question, there are such cases in 
 volcanic districts, but the regions of great petroleum production 
 are remarkably free from all igneous intrusions, and from all signs 
 of excessive or abnormal temperatures. All claims for an igneous 
 origin of these substances are emphatically negatived by the con- 
 dition of the rocks that contain them. 
 
 There is a statement of the distillation theory that has attained 
 quite wide acceptance, which needs to be mentioned here. It is to 
 the effect that these substances, oil and gas, have resulted from 
 what is called " spontaneous distillation at low temperatures," and 
 by low temperatures, ordinary temperatures are meant. It does 
 not, however, appear on what facts in nature or upon what artificial 
 processes this claim is based. Destructive distillation is the only 
 process known to science under the name of distillation, which can 
 account for the origin of oil or gas, and this does not go on at 
 ordinary or low temperatures. A process that goes on at ordinary 
 temperatures is certainly not destructive distillation. It may be 
 chemical decomposition, but this process has a name and place of 
 its own, and does not need to be masked under a new and mis- 
 leading designation, such as spontaneous distillation. No help can 
 come to us, therefore, from the adoption of the spontaneous dis- 
 tillation theory. 
 
 It seems more probable that these substances result from the 
 primary chemical decomposition of organic substances buried with 
 the forming rocks, and that they are retained as petroleui|ga> the 
 rocks from the date of their formation. It is true that oi^pnowl- 
 edge of these processes is inadequate, but there are manyMcts" on 
 
12 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 record that go to show that petroleum formation is not a lost art of 
 nature, but that the work still goes on under favorable conditions. 
 It is very likely true that, as in coal formation, the conditions most 
 favorable for large production no longer occur, but enough remains 
 to show the steps by which the work is done. 
 
 The "spontaneous distillation" theory has probably some ap- 
 parent support in the fact that must be mentioned here, viz : that 
 where petroleum is stored in a rock, gas may be constantly escap- 
 ing from it, constituting, in part, the surface indications that we 
 hear so much of in oil fields. The Ohio shale, for example, is a 
 formation that yields along its outcrops oil and gas almost every- 
 where, but no recent origin is needed for either. The oil may be 
 part of a primitive store, slowly escaping to the day, and the gas 
 may be constantly derived from the partial breaking up of the oil 
 that is held in the shales. The term "spontaneous distillation" 
 might, with a little latitude, be applied to this last named stage, 
 but it has nothing to do with the origin of either substance. 
 
 While our knowledge of the formation of petroleum is still 
 incomplete and inadequate, the following statements in regard to it 
 are offered as embodying the most probable view: 
 
 i. Petroleum is derived from vegetable and animal substances 
 that were deposited in or associated with the forming rocks. 
 
 2. Petroleum is not in any sense a product of destructive dis- 
 tillation, but is the result of a peculiar chemical decomposition by 
 which the organic matter passes at once into this or allied products. 
 It is the result of the primary decomposition of organic matter. 
 
 3. The organic matter still contained in the rocks can be con- 
 verted into gas and oil by destructive distillation, but so far as we 
 know, in no other way. It is not capable of furnishing any new 
 supply of petroleum under normal conditions. 
 
 4. Petroleum is, in the main, contemporaneous with the rocks 
 that contain it. It was formed at or about the time that these strata 
 were deposited. 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF PETROLEUM AND GAS. 
 
 Contrary to a commonly received opinion, petroleum and gas 
 are very widely distributed and very abundant substances. The 
 drill can scarcely descend for even a few hundred feet at any point 
 in Ohio without showing the presence of one or both of them. 
 The rocks of the State series can be roughly divided into three 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 13 
 
 great groups — limestones, sandstones and shales. Petroleum is 
 found abundantly in each of these groups. The percentage is small, 
 but the aggregate is large. It is equally, or at least generally 
 diffused throughout certain strata, while in others it is confined to 
 particular portions or beds. An example of the first case is found 
 in the Ohio shale. The Ohio shale, Cleveland — Erie — Huron, of 
 earlier reports, consists of a series of homogeneous, fine-grained 
 deposits, black, blue and gray in color, 300 feet thick on their 
 western outcrop in central Ohio, but more than 1,800 feet thick 
 under cover in eastern Ohio. This entire formation is petrolifer- 
 ous, as is proved by an examination of drillings that represent the 
 whole section. The black bands are probably most heavily charged. 
 The chemist of the survey, Professor N. W. Lord, finds two-tenths 
 of one per cent, of petroleum as stick, present in these bands, and 
 is certain from the nature of the processes that he was obliged to 
 employ, that the entire amount is not reported. But, estimating 
 the percentage to be but one-tenth of one per cent, in place of two- 
 tenths, and calculating the thickness of the shale at its minimum, 
 viz: 300 feet, we find the total stock of petroleum held in the shale 
 to be 1,560,000 bbls. to the square mile, or nearly twice as large 
 an amount as has ever been obtained from any square mile of the 
 Pennsylvania fields. 
 
 Ot the limestones of the State, the Water lime, or Lower Held- 
 erberg limestone, is probably the most heavily and persistently 
 charged with petroleum. Drillings taken from this stratum at a 
 depth of 400 to 500 feet below the surface in the trial well now be- 
 ing sunk at Columbus, are found by Professor Lord to have the 
 same amount of free petroleum that the black shale contains, viz: • 
 two-tenths of one per cent. The limestone has the same thickness 
 that is assigned to the shale on its outcrop, viz : 300 feet. The 
 figures, therefore, duplicate those already given. The total amount 
 of oil exceeds 3,000,000 bbls. to the square mile. 
 
 All the other great limestones of our series carry petroleum, 
 at least in certain beds. The Clinton limestone is often an oil- 
 bearing rock, and the show of its outcrop has led to the sinking of 
 a number of wells in search of oil, in past years. The Niagara 
 limestone is highly bituminous in places. Asphaltic grains, films 
 and masses constitute as much as 4 or 5 per cent, of its substance 
 at several points in the State. The Corniferous limestone is also 
 
14 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 distinctly bituminous in some of its beds. The limestones of the 
 Cincinnati group also carry a determinable amount of petroleum. 
 As for sandstones, all know that it is in them that the main 
 stocks of petroleum have thus far been found, but there is good 
 reason to believe that these stocks are not native in the sandstones, 
 but have been acquired by them subsequent to their formation. 
 This point will be considered further, under another head. 
 
 MODES OF ACCUMULATION OF PETROLEUM AND GAS. 
 
 In the accumulation of petroleum, two stages are to be noted, 
 viz: a primary and a secondary stage. The first is concerned with 
 the retention of petroleum in the rocks, and might have been with 
 equal propriety treated under the preceding head. The second 
 stage is concerned with the origin and maintenance of the great 
 stocks of oil and high- pressure gas, in which all the value attached 
 to these substances lies. Both are connected with the composition 
 of the rock series in which oil and gas are found, and the latter is 
 also greatly affected by the arrangement and inclinations of the rock 
 masses, or in other words, by their structure. 
 
 The primary accumulation of petroleum or its retention in the 
 rocks in a diffused or distributed state, seems to be connected with 
 the composition of the series to a great degree. The great shale 
 formation of Devonian and Subcarboniferous ages that separates the 
 Berea grit from the Devonian limestone, the western edge of which 
 shale formation, outcropping in central Ohio, is known as the Ohio 
 shale (Cleveland, Erie, Huron), is unmistakably the source of 
 the greatest accumulations of oil and gas, so far found, in the 
 country. It holds thus far, as decided, a superiority to all other 
 sources, as the Appalachian coal field does to all other sources of 
 fossil fuel. The accumulation of petroleum in this great shale for- 
 mation is no accident. It depends on two factors, viz : the abund- 
 ance of vegetable matter associated with the shales in their forma- 
 tion, which is attested by the large amount still included in them, 
 and upon the affinity of clay for oil. The last named point is an 
 important one. Clay has a strong affinity for oil of all sorts, and 
 absorbs it and unites with it whenever the two substances are 
 brought into contact. Professor Joseph Leidy made the interesting 
 observation a number of years since, that the bed of the Schuykill 
 River in Philadelphia, below the gas works, was covered with an 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 15 
 
 accumulation of the oily matters that are always formed in the pro- 
 cess of gas-making. As these substances are lighter than water 
 and float upon its surface naturally, it was at first sight hard to un- 
 derstand how they could have been carried to the river bed, but it 
 was soon learned that the clay of the river water absorbed the oils 
 as they were floating along, and finally sank with them to the river 
 floor. In a similar way we may suppose the primary accumulation 
 of petroleum in the shales to have been in part accomplished. The 
 oil set free by vegetable decomposition around the shores or be- 
 neath the waters of a sargasso sea, would be arrested by the fine- 
 grained clay that was floating in the water, and would have sunk 
 with it to the sea floor, forming this homogeneous shale formation 
 that we are now considering. Sand would have no such collecting 
 power. 
 
 The distribution of petroleum through limestone is not as easily 
 explained, but it may be in part dependent on the presence of the 
 same element, viz : clay. In almost all limestones, there is a per- 
 centage of clay present, and frequently it rises to a conspicuous 
 amount. Oil is held in both magnesian limestones and in true lime- 
 stones in Ohio. The magnesian limestones are largely in excess 
 in the series of the State, and it so happens that all of the most 
 petroliferous strata are magnesian in composition, but this fact is 
 probably without significance in this connection. 
 
 Petroleum distributed through shales or limestones in the low 
 percentages already named, - although the total amount held may 
 be large, is of no economic value. Like other forms of mineral 
 wealth, it must be concentrated by some natural agencies before it 
 can become serviceable in any way. This brings us to consider 
 the secondary accumulation of petroleum already referred to, by 
 means of which all the great stocks have been formed and main- 
 tained. This constitutes one of the most important subjects in the 
 entire history of petroleum. The sources of oil and gas are very 
 wide-spread, as has already been shown, but the concentrated sup- 
 plies are few and far between. To learn the horizons and locations 
 of these supplies is the condition of most successful operations in 
 the production of oil and gas, and it is in this field that the most 
 important practical applications of geology to these subjects are to 
 be found. 
 
16 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 OIL GROUPS. 
 
 As the experience of the last thirty years has abundantly 
 shown, an oil or gas series always consists of two elements, viz : 
 a porous rock or reservoir, overlain by a close and fine-grained im- 
 pervious rock or cover. A third element must always be added to 
 make out the logical series, viz : an underlying or associated source 
 of oil and gas. It is obvious that the last named element is first in 
 order and in importance, but for reasons already given in part, and 
 for others that are not hard to find, practically we have less to do 
 with it than with the two former elements. It will be borne in 
 mind that the sources of petroleum are well-nigh universal, and also 
 that they have no economic value, and are therefore seldom pene- 
 trated by the drill. The search generally terminates in the reser- 
 voir. The great sources of the Ohio scale are, as already implied, 
 shales and limestones, both more or less bituminous. These 
 sources have done their work wherever large accumulation is found, 
 and where no accumulations exist the petroleum occurs, as already 
 shown, in large but valueless stocks distributed through the body 
 of the strata. 
 
 THE RESERVOIR. 
 
 The reservoirs must be porous rocks. In all of the experience 
 in the great fields of Pennsylvania and New York, the rocks in 
 which the large stocks of oil and gas were found were, without ex- 
 ception, sandstones or conglomerates. To them the driller early 
 gave the name of "oil sands," and this name is in universal use. 
 The grain and thickness of these sandstones are found to be im- 
 portant factors in their production. Other things being equal, the 
 coarser the grain and the thicker the stratum, the greater is its 
 production found to be. Mr. J. F. Carll, of the Pennsylvania 
 Geological Survey, our highest authority in regard to petroleum 
 production, has shown that an oil sand can hold one-tenth of its 
 bulk of oil, and he believes that it may contain under pressure as 
 much as one-eighth of its bulk. This would give i^ inches of oil 
 to every foot of the oil sand. 
 
 Taking the most productive portions of the latter in the 
 Venango field to be 15 feet, we find in that district a possible 
 capacity of 9,600,000 barrels per square mile, an amount, it is 
 
 needless to say, vastly in excess of any production ever known. 
 
 (2d Penna. Survey, Oil Regions, III. pp. 252-53.) 
 
PETROLKUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 17 
 
 The driller places great reliance on the oil sand, and learns 
 to draw conclusions and make forecasts from its character more 
 than from any other single element that he encounters. 
 
 It has been a great geological surprise to find, as we have 
 found in Ohio within the last two years, a reservoir of high pressure 
 gas and large oil wells in a rock of altogether different character 
 from the oil rocks already described. The new oil and gas rock 
 of north-western Ohio is a magnesian limestone of ordinary type. 
 The driller, all of whose traditions as a rule are derived from the 
 eastern oil field, cannot call the new oil rock by any other name 
 than the familiar one which has satisfied all of his experience 
 hitherto, viz: an oil sand. Accordingly, good Trenton limestone, 
 pure enough to be burned for lime in many instances, is styled the 
 oil sand, and the old standards of judgment, applicable to sand- 
 stones alone, are applied to the new rock. Its grain is discussed, 
 when, strictly speaking, it has no grain. Some separate the upper 
 productive belt from the underlying rock, calling the upper only 
 the oil sand, and recognizing that which is found below as Trenton 
 limestone. This is a distinction without a difference. There is no 
 sandstone of any sort within 500 feet on either side, above or 
 below, the gas rock of Findlay or the oil rock of Lima (which are 
 one and the same thing), so far as explorations to the present 
 time have shown. The gas rock and oil rock are in many instances 
 exceptionally pure magnesian limestones. The structure of the 
 rock, as shown by good-sized fragments brought up from the wells 
 after the use of torpedoes, or sometimes by the pressure of the 
 escaping gas, shows the rock to be moderately porous. Its 
 porosity is due to the interlocking of its crystalline growths. If 
 the rock is drilled small, there is nothing to show this porous 
 character or the absence of it, and all inferences from the appear- 
 ance of such drillings or oil sands, as they are styled, as to the 
 productive power of the rock, are deceptive. They have no basis 
 in fact. There need be no long argument over the composition of 
 the oil rock. Sandstone does not dissolve in the ordinary mineral 
 acids, while limestone does. If any one wishes to settle for him- 
 self the character of the oil rock of the new field, let him expose 
 it to the action of dilute hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, which can be 
 obtained at any drug store. Magnesian limestones do not dissolve 
 as promptly as calcareous limestones, but with time enough they 
 
18 
 
 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 are decomposed. The following analysis (i) shows the composi- 
 tion of the oil rock, as brought up in a large fragment from the 
 Woolsey well in Lima. The composition of the drillings of the 
 oil rock from another well, in the same town, are also given in 
 the table (2) : 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Carbonate 
 
 of 
 
 of 
 
 nd 
 
 lime 
 
 55.90 
 
 38.85 
 
 2.94 
 
 ■ 75 
 
 52 
 37 
 
 66 
 
 Carbonate 
 
 
 53 
 
 Alumina a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The first well is a small producer, in fact, is nearly a failure; 
 the second is one of the productive wells of the field. 
 
 In the case of the new oil field, the reservoir is apparently 
 continuous with the source of the oil. The source seems to be 
 the entire rock, as the drillings from all depths are often found to 
 be petroliferous, but the accumulation takes place in the upper 
 beds only. 
 
 Besides sandstones and limestones, shales also serve to a small 
 extent as receptacles of* accumulated oil and gas in Ohio. The 
 character of the containing rock in these cases is not well known. 
 Generally, the gas is of light pressure, but it is a fairly persistent 
 supply that is found in these rocks. The belt of shales along the 
 shore of Lake Erie gives the examples of this sort of accumulation 
 and supply. These shales, where productive of gas, are found to 
 consist of hard and light-colored bands, interstratified with dark 
 bands, the gas appearing to be found when the harder bands are 
 penetrated . The production of oil from these sources is always 
 small, but as already stated, fair amounts of gas are sometimes 
 derived from them. 
 
 Petroleum and gas are not the only substances that are found 
 in these reservoirs. Salt water is almost an invariable accompani- 
 ment of both. The oil rocks are salt rocks as well, in some parts 
 of their extent. The distribution of these three substances in the 
 same stratum is connected with facts of structure, as will presently 
 be shown. These reservoirs have been described as porous of 
 necessity. The porosity insures a large amount of lateral permea- 
 bility, a fact pf great importance in the distribution of these sub- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 19 
 
 stances. The reservoir is often common for large areas. All the 
 wells in a field find the same pressure of gas or oil, even though 
 their production may be very unequal. 
 
 THE COVER. 
 
 Inasmuch as the three elements, source, reservoir and cover, 
 are all indispensable, it is not necessary to compare their relative 
 importance. It is, hj^^er, true that the first and second condi- 
 tions of accumulatio^^^ met more frequently than the third. 
 The cover of every productive oil rock is a large body of fine- 
 grained, impervious clay shale — the finer and more nearly imper- 
 vious the better. Whenever such a body of shale is found in the 
 Ohio scale, the rock directly underlying, if a sandstone or lime- 
 stone, is found to contain, in some portions, accumulations of gas 
 and oil. The stocks may be too small to be valuable, but the 
 presence of the shale cover seems to ensure some concentration in 
 these situations. There are three points in the Ohio series of 
 rocks where such shale covers occur, viz: at the surface of the 
 Trenton limestone, where 800 to 1,000 feet of shales and inter- 
 calated beds of limestone of the Medina, Hudson River, and Utica 
 epochs are found, at the surface of the Corniferous limestone, 
 which is covered by 300 to 1,800 feet of the Ohio shale, and at the 
 surface of the Berea grit, which is overlain by the best cover of 
 the entire series, viz : the close-grained and nearly homogeneous 
 Cuyahoga shale, 300 to 500 feet in thickness. Two of these, the 
 first and the last, constitute the two main horizons of oil and gas 
 in Ohio. The third is not notably productive thus far in Ohio, but 
 it is the source of the oil supply of western Canada. 
 
 The composition of an oil-producing series is thus seen to be 
 essential to its functions. The order already pointed out cannot 
 be departed from, but there must always be— 1, an impervious 
 cover; 2, a porous reservoir; and underneath the reservoir the 
 source is to be found. 
 
 STRUCTURE A& AFFECTING OIL AND GAS ACCUMULATION. 
 
 But this order of arrangement is not. enough in itself to ensure 
 any large concentration of oil or gas at any particular place. One 
 other factor must be introduced, viz: structure. The strata which 
 constitute the geological scale of the State nowhere lie, for any 
 
20 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 considerable extent, in horizontal planes. They are all more or 
 less inclined. Sometimes they are bent into low folds or arches, 
 and sometimes, though very rarely, there are abrupt descents and 
 fractures. As a rule the dip, or angle of inclination to the horizon, 
 of Ohio rocks is very small. It is better expressed as a fall of so 
 many feet to the mile, than by angular measurements, which very 
 seldom rise to one degree. Both the rate and the direction of the 
 descent are uniform over large areas. The average dip for important 
 portions of the State, is between 20 and 30 feet; the direction 
 depends, of course, upon the part of the State which is to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 The movements of the strata here referred to have exerted a 
 very important influence on the concentration of oil and gas in the 
 reservoirs already described. If one of these sandstone strata, 
 filled with salt water, oil arid gas, and freely permeable laterally 
 and horizontally for even miles at a time, were to be thrown into 
 a system of low folds, what effect would this movement have upon 
 the contents of the stratum? Would not a separation of gas, oil 
 and water be sure to follow, the gas finding its way to the summits 
 of the arches, and the salt wat»r sinking to the bottoms of the 
 troughs? Such a result would be inevitable under the conditions 
 assumed. 
 
 The summits of the folds are called anticlinals, and the troughs 
 synclinals. The lines of direction of the anticlinals are called their 
 axes. The influence of these facts of structure on gas and oil 
 accumulation has been long recognized, or at least asserted, but 
 there Is not full agreement as to the part that it plays in the great 
 fields among the geologists who have given most study to the 
 subjects. Professor I. C. White, of Morgahtown, W. Va., has 
 recently formulated a theory as to the occurrence of the large 
 stocks of natural gas, which is known as the anticlinal theory of 
 gas. He holds that the theory is susceptible of application to all 
 gas territory, and that it can be made to render practical service* of 
 great value by pointing out localities in which drilling may be 
 successful, and especially by indicating the large districts where, 
 from the nature of things, it must be fruitless. The latter service 
 he counts the more important, as large expenditures are going on 
 at random throughout the field, from which nothing can be reason- 
 ably expected. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 21 
 
 The discussion of these subjects at the present time is giving 
 us a large amount of valuable literature. 
 
 All who are engaged in the discussion recognize structure as 
 one of the factors in oil and gas production, but some geologists, 
 as Ashburner and Carll, apparently relegate it to a secondary place, 
 counting the facts treated of under the previous head, viz : the com- 
 position of the series, of more importance in this connection. The 
 character and thickness of the strata in which the gas and oil are 
 contained, the nature of the supply from which their stocks are 
 derived, factors like these are considered by them of more moment 
 than the angles at which the strata lie. 
 
 The facts that have come to light in the recent investigations 
 of these subjects in Ohio, seem to show the paramount influence 
 of structure upon oil and gas accumulation. In the old fields and 
 in the new alike, irregularities of dip, involving change of direc- 
 tion, suspension, or unusual increase, have been found connected 
 with the large production of both oil and gas in every instance 
 where careful examination has been made. The composition of 
 the series involved is identical for many thousand square miles, 
 but so long as uniformity of dip is maintained, there is no valuable 
 accumulation. As soon, however, as this uniformity is broken in 
 upon, the valuable stocks of gas and oil came to light. 
 
 The " belt lines," in which the practical oil well driller and 
 operator of the main field puts so much confidence, so far as they 
 stand for facts of nature, are probably structural lines. A map of 
 the various centers of petroleum in the old field shows that all ex- 
 tend in the north-easterly course which the main structural features 
 of this part of the continent follow. The driller believes fortune 
 to lie in the 45 or 22^ line which leads out in a north-east or 
 south-west direction from each center of production. Experience 
 justifies, to a certain extent, his confidence. The productive gas 
 territory upon which Pittsburgh now depends, is limited to the 
 summits of a few well-marked anticlinals, which all have a north- 
 easterly trend. In regard to the latter, question can scarcely be 
 raised. The predominant influence of structure is obvious. It 
 seems probable that a careful enough system of measurements will 
 show like lines of modified dip to traverse the great oil fields of 
 Pennsylvania and New York. 
 
 The occurrence of gas and oil in almost all rocks that have a 
 
22 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 heavy shale cover would seem to result from exchanges affected 
 by gravity. The oil is associated with salt water in the stratum 
 that contains it. There would be a constant tendency for the oil 
 to reach a higher level at the expense of the water. It ascends 
 through all the substance of the rock until it reaches the imper- 
 vious roof, where it is gradually concentrated. On the same prin- 
 ciple, the separation of the gas from the oil is effected. 
 
 Some of the points that have been made under this head 
 may be briefly restated, as follows: 
 
 1. Clay is largely connected with the primary accumulation 
 of petroleum. The natural affinity that it has for substances of 
 this class would lead to its combination with them wherever found. 
 The great shale formation of eastern Ohio, New York and Penn- 
 sylvania, is the main source of the petroleum and gas of these re- 
 gions. Clay does its work in this regard by reason of its chemical 
 constitution. 
 
 2. As clay is the main agent in the primary accumulation of 
 petroleum, sand takes a similar place in its secondary accumula- 
 tion, or its concentration in valuable stocks. It does this by virtue 
 of its physical character. A sandstone is a porous rock. Such 
 sandstones as are found overlying or imbedded in the great shale 
 formation are sure to become receptacles of oil. 
 
 3. Clay has another office in- this connection to perform, and 
 this office is dependent on its physical character. The sandstone 
 stratum last described, would become a receptacle of oil in any 
 case, but if roofed with a sufficient thickness of clay shale by 
 which its contents could be sealed and preserved, it would become 
 a reservoir of oil or gas. All of the stocks of the old fields are 
 held in sandstone or conglomerate reservoirs. 
 
 4. Limestone has been found, more clearly in Ohio, per- 
 haps, than elsewhere, to replace sandstone in oil accumulation. 
 All the phenomena of high-pressure stocks of oil and gas have re- 
 cently been found in the Trenton limestone of northern Ohio, but 
 the presence and office of the shale cover are seen to be the same 
 here as in the other fields. The term limestone in this connection 
 is used with due care and precision. It is limestone, not "oil 
 sand " in the limestone, that contains Findlay gas and Lima oil. 
 Pure limestone is the driller's " oil sand" in these fields. 
 
 5. Widely diffused as are oil and gas in the paleozoic rocks 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 23 
 
 of Ohio and adjacent States, so wide that the distribution of them 
 may, without error, be styled universal, and widely extended as 
 are the series of rocks that afford in their composition and rela- 
 tions the proper conditions for storage, it is stili seen that their 
 accumulation in profitable quantity depends on what might be 
 called geological accidents. It is only, or mainly along lines of 
 structural disturbance that the great stocks are found. 
 
 SECTION II. — THE GEOLOGICAL SCALE OF OHIO. 
 
 No description of the occurrence of petroleum and gas in 
 Ohio can be made fully intelligible unless the geological order and 
 structure of the State are held firmly and distinctly in mind. 
 Unusual interest exists in these subjects at the present time, 
 and knowledge in regard to them is eagerly sought on all sides. 
 The expositions of the geology of Ohio given by Newberry, in 
 Volumes I and II of the reports of the survey are not now avail- 
 able to many who are seeking, for the first time, information on 
 this subject, and, lucid and admirable as his statements are, they 
 do not meet all the questions which the developments of the last 
 few years have raised, and which these same developments have 
 helped us in many cases to answer, at least in part. 
 
 A brief and somewhat elementary review of the scale and 
 structure of the State will here be given, in order to meet as fully 
 as possible these new demands for geological information. A few 
 fundamental facts pertaining to the subject will be stated before 
 this review is entered upon. 
 
 I. So far as its exposed rock series is concerned, Ohio is 
 built throughout its whole extent of stratified deposits, or in other 
 words, of beds of sand, clay and limestone, in all their various 
 gradations, that were deposited or that grew in water. There are 
 in the Ohio series no igneous nor metamorphic rocks whatever — 
 that is, no rocks that have assumed their present form and condi- 
 tion from a molten state, or, that subsequent to their original for- 
 mation, have been transformed by heat. The only qualification 
 which this statement needs, pertains to the beds of drift by which 
 a large part of the State is covered. These drift beds contain 
 
24 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 bowlders in large amount, that were derived from the igneous and 
 metamorphic rocks that are found around the shores of Lakes 
 Superior and Huron, but these bowlders are recognized by all, 
 even by the least observant, as foreign to the Ohio scale. They 
 are familiarly known as " lost rocks," or " erratics." 
 
 If we should descend deep enough below the surface, we 
 should exhaust these stratified deposits and come to the granite 
 foundations of the continent which constitute the surface rocks in 
 parts of Canada, New England and the West, but the drill has 
 never yet hewed its way down to these firm and massive beds 
 within our boundaries. 
 
 The rocks that constitute the present surface of Ohio were all 
 formed in water, and none of them have been modified and 
 masked by the action of high temperatures. They remain in sub- 
 stantially the same condition in which they were formed. 
 
 2. With the exception of the coal seams and a few beds 
 associated with them and of the drift deposits, all the formations 
 of Ohio grew in the sea. There are no lake or river deposits 
 among them, but by countless and infallible signs they testify to a 
 marine origin. The remnants of life which they contain, often in 
 the greatest abundance, are decisive as to this point. 
 
 3. The sea in which, or around which they grew was the 
 former extension of the Gulf of Mexico. When the rocks of 
 Ohio were in process of formation, the warm waters and genial 
 climate of the Gulf extended without interruption, to the borders 
 of the great lakes. All of these rocks had their origin under such 
 conditions. 
 
 4. The rocks of Ohio constitute an orderly series. They 
 occur in widespread sheets, the lowermost of which are co- 
 extensive with the limits of the State. As we ascend in the scale, 
 the strata constantly occupy smaller areas, but the last series of 
 deposit, viz : those of the Carboniferous period, are still found to 
 cover at least one-fourth of the entire area of the State. Some of 
 these formations can be followed into and across adjacent States, 
 in apparently unbroken continuity. 
 
 The edges of the successive deposits in the Ohio series are 
 exposed in innumerable natural selections, so that their true order 
 can generally be determined with certainty and ease. 
 
 5. For the accumulation and growth of this great series of 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 25 
 
 deposits, vast periods of time are required. Many millions of 
 years must be used in any rational explanation of their origin and 
 history. All of the stages of this history have practically unlim- 
 ited amounts of past time upon which to draw. They have all 
 gone forward on so large a scale, so far as time is concerned, that 
 the few thousand years of human history would not make an 
 appreciable factor in any of them. In other words, five thousand 
 years or ten thousand years make too small a period to be counted 
 in the formation of coal, for example, or in the accumulation of 
 petroleum, or in the shaping of the surface of the State through 
 the agencies of erosion. 
 
 The geological scale of the State is represented in the fol- 
 lowing diagram. The order of the series is, of course, fixed 
 and definite, but the thickness assigned to the several elements 
 depend upon the location at which the section is taken. The 
 range is generally indicated, but in any case it will be stated in ex- 
 plicit terms in the description of the several formations that is to 
 follow. Two of the elements named, viz: the Oriskany sand- 
 stone and the Salina shales, are marked with an interrogation 
 point. It is an open question whether these epochs are distinctly 
 represented in Ohio. 
 
 THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 
 
 Through the revelations of the drill during the last year or 
 two, we have been obliged to add a new formation to the geolog- 
 ical series of Ohio. We begin the series now with the Trenton 
 limestone. It is by no means true that we were ignorant of its 
 presence before these drillings were undertaken, and that we have 
 just learned that it underlies the State. The fact that it belongs 
 at the bottom of the Ohio column has been clearly understood 
 since the geological age of our lowest rocks was first determined, 
 and the relations of these lowest rocks to the Trenton have been 
 discussed at length by many students of our geology. But by 
 means of the drill this great formation has suddenly acquired 
 a large practical and economic interest. Though it nowhere rises 
 to the surface within the limits of this State, we now know its chemical 
 composition, its color, its hardness, its porosity, as well as we do the 
 like qualities of limestones that make our surface rocks for thousands 
 of square miles. Its name has become more familiar, and is 
 
^VERTICAL SECTION OF THE ROCKS OY OHIO 
 
 sysrfM 
 see. 
 
 17 
 
 SERIES 
 
 Glot-czocl Drift- — 
 
 (o' io300') 
 
 Upper Barren. Coa.lMedJSu.res-- 
 
 Sc-x.lt! aoatt.-Jm.. fHICKNESS 
 
 reer 
 
 30 o' 
 
 i6'VpjDe>rI>rod.-viciive CoaZAfeocsizres- 
 
 0) 
 
 ui 
 
 a 
 
 CQ 
 
 or 
 
 IS 
 
 M 
 
 13 
 22 
 
 Lower Barren., Coa2Afea.sures 
 
 X/oujer Proolizc'tivs CodZAIeacaizrea- ggg^g 
 
 Conglorn. erode Series 
 
 I 
 § 
 
 I 
 
 i) 
 
 CO 
 
 D 
 -J 
 
 ~Wa.verty Series, 
 (soo-to eoo'J 
 
 Jleliogrocn Series 
 
 Sizh -Cotr ~borvtfe roiis XiXKiestane 
 
 SHoXg 
 
 Gonglamw* 
 
 lie B&reoc &Ha.le 
 
 UbBerea. Rrli 
 
 {llctBedtfbr-cl Shale 
 
 1 10c CleveZ cx.7T.cL 37iot2e -■ — 
 
 Ohio Shale 
 aoo'lo moo; 
 
 Hccm.il ton ShaZe - 
 Corniferons Z/irn,e&ton.e 
 
 loh Erie Shotts 
 
 .10ct.Jffii.Tarx. S/z,cw2e 
 
 Tjoui&rHsl.d.er-ber-o Ijim.eQion.e.w«t&-t.lj* •>- 
 
 ($c*.linc<.Sh.a.le*S)-J 7 ----J-J>:-t?-30cr .... 
 
 ' 4<3.HtllsbvTn So*.-n.cLaton.e 
 
 4-c GvL.el7jh.Ti{-mG&Came 
 
 4-a.Hia.qa.ra. S/zctZe iricZudino. 
 
 Clmton. Jjtrri^^tone 
 
 A4~&cHtl<x. Sh ex le — 
 
 iV2 a.qra.roL Seri e s 
 
 Cincinnatii Series 
 
 \Nvi.6lso-n,.TiiveT'*\ 
 
 \Utic cxrvn. pari | 5sas=^^ss^ 
 
 } ' ' I ' I ~~T~ 
 
 Ji owe si rocks ihoii appear out surjcx.ee' tSS '^= » 
 
 30O' 
 
 ZOO' 
 
 So</ 
 
 zso' 
 
 mk >5~oo 
 
 3oa 
 
 eoo 
 
 Vtica. GHglL&s ■ 
 .Aoo'io soo' 
 
 GaZencc — 
 
 TrenStori iJimeston e - ■ yreriicm. 
 
 I Bircls eye 
 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 szoo 
 
 SStf 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 27 
 
 spoken more times in a day by more people than that of any 
 other of these great strata. The mineral wealth in the shape 
 of gas and oil that it is yielding is already of great value, and every 
 day is adding to this value. 
 
 The Trenton limestone as it occurs in outcrop in New York, 
 Canada and Wisconsin, has been divided into two or more 
 divisions. At the west, its uppermost beds are called the Galena 
 limestone the lead ore and galena of Illinois or Wisconsin being found 
 in these beds. At the east, its bottom portion is termed the Birdseye 
 limestone, from the occurrence of crystalline grains of calcite 
 through the substance of the rock. This last named phase occurs 
 in Ohio. From the deepest drillings at Find-lay, fragments brought 
 up by the pump showed the birdseye feature distinctly. It is, 
 however, the uppermost portion in which the economic interest 
 of the Trenton in Ohio is found. 
 
 The drill has gone down through 550 feet of limestone rock 
 
 in one instance in Ohio, below the oil and gas rock, viz : in the 
 
 first well at Findlay, and aside from changes of color, and from 
 
 "the occurrence of the crystalline particles just named, no hints of 
 
 division could be drawn in it. It probably all belongs to this age. 
 
 It comes nearest to the surface in the valley of the Ohio, in 
 the south-western corner of the State. It is probably between 200 
 and 300 feet below low water in the Ohio, or about 200 feet above 
 sea level. It can be followed by the recent borings to the shore 
 of Lake Erie, dipping slowly and quite equably to the northward, 
 its surface at Toledo, for example, being found 800 feet below sea 
 level. To the northward, it rises in the Manitoulin Islands; to 
 the southward from the Ohio River, it rises in the Blue Grass 
 lands of central Kentucky. 
 
 It is a magnesian limestone of a fair character throughout 
 most of its extent. It is found somewhat silicious in some of the 
 drillings. 
 
 Aside from its probable presence in the deep well at Cleve- 
 land, it is confined so far to the western half of Ohio . The drill 
 has never gone down deep enough to find it in the eastern half of 
 the State, but there is no assurance that it is to be found there in 
 any case as a limestone. In the deep trough of the ancient gulf 
 which is now occupied by eastern Ohio and the adjacent parts 
 of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the limestone of the northern 
 
28 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 border and of the other regions named might well enough be 
 replaced by a very different formation. There is no warrant for 
 assuming its universality as a limestone. 
 
 THE UTICA SHALE. 
 
 In the New York section, from which most of our geological 
 names are derived, the Trenton limestone is directly overlain by a 
 mass of dark, sometimes black shale, which, from its occurrence 
 in good exposures about Utica, has been named from this place. 
 In New York it is about 300 feet thick. It has but few fossils, 
 but fortunately some of them are characteristic — that is, they have 
 never been found in' any other formation. It contains quite 
 a notable amount of organic matter, ranging, as has been asserted, 
 from 8 to 17 per cent. This Organic matter is apparently of 
 animal, rather than of vegetable origin. 
 
 The only part of Ohio where the Utica shale is due as a 
 surface rock is in the south-western corner, but the beds found 
 here that would come in on this horizon are not dark in color, but 
 are calcareous rather than bituminous, and although they contain 
 some of the fossils that are found in the Utica at the east, they also 
 Contain many others. Moreover, it is impossible to draw a firm 
 or natural boundary line between the beds that should be Utica 
 shale and those that overlie them. 
 
 On this account, most of the geologists who have worked 
 upon this portion of the series, have counted it best to merge the 
 overlying beds with those that are probably of the age of 
 the Utica, in a single formation named the Cincinnati group. 
 These overlying beds are known as the Hudson River series in 
 New York. 
 
 But when drilling began in Findlay in 1884, it soon became 
 evident that the New York section could be followed intact and 
 distinct into northern Ohio. There was a mass of dark, nearly 
 black shale, about 300 feet in thickness, immediately over- 
 lying the Trenton limestone. The color and position of the 
 deposit were sufficient to determine its age, but better than this, 
 in some of the chips that were brought up, the most thoroughly 
 characteristic fossils of the Utica shale of New York were found. 
 Notable among these was an almost microscopic shell, Lcptobolus 
 insignis, that is counted by Hall and Whitfield as the best mark 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 29 
 
 of the formation. It was this determination, indeed, that served 
 to show the real name and place of the oil rock, or in other words, 
 the Utica shale was the first of the new elements to be referred 
 positively and definitely to its place in the general scale. 
 
 The Utica shale can be followed as far south as Springfield 
 and Piqua as a dark shale, but it is growing more calcareous and 
 fossiliferous as it is traced southward. In the Ohio valley, as 
 already stated, the boundary between it and the overlying beds 
 becomes indistinct or is obliterated. 
 
 I. THE CINCINNATI SERIES. 
 
 This series is equivalent, as just shown, to the Hudson River 
 and Utica formations of the general scale. It embraces the lowest 
 rocks that find their way to the surface at any point in the State. 
 It occupies about 4,000 square miles as a surface rock in south- 
 western Ohio. It consists of ■interstratified sheets of limestone 
 and fine-grained shale, called clay. Both are light blue or gray in 
 •color, as a rule. The limestone and shale alike are charged with 
 fossils in an excellent state of preservation. These beds are 
 famous, in fact, for the large amount and the excellent preserva- 
 tion of the fossils of this period. The limestone and shale occur 
 in varying proportions in different parts of the series. In the 
 upper portion, the limestone is in larger amount than the shale, 
 and the whole mass is sometimes counted limestone rock. 
 
 It does not allow the surface water to descend into it, and it 
 is consequently poor in springs and makes dry drilling. 
 
 In the northern part of the State, the upper part of this form- 
 ation is known only by the well records, and by the drillings 
 brought up from below. It is foundliere to be much less calcareous 
 and much less fossiliferous than in its outcrops at the southward, 
 though both lime and fossils are abundant in it. It is bluish-green 
 in color, and is often known as the green shale. It has a thick- 
 ness of 500 to 600 feet. It corresponds well with the Hudson 
 River rocks of New York, in all essential particulars. The fossils 
 found in the drillings are, in some cases, identifiable, and, when so 
 are found to be characteristic of the formation. 
 
 2. THE MEDINA SHALE. 
 
 This is another element of the New York scale that could never 
 ibe positively identified in the Ohio column until the recent explor- 
 
30 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 ations in north-western Ohio. It is well characterized by its posi- 
 tion, by its color, by its composition, and it may be added, by the 
 absence of fossils. The formation is almost everywhere poor in 
 the traces of life, either animal or vegetable. In coming westward 
 from New York, it has changed somewhat in composition. In 
 New York, it consists largely of shale, but intercalated in the shale 
 at two points, there are found very valuable beds of quarry stone. 
 This sand is mainly lost in the Ohio sections, though in the upper- 
 most beds there are sometimes thin courses. The color of the 
 formation is characteristic, a light red being the prevailing tint. 
 This mark alone would go far to identify it, as we have no red 
 rocks in this part of the scale, except in the Medina and the 
 associated rocks of the Clinton. It is not, however, red rock in 
 all parts of Ohio, and probably where red rock occurs we should 
 refer shales of other colors to the Medina if we had full opportu- 
 nities for examination. The thickness of the formation as deter- 
 mined- by the color, ranges, from 30 to 90 feet in northern and 
 central Ohio. In the southern part of the State where its outcrops 
 occur, it is seldom more than 25 feet thick. The red band of 
 these outcrops was long ago referred to this horizon, but its direct 
 continuity with the rocks of the typical section could not be 
 affirmed until the line of borings from southern Ohio to the lake 
 completed the connections. 
 
 The Medina contains no red rock in the Lima field, but a belt of 
 "greenish shales, gravel and sand," as described by the drillers in 
 some wells of this region may possibly represent it. The question 
 is, whether this belt belongs to the Medina or to the Clinton, as 
 the latter formation sometimes includes deposits of this character. 
 There are blue shales immediately below, that can well enough 
 represent the Medina in whole or in part. The oil and gas wells- 
 of northern Ohio are mainly cased at this point in the scale, no 
 further interruption from water being experienced in descending. 
 800 to 1,000 feet. 
 
 3. THE CLINTON SERIES. 
 
 This series occupies a well-marked interval, having the Medina 
 shale below it and the Niagara shale for its upper boundary. The 
 only outcrops of the formation are found in south-western Ohio, 
 and here the whole series consists of limestone beds that are very 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 31 
 
 definitely characterized. In northern Ohio, as the drill has 
 shown, there is a probability that certain shale deposits found 
 above the red Medina may belong to the Clinton age. 
 
 The Clinton limestone in its outcrops is a highly crystalline, 
 uneven-bedded, very fossiliferous limestone. It tends to high colors, 
 white, pink, yellow and red being frequent in it, but it is also gray, 
 blue and brown in some of its beds. It takes a good polish and is 
 frequently called a marble. In chemical composition it differs from 
 the limestones with which it is associated, containing from 84 to 98 
 per cent, of carbonate of lime, and 1 to 12 per cent, of carbonate 
 of magnesia. At a few points in southern Ohio it furnishes the 
 fossil ore for which the formation is famous. In southern Ohio the 
 thickness of the Clinton ranges from 16 to 60 feet. 
 
 It is distinctly petroliferous, oil oozing out at numberless points 
 along its line of outcrop, and giving rise to "surface indications" 
 that led, twenty-five years ago, to the expenditure of considerable 
 amounts of money in futile attempts to secure paying wells at this 
 horizon. Its lower boundary in outcrop is a well-marked line of 
 springs. 
 
 Under cover at the northward, it has many of the same char- 
 acteristics. It shows high colors and crystalline structure, but it is 
 more magnesian in composition than in its outcrops. It gives rise 
 to strong sulphur water, and sometimes to highly sulphuretted gas 
 in the Findlay and Bowling Green districts. 
 
 Its thickness at the northward seems to be 75 to 100 feet. In 
 the Columbus well it is a little more than 100 feet thick. 
 
 The Clinton limestone is terminated at the southward, and 
 apparently in northern Ohio by a very fine-grained clay. The clay 
 is often white in color, and it generally contains fossils. In the 
 vicinity of Dayton, this seam is prolific in life, and has given a half 
 dozen or more species that are new to science. The clay may be 
 named the Clinton clay or marl. It is rarely more than two or 
 three feet in thickness. This Clinton clay seems to be found in its 
 most characteristic form in the wells of northern Ohio, and espec- 
 ially at Findlay and Bowling Green. 
 
 4. THE NIAGARA SERIES. 
 
 The formation next to be reached in ascending order, is one 
 of the most interesting and important in this part of the column. 
 
32 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 It occupies about 3,000 square miles of the surface of the State. 
 It is quite a varied and extensive series, numbering five distinct and 
 well characterized elements, viz : 
 
 The Hillsboro sandstone. 
 
 The Cedarville or Guelph limestone. 
 
 The Springfield or Niagara limestone proper. 
 
 The Niagara shale. 
 
 The Dayton limestone. 
 
 The first of these elements to be reached in ascending the 
 scale is the Dayton limestone. This is a thin, but very valuable 
 member of the group, but is local in its occurrence and need not 
 be described here. 
 
 The Niagara shale is a very important member of the series. 
 It has a maximum thickness of 106 feet in Adams county, in out- 
 crop. It grows thinner to the northward. At Yellow Springs it 
 is about thirty feet thick. In the new oil district the driller some- 
 times fails to report it, and it may at times be wanting, but in all 
 probability a careful record' would show it from five to twenty-five 
 feet thick in every well. It is distinctly shown at Columbus, being 
 struck in the new well at 622 feet below the surface, and having a 
 thickness of seventy feet. 
 
 It is a water horizon in outcrop and under cover. Salt water, 
 rank with sulphur compounds, is produced from it in northern Ohio. 
 
 The Springfield stone, or Niagara limestone proper, is a firm, 
 even-bedded, fairly pure magnesian limestone, with a thickness in 
 outcrop of about fifty feet. It is blue or drab in color, and is largely 
 quarried as a building stone. 
 
 The larger part of the Niagara series belongs to the next 
 division, viz: the Guelph or Cedarville division, an interesting and 
 valuable formation on many accounts. It is a wonderfully pure 
 dolomitic or magnesian limestone over large areas, furnishing the 
 best limes of this group that are possible. It is a great storehouse 
 of most interesting fossils, almost all of which occur as internal 
 casts.. It has a maximum thickness in outcrop of 150 to 200 feet. 
 It occupies all of the surface of northern Ohio that is assigned to 
 the Niagara. It is generally light colored, drab or cream in tint, but 
 is sometimes blue. 
 
 A mass of clean, sharp sand, thirty feet in thickness that 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 33 
 
 occurs in the Niagara series in southern Ohio, is known as the 
 Hillsboro sandstone, and does not need further description here. 
 
 At some points in the State the Niagara is highly bituminous, 
 the asphaltic matter being distributed throughout the substance of 
 the limestone. 
 
 5- THE SALINA SHALES. 
 
 This is an element of small value at most in the Ohio scale. 
 There is a question whether any distinct boundaries can be assigned 
 to beds of this age. The last named group may have been formed 
 in part in the Salina epoch. 
 
 6. THE WATERLIME OR LOWER HELDERBERG LIMESTONE. 
 
 The great sheet of thin and even-bedded light brown or drab, 
 or sometimes blue magnesian limestones, poor in fossils, but rich 
 in bituminous compounds as. petroleum and asphalt, that is found 
 directly overlying the Niagara series, and that constitutes the sur- 
 face rock for not less than 4,000 square miles of the State, is known 
 in geology by the ill-chosen and misleading designation, the water- 
 lime. Part of the series, no doubt, belongs to the lower Helder- 
 berg, which by some geologists is made distinct from the waterlime, 
 and by some is made to include it. This formation is seen in its 
 best development at Greenfield, Highland county, but at Putin- 
 Bay, at Lima, at Bluffton, at Carey, at Urbana, and at scores of 
 other points, important sections of it are found. It has a maxi- 
 mum thickness of 300 feet, as is shown by the record of the new 
 Columbus well. In sections along its outcrop it ranges from io to 
 100 feet, but the maximum is much nearer the average than the 
 last named figures. 
 
 The Niagara limestone and the waterlime together occupy a 
 large area in northern Ohio, but it is misleading to represent their 
 areas by distinct colors or other symbols on a map. They are 
 sometimes, as at Genoa, both worked in adjoining quarries. The 
 same farm frequently contains several patches of waterlime in a thin 
 cover over the Niagara.and thus throughout the district. More than 
 this, in these drift-covered regions, it is impossible to give a valid 
 judgment as to which rock will be found, in many instances. The 
 separation of them when worked in quarries is very easily and defi- 
 nitely made. The bedding, the color, the bituminous products 
 
34 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 and the fossils are distinguishing marks. In composition they are 
 often identical. 
 
 7- THE ORISKANY SANDSTONE. 
 
 This is an uncertain element in the Ohio scale. A bed or beds 
 of sharp, pure sand, intercalated in the Corniferous limestones, 
 have been designated the Oriskany. There are comparatively few 
 points where this sandstone occurs. Its place in the scale is cer- 
 tainly open to question. 
 
 8. THE CORNIFEROUS LIMESTONE. 
 
 This is the last of the great series of limestone formations of 
 which the western half of the State is composed. It has two main 
 areas, a belt leading down from Kelly's Island to Pickaway county, 
 and another belt extending across Paulding, Henry and Lucas 
 counties, in north-western Ohio. A 'third area occurs in Logan 
 .county, underlying the highest land of the State. 
 
 In composition it ranges from 65 per cent, of carbonate of lime 
 to 95 per cent. The carbonate of magnesia ranges from nothing 
 to 35 per cent. It is, on the whole, the purest carbonate of lime 
 that we find on the large scale in the State. It contains many flint 
 -nodules, distributed often in regular courses through the rock. 
 The thickest section of it reported in Ohio is 164 feet, at Sylvania, 
 Lucas county. It seems, under cover, to hold about the same 
 measure, but an anomalous section from the Cleveland well may 
 require this measure to be nearly doubled. In its southern out- 
 ■crops it is not found more than 100 feet thick. 
 
 It is generally light colored, often nearly white. It is even 
 in its bedding and sometimes massive, and yields valuable building 
 stone and lime of high character. Like the waterlime, it carries a 
 small amount of free petroleum, as is shown by the odor of fresh 
 fractures. 
 
 The fossils of the formatian are exceedingly interesting and 
 abundant. 
 
 9. THE HAMILTON SHALE. 
 
 This is a formation of rather uncertain character, and quite 
 local in its development. But few feet would be assigned to it in 
 any series. It is generally blue, somewhat calcareous shale, in 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 35 
 
 some places highly fossiliferous, and at other points almost or en- 
 tirely destitute of fossils. It is probably the Olentangy shale of 
 Winchell. 
 
 10. THE OHIO SHALE. 
 
 The great shale formation that we next reach in ascending the 
 geological column of Ohio, is of universal importance in connec- 
 tion with the subjects of petroleum and natural gas. It is un- 
 doubtedly the ultimate source of the supply of these substances 
 for almost all of eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, and New York as 
 well. The direct source is found in the sandstones that cover or 
 are imbedded in this shale formation. 
 
 This formation consists of black shales and blue or gray shales, 
 interstratified without any definite order. There are patches of 
 black shale, for example, found at one locality, that do not occur 
 in another section. Some of the bands are quite persistent, it is 
 true, but no section can be furnished that will give even an approxi- 
 mation to the order that will be revealed in a new locality in the 
 central part of the field. The old order that was laid down, of 
 black shales at the top of the column (Cleveland), blue shales in 
 the middle (Erie), and black shales again at the bottom of the series 
 (Huron), is not close enough to the facts as they are now known 
 to be of any service. It is misleading rather than helpful. There 
 are points where just such a section is found, but there is a vastly 
 greater number of localities where no such order prevails. Near 
 the bottom of the shales, black beds, however, always occur. 
 Greenish-blue shales are always found interbedded with darker 
 seams in the middle of the section. . On the western outcrop the 
 top and bottom as well are always black. In fact, there is very 
 little but black shale in the section here. Sometimes, however, 
 there is a great uniformity for hundreds of feet. 
 
 The thickness of the series depends upon where it is measured. 
 At one point in Highland county, the entire interval between the 
 waterlime and the Berea grit is but 250 feet. Along the western 
 margin or outcrop of the main formation, there are generally 300 
 feet or more. In the interior, on certain lines, there is a very rapid 
 increase. At Cleveland the system is about 1,300 feet thick. At 
 Canal Dover the drill went down through 1,800 feet without ex- 
 hausting the series. 
 
 There are but few sandy seams scattered through this great 
 
36 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 series in Ohio. It is fairly homogeneous in character aside from 
 the organic matter which it contains. It is in this formation to the 
 eastward that the great oil sands of Pennsylvania and New York 
 are buried, but these are wanting for the most part in Ohio. In 
 the extreme southern border of the State, one or more small beds 
 have been recently found that, perhaps, belong at the same general 
 level with the Venango oil sands. 
 
 The darkest portions of the series are quite rich in bituminous 
 products as petroleum and gas, and also in organic matter. The 
 latter sometimes rises to ten per cent, of the rock. It can be ex- 
 pelled by burning the shales, or it can be distilled into kerosene 
 and gas. The petroleum that exists as such in the rock is in com- 
 paratively small amount, but its aggregate is large. In some of 
 these black beds more than one-fifth of one per cent, has recently 
 been found of heavy oil. The bituminous compounds are not, 
 however, confined to the black bands of shale. The lighter bands 
 often contain a notable proportion. . 
 
 Along the outcrops of the formation from Pennsylvania, 
 through Ohio and Kentucky into Tennessee, gas and oil are con- 
 stantly escaping. Wells drilled into the shale almost always secure 
 at least a small flow of gas, at least where there are several 
 hundred feet of shale. 
 
 II. THE WAVERLY SERIES. 
 
 This important group occupies about 7,000 miles of the surface 
 of the State. It is more complex in structure than any of the 
 series that have thus far been passed in review. In it the first per- 
 sistent sandstones of the Ohio scale occur. These sandstones are 
 of great account in the accumulation of oil and gas, which ascend 
 into them from the shale formation which they cover. The 
 Waverly series embrace the following elements, which were mainly 
 first distinctly recognized and named by Newberry: 
 Shale. 
 
 Logan Series. <j Sandstone. 
 
 Conglomerate. 
 Cuyahoga shale. 
 Berea shale. 
 Berea grit. 
 Bedford shale. 
 
 '&* 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 37 
 
 In eastern Ohio the section is shortest, the entire thickness 
 being sometimes reduced to 300 feet. In central Ohio, a maxi- 
 mum of 800 feet is attained. 
 
 The elements are, on the whole, wonderfully persistent and 
 uniform in character. Not even the limestones of our scale can be 
 followed as far with so little change of mineral constitution as the 
 shales and sandstones of the Waverly. 
 
 The Bedford shale is an excellent mark by reason of the red 
 color which it very often shows. Where not red shale, it is blue 
 or light-colored, and along its outcrops where it rests upon the 
 dark beds of the Ohio shale, the contrast is well marked. It is 50 
 to 75 feet in thickness. In northern Ohio, it holds locally some 
 beds of excellent flagging and building stone. 
 
 The Berea grit which we next reach, is one of the best known 
 and most valuable strata of the State. In its outcrops, it furnishes 
 our best building stones and grindstones. Under cover, it 
 becomes a reservoir of gas and oil on the large scale. 
 
 It ranges from 5 to 100 feet in thickness, but it seldom passes 
 the limit of 50 feet, while it falls below 20 feet for thousands of 
 square miles. The drill is revealing its persistency and continuity 
 to a surprising degree. 
 
 Its outcrop constitutes one of the best marked horizons of the 
 State. Being the first persistent sandstone in our scale, and being 
 roofed and underlain alike with shale, it stands out with terrace- 
 like distinctness through much of its western border. 
 
 The Berea shale which covers it is a mass of dark, generally 
 black shale, 20 to 40 feet in thickness, rich in petroleum and 
 organic matter, and abounding also in fossils of great interest. 
 Fish remains of unusual character occur in it abundantly in places. 
 
 The black Berea shale, making the roof of the Berea grit, 
 helps to mark and determine its place. Taken in conjunction 
 with the underlying Bedford, it forms a series of unique character. 
 A sandstone, the first to be found in ascending, the last to be left 
 in descending the column of the State, this sandstone under cover 
 always a reservoir of salt water, oil and gas, one or all, with a per- 
 sistent coal-black roof, and underlain with a red or chocolate- 
 colored band for its floor, all this gives to the horizon a picturesque 
 distinctness. 
 
 One other surprising element must be added, whether to the 
 
 3 
 
38 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 Berea grit or to the Berea shale, may be a matter of question. 
 The last named element seems to have the best claim. In the 
 quarries at Berea, at the bottom of the highly fossiliferous Berea 
 shale and thus immediately overlying the quarry stone, a hard, 
 sulphurous layer occurs, black in color but sandy in composition. 
 It is, however, rich in fossils, containing some fish remains of 
 great size and of new types. This last fact, its fossiliferous charac- 
 ter, namely, allies it to the Berea shale rather than to the Berea 
 grit. This crust is but a few inches in thickness, and might well 
 be taken, by one who should study it at Berea, only as an alto- 
 gether local exhibition. But surprising as it may seem, it is co- 
 extensive with the Berea grit. The driller at Macksburg, or in 
 the Ohio valley is as familiar with this hard "cap," as is the 
 quarryman or collector of fossils, at Berea. Immediately below 
 the cap in the oil-producing field, the great supplies of stored gas 
 and oil are found. 
 
 The Cuyahoga shale that follows, makes the cover of the oil 
 sand in the large way. It is a light colored, close-grained, com- 
 pact shale, quite impervious to water, and thus seals in the con- 
 tents of the sandstone securely. It is 200 to 500 feet in thickness. 
 It carries frequent layers of sandstone or freestone, some of which 
 are of great value as building stones. The famous City Ledge, of 
 Adams and Scioto counties, belongs near the base of the Cuyahoga. 
 The Portsmouth stone and the Waverly brown stone are some- 
 what higher in the series. The Warren flaggings, of Trumbull 
 county, belong also near the base of the Cuyahoga. 
 
 The Logan series is the most anomalous and perplexing of all 
 the divisions of the Waverly, by reason of its inconstancy. It was 
 omitted from the earlier sections, but it proves to be one of the 
 most conspicuous and important parts of the series. The most 
 noticeable element of the Logan group is the Waverly conglom- 
 erate, a mass of sandstone and pebble rock, with difficulty, if at all, 
 to be distinguished by physical characters from the coal measure 
 conglomerate. In fact, in all of the earliest reports on Ohio 
 geology, it was unhesitatingly taken for the last named stratum. 
 
 It has a maximum thickness of 200 feet, and holds steadily 
 under cover as a great sand rock, generally full of salt water and 
 therefore known in many oil fields as the salt water sand. It 
 sometimes contains high-pressure oil and gas. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 39 
 
 It is often overlain by a heavy mass of shales ioo to 200 feet 
 in thickness, which are charged with Waverly fossils. At other 
 points it comes very close to the base of the coal measure rocks 
 and could easily be counted in with them. 
 
 12. THE SUBCARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. 
 
 This is not an important element in Ohio geology so far as its 
 outcrops are concerned. These are few and far between. They 
 occur in Scioto county sparingly, in connection with the flint fire- 
 clay deposits, in Jackson county as the Hamilton township lime- 
 stone, in Perry county as the Maxville limestone, and in Muskin- 
 gum county as the Newtonville limestone. But the formation is 
 acquiring new importance under cover. Drillings at many points 
 in the Ohio valley show it to have a thickness of 50 or 60 feet, and 
 by its occurrence it helps to determine the order of the strata that 
 are penetrated. 
 
 13. THE CONGLOMERATE COAL MEASURES. 
 
 The base of the coal measures is marked by a great accumu- 
 lation of coarse sand rock and pebble rock at many points. There 
 are three widespread and fairly persistent conglomerate strata, 
 known as the Sharon conglomerate, the Massillon sandstone, and 
 the Homewood sandstone. In the intervals between these heavy 
 ledges, coal seams, coal measure limestones and thin seams of iron 
 ore sometimes lie embedded. In Ohio, this series of coals has 
 considerable importance, but elsewhere the great sandstones for 
 the most part monopolize the scale and are there known by a single 
 name, viz: the conglomerate. In Ohio, also, two or more of 
 these strata are often welded together into one mass. The inter- 
 val between this conglomerate and the Waverly conglomerate is 
 uncertain, except where the last described element, viz: subcar- 
 boniferous limestone, is interposed, but generally a mass of shales 
 of greater or less thickness occupies the space. Sometimes, 
 however, the two masses are probably found so close together 
 that they are taken by the driller for one. 
 
 Shales occur throughout the coal measures in such amount that 
 they furnish suitable cover to most of the great sandstones, making 
 them petroleum reservoirs when other conditions are favorable. 
 
 The conglomerate sandstones above named, one or more, 
 
40 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 frequently become sources of salt water, oil and gas, though no 
 large stocks of the latter substances are derived from this horizon 
 in Ohio. 
 
 14. THE LOWER PRODUCTIVE COAL MEASURES. 
 
 The strata of this series have an average thickness of about 500 
 feet, and include several considerable sandstones, the most prom- 
 inent of which are the Freeport, lower and upper, and the Kittan- 
 ning. The Upper Freeport sandstone is thought to become 
 petroliferous at a few points, as in the Macksburg field, but the 
 determination is not certain. 
 
 15. THE LOWER BARREN COAL MEASURES. 
 
 In this series, two very important sandstones occur, viz : the 
 Upper and Lower Mahoning. The Upper is called by the Penn- 
 sylvania geologists the Buffalo sandstone. It has a conspicuous 
 place in the Ohio coal measure scale, lying, as it does, between 
 the two main landmarks and guides of the barren measures, viz: 
 the Cambridge and the Ames limestones. The upper of these 
 sandstones is the source of the shallow oil of Morgan and Athens 
 counties. It is also found productive in Washington county, in 
 the Cow Run field and elsewhere. 
 
 l6 AND 17. THE UPPER PRODUCTIVE AND BARREN MEASURES. 
 
 These groups require no description at this point. They occupy 
 comparatively small areas in south-eastern Ohio. They have a 
 combined thickness of about 500 feet, but they are not known to 
 furnish any important stocks of oil or gas. 
 
 l8. THE GLACIAL DRIFT. 
 
 The drift beds of Ohio cover three-fourths of its surface with 
 deposits that rise as high as 445 feet in thickness, in exceptional 
 instances. This extraordinary measure has recently been attained 
 in the drilling for gas at St. Paris, Champaign county. These 
 drift-deposits are uncertain in composition, from point to point, 
 and nothing approximating a general section can be given. The 
 fact that beds of a certain character were found at one locality 
 gives no warrant for expecting a like series at another, a half mile 
 away. These drift beds are a great source of risk and often of loss 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 41 
 
 to the coatractor. He may be obliged to spend weeks or months 
 in getting through 50 or 100 feet of quicksand or bowlder clay. 
 Sometimes a bowlder is struck when 100 or 200 feet of drive pipe 
 are already in the well and the work may then be necessarily aban- 
 doned. It is the part of common prudence in sinking a trial well, 
 for both the company and the contractor to locate as near to out- 
 cropping rock as possible. The sooner the drill has passed the 
 danger of quicksand and bowlders, the better. 
 
 The geological scale of the State* has now been briefly 
 reviewed. With the aid of the geological map appended, the 
 distribution and areas of these several formations (the separate 
 divisions of the coal measures excepted), can be made out. No 
 attempt is made in this map to distinguish the waterlime from the 
 Niagara and Clinton limestones. The latter is found only on the 
 southern margin of the Upper Silurian. In northern Ohio, it is 
 impossible to indicate with any approach to accuracy the relative 
 areas of the waterlime and Niagara' limestone, as has been already 
 shown. 
 
 SECTION III.— THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 A few words are needed at this point upon the structure of 
 the State. Under this head is included an account of the dip of 
 the strata, of all axes, arches, folds or anticlinals that occur in its 
 rock formations, and also of all faults or interruptions in continuity 
 of its various elements. 
 
 THE CINCINNATI ANTICLINAL. 
 
 The dominant feature in the earlier history of Ohio is a low 
 fold, so-called, that entered the State in its south-western corner, 
 from Kentucky, and that gradually advanced across it to Lake 
 Erie and the Michigan border. 
 
 It is called an axis or, anticlinal, but there is nothing in it that 
 answers to the common idea of such a structure. It is not a sharp 
 ridge, or in fact any kind of a ridge, but as far as can now be seen, 
 it consists of a flat tract, 30 or more miles in breadth, with very 
 little dip, if any, in an east and west direction, but descending to 
 
42 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 the northward at the rate of 3 to 5 feet to the mile, with great 
 steadiness and uniformity. When it comes within 20 or 30 miles 
 of Lake Erie, it makes a sharper descent, falling at the rate of 15 
 or 20 feet to the mile, for that distance. On the eastern side of 
 this tract or axis, the strata begin a uniform descent at the rate of 
 15 to 25 feet to the mile, in a direction always south of east. The 
 usual direction lies between S. 60 E., and S. 75 E. This rate and 
 this direction hold far within the coal field, giving way to a more 
 southerly direction and being sometimes transformed into a simple 
 southward dip in north-eastern Ohio. 
 
 The limit of the western slope has not been traced throughout. 
 Probably there is no definite and continuous boundary, but within 
 the area of the original uplift, there are many inequalities in the 
 level of the Trenton Limestone. A line of sharp descent to the 
 westward passes through the town of Findlay, and is connected 
 with the great production of gas at that point. Another such line 
 passes through Putnam and Wood counties, but on the other hand, 
 the surface of the Trenton limestone is approximately at the same 
 level at Van Wert, Lima and Upper Sandusky — or along an east 
 and west line 60 to 70 miles in length. Facts are rapidly accumu- 
 lating which will give a sufficient basis for generalization upon this 
 point. 
 
 There seems no reason to believe, at the present time, that 
 there is within this entire area any facts of structure corresponding 
 to the general idea of an axis, viz : a tract of narrow breadth, a 
 mile or two at most, extending for many miles or scores of miles, 
 with rapid descents on either side. 
 
 It appears that the elevated tract now under consideration 
 received its present structural features at an early day. The Tren- 
 ton limestone must have been affected by the movements which 
 have disposed it in its present conditions before the great mass of 
 soft rocks by which it is now covered, were deposited upon it. 
 At all events, there is a smaller measure for these shales by 200 
 feet in the central region, than there is immediately to the east- 
 ward. In other words, there is an arch in the underlying Trenton, 
 revealed by the drillers, of which no hint whatever could be ob- 
 tained by the surface exposures. 
 
 It is only on these elevated portions of the Trenton limestone 
 that oil and gas have so far been found. In Findlay (upper level), « 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 4o 
 
 and in Bowling Green, its upper surface has been found to be 300 
 to 400 feet below sea level. In the lower level at Findlay, it falls 
 as low as 480 feet below sea level. At Lima it is about 400 feet 
 below. At Carey, where small gas wells have been struck in the 
 Trenton, its surface is 510 feet below sea level. Nothing of real 
 value has thus far been found in it where the top of the Trenton 
 descends below these figures. Of course, good wells may be 
 found at any time, which will overthrow the value of this deduc- 
 tion, but to the present date all the facts brought in have con- 
 firmed it. 
 
 OTHER ARCHES AND IRREGULARITIES OF STRATA. 
 
 In eastern' Ohio there are a few low anticlinals that traverse 
 the rocks, affecting them equally from the top to the bottom of 
 the scale. Some of them come in from western Pennsylvania, and 
 gradually die out here. Others originate in Ohio and run their 
 whole course, never a long or marked one, in the State. 
 
 East Liverpool and its neighborhood- are traversed by one of 
 these folds. Steubenville and the region below it on the river also 
 show similar disturbance. In both cases the disturbance is slight 
 and ineffectual as a means of accumulating gas or oil on the large 
 scale. The fatal salt water dropsy attacks and destroys the wells 
 that are drilled here. There is a slight fold near Salisbury, on 
 Yellow Creek. Cambridge is at the center of the most conspicu- 
 ous uplift in the eastern part of the State. It is quite likely that 
 it extends to the south-westward through Morgan county. There 
 are lines of arrested dip in the vicinity of Gaysport and McCon- 
 nelsville that may be, one or other, connected with this disturb- 
 ance. Mineral Point, Tuscarawas county, is a region of disturbed 
 stratification, but no axis has been traced through it. 
 
 Sinking Springs, Highland county, and a few square miles 
 around it, contain by far the most striking effects of disturbance 
 shown in Ohio. There are actual faults here of 300 feet or more 
 in amount. 
 
 There are also lines of fracture in the shales of northern Ohio 
 that may constitute minor axes. In the valley of the Rocky 
 River, near Berea, good gas wells have been found on these lines 
 of uplift. 
 
 There is much more to be learned of north-western Ohio than 
 
44 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 has been believed hitherto. A most interesting field of study is 
 opening here, in which fractures and dips, undreamed of in these 
 drift-covered plains, are revealed to us, exceeding in amount and 
 geological importance anything that we know elsewhere in the 
 State. The shore of Lake Erie west of Cleveland, also has many 
 points in this connection deserving of careful investigation and 
 measurement. In the vicinity of Kalida, Putnam county, there is 
 a well-marked structural disturbance. A sharp, but probably 
 superficial anticlinal cuts the rocks for a considerable distance. 
 
 A peculiar form of movement has been experienced at several 
 points in south-eastern Ohio, which is found to ally itself with 
 petroleum and gas supply in a most important way. It may be 
 styled the terrace structure. It seems to replace the arch, or 
 rather to constitute the later stages of the arch as it is dying out. 
 There is an arrest of dip in a series that has been found sloping 
 regularly in a given direction^ For a mile, more or less, the beds 
 run level, or nearly so, and then resume their equable descent. 
 This may be styled the suppressed arch or anticlinal. It was first 
 pointed out by Mr. F. W. Minshall, a sagacious observer and an 
 experienced oil operator, in the Macksburg field. Careful leveling 
 of this field has brought out this structure very clearly. All the 
 oil production of Macksburg comes from the level portion of the 
 rocks or the terrace, a half dozen horizons proving productive within 
 this area, and not outside of it. Gas is found on the upper edge 
 of the oil field where the rocks begin to rise, and salt water is now 
 being reported in the wells on the descending slope of the oil 
 sands. 
 
 The determination of all these structural features in Ohio is the 
 more difficult by reason of their apparent insignificance. It is not 
 as in Pennsylvania, where he who runs may read the record of rise 
 and fall, of arch and trough, but here only careful measurements 
 and close observations will detect the departures from normal 
 rates. On the whole, Ohio is a wonderfully regular 40,000 square 
 mile of the earth's crust. In composition and in structure alike, it 
 follows the simplest and the fewest laws that are possible. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 45 
 
 PRESENT PRODUCTION OF PETROLEUM AND NAT- 
 URAL GAS IN OHIO. 
 
 Under this head, a few of the leading facts will be given as to 
 the oil and gas fields of the State at the present time. 
 
 There are two main horizons of oil and gas now known in the 
 geological column of Ohio, viz : 
 
 The Berea grit. 
 
 The Trenton limestone. 
 
 There are numerous other horizons at which oil and gas, one 
 or both, are occasionally found, but generally in small quantity. 
 These extra horizons are mainly the conglomerate and coal meas- 
 ure sandstones, but one valuable source of gas remains to be added 
 to them, viz: the Ohio shale, along its lines of outcrop. These 
 several horizons will be briefly discussed. 
 
 SECTION IV. —THE TRENTON LIMESTONE AS A 
 SOURCE OF PETROLEUM AND HIGH- 
 PRESSURE GAS. 
 
 The Trenton Limestone is one of the most widely extended 
 strata of the North American continent. It stretches from the 
 islands north of Hudson's Bay. to Alabama, and from Quebec to 
 Minnesota. It has thousands of outcrops within these wide boun 
 daries. It is known to be bituminous in New York ; in Canada it 
 yields a little oil ; in Kentucky and Tennessee also, it has been 
 credited with oil and gas production, but it was a geological sur- 
 prise when it was found to be a great storehouse of fossil power 
 underneath the flat country of northern Ohio. It had already 
 been tapped at various points in the State, and had given no sign 
 of such contents. The drill had reached it at Eaton, at Cincinnati 
 in numerous wells, at Columbus, and at a few other points, and in 
 none of them had it given rise to even the suspicion of being 
 heavily charged with oil or gas. The discovery of this new hor- 
 izon is certainly one of the most remarkable and important discov- 
 eries in the geology of the State. The rock is already yielding 
 
46 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 many million feet of gas per day, of enormous value as a source 
 of power. It is also producing 1,000 to 1,500 bbls. of oil per 
 day, and the development is going forward with great rapidity, 
 and with all of the excitement that everywhere attends such 
 exploitation. At least a half million dollars will have been spent 
 in drilling wells in the new field by the close of the present year, 
 according to present indications. Tankage on the large scale and 
 pipe lines are being introduced into the chief centers of produc- 
 tion, and in short, all the familiar experiences in the opening of a 
 new oil-field are going forward here, with a lower Silurian lime- 
 stone that lies a thousand feet and more below the surface, and the 
 nearest outcrops of which are 500 miles distant, as the base of 
 operations. All this is a complete geological surprise. The prac- 
 tical driller has a maxim to the effect that ' ' geology never filled a 
 tank." Certainly geology takes no credit for the discovery of 
 Trenton limestone oil and gas in north-western Ohio. 
 
 THE FINDLAY FIELD. 
 
 The credit of the discovery of high-pressure gas in the Tren- 
 ton limestone belongs largely to one man, Dr. Charles Oesterlin, 
 an old and highly respected citizen of Findlay. Natural gas has 
 been known in Findlay since the country was first settled. In 
 digging wells, cisterns and sewers, in springs and rock crevices, 
 inflammable gas has been constantly found during the last fifty 
 years. It has been utilized here in the small way for more than 
 forty years. Prof. Winchell, in his report upon the geology of the 
 county in 1872, made mention of the interesting fact that Mr. 
 Jacob Carr had, for a number of years, lighted his house on Main 
 street with gas collected from wells on his premises. The gas was 
 introduced into this house by Daniel Foster in 1838, and has been 
 burning ever since. Other facts bearing on the gas supply were 
 given by Professor Winchell. The composition of the gas had 
 been determined for Mr. Carr by Dr. Chilton, of New York, who 
 pronounced it light carbureted hydrogen and derived from petro- 
 leum. The first statement gave the result of an approximate 
 analysis, and the second was a sagacious inference. 
 
 The sulphurous compounds of the gas were especially observ- 
 able. A small percentage of sulphuretted hydrogen goes a good 
 way in advertising its presence. This gas was absorbed by the 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 47 
 
 water of wells and springs, which was made in many cases unfit, 
 or at least unpleasant for use in this way. 
 
 Explosions frequently occurred in wells, sewers and other 
 excavations, by reason of the accumulation of the gas. These 
 facts were familiar to everyone, and the presence of the gas was 
 looked upon as an evil to be endured, or as a nuisance that could 
 not easily be abated. 
 
 Dr. Oesterlin seems to have been the only one who saw 
 clearly that there was a source of light and heat in it that could 
 possibly be utilized in a large way. He urged, many years ago, 
 the formation of a company to drill for gas, and' when the Geolog- 
 ical Survey of the State was organized in 1869, he brought the 
 subject before a member of the corps, but the time had not come 
 for the recognition of this form of power. The experience of 
 Pittsburgh was needed to complete the demonstration that a new 
 source of light and heat is available to at least a few favored dis- 
 tricts. The interest in the new fuel that was gradually invading 
 Ohio, made it possible, early in 1884, after several ineffectual at- 
 tempts, to organize a company to drill for natural gas at Findlay. 
 In this organization, Mr. Charles J. Eckels stood next to Dr. Oes- 
 terlin in recognizing and urging the possibilities of Findlay. It is 
 quite certain that drilling would have been undertaken here sooner 
 or later if this organization had not been formed, but in point of 
 fact, it fell to the Findlay Natural Gas Company to make the dem- 
 onstration by the drill, in November, 1884, that high-pressure gas 
 existed in a firm but porous limestone rock, that was reached at 
 1,100 feet below the surface of the town. This discovery is the 
 most important, in a practical point of view, that has ever been 
 made in the geology of Ohio. 
 
 The drilling was conducted by Brownyar & Martin, of Brad- 
 ford, Pa., and the immediate supervision of the work was under- 
 taken by Mr. W. M. Martin, the junior member of the firm. To 
 Mr. Martin's intelligent interest in his work from that time to the 
 present, and for the various well-records and important facts that 
 he has furnished, the Geological Survey is under great obligation. 
 The Natural Gas Company in their contract, made the requirement 
 that the well-record should be carefully kept, and that samples 
 should be saved of all changes in the rocks. All this was done, 
 and now Mr. Eckels, already named as a member of the company, 
 
48 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 took upon himself to collect a full set of samples of drillings, 
 and his work was done with care and completeness. 
 
 These drillings of the first well were turned over to the serv- 
 ice of the survey, and the record, though unexpected, proved to 
 be surprisingly clear and unambiguous. It was, in fact, the type 
 section of the interval traversed from the New York scale that 
 was here found. The Cincinnati group, of southern Ohio, which 
 has already been shown to be composed of the Hudson River and 
 Utica formations, so blended that the line cannot be safely drawn 
 between them, and that moreover, has in southern Ohio a large 
 and frequently a predominant percentage of limestone, was here 
 found to have lost the latter element mainly, and to be very dis- 
 tinctly differentiated into the typical and representative sections of 
 New York. In other words, there was found here the Hudson 
 River shales of New York, with characteristic color, composition, 
 fossils and thickness, and below them, the Utica shale, in normal 
 section in all respects. The solid limestone underlying the Utica 
 shale had no uncertain place in the column. It could be nothing 
 else but the Trenton limestone. 
 
 Further than this, the red shale of the Medina period, one of 
 the distinct and easily recognized landmarks of this portion of the 
 scale, was shown here with a thickness of 50 feet, overlying the 
 Hudson River shale. Above this, were the Clinton shale and 
 limestone, the latter in high colors as in the outcrops to the south- 
 ward, then the Niagara shale, or at least a few feet of the charac- 
 teristic fine-grained clay that has been named the Clinton clay, at 
 its very base, and above this, the Niagara limestone, to the sur- 
 face upon which or near which, the drill began its descent. All 
 this was highly satisfactory, and by means of this well-determined 
 section, it became easy to follow the work that was so eagerly 
 taken up on all sides, and when the point of beginning was known, 
 to predict in a general way the section to be found. 
 
 This first Findlay section is represented in the diagram that 
 is found on the succeeding page. 
 
 The supply of gas obtained from the surface of the Trenton 
 limestone in the first well though vigorous, was not all that was 
 counted possible, and in default of previous experience, it was 
 determined to go deeper in search of a more abundant flow. The 
 drill finally rested at 1648 feet below the surface, still in limestone 
 
SECTION AT FINDLAY 
 
 WELL IM°1 
 
 TJrifi 
 
 Ijim.eslart.ei. Ni<xoa.ra. 160'. . 
 
 Blixe Clcxy .- 2- 
 
 Zjim.esiorv& , blzce, .. $'■' 
 
 Shale anci.f/ime3lane[ c l^^^j/0S 1 
 
 Shade , r&al, MeoLiricx 47 : 
 
 ShcxZ g, a2u.e wLiJv thiyv 
 
 ^ee2s of Zrime stone 
 
 jYzx.oisoM. Jiiuer 
 
 )- 
 
 
 Shale. brou>r%. Uticcc- - - 300 '- - 
 
 Limeslone, Trenton, 
 
 Gas roc 7c , main ga.s "A IQ96 
 Jjimesiorhe; yrilty ' 
 
 Zsi/nesion-e- s exit toaster- ■ 
 
50 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 rock, but no accessions of gas were made in this long and expensive 
 descent. The 552 feet of limestone, unbroken except by occasional 
 slight changes in composition that was passed through in this last 
 descent, probably all belongs to the Trenton age. The Birdseye 
 mark came distinctly to view in the drillings from 1500 feet or 
 thereabouts. 
 
 Salt water was struck at a number of horizons, but the most 
 vigorous current came from the bottom. The well was finally 
 plugged 100 or more feet below the gas horizon, and the salt water 
 was mainly held back. A little petroleum came from the gas rock 
 as it was drilled deeper. It was a black, heavy, fetid oil with a 
 gravity of about 35 B. 
 
 As was to be expected from the surface indications in and 
 about Findlay, gas was found all the way down the well. Notable 
 supplies were obtained at 516, 618, 640 and 718 feet, all in the 
 Hudson River shale, and apparently under limestone caps. The 
 last horizon (700 feet), is a permanent and important one in several 
 wells, and in various parts of the new field. The gas of the 
 Hudson River shales is probably derived from the underlying 
 Utica shale that contains a small percentage of petroleum in 
 addition to a considerable percentage of organic matter. It often 
 occurs in "blowers" or pockets that show high-pressure for a few 
 hours and then disappear altogether. The shale gas generally 
 contains a larger percentage of sulphur compounds than the main 
 supply, but there is a point of view in which this rank odor of 
 both is an advantage. Its presence is at once detected whenever 
 leaks in pipes occur. 
 
 The main gas of the first well came with force enough to run 
 an engine when turned into it instead of steam. When lighted 
 from a stand pipe it was visible at night on all sides at a distance 
 of 10 or 15 miles. The flame that shot up from it bore witness to 
 a fact of immense importance to Findlay and to other districts of 
 north-western Ohio. Curiosity at first bore sway, but this presently 
 was re-enforced by a more practical interest. Other wells were at 
 once projected, and the gas was soon brought into varied use. 
 
 The Findlay Gas Light and Coke Company (artificial gas) saw 
 that its occupation was gone unless it too secured the new light 
 and fuel. A well put down by Mr. W. M. Martin for this com- 
 pany early in 1885 repeated the history of the pioneer well in 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 51 
 
 almost every particular. The gas was turned at once into the city 
 mains. 
 
 The third and fourth wells were begun about the same time, 
 the one by W. K. Marvin & Sons to supply power for their 
 machine shop, and the other by the Findlay Gas Light Company 
 at the Adams Machine Shop, near the Lake Erie & Western 
 Railroad station. 
 
 The third well followed in the track of the first two in most 
 particulars, but the Trenton limestone was found a few feet lower. 
 Its yield of gas was shown by the anemometer to be about 80,000 
 cubic feet per day. The first and second wells, no doubt, yielded 
 more than this, perhaps twice or three times as much. 
 
 The fourth well disclosed several new and very important 
 features of the field. The upper limestones were found 350 feet 
 thick, instead of 250, as in the wells already drilled, but underneath, 
 the section was the same as in the first three wells, the Trenton 
 limestone being 1200 feet deep, instead of 1100 feet, as hitherto 
 found. The surface of the ground throughout the town is all at 
 one level, and consequently it was easy to see that there was an 
 abrupt descent of the whole series of rocks traversed by the drill, 
 to the amount of 100 feet in less than half a mile. This rate of 
 dip is the steepest known in the State, but there was nothing 
 whatever in the surface to suggest such a state of facts. 
 
 The well was found to yield several times as much gas as the 
 largest already drilled. For the first time, Findlay had secured a 
 fairly vigorous flow of gas. An anemometer measurement taken 
 at this time showed that 1,296,000 cubic feet were escaping each 
 day. With the gas, oil soon began to appear. In the course of 
 two or three months, the well was producing 4 to 5 barrels of oil 
 daily, while the flow of gas was sqmewhat reduced. Its yield of 
 oil has since largely increased at the further expense of the other 
 element, until now it is valued more as an oil well than as a gas 
 well. 
 
 The further development of the field cannot be minutely 
 followed at this time. By the first of April, 1886, there had been 
 drilled 17 wells in and immediately around Findlay. Two of 
 these, the Putnam Street Well and the Firmin Well, were failures. 
 All of the others were productive, eleven yielding dry gas, and 
 four yielding gas and oil. Of the latter group, one is counted 
 
52 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 exclusively an oil well, but there is gas enough in it to raise the 
 oil once in 24 hours, the flow averaging 35 bbls. per day. One of 
 the remaining three has been already characterized. The other 
 two yield gas and oil, but one of them produces an inferior quality 
 of oil and is being overrun with salt water to some extent. 
 
 Of the eleven wells yielding gas alone, one stands out pre- 
 eminent. The Karg well, which was brought in about January 
 20th, 1886, is not only by far the most vigorous producer of the 
 Findlay field, but it is, at the same time, the largest gas well of 
 the State, and probably the largest well that was ever known in 
 Ohio. Just how the Karg well should be ranked in comparison 
 with the largest of the Pennsylvania wells, is not certain. The 
 rock pressure of the Findlay field is only about two-thirds of the 
 pressure reported "from certain gas fields of Pennsylvania, but no 
 conclusions can be drawn from this fact alone. The estimated 
 outflow of the great Pennsylvania wells has been made as high as 
 30,000,000 cubic feet per day. The measured yield of the Karg 
 well is somewhat more than 12,000,000 cubic feet. According to 
 this comparison, it produces less than half the volume of the 
 former, but exact computations cannot be made until the same 
 system of measurement shall be applied to the wells of both 
 sections. 
 
 There are two other wells of great force in the field, viz : the 
 Cory well and the Briggs well, both located in North Findlay. 
 The well known as the North Findlay well is also a large producer. 
 The McManness and the Jones wells are also excellent wells. 
 
 Of this series careful measurements have been made of the 
 Karg, the Cory, the Briggs and the Jones wells, and their respective 
 outflows from or near the top of the casing per day, are as follows : 
 
 Karg Well * 12,080,000 Cubic Feet. 
 
 Cory Well 3,318,000 " " 
 
 Briggs Well 2, 565,000 
 
 Jones Well 1,159,200 " 
 
 These measurements were all executed by Professor S. W. 
 Robinson, of the department of Mechanical Engineering in Ohio 
 State University. 
 
 A brief summary of the more important facts in respect to 
 Findlay gas and its production will be here given. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 53 
 
 1 . The composition of Findlay gas as determined by Pro- 
 fessor C. C. Howard, of Starling Medical College, Columbus, is 
 as follows: 
 
 Marsh gas (light carburetted hydrogen) 92.61 
 
 defiant gas o. 30 
 
 Hydrogen 2.18 
 
 Nitrogen 3.61 
 
 Oxygen o. 34 
 
 Carbonic acid *. o. 26 
 
 Carbonic oxide o. 50 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen o. 20 
 
 In 100 cubic feet there are 125.8 grains of sulphur. Its 
 specific gravity is 57. Hence 1 cubic foot weighs 318.98 grains. 
 
 The determinations of composition have been repeated a 
 number of times, and at intervals of several months, and all the 
 facts seem to show a steady and constant composition. 
 
 2. The heating power of Findlay gas considerably exceeds 
 that of the present Pittsburgh supply, and notably that of the new 
 Grapeville gas, as thus far reported. The best statements in 
 regard to Pittsburgh gas that have been met are those of Mr. S. 
 A. Ford, chemist of the Edgar Thompson Steel Works. They 
 appeared in the Natural Gas Supplement of the American Manu- 
 facturer, April, 1886. 
 
 He assumes an average chemical composition of this gas, the 
 fact of its instability being well known. From this average com- 
 position, he deduces the heating power of the gas, and finds it to 
 be expressed as 789,694 heat units to 100 liters. If a ton of 
 Connellsville coke is counted worth #2.50, 1,000 cubic feet of 
 Pittsburgh gas is worth 7 T ^ cents, for its heating power. 
 
 If a ton of Pittsburgh coal is counted worth $1.20, 1,000 
 cubic feet of Pittsburgh gas is worth, for its heat units, 3 % cents. 
 One ton of coal is equal to 36, 764 cubic feet of gas. 
 
 Professor Howard has applied like calculations to Findlay gas. 
 The results are as follows: 
 
 The heat units aggregate to the 100 liters, 878,082. 
 
 1,000 cubic feet is worth, coke being #2.50, 9.4 cents. 
 
 1,000 cubic feet is worth, Pittsburgh coal being #1.20, 3.9 cts. 
 • One ton of coal is equal to 31,085 cubic feet of gas. 
 
 4 
 
54 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 The actual prices of coal and coke are much greater in Find- 
 lay than those assumed. 1,000 cubic feet of gas may be counted 
 on the basis of actual prices, as equal to eight cents in coal. 
 
 Findlay gas is thus seen to have the advantage at every point. 
 
 The heat units of Grapeville gas, according to Mr. John 
 Fulton, aggregate, for 100 liters, 769,766. 
 
 Percentages of difference can easily be computed on the basis 
 of the facts here given. 
 
 3. The rock pressure of Findlay gas is now about 375 lbs. to 
 the square inch. All wells reach this mark when closed. The 
 large wells reach it in a short time, the Karg well for example, in 
 \y 2 minutes; the smaller wells requiring, perhaps, hours. The 
 same line of facts obtains in other gas fields. The futility of esti- 
 mating the flow of wells from their pressure when closed, is seen 
 from this statement. The large and the small producers meet 
 together on common ground, so far as pressure is concerned. 
 The rock pressure, as nearly as can be learned, has fallen off 
 slightly since the field was opened. In the first wells, 450 lbs. 
 was registered. In none is the limit of 400 lbs. now passed. This 
 fact can occasion no surprise when the immense production of the 
 field in 1886 is considered. 
 
 4. The gas and oil production of Findlay are found to be 
 definitely associated with the most marked discordance of struct- 
 ure that is known in the geology of Ohio, except in a single field. 
 
 The surface of the town is a part of the great drift plain of 
 this portion of the State, slightly furrowed by the drainage chan- 
 nels that have been drawn across it. How nearly the surface 
 approaches a plain is seen from the following figures: Of 18 wells 
 that are scattered over four to five square miles, the elevations of 
 the casings above tide water range between 771 and 788 feet, and 
 1 1 of these well-heads are between 779 and 784 feet above tide. 
 The lowest water of the streams is about 10 feet below the lowest 
 well, or 761 feet above tide. There is probably no point within 
 four to six miles of the town on either side that attains an eleva- 
 tion of 800 feet. 
 
 Underneath the surface, this uniformity is lost, and the fol- 
 lowing facts appear : On the east side of the town, the Trenton 
 limestone is found in a terrace a little more than 300 feet below 
 sea level. In four wells drilled here, the extremes of which are 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 55 
 
 nearly one mile apart, the upper surface of the limestone is accord- 
 ing to the facts reported, 306, 312, 314, 314 feet below the sea. 
 
 To the westward from this terrace, there is a sharp descent to 
 another flat floor of Trenton limestone. To the northward also, 
 there is a descent, but not as marked as the former. The highest 
 westward dip is at the rate of 261 feet to the mile, which stands 
 for a slope of about three degrees. It never continues for a mile 
 at this rate, however. It may be added that the limestone floor 
 of the river shows, at a few points in the town, a similar dip, but 
 the exposures are small, and no consideration was heretofore given 
 to them on account of their isolated character. This lower floor 
 of the Trenton is about 475 feet below tide. The main line of 
 strike runs through the town at an angle of N. 14 W. 
 
 The wells of the upper terrace all produce dry gas, but in 
 moderate amount. None of them probably exceeds 250,000 
 cubic feet in a day. As the subterranean slope begins, the wells 
 that are located upon it gather strength and volume. There is but 
 a single apparent exception to this statement. The great wells 
 have all found the Trenton limestone between 330 and 350 feet 
 below sea level, as is seen in the appended table: 
 
 . TRENTON LIMESTONE. 
 
 Karg 347 below sea level. 
 
 Cory 350 " 
 
 Briggs 330 " 
 
 North Findlay 342 " 
 
 McManness 337 " 
 
 Jones 328 " 
 
 When the Trenton limestone is found at 400 feet below the 
 sea, oil and gas are both produced, but the oil tends to increase at 
 the expense of the gas. The following wells illustrate this state- 
 ment: 
 
 TRENTON LIMESTONE. 
 
 Adams well 405 below sea level. 
 
 Barndwell 403 " " " 
 
 Lima road well 394 " 
 
 Where the Trenton limestone is found more than 450 feet 
 below the sea, the well yields either oil or salt water, though gas 
 
56 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 may still be produced in considerable amount. The following 
 wells illustrate this statement: 
 
 TRENTON LIMESTONE. 
 
 Putnam street well 452 below sea level. 
 
 Matthias well, No. 1 481 " 
 
 Matthias well, No. 2 470 " 
 
 Firmin well, No. 1 470 " " " 
 
 Taylor well, No. 1 480 " 
 
 The Putnam street well was abandoned, but it gave promise 
 of being a small oil-producer. But little gas appeared in it, and 
 it would have been necessary to pump the oil. The Matthias 
 well, No. 1, has already been referred to. It is the well that 
 flows 35 bbls. of oil per day. The Matthias well, No. 2, and the 
 Taylor well are both fairly productive. 
 
 5. Findlay gas now supplies the town, from the tea-kettle 
 and street-lamp to the mill, the glass-house, the machine shop and 
 the factory. The Natural Ga,s Company that drilled the Pioneer 
 well, has been absorbed by the Findlay Gas-light and Coke Com- 
 pany, which, under sagacious and energetic management, has ob- 
 tained a strong hold upon this new-found source of wealth. For- 
 tune has also been propitious in giving to this company the Karg 
 ^vell. 
 
 The rates that the company has established are as follows, in 
 part: 
 
 Fot cooking stoves $1.00 per month. 
 
 " sitting room stoves 1.50 " " 
 
 " grates 2.00 to #2.50 per month. 
 
 " house lights 15 to 30 cents. 
 
 " boilers from #150 upwards, per year. 
 
 " patent lime kilns (draw kilns) .... $100 per year. 
 
 Other parties,, individuals and companies have drilled wells 
 also, and the work is still going forward. The latest phase is a 
 proposition to bond the town for $40,000, to lay pipes and drill 
 wells if necessary, to supply gas at cost. This proposition has 
 been submitted to a popular vote, and has been carried by an over- 
 whelming majority. If carried into operation, it would seem to 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 57 
 
 threaten the investments of the corporation that has mainly devel- 
 oped the field thus far. 
 
 There has been a deplorable waste of the gas during the last 
 year. This was perhaps a necessary consequence of the condition 
 under which the development was going forward. In the spring 
 of 1886, there was for months a daily waste of at least 16,000,000 
 cubic feet of gas. At the rate of value previously determined, 
 viz: 8 cents to 1,000 cubic feet, this would aggregate a daily loss 
 of #1,280. 
 
 These losses should no longer be allowed. The town and the 
 immediate neighborhood give the best promise of containing a 
 vast supply, but it must not be forgotten that it is stored power. 
 There is, in reality, a measurable amount of oil and gas available, 
 and when this is gone, all is gone. No renewal will follow. Pub- 
 lic policy would restrict the number of wells. The more openings 
 the more waste, the more rapid the reduction of pressure and the 
 sooner will come the inevitable exhaustion of the fields. When 
 the great flow of the Karg well was unlocked, other wells, a third 
 of a mile away, were seriously influenced by it. The Adams well 
 lost much of its gas, while the production, of oil rose in it from 
 five bbls. per day to fifteen or twenty bbls. per day. Even the 
 Karg well itself has begun to throw oil in spray occasionally. 
 
 6. The inference that all the enterprising towns of northern 
 Ohio were quick to draw when Findlay first "struck gas," viz: 
 that inasmuch as they were severally underlain by upper Silurian 
 limestone as Findlay is, their chances to obtain the new fuel were 
 as good as Findlay's, is seen to be unfounded. The occurrence of 
 gas and oil in Findlay are associated with an anomalous and 
 most surprising departure from the regularity that in general char- 
 acterizes the rocks of the State, and the whole question is seen to 
 be a geological one, after all. 
 
 THE BOWLING GREEN FIELD. 
 
 Bowling Green, the county seat of Wood county, situated twen- 
 ty-four miles due north of Findlay, was the next town to try the 
 fortune of the drill, beginning the work in February, 1885. The 
 Niagara limestone underlies the town as it does a large part of 
 Findlay. The face of the country, however, slopes gently to the 
 
58 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 northward, and the level of the town is from eighty to ninety feet 
 below that of Findlay. 
 
 ABOVE TIDE. 
 
 Findlay, Lake Erie & Western R. R. station .... 782 feet. 
 
 Bowling Green, Toledo & Southern R. R. station. 703 " 
 
 The record of the drilling shows an almost exact correspon- 
 dence with the Findlay records already given. There were 300 
 feet of upper limestones, interrupted by a thin belt of Niagara 
 shale ; there was eighty feet of Medina shale, mainly red in color, 
 about 400 feet of Hudson river shale, about 275 of Utica, and 
 Trenton limestone at 1096 feet, its surface being thus seen . to be 
 about 400 feet below sea level. All this is represented in the 
 accompanying diagram. There were vigorous blowers of gas 
 struck as the drill descended, and one in particular, at 330 feet in 
 the Medina shale but probably in a sandy layer, sent out a blaze 
 thirty feet high at first but exhausted itself in about sixty hours. 
 
 The Trenton yielded but a very small supply of gas until it 
 was torpedoed. This operation considerably improved its flow. 
 The company that drilled the first well proceeded to sink other 
 wells and to pipe the town so as to furnish gas for general use, and 
 for the burning of lime, but for a year, their stock of gas was 
 short. In March, 1886, one mile south of the town, the first vig- 
 orous well was found. This well is comparable with the Findlay 
 wells of the third order. It is doubtless good for more than a 
 million feet per day. Two miles still further south, at Portage, 
 another good supply was found at about the same time. 
 
 Bowling Green has been fortunate in not finding good wells 
 inside the town limits. Had such been the case, a well might 
 have gone down on every lot, and the supply would have been 
 frittered away. As it is, the productive field being thus far a mile 
 distant, the company that has drilled the wells and piped the town 
 has virtually a monopoly, which, in such a case,, clearly tends to 
 the general good. Gas is furnished at rates about one-third less 
 than the cost of wood or coal, to do the same work, let alone the 
 saving of trouble and expense attending the use of the new fuel. 
 The charges are in part as follows: 
 
 House lights $ 20 to 30 cents per month. 
 
 Cooking stoves 3.00 per month in winter. 
 
 Heating stoves 3.00 " " " " 
 
 Lime burning 1 cent per bushel. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 59 
 
 BOWLING CREEN WELL 
 
 ^ioogfctr'oo Limestone 135L 
 
 MOL. 
 
 C Linton .Limestone 
 Meclti^ot tShctle red 80'_ HIKB 
 
 SizcZson, River ShoLle-430'- tgg 
 
 Uticcc Shctle 27SL 
 
 2^£ccin> Gas. 
 
 T>~&ri tort, 2j im^esiorx-e 204r_ 
 
60 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 Four draw kilns of the best pattern have been built here for 
 the last named use, the preliminary experiences have been success- 
 fully passed, in the main, and a good quality of magnesian lime is 
 being produced here at a cost that threatens the extinction of this 
 large interest throughout the rest of northern Ohio. 
 
 There has not been drilling enough around Bowling Green to 
 show fully what it owes to unusual geological structure, but an 
 exceptionally heavy dip is known to begin upon or near its western 
 boundary. The Trenton limestone descerids in going due west 
 from Portage to Weston, a distance of about seven miles, from 
 four hundred feet to nine hundred feet below sea level. Just how 
 this average dip of seventy feet to the mile is distributed does not 
 now appear. It would seem that there is room for remarkable 
 developments in this interval. 
 
 THE LIMA OIL FIELD. 
 
 Among the centers of production from the new horizon, 
 Lima stands scarcely second in importance. It is rapidly developing 
 into an oil field of considerable proportions, which gives promise 
 thus far of staging quality. The daily production on the first of 
 July, 1886, is estimated to be 1,100 bbls. This production has 
 been held back for some time from the lack of tankage. Now 
 that this lack has been supplied, nitro-glycerine will be brought 
 into requisition on the large scale in wells already drilled, with the 
 certainty of largely augmenting their yield. 
 
 Lima was not long behind in following the successful examples 
 of Findlay and Bowling Green. An important railroad center, 
 already actively engaged in many lines of manufacture, full of 
 business energy, and in command of sufficient capital for all prom- 
 ising ventures, it was easy to see that such a flow of natural gas as 
 Findlay had secured would be of immense advantage here. The 
 drill was set to work by the Lima Straw Board Works, an enter- 
 prising and successful manufacturing company, in the spring of 1885. 
 
 The trial well was located within the grounds of the company 
 and on the bank of the Ottawa River, the top of the casing being 
 about eight hundred and fifty feet above sea level. The section 
 was found to correspond with the Findlay section in all its essen- 
 tial elements. 
 
 There were about four hundred feet of the upper limestones, 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 61 
 
 the Waterlime re-enforcing the Niagara as it does in the western 
 portion of the Findlay field. 
 
 The Medina is not a red shale here, but is greenish-blue, like 
 the underlying Hudson River beds, and it is therefore impossible 
 to draw as sharp lines of division as were found in the proceeding 
 wells. The same line of facts holds as to the Utica and Hudson 
 River beds. The lower part of the Hudson River division is 
 darker in color than it is to the eastward. The lowermost beds of 
 the Utica are dark enough to be called black shale. A little gas 
 was found at various horizons in the shale during the drilling.* 
 
 The Trenton limestone was struck at 1247 feet, but to the 
 great disappointment of those concerned, no considerable amount 
 of gas was afforded. But as the drill descended a few feet further, 
 •oil was found rising in the well. This was an unwelcome discovery, 
 but to save the venture from being an entire failure, and moreover 
 to test the character of the supply, the well was treated thenceforth 
 as an oil well — that is, it was torpedoed, tubed, packed and 
 pumped. In the first six days, two hundred bbls. of oil in con- 
 nection with some salt water were produced, and the supply then 
 Tan low. 
 
 The oil was dark, or black oil, heavy and offensive in odor, 
 by reason of the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen. Its gravity 
 after exposure was 36 B. To those acquainted only with oil of 
 the Pennsylvania types, its quality seemed to condemn it. 
 
 The Paper Mill well already described was the pioneer well 
 in the Lima field, but by itself it would have made but a feeble 
 impression. It was presently followed by the Citizens' well, which 
 was put down in the summer of 1885, by an association of public- 
 spirited gentlemen who desired to authenticate the field. This 
 purpose it has served in many ways. It was the first well to yield 
 a steady and regular supply of oil, and it was also the oil of this 
 
 *A better and more orderly record is furnished by A. C. Reichelderfer, Esq., 
 ■of the Gas Works Well. It is as follows: 
 
 Drift 18 feet. 
 
 Limestone. 
 
 Sulphur water at 128 feet. 
 
 White limestone (Niagara)? begins at 
 
 268 feet. 
 Blue limestone begins at 328 feet. 
 Limestone with slate streaks continues 
 
 to 385 feet. 
 
 Well cased at 395 feet. No more water. 
 
 Light shale continues to. . . 880 feet. 
 
 Brown shale begins at 880 " 
 
 Thin black shale at 1228 " 
 
 Oil rock struck at '263 " 
 
 Oil-producing "sand" 1255 " 
 
 Salt water rock, slushy. .. . 1260 " 
 
-62 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 well that was first tested for refining and other uses in the large 
 way. Forty barrels were sent to Pittsburgh refineries in 1885, 
 andTthe results obtained did much to inspire confidence in the new 
 production. The well has been an expensive one to maintain. 
 It requires steady pumping night and day to hold the salt water 
 in check. By April 20th, 1886, it had yielded about 5,000 barrels 
 of oil. It must always be counted as one of the most important 
 wells of the Lima field, dividing the honors fairly with well No. 1. 
 
 The news that Lima had "struck oil," at once attracted the 
 attention of the wakeful men who control the petroleum interests 
 of the country. For nearly a year previous, in spite of multiplying 
 wells and unremitting activity, petroleum production had steadily 
 fallen below consumption, and the possibility of a new oil field 
 became therefore more than usually interesting and important. 
 
 To most of the Pennsylvania operators that obtained personal 
 knowledge of the Lima well, there seemed but little promise in it. 
 All the conditions were unusual. A flat country, with every out- 
 ward indication of being extremely regular and undisturbed, at 
 comparatively small elevation above the sea, and the producing 
 rock a lower Silurian limestone, these facts were enough to dis- 
 courage many who would have eagerly followed up equal promise 
 in a familiar field. 
 
 The representative of one Pennsylvania company, however, Mr. 
 I. E. Dean, who was among the first to visit the new field, had been 
 at one time engaged in oil production in Canada, and was well ac- 
 quainted with its history and value. Mr. Dean was the 
 first to recognize the possibilities here, and to his intelligent and 
 energetic administration most of the early and much of the later 
 development are due. The Trenton Rock Oil Company, organ- 
 ized by him, has done a great deal in the way of proving the new 
 territory. Much of its earlier work proved unproductive, but it 
 had its value in breaking up crude theories and defining safe 
 limits within which to work. 
 
 Up to July 1st, 1886, the Lima field has produced 51,000 
 bbls. of oil. On April 1st, 1886, there were fourteen wells in 
 operation, with an average production of twenty-four bbls. per 
 day, according to local reports, which are never under the mark. 
 On May 1st there were twenty-two wells with a much larger aver- 
 age, and at the same time there were fifty or more new wells under 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 63 
 
 contract in the immediate field. On June 21st, the number of pro- 
 ducing wells was thirty-four. There were fifteen more being 
 drilled, and there were twenty rigs in the field. On July 1st, 
 there were fifty-seven producing wells, yielding ten to 1 50 barrels 
 each. Six wells are flowing, and there are fifty-one new derricks in 
 the field. 
 
 All of the earlier wells required to be pumped, but the Shade 
 well, No. 1, on the south-east side of the town, completed in 
 February, 1886, proved a flowing well. This was the first of six 
 to date. The use of explosives has converted several of the pump- 
 ing wells into flowing wells, for a time at least. 
 
 Some of the wells flow as soon as the rock is struck. The 
 Hume well flowed about 250 bbls. in the first two days. It now 
 yields about thirty bbls. by pumping. Others that have come 
 in dry, as the Clymer well, are converted by a "shot" into produc- 
 tive pumping wells. The last named well yields ten or fifteen bbls. 
 a day. But generally the first behavior of the well is an index to 
 its true character. 
 
 As may be inferred from statements already made, the geol- 
 ogy of the Lima field is substantially one with that of Findlay. 
 The whole region is underlain with the Waterlime, the rock being 
 exposed and quarried in the deeper valleys in and around the 
 town. 
 
 The elevation of Lima is about 100 feet greater than that of 
 Findlay. Unfortunately, the elevations given by the several rail- 
 road surveys do not agree. 
 
 The elevation of the track at the Dayton & Michigan depot, 
 as given by this road, is 859 feet above tide. A probable correc- 
 tion of fifteen feet will bring this figure to 874 feet. By the Lake 
 Erie & Western railroad, the elevation of the same point is given 
 as 885 feet, and by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago rail- 
 road as 873.5 feet. The track of the Chicago & Atlantic road, on 
 the south side of the town at the station, is given as 903 
 feet; but this measurement is entirely independent of the others. 
 These discordant figures have not been harmonized, but inasmuch 
 as the Lake Erie & Western elevations have been used in the 
 Findlay field, the figures of this road will be used here also, 
 although it is probable that they are about eleven feet in excess. 
 
 Almost all of the town, and of the county adjoining it for sev- 
 
64 
 
 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 eral miles on either side, will be embraced within the range of 850 
 to 900 feet above tide (L. E. & W. crossing, 885). 
 
 The oil wells range from 1,240 to 1,290 feet in depth. The 
 surface of the Trenton, in fourteen of the first twenty wells drilled, 
 the extremes of which are twelve miles apart, ranges as follows : 
 
 390 
 
 feet 1 
 
 aelow tide 
 
 390 
 
 t t 
 
 it n 
 
 393 
 
 1 i 
 
 it 1 1 
 
 394 
 
 t 4 
 
 it 1 1 
 
 395 
 
 f ( 
 
 tt f t 
 
 395 
 
 t 1 
 
 it it 
 
 396 
 
 ( < 
 
 ( ( n 
 
 400 
 
 i I 
 
 1 1 n 
 
 403 
 
 I I 
 
 tt 1 1 
 
 406 
 
 t i 
 
 t t t t 
 
 407 
 
 1 t 
 
 a tt 
 
 421 
 
 1 i 
 
 11 it 
 
 432 
 
 i t 
 
 it it 
 
 445 
 
 1 1 
 
 ti it 
 
 The first ten of the list are located in Lima, or immediately- 
 adjoining if. 
 
 The records that the' wells have made, with reference to oil 
 production, are significant in this connection. 
 
 The first two wells flowed oil when the rock was struck (Tren- 
 ton, 390 below tide). 
 
 In the third case, the oil flowed after the well was torpedoed. 
 (Trenton limestone, 393). 
 
 The four wells next on the list are all pumping wells, and 
 yield an average of about twenty bbls. Several of them have 
 been torpedoed with good results as to production, but without 
 converting them into flowing wells. (Trenton limestone, 395-396). 
 
 The remaining wells (Trenton limestone 400 feet and more 
 below tide) are all practically failures. It is claimed that the well 
 in which the Trenton is 406 feet below tide would, if pumped, 
 prove a ten-bbl. well, but neither this nor any of the others is 
 pumped at the present time. The last three are plugged and 
 abandoned. 
 
 It is surprising to see on what a narrow margin success in 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 65 
 
 drilling has thus far turned. It is scarcely possible that this mar- 
 gin will be maintained throughout the field, and the results of later 
 drilling will prove very interesting when brought into comparison 
 with these earliest figures, but thus far certainly geological structure 
 is seen to be connected in a most important way with the yield of 
 oil from Lima wells, and especially with the differentiation of these 
 wells into the several groups already named. 
 
 The salt water in any case lies very near the oil. In many 
 wells both are constantly produced. If the pumping is stopped 
 the salt water overcomes the oil. A cessation for a single Sunday 
 in the Citizens' well reduced the daily production of oil from 
 eleven to eight and one-half inches in the tank, and it required 
 steady work for an entire week to restore the flow. In such cases 
 it would seem that a short stoppage would prove fatal. The brine 
 is of the peculiar character already noted in the other fields, being 
 more of a bittern than a brine. It is produced from the wells 
 perfectly clear, and with a temperature of 8o° F. In many of the 
 wells it is counted no special disadvantage, but is pumped steadily 
 with the oil. It cannot be separated under ground, whether dis- 
 advantageous to the well or not. 
 
 Character of the Lima Oil. 
 
 The Lima oil is a limestone oil, which is as much as to say 
 that it is a dark, or black, sulphuretted, and rather heavy oil. In 
 these respects it agrees with Canada and Tennessee oils. There is 
 quite a range in gravity, however. In the first well, the oil had a 
 gravity of 36 B., but in most of the later wells it reaches 37 or 
 38 , and in the McCullough well it reaches the high mark of 41 
 B. Several tests have been made on a fairly large scale, and the 
 results show that the oil can be completely deodorized, that it 
 carries sixty-five per cent, of illuminating oil, and twenty-six per 
 cent, of lubricating oil of excellent quality, and other merchant- 
 able products. 
 
 These results were obtained in Canada refineries where sev- 
 eral barrels were sent, and they are, on the whole, the most favor- 
 able that have been reported. The oil was thoroughly deodorized, 
 and each of the several products showed high or fair quality. 
 
 From a test made in Philadelphia, a somewhat better percent- 
 
66 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 age of illuminating oil was reported than that given above, but the 
 products were unmarketable by reason of their offensive odor. 
 
 The Downer company, of Boston, also makes a favorable 
 report. 
 
 The latter company has united with the Edwards Oil Burner 
 Company, of Chicago, to establish a refinery in Lima, and here, 
 without doubt, the best results will be speedily obtained. The 
 work of construction is already going forward, and refining opera- 
 tions will be undertaken at an early day, in which the best appli- 
 ances and the highest skill will be employed. The refinery will 
 have, on completion, a capacity of 250 barrels per day. 
 
 The promise of the field depends largely on the success of 
 this undertaking. At present, the price of Lima oil is forty cents 
 per barrel, and there are many wells that can not be pumped for 
 what they yield, but if the value of the oil could be increased fifty 
 or more per cent, their production could still be maintained. The 
 increase of price is to be looked for from the success of refining 
 operations at home. 
 
 Tankage and Transportation. 
 
 Indispensable to a modern oil field are the great systems of 
 storage and transportation that American practice has evolved. 
 The Lima field is soon to be supplied with large tanks and with 
 pipe lines. In fact, the work in both is already well under way. 
 
 The Buckeye Pipe Line Company, which is an organization 
 under the same management as the National Transit Company, 
 has nearly completed one 36,000-bbl. tank, and has two others of 
 the same size already ordered. The usual system of piping the 
 wells will be at once introduced, and thus the transfer of oil will be 
 accomplished with as great dispatch and as little expense as 
 possible. 
 
 Extent of the Field. 
 
 The Lima oil field proper extends from the central portions of 
 the town eastward and southward. Comparatively little drilling 
 has been done to the westward or northward, or north-eastward, 
 the earliest ventures being such as to discourage further explora- 
 tion in these directions. A good well has been obtained three 
 miles to the south-east of town, and the interval is now being quite 
 
K PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 67 
 
 thoroughly tested. The field may be held to extend as far as a 
 fairly continuous series of wells can be followed. Its eastern 
 boundary is not yet defined, but enough wells are now in progress 
 to furnish important testimony in regard to it when their records 
 are complete. Even the districts in which failures have thus far 
 occurred are not to be considered as beyond hope, but patches of 
 productive territory are likely enough to be found within them, 
 under the thorough search that is now going forward. It would 
 be unprofitable to attempt to lay down the metes and bounds of 
 a field in such an active stage of development as Lima is now 
 passing through. 
 
 THE BLOOMDALE GAS WELL. 
 
 A very important extension of the Findlay gas field has lately 
 been made by the sinking of a successful well at Bloomdale, a 
 village of Wood county, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, seven 
 miles west of Fostoria, and ten miles north-east of Findlay. This 
 well was drilled in May, 1886. The casing stands at 755 feet above 
 the sea, and the Trenton was reached at a depth of 1,115 f eet - 
 Its upper surface is thus seen to be 360 feet below sea level. It is 
 about this level that all the greatest gas wells at Findlay have been 
 found (Karg, 347; Cory, 350; Briggs, 330, etc.). 
 
 The Bloomdale well proves to be one of the strong wells of 
 the district. Its outflow was measured on June 16, but the results 
 obtained were somewhat discordant. Enough was learned of it, 
 however, to warrant the statement that it probably stands next to 
 the Cory well of Findlay in production, the Karg well, of course, 
 being excluded from comparison. Its daily yield at present does 
 not vary much from 3,000,000 cubic feet. 
 
 The discovery of this vigorous supply at a distance of only 
 seven miles from Fostoria, an ambitious and enterprising town 
 that has thus far vainly sought for gas within its own boundaries, 
 two wells having been drilled to the Trenton limestone, is one of 
 the important facts of the later developments of the field. The 
 new territory will be fully tested forthwith, and Fostoria will at 
 once proceed to pipe the gas as far as it is necessary, test wells 
 being drilled in the interval between the two towns. 
 
 Such a supply is of much greater value to a community than 
 one that is found within the town boundaries, and thus easily 
 
68 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 accessible to all land owners. There is better promise of its having 
 a full term of life, and the capital invested in its development may, 
 under such conditions, secure a due reward. Manufacturing enter- 
 prises can more safely be established on such a supply. 
 
 Bloomdale of course, may repeat to a limited extent, the 
 experience of Findlay, and sink a number of unnecessary wells, 
 but it is to be earnestly hoped that this ruinous policy will be 
 avoided, and that gas will be drilled for here only when it is needed, 
 and when proper provision has been made for its use. 
 
 The results of new explorations in this field will be watched 
 with great interest. 
 
 THE TRENTON LIMESTONE IN OTHER FIELDS 
 
 As already stated, Bowling Green and Lima were the first two 
 towns to follow the example of Findlay in drilling to the Trenton 
 limestone, and both were successful in their search. It was a 
 strange fortune which made the first three efforts so nearly exhaust 
 the successes in this entire field, up to the present time. With 
 this early record in hand, it seemed to all north-western Ohio, that 
 in regard to natural gas and oil, it was but to ask and to receive. 
 For a few hundred dollars the drill could be sent to what was be- 
 lieved to be a universal and perennial supply of light and heat and 
 power. 
 
 Of the twenty-seven counties that occupy in a solid block 
 north-western Ohio, extending from Dayton and Springfield north- 
 ward, and from Sandusky, Bucyrus and Marion, westward, every 
 one has sunk, or is now sinking a well to the new found region, 
 viz: Trenton limestone. In a number of these counties more 
 than one well has been drilled, and in some, a half dozen, but it 
 still remains true that with a single exception, and that a not very 
 important one, the three counties of Hancock, Wood and Allen, 
 contain all the really valuable supplies that have been so far found. 
 
 THE CAREY GAS WELLS. 
 
 Of the towns that have attained a measure of success outside 
 of those already named, Carey, Wyandot county, deserves men- 
 tion. 
 
 Two wells have been drilled here, the first of which found a 
 small, but thus far persistent flow of gas from the Trenton lime- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 69 
 
 stone. The depth at which the Trenton was struck is 1,326 feet. 
 The elevation of the well-head above the sea is about 813 feet, and 
 consequently the upper surface of the Trenton is a little more than 
 500 feet below tide. This is the lowest point in the rock in which 
 gas in any notable volume has been found. The closed pressure 
 of the well is reported at 335 lbs., but no measurement has as yet 
 been applied to its outflow. 
 
 A second well that was drilled here is reported as smaller in 
 production than the first. Other wells are likely to be drilled at 
 this point, but thus far there is no indication of high-pressure gas 
 in this field. The supply, if it is maintained, is, however, well 
 adapted to domestic use and to the production of steam for ordi- 
 nary purposes. 
 
 THE FREMONT GAS WELLS. 
 
 Fremont, the prosperous county seat of Sandusky county, 
 has taken a lively interest in the new-found fuel of northern Ohio 
 from the date of its discovery in Findlay. The first well was 
 drilled here in the summer of 1885. The Trenton limestone was 
 found about 700 feet below sea level. 
 
 Gas was found in small amount in the shales that were trav- 
 ersed by the drill, and especially in the Medina horizon. The 
 Trenton limestone did not make, in fact, very notable additions to 
 the supply obtained before it was reached. The whole amount of 
 gas flowing from the well a month after it was completed was less 
 than 10,000 cubic feet per day. 
 
 A second well that was sunk soon afterwards was more suc- 
 cessful, but it was also apparent here that the gas came in large 
 part from the Medina or Hudson river shales. In the wells next 
 drilled, the upper sources only were reached, the wells not being 
 sunk deeper than 600 feet. These shallow wells are the best of 
 the Jield thus far, but they are small producers. The second in 
 force gives by meter, 17,000 cubic feet per day. 
 
 The gas is excellently adapted to domestic use, but the wells 
 lack the force and vigor necessary for a manufacturing supply. 
 
 Eight wells have been drilled up to the present time, and more 
 are under contract. 
 
 There are nearly or quite fifty other towns of the western half 
 of Ohio that have been inspired by the success of Findlay and 
 5 
 
70 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 Lima, to drill to the Trenton limestone within the last eighteen 
 months. Most of these towns have already completed one well, 
 and several of them have undertaken a second or even a third. 
 In a number of instances, the drill has been carried down hund- 
 reds of feet into the Trenton limestone, but without advantage in 
 any case. Nothing has been gained from below the uppermost 
 fifty feet of the limestone. 
 
 Some of these wells are absolutely "dry," and are acknowl- 
 edged to be unsuccessful ventures. Even to nitro-glycerine they 
 make no favorable response. In a much larger number, oil and gas 
 have been found in small quantities. Of the latter class, some 
 wells will yield a few hundred or a few thousand feet of gas per day, 
 or from them a few barrels of oil have been or can be obtained. 
 Wells of this character are often counted by the companies that 
 have drilled them as very different from "dry holes." They are 
 thought to give fair promise to the fields in which they occur and 
 to justify further exploration. The first well in Lima made but a 
 poor production of oil, and much account is made of this fact. 
 There are many towns in Ohio that count their first wells as prom- 
 ising as the first Lima well, and they draw from this comparison 
 much encouragement, much more, indeed, than the facts when 
 fairly understood will justify. 
 
 The history of a score or more of these wells is substantially 
 as follows: 
 
 When the drill has been sunk ten to forty feet into the Tren- 
 ton limestone, oil is found, generally, in small quantity, but some- 
 times it rises in the well for several hundred feet. Of course, a 
 little gas accompanies it. To secure a large flow, the drill is kept 
 at work and presently salt water is struck. Sometimes, in fact, 
 the oil and salt water are reached at exactly the same point. The 
 salt water also rises in the well, carrying the oil above it, and 
 occasionally causing overflows. The entire column is generally 
 credited to the oil account. The baler is set to work, and a half 
 dozen barrels, more or less, of oil are obtained. At this point, 
 the well is either tubed and packed, or it is "shot" and made 
 ready for pumping. Generally the latter course is taken, and 
 thirty or forty quarts of nitro-glycerine are exploded in it, at the 
 level of the oil producing rock, after which the tubing is intro- 
 duced. A tank is frequently constructed and the pump is set to 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 71 
 
 work. For a few hours the promise is fairly good, and five, ten, 
 or even twenty or thirty barrels of oil are delivered. At this point, 
 salt water begins to appear, or production of all sorts may be 
 arrested. The decline is generally attributed to sand in the valves. 
 The pump is drawn but nothing is found wrong. After an inter- 
 val, a little more water and less oil are pumped, or perhaps a 
 steady flow of brine appears, but presently it is found that no more 
 petroleum is available in this particular well. But it is often held 
 that the well has been successful in demonstrating the presence of 
 oil and gas in the field, and that now it only remains to find the 
 particular localities where they occur in "paying quantities." 
 The first well, it is believed, was carried a foot or two too deep, 
 but when a second well is drilled, no amount of care prevents a 
 repetition of the experience of the first. 
 
 It would be a pleasure to record the success of any field whose 
 history opens in this way, but thus far no opportunity has been 
 given. Oil and gas in "paying quantities " still remain to be dis- 
 covered in such districts. 
 
 Wells of this character are much worse for the towns that find 
 them than dry holes, because encouragement is often derived from 
 such facts for a second and a third venture, which have thus far, in 
 every case, resulted in the same way as the first. The first Lima 
 well is not a case in point. It was not handled properly for an oil 
 well, being the first in the field. Practical men saw from the rec- 
 ord that its promise was fair. 
 
 The further tests that have been undertaken will doubtless 
 supply, during the present year, materials for a more decisive 
 judgment in the case of many of these districts, and nothing need 
 be said to cloud their titles at the present time, except as they may 
 be involved in certain general conclusions that are now to be 
 stated. 
 
 CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NEW FIELDS. 
 
 I. From the facts already stated, it is obvious that the dis- 
 covery of oil and gas in the Trenton limestone of northern Ohio 
 is invested with great economic interest and importance in the 
 localities that have been specially named. Fuel of such character 
 as Findlay gas, has become in our day a factor of the greatest 
 value in many lines of manufacture, and the towns that can secure 
 
72 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 it gain such an advantage that competition with them is difficult or 
 impossible on the part of towns that are without it. 
 
 Oil is, in like manner, power. In addition to all other uses, it 
 furnishes the best of fuel. Excellent facilities for using it as fuel 
 have been provided of late, and some of these are already intro- 
 duced on the large scale into Lima and adjacent towns. 
 
 The eager search for the new fuel, whether gas or oil, that has 
 been going on and that is still continued in the State, is fully ex- 
 plained, and in a measure justified by the extraordinary value of 
 these substances when found at their best. 
 
 2. The supply of valuable accumulations of oil and gas from 
 the new horizon has thus far been found to be very sharply lim- 
 ited. There are four productive centers at the present time. 
 Others will doubtless be added, but probably within or near to 
 the general boundaries already pointed out. The inference that 
 was hastily drawn from the experience of the towns that led in the 
 search, viz : that all of northern Ohio is good oil and gas territory, 
 has been proved to be unfounded. The oil of Pennsylvania and 
 New York has all been derived thus far from less than 400 square 
 miles of working territory, but these 400 square miles are distrib- 
 uted" through many thousands, and even through tens of thousands 
 of square miles. The production of the Trenton limestone in 
 Ohio may prove to be as sparsely and as apparently capriciously 
 distributed throughout the districts which it is known to underlie 
 as is the production of the great sandstone sheets of Pennsylvania. 
 
 3. The productive territory lies in spots, and the different 
 centers cannot be connected by any lines or belts that it is at all 
 worth while to draw. Any two places can be joined on the map 
 by a straight line, it is true, but not a line can be drawn be- 
 tween the productive districts at present known, which is not 
 broken by failures where drilling has been attempted, and no line 
 has yet been found that would lead the driller to fortune. The 
 north-east and south-west line derived from Pennsylvania experi- 
 ence, is perhaps, the favorite direction in the new field also. Lima 
 lies to the south-west of Findlay; so far, good, but in the same line 
 lies Fostoria with two dry holes, Fremont, without a single well 
 in the Trenton that deserves mention, out of a total of eight wells. 
 Between Lima and Findlay, wells have been drilled at four points, 
 viz: Beaver Dam, Bluffton, Mt. Cory and Rawson, and all are 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 73 
 
 failures. To the south-west of Lima is Celina, where the Trenton 
 is reported unproductive. Out of a total of nine locations on this 
 line, two are productive. 
 
 Another line on which great expectations have been built, is 
 the north and south line connecting Findlay and Bowling Green, 
 but the line is broken in the middle and at both ends. Between 
 Bowling Green and Findlay, the North Baltimore well has showed 
 unproductive ground, at least in the first well. North of Bowling 
 Green are the three unproductive wells of Toledo. South of 
 Findlay, Arlington, Kenton, Belle Center, Urbana and Springfield 
 have made an unavailing search for oil or gas in the Trenton. In 
 this case, two localities out of nine in the line have proved suc- 
 cessful. Such lines or belts, it is obvious, are worse than none. 
 
 The Canada oil field is frequently included in the same belt 
 with Lima and Findlay, but the Canada oil is derived from a rock 
 that is not present at either of these last named points. Its place 
 in the Findlay scale would be 300 to 400 feet in the air. The Cornif- 
 erous limestone is the Canada oil-rock, and the Trenton is never 
 approached within a thousand feet in this field, and moreover, 
 there is good reason to believe that the Trenton arch in Ohio was 
 formed ages before the Canada oil rock was deposited. 
 
 4. The most important line of facts that has been brought 
 out thus far by the study of the field is the connection which is 
 found to be maintained between the' productive areas of the Tren- 
 ton limestone, and the level which its surface holds with reference 
 to the sea. All of the present production is derived from a quite 
 narrow range of elevations. The gas wells of Findlay find their 
 supply where the limestone lies between 306 and 350 feet below 
 sea level. The great gas wells of the field are thus far included in 
 the interval between 330 and 360 feet, both included, below sea 
 level. The gas wells of Bowling Green, including Portage, all find 
 the Trenton at 380 to 400 feet below the sea. 
 
 The oil of the several fields has scarcely a wider range. The 
 deepest steady supply of oil comes from the Matthias well, at the 
 foot of the, Findlay slope, where the Trenton limestone lies four 
 hundred and eighty-one feet below the sea. The bulk of Findlay 
 oil, however, comes from between four hundred and four hundred 
 and sixty feet below the sea. Lima oil is derived from the 
 Trenton, where its surface ranges between three hundred and 
 
74 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 ninety and four hundred feet below the sea. It is highly probable 
 that wider limits will be established under the active development 
 that is going forward, but up to the date when the facts were 
 taken, all the wells agreed fully with the statements here given. 
 
 In the Lima district, the descent of the surface of the Trenton 
 to four hundred feet or more below sea level, is instantly fatal to 
 it as a source of petroleum. 
 
 In no case has oil thus far been produced in any persistent supply 
 from the Trenton limestone where its surface is five hundred feet below 
 the sea. The deduction is obvious. Where the surface of the 
 limestone is found five hundred feet or more below the sea, one 
 well is enough to determine the character of the immediate field, 
 according to present knowledge. The Carey wells mark the limit 
 in this direction. The Trenton limestone here lies five hundred 
 and thirteen feet below sea level. 
 
 The provisional character of this conclusion is fully recognized. 
 It will lose its validity when set aside by a new fact, but so long 
 as it is maintained it can be made useful in limiting exploration as 
 already suggested. Large districts are promptly condemned by 
 this deduction. It may be charged that this is a prophesy after 
 the fact, that only by the failure of the well can the law be 
 extended. It is true that a certain amount of exploration must pre- 
 cede a valid conclusion, but the latter is by no means limited to 
 the particular districts in which the exploration is carried on. 
 Take for example, the drilling that has gone forward in towns on 
 the Dayton & Michigan railroad, north of Lima. In the well 
 drilled at Columbus Grove, the Trenton was struck at five hundred 
 and twenty-six feet below sea level ; in the Ottawa wells, at six 
 hundred and thirty nine feet; in the Leipsic well, at seven hundred 
 and one feet, and in the Weston well, at nine hundred and five 
 feet. At Toledo, also, its surface was found eight hundred feet 
 or more below the sea. Not only is further drilling in these local- 
 ities discouraged by this conclusion so long as it stands unim- 
 peached, but the geological structure of the counties to the west 
 of this line is such as to make it certain that their condition is 
 worse in this respect than that of the towns that have already 
 experienced failures. That is, the Trenton limestone lies lower in 
 them than in the regions already found barren. In Van Wert 
 county, however, west of Lima, the Trenton is found at a level 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 75 
 
 i 
 
 more favorable, so far as this deduction is concerned. Its surface 
 in the Van Wert well is four hundred and thirty-four feet below 
 the sea, and in the Delphos well, four hundred and forty- seven 
 feet below. Further exploration may well enough be undertaken 
 in this region. 
 
 By the application of the same deduction, the eastern boundary 
 of the field lies along the line of the Columbus, Hocking Valley 
 & Toledo railroad. Wells have been drilled on this line at Marion, 
 Upper Sandusky, Carey, Fostoria, Bradner and Toledo. The 
 record of the Marion well is not satisfactory. According to the 
 current figures, the Trenton limestone here lies at about seven 
 hundred feet below the sea ; at Upper Sandusky, it is four hundred 
 and seventy feet below; at Carey, where it produces a moderate 
 amount of gas, it lies five hundred and thirteen feet below ; at 
 Fostoria, where two dry holes have been drilled, it is four hundred 
 and seventy-two feet below ; at Bradner, five hundred and twenty- 
 nine feet below, and at Toledo, as previously stated, about eight 
 hundred feet below sea level. 
 
 The line of elevations here given belongs, of course, to the 
 counties already named. There is no known significance as yet, 
 outside of these distripts, in the fact that the Trenton limestone 
 lies three hundred or four hundred feet below the level of the sea, 
 so far as oil or gas production is concerned. The limestone, as 
 already shown, rises slowly to the southward. Its upper surface 
 reaches sea level not far from the parallel of Dayton. At Cincin- 
 nati, it is about two hundred feet above sea level, though still 
 buried several hundred feet deep, and in the valley of the Ken- 
 tucky river, it rises today, having here an elevation of five hun- 
 dred to six hundred feet above the sea. Through the northern 
 portion of Darke county, through Shelby county and probably 
 through Logan, there is an arrest of the northward dip and a 
 small reverse dip is established. The Trenton lies forty feet 
 higher at Union City, Ind., than at Greenville, and forty feet 
 higher at Sidney than at Piqua. This interruption might well be 
 expected to connect itself with oil or gas accumulation, but so far 
 the limestone in this belt has proved entirely barren. 
 
 The deduction as to the connection between its petroliferous 
 character and its absolute, level is not, therefore, to be applied 
 much beyond the south line of Allen county, according to present 
 
76 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 experience. It seems almost certain, however, from the latest 
 developments, that portions of Auglaize and Hardin counties will 
 yet be found to hold valuable stocks of oil or gas. They are very 
 closely connected with producing territory. But the result of a 
 considerable amount of drilling' done to the south of this line is 
 certainly discouraging. At no point has the limestone been found 
 charged with oil or gas in sufficient quantity to pay for the present 
 or to warrant further exploration. More than twenty-five wells, 
 distributed through thirteen counties, have been sunk to the Tren- 
 ton limestone within this district, but the rock has not yielded to 
 a single one of them any adequate return in the way of light or 
 heat. At Cincinnati, these wells do indeed furnish power, but it 
 is water power. They have proved artesian wells, and the strong 
 flow which they send out from the deeper courses of the Trenton 
 is utilized in elevators. New wells are being drilled for the 
 express purpose of securing this form ot power. The deep water 
 of these wells is quite highly mineralized, and is popularly identi 
 tied with the Blue Lick water of Kentucky. Some value is 
 attached to it as a medicinal water at several points where it has 
 been reached. 
 
 In the accompanying map of a number of counties of north- 
 western Ohio, the areas in which the Trenton limestone is found 
 more than 500 feet below sea level, are indicated by shading. 
 The north-western and the north-eastern boundaries are established 
 on a larger number of facts than the remainder. In Hardin county, 
 particularly, and also in Logan, the lines laid down have but little 
 to rest on, and not much reliance is to be placed in them. Much 
 of the boundary is provisional only, and when more facts are in 
 hand the included areas will possibly be represented by an archi- 
 pelago instead of by a single mass. One outlier of Trenton less 
 than 500 feet below sea level is to be noted at Upper Sandusky. 
 The surface of the rock here is reported at 472 feet below the sea. 
 
 No large production of oil or gas has been obtained in any of 
 the shaded areas thus far, but it is not to be inferred that all of the 
 unshaded portion is promising territory. Much of this has been 
 already found barren by the drill. It is also to be considered fairly 
 probable that accidents of structure like those described in Findlay 
 may somewhere determine production in the regions that thus far 
 we have been obliged to condemn. 
 
■J 
 
 MAP OF NORTHWESTERN OHIO. 
 
 OHIO GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Edward Orion Siaie Geologist 
 
 B 
 
 TrenioriLiim-eslorvel (less than S00 feel II 
 
 below sea-level J" \more „ ,, >, Ks^SI 
 
 Depth of Trenton I/ime&bone below 
 i &ea-level as found in drilled wells, ihua-- 
 
 . Se ale- 12. miles = 1 inc. Tv. 
 ? ■ ■*■ * 
 
Missing Page 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 77 
 
 It is believed that this conclusion can be applied with great 
 profit to the regions in which drilling is going forward. The towns 
 may still insist on making their tests, but one will perhaps suffice 
 when the record shows the lower limestone to be at a level from 
 which no value has yet been obtained. In fact, all new drilling 
 for Trenton limestone oil or gas,, in the shaded areas, might well 
 enough be left in abeyance, until at least one success is registered 
 in such territory. There are a score of wells now under contract 
 in these clouded districts, and if their records all agree with the 
 records already made, it will be as nearly certain as most things 
 are that we call certain, that no new well will repay its projectors. 
 A line showing the 400 feet levels of the Trenton would come 
 much closer to actual production than that here represented, but 
 for the present we must be content with rough approximations to 
 boundaries. 
 
 5. The drilling that is now going forward, and that is likely 
 to be continued in the western half of Ohio for some time to come, 
 seems likely to bring little or no reward in money value to the 
 communities that undertake it, outside of the three or four counties 
 previously named. It makes a redistribution of a good deal of 
 accumulated wealth, but the labor is essentially unproductive in 
 character — that is, it does not seem likely to add to the material 
 resources of the parties that make the outlay. There is, however, 
 another side to the question which deserves consideration. The 
 drilling of a deep well in the drift-covered plains of northern Ohio 
 is an educating agency of no mean order. The record, as the 
 work progresses, becomes to a whole community almost like the 
 experience of a journey into a foreign land. A new field of 
 thought is opened, and new ideas come in at every stage. The 
 oil and gas excitement of the last two years has done a great deal 
 to promote the intelligence of the communities through which it 
 has extended. To an ambitious company that has made liberal 
 investments in the hope of gaining a prize in the lottery of petro- 
 leum production, the result here named may seem a very intangi- 
 ble and unsatisfactory one, but for a great many of the towns that 
 have drilled, it is either this or nothing. The money spent in 
 drilling to the Trenton limestone in western Ohio during the last 
 year makes a large aggregate, and most of it must be counted as 
 water poured out on the ground, except for these indirect advan- 
 
78 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 tages which have no place in ordinary balance sheets. If such 
 elements are not recognized, then Ohio has been a great loser by 
 the discovery of Findlay gas and Lima oil. 
 
 It is the lottery element in petroleum production that gives to 
 it most of its fascination. As in the search for other forms of 
 mineral wealth, there is the possibility of getting large returns for 
 small outlays. Science has no key with which to unlock these 
 buried treasures in advance of exploration. No knowledge and 
 no sagacity could have located the oil field of Lima, for example, 
 in advance of the driller, but after a certain amount of exploration 
 is done, deductions are often possible by which further work may 
 be guided to some extent. This now appears to be the case in 
 regard to the new oil horizon of Ohio. The element of chance 
 still remains a factor, but the drilling already done suffices to show 
 that outside of certain narrow boundaries the dice are at least 
 loaded. Each new failure gives new validity to the interdict 
 against drilling that the results of one year's explorations have 
 applied to large sections of western Ohio. 
 
 The facts here presented when candidly considered will dis- 
 courage much of the promiscuous drilling that is now going for- 
 ward. Especially will they discourage the drilling of second and 
 third wells in many localities where the first well was, to all intents, 
 a failure. The excitement that has pervaded the State is largely 
 due to the sensational and exaggerated reports that have been sent 
 out from the points where drilling has been done, by persons 
 gathering news for the press. To one deriving his information 
 from newspaper paragraphs alone, the inference would be war- 
 ranted that north-western Ohio is one great pool of petroleum, 
 charged with high-pressure gas, and ready to flow out in streams 
 of fabulous value wherever the drill is sunk to the rock that con- 
 tains it. Much of the production, especially of gas, has been 
 exaggerated a score of times, and some of it even hundreds of 
 times. In one instance, a well was credited in published accounts 
 with 385,000 feet of gas per day, where the measurement showed 
 1,270 feet. The exaggeration is not, as a rule, intentional, but it 
 results largely from the unfamiliar character of the facts. It will 
 doubtless diminish as knowledge of the subject becomes more 
 CT eneral. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 79 
 
 The remaining horizons of oil and gas will be very briefly 
 treated in this review. There is but one of commanding im- 
 portance. 
 
 SECTION V. — THE BEREA GRIT AS A SOURCE OF 
 OIL AND GAS IN OHIO. 
 
 The stratum here named holds a,s central a place in the oil and 
 gas supply of eastern Ohio as the Trenton limestone does in north- 
 western Ohio. 
 
 As already described, it is a sandstone formation of medium 
 grain, ranging from five to ioo feet in thickness, and is remarkably 
 persistent. Its identification under cover is rendered easy by the 
 character of the strata associated with it. It always has a black shale 
 roof and often a red shale floor. Moreover, it is the last regular sand- 
 stone to be passed in the rocks of the State in descending order. Its 
 outcrop from Cleveland west and south passes through Cuyahoga, 
 Lorain, Erie, Huron, Richland, Crawford, Morrow, Delaware, 
 Franklin, Pickaway, Ross, Pike, Highland, Adams, and Scioto 
 counties. In Pike, Highland, and Adams counties, it attains its 
 highest elevation above the sea, which slightly exceeds 1,300 feet. 
 In Richland and Crawford its outcrops have an elevation of 1,125 
 feet above the sea, and on the shore of Lake Erie an elevation of 
 about 800 feet. 
 
 It dips prevailingly to the south and east at a rate of fifteen to 
 thirty-five feet to the mile. Its lowest levels are found under deep 
 cover in the Ohio valley from Marietta to Steubenville. The low- 
 est recorded levels are about 800 feet below tide. Its vertical 
 range is thus seen to be not less than 2, 100 feet. 
 
 It is geologically due in fifty counties of Ohio, and it is 
 entirely safe to say that it is present in every one, inasmuch as its 
 presence has been proved in all of those in regard to which a 
 question might most easily be raised. In a number of the counties 
 where it lies deepest, it has been found in scores and even in hun- 
 dreds of drill holes. Wherever exposed to view it is almost, if not 
 altogether, destitute of organic remains, and its stock of oil and 
 gas is undoubtedly derived from the great mass of bituminous 
 
SO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 shale by which it is everywhere underlain. It is like all other 
 oil rocks, a repository of salt water as well. The brine derived 
 from it has been the sole reliance of some of the best salt works in 
 the State in years past, and it is still used at one important center 
 of salt production in the State. 
 
 At certain points the Berea grit has proved to be a source of 
 oil and gas when under the lightest possible cover. The well- 
 known oilfields of Mecca and Grafton furnish instances of this 
 sort. In the first of these fields more than 2,000 wells have been 
 drilled, none of them having a depth of more than fifty or sixty feet. 
 In many of the wells there is no cover whatever for the Berea grit 
 but bowlder clay, the lower portions of which are saturated with 
 oil. 
 
 It thus appears that the natural shale cover of the sandstone was 
 all eroded in distant ages. Before this took place, the stratum 
 must have been charged with oil. While lying exposed as a 
 surface rock, oil must have constantly oozed from it, as we find 
 oil and gas escaping from certain outcrops now. But when the 
 nearly impervious beds of bowlder clay had once more formed a 
 cover, accumulation of oil was resumed in the rock, and thus the 
 somewhat scanty stocks that have been drawn upon for the last 
 twenty-five years have originated. 
 
 The oil of the Mecca field has lost most of its volatile pro- 
 ducts through the light cover by which it has been protected, and 
 it now has the usual gravity of 26° to 28° B. It is a lubricating 
 oil of excellent quality, its price ranging higher than that of any 
 other natural oil in market. The present product is limited to a 
 few hundred barrels in a year. The Berea grit at Mecca is about 
 850 feet above sea level. 
 
 In the town of Grafton, Lorain county, a production of similar 
 character was maintained for a number of years. The Berea grit 
 here retains fifty to seventy-five feet of its normal shale cover, but 
 the oil is still a very heavy oil, similar in quality to the Mecca oil. 
 Several hundred wells have been drilled during the history of the 
 field, but none are productive at the present time. The Berea 
 grit at Grafton is about 650 feet above sea level. 
 
 As the Berea grit takes heavier cover, it becomes a source of 
 larger production. It has yielded a good deal of gas at several 
 points when found from 400 to 600 feet below the surface. Oil is 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 81 
 
 also produced by it abundantly under the same conditions. The 
 absolute level at which it is found seems thus far a matter of indif- 
 ference so far as the production of gas and oil is concerned. It has 
 been found to produce one or both in important quantity when it 
 lies 800 above and 750 feet below sea level. 
 
 Two or three fields of special interest will be very briefly 
 treated. 
 
 THE EAST LIVERPOOL GAS WELLS. 
 
 The gas wells of this region, viz : the Upper Ohio Valley, are 
 more widely known than the importance of their supply would lead 
 us to expect. The utilization of natural gas for household heat and 
 light was effected here in 1874, and has been maintained ever since 
 on a somewhat restricted scale. The village streets have been 
 lighted with natural gas also for the same period. 
 
 The gas is obtained from shallow wells, ranging from 425 to 
 475 feet in depth. The absolute level of the oil-producing rock is 
 about 250 feet above sea level. 
 
 The structural features of the field are well marked. A low 
 fold, apparently the Fredericktown anticlinal of White, traverses 
 the strata of the region, lifting the conglomerate coal-measures so 
 as to almost expose their lowest beds. From this point southward 
 the dip of the strata is unusually rapid. Between East Liverpool 
 and Steubenville, a distance of twenty-five miles, there is a fall of 
 nearly 850 feet. 
 
 Gas was discovered here, in connection with salt water, in the 
 wide-spread search for oil that extended through the country in 
 1859 anc * !86o. A small amount of oil was found here, and at 
 Smith's Ferry, a few miles above East Liverpool, an import- 
 ant field, which maintains a small production to the present 
 time was then developed. The salt water was turned to account 
 for salt manufacture, and, after the Kanawha Valley fashion, the 
 accompanying gas was used in the evaporation to some extent, 
 but it was not until 1874 that the gas began to be used for other 
 purposes, as heating, cooking, etc. East Liverpool is a pioneer 
 town in these later applications of natural gas. It was first applied 
 to the burning of pottery here. 
 
 The section passed through in reaching the Berea grit is char- 
 acteristic. The Cuyahoga shale is a homogeneous mass of light- 
 

 82 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 colored shale, 200-250 feet in thickness, always underlaid by 
 the Berea shale, dark or black in color, and twenty to forty feet 
 thick. The last named stratum makes the cover of the Berea grit, 
 which seldom exceeds twenty feet in thickness, and which is often 
 reduced to less than ten feet. 
 
 The supply is very moderate at the present time. The largest 
 well yields about 35,000 cubic feet per day, and others fall as low 
 as 10,000 cubic feet. Even this production can be maintained 
 only by scrupulous care and attention. All the wells that are used 
 are pumped for salt water once and often twice a day. A few gal- 
 lons of brine are removed with each pumping, but were it not 
 for this constant removal, the brine would soon overpower the gas 
 and the supply would become extinct. 
 
 The gas company keeps five wells in operation. They sup- 
 ply fifty or sixty families, and they also light the streets of the 
 town. The lights are not extinguished through the day. The 
 present supply runs short in severe weather. 
 
 The potteries have made repeated and earnest efforts to secure 
 large and vigorous supplies, but the rock has thus far proved 
 obdurate. It will only yield household fuel. 
 
 The gas has but little' odor, and accidents of the usual charac- 
 ter have resulted from its leakage. 
 
 The field has been greatly injured by the over-crowding of 
 wells, five or six being located on a half-acre, and also by neglect 
 or abandonment of wells already drilled. There is a good degree 
 of permeability of the oil-rock, as is shown by various facts, and 
 one neglected well pours its accumulating brine into those nearest 
 to it. 
 
 THE NEFF GAS WELLS. 
 
 A series of wells drilled for oil twenty years ago in the valleys 
 of the Kokosing and Mohican rivers, in the north-western corner 
 of Coshocton county and in adjacent territory, has become widely 
 known through the large production of gas from two of the wells 
 and the continuous production from several others, and through 
 the utilization of the gas in the manufacture of lamp-black in the 
 large way, an important and quite widely-extended application 
 which, so far as is known, originated here. The manufacture is 
 still maintained at this point in considerable force. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 83 
 
 The whole enterprise in the way of development and use has 
 been under the management and control of Peter Neff, Esq., of 
 Gambier. 
 
 Quite a full account of the wells and of the early stages of the 
 lamp-black manufacture is given by M. C. Read, Esq., in Geology 
 of Ohio, Vol. Ill, page 340, etc. 
 
 Mr. Read referred the oil-rock to the horizon of the Berea 
 grit, and established the probable presence of arches or similar 
 structural derangements in the series at this point and in the 
 neighborhood, the normal dip of the oil-rock being found to be 
 reversed in some of the wells. 
 
 The Berea grit lies from 550 to 600 feet below the surface of 
 the valleys, and between 250 and 300 feet above tide- water. Oil 
 has been produced from some of the wells in small quantity ; all of 
 them yield more or less salt water. Two of the number proved to 
 be very energetic gas wells of the geyser type, but the gas has 
 been gradually reduced by the salt water. The three wells that 
 are now the dependence of the lamp-black manufacture are com- 
 paratively small producers, and need constant attention in the way 
 of removing the brine that accumulates in them. They are 
 pumped each day for this purpose. 
 
 The field certainly shows some promise as a gas field. Further 
 developments conducted in the light of our recently acquired 
 knowledge of gas and oil accumulation, might fairly be expected 
 to find some points at which the gas would not be so closely fol- 
 lowed and hard pressed by salt water. The chief drawback is the 
 distance of the location from any center of established industries 
 that could make use of a large production. 
 
 The wells were drilled for oil, as has been said, and great dis- 
 appointment was experienced when only noisy and ungovernable 
 gas wells were found. The discovery of such stocks of gas to day 
 would create a greater interest than any ordinary oil wells in most 
 parts of the State. The disappointment now is when gas is missed 
 and oil is found in most of the explorations in progress. 
 
 THE MACKSBURG OIL FIELD. 
 
 This is the only important oil-field of the eastern half of Ohio 
 at the present time. There are four productive sand rocks in this 
 field, but the interest centers in the Berea grit. This stratum was 
 
84 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 first struck here in 1877, the first well yielding only dry gas. In 
 1878, the first oil well was obtained in the Berea, a ten-barrel flow- 
 ing well being struck by George Rice, Esq. In 1882, a well flow- 
 ing 100 barrels per day was obtained, and the attention of Penn- 
 sylvania oil-producers was forthwith definitely turned to Macks- 
 burg: It speedily became a factor in the general market, and has 
 produced since that time as much as 3,000 barrels per day for a 
 maximum. Its yield for 1885, was over 600,000 barrels. Its 
 present output is about 2,400 barrels per day. Over 400 wells are 
 now producing, and the average yield is about 6%^ bbls. 
 
 The Berea grit is found here in a normal and unequivocal sec- 
 tion at 1,450 to 1,500 feet below the valley levels. The peculiar 
 structure brought to light by a careful study of the field has been 
 adverted to on a preceding page. It was first noted and worked 
 out in a preliminary way, by F. W. Minshall, Esq., of Parkers- 
 burg. Lines of level were afterward run over all the field by the 
 Geological Survey, and Mr. Minshall's reading of the stratum was 
 confirmed at every point. 
 
 The leading facts are as follows : In the vicinity of Macks- 
 burg, the light, south-easterly dip of the strata is found to be 
 interrupted, and lor nearly a mile in the general direction of the 
 dip, a terrace-like structure prevails. All of the strata of the 
 exposed section from top to bottom, and all that are ever reached 
 by the drill as well, are equally affected by this structural irregu- 
 larity. 
 
 It is this terrace which constitutes the Macksburg oil field. 
 Oil was found here 20 years ago in shallow wells from 200 to 300 
 feet deep in the Buffalo (Upper Mahoning) sandstone. But adven- 
 turous drillers, one after the other, struck new sources of oil. A 
 second oil sand was soon discovered at 500 feet, and a third at 700 
 feet. Finally, as before stated, the Berea grit was found 1,300 to 
 1,500 feet below the surface, holding a stock of oil large enough 
 to make the Macksburg field for the first time a factor in the gen- 
 eral market. 
 
 But the shallow and the deep productive wells are alike defi- 
 nitely limited to the terrace that has been described. In other 
 words, four oil-sands become productive in the same area when 
 the structure is found favorable. That these several horizons do 
 not communicate with each other is evident from the fact that the 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 85 
 
 oils which they severally produce differ from each other in gravity, 
 in color and in chemical constitution. 
 
 The depth of the Berea grit in the terrace below sea level is 
 735 feet. Of twenty-four wells, distributed through four square 
 miles of territory, sixteen found the Berea between 733 and 737 
 feet below tide, and six found it, by their records, to be exactly 
 735 feet below tide. 
 
 On the north-western margin of the terrace, at elevations of 
 728, 720, 713 and 704 feet, gas is found but no oil. Several hun- 
 dred wells have now been drilled on all sides, and the terrace 
 which stands revealed by the engineer's level is alone found pro- 
 ductive. 
 
 THE WELLSBURG GAS FIELD. 
 
 A gas field developed in the Ohio valley, between Steuben- 
 ville and Wheeling, demands brief mention here. It embraces 
 territory on both sides of the river, but the center of the produc- 
 tion is at and^near Wellsburg, W. Va., and the field is best known 
 from this locality. The search for gas in and around the chief 
 manufacturing centers of this part of the valley, as Steubenville, 
 Martin's Ferry, Wheeling and Bellaire, has been very resolute 
 and persistent. More than 50 wells have been drilled here within 
 the last three years, the average cost being at least $3,000. The 
 manufacturing industries of this region are mainly in the lines of 
 iron, glass and clay, and it is precisely these industries that are 
 most affected by the introduction of the new fuel. The manufac- 
 turers of this district have recognized the absolute necessity of 
 securing natural gas from some source to maintain themselves in 
 the field, but thus far they have succeeded only in demonstrating 
 that they have no home supply except in a comparatively limited 
 range, and that unfortunately at a considerable distance from the 
 points where the demand is most urgent. 
 
 In December, 1882, a gas well of great vigor and promise was 
 drilled at Wellsburg. It is known as the Barclay well No. 1. 
 Gas was found all the way down in the descent of the drill, but at 
 1,277 feet a great flow was struck. This flow came from the 
 Berea grit, which was found here ten feet thick, and under 400 
 feet of Cuyahoga and Berea shale, above which were 250 feet of 
 the pebbly series of the Waverly and coal measure conglomerates. 
 
 6 
 
80 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 Under the Berea at Steubenville, the drill descended through 800 
 feet of Ohio shale without profit. This pioneer well served to 
 accredit the field, but it has rendered comparatively little service 
 in other ways. It blew its great volume of gas into the air for 
 nearly a year, and through various causes lost much of its initial 
 energy. It was then "drowned" by the flood of 1884, and since 
 then has never recovered its pressure. A measurement made of 
 its flow by the anemometer in July, 1885, showed its daily yield 
 to be 30,620 feet. 
 
 A second well drilled very near it in April, 1883, known as 
 the Barclay well, No. 2, has proved a fairly vigorous producer. Its 
 yield in July, 1885, was found to be 469,000 feet per day. 
 
 This immediate location has been ruined, however, by the 
 crowding of wells together, and by the neglect of some of the 
 number. The territory is overrun with salt water, and no longer 
 is counted valuable. 
 
 Other wells, the noted Dalzell well among the number, were 
 soon added to the list, and for several miles on botH sides of the 
 river, drilling went forward on a large scale. The Ohio side was 
 vigorously worked, and wells of some promise were struck at Bril- 
 liant, but their life has proved short. 
 
 In fact, the entire supply of the district is reported as running 
 low, and the field fails to fulfill its early promise. 
 
 Of the eight wells drilled at Steubenville, all have proved vir- 
 tually failures. 
 
 So far as present knowledge goes, there is but one source of 
 petroleum in valuable quantity and of high-pressure gas available 
 to north-eastern Ohio, and that source is the Berea grit. The 
 statement cannot be made quite as strong for the south-eastern 
 quarter of the State, inasmuch as the Waverly conglomerate, and 
 several strata of the conglomerate coal measures, and also the 
 upper division of the coal measures furnish, at times, both oil and 
 gas in valuable amount, but when all is said, the Berea grit out- 
 ranks in importance in these respects all the rest combined. The 
 stratum that yields the Macksburg oil and the Wellsburg gas is the 
 only one on which either the oil producer or the manufacturer who 
 is seeking for natural gas can afford to make much outlay in that 
 portion of the State. 
 
 In all the localities of north-eastern Ohio in which the Berea 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 87 
 
 grit is found barren or but feebly productive, home supplies of 
 high-pressure gas are not to be expected, and while in south- 
 eastern Ohio there are one or two chances besides those furnished 
 by the Berea grit, and which indeed, must be taken before the 
 Berea grit is reached, they are too uncertain to inspire confidence 
 or to warrant large expenditure. In point of fact, there is at the 
 present time no production of either oil or gas in the eastern half of 
 Ohio that is not derived from or that does not draw its value from the 
 stratum under consideration. The last clause refers to the produc- 
 tion of the upper oil-sands of the Macksburg field. By themselves, 
 these last named supplies would be insignificant, but in conjunction 
 with the oil from the Berea grit, they acquire new value and im- 
 portance, being able to avail themselves of all the advantages 
 which the latter has secured. 
 
 The recognition of these facts would have saved, within the 
 last year, to the towns of north-eastern Ohio, a large amount of 
 money that has been used to no purpose in drilling unusually deep 
 wells in search of natural gas. Their recognition at the present 
 time will discourage for years to come, like large expenditures in 
 random drilling in the same search. Test' wells, involving possible 
 new horizons, when located wisely and when followed with due 
 care and with all available knowledge, will always be in order, but 
 the work that is now going on mainly consists in driving deep 
 holes into the ground, the work being guided by scarcely more intel- 
 ligence than would be used in turning a wheel of fortune. Chance 
 will always have a considerable part to play in the distribution of 
 mineral wealth of this character, but there is certainly room for 
 other factors in the search for gas and oil in Ohio at the present 
 day. We are able to avail ourselves of a vast amount of expen- 
 sive investigation by which our own work should be guided, and in 
 many cases restricted for time to come. 
 
 As has already been shown, high-pressure gas and oil in 
 "paying quantities" have not thus far been found in the Trenton 
 limestone where its surface falls 500 feet below the level of the sea. 
 This dead-line of the Trenton passes not far from, but generally a 
 little west of the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo railway, 
 through the counties of Wyandot, Sandusky and Wood. From 
 this boundary eastward, until the Berea grit is found under respec- 
 table cover, say 300 to 500 feet, there is an interval of 40 to 140 
 
»8 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 miles in which so far as present knowledge goes, the conditions fof 
 high-pressure gas do not occur. The line of the Cleveland, Co : 
 lumbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis railway, through the counties 
 of Richland, Huron, Lorain and Cuyahoga to Berea, and thence 
 a line running through the central part of Cuyahoga, Geauga, and 
 Trumbull counties to Pennsylvania, will make the eastern and 
 northern boundary of an interval in which the Trenton limestone 
 lies too deep to be available as a source of high-pressure gas, and 
 in which the Berea grit cannot serve such a purpose, either from 
 the fact that its outcrop does not extend so far, or from the fact 
 that it lies too shallow to have acquired large accumulations. To 
 the eastward and southward of this new boundary throughout the 
 eastern half of the State, this persistent stratum is to be counted 
 on as present and ready to take its part as a reservoir of oil in 
 quantity or of high-pressure gas whenever and wherever the other 
 conditions for such accumulation are found. The Trenton lime- 
 stone is, of course, at still greater disadvantage in this area. Its 
 horizon has dropped so low that no driller has beten adventurous 
 enough to find it, and in fact, there is no certainty that we should 
 know it if we reached it. At the center of this old gulf, it is 
 quite possible, perhaps even probable, that the limestone growths 
 so characteristic of this great stratum along a thousand miles of 
 soundings would be replaced by very different materials. Lime- 
 stone might well give place to shale or other fine-grained deposits. 
 The boundary within which the Berea grit may be counted 
 ready to perform its part in furnishing high-pressure gas has been 
 roughly traced from the Pennsylvania line into Richland county. 
 Southward from Shelby, the same boundary would extend along 
 the east line of Morrow county, the western central portions of 
 Licking and Fairfield, the western boundary of Hocking, the east- 
 ern boundary of Ross, and the central parts of Pike and Scioto. 
 Through all the portions of the State that lie south and east of this 
 boundary, the Berea grit is under 300 feet or more of cover which 
 consists first of 30 to 50 feet of the black or dark close-grained 
 Berea shale, over which, when the full section is reached, 300 to 
 500 feet of Cuyahoga shale is found, light-colored, compact, and 
 fine in grain, and almost thoroughly impervious. It is underlain 
 throughout its whole extent, on the other hand, by never less than 
 300 feet of bituminous shales, which are sometimes condensed into 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 89 
 
 a fairly homogeneous mass, as on the western border, and some- 
 times interstratified with, and distributed among, five or six times 
 as much lighter-colored, green, gray, or blue shales, as in the inte- 
 rior of the basin. As for the Berea grit itself, it is always a 
 porous rock, though seldom a coarse one. Some of its best work 
 as reservoir for oil and gas is done by it where its grain is below, 
 rather than above the medium grade. 
 
 Here then are source, reservoir and cover in perfect order, 
 and on the largest scale, adjusted to large, to even the largest pro- 
 duction of oil and gas. 
 
 How often do they reach such production? The meager list 
 •of localities already given, embraces the important fields that are 
 now known. We have reason to expect that this list will be some- 
 what, and it is to be hoped, considerably expanded under the 
 explorations that are now going forward. 
 
 But it is safe to prophesy that the new fields, like the old 
 ones, will ally themselves in all instances with irregular and abnor- 
 mal structure of some sort, with broken stratification, with low 
 arches, or in default of folds with the terrace-like areas already de- 
 scribed, which in reality are folds that nature began to build but 
 was not able to finish. Throughout how many portions of the 
 main district under consideration, these fortunate misfortunes, 
 these happy accidents of structure are wanting, the drill is con- 
 stantly making known to us by the negative results of its work. 
 
 Within this main area of Berea grit territory, there is no 
 known source of high-pressure gas below the Berea itself. We 
 might well expect some such sources, especially in the north- 
 eastern corner of the State, because the Venango, the Warren and 
 the Bradford sands of western Pennsylvania, the most remarkable 
 repositories of petroleum and gas yet found in the world, belong 
 in the interval between the Berea grit and the Corniferous lime- 
 stone, but they appear to have almost or altogether fined out and 
 disappeared in passing to the westward. Obscure hints of sand- 
 stone in the underlying shales of the Ohio section are all that we 
 generally meet, and in no case has important accumulation been 
 found in these possible representatives of the great Pennsylvania 
 store-houses. 
 
 The Corniferous limestone itself, as has been already pointed 
 out, apparently holds all of the conditions of successful accumula- 
 
90 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 tion of petroleum. It has ample stores of oil within itself, it has 
 also ample thickness, and its cover would seem to meet all de- 
 mands in that respect, but no valuable accumulation has thus far 
 been found within it within the limits of the State. 
 
 The Berea grit has shown considerable vigor in past years in 
 the counties of Hocking and Vinton. There are developments 
 going forward now on this stratum in these counties, and also in 
 Perry and Muskingum that will be watched with interest, but 
 there is not yet any well marked productive territory made known. 
 
 Before drawing certain practical conclusions for guidance in 
 the future search for oil and gas, from the facts already stated, it 
 will be best to describe the principal remaining horizon of natural 
 gas in the State, albeit it is not a horizon of high-pressure gas. 
 
 SECTION VI.— THE OHIO SHALE AS A SOURCE OF 
 GAS AND OIL. 
 
 The two main sources of gas and oil in Ohio have now been 
 described, and the approximate boundaries of their productive ter- 
 ritory, as shown by recent explorations, have been pointed out. 
 But what of the wide belt of country that lies between these 
 boundaries in northern Ohio? Is it entirely destitute of oil and 
 gas ? Is it, by its composition and structure, debarred for all time 
 from taking any part in this production? 
 
 It may seem like a contradiction after what has been claimed 
 for other districts, and what has been denied at least by implication 
 for this, to assert that within this intermediate area, or at least 
 within those portions of it that lie nearest to the main Berea boun- 
 dary, there is not only a greater number of gas springs, oil-seeps,, 
 and other surface indications than is to be found in any other equal 
 area in the State, but a much larger number of gas wells in steady 
 flow. But this statement can be fully substantiated without antag- 
 onizing the claims that have been made for the Berea grit and the 
 Trenton limestone. 
 
 The belt of country to which reference is now made, it will 
 be remembered, extends along the south shore of Lake Erie west- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 91 
 
 ward from the Pennsylvania line as far as the Huron river, from 
 which point it extends southward to the Ohio valley, with a 
 breadth varying from fifteen to forty miles. 
 
 This belt takes in the western outcrop of the Ohio (black) 
 shale, and also the outcrops of the Berea grit and its normal 
 covers, extending eastward and southward until the sandstone has 
 had time to fall 300 feet or more below the surface of the valleys. 
 There must be added to it also 1,000 to 1,200 square miles in the 
 north-western corner of the State where the Ohio shale is the sur- 
 face rock, covered, however, as a rule, by heavy beds of drift. 
 
 The main territory thus bounded will be recognized by all 
 conversant with the facts as embracing the most numerous and 
 longest known gas wells of the State, those, namely, which have 
 been drilled along the shore of Lake Erie, mainly between Cleve- 
 land and the Pennsylvania line. There is not a township between 
 the limits named in which one or more successful wells has not 
 been drilled. At many points, wells have been drilled to the 
 number of six and more, which are yielding steady and excellent 
 supplies. A few general statements will suffice as to the character 
 of this supply: 
 
 1. The gas is of the same character as that found in the 
 Berea grit. It is probably, however, more uniform and constant 
 in composition than that which is yielded by the latter stratum from 
 considerable depths. Its odor is not marked or offensive, and con- 
 sequently good gas-fitting is required when it is introduced into , 
 domestic use. 
 
 2. It is, without exception, low-pressure gas. This term is 
 relative, not absolute, it is true, and pockets of gas are often found 
 in drilling, to which the statement would not apply, but when the 
 wells have settled down to their normal flow, the closed pressure 
 probably never rises as high as 100 lbs. to the inch. 
 
 3. The wells, in like manner, yield but comparatively small 
 volumes. A daily yield of 80,000 feet is as high as has yet been 
 measured. Wells with onq-fourth of this production are counted 
 good wells, and many of them range from one to 5,000 cubic feet 
 per day. In some cases storage is effected by small gasometers 
 that receive the gas as it rises and send it out with equable flow. 
 
 4. The supply from this source is peculiarly adapted to do- 
 mestic use, and to this it is for the most part applied. The sharper 
 
92 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 wells, however, are available for steam production and other like 
 services. To make a really good illuminating gas, it would -need 
 to be enriched by a naptha bath, but, so far as known, this method 
 has not been used. Street-lamps, yard-lamps, and house-lights 
 supplied by the gas are all in common use where wells are in oper- 
 ation, but the main volume of the supply is for heating purposes. 
 For cooking stoves and ranges, and for ordinary open grate fires, 
 it is most happily adapted. The convenience resulting from its 
 introduction for all such uses passes description. 
 
 5. The horizons of the gas in the shale have not yet been 
 determined. At first sight the gas would seem to be capriciously 
 distributed, but this appearance may be proved deceptive when 
 more opportunities for observation have been furnished. There 
 are always few, and often no recognizable horizons in the shale un- 
 less it is covered by the Bedford and Berea formations, and conse- 
 quently it is difficult or impossible, without careful levelings from 
 well to well, and accurate measurements of dip, a problem which 
 is dependent on, and complicated by the same factors, to determine 
 the relations of the gas-producing horizon, whether widely ex- 
 tended or sporadic. The wells that are now being sunk in the 
 neighborhood of Berea will do much towards answering these ques- 
 tions, inasmuch as they generally pass through the Berea grit and 
 Bedford shale, one or both, or at least stand in such relations to 
 the outcrops of the sandstone, that measurements can be taken 
 » from it to the gas-producing beds. The difficulty in fixing upon 
 horizons in the shale itself, and the entire inadmissibility of the old 
 classification of the Ohio shale into Cleveland (black), Erie (green- 
 ish-blue), and Huron (black), are well shown in the record of the 
 home well of Mr. A. W. Bishop, of Berea, which has been finished 
 within the last year. 
 
 The record is as follows : 
 
 {Soil and clay 10 feet. ) 
 , 21 feet. 
 
 Gravel 2 " | 
 
 Berea grit , 55 feet. 
 
 f Light-colored soapstone, soft.... 15 feet. ' 
 
 I Hard sandrock 8 " 
 
 Bedford shale • Light-colored soapstone, soft 4 " 
 
 Red shale 82 " 
 
 White slate 15 " 
 
 124 feet. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 93 
 
 Brown soapstone 55 feet. 
 
 Dark shale 20 " 
 
 Light-colored slate 350 " 
 
 Dark slate 155 " 
 
 White slate 30 " 
 
 Black shale 45 " 
 
 White soapstone 25 " 
 
 Black shale 35 " 
 
 Ohio shale, -j Light soapstone 30 " I- 1120 feet. 
 
 Black shale 30 " 
 
 Light soapstone 15 " 
 
 Black shale 30 " 
 
 Light soapstone 215 " 
 
 White shale, hard 15 " 
 
 Black shale 15 " 
 
 White shale, gas 20 " 
 
 Black shale 35 '' 
 
 Corniferous limestone struck at 1,320 feet and drilled into fif- 
 teen feet; total depth of well, 1,335 f eet - 
 
 From the Berea grit to the Corniferous limestone, the interval 
 here is 1,244 f eet - Question may be raised as to the exact base 
 •of the Berea, however. The alternations of shale above noted, 
 and the approximate thickness of the different elements, can be 
 learned from the section ; but the exact thickness of each element 
 was not an object of curiosity on the part of the driller, and the facts 
 are given in round numbers, as is obvious. The driller distin- 
 guished shale from soapstone in his record by the test of hardness. 
 The plastic shales are called soapstones ; the hardest and firmest 
 ■shales at the other extreme in this respect make the slates of this 
 •record. 
 
 Gas was found in this well at 600 and at 775 feet, and also as 
 noted in the record near the bottom of the shale, but the supply 
 is in fact quite small, all of it being utilized in a single house with- 
 out meeting even then all demands; but in other wells drilled 
 within two or three miles, a much more vigorous supply has been 
 reached, and at considerably less depth. Between 700 and 800 
 feet in depth the most prolific horizon was found at these other 
 localities, and the best supplies came from a considerable range in 
 the rock. As the drill descended, foot by foot, new supplies were 
 released. 
 
 6. The influence of structure, or, in other words, of breaks 
 •or arches of the beds on the accumulation of gas in the Ohio shale 
 
94 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 is presumably the same, as in the case of the reservoir that so- 
 often overlies it, viz: the Berea grit; but by reason of the same 
 class of facts that obscures the problems of dip and gas horizons, 
 the assertion that such is the case must be made in qualified terms. 
 In a few examples, and notably in the Mastick well, in the valley 
 of Rocky river, near Berea, a small but distinctly marked break in 
 the shales occurs as a rudimentary anticlinal, the direction of 
 which is N. 40° E. Along this break gas has always been escap- 
 ing in considerable quantity, Salt water rises with the gas, the 
 locality being one of the brine licks of early days. When the 
 drill descended along the crown of this axis, gas was found all of 
 the way down, but the chief supplies came at 400 and 500 feet. 
 Two months after the well was drilled, its outflow was found by 
 the anemometer to be 21,643 cubic feet per day. It apparently 
 maintains this production to the present time. 
 
 While the shale is so charged with oil and gas that a dry hole 
 drilled into it at any point would probably show some outflow of 
 gas, still it seems probable from the facts of distribution of the 
 larger wells that the same determining causes in minor structural 
 disturbances that connect themselves with our other supplies, will 
 be found here when proper opportunities for observation and study 
 have been secured. 
 
 7. The gas yielded by the shale seems fairly persistent. 
 General J. S. Casement's first well at Painesville was drilled six- 
 teen years ago, and it still yields more than gas enough for ordi- 
 nary household use. The gas springs of Fredonia, N. Y., have 
 been used for illumination since 1821, and though the original 
 supply has been disturbed by the drilling of wells within their 
 area, there is no reason to doubt that it would have continued in- 
 definitely if it had not been so disturbed. By the drilling of the 
 wells referred to, the production of the original tract has been 
 largely increased. 
 
 It seems probable that gas is constantly produced in the 
 shales, not by the decomposition of the organic matter that they 
 contain, a process which, so far as we know, can be effected only 
 by destructive distillation, but by the simpler change of the petro- 
 leum with which the shales are everywhere charged into gaseous 
 products. The theory of spontaneous distillation of petroleum 
 from the organic matter of the shales has been already discarded,. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 95 
 
 but the process here suggested has considerable superficial resem- 
 blance to it. 
 
 The permanency of gas supplies in the various sandstone res- 
 ervoirs is in most cases connected with the amount of salt water 
 produced by the gas rock. If the supply of brine is considerable, 
 the wells can, with difficulty, be maintained, and in only a few 
 cases can the wells be left to themselves. In most cases they are 
 maintained by unremitting care in removing the salt water as it 
 accumulates. While brine is not wanting in the shale gas wells, 
 it is by no means as troublesome an element as in the sandstone 
 wells. There are very many cases where a well is drilled dry and 
 remains dry permanently. 
 
 8. The value of the gas supply that is now under considera- 
 tion has never been properly estimated by the districts within 
 which it can be secured. By its character, it is mainly limited to 
 household use, but, as has been shown, for this purpose it can 
 scarcely be improved when found under favorable conditions. 
 The wells required to reach it are easily drilled and cheaply 
 equipped. They require but little casing, and sometimes none, 
 their maintenance involves neither trouble nor expense, and their 
 supplies are fairly maintained. There can be no question but that 
 the shale gas wells outlast the high-pressure wells of the sandstone 
 reservoirs. 
 
 The problem of using low-pressure gas in town supply, the 
 sources being within the town, has already been solved with a 
 measure of success in East Liverpool, and also in Fremont, but 
 the Berea Pipe Line Company has undertaken to transport gas of 
 this character from wells that are two or three miles distant. The 
 result of this undertaking will be looked for with interest, and if 
 it proves successful a new impulse will be given to the develop- 
 ment of the shale gas field. 
 
 There are farms by the thousand throughout these areas in 
 which gas can be found in ample quantity for household use, and 
 where the supply can be reasonably assured, by the drilling of oc- 
 casional new wells, for certainly a long term of years. Such farms 
 may come to be valued as much for this as for other and more 
 easily recognized resources. 
 
 A word needs to be said in regard to the area of Ohio shale 
 that occupies three or four of the counties in the north-western 
 
96 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 corner of the State. This formation represents only the lowest 
 beds of the great shale series. Not more than 150 feet have been 
 found in any section thus far reported. It is in almost all cases 
 deeply covered with beds of drift, sand, gravel and bowlder clay 
 being variously interstratified. 
 
 When penetrated by the drill, as in the wells that are sunk 
 for water or more recently for gas, this shale stratum often sends 
 out notable quantities of gas. The main supply seems to be de- 
 rived from near the base of the shale. 
 
 Gas is also found frequently in the drift beds overlying the 
 shale. There is another possible source for this supply, but it is 
 quite likely that in some instances, gas from the % shale has been 
 accumulated in the gravel where the latter is covered with bowlder 
 clay. All the conditions for gas accumulation seem to be met by 
 this order of arrangement. 
 
 The stocks of gas in the north-western shales cannot be as 
 large or as enduring as those already described in the shales of the 
 eastern area, on account of the small thickness of the formation, 
 but it may still be found that there are some accumulations that 
 can be used with profit in the way of household supply. Persistent 
 stocks of high-pressure gas are scarcely to be expected here. 
 
 SECTION VII.— THE CLINTON, MEDINA, HUDSON 
 
 RIVER AND UTICA SHALES AS A SOURCE 
 
 OF GAS. 
 
 Between the lfmit at which the Trenton limestone has thus 
 far been found largely productive, viz: the line of 500 feet below 
 the sea level, and the western boundary of the Ohio shale in its 
 main outcrop, there is a number of counties, as Ottawa, Sandusky, 
 Seneca, Wyandot, etc. , with parts of others to the east of their 
 respective boundaries, in which it seems hopeless in the light of 
 all explorations made to the present date, to look for oil or gas in 
 the Trenton limestone. The wells of Fremont and Carey have 
 already been referred to, but since the previous statements in 
 regard to them were put in type a few new facts as to their pro- 
 
PETROLEUM AND "INFLAMMABLE GAS. 97 
 
 duction and character have been obtained. Three wells have 
 been drilled at Carey, the first of which now yields by anemometer 
 measure, 27,163 feet per day. The well shows a closed pressure 
 of 405 lbs. The second well yields 21,375 f eet P er day. The 
 third well appears at present to be a failure. The first and second 
 both obtained notable supplies of shale gas. It was especially 
 strong in the latter, but the present production is largely from the 
 Trenton. 
 
 At Fremont, as previously stated, eight deep wells have been 
 drilled. The best of these deep wells is well No. 2, of the 
 Natural Gas Company. It yields by anemometer measure, 18,720 
 feet per day, and is used in the lines of the company. The best 
 of the three shallow wells lately drilled in the town is the Ames 
 well, the daily production of which is 16,473 feet. This well gets 
 all of its gas from the Clinton limestone and shales, the Niagara 
 shale making the cover. Wells directed to this horizon need not 
 be more than 500 feet deep, and they can be drilled and equipped 
 for less than $ 1,000. The discovery of this supply is of great 
 importance in this part of the State. 
 
 A well has been brought in at Oak Harbor, Ottawa county, 
 within the last few days, of much larger volume than any of those 
 last described. Measured in the first week of its flow, it makes a 
 record of 78,250 cubic feet per day. Its pressure rises to 101 lbs.- 
 when the well is closed forty minutes. The gas is derived mainly 
 but not entirely from the Trenton, which was reached at a depth 
 of 1,300 feet, or 724 feet below tide. The rock was shot with 
 sixty quarts of nitro-glycerine. This well comes much nearer to 
 being an exception to the 500-foot line already laid down, than 
 any other in the field. If it maintains its flow, and if other wells 
 of equal volume are found, a gas field of some importance will be 
 established here. A little oil of 38^° gravity is found with the 
 gas. The town is enterprising and the advantages of natural gas, 
 if an adequate supply is reached, will be turned to the best 
 account. 
 
 It has already been shown that low-pressure gas is available 
 in some localities in the Clinton, Medina, and Hudson river shales. 
 The experience of Fremont has demonstrated this fact, and it is a 
 point of considerable importance. Wells can be drilled to this 
 horizon in the western part of the area referred to, without great 
 
98 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 expense. The gas found in the three wells drilled at Sidney is all 
 derived from these shales. It has not proved persistent at this 
 point, but a considerable volume was yielded by the second well. 
 Two months or more after its completion its daily flow was found 
 to be 39, 744 feet. The supply is one that needs further investiga- 
 tion in this region. 
 
 As has been previously shown, there have been notable 
 quantities of gas yielded throughout the Findlay district from 
 these shales from the first development of this field. The 700-foot 
 horizon at Findlay, has in particular, been found a vigorous source. 
 In other fields, this alone would be counted a very successful sup- 
 ply. In the Briggs well, the upper vein is cased off separate from 
 the Trenton gas, and the former has been found by measurement 
 to exceed 200,000 cubic feet per day. 
 
 The "blowers" of gas struck at Springfield, Piqua, and at 
 many other points, which have raised such extravagant, but short- 
 lived expectations, all come from these sources. 
 
 It now appears as if south-western Ohio were mainly shut up 
 to these rather feeble and uncertain sources. 
 
 On the western side of the general district now under consid- 
 eration, through the counties in which the Corniferous limestone 
 has its outcrops, viz: through parts of Erie, Seneca, Wyandot, 
 Crawford, Marion, Delaware, and Franklin, and through those 
 parts of Paulding, Henry, Wood, and Lucas counties, in which 
 the same formation makes the surface rock, it is hard to see what 
 sources of oil or gas are available. The Trenton limestone is 
 found unproductive, and the Medina and Hudson river shales lie 
 too low to allow their supply, which is at best so moderate and 
 restricted, to be sought for with any promise of profitable returns. 
 The entire series of Devonian and upper Silurian limestones would 
 require to be cased in such wells, and the expense would be 
 large. 
 
 The remaining horizons of gas and oil in the geological scale 
 of the State, which are found mainly in the sandstone strata of the 
 Carboniferous and Subcarboniferous ages, and notably in the 
 Waverly and coal measure conglomerates must be passed without 
 further mention here. There are no very important supplies at 
 present derived from any of them, but in past years, the oil pro- 
 duction of the Cow Run field, of Washington county, and of 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 99 
 
 other adjacent fields attained respectable proportions, and even 
 now considerable oil is found in the upper sandstones of Macks- 
 burg, as has been previously stated. 
 
 One other source of gas, however, is so common and so mis- 
 leading throughout three-fourths of the State, that a few words 
 must be devoted to it here. It will be briefly discussed in the 
 concluding section of this abstract. 
 
 SECTION VIII.— THE GLACIAL DRIFT AS A SOURCE 
 OF NATURAL GAS. 
 
 Nearly three-fourths of Ohio are covered with the deposits of 
 the drift, the most recent, but the most anomalous and perplexing 
 of all of our geological formations. These deposits consist, i, of 
 bowlder clay, a tough, compact and mainly unstratified deposit, 
 containing fragments of rocks, from the size of pebbles to blocks 
 of many tons weight, derived from regions to the north of where 
 they are found, and which are quite generally smoothed and 
 striated in such a way as to show that they have been subjected 
 to a violent abrading agency ; 2, of gravel and sand, clean and 
 distinct, in pocket-like deposits, or variously intermixed with clay 
 and that are included in or covered by the deposits of bowlder 
 clay; 3, of stratified beds of sand, gravel, and fine clay, that are 
 obviously of later age than the bowlder clay, and that owe their 
 arrangement to deposit in water. 
 
 These beds taken collectively are of considerable thickness, 
 especially in the north-western portion of the State. The drilling 
 that is now going forward is revealing to us as nothing else could 
 do, the vast amount of these drift accumulations. It is not uncom- 
 mon to find sections of drift seventy-five to one hundred feet thick 
 before the bedded rock is reached, and measures of 150, 175 and 
 200 feet have been occasionally found. The most surprising 
 section ever reported from the drift deposits of Ohio, has, how- 
 ever, recently been found at St. Paris, Champaign county, on the 
 line of the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh railway (mention is 
 made of it on page forty of this report, but before the bottom 
 
100 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 of the deposit was reached.) This town has an elevation by rail- 
 road levels, of 1,237 f eet above the sea. It is 353 feet higher 
 than Piqua, and 195 feet higher than Urbana, the elevations- 
 being counted from the stations of the railroad above named. 
 
 In the well recently drilled at Urbana, the drift deposits were 
 found 155 feet deep. The bedded rock is therefore here about 
 900 feet above sea level. At Piqua, the Miami river is running 
 on rock at about 860 feet above the sea. 
 
 But the drillers at St. Paris found no bedded rock until they 
 had driven pipe to 510 feet below the surface. In other words, 
 the bedded rock here lies at 727 feet above the sea, or 140 feet 
 lower than the rock at Urbana, and 170 feet below the present 
 bed of the Miami at Piqua. This is, without doubt, by far the 
 thickest bed of drift yet reported in this State. At 400 feet a 
 considerable amount of vegetable matter, tree trunks and branches 
 and black soil, was found. The wood is red cedar. "Mussel 
 shells" were reported to be found with the wood, but no oppor- 
 tunity was found to verify this observation. 
 
 Attention was long ago called to the fact that the Miami 
 river is running in a rocky channel most of the distance from 
 Sidney to Dayton, and that this channel is therefore a recent one, 
 worked out since the close of the glacial period. A part of its 
 old channel in Clarke county was also pointed out, but though it 
 was easy to see that the original valley was to be. looked for to the 
 eastward of its present course, no one would have dared to locate 
 it under the highest ridge in all this part of the country. Yet it 
 is just this which the drill has now demonstrated, and St. Paris is 
 found to be situated directly above the ancient channel of the 
 Miami river. Other points will undoubtedly be found in this 
 buried channel by which its course can be determined. 
 
 The fact that vegetable matter in the shape of cedar wood 
 was found included in the bowlder clay of St. Paris has been 
 mentioned in the account above given. It is scarcely necessary to 
 state that such material is of very common occurrence in the bowl- 
 der clay or just beneath it, on or near the surface of the bedded 
 rock, in many portions of the drift-covered areas. These deposits 
 often render the water which is associated with them foul and unfit 
 for use. In some parts of the country they are known as "Noah's 
 barn-yard." There are counties of Ohio in which a considerable 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 101 
 
 proportion of the wells that are dug strike this buried timber and 
 these other accumulations of vegetable matter. 
 
 These facts are mentioned here to explain the origin of a 
 large number of the "surface indications" of natural gas which 
 are so attentively noted and so frequently reported at the present 
 time. 
 
 This buried vegetation in a great number of instances gives 
 rise to light carburetted hydrogen or marsh gas, which is the chief 
 constituent of natural gas as well as of the fire-damp of coal 
 mines. No line of division can be laid down between marsh gas, 
 fire-damp, and natural gas. They are one and the same thing in 
 substance. The gas escapes slowly from the drift beds, coming 
 up with the water and giving rise to the weak gas springs that can 
 be found so widely scattered through the State. 
 
 The gas is sometimes found in such quantity and with so 
 steady a supply that it can be utilized for household service. It 
 has been so used at a number of points in Champaign county, 
 Illinois, for many years.' The gas when enriched by passing 
 through a naptha bath, is made available for household light as 
 well as heat. 
 
 Surface indications of this sort are obviously of no value as 
 guides to the great reservoirs of natural gas which our commu- 
 nities are seeking so earnestly at the present time. But it is the 
 drift gas and the shale gas that are most frequently found and on 
 which large expectations are often based. In other words, there are 
 "surface indications" and " surface indications. " Indications like 
 those that Findlay gave from the date of its occupation to the 
 discovery of high-pressure gas would no longer escape notice, now 
 that it is seen what they stand for, but there are other points by 
 the thousand in which only the weak outflow of gas escaping from 
 vegetation which is slowly decaying without the access of the air, 
 is to be noted, and these, as already stated, are without signifi- 
 cance. The "surface indications" of the outcrop of the Ohio 
 shale are also without significance so far as high-pressure gas is 
 concerned. Small outflows are the rule rather than the exception 
 throughout the whole extent of the outcrop of the black shale. 
 To repeat what has been said already, natural gas is one of the 
 common and widely distributed substances in nature, and a little 
 of it at least can be found anywhere. 
 7 
 
102 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY. 
 
 In the preceding pages, it has been shown that there are two 
 main areas of the State, involving distinct and widely separated 
 geological horizons, in which high-pressure gas and large produc- 
 tion of oil are now found. It has also been shown that there is 
 another well-bounded and widely extended area in which low- 
 pressure gas of excellent character and fairly persistent in its flow 
 can be obtained. There are also two subsidiary areas of low- 
 pressure gas, less developed and less extended, and of much less 
 value. 
 
 These several areas can be shown in tabular form, thus: 
 
 u . , f Berea grit territory. 
 
 High-pressure gas. < r- . to ,. / . 
 
 h r I Trenton limestone territory. 
 
 ( Ohio shale, main outcrop. 
 Low-pressure gas. < Ohio shale, north-western outcrop. 
 
 ( Clinton, Medina and Hudson river shales. 
 
 i. The Berea grit territory occupies thirty-six counties of 
 eastern Ohio in whole or in part, with the boundaries given on a 
 preceding page. Through all of this area, the Berea grit is due at 
 a depth of 300 to 2,000 feet below the surface. It is everywhere 
 roofed with a thin bed of black Berea shale, which in turn is cov- 
 ered by 200 to 500 feet of the light-colored Cuyahoga shale. It 
 everywhere overlies a great thickness of Bedford and Ohio shales, 
 the former of which is often red, and the latter of which always 
 carries a considerable proportion of dark or black bituminous 
 shales, interstratified with light-colored bands. There is a wonder- 
 ful uniformity in this entire series throughout the area named, as 
 has been shown by a large amount of drilling. The productive- 
 ness of the Berea in oil and gas cannot, therefore, depend on the 
 composition of the series, for in that case all would be productive. 
 It must depend on structure, and in the few places where it has been 
 found productive abnormal structure has been, in almost every 
 instance, already detected. 
 
 The Berea grit is not the only petroliferous horizon in this 
 area. The coal measure sandstones and the Waverly conglomerate 
 sometimes yield oil and high-pressure gas, but all these must be 
 passed before the Berea is reached. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 103 
 
 The practical deduction from these facts must be emphasized. 
 The Berea grit is the lowest horizon yet found in these counties in 
 which gas or oil is held in quantity. There is therefore no wisdom 
 in going below it in the search. If it is found barren or full of 
 brine, there the drill should rest The particular territory tested 
 must be counted unproductive. It is especially impracticable to 
 seek to reach the other great horizon of high-pressure gas, viz: 
 the Trenton limestone within the Berea territory. 
 
 This has been attempted repeatedly within the last year with 
 great outlay and with no valuable return, except in the way of geo- 
 logical information. The scheme is essentially impracticable. Be- 
 neath the Ohio shale, which ranges from 400 to 1,800 feet in 
 thickness, is the great series of Devonian and Silurian limestones. 
 This series ranges from 700 to 1,100 feet in thickness. It is full 
 of salt and sulphur water which must be cased off. This requires 
 casing from 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. After the limestones are 
 passed 800 to 1 , 200 feet of shales due, and there is thus far not a 
 single fact to warrant the expectation that if the Trenton is reached 
 it will hold any valuable contents. It was found to lose its important 
 stocks as it sunk from 300 to 500 feet below the sea level, and now 
 that it is 1,000 to 2,000 feet below, we have no warrant for expect- 
 ing any value in it, from any facts that yet appear. 
 
 In the shales underlying the Berea, low-pressure gas can 
 sometimes be obtained, but supplies of this character properly 
 belong to shallow wells, and cannot be managed profitably where 
 deep drilling is necessary. At all events, they are not of value 
 enough to be sought by deep drilling. 
 
 In the thirty-six counties already indicated, there is nothing to 
 warrant the sinking of a well below the level of the Berea grit. The 
 scores of instances already in hand demonstrate this fact, and new 
 examples are accumulating every day. Large outlays may be 
 avoided in many wells already projected or begun, if this counsel 
 is heeded. 
 
 Practically, the Trenton limestone is as effectually cut off 
 from the Berea grit territory as the Berea grit is from the produc- 
 tive district of the Trenton limestone. In the latter case the 
 stratum to be sought for is a half-mile in the air ; in the former, it 
 is a half-mile under ground. 
 
104 . GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 Although this sandstone stratum has been weighed in the 
 driller's balance and found wanting at a great number of places in 
 the State, there is yet ample room for exploration, and the best of 
 reason for believing that much more imprisoned power will sooner 
 or later be released from its widely-extended store house. 
 
 2. The Trenton limestone has been found a source of very 
 valuable stocks of oil and gas in three counties of the State, viz: 
 Wood, Hancock, and Allen, and there is much reason to expect 
 that Auglaize and Hardin, and possibly Shelby, Logan, and 
 Champaign counties may prolong the productive belt southward. 
 The north-western boundary seems already fairly well defined: the 
 north-eastern boundary less so, by reason of the small wells at 
 Fremont, Carey, and Oak Harbor. The southern boundary, 
 which has not yet passed the Allen county line, will be looked for 
 with great interest. The Trenton limestone shows, as far as devel- 
 oped, absolutely no such structural lines as are found in the Penn- 
 sylvania oil fields, and the recognition of such lines in the present 
 state of our knowledge is a delusion, if not a snare. But as in all 
 such cases, only the successes are remembered; the far more 
 numerous failures pass out of sight. The Findlay break is the 
 only pronounced line of structure yet apparent, and this bears 
 north 1 4 west. 
 
 There has not been found thus far in the experience of the entire 
 field the slightest advantage, so far as oil or gas is concerned, in 
 drilling more than fifty feet into the Trenton limestone, and many 
 thousands of dollars have been already spent in these tedious and 
 profitless descents. More money is. now being expended in the 
 same way. It is not to the driller's interest to continue the work, 
 as the chances for loss of tools are many, but the companies are 
 generally unwilling to accept a foregone conclusion, and to recog- 
 nize their venture as a losing one until they have made it more so. 
 
 3. The Ohio shale gas belt is the most reliable in its 
 response to the drill of any of the districts named, but it promises 
 only low-pressure wells. It must be taken for what it is. It is 
 vain to seek the lower horizons through it. The expense of casing 
 through the limestone would be too great for the gas that is pro- 
 duced at or near the Medina horizon if it could be found. All 
 that has been said in regard to deep-lying Trenton under previous 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 105 
 
 heads, applies here without qualification. In other words, each 
 division of the State is limited to its own horizon. 
 
 4. So far as can now be seen, there are large districts of Ohio, 
 and especially its south-western quarter, where high-pressure gas 
 <loes not exist. More trials will be required to settle the character 
 of particular fields, but there is nothing to warrant exploration on 
 the large scale. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The facts pertaining to the supplies of petroleum and natural 
 gas in the State as at present understood, has now been briefly sum- 
 marized. Special attention has been devoted to the last named of 
 these closely connected substances, on account of the great practi- 
 cal interest that is taken in it at the present time. The progressive 
 nature of geological science is kept distinctly in mind in what has 
 been presented, and the consequent provisional character of many 
 of the conclusions that are drawn in such fields as this, but it has 
 been deemed better to present the conclusions as they now appear, 
 father than to wait for a larger and more complete set of facts 
 which would be gathered only by costly investigations, part of 
 which can be well enough spared. By presenting these facts and 
 conclusions at this time, it is hoped that much of the indiscrimi- 
 nate, enthusiastic and often ill-judged drilling of deep wells that is 
 now going forward in the State will be checked, and that a calmer 
 and more intelligent frame of mind will be brought to bear upon 
 the search for these buried treasures. The prevailing state of mind 
 in regard to this search is not a very reasonable one. To start the 
 drill and sink it "deep enough" is the proper policy in the average 
 judgment. By "deep enough" is generally meant 2000 feet or 
 more. A railroad 100 miles in length, from a manufacturing cen- 
 ter to a coal field, may prove a profitable investment to the com- 
 pany that builds it, but it would be irrational for another company, 
 inspired by the success of the first, to expect that another road run 
 out from the city at random or even on a "north-east line," if only 
 100 miles long, would prove equally remunerative. All depends 
 on what it finds at its terminus in the way of profitable business. 
 The aim has been in these pages to show what is "deep enough" 
 
106 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 in the several districts of the State, and to suggest proper termini 
 for the wells that are going down. 
 
 There is really no such haste in this search for oil and gas as 
 many communities seem to think. These stocks of buried heat 
 and power have been for many thousands of years where they are, 
 and substantially what they are, and they will remain available for 
 thousands of years to come if left undisturbed. They will be 
 worth more in coming years than they are now. They are safe in 
 their present reservoirs. At least they cannot be drawn upon by 
 drilling down at any great distances. It is a crime against the 
 State to unlock them before any use is provided for their contents. 
 
 The conservative tone of this abstract, it is well understood, 
 will not be as acceptable as a more hopeful view would be, for 
 people like to be advised to do what they have made up their 
 minds to do, but "the facts are what they are." What good can 
 come to us from shutting our eyes to them? 
 
 Explorations should go forward on many sides, but cautiously 
 and economically, and with an intelligent recognition of the con- 
 ditions of the problem, and above all, its burdens should be prop- 
 erly distributed. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that this paper is an abstract of more 
 extended discussions of the several subjects herein considered, 
 which are to be presented with other material to the Legislature, 
 on February 1st, 1887, under the title of Volume VI, Geology of 
 Ohio. All errors of statement that are found herein can be cor- 
 rected in a more deliberate publication that is to follow, and the 
 conclusions drawn from the work already done will then be con- 
 firmed, extended, modified or set aside by the much wider series 
 of facts that are coming into our possession. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 107 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MEASUREMENT OF THE FLOW OF GAS WELLSu 
 
 The determination of the amount of gas yielded by vigorous 
 wells is a problem that has not hitherto been adequately solved. No 
 methods at least have been found to be in common use at the cen- 
 ters of gas production, except vague and uncertain calculations 
 based upon the pressure when the well is closed for a given period. 
 The fallacy of this method has already been exposed. All wells 
 of a district, great and small, attain, finally, the same closed pres- 
 sure. The fact that wherever high-pressure gas is obtained at all, 
 there is generally a surplus, probably accounts for the neglect of 
 this question hitherto, on the part of those who control the large 
 supplies. Nice measurements have thus far been superfluous, and, 
 in fact, gas has not been thought of by definite volume, but only 
 by the work it will do. 
 
 It is easy to see, however, that accurate knowledge of the 
 yield of a well is essential to an economical disposition of its pro- 
 ducts. As the use of gas in the main fields is extended, and as 
 the supplies begin to weaken, the question of quantity will speed- 
 ily become more important, and all wasteful methods of supply 
 that may now be in force will be discarded. 
 
 The problem of gas well measurement has been taken up by 
 
 the Ohio Survey, and a method has been devised and worked out 
 
 ' by Professor S. W. Robinson, of the Ohio State University, which 
 
 is simple, easy of application and adapted to wells of every grade, 
 
 the strongest as well as the- weakest. 
 
 Space does not suffice to present the method here. An ab- 
 stract of the chapter prepared for the Survey is to be published in 
 the August number of Van Nostrand's Engineering Journal, and 
 a briefer summary has already appeared in the American Manufac- 
 turer. Only the practical application of the method can be given 
 at this point, and this but in part. 
 
 To measure the flow of a vigorous well, attach an open tube, 
 
108 
 
 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 of convenient length, straight or bent, to a steam gauge. Hold 
 the open end in the current of gas at the well-head in the line of 
 flow, and note the pressure which the gauge shows in pounds. 
 Add to this pressure 14.6, and divide the sum by 14.6, find the 
 resulting number or that nearest to it in table I. Take from table , 
 II the number corresponding, increasing or decreasing proporti- 
 nately to difference between number obtained by division and 
 number in table I. Multiply the number thus found in table II by 
 3103, and the result will be the velocity of the current in feet per 
 second. To find the volume per second, multiply the velocity (in 
 feet) by the area of the pipe (in feet), and to find the volume per 
 day, multiply this result (volume per second) by 86,400 (number of 
 seconds in day of 24 hours). The result will be the volume at a 
 temperature of 6o° F. , and at atmospheric pressure. Calculations 
 can readily be made for different temperatures. 
 
 The tables I and il are given below: 
 
 II. 
 
 3742 
 
 3873 
 
 4000 
 
 1. 719 4132 
 
 L770 4243 
 
 1.822 4359 
 
 1,876 4472 
 
 I. 
 
 I. 572. 
 1,620. 
 1,669. 
 
 I. II. 
 
 1,035 io o° 
 
 1,071 1414 
 
 1,107 1732 
 
 1,14s 2000 
 
 1,183 2236 
 
 I, 122 2449 
 
 1,263 2646 
 
 1,304 2848 
 
 1,346 3000 
 
 1,389 3!62 
 
 i,433 3317 
 
 i,478 3464 
 
 1,525 3606 
 
 An example will make the mode of application clear: 
 The pressure noted in the gauge applied to a gas well is thir- 
 teen pounds. 13 + 14.6^ 27.6; 27.6 -+- 14.6 = 1,889. The 
 number nearest this in table I is 1,876, and the difference between 
 this and the number found by division is .013, which is one-fourth 
 of the difference between 1,876 and the next higher number. In 
 table II, the number corresponding to 1,876 is .4472. The differ- 
 ence between .4472 and the numbsr next above it is .0113. Add 
 
 i,930. 
 1,986. 
 
 2,043. 
 2, 101 . 
 2,160. 
 
 ■4585 
 .4690 
 .4796 
 .4899 
 .5000 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 109 
 
 one-fourth of this difference, or .0028 to .4472, the sum is .4500. 
 Multiply .4500 by 3,103; the product is 1,396.35, which is the 
 velocity of the gas in feet per second. The gas is escaping from 
 a 5^-inch casing, the area of which is .1725 of a square foot. 
 The daily yield of the well, therefore, is 1,396.35 X • 1725 X 86,400 
 = 20,803, 168 cubic feet of gas at 6o° F. 
 
 This method is applicable, with modifications, to smaller wells, 
 but in wells yielding less than 1,000,000 cubic feet per day, the 
 anemometer is much the most convenient instrument. The use of 
 this instrument for this purpose was first suggested, so far as is 
 known, by E. McMillen, Esq., of Columbus, and was first applied 
 by him to the measurement of the Adams well in Findlay, in 
 June, 1885. The measurements obtained by this instrument have 
 been compared with other measurements, and their reliability is 
 established. 
 
 The large gas wells speak for themselves, and in regard to 
 their value when fortunately located there can be no question if 
 they prove moderately lasting, but there is often no ready means 
 of judging whether or not a small well is really making a proper 
 return for the money spent in getting it. Measurements of daily 
 flow, like those already provided for, furnish the only intelligent 
 basis for settling such questions. 
 
 But even when quantity is determined, we need to know how 
 to interpret the figures, or in other words, we need to know what 
 5,000 or 10,000 feet of gas will do in heating and lighting, or in 
 making steam. This subject will be treated more fully in the final 
 report, but a few suggestions will be offered here. 
 
 Wells drilled for home supply need not be considered at this 
 time. . Natural gas in such cases is counted a luxury, and is paid 
 for on that basis, if necessary, but when a well is drilled for town 
 or village use or for manufacturing purposes, how large a produc- 
 tion must it make to be a safe investment? There are various 
 elements involved — the cost of the wells, the outlay for distribu- 
 tion, and the price at which the gas can be sold. The probable 
 life of the wells must also be taken into the account. A well 
 ought to return the money spent on it, with proper interest, in the 
 ■course of a very few years. The expenses of the distributing 
 plant, with interest thereon, must also be covered in a reasonable 
 period. 
 
110 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
 
 The open flow of the well cannot, of course, all be counted 
 available for use. The amount will be materially reduced by fric- 
 tion in the pipes. Probably it will be necessary to allow 1,000 
 cubic feet at the well-head to every stove. The highest charge 
 now made in the State for stoves is $3.00 a month, which is about 
 ten cents per 1,000 cubic feet. A well yielding 25,000 cubic feet 
 per day would thus pay #75 a month, or $900 a year. If the cost 
 of the well is less than #2,000, such a return would probably be 
 safe. The well would. in this case return the money spent in drill- 
 ing it, with proper interest, in the course of three years, and it 
 would also bear its share of the expense of distribution. Perhaps 
 wells of this grade are as small as can be made safely remunerative 
 for town supply. Single wells of such volume cannot be depended 
 on for steam production to be used in driving large engines. 
 Wells of 40,000 to 50,000 cubic feet, or aggregating this amount, 
 would be as small as it would be safe to rely upon for such use 
 where no great distance is to be traversed by the gas. 
 
 Approximate lower limits for profitable production may be 
 found in the facts here given. With the strong desire to succeed 
 in the novel search, most of the newly formed gas companies sat- 
 isfy themselves for a time, at least, with returns which they would 
 be willing to accept in no other line of investments. 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 PRELIMINARY REPORT 
 
 (PUBLISHED IN 1886) 
 
 Petroleum and Inflammable Gas 
 
 Edward Orton, 
 
 State Geologist. 
 
 April, 1887. 
 
Natural Gas and Petroleum, 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO PRELIMINARY REPORT OF 1886. 
 
 By EDWARD ORTON, State GEOLOGIST. 
 
 During the interval since the first edition of this Report ap- 
 peared, great progress has been made in our knowledge of the 
 rocks of Ohio. The extreme activity in drilling deep wells that 
 has prevailed in all portions of the State, and especially in western 
 Ohio during 1886, will make this year always memorable in the 
 history of our geology. The explorations of no single year here- 
 after can make additions of equal value to our knowledge of the 
 stratigraphical order of the State. The leading facts have now 
 been discovered and established ; and we know the order from 
 1,000 to 2,000 feet below the surface in every portion of the State 
 as well as we do the order of the strata that make the surface. 
 Details of great interest and importance will remain to be added 
 as long as study shall be directed to these subjects ; but the main 
 features of our under-ground geology are as well established by 
 the drilling of 1 886 as were the main features of our geological scale 
 by Newberry's Survey of 1869-73. A number of the facts brought 
 out by the explorations of the last year will be here stated. They 
 pertain to the geological scale of the State, to the geological struc- 
 
116 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 ture, and to the practical development of our several oil and gas 
 
 horizons. The subjects will be treated under the heads above 
 named. 
 
 SECTION I. GEOLOGICAL SCALE. 
 
 Some of the facts brought to light by the investigations re- 
 ferred to will here be given. They are in reality corrections of 
 statements made in the first edition of this report. 
 
 I. The Trenton Limestone. 
 
 In the Preliminary Report it was stated that this great lime- 
 stone, that has suddenly acquired such immense and almost 
 incredible economic importance, nowhere reaches the surface 
 within the limits of Ohio. This statement is probably erroneous. 
 It now seems most reasonable to believe that the Point Pleasant 
 quarries, of Clermont county, constitute the uppermost beds of the 
 Trenton limestone. If this be the true reference of these well- 
 known beds, they form the only outcrop of the stratum in Ohio. 
 There are not more than twenty-five to fifty feet, at most, of these 
 beds exposed above low water mark in the Ohio river. The Point 
 Pleasant beds have long been known as the lowest rocks in the 
 Ohio scale. By some geologists they have heretofore been counted 
 the Trenton limestone. Mr. S. A. Miller, of Cincinnati, was the 
 first geologist, so far as known, to assert this identity. In the 
 pages of early numbers of the Journal of the Natural History of 
 Cincinnati he announced this view (1879). Mr. W. M. Linney, of 
 the Kentucky Geological Survey, has also asserted this identity. 
 (See Report on Rocks of Eastern Kentucky, p. 6, 1882.) The 
 stratum in this case had been traced northward from its well-known 
 outcrop in the valley of the Kentucky river. The validity of this 
 view has been approximately established by the facts derived from 
 the records of the deep wells which have been drilled in western 
 Ohio in such numbers during the last year. The rate at which 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 117 
 
 the Trenton limestone was found to be rising to the southward 
 was such as would bring it to the surface at or about this point. 
 
 2. The Utica Shale. 
 
 The explorations of 1 886 seem to show that the Utica shale 
 fails to reach the Ohio valley. It has heretofore been believed to be 
 represented in the lowermost beds at Cincinnati, the evidence being 
 the presence of certain fossils of Utica age, none of which, how- 
 ever, are strictly diagnostic of this formation. In northern Ohio, 
 it will be remembered, the Utica shale is found in normal thick- 
 ness and color; and, moreover, it there contains its most character- 
 istic fossils. The 300 feet of black shale underlying the Hudson 
 river shale and overlying the Trenton limestone in the deep wells 
 of Hancock and Allen counties, are unmistakably and unequivo- 
 cally the Utica shale of New York. This stratum was followed 
 with perfect distinctness and with definite boundaries southward 
 from this region as far as Springfield ; but, in tracking it further, it 
 was found to rapidly lose thickness. At Dayton it is notably 
 thinner than at Springfield; at Middletown it is but 100 feet thick, 
 and at Hamilton but thirty-seven feet thick. The drillers who had 
 followed the stratum from its normal sections in northern Ohio to 
 the southward were the first to note and report this unexpected 
 fact. It may, perhaps, be held that the formation has changed in 
 composition and color in coming to the southward without, how- 
 over, losing its identity. This view does not seem to harmonize 
 with the facts upon record. At the northward it is directly over- 
 lain by the well characterized greenish-blue beds of the Hudson 
 river series. The lowest beds at Cincinnati, which have been by 
 some referred to the Utica horizon, agree in lithological character 
 entirely with these northern beds. So far as can be judged from 
 the drillings, the Utica at the northward is never highly fossilif- 
 erous, like the Hudson river shale. From all the facts now in 
 hand, it would appear that the Utica shale is lost in the Ohio val- 
 
 8 
 
118 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 ley by overlap of the Hudson river shale which here comes down 
 directly upon the Trenton limestone. 
 
 In the Findlay field, the Medina, Hudson river, and Utica 
 shales have a combined thickness of about 800 feet. At Lima 
 and Bowling Green the thickness is very nearly the same as at 
 Findlay; but as these shale formations are followed westward 
 toward the Indiana boundary, there is a notable reduction in their 
 volume. At Defiance, we find the same interval but 610 feet in 
 thickness; at Bryan, 665 feet; at Hicksville, 624 feet; while be- 
 yond the State line, still smaller measures are sometimes reported. 
 To the eastward, the shale series slowly expands. At Tiffin, the 
 thickness has become 930 feet; and at Sandusky, 1,030 feet, if the 
 record of this well is correctly given. It is also to be noted that 
 there are less distinct boundaries for the several divisions as we go 
 westward. At Greenville, Darke county, for example, the driller 
 reports the entire series as black shale. While the series scarcely 
 deserves such a classification, it is certainly true that the Hudson 
 river shale is darker than usual, as judged from the samples of 
 drillings furnished, and that it thus approaches nearer to the nor- 
 mal color of the Utica shale. No additional statements are re- 
 quired for the next element in the geological column, namely, 
 the Hudson river shale. 
 
 3. The Medina Shale. 
 
 The Medina shale, in the Findlay field, consists of two di- 
 visions — a blue bed from thirty to fifty feet in thickness — under- 
 neath which a bed of red shale of about equal volume is found. 
 In western Ohio, the red color is mainly lost ; and no record has 
 yet been seen of the occurrence of red shale at this horizon in 
 Indiana. To the eastward, the entire formation is often found to 
 be red shale. Its volume is als.o expanded in that direction, until 
 we find no less than 200 feet that must be referred to this division. 
 It is possible that it wedges out altogether to the westward. In 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 119 
 
 southern Ohio it is reduced to fifteen feet in some sections in out- 
 crop. 
 
 4. The Clinton Group. 
 
 In central Ohio more or less shale is found interstratified with 
 the Clinton formation, and the series is correspondingly increased 
 in thickness thereby. This appears in the Sandusky, Columbus 
 and Lancaster sections, and is especially prominent in the last 
 named instance. There are 1 50 to 200 feet of beds that must be 
 referred to this division in this well. In the Clinton thus strength- 
 ened there are numerous beds calcareous in composition and red 
 in color. In the Lancaster well there were reported by the driller 
 at one point thirty feet of red rock which, on examination, proved 
 to be unmistakable Clinton ore, which is also known in the several 
 States in which it occurs as the fossil ore, the dye-stone ore, and 
 the flax-seed ore. Wherever this Clinton ore occurs, its presence 
 renders unnecessary any further discussion of the geological place 
 of the stratum that contains it. There is not, in the geological 
 scale of the United States, a more unique or distinctly character- 
 ized deposit than this same Clinton ore. It will be borne in mind 
 that the ore also appears in outcrop in Clinton, Highland and 
 Adams counties of southern Ohio. 
 
 f 
 
 5. The Niagara Group. 
 
 The Niagara shale strengthens to the eastward apparently. It 
 is eighty feet thick at Newark, according to the record of the deep 
 well recently drilled here. It is distinctly characterized almost 
 everywhere. In the Findlay field the wells are sometimes cased 
 in this formation, but never with entire safety, since salt water 
 is likely to be found in the Clinton group below it. 
 
 The Niagara limestone has a maximum thickness of about 
 200 feet; and in many instances is quite easily distinguished from 
 the Waterlime or Lower Helderberg limestone which directly 
 overlies it, by its color, which is gray or blue, and thus distinctly 
 
120 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 contrasted with the brown color of the latter. These colors are 
 not, however, constant and it is generally impossible to establish 
 sharp boundaries underground on this basis. 
 
 6. The Waterlime or Lower Helderberg Limestone. 
 
 The facts developed by the drill in regard to this formation 
 are entirely unexpected. It has been found to have a maximum 
 thickness equal to the combined thickness of all the other lime- 
 stones with which it is associated. The breadth of its outcrop 
 ought to have shown us that there was a greater body of it than 
 we had provided for in our sections ; but heretofore it has been 
 supposed that we were dealing fairly in assigning to it a total 
 thickness of ioo feet. Instead of that, we are now sure that it 
 has a thickness of at least 500 feet, and very likely a maximum 
 thickness of 600 feet. The "Salina Group," as it now appears, 
 is to be absorbed in it and must disappear from the scale, so far 
 as any series in Ohio geology having a distinct boundary is con- 
 cerned. The plaster beds of Gypsum and of the islands of Lake 
 Erie, which have been heretofore referred to the Salina Group, be- 
 long at about the middle of this great series. In some well records, 
 gypsum is found distributed abundantly through 200 feet of 
 strata, with single beds having a thickness of six or seven feet. 
 Gypsum, or anhydrite, is found in almost every well record in 
 northern Ohio where a full set of drillings has been preserved. 
 
 There is a great deal more to be learned about the Waterlime 
 or Lower Helderberg limestone in its outcrops in the State as 
 well as under cover ; but the important facts now brought out for 
 the first time will greatly aid in the future study of this important 
 division. 
 
 Another surprising statement must be added to the account 
 already given of the Lower Helderberg series in Ohio. 
 
 To it belong the Sylvania and Monclova sandstones. These 
 anomalous and important deposits have been heretofore assigned 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 121 
 
 to the Oriskany horizon, but they are at least 200 feet below the 
 Oriskany. The Sylvania sandstone is directly overlain by 200 or 
 more feet of unequivocal Waterlime beds. The Monclova sand- 
 stone is also found covered by the same limestone, but no oppor- 
 tunity has been found for determining the thickness of the over- 
 lying beds in this case. This particular sandstone deposit is doubt- 
 less sporadic in its distribution, but it seems to hold to its horizon 
 after all. With but little doubt, the Sylvania sandstone is identi- 
 cal with the thirty feet of sandstone found at a depth of about 2000 
 feet in the perplexing record of the Cleveland Rolling Mill well. 
 
 7. The Upper Heldcrberg Limestone. 
 
 This important limestone, usually known in Ohio geology as 
 the Corniferous limestone, nowhere attains a greater thickness than 
 seventy-five feet in the column of the State. This thickness it 
 reaches in Delaware and Franklin counties. It begins as a mag- 
 nesian limestone, but still containing abundant and characteristic 
 fossils. The carbonate of lime increases quite rapidly as we rise 
 in the series. The main heavy bedded building stone division carries 
 but seventy per cent, of carbonate of lime, while the upper division 
 equals or exceeds ninety per cent. It is found that the different 
 limestones of our scale can in many cases be positively identified - 
 by the drillings which are brought up from whatever depth. The 
 ■Corniferous, at least, can be sharply distinguished from the Water- 
 lime and the Clinton from the Niagara, by means of analysis. 
 
 The Oriskany sandstone disappears from the Ohio scale. There 
 is a sharp sandstone imbedded at several points in the Upper 
 Helderberg limestone, it is true, but there is no good reason for 
 calling this the Oriskany sandstone. It was deposited a long while 
 after the Upper Helderberg limestone was begun, so far as abso- 
 lute measure of time is concerned. It is comparable in all respects 
 with the Hillsborough sandstone and also with the Sylvania sand 
 stone just described. 
 
122 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 Thickness of the Devonian and Upper Silurian Limestones. 
 
 The thickness of the combined limestone series of the State 
 in whole or in part, is a very important fact in drilling wells for oil 
 or gas, as it determines the amount of casing required by the 
 wells. The thickness of these upper limestones is shown in the 
 following table. In regard to these measurements, it must be con- 
 fessed that they are not in all cases exact. The Clinton group, 
 when shaly, is often cut off from the bottom of the limestone 
 column by the drillers, the casing being placed in the Niagara 
 shale. In many of the measurements given herein, samples of 
 drilling have helped to determine the boundaries. Generalizations 
 are not needed- in regard to these figures at this time. In the fol- 
 lowing named towns, the entire thickness of the limestones was 
 passed through, viz: Bryan, Bucyrus, Crestline, Delta, Defiance, 
 Hicksville, Lancaster, Newark, Napoleon, Plymouth, Sandusky, 
 and Wauseon. Bloomington and Columbus also take in almost 
 the whole series. The asterisk indicates an unfinished section of 
 the limestones, and the interrogation point occurs where boundaries 
 are more or less indistinct. It is understood that in all of these 
 records, where the whole thickness of the limestone is found, there 
 is a cap or cover of the Ohio shale and of drift deposits of varying 
 amounts.' 
 
Horizontal 43321 
 
 Scat '{verti€cil JOOOt 
 
 1 Drift. 2 Iiovrci- Helderbez-g. SNiagara Limes taae . 4Miag;ai-a Shale. 5 Cli 
 
 9 Uticu Shale. ID I 
 
 SECTION FROM DESHLER TO TIFF I 
 
 Af.R.eampi 
 
pii- inch* 
 jit. r inch . , 
 
 •\iou Limestone . 6 SeeXffvei. TMedia^ Shale. & Hudson River Shale. 
 nut on Limestone, 
 
 V ON A LINE BEARING S. 80"E. 
 
 a, Del. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 123 
 
 Belle Center 340 
 
 Bellefontaine 635 
 
 Bellevue 1000* 
 
 Bloomville 840 
 
 Bowling Green .... 345 
 
 Bryan 1009 
 
 Bucyrus 816 
 
 Carey 257 
 
 Celina 193 
 
 Clyde 850? 
 
 Columbus 726 
 
 Crestline 857 
 
 Delta 1 132 
 
 Defiance , . . . 960 
 
 Deshler 710 
 
 Eaton 40 
 
 Elmore 410 
 
 Findlay ( 25 ° 
 
 y Woo 
 
 Fostoria 400 
 
 Fremont 360 
 
 Green Springs 485 
 
 Greenville 260 
 
 Hicksville 928 
 
 Kenton 400 
 
 Lancaster 700? 
 
 Lima 350 
 
 Marion 615 
 
 Magnetic Springs. . 354 
 
 Napoleon 966 
 
 Newark 1050? 
 
 Oak Harbor 371 
 
 Ottawa 530 
 
 Plymouth 1050 
 
 Sandusky 1 170 
 
 Springfield 100 
 
 St. Henry's no 
 
 St. Mary's 194 
 
 Tiffin 560 
 
 Urbana 123 
 
 Union City 180 
 
 Vanlue 215 
 
 Washington C. H . . 190 
 
 Wauseon 1 100? 
 
 Weston 648 
 
 8. The Ohio Shale. 
 
 Much important information has been gained during the last 
 year in regard to the great shale series of eastern Ohio. It has 
 been pierced and gauged at many points ; and at others where the 
 drill has failed to penetrate it entirely, we have still obtained meas- 
 ures which show a very great volume without giving us a complete 
 section. But data of this last named sort have taught that in the 
 upper Ohio valley the shales exceed 2,600 feet in thickness, such 
 a measure being reported from Wellsville without exhausting the 
 shale. It has the least thickness in southern Ohio. In Highland 
 and Adams counties, the interval between the Berea grit and the 
 Upper Silurian limestones is reduced to 250 feet. At Lancaster, 
 
124 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 the interval between the Berea grit and the Upper Helderberg 
 limestone, which appears in this section and not in the one first 
 named, is 650 feet; at Newark, 890 feet; at Mt. Vernon, 1,174 
 feet; at Mansfield, 640 feet; at Plymouth, 648 feet; at Berea, 1,250 
 feet; at Cleveland, about 1,400 feet; at Massillon, 1,800 feet; at 
 Akron, 1,860 feet; at Canton, a somewhat greater measure, and 
 also at Canal Dover; at East Liverpool, it exceeds 2,400 feet; at 
 Wellsville, it exceeds 2,600 feet. In regard to this list, it may be 
 added that the figures given for Mt. Vernon are much in excess of 
 the other points along the line. These figures were given by the 
 driller of a well at this point two years ago . A more recent record 
 has been made, but it is not now at hand. 
 
 The great importance of these facts in relation to the supply 
 of oil and gas through eastern Ohio will not escape attention. 
 When the drill passes, in its descent, the Berea grit, it enters upon 
 this great shale series in which low-pressure gas is contained, if 
 any. The impracticability of drilling through the shales to the 
 underlying strata is plain, from the fact that the great body of 
 limestones usually found next below always carries salt water, and 
 this fact would require the casing to extend to the bottom or 
 nearly to the bottom of the series, a demand which it is imprac- 
 ticable to fulfill. The crowning reason remains, however, to be 
 added. Nothing worth going down for has been found at these 
 great depths in our series in a single instance. The discoveries 
 pertaining to the Berea grit will be characterized in another 
 connection. 
 
 SECTION II.— GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF OHIO. 
 
 The Cincinnati Axis. 
 
 The. facts pertaining to this section of the Preliminary Report 
 that have accumulated during the last year are full of importance 
 and interest. The most striking of them pertain to the so-called 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 125 
 
 •Cincinnati axis. By the explorations that have gone forward, it 
 has been possible to obtain a large series of facts which give us a 
 much clearer idea of this ancient uplift than we could ever have 
 secured without them. The fortunes of this great factor in our 
 geology are bound up with the Trenton limestone and must be 
 studied with reference to its history and conditions. A part of 
 what we have heretofore counted the results and exhibition of the 
 uplift is found to be due to an entirely different cause, namely, to 
 the thickening of the lower formations in certain areas. All the 
 essential features of this uplift must be found in the disposition 
 and arrangement of the Trenton limestone. The Trenton lime- 
 stone is the Cincinnati uplift. On the map on following page the 
 topography of this great stratum in western Ohio is indicated by 
 a series of shadings that present the facts in a graphic manner to 
 the eye. The map requires no special explanation. In south- 
 western Ohio it is seen that there is a considerable area in which 
 the Trenton limestone lies above tide water. This area is left 
 unshaded. In the rest of the territory represented, the descent of 
 the Trenton to lower levels is marked by shading and numbers, 
 each of which stand for 250 feet of descent. Thus, the belt 
 marked 2 indicates that portion of the State in which the Tren- 
 ton limestone lies between tide level and 250 feet below tide level. 
 Division 3 indicates all those parts of western Ohio in which 
 the Trenton limestone is found between 250 and 500 feet below 
 tide, and so on. 
 
 A study of the map reveals a number of unexpected and sur- 
 prising features. 
 
 1. The Cincinnati axis bears to the north-west instead of 
 to the north-east, as has been heretofore held. The highest level 
 of the limestone passes from Point Pleasant, where it is about 470 
 feet above tide, through Clermont, Butler and Preble counties into 
 Indiana, where it seems to be continued in a broad tract, the 
 western boundary of which coincides in a general way with the 
 
TRENTON 
 
 ,BoIom Tltt e . 
 
 m 
 
 am 
 
 f 
 
 Pfl? 
 
 Mr we Tidej, 
 
 MAP 
 
 OFTJTB 
 
 TBENTON LIMESTONE 
 
 TVESTEJIN OHIO 
 " ffo o BTON5TflTE o^ ^ 
 
 M./t Gamptivtl UH. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 127 
 
 western boundary of the Upper Silurian rocks of the State. The 
 limestone maintains itself above sea level as far to the north-west 
 as Eaton and Muncie, Delaware county. These facts seem to jus- 
 tify us in saying that the Cincinnati axis bears to the north-west 
 instead of to the north-east as it leaves south-western Ohio. 
 
 2. From this high-lying tract of the Trenton limestone 
 there is a north-easterly prolongation or off-shoot, that enters Ohio 
 from Indiana, in Mercer county, and passes thence through Aug- 
 laize, Allen and Hancock counties. This has proved itself to be 
 one of the most important divisions of the formation in north- 
 western Ohio and it may well be named the Lima axis 
 
 3. From the central part of Hancock county, the line of 
 highest levels of the Trenton limestone bears nearly due north, 
 but with a small westerly element appearing in its direction. This 
 tract is bounded on its west side by the most remarkable struc- 
 tural feature yet developed in Ohio geology. It consists of a pro- 
 nounced monoclinal fold, the descent of which is nearly 200 feet. 
 The monoclinal passes directly through Findlay, and was first 
 revealed in connection with the gas and oil wells of that town. 
 It may well be styled the Findlay Break or the Findlay Mon- 
 ocline. The Trenton limestone, on the east side of Main street, 
 in Findlay, at a depth of 1,100 feet, is found in a flat-lying tract 
 or terrace, the upper surface of which is a little more than 300 
 feet below tide water. From this level the limestone descends to 
 the west quite abruptly, falling 120 feet in 1,000 of horizontal 
 measure, in at least one well known instance. 
 
 The Findlay break has not been proved to be strictly continu- 
 ous to the northward, but even if there is no single monoclinal 
 that traverses the rocks there is, at least, a succession of such 
 breaks with a general northerly direction that extends to the 
 Michigan line. Van Buren, Portage, Bowling Green, Monclova, 
 and Sylvania are all on the edge of steep descents to the westward. 
 The great gas wells are mainly located upon the eastern margin of 
 
128 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 the slopes, and their extraordinary production is explicable to an 
 extent by the facts of their location. Reference will again be 
 made on a later page to the continuation of the break. 
 
 The Trenton limestone is developing great value as a source 
 of gas in Indiana, and the facts there obtained need to be corre- 
 lated with the original series in Ohio before the full significance of 
 either can be understood. The levels of a few Indiana wells, with 
 reference to tide water, are here given, as reported by Dr. A. J. 
 Phinney, of Muncie, Indiana: 
 
 Connersville 127 feet above tide. 
 
 Richmond 64 " 
 
 Winchester 24 " 
 
 Muncie 64 
 
 Eaton 5 " 
 
 Portland 71 feet below tide. 
 
 Bluffton 215 " 
 
 Decatur 460 ' ' 
 
 Ft. Wayne 643 ' ' 
 
 Kokomo 86 " 
 
 Tipton 1 29 " 
 
 Indianapolis 820 " 
 
 In eastern Ohio little has been added to our knowledge of the 
 arrangement or structure of the strata. The confirmed monotony 
 from which it has long been known that this portion of the State 
 is suffering, so far as gas and oil production is concerned, comes 
 out into continually clearer light as more work is done in the field. 
 The folds are very few in number, but their numbers, after all, 
 exceed their value. They seem in large parts of this territory too 
 low to insure the effective concentration which oil and gas produc- 
 tion require. This point will be considered somewhat further on a 
 later page. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 129 
 
 SECTION III. —THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OIL 
 AND GAS TERRITORY. 
 
 Astonishing progress is to be reported in the oil and gas 
 fields of Ohio and Indiana within the last year. The results are 
 far beyond any sober or conservative estimates that could have 
 been made in the spring of 1886. In fact, it is hard to appreciate 
 the reality of what is passing before our eyes. 
 
 1. — GAS PRODUCTION. 
 
 (a). FINDLAY FIELD. 
 
 The Findlay gas field still remains by far the most important cen- 
 ter for the utilization of the new found fuel. The development of 
 manufacturing industries at this point is without precedent in the his- 
 tory of Ohio towns. The population of Findlay has been more than 
 doubled within the last year and will be doubled yet again in 1887, 
 and the price of real estate has been multiplied, it is safe to say, if 
 present rates are any gauge, many times; and for the last few 
 weeks a strong current of speculative excitement has been sweep- 
 ing through the entire region. Capitalists are gathering in from 
 all quarters, and investments are being made on a very large scale. 
 Large and varied manufacturing interests are prominently repre- 
 sented in these investments; and it is certain that the develop- 
 ments of the last year will be found to be insignificant in compari- 
 son with what 1887 will have to show. The geological struct- 
 ure of the Findlay field has come clearly into view by the 
 drilling that has already been done in it. The essential features of 
 this structure were clearly apprehended a year ago ; and the state- 
 ments that were then made in regard to it need no correction nor 
 qualification at the present time: but the developments of the 
 
130 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 year have given new significance to the surprising discovery that 
 was then announced to the effect that a monoclinal fold with a 
 down-throw of 200 feet crossed the town in a direction nearly 
 north but with a small westerly element. A monocline, it may- 
 be stated in passing, consists of two terraces or level tracts of a 
 single stratum connected by a steep slope. The Findlay break 
 extends many miles to the northward, as has been already stated, 
 and probably to the southward also. It has not been as distinctly 
 traced to the southward as in the other direction, for lack of time 
 to devote to such field work; but enough facts have been already 
 obtained to render it probable that there is a continuation of the 
 abrupt descent of the rocks in the territory to the south-east of 
 Findlay, the sharpest descent extending through the center of 
 Jackson township and along the eastern line of sections of Delaware 
 township, passing within a mile of Forest. It is, perhaps, con- 
 tinued still further south through Jackson and Goshen townships 
 of Hardin county. Northward, however, the line of the break is 
 much clearer. It does not prove to be represented by a strictly 
 continuous geological formation, but a few sags appear in it at 
 various points. Barring these depressions, however, it can be 
 said that a line of broken structure extends from Findlay to the 
 Michigan border, which it reaches about two miles west of Syl- 
 vania. The break is quite as pronounced at this point as at Find- 
 lay. The descent to the westward is at least 200 feet in less than 
 a quarter of a mile. The Findlay break passes a little west of 
 Van Buren, in Allen township, through North Baltimore, and 
 about two miles west of Bowling Green. Monclova, in Lucas 
 •county, is also on this or an altogether similar line. The sags in 
 the rock that are alluded to in the preceding statement become of 
 special interest from facts that will presently be stated. The most 
 important of them are found in the east part of Liberty and in 
 Portage townships, in Wood county. The last named township 
 is almost entirely occupied by one of these depressions. In this 
 discussion it will be noted that the names Waterlime and Lower 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 131 
 
 Helderberg limestone are used interchangeably. It is an open 
 question as to which designation is to be preferred. 
 
 It is along the edge of the Findlay break that the greatest gas 
 wells of the fields have been struck. The Karg well is located, as 
 nearly as possible, at the very summit of the sharpest descent. 
 The Trenton limstone dips westward from the Karg well ioo feet 
 in 1,000 feet of horizontal measure. The Van Buren well holds a 
 similar relation to the break. The Simons well, another of the 
 chief producers, acquires its value by a like relation to the sag that 
 cuts across the territory due north of it, and it is quite possible 
 that a distinct break will be found in this neighborhood. 
 
 An important addition can be made to our knowledge of the 
 monocline. It is this: this structural feature can be traced quite 
 distinctly, in the main, by the surface rocks. The western line of 
 junction of the Lower Helderberg and the Niagara limestone, as 
 laid down upon the geological maps of these townships, is in sub- 
 stance the line of the Findlay break. This boundary was estab- 
 lished in the original geological survey of Hancock and Wood 
 counties by Professor N. H. Winchell, who explored and reported 
 upon this district. It is surprising to see how close he came to the 
 actual facts, working as he did, not only in a drift-covered, but in an 
 undeveloped region and at a time when much less could be seen of 
 the rocks than now. The lines that he drew stand approved to-day 
 in all essential particulars, and are becoming invested with great 
 economic interest. The wisdom of mapping out minutely these 
 different limestone beds, that underlie the country, was very likely 
 questioned by the farmers who saw the work going forward. It 
 was sure to seem to them a needless and fanciful refinement to 
 call one bed of limestone Waterlime and another Niagara lime- 
 stone. Both would burn into equally good lime, and this was the 
 main point of value that was recognized in them ; but when it is 
 learned that one of these rocks stands for possible oil in the under- 
 lying Trenton limestone, and not for gas, and the other for gas in 
 
132 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 the same rock and not for oil, there will be none to question the 
 desirability of having the facts upon record. The statements as to 
 the division of the upper .Silurian limestones of page 22 of the 
 original Report, and page 33 of the present Reprint, need to be 
 qualified as to this point. The value of the boundary is now seen 
 to be much greater than was there represented, and the disparag- 
 ing remarks as to the reality of the divisions indicated, must be 
 withdrawn. What was said in that connection, however, as to the 
 impossibility of separating the out-crops of the two series in many 
 parts of northern Ohio, is entirely true. 
 
 It now appears that all the gas wells of Ohio that derive their 
 supply from the Trenton limestone are begun in the Niagara lime- 
 stone, or at least in territory where the Niagara limestone is due. 
 There are possibly cases in which good gas wells have been found, 
 where a few feet of the Waterlime are left lying upon the Niagara ; 
 and, on the other hand, the rocks may be deeply eroded, in par- 
 ticular instances, so that the Niagara itself, although originally 
 found in the section, will be wanting or at least reduced to a small 
 measure in the well record, its place in such cases being usurped 
 by invading bowlder clay. But outside of these statements, no 
 further qualification is necessary. 
 
 It scarcely needs to be said that the relation of the different 
 limestones to gas and oil production respectively has nothing 
 whatever to do with the limestones themselves; but the vital fact 
 is the relative level at which the Trentoq limestone is to be found, 
 and this is indicated to some extent by the different limestones 
 that occupy the surface. The Niagara limestone stands as a matter 
 of course for a higher level of the underlying Trenton than the 
 Waterlime when both strata are found at the same surface elevation 
 above the sea, as they so commonly are in north-western Ohio, and 
 especially in the great gas producing belt of this region. Here, 
 as is shown in the Preliminary Report, the elevations do not vary 
 fifteen feet in as many miles, while the Trenton in the same 
 interval will rise or fall for five or six hundred feet. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 133 
 
 It is evident that the driller can with profit extend his geo- 
 logical knowledge. He will also need to enlarge his geological 
 vocabulary. All the upper limestones that he meets, including 
 the Clinton and Niagara, Waterlime or Lower Helderberg, and 
 Upper Helderberg limestones, have thus far been classed together 
 by him as Niagara limestone, unless when some specially hard 
 phase of them has been struck, which then is quite likely to be 
 entered in his record as "gray granite." It is evident, however, 
 that it stands him in hand to recognize the difference between the 
 true Niagara and the overlying Waterlime. 
 
 Not only are all the producing gas wells of the new field 
 located upon outcrops of the Niagara limestone, but it is further 
 true that all the oil wells are begun in the Waterlime. To this 
 statement no exception is now known, but exceptions may well 
 occur. It must be borne in mind that this last named formation 
 has a thickness of not less than 500 feet in its full sections. It is 
 only on the edge of the stratum, or moderately close to outcrops 
 of the Niagara, or in other words, near uplifts, that oil is found at 
 all. Elsewhere, the Trenton limestone is carried below the dead- 
 lines of the several districts. The prospects of a well can be told 
 in every productive field by the depth at which the casing needs 
 to be set. This fact, too, as is evident, is connected with the level 
 of the Trenton limestone and derives all its significance from this 
 connection. By the length of the casing, which is, as a rule, 
 approximately the same as the thickness of the upper limestone, 
 the depth of the Trenton can be estimated. No well has yet 
 proved productive, in any worthy sense of the word, in which 
 more than 500 feet of casing has been required. 
 
 No great wells of the first class have been added to the Find- 
 lay field proper. The Karg still stands alone in this important 
 group. The city has drilled, within the last few months, two 
 wells quite near to it. The first of them was about 1,000 feet 
 removed, and while a fairly productive well, when finished, yielding 
 9 
 
134 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 i, 179,000 cubic feet per day, it belongs to an entirely different class 
 from its great neighbor. This city well was the first of the Find- 
 lay gas wells to be torpedoed, and its production is said to have 
 been greatly helped thereby. As before stated, it is 1,000 feet 
 from the Karg well, and as it proved, it is 1,000 feet in the wrong 
 direction, because it is further removed from the edge of the steep 
 descent on which the latter stands. The Trenton limestone in it 
 was reached at a higher level above tide by six feet than in the 
 Karg, and all the facts of its production are in harmony with 
 what we should expect from the circumstances now named. The 
 second city well was so located as to fare much better than the 
 first. It comes much nearer the line of the Findlay break ; but 
 if it could have been located a few hundred feet further to the 
 westward, it would probably have proved still more vigorous. It 
 is counted one of the strong wells of the Findlay field, after the 
 Karg well. 
 
 There has been no opportunity for the last eight months to 
 re-measure the pressure or volume of the wells whose force and 
 flow had been previously determined; but, so far as can be 
 learned, there is little or no abatement of the rock pressure of the 
 field. While the Karg well was blowing into the air, in the later 
 winter and spring of 1886, the rock pressure in all, or at least in 
 most, of the town wells was notably affected, a reduction of twen- 
 ty-five to thirty pounds being recorded in many of them ; but, 
 with the closing of this great outlet, the pressure seems to have 
 returned to the old figures, namely, 390 to 400 pounds per square 
 inch. The best observations have been obtained from the Oil 
 Mill well of McManness & Seymour, which has no connection with 
 any of the pipe lines of the town. In this well, the morning press- 
 ure is found steady at the figures named above. 
 
 The Kirk well, located on the east bank of Eagle creek, from 
 the testimony of its proprietor, appears to be losing volume and 
 pressure to a considerable extent. It was never vigorous, accord- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 135 
 
 ing to the Findlay standard, and its decrease can occasion no sur- 
 prise. Two other wells, located in the same part of the town, 
 namely, the Pioneer well and the Gas Works well, Nos. I and 2 of 
 the Findlay field in order of drilling, are known to have lost a 
 good deal of their original force ; but no quantitative statements 
 can be made in regard to them, as they were not satisfactorily 
 measured in their early days, and no opportunity can now be had 
 to gauge them, since they are constantly connected with the main 
 lines of the city supply. The location of these wells, a half mile or 
 more east of the break, will help to explain the fact that they are 
 the first to suffer abatement of flow. By the great series of wells 
 that have been drilled to the west of them, the territory from which 
 they are fed, the common supply has been cut off to some extent ; 
 and, furthermore, it is to be borne in mind that these wells were 
 the first to be drilled, and therefore have been drawing longest upon 
 the reservoirs immediately tributary to them. The wells nearest 
 the break, as the Karg, City No. 2, the North Findlay well,' and 
 the Cory well, are very happily situated for a long and generous 
 supply. The oil that lies at the foot of the deep descent may be 
 counted as the source of the gas, and along this ascending slope the 
 gas cons'tantly finds its way upward. It would appear to be the 
 wise policy for Findlay, and for the whole western border of the 
 Findlay break as well, to leave the oil untouched in its great reser- 
 voirs and to save the entire territory exclusively for gas production. 
 Gas is gold, but oil is lead, at least under the conditions of the 
 market that now prevail. There are no geological conditions 
 elsewhere known in Ohio at all comparable with those that are 
 found along this line of disturbance, so far as gas production is 
 concerned. Any sacrifice of the higher uses of this unique terri- 
 tory to less valuable ones is much to be deprecated. 
 
 Three milest east of Findlay the Thorn Tree well is located. 
 It was reported, at the time it was brought in, to have obtained its 
 gas from a depth of ninety-three feet in the Trenton limestone. If 
 
136 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 this were a fact, it would be an anomalous one for the entire field ; 
 but, according to Mr. C. H. Emerson, under whose direction the 
 drilling was done, gas was obtained all along in the Trenton at the 
 usual horizons, and by no means .exclusively or conspicuously at 
 the unusal depth reported. That the well was drilled too deep is 
 obvious from the fact that oil and salt water have been raised in 
 such large volume in connection with the gas as to considerably 
 reduce the value of its production. 
 
 (b.) THE VAN BUREN FIELD. 
 
 It is hard to say just what territory should be included in the 
 Findlay field. Probably the great wells to the northward will be 
 best treated under distinct divisions. 
 
 In Allen township, near Van Buren, the largest gas well of 
 the new field is found. It was drilled by Conroy and Johnson, and 
 is now the property of the North-western Ohio Gas Company. 
 Measured from the casing, six weeks after the flow was struck, the 
 well was discharging 15,000,000 cubic feet of gas every twenty-four 
 hours. In the six weeks in which it was open, rio less than 630,- 
 000,000 cubic feet escaped into the air. The city of Cincinnati 
 does not use in a year as large a volume of artificial gas as this ; 
 but the cost to the city for such a quantity as is here reported at 
 the present rates, which are lower than have ever prevailed be- 
 fore, would be more than three-quarters of a million of dollars. 
 
 (c.) THE BLOOMVILLE FIELD. 
 
 The most prominent of the divisions of the gas field, in some 
 respects, is a tongue of Niagara limestone that occupies the east 
 side of Henry township and a large part of Bloom township, 
 Wood county, and also includes the southern portion of Perry 
 township. This field begins at North Baltimore and extends to 
 the water tanks six miles west of Fostoria. This district lies in a 
 low arch which is well shown in the accompanying section. The 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 137 
 
 structure of the rocks from Deshler eastward to Tiffin is repre- 
 sented here. The levels of the well-heads above tide are shown 
 by the figures in the upper line. The depths of the Trenton 
 below tide are indicated in like manner by figures at the bottom 
 of the section. The level of the Trenton limestone at Bloomville 
 is incorrectly given as 310. It should be 360 feet. the drawing 
 is slightly in error as to this point. 
 
 The records of two wells located at North Baltimore are 
 instructive in this regard. In well No. 1, the surface of the 
 Trenton limestone was found 45 1 feet below tide. This well 
 yielded oil in small amount. In the Peters well, on the east side 
 of the town, the Trenton limestone was found seventy feet higher, 
 or 380 feet below tide; and this well is an excellent gas well, 
 though not reaching the figures of great production. From that 
 point eastward for several miles, the Trenton slowly rises. At 
 Bairdstownitisfound 3 14 feet below tide; at the Simons well, 301 feet 
 below; at Bloomdale, 360 feet; and at the Water-Tank wells, 380 to 
 390 feet below. In the first and last of this series, the lowest 
 levels of the Trenton limestone that are found associated with 
 large gas production in this particular field occur. 
 
 The Simons well is the only first-class well in this list. It 
 yielded 12,400,000 cubic feet of gas from the casing the day after 
 it was completed. When brought down to a four inch pipe, its 
 production was doubtless reduced to the amount of two or three 
 million cubic feet per day. This Niagara district, of which we 
 are now treating and which is thus seen to stand for gas producing 
 Trenton limestone, extends from Findlay northward to the south 
 line of Portage township, in Wood county, and from North Balti- 
 more eastward to the Godsend Water Tanks. It forms the largest 
 continuous body of proved gas territory that is now known in the 
 State. In addition to the townships already referred to it, namely, 
 the east side of Findlay township, and parts of Marion, Allen, and 
 Cass townships, Amanda and Washington must also be included 
 
138 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 within it, although the gas territory is here developed to only a 
 small extent. Another township will probably be added to the 
 list. A large amount of this territory has been secured by the 
 North-western Ohio Gas Company, a corporation that is displaying 
 great energy and sagacity in its operations in the new field, and 
 that is certain to reap a large reward for its generous investments. 
 The pipes of this company are already delivering gas to Fostoria 
 and Fremont, and will very soon reach Tiffin, Toledo, and other 
 important centers. The wells drilled at Jerry City and the Rocky 
 Ford, in the northern part of Bloom township, and several others 
 that are in the same vicinity were located in one of the sags that 
 have already been described as traversing the field, and the Trenton 
 limestone is not productive in any of them in either gas or oil. 
 Attention has previously been called to these low places in the 
 rock, which are indicated by the presence of the Waterlime in 
 areas where the Niagara is to be expected. 
 
 (d.) THE BOWLING GREEN FIELD. 
 
 The Bowling Green field has been strengthened to the south- 
 ward since the date of the last Report, but it has probably reached 
 its limit in this direction in the Portage well. The boundary 
 between the Niagara and the Waterlime occurs at this point, and 
 production to the south of Portage should give oil rather than gas, 
 if anything is found. The most promising territory in the Bowling 
 Green district lies to the westward, so far as geological conditions 
 can be relied upon to guide us. The promise is certainly afforded 
 by the geological structure apparent here, but only the drill can 
 tell whether the promise will be kept. There is room for more 
 than one Karg or Van Buren well in the two miles of the Niagara 
 limestone that extend to the westward of the Findlay break as it 
 passes through Plain township. The descent of the Trenton lime- 
 stone from Bowling Green in a line due west is 500 feet in seven 
 miles. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 139 
 
 The higher levels of the Trenton limestone end quite abruptly 
 a little to the northward of Bowling Green, and the whole series* 
 descends from this point toward the lake, a fall of 400 feet being 
 registered between Bowling Green and Toledo, the descent of the 
 surface not being included. 
 
 The Findlay break, as has already been stated, continues to 
 the northward, but no satisfactory tests have yet been made of 
 the petroliferous character of the deep rock of this boundary. A 
 well drilled at the sand works west of Sylvania, would find a long 
 section of the upper limestones and would thus require more cas- 
 ing than in the parts of the field at present productive, but it would 
 also find as sharp a descent of all the strata as at Findlay. It 
 seems hardly possible that such a pronounced repetition of the 
 Findlay structure can be entirely without effect in the accumula- 
 tions that are so eagerly sought at the present time. Of the dis- 
 tricts not yet tested, this seems to be one of the most promising, 
 geologically considered. The wells drilled at Perrysburg and 
 South Toledo are hardly to be considered as located upon this line. 
 The main disturbance is evidently two or three miles to the west of 
 them. New conditions would be met in drilling at Sylvania, and 
 the record would become, in any event, a very interesting one. 
 If gas were found in quantity at this point, it could be turned to 
 the best possible account in the manufacture of glass from the Syl- 
 vania sandstone, one of the purest and most remarkable sand de- 
 posits of the country. Gas has been developed within the year, 
 for the first time, at a few other points in north-western Ohio ; and 
 at other localities, new wells have been added to those already suc- 
 cessful to a greater or less degree. The facts pertaining to this 
 field can be briefly stated. 
 
 (e.) THE CAREY WELLS. 
 
 Carey has added three new wells, drilled at the public expense, 
 to the three already reported. They are all practical failures, and 
 
140 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 the town has no results at all adequate or satisfactory, to show for 
 the money spent in exploration. All these wells are located on 
 the Waterlime. The Niagara rises abruptly to the west of the 
 town. There is good geological reason in this fact to expect more 
 favorable results in that direction ; and there is a still better ground 
 for confidence in the experience of the two fairly productive wells 
 that have been struck in this region, one at Vanlue and the other 
 in Ridge township, Wyandot county. It is therefore probable 
 that this enterprising town will yet reach its much desired supply 
 of light and power without being obliged to depend on long and 
 costly pipe lines. 
 
 (f.) THE OAK HARBOR WELLS. 
 
 Oak Harbor, Ottawa county, has continued the work of 
 drilling deep wells, the first of which was reported in the previous 
 edition. The wells are located on a narrow belt of Niagara lime- 
 stone that forms one of the two prolongations into which the great 
 mass of this formation in Hancock, Sandusky and Seneca coun- 
 ties divides as it approaches the lake shore, as pointed out by 
 Winchell in 1870. A syncline or depression, occupied by the 
 Waterlime, interrupts the continuity of the Niagara for a few miles 
 in Ottawa county. The Trenton limestone is struck in the Oak 
 Harbor wells at 720 feet below tide, a depth for which the great 
 fields have no use whatever, but which, under the compulsion of 
 pronounced and favorable structure, gives some value to this out- 
 lying territory. Of the four wells drilled at Oak Harbor, the last 
 is said to be the best. An effort was made to obtain a measure of 
 its flow when first brought in, but the force of the current was not 
 strong enough. to render the Robinson method available, and 
 an anemometer was not at hand. The volume probably does not 
 exceed 200,600 cubic feet per day, and may be much less. The 
 conditions here are similar to what would be found at Sylvania, 
 though in some respects less favorable than there. The supply of 
 Oak Harbor, whatever it proves to be, will probably be derived 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 141 
 
 from territory lying to the east rather than to the west of the 
 town. 
 
 (g.) THE FREMONT WELLS. 
 
 Fremont has continued to drill deep and shallow wells, until 
 the number reaches or exceeds twenty, and in so doing, it has 
 added some interesting and important facts to the history of the 
 new field in northern Ohio. It was noticed by good observers, 
 that quite a flow of gas was found in all the early wells a little 
 above the top of the Medina shale, and further, that there seemed 
 to be but little addition to the supply derived from going 800 feet 
 deeper into the Trenton limestone. If new gas was found in the 
 latter formation, it was thought to be counter-balanced by the loss 
 of that from the upper horizon through the operation of drilling. 
 These observations, which were made by Mr. George O, Harlan, 
 presently led to a practical test by him of the points involved. He 
 secured a portable drilling machine, and put down, without pre- 
 vious experience, a well on his own premises to the Medina shale. 
 The gas flow was small, but still it was amply large enough for 
 household use. Mr. Harlan then began the work of drilling other 
 wells of the same character; and during 1886 he completed a half 
 dozen or more of them, all of which admirably answered the pur- 
 pose for which they were drilled, namely, furnishing light and 
 ' heat for household supply. The cost of such wells complete, was 
 about #700. The source of the gas for these shallow wells is the 
 Clinton limestone and not the Medina shale as was stated in the 
 first edition. It will be remembered that the Clinton is represented 
 in the preliminary Report as an oil rock at many points, (page 31) 
 when found in out-crop, so that it is not surprising to find it when 
 under cover charged with petroleum or its derivatives. The 
 highest measured production of this group of wells is 17,000 
 feet per day, but a volume of this amount yields an abundant sup- 
 ply for a half dozen houses, if they are conveniently located with 
 reference to this purpose. 
 
142 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 The deep wells of Fremont are, with possibly one or two- 
 exceptions, too light producers to serve a valuable purpose for 
 general supply; but all of those drilled so far have yielded, with 
 one exception, dry gas. The history of the tenth deep well, 
 drilled in the center of the town, is very instructive. In it, the 
 Trenton limestone was reached at a higher level by fifty feet, than 
 in any of the other wells by which it is surrounded on all sides. 
 The results that were to be expected^ from this advantage of struc- 
 ture were fully realized. The well probably produced more gas 
 than all the other wells of the town combined. The supply would 
 probably have reached 200,000, or perhaps even 300,000 cubic 
 feet per day, if the well had been kept in its best condition. The 
 advantage was, however, lost by drilling fifty feet into the lime- 
 stone and reaching oil and salt water, from which the gas could 
 with difficulty, if at all, be separated. A deep well has recently 
 been drilled at the residence of President Hayes for household 
 supply, and it is said to be one of the most successful of the 
 series. 
 
 Fremont has added, as shown above, a new gas horizon to 
 our column, namely the Clinton limestone. At least the supply 
 is more regular and equable from the Clinton rock at this point 
 than elsewhere ; and Fremont has also supplied a striking illustra- 
 tion of the dominant effect of structure on gas and oil accummu- 
 lation. The North-western Ohio Gas Company is now supplying 
 Fremont from its great wells in Hancock and Wood counties. 
 
 (h.) THE MERCER COUNTY WELLS. 
 
 Mercer county is coming into prominence as a source of gas. 
 The wells drilled at Celina were as dry as any in the field. Those 
 drilled at Union City and Greenville, to the south-ward, were also 
 reported to be free almost from the traces of gas or oil, but undis- 
 mayed by these failures, Hon. Dennis Dwyer, of Dayton, Ohio, 
 drilled a well in October last, on the edge of the Cranberry Marsh, 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 143 
 
 near St. Henry's, in Granville township. The location of the well 
 was determined by the fact that a north-east line from Findlay and 
 Lima would traverse the Cranberry Marsh. When the Trenton 
 limestone was reached, a small volume of gas was obtained, but 
 the well was presently "shot" and a great flow of gas resulted. 
 Its blaze, illuminating the sky at night, could be seen for a dozen 
 or more miles on every side. The well was presently brought 
 under control, and the gas, when measured in February, 1887, as 
 delivered through a two-inch pipe, was found to be 2,650,000 
 cubic feet per day. If measured through the casing when the well 
 was first torpedoed, it would doubtless have shown more than 
 three million cubic feet. It is an invaluable discovery for the 
 western counties. The closed pressure of the well is said to be 
 375 pounds to the square inch. A second well, drilled a half mile 
 distant from the first, was much less vigorous in its flow, but it 
 still delivered an amount of gas that would be no insignificant 
 addition to a pipe line. A third well, recently drilled by other 
 parties, four and a half miles south-west of St. Mary's and two miles 
 south of the east end of the reservoir, in Auglaize county but near 
 the border of Mercer, is reported as a vigorous producer. All 
 are located in the Niagara limestone. The importance of this 
 opening gas field, located where it is, cannot well be over-esti- 
 mated. The great oil pools of Lima, Cridersville and St. Mary's, 
 cannot fail to have gas reservoirs somewhere around them, even if 
 not very near at hand. These oil wells are all begun in the Water- 
 lime ; and the gas horizon should here, as elsewhere, be sought in 
 the nearest outliers of the Niagara limestone. 
 
 To the southward, drilling has been done in all the counties 
 of western Ohio; but the results thus far, so far as gas production 
 is concerned, oscillate between insignificance and zero. Gas for 
 domestic use can doubtless be obtained at a few points, perhaps at 
 many, but no manufacturing supplies have yet come to light. 
 Some of the attempts have been very bold and persistent. Day- 
 
144 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 ton has sunk the drill to a deeper level geologically, than has ever 
 before been reached in Ohio, the bottom of the well being 1,500 
 feet below the surface of the Trenton limestone. 
 
 In summing up the chief developments of the year in the pro- 
 duction of gas from the Trenton limestone, the following points 
 come distinctly into view : 
 
 1. The large supplies of gas are limited to comparatively 
 small areas. Nine townships of Hancock county, six of Wood 
 county, one of Wyandot, one of Auglaize and one of Mercer, in 
 whole or in part, constitute both the actual and the fairly probable 
 gas territory up to the present time. The total area of these 
 several districts will approximate 325 square miles. Of this total 
 area, only a small portion has been proved to any such extent as to 
 really warrant the name of gas territory being applied to it. The 
 mo st that can be sajd for much of it is that it is possible gas terri- 
 tory. Good or fair wells have been struck in three townships of 
 Wood county, in six of Hancock, and in one each of Wyandot, 
 Auglaize and Mercer. These centers of production are, however, 
 certain to be increased. The most prominent undeveloped terri- 
 tory of this kind is to be looked for in Auglaize, Mercer, and 
 possibly in Hardin. The presumptive territory of the principal 
 counties named, namely, Wood and Hancock, is only partially 
 tested yet. 
 
 2. All of these gas wells, without exception, are located in 
 the Niagara limestone, so far as surface rock is concerned, evi- 
 dently not from any influence of this wide-spread sheet on gas 
 production in itself considered, but merely because it stands for a 
 higher level of the real gas rock, which is the underlying Trenton 
 limestone. All the gas wells begin in the Niagara limestone; 
 but it would not answer at all to infer that the converse 
 statement is true, namely, that all wells which are begun in the 
 Niagara limestone will prove to be gas wells. Not one mile in ten 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 145 
 
 in Niagara territory promises even fairly well in this regard, so far 
 as the tests made to the present time go. 
 
 3. The geological explanation of the gas territory of Han- 
 cock and Wood counties, and of its oil production also, is clear, 
 beyond misunderstanding or misinterpretation. The gas and oil 
 accumulations are accounted for and conditioned by a tongue of 
 high-lying Trenton limestone, that follows the Findlay break as far 
 north as Bowling Green. The structure in question comes very 
 clearly to view in the map which shows the topography of the 
 Trenton limestone (page 126). This tongue of Trenton limestone 
 is a trap for gas and oil, which rise into it from all sides and find 
 no way of escape until the drill reaches and releases them. The 
 largest and most promising production is found in this particular 
 region, because there is here a large tributary territory, or in 
 other words, because the trap is large. Given an equal rainfall 
 and similar conditions of surface for two rivers, the one which 
 drains the larger area must be the larger river. Given two ridges 
 of gas and oil producing rocks, other things being equal, the larger 
 must yield the most abundant supply. Every ridge or arch of the 
 Trenton limestone is a trap. The Findlay arch differs from the 
 rest simply in being a thousand times larger than others that 
 traverse the rocks. 
 
 4. The gas lies above but generally not far removed from 
 oil accumulations. On the margins of all the great oil pools, gas is 
 to be expected, and in fact, it cannot fail, but whether east or west, 
 or north or south of the oil accumulations, depends entirely on 
 the structural facts in the locality which we may chance to be 
 examining. To insist upon one direction only for a gas supply 
 as connected with the oil, or to count on one direction as sure to 
 be preferred above another in this connection, is absurd. 
 
146 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 PRODUCTION OF GAS WELLS. 
 
 Convenience will be served by the classification of the leading 
 gas wells according to their production. The strong wells can be 
 referred to a few divisions, the boundaries of which will be easy to 
 hold in memory. Any such classification, of course, is purely 
 arbitrary, and its only claim to acceptance must rest upon the pur- 
 pose that it serves. There are very few wells in the field, the 
 daily production of which exceeds ten million cubic feet. These 
 will be counted wells of the first order. There are probably a 
 half dozen others, mostly of the newer wells, that exceed five 
 million cubic feet without reaching ten million feet of daily pro- 
 duction. Wells of this grade, at least, are positively reported, and 
 the claim is apparently based on measurements. All such may be 
 counted as wells of the second order. The third order will take 
 in those wells whose daily flow ranges from one to five million 
 cubic feet. Wells producing from five hundred thousand to one 
 million cubic feet per day, may in like manner be styled wells of 
 the fourth- class ; and finally, the wells of the fifth class will em- 
 brace all those ranging from a hundred to five hundred thousand 
 <:ubic feet per day. This can be expressed in tabular form : 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF GAS WELLS. 
 
 Cubic ft. Cubic ft. 
 
 First order, daily production exceeds. . 10,000,000 
 Second order, daily production between 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 
 Third order, daily production between. 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 
 Fourth order, daily production between 500,000 and 1,000,000 
 Fifth order, daily production between . . 100,000 and 500,000 
 
 All wells below this lower limit would be classed as small 
 wells and but doubtfully adapted, at best, to any purpose except 
 domestic use. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 147 
 
 WELLS OF THE FIRST CLASS. 
 
 There are but three wells known in this group. The author 
 is responsible for some conflicting statements in regard to these 
 wells, and correction will here be made. The errors have resulted 
 from measuring the wells under different conditions, one, for 
 example, from the casing, and another from a four inch or smaller 
 pipe. The full effect of this reduction of the opening to the well 
 was not at first appreciated. The great wells named in the order 
 of their production are as follows: first, the Van Buren well; 
 second, the Karg well ; third, the Simons well. The first of these 
 wells was fortunately measured both from the casing and from a 
 four inch pipe immediately after the well was packed. All of the 
 measurements were made by the Robinson method, which, in 
 fact, is the only scientific method that has been made public. 
 
 The Van Buren well showed an open pressure in the casing 
 of six pounds, indicating a velocity of the current of 1,105 f eet 
 per second, and a daily yield of 14,984,352 cubic feet, or, in 
 round numbers, 15,000,000 cubic feet. In the four inch pipe, 
 the open pressure rose to twenty and a half pounds, indicating a 
 velocity of 1,677 f eet P er second, and a daily yield of 12,614,400 
 cubic feet. The loss of the well by the reduction from a five and 
 five-eighths inch opening to a four inch opening is seen to have 
 been 2,370,000 cubic feet per day, a result that will, perhaps, 
 occasion surprise, but the great practical importance of which 
 cannot escape observation. 
 
 The Karg well was never measured from the casing, but only 
 from the four inch pipe. A statement to the contrary that 
 appears in the Preliminary Report was inadvertently made. The 
 open pressure in this well was fifteen pounds, and the daily 
 volume of gas production, 12,080,000 cubic feet. Through the 
 casing, its production would certainly have reached, or very nearly 
 reached, 14,000,000 cubic feet per day. 
 
148 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 The Simons well was measured from the casing when first 
 completed and was found to be discharging 12,421,968 cubic feet 
 per day. The steam gauge in the current indicated an open pres- 
 sure of forty-three pounds. When reduced to a four inch pipe, the 
 volume must have shrunk to 10,000,000 cubic feet per day, or 
 - thereabouts. Put in tabulated form, the facts are as follows : 
 
 
 Pressure in 
 
 Pressure in 
 
 Yield from 
 
 Yield from 
 
 
 the Casing. 
 
 4 in. Pipe. 
 
 Casing. 
 
 4 in. Pipe. 
 
 Van Buren well . , 
 
 , 6 lbs. 
 
 20^ lbs. 
 
 15,000,000 
 
 I2,6l4,40O 
 
 
 . 
 
 IS " 
 
 
 12,080,000 
 
 
 
 4 lbs. 
 
 — 
 
 12,422,000 
 
 
 The wells of the remaining groups will not be treated of at 
 this time further than to say that the Heck well, the Barnd well, 
 probably the Columbia Gas Works well, and possibly two or three 
 others of the northern wells, seem to belong to the second order; 
 and that the Bairdstown well, the Bloomdale wells, together with 
 the Cory, Briggs, Jones and City wells No. 1 and 2 of Findlay, 
 and several others, and the St. Henry's well No. 1, belopg to the 
 third order. It is in this group that all of the larger Indiana 
 wells, definite figures from the production of which have been 
 published, appear to belong. The Robinson tables need to be 
 somewhat extended. For a clear statement of this system in its 
 application to the measurement of wells, the reader is referred to 
 page 108. But when the tables were made the supposition was 
 that the Karg well stood for high water mark of the gas produc- 
 tion of the new field, and that the figures which would serve for 
 this would certainly answer for all the rest. This supposition, 
 however, has proved erroneous, and the fifteen pounds of open 
 pressure of the Karg well were replaced by twenty and a half 
 pounds of open pressure in the same sized pipe in the Van Buren 
 well. Furthermore, when the system was applied to the great 
 Pennsylvania wells, a pressure of forty-five pounds was found, or 
 three times that of the Karg well. This latter figure was obtained 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 149 
 
 from the Andrews well of the Raccoon district, of Beaver county, 
 Pennsylvania. The table, as extended to any limits that can 
 possibly be required, is given below : 
 
 P' 
 P" 
 
 ■ 035- 
 .071. 
 . 107. 
 
 .145- 
 .183. 
 .222. 
 .263. 
 
 • 304- 
 
 • 346. 
 .389. 
 
 ■ 433- 
 .478. 
 
 • 525- 
 .572. 
 .620. 
 .669. 
 .719. 
 .770. 
 .822. 
 .876. 
 .930. 
 .986. 
 
 2.043- 
 
 2. IOI. 
 2. l60. 
 2.472. 
 2.8l6. 
 3-193- 
 
 10 
 
 M. 
 
 1000 
 
 1414 
 
 1732 
 
 2000 
 
 2236 
 
 2444 
 
 2646 
 
 2828 
 
 3000 
 
 3162 
 
 3317 
 
 3464 
 
 3606 
 
 3742 
 
 3873 
 4POO 
 
 4132 
 4243 
 4354 
 4472 
 4585 
 4690 
 4796 
 4899 
 5000 
 
 5477 
 5916 
 
 6325 
 
150 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 P" M. 
 
 3.606 6708 
 
 4.054 7071 
 
 5.062 7746 
 
 7-607 8944 
 
 10. 960 1 . 0000 
 
 It is also to be remarked that the specific gravity of the Find- 
 lay gas is probably counted a little too high in the Robinson 
 tables. It is there taken as .6; but the calculations of density 
 based upon chemical analysis give .57 instead. A correction for 
 this change in specific gravity would show an increase in yield of 
 all the wells by a small percentage. But it seems scarcely neces- 
 sary to disturb on this account the figures that have already 
 obtained so wide a currency. The proper correction for the 
 change indicated is .026. About 100,000 cubic feet per day 
 would be added by this correction to the flow of the Van Buren 
 and the Karg wells. 
 
 In the Preliminary Report, it is inadvertently stated that the 
 volume of the gas as shown by the Robinson method of meas- 
 urement is the volume at 6o° Fahrenheit. This is erroneous. 
 The volume obtained is that of the gas at the temperature with 
 which it issues from the well. This is generally between 32 and 
 38 Fahrenheit. A correction will need to be made if the volume 
 at 6o° is required. 
 
 2.— THE OIL PRODUCTION OF THE NEW FIELD. 
 
 A few statements must now be made as to the present facts 
 and the future prospects of the oil production from the Trenton lime- 
 stone in Ohio. A year ago, not a well in the field exceeded 150 
 barrels per day, and it may be even questioned whether any well 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 151 
 
 had fairly reached this limit. During the last few weeks, how- 
 ever, one well is reported to have produced ten times this amount, 
 or 1,500 barrels in a day, while a number have reached the thou- 
 sand barrel limit, some of them maintaining a rate of several 
 hundred barrels for week after week. Single wells have pro- 
 duced as much as 20,000 barrels of oil without the aid of a pump, 
 maintaining a rate of much over 100 barrels per day at the end of 
 three or four months' service. The Cory well, near Findlay, is 
 probably the greatest producer yet struck in the field. Within 
 the last few weeks it has brought to the surface more than 10,000 
 barrels of oil. It probably deserves to be ranked as the largest 
 oil well yet drilled into the Trenton limestone. The production of 
 the entire territory has been variously estimated. It is certain to 
 have exceeded 10,000 barrels per day for the whole field during 
 the early months of 1887. The March production of the Lima 
 field will be found on a subsequent page. But whatever the facts 
 of present production may be, there is no ground for doubt that 
 the field could easily be made to yield twenty or thirty thousand 
 barrels in a few weeks' time under the encouragement of a higher 
 price for oil than has hitherto ruled. All of the production thus 
 far has been held in check or even repressed by the low price to be 
 obtained when the oil is brought to the surface. The develop- 
 ments here referred to are simply astounding. It is hard to believe 
 what we see and know. There have been many surprises for both 
 geologist and driller in the history of petroleum production thus 
 far, but there certainly has never been one before approximating 
 to that which is derived from the history of the North-western Ohio 
 Oil and Gas Field. It is hard for either geologist or driller to ad- 
 just himself to the facts of every day experience; and the larger 
 the knowledge possessed of the geological series involved, the 
 greater apparently is the difficulty in realizing the present and the 
 prospective production. 
 
 The contribution to economic geology made by the new field 
 
152 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 is one of first class importance and world-wide interest and sig- 
 nificance. The discovery of Findlay gas and Lima oil has added 
 immensely to our knowledge of the possibility of stored power in 
 the crust of the earth. Hitherto the Carboniferous and Devonian 
 formations have marked the lower limit of stored power on the 
 large scale, the one containing coal and the other having been 
 found in the latter half of the present century, to hold vast stocks 
 of gas and oil ; but the new horizon drops at one step to the bottom 
 of the Lower Silurian age, a half mile or more below, in strati- 
 graphical order, the lowermost great source of power hitherto 
 known to men. For a large part of the country there is no possi- 
 bility of further surprises of this sort in the descending column, 
 from the fact that the Trenton limestone in it lies very near the 
 granite, and between the two but a single sandstone intervenes. 
 If, as certain theories vainly urge, petroleum were of chemical 
 origin, there would be no improbability of its being obtained even 
 from the granite, but among all the claims for its wide extension, 
 none have gone as far as this. 
 
 (a.) THE LIMA OIL FIELD. 
 
 The Lima field is much the most important source of Trenton 
 limestone oil. Lima itself, where the main development of a year 
 ago was going forward, has become already forgotten. The city 
 wells have run down in production ; and very few among them, 
 perhaps not a single one, has fairly paid for itself; but to the south- 
 ward and westward, a great oil field is opening out that is destined 
 to take rank with the largest yet discovered in the American con- 
 tinent. 
 
 The chief development thus far has been in Bath, Ottawa, 
 Perry and Shawnee townships of Allen county, and in Duchouquet 
 township of Auglaize county. Its limits are, however, as yet un- 
 known. The last three townships constitute the great centers of 
 production at present. All the conditions pointed out in the Pre- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 153 
 
 liminary Report pertaining to the levels of the limestone source 
 have been maintained in the subsequent development of the field. 
 The Trenton shows itself wonderfully sensitive to variations of ele- 
 vation in connection with its yield of gas and oil. Every foot of 
 elevation appears to count. 
 
 The geology of this field does not come out to view with any- 
 thing like the distinctness of the Findlay field thus far. In fact, it 
 can hardly be said that the key to its structure has yet been found. 
 
 The main points in its geology that are now recognized are the 
 following: The Lima oil field constitutes a very flat lying tract of 
 the Trenton limestone. It is as nearly a level terrace as an area of 
 this sort ever becomes. The very gentle slope that exists in it is 
 mainly to the northward. It does not amount to more than four 
 feet to a mile in any case through the productive territory, and is 
 often reduced to one or two. In east and west lines, there is often 
 neither rise nor fall for several miles. The limestone floor is 
 slightly undulating, it is true ; but an average depth can easily be 
 made out where drilling has gone forward as extensively as here. 
 The rises in the floor, or in other words, the knobs and bosses of 
 the great limestone sheet are always favorable to production, other 
 things being equal, such as the grain of the limestone, for exam- 
 ple. A slight elevation of the limestone floor of a well above 
 other wells that surround it will give to it an entirely different 
 character from that of its neighbors. The Garvey gas well, so-called, 
 located on the Jacobs land, adjacent to the Shade property, just 
 south of Lima, furnished a case in point. The well was reported 
 as a producer of dry gas, the first and only one in the field at the 
 time. It maintained this character for ten days or two weeks, and 
 great value would have attached to it, if it had continued it; but 
 presently it began to spray oil, and later to flow oil, like the 
 neighboring wells. The level was run to this well, and the Tren- 
 ton limestone was found to have been reached six or eight feet 
 higher than in any one of the dozen wells that form a cordon 
 
154 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 * 
 
 around it. The Trenton in the Shade well was about 390 feet 
 below tide, but in the .gas well it was 384 feet below tide. 
 These six feet of advantage made it a gas well for two weeks. No 
 example can be more instructive with regard to the points under 
 discussion. 
 
 As to the possibilities of the Lima field in oil production, all 
 who are acquainted with such interests recognize them as very 
 great. The whole history of the field has been one of repression 
 and discouragement of production thus far. The opening price of 
 forty cents per barrel for the oil was counted on all sides as a tem- 
 porary price only ; and it was confidently expected that as soon as 
 tankage and transportation were found, an advance would be made. 
 The price first offered has proved temporary, it is true, but instead 
 of moving upwards, as producers had counted upon its doing, it 
 has receded, first to thirty-five and finally to thirty cents per barrel. 
 The latter mark was reached on the first day of February, 1887. 
 It is obvious that wells must be very good ones to endure the last 
 named figures. All moderate pumping wells will be excluded from 
 the list of possible production under these conditions. 
 
 As to the qualities of the Lima oil, it is to be regretted that 
 final statements cannot now be made. The judgment expressed in 
 the Preliminary Report in regard to its character is undoubtedly too 
 favorable. It is impossible at the present time to obtain an unprej- 
 udiced judgment upon the subject. All agree that the sulphuretted 
 compounds that render the oil so offensive are pretty closely inter- 
 woven with its very substance and are thus hard to dislodge and 
 destroy; but all further agree that the last result can be obtained 
 with a sufficient outlay of labor, time and money. When the oil 
 has been apparently thoroughly deodorized, it has often been 
 found that the offense would return. It is certainly, however, 
 within the power of science to effect a complete and permanent 
 expulsion. The main question is, at what expense can this be 
 done ? This question cannot now be answered. An estimate of ten 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 155 
 
 cents per barrel is made by some refiners, but others believe a 
 larger outlay necessary for effective work. As to the percentage 
 of illuminating oil also, the testimony accumulated is to some 
 extent conflicting. The figure most commonly given in this con- 
 nection is fifty per cent. Of one thing we are sure: There seems 
 to be no question whatever as to the excellent character of the 
 refined product of Lima oil when it has passed through all the 
 needful processes of correction and purification. 
 
 By some it is claimed that the lubricating oil is of a very 
 superior character, and others report it as unable to endure a 
 satisfactory cold test, so that it is not adapted for winter use. 
 The first statement is probably true in regard to it. 
 
 As to the important question, what is Lima oil worth when 
 Pennsylvania oil is quoted at sixty-five cents? for example, no 
 well supported answer can now be given. The oil market can 
 scarcely be said to be an open market. It is not at all certain 
 that it is governed or gauged by the actual facts of production 
 and consumption. Vested interests, accumulated stocks, the sys- 
 tems of storage and transportation, the interest of refined oil as 
 against crude oil, — all these constitute factors whose' inter- working 
 and effects the public are entirely unable to follow. 
 
 Lima oil constitutes a fuel of great value, and its use, if pres- 
 ent rates are maintained, seems certain to be widely extended; 
 and it cannot be doubted but it is unquestionably the cheapest 
 fuel, so far as absolute power is concerned, within the reach of 
 any of our communities. Several patent processes for burning it 
 are in successful operation. On this side, there would even seem 
 to be a possible relief in the way of better prices, but here again 
 the unknown elements forbid any positive conclusions. 
 
 At all events, the new field has made a wonderful addition to 
 the stocks of power 'which the State was heretofore known to 
 hold. This stored power is certain to become increasingly valu- 
 
156 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 able as the world grows older. It seems almost unfortunate that 
 these particular accumulations should be unlocked so soon. From 
 some points of view, the low price's that now prevail, discouraging 
 as they do, extravagant production, are no real or permanent dis- 
 advantage to the field. The wasteful American system of devel- 
 opment and exploitation will make the quickest possible work 
 with any form of mineral wealth in any case. Three refineries are 
 already in operation, one of them of very large proportions, and 
 three systems of tankage and distribution by pipe lines are now 
 established in the field. 
 
 Beyond the Lima field proper, comes the St. Mary's field. 
 A number of wells have been drilled in and about St. Mary's, the 
 first of which attained but moderate success; the second and 
 third were failures, and the fourth is of rather uncertain value ; 
 but in the last, four miles south-west of the town and two miles 
 south of the east end of the reservoir, gas is reported to have 
 been secured in large and profitable volume, within the last few 
 days. The flow is estimated at more than two million feet per 
 day and the rock pressure is said to be 400 pounds to the inch. 
 The St. Mary's field, in any case, is scarcely separated from the 
 general tract which we have been already describing. 
 
 An authoritative newspaper statement supplies the following 
 facts as to the present condition of the field : 
 
 " During the month of March, there were twenty producing 
 oil wells drilled in this field, with a production ranging from a two 
 hundred and fifty barrel flowing well to a thirty barrel pumping 
 well. The new production, added to the previous report by the 
 wells drilled in March, is 1,600 barrels. The production on the 
 last day of last month was 8,760 barrels of oil a day. The March 
 production, added to this, makes a daily production of 10,360 
 barrels for the Lima oil field. There are now a total of 424 pro- 
 ducing oil wells in this field. The oil runs made by the Standard 
 Company this month were 279,492.98 barrels, against 198,119.85 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 157 
 
 barrels last month. The two independent companies have com- 
 pleted their pipe lines and 35,000-barrel tanks, but have run only 
 a small amount of oil, but will be ready for active business in a 
 week or ten days, when business in the oil field will be more 
 brisk. There are fourteen wells drilling at present, and about 
 thirty rigs up and building." 
 
 (b.) THE FINDLAY OIL FIELD. 
 
 The character of the Findlay oil field has been continually 
 improving under the slow but steady development that has gone 
 forward during the last year. It reaches out west of the town and 
 a little to the south for a distance of five or six miles, with a 
 breadth of about half of its length. Its boundaries, however, 
 cannot yet be defined on all sides. To the eastward the line is 
 sharply enough marked by the Findlay break. All the oil comes 
 from the lower side of the monocline, and all the oil wells are 
 begun in the Waterlime formation. The best of the producing 
 levels seem to be where the Trenton limestone is found from 460 
 to 490 feet below tide. The levels of the later wells have not 
 been obtained, but so long as the series continued to be followed, 
 all the facts were entirely conformable to the deductions from the 
 earliest wells. There are between sixty and seventy wells in the 
 Findlay pool, and the daily production is not much less than 4,000 
 barrels. The oil field, thus far, has had no chance. There is a 
 small refinery located here, the work of which is claimed to be 
 entirely successful. 
 
 (C.) THE NORTH BALTIMORE OIL FIELD. 
 
 A well drilled just west of the Findlay break, on the eastern 
 side of Henry township, Wood county, and three miles north of 
 North Baltimore, during the last winter proved a remarkably suc- 
 cessful one, It is credited with the largest production that had up 
 to that time been recorded in the field, namely, 1,500 barrels of 
 
158 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 oil in a single day. This astonishing production caused great 
 excitement through the new oil centers. Territory was eagerly 
 taken up on all sides, and a number of wells have since been 
 drilled in this immediate vicinity, several of which have shown 
 great vigor. There are ten producing at the present time. They 
 are said, however, to run down rapidly from their large initial 
 flow and the field does not seem to possess as solid and substan- 
 tial a character on this account as Lima and Findlay proper. It 
 is, however, apparent that before such a judgment is fully war- 
 ranted, further exploration must be made. Structure is so vital 
 an element in production, and even its minor phases become so 
 influential, that it may yet remain to find a better balance between 
 oil and gas than in the wells already finished. The North Balti- 
 more field is rated at about 500 barrels at the present time. 
 
 The Lima field, with the extensions already claimed for it, 
 the Findlay and the North Baltimore fields constitute the present 
 oil centers of north-western Ohio. The production of the entire 
 field is apparently in excess of 14,000 barrels per day, but, under 
 present conditions, it is impossible to make any definite statements. 
 
 3.— THE GENERALIZATIONS OF THE PRELIMINARY 
 
 REPORT. 
 
 In the first edition of the Preliminary Report, a few conclu- 
 sions were drawn from the facts then in hand as to the most 
 important geological features involved in the new field. They 
 were as follows : 
 
 1. The great gas wells of the Findlay and the Bowling 
 Green fields obtain their supplies from territory in which the 
 Trenton limestone is between 300 and 400 feet below tide. 
 
 2. The oil production of the Findlay field is limited to those 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 159 
 
 portions of the country in which the Trenton limestone is not 
 more than 500 feet below tide. 
 
 3. The oil production of the Lima field is limited to terri- 
 tory in which the surface of the Trenton limestone is not more 
 than 400 feet below tide. 
 
 4. The districts of north-western Ohio, and especially those 
 adjoining the Findlay field, in which the surface of the Trenton 
 limestone lies more than 500 feet below tide, will not prove pro- 
 ductive in oil or gas. In other words, there are dead-lines extend- 
 ing through the different portions of the field, and of these the 
 line of 500 feet below tide is by far the most important. 
 
 The tentative character of these conclusions was fully recog- 
 nized from the fact that they were based on a comparatively small 
 number of examples. The experience of the last year renders it 
 necessary to modify these conclusions to a small extent; but, so 
 far as now appears, the facts on which the conclusions were based 
 were fortunately representative facts, and no better general state- 
 ments could be made, even at the present time with the vastly 
 greater number of examples, than were made one year ago. So 
 far as the Lima field is concerned, not a single exception is known 
 in which valuable production has come from below the 400 feet 
 dead-line. In the Findlay oil field it is probable that one or more 
 of the later wells have passed the 500 feet line, although no clear 
 case of this sort is known ; but no figure could be named to-day 
 which would make any improvement on that which was' before 
 given. The most sagacious of the operators engaged in the 
 development of the field have come to the same conclusion, as a 
 result of their own experience and observation. They judge the 
 promise of a well long before the Trenton limestone is struck, and 
 in fact, from the depth at which the casing stands. The casing, as 
 is understood, must extend to the bottom of the upper limestones 
 to shut off the salt water which they carry. The facts in this con- 
 nection are as follows : In the Findlay field the general height of 
 
160 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 the surface is a very little short of 800 feet above tide. The 
 thickness of the shales that lie between the upper limestone and 
 the Trenton oil rock has just about the same measure, namely, 
 800 feet. The depth below tide, therefore, at which it will be 
 found, will be approximately equal to the thickness of the upper 
 limestone combined with the thickness of the drift, or, in other 
 words, the depth at which the casing stands. The statement 
 already made amounts to the same thing as to say that no well is 
 found productive in which it is necessary to use more than 500 
 feet of casing. Minor exceptions may be found to this claim ; but 
 the exceptions cover only a few feet at the most, and are very few 
 in number. 
 
 The first condition stands unimpugned by all the experience 
 of the field, so far as known. The second, as has just been shown, 
 is as close to the facts as any general statement that could be made. 
 The third is unbroken, so far as known, by a single exception that 
 deserves the name. All the interest, therefore, pertaining to these 
 conclusions centers in the fourth . Is it true, in view of the large 
 and costly experience that has been gained during the last year in 
 western Ohio, that the productive character of the Trenton lime- 
 stone ceases when its surface goes more than 500 feet below the 
 tide level? The map included' in this supplement answers this 
 question in a striking way and renders the true significance of this 
 500 feet line apparent, so far, at least, as the Hancock and Wood 
 county oil and gas belt is concerned (see page 126). This 500 
 foot line marks the boundary of the narrow tongue or prolongation 
 of the Trenton limestone, from which more or less steep descents 
 occur on every side. All the rocks within this boundary have a 
 decided advantage on this account. 
 
 In the original statement of this conclusion, it now appears 
 that account enough was scarcely made of the minor folds or local 
 ridges that traverse the Trenton in all portions of its extent. Such 
 inequalities are found in the best of the oil and gas producing ter- 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 161 
 
 ritory, and there is every reason to expect them elsewhere in equal 
 amount. Wherever the drill in its descent should chance to strike 
 upon one of these elevated portions or on the edge of some break 
 in the series, a measure of production would be sure to be attained, 
 other conditions being favorable. This has happened in a number 
 of conspicuous instances ; and when such wells are first struck, the 
 reports of their production seem to set aside altogether the deduc- 
 tions in question, but careful observation has shown in every case, 
 or in almost every case thus far, that the rule, after all, deserves to 
 stand. The most notable exceptions are Carey, Fremont, Oak 
 Harbor, and Tiffin, which were named in the first edition, and to 
 these Bryan and Lancaster may be added. In regard to the first 
 three towns, no further statements are necessary, as their present 
 status has been briefly given on a preceding page. Both Carey 
 and Fremont have spent their money without anything like a fair 
 equivalent in the fuel and light that they have obtained. Fremont 
 is now piping gas from the great fields to the south of it, and Carey 
 will doubtless soon follow its example. Oak Harbor appears to 
 better advantage than any other towns in this list. It is quite pos- 
 sible that its wells are returning a full equivalent for the invest- 
 ment, and that this locality thus makes an exception to the 500 
 foot line. Tiffin is now preparing to use gas from the great wells 
 of the North-western Ohio Gas Company in Hardin and Wood 
 counties, but exploration is still going forward in the immediate 
 vicinity of the town. Quite discordant structure was revealed in 
 the case of the two wells first drilled, and as such structure is spec- 
 ially favorable in many cases to gas or oil production, it is quite 
 possible that supplies of some value may yet be found here, if the 
 exploration is sufficiently continued. It will be a pleasure to 
 record the success of so persistent and expensive a search as Tiffin 
 has made; but it seems scarcely probable that a large field can 
 exist here in connection with the facts as to the disposition of the 
 oil rock in this and adjacent territory, so far as the lines of level 
 are concerned. 
 
162 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 Though both oil and gas have been found at Tiffin, the quant- 
 ity and promise are not thus far such as to lead to its being counted 
 an exception to the deduction as to the 500 foot dead line. 
 
 BRYAN. 
 
 Bryan, the county seat of Williams county, in the extreme 
 north-western corner of the State, after a long and tedious descent, 
 reached the Trenton limestone during the last winter, but the rock 
 was scarcely penetrated when the tools became fast in the well, 
 and it thus became necessary to drill around the first set of tools. 
 This was successfully accomplished on the 16th of February, 1887. 
 At a depth oi thirty-two feet in the Trenton limestone, a vigorous 
 flow of gas and oil was released. Up to this time, all of the 
 attempts to secure oil or gas in the north-western counties had 
 been marked by a monotonous line of failures and a favorable 
 result was therefore not expected by the people of Bryan. The 
 first flow of the well was very demonstrative. It is scarcely to be 
 wondered at, under all the circumstances, that it caused the great- 
 est excitement in the community, and, from the reports that went 
 out, in all the centers of the new production. The published 
 accounts were greatly exaggerated, as was natural, under the cir- 
 cumstances, but the facts themselves were certainly important and 
 imposing. As nearly as can be learned, on the first day on which 
 the oil and. gas horizon was reached, the well produced 100 barrels 
 of oil, together with several hundred thousand cubic feet, perhaps 
 a half million cubic feet of gas; but both oil and' gas" began to 
 abate at once. The oil flow on the 18th was judged to be scarcely 
 in excess of fifty barrels per day. By the 19th, it was reduced to 
 thirty barrels, or'less. By the 20th it had fallen to ten barrels ; and 
 by the 27th, the well ceased delivering oil altogether, while the gas 
 fell off during the same time to a considerable extent. The well 
 was more than 2,000 feet deep. There were more than 1,000 feet 
 of solid limestone. The casing required to be set as low as 1,300 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 163 
 
 feet. The outlay to date will not fall below #5,000. The Tren- 
 ton was found at 1,240 feet below tide. At Wauseon, twenty 
 miles east, the surface of the same stratum had fallen to 1367 
 feet below tide. This shows that Wauseon lies in a deep furrow 
 of the Trenton, and that the limestone at Bryan, deep though it 
 is, has a decided relative advantage in respect to its level. If 
 future work is done here, it will probably appear that the lime- 
 stone where first struck constitutes a ridge, or that the point in 
 question belongs to the edge of a terrace of the Trenton limestone. 
 Structure is found to dominate wherever opportunity : occurs for a 
 study of the facts, and it is therefore. entirely safe to conclude, 
 after the experience already recorded, that it dominates every- 
 where, and that if work enough is done in any field of any notable 
 production, a clear explanation of the field will come to light. It 
 was found impossible to obtain a measure of the gas flow of the 
 Bryan well when it was last visited on account of the oil that was 
 delivered with the gas. Up to the present writing, Bryan is not 
 thought to make a note-worthy exception to the deduction which 
 we are now considering. 
 
 LANCASTER. 
 
 The experience of Lancaster remains to be briefly described. 
 Lancaster is located in Berea grit territory. This stratum was 
 found at a depth of 400 feet below the surface and twenty feet in 
 thickness. The Ohio shale series is thinner here than in most 
 parts of the State in which it occurs, measuring about 630 feet. 
 The Devonian limestone was struck at a depth of 1,050 feet, and 
 according to the driller's samples, there were nearly 1,000 feet of 
 these upper limestones. The descent through them was long and 
 tedious, the casing finally standing at 1,500 feet, but even then not 
 shutting off salt water altogether. A small vein seems to enter in 
 the lower series of the well. The Clinton group is expanded here, 
 as has been stated on a previous page, to 200 feet or more ; and it 
 contains a considerable proportion of red rock, in which are a 
 
164 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 number of feet of its perfectly characteristic iron ore. Gas was 
 found in a calcareous bed of the Clinton at a depth of a little less 
 than 2,000 feet. The composition of the gas. rock is as follows: 
 
 Carbonate of lime '. 80. 60 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia 4-57 
 
 Silicious matter 8.65 
 
 Iron and aluminum 3. 50 
 
 To one acquainted with the composition of our limestones in 
 their outcrops, these figures will be found very significant. We have 
 but one limestone in this portion of our scale that has a composi- 
 tion like this, namely, the Clinton of south-western Ohio. The 
 figures here given would answer well for a typical specimen of the 
 Clinton, with the single exception that the silicious matter is in 
 too large proportion. From the casing, the yield of gas, accord- 
 ing to an anemometer measurement obtained February 9, 1887, 
 is 74,880 cubic feet per day. The flow is said to be fully main- 
 tained to the present time, and the drill is still slowly descend- 
 ing to the Trenton horizon. Crestline is the first and only 
 town in Ohio that is located in Berea grit territory which has 
 thus far succeeded in reaching this wished-for goal, the Tren- 
 ton limestone, for which it set out. It obtained nothing what- 
 ever for its outlay except the experience and geological 
 knowledge that were derived from the progress of the work. 
 Lancaster now bids fair to be the second town in Ohio to 
 hew its way down from the Berea grit territory to the Trenton 
 limestone. The depth of the Crestline well is said to be 2,850 
 feet. The Lancaster well will probably, exceed this extreme 
 measure. Lancaster would prove a bold exception to the deduc- 
 tion under consideration if a valuable flow of gas should be found 
 in the Trenton limestone. As to the present supply, it is hard to 
 say whether or not it should be counted an exception to another 
 conclusion, to this effect, namely, that every locality holds but a 
 single productive horizon of high-pressure gas. It could scarcely 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 165 
 
 become profitable to secure such small supplies as the Lancaster well 
 now produces at so great depth and under so great disadvantages. 
 Other wells are to be drilled in Lancaster forthwith, and the 
 question will soon be decisively settled as to the value of this 
 and other horizons here. 
 
 LINES AND BELTS IN THE NEW FIELD. 
 
 It becomes increasingly evident to all who can free them 
 selves from preconceived theories in studying the development 
 of the new oil and gas region, that the only lines that are influ- 
 ential here are the structural lines of the Trenton limestone. 
 It is mainly the relative elevation of this stratum at any one point 
 as compared with its elevation in other adjacent territory that 
 determines its value as an oil or gas rock. From the Indiana line 
 in Darke and Mercer counties a broad tract bears north-eastward 
 as far as Findlay. As has been shown already, it is on this north- 
 east tract, which has been named the Lima Axis, that the oil pro- 
 duction of Allen and Auglaize counties is found, as well as the 
 gas production of Auglaize and Mercer counties. Within this 
 tract minor factors of elevation or disturbance will give to one or 
 another well great advantages over its fellows, just as in a produc- 
 tive corn-field accidental circumstances will give to certain hills the 
 advantage over those that make the bulk of the field, but to con- 
 nect by a line two rank corn-hills, in different portions of the field, 
 and to expect greater fertility in the parts of the field traversed by 
 this line than elsewhere, would be recognized by everyone as 
 absurd. It is scarcely less absurd, the moment a strong well is 
 brought in at any point on this broad and flat uplift, to connect 
 it by a line on the map with some other well of vigorous 
 production elsewhere and to expect unusual value in the territory 
 underneath the line. There is a north-east line in the field, 
 as already indicated, but there is another line much more marked 
 that is not northeast. The Findlay break is essentially a 
 north and south line with a trifling deflection to the north-west. 
 11 
 
166 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 As to whether the interval between the Findlay and Lima 
 fields will yet prove good territory, it is too early to determine. 
 The general levels of the Trenton in this interval are within the 
 limits of production elsewhere, and certainly there is nothing dis- 
 cernible that points to foreordained failure here. 
 
 The north and south line from Findlay to Bowling Green is 
 depressed in a part of this interval to such an extent as to prevent 
 the territory being considered available for gas. Oil may well 
 enough be looked for on the east side of Liberty township, Wood 
 county, and on the west side or perhaps throughout the whole 
 of Portage township, in the sags occupied by the Lower Helder- 
 berg formation. 
 
 IS THE TRENTON LIMESTONE AVAILABLE AS A GAS AND OIL ROCK 
 IN EASTERN OHIO?' 
 
 The discovery of Findlay gas, accompanied as it is by the 
 remarkable movement at present in progress in that town in real 
 estate and in all kinds of business interests, brings to every com- 
 munity the questions, What chance have we to obtain like sup- 
 plies? Does the Trenton limestone underlie this region? If so, 
 at what depth and under what conditions? Is it worth while to 
 drill to it? The answers to these important questions have 
 already been given, or at least have been involved in the dis- 
 cussions of the preceding pages; but to avoid all possible grounds 
 of confusion and uncertainty in regard to them, a few plain state- 
 ments will be further made at this point : 
 
 i. The Trenton limestone, which is the Findlay gas rock, is 
 supposed to underlie all of eastern Ohio. It is believed to be a 
 universal sheet throughout this entire region. 
 
 2. The depth at which it will be found depends, of course, 
 upon the location of the town from which the question comes. 
 The rocks of eastern Ohio dip prevailingly to the south-east and 
 to the south with a normal rate, in the first instance, that is seldom 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 167 
 
 less than twenty feet to the mile. In addition to this normal 
 descent, there is a great thickening of the higher formations in 
 this region, which amounts to the same thing as an unusually steep 
 dip of the underlying rocks. The facts can be best seen in a few 
 separate sections. , Take a line from Findlay, through Bucyrus, 
 Crestline and Mansfield to Massillon. The Findlay section has 
 been given already and need not be repeated here. 
 
 At Bucyrus, in the well drilled last summer, the drift and the 
 basal beds of the Ohio shale were together 130 feet thick; the 
 upper limestones were found 816 feet thick; and the great shale 
 series 1,170 feet thick, making the Trenton limestone 2,145 feet 
 below the surface and 1,235 f eet below tide water. 
 
 At Crestline, a few miles to the eastward, the depth at which 
 it was claimed the Trenton limestone was found is 2,850 feet. 
 This would make its upper surface about 1,650 feet below tide. 
 The upper limestones here are given at 857 feet in thickness. 
 Crestline is the most eastward point at which the Trenton lime- 
 stone has yet been struck in Ohio. 
 
 At Mansfield the section is as follows: 
 
 Waverly group 555 feet. 
 
 Bedford and Ohio shales 645 feet. 
 
 Devonian limestone struck at 1,200 feet. 
 
 And drilled into until a depth of 2,000 feet was reached. 
 
 The Trenton limestone here must be more than 1,000 feet be- 
 low the present bottom of the well. The progress of the well was 
 arrested by an influx of salt water from its regular horizon in the 
 Devonian and Upper Silurian limestones. 
 
 At Massillon, still further east, the section was as follows: 
 
 Drift 45 feet. 
 
 Conglomerate 40 feet. 
 
 Waverly Group 47° feet. 
 
 Bedford and Ohio shale i,86o feet. 
 
 The Devonian limestone was struck at 2,515 feet. 
 
168 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 It is almost idle to speculate upon the depth at which the 
 Trenton limestone would be found at Massillon. It would not be 
 less than 4,000 feet. 
 
 At Findlay, the lower portion only of the great series of 
 upper limestones is found. At Bucyrus the entire series is found, 
 but the top of it is only 130 feet below the surface. The same 
 horizon, namely, the summit of the Upper Helderberg limestone, 
 is reached at Crestline at 800 to 900 feet below the surface; at 
 Mansfield, at 1,200 feet below the surface; and at Massillon, at 
 2, 5 1 5 feet below the surface. 
 
 When it is remembered that this limestone series invariably 
 contains salt water and generally contains it near the bottom of 
 the series, and when it is further borne in mind that the casing off 
 of the salt water is an indispensable necessity for gas wells, the 
 difficulty in the way of drilling to the Trenton limestone in this 
 eastern territory becomes evident. Mansfield, Mt. Vernon and 
 Newark are all cases in point. Each has struck salt water at or 
 about 2,000 feet below the surface. 
 
 3. After these statements, it is scarcely necessary to answer 
 specifically the third question. Is it worth while to drill to the 
 Trenton limestone? The first answer is that suggested by the 
 facts that have just been stated. To'drill to the Trenton limestone 
 in eastern Ohio is impracticable. It would be an immensely ex- 
 pensive task. While the resources of the driller are certainly ade- 
 quate, if money enough is forthcoming to the drilling of a single 
 well, a multiplication of such wells is obviously out of the ques- 
 tion, unless great value is reasonably sure to be found at the bot- 
 tom. 
 
 But in the second place, there is not the slightest reason to 
 expect any returns from the Trenton limestone commensurate with 
 the outlay, if it should be reached by the drill. No large enough 
 folds have been found or indicated, outside of the Findlay field, 
 to make an adequate foundation for large production. The line of 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 169 
 
 500 feet below the sea marks the lower boundary of the last and 
 only large elevated area of the Trenton limestone. 
 
 On these accounts it is deemed safe to say that the western 
 boundary of the shales, or of Division No. 2 on the map that 
 accompanies the Preliminary Report, marks also the eastern limit 
 within which the Trenton limestone can be wisely sought. All of 
 Ohio east of this line must build its hopes for oil and gas on other 
 horizons than the Trenton limestone. 
 
 That the difficulty of going down to the Trenton in these 
 districts is very great is seen from the recent experience of the 
 towns already named, Mansfield, Mt. Vernon and Newark. Each 
 of them has undertaken the descent with ample means and with a 
 determination to overcome all difficulties; but two of them have 
 already been stopped by the influx of salt water at about 2,000 
 feet below the surface, a depth so great that, while not impossible, 
 it is impracticable to case it out. The third town of this list has 
 found the salt water, but is still struggling to overcome it. 
 
 To all inquiries, therefore, as to whether it is worth while to 
 attempt to drill to the Trenton limestone in eastern Ohio, the 
 answer is an emphatic no. There is nothing in geology and 
 nothing in the results of practical experience to give the slightest 
 encouragement to undertake this long descent. 
 
170 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 SECTION IV. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE IN NORTH- 
 EASTERN INDIANA AS A SOURCE OF GAS 
 AND OIL. 
 
 A few statements derived from the experience of north-eastern 
 Indiana during the last year will here be introduced. The State 
 Geologists of Indiana seem to have clearly seen that the relations 
 of the Cincinnati uplift to the geological history of their State 
 are not satisfactorily accounted for by the current statements in 
 regard to this great feature of the geology of the eastern portion of 
 the Mississippi valley. Their views can be seen in brief discus- 
 sions of questions connected with this factor. Prof. E. T. Cox 
 touches upon the subject in his report of 1878 (page 14), and Mr. 
 Maurice Thompson alludes to it in his report of 1885-6 (pages 14 
 and 15). Both appear to have found it impossible to reconcile the 
 facts that they met with the old idea of an arch advancing from 
 Cincinnati north-easterly to the islands of Lake Erie, as the domi- 
 nating feature of this portion of the country. They are certainly 
 right in demurring to this claim ; but no clear substitute for it could 
 be presented until the drill should have given us opportunities never 
 enjoyed before to learn the real features of the Trenton limestone 
 and to determine its connection with the present disposition or 
 arrangement of the rocks of the State. 
 
 In Mr. Thompson's report of 1885-6, to which reference has 
 already been made, there is an interesting discussion by Prof. S. S. 
 Gorby of certain structural disturbances which he finds in north- 
 eastern Indiana, and to which he gives the name of the Wabash 
 arch. The general line of disturbances, as he states it, bears 
 from the north-west to the south-east across the State. The facts 
 of broken structure upon which he bases the existence of an arch 
 occur at many points in the Wabash valley. The fact that the 
 bedded rocks are uncovered in this great valley more frequently 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 171 
 
 than elsewhere in consequence of the removal of the drift deposits 
 which has been effected by the river in its post-glacial history 
 would seem to explain the multiplication of instances of disturbed 
 rocks that occur here. If there were more exposures of the strata 
 in north-eastern Indiana there would certainly be more disturb- 
 ances of this character to be noted. All the phenomena that he 
 records can be duplicated throughout several thousand square miles 
 of north- western Ohio. The lower limestone floor of north-western 
 Ohio and north-eastern Indiana is found to lie in an uneasy and 
 much disturbed condition; the disturbances, however, not always 
 being referable to any large or great movements. The title which 
 Prof. Gorby has introduced may prove to some extent misleading, 
 as it would naturally be interpreted as indicating an arch extend- 
 ing in the westerly direction of the Wabash valley, and the author 
 certainly does not hold to such a view. The Wabash arch in its 
 larger features, if a disturbance extending to the north-westward, 
 would seem to be part and parcel of the Cincinnati uplift. 
 
 Dr. A. J. Phinney, of Muncie, Indiana, an assistant on the 
 State Geological Survey, has also'contributed much interesting and 
 important information upon the wells that are being drilled, both 
 in the report of 1885-6 and in timely newspaper articles of more 
 recent date. The facts as to the wells of the State that are here 
 made use of are mainly borrowed from the articles published by 
 Dr. Phinney in the various ways already indicated. 
 
 Western Ohio and eastern Indiana are obviously made out of 
 one piece, geologically considered, and they have shared a com- 
 mon history, so far as the structural features of their strata are 
 concerned. The series of the two States are identical, beginning 
 in the Ohio valley and advancing to the northern lakes. The 
 common column is as follows, the strata being named in descend- 
 ing order: 
 
 Ohio shale, basal portion, surface rock in north-western 
 Ohio and north-eastern Indiana. 
 
172 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 Devonian limestone, surface rock in north-western Ohio 
 and north-eastern Indiana. 
 
 Lower Helderberg, or Waterlime, surface rock in north- 
 western Ohio and north-eastern Indiana. 
 
 Niagara limestone, surface rock in western and northern 
 Ohio and eastern Indiana. 
 
 Clinton limestone, surface rock in southern Ohio and 
 southern Indiana. 
 
 Medina shale, perhaps wanting in Indiana. 
 \ Hudson river group, surface rock in south-western Ohio 
 and south-eastern Indiana. 
 
 Utica shale, 
 Trenton limestone 
 
 > Mainly under cover in both States. 
 
 The surprising discovery of gas and oil in western Ohio in 
 1885-6 could not fail to awaken interest and to provoke the trial 
 of the drill in the adjoining State, the more so because of the 
 obvious fact that the south-western direction of the early develop- 
 ments from Findlay to Lima pointed directly to the possible, or 
 perhaps even probable, extension of productive territory beyond 
 the Ohio line. This north-east or south-west line has since been 
 found to be an important structural feature of the districts con- 
 cerned, but by no means the only important structural feature in 
 the new field. The main structural lines of the Cincinnati uplift, 
 as indicated by the highest levels of the Trenton limestone, have 
 already been sh'own to extend north-westerly from Butler and 
 Preble counties, Ohio, into Indiana. Within the last named State 
 these high levels of the Trenton can be followed by the records of 
 the drill through Wayne, Randolph, Delaware, Blackford, Grant, 
 and Miami counties, although in regard to the last, the statement 
 is based altogether upon the facts of its surface geology. The 
 Trenton maintains an elevation above tide as far as Eaton, Dela- 
 ware county. A line joining Eaton, Indiana, and Eaton, Ohio, 
 marks a high level of the Trenton limestone throughout its entire 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 173 
 
 extent. The Trenton limestone drops slowly from this elevated 
 tract in all directions, the most conspicuous facts now in hand 
 indicating its fall to the southward and also to the north-eastward. 
 In this high tract of the Trenton, the Lima axis of Ohio takes its 
 rise, falling very slowly to the north-eastward and advancing 
 through north-western Ohio in a broad and low fold that has 
 already been amply described and that is represented in the map 
 that accompanies this supplementary report. 
 
 It seems, at the present writing, that the situation of the 
 Trenton limestone in Indiana, where favorable to gas production, 
 follows the line of facts already pointed out in north-western Ohio, 
 namely, llhat gas is found in the Trenton limestone mainly when 
 the Niagara limestone makes the surface rock. On the western and 
 southern border of the Upper Silurian outcrop, where the entire 
 upper limestone series is much reduced in thickness, it appears 
 that the Trenton is found relatively high enough to serve 
 as a gas rock when the Waterlime, or possibly even when the 
 Devonian limestone makes the surface. The well records at hand 
 show a considerable reduction of the Hudson river series through- 
 out the entire State of Indiana as compared with similar sections 
 in Ohio. This reduction was recognized and reported in the 
 descriptions already given of Ohio wells. The series was found 
 to be progressively shortening as it was followed toward the 
 Indiana border. The Medina shale is not distinctly shown in 
 Indiana, either in outcrop or under cover. It is probably lost 
 by overlap of the Clinton limestone. 
 
 The northern boundary of this Niagara area enters Indiana 
 from Van Wert county, Ohio, passes through the northern portion 
 of Adams and Wells counties, through the westerly portion of 
 Huntington, and thence follows the Wabash valley as far as Peru, 
 Miami county. Here it turns abruptly to the southward, passing 
 through the center of Howard county, and bearing a little eastward 
 through Tipton, Hamilton, Madison and Henry counties. The re- 
 
174 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 gion here referred to is indicated on the accompanying map. There 
 is a tongue of Niagara limestone also that stretches southward from 
 this area by Newcastle to Madison and along the Ohio valley, 
 which is not considered in this description, as no important facts 
 are at hand in regard to it. There is also another Niagara area 
 represented on the geological map of Indiana in the north-western 
 corner of the State, including Lake, Portage, La Porte, Newton, 
 and Jasper counties, in whole or in part. No sections have been 
 secured from this tract, and no inference is fairly warranted as to 
 the conditions of the underlying Trenton limestone here ; but some 
 of the facts displayed in the geological map of the State seem to 
 promise favorable conditions for gas and oil, as suggested by Mr. 
 Thompson in his report of 1885-6. It may render the boundary 
 of the Niagara limestone already given still more distinct if the 
 towns located on or near it are named in this connection. The 
 leading towns upon this boundary are as follows: Decatur, Bluff- 
 ton, Huntington, Wabash, Peru, Kokomo, Tipton, Anderson, 
 Pendleton, and Newcastle. The counties included within the 
 boundary already given, are as follows: Jay, Blackford, Grant, 
 Delaware, and Randolph. The Trenton limestone underlying this 
 main area of the Niagara limestone in Indiana occupies a high 
 level, as has been shown by the drill, in Randolph, Delaware, 
 Blackford and Grant counties; but its descent to the westward is 
 very slow as shown in its level at Kokomo, where it is only eighty- 
 six feet below tide. At Tipton, to the south-eastward from 
 Kokomo, its elevation is given as 129 feet below tide. At Ander- 
 son it appears to be about twenty feet above sea level, but from 
 Anderson to Indianapolis, the descent is quite steep, the Trenton 
 lying more than 800 feet below tide at the last named place. The 
 western boundary by Tipton and Kokomo suggests the Bowling 
 Green and Findlay break in its general trend and relations. 
 If it should prove to be a line of break or sudden descent, 
 there would be great promise in it. It is to be borne in 
 mind that the gas supply of Kokomo is quite as vigorous, 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 175 
 
 according to published accounts, as of any Indiana town. With- 
 in this large area of the Niagara, it seems scarcely worth 
 while, judging from the experience of Ohio, to look for definite 
 and persistent arches or anticlinals. The conformation of the 
 surface of the Trenton with all its minor flexuosities and irreg- 
 ularities will be sure to influence its relations to oil and gas, 
 and these minor features may prove the chief explanation of 
 the good fortune of one town and the failure of another. The 
 principal lines of structure in this part of Indiana, it must be 
 repeated, are not south-westerly lines advancing across the State 
 from the Findlay and Lima field, but north-westerly lines parallel 
 to the western boundary of the Upper Silurian region. 
 
 Kokomo, Noblesville, Marion, Anderson, Portland, Muncie, 
 Hartford City, Alexandria and several other towns have reported 
 more or less vigorous gas wells; The northern border of the Niagara 
 seems to be descending at a rate which would soon carry it below 
 the limit of productive territory elsewhere. At Bluffton the 
 Trenton is 215 feet below tide; at Decatur, 460 feet below; and 
 at Fort Wayne, 643 feet below. The extreme north-eastern 
 corner of Indiana is below the Ohio dead-line, at least for oil and 
 gas from the Trenton limestone. Oil accumulations are to be 
 looked for around the margin of the gas fields of Indiana. No 
 facts have yet come to light as to any large production here, but 
 it seems hardly probable that the drill will fail to reach some nota- 
 ble oil pools, if its work is still continued. The natural location 
 for these pools would be upon the outer margin of the Niagara 
 limestone, beyond but not far beyond the gas-producing territory. 
 As in Ohio, the Waterlime in Indiana is likely to be the surface 
 rock where oil production is found. Within the main Niagara 
 area the conditions for large oil production would seem less 
 favorable. 
 
 The gas and oil of Indiana, so far as they are derived from 
 the Trenton limestone, are seen in the light of the few statements 
 
176 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 now made to be in the closest accord with the same valued pro- 
 ducts in north-western Ohio, and the two States must be studied 
 together, so far as these phases of their geology are concerned, if 
 either is to be clearly and fully understood. 
 
 SECTION V.— THE BEREA GRIT AND THE OHIO 
 SHALE AS SOURCES OF GAS. 
 
 Little needs to be added to the statements of the Preliminary 
 Report in regard to the Ohio shale. On the map accompanying 
 this volume, a broad band bordering Lake Erie • and stretching 
 southward to the Ohio river is seen to be represented as a territory 
 of low-pressure gas. derived from the Ohio shale. It is also 
 marked by the figure 2 upon the map. This band embraces all 
 the out-crops of the Ohio shales and in addition, about as much 
 more territory as they furnish, taken from the margin of the 
 Waverly group. The aim is to follow the Waverly group inward 
 and downward until the Berea grit has fallen to 300 or 400 feet 
 below cover in the valleys. No great value can be expected from 
 this stratum where it is under less cover than this. In fact, all 
 the gas found in such territory will hold the character of shale 
 gas, as is seen in the wells drilled at Berea. This map only puts 
 into graphic form the statement of the Preliminary Report as to 
 the gas of the great shale formation. 
 
 On the map of the gas production of the State as at present 
 developed, which accompanies this volume, thirty-six counties, in 
 whole or in part, are included in the territory of high-pressure gas 
 from the Berea grit. This great area makes quite an imposing 
 appearance on the map, and would seem to show unlimited possi- 
 bilities for this section of the State in the way of natural gas sup- 
 plies. The promise of the map as thus indicated, is, however, 
 far better than the promise of the territory itself as developed by 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 177 
 
 the drill. The map implies that in this area the Berea grit is 
 found under deep enough cover to become a reservoir of high- 
 pressure gas. It is not to be doubted that the great shale series 
 that underlies it is always ready to do its part in furnishing oil 
 and gas to the reservoir nor that the Cuyahoga shale above is 
 always ready to serve as roof or cover for the gas reservoir. 
 These two facts are co-extensive with the field. But the character 
 of the Berea grit itself is somewhat uncertain and makes one of 
 the factors that are always in question. The stratum may be too 
 fine grained or too impure to serve a good purpose as a reservoir, 
 or there may not be enough of it. This is the first element of 
 uncertainty in the oil and gas production of eastern Ohio. A 
 second and a far graver source of uncertainty exists, namely, in 
 the lack of the right structure or arrangement of the rocks. Here 
 lies, without doubt, the weakness of eastern Ohio as a source of 
 high-pressure gas or large stocks of oil. It must be confessed 
 that the results of drilling during the last year are quite discourag- 
 ing as to the resources of this wide-spread and elsewhere valuable 
 sheet, the Berea grit. Of the thirty-six counties named above, 
 thirty of them have in one or more localitieswnade a test of the 
 character of the Berea grit as it is found beneath them during the 
 last year. A number of them have repeated their trials again and 
 again and in different localities, and some have continued to drill 
 to great depths in the strata ; but in not a single instance, outside 
 of the Macksburg field and Washington county, have the wells 
 that were drilled proved successful. Aside from the territory 
 already excepted, not a well is reported that would come into the 
 fifth order of gas wells, those, namely, that produce gas in excess 
 of 100,000 cubic feet per day, or that has yielded in the whole of 
 its history more than ioo or 200 barrels of oil. 
 
 This monotonous record of failure is undeniably discouraging. 
 It is granted that the area actually tested forms but a small per- 
 centage of eastern Ohio. It is granted that one well or a dozen 
 wells occupy but a small part of a county; but the fact that not a 
 
178 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 solitary success has been thus far registered during the last year, 
 is the depressing feature of the case. 
 
 A little encouragement can perhaps be borrowed from the 
 fact that none of the wells drilled, or at least not more than one or 
 two, have been located with any reference to the structural fea- 
 tures of the district in which they are located. Some of these 
 features are recognizable in the territory under consideration. If 
 they are studied with care enough, the hope is that locations can 
 be made which- will afford to the driller all the advantage there is 
 in the situation of the underlying rock. This work is just be- 
 ginning, and though no successes are chronicled in it to date, it 
 would seem that the main encouragement to further exploration 
 in the eastern half of Ohio must be derived from the aid that can 
 be obtained from investigations of this character. It cae scarcely 
 be true that there is but one Macksburg in the State or that the 
 gas production of the Neff wells must continue to hold the high- 
 est place. 
 
 SECTION VI. — TABLE OF ELEVATIONS. 
 
 The levels of the Trenton limestone have been shown to be 
 such vital facts in gas and oil production in these new fields that it 
 is deemed best to give the surface elevation of a number of points 
 in western Ohio and northern Indiana, so that the facts as to 
 the gas and oil rock, wherever drilling happens to be going for- 
 ward, can be readily determined. The elevations given below are 
 derived in the main from railroad levels, and are to be considered 
 the levels of the iron upon the track in front of the station of the 
 railway to which the figures refer as authority, unless otherwise 
 stated. It must be acknowledged that the figures given here 
 have not been reduced by any close or careful comparison to an 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 179 
 
 absolute standard, but they are the best that are attainable at the 
 present time. The Ohio figures have been compiled from various 
 sources but the convenient arrangement in which they now appear 
 is due to the present report of the Secretary of State, which con- 
 tains by far the most valuable collection of data on this point that 
 has yet been published. 
 
 The figures for Indiana are taken directly from the Dictionary 
 of Altitudes of the United States Geological Survey. 
 
 TABLE GIVING ELEVATIONS ABOVE SEA 
 
 LEVEL IN THE WESTERN 
 
 COUNTIES OF OHIO. 
 
 (Lake Erie above Sea Level 573 feet.) 
 
 ALLEN COUNTY. 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. ELEVATION. 
 
 Beaver Dam Lake Erie & Western R. R 863. 
 
 Bluffton " " " 834. 
 
 Cairo Dayton & Michigan R. R 814. 
 
 Delphos Pitts. , Ft. W. & Chicago R. R 786. 
 
 Elida " " 798. 
 
 Harrods Chicago & Atlantic R. R 1012. 
 
 Lafayette Pitts., Ft. W. & Chicago R. R 936. 
 
 Lima Dayton & Michigan R. R 875. 
 
 " Chicago & Atlantic R R 903. 
 
 Spencerville, L'k 15. Miami & Erie Canal 847. 
 
 Summit bet. West- 
 
 min'rand Harrods. Chicago & Atlantic R. R 1032. 
 
 Westminster : ' 997- 
 
 AUGLAIZE COUNTY. 
 
 Cridersville Dayton & Michigan R. R 889. 
 
 New Bremen Lake Erie & Western R. R 1038. 
 
 St. Mary's, Lock 1 3 . Miami & Erie Canal 864. 25 
 
 Wapakoneta Dayton & Michigan R. R 891. 
 
180 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 BROWN COUNTY. 
 
 Aberdeen, Main and 
 
 Cross streets Whittlesey 
 
 Georgetown Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R. 
 
 Hamersville, water 
 tank 
 
 White Oak Viaduct. 
 
 County line between 
 Brown and Cler- 
 mont counties.... " " " " . 
 
 BUTLER COUNTY. 
 
 Carlisle Cin'ti, Ham. & Dayton R. R 
 
 College Corner " Indianapolis R. R. . 
 
 Gano C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Hamilton Cinti, Ham. & Dayton R. R 
 
 Henderson C, C, C. &. I. R. R 
 
 Jones Station Cinti, Ham. & Dayton R. R 
 
 Kyle's C, C.,C. & I. R. R 
 
 Maud's " " 
 
 Middletown " " 
 
 Oxford Cin'ti, Ham. & Indianapolis R. R . . 
 
 West Chester C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 
 
 Catawba C, C, C. & I. R. R. . 
 
 Kennard N. Y., P. & O. R. R. 
 
 Kingston 
 
 Mechanicsburg C, C, C. & I. R. R. . 
 
 North Lewisburg. . .N. Y., P. & O. R. R. . 
 Urbana 
 
 CLARKE COUNTY. 
 
 Bowlusville N, Y., P. & O. R. R. 
 
 Enon P., C. & St. L. R. R. . 
 
 Moorefield C, C, C. & I. R. R. . 
 
 Selma P., C. & St. L. R. R.. 
 
 South Charleston. .. 
 
 Springfield N. Y., P. & O. R. R. . 
 
 " Union Depot.. P. , C. & St. L. R. R. . 
 
 545- 
 942. 
 
 976. 
 871. 
 
 937- 
 
 696. 
 990. 
 661. 
 
 597- 
 
 656. 
 672. 
 718. 
 
 759- 
 667. 
 918. 
 
 745- 
 
 1065. 
 1 174. 
 1097. 
 1088. 
 1082. 
 1031. 
 
 966. 
 1024. 
 1021. 
 1083. 
 1 1 26. 
 
 908. 
 
 991. 
 
STATION. 
 
 PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 CLERMONT COUNTY. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 181 
 
 Aurelia Cinti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R. 
 
 Bethel Station " " " " 
 
 Branch Hill P., C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 Centerville Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R 
 
 Glen Este Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R.R 
 
 Kyle's " " " 
 
 Miamiville P., C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 Milford " " 
 
 Mt. Carmel Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R 
 
 New Richm'd Branch 
 
 at crossing Cincinnati & Eastern R. R 
 
 Olive Branch Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R 
 
 ELEVAT 
 
 886 
 905 
 590 
 870 
 876 
 860 
 580 
 552 
 897 
 
 834 
 832 
 
 ION. 
 
 CLINTON COUNTY. 
 
 Anderson's Fork. . .Col. & Cincinnati Midland R.R. . .. 1055. 
 
 Blanchester Cin'ti. , Wash. & Balti. R. R 977. 
 
 Clarksville Cin'ti & Musk. Valley R. R 833. 
 
 Clinton Valley Col. & Cincinnati Midland R. R... 1000. 
 
 Cuba " " " " 1047. 
 
 Martinsville Cint'i, Wash. & Balti. R. R 1043. 
 
 Melvin Col. & Cincinnati Midland R. R. . . . 1070. 
 
 Reeseville Cin'ti, & Musk. Valley R. R 086. 
 
 Sabina " " " 1066. 
 
 Todd's Fork Col. & Cincinnati Midland R. R. . . 1042. 
 
 Vienna Cin'ti, Wash. & Balti. R. R 1130. 
 
 Wilmington Cin'ti, & Musk. Valley R. R 1017. 
 
 CRAWFORD COUNTY. 
 
 Broken Sword Cr'k. . Pitts., Ft. W. & Chicago R. R 
 
 Bucyrus " 
 
 Crestline 
 
 summit near.C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Galion N. Y.. P. & O. R. R 
 
 Leesville Pitts., Ft. W. & Chicago R. R 
 
 Robinson 
 
 12 
 
 916 
 
 930 
 
 1 162 
 
 1177 
 
 1 169 
 
 "35 
 1073 
 
182 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 DARKE COUNTY. 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. 
 
 Ansonia C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Arcanum I., B. & W. R. R . . 
 
 Dawn C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Greenville P., C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 Union City C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Versailles 
 
 DEFIANCE COUNTY. 
 Defiance Wabash, St. L. & Pacific R. R. 
 
 " Maumee river. " " " " . 
 
 " Miami and Erie Canal 
 
 Hicksville B. & O. R. R 
 
 Mark Center " " " 
 
 Prairie Run Dayton & Michigan R. R 
 
 Standley " " " 
 
 White's Mill 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 I006. 
 
 IO54. 
 IOI8. 
 IO55. 
 I I05. 
 
 977- 
 
 698. 
 648. 
 667. 
 762. 
 
 731- 
 
 700. 
 
 731- 
 
 717. 
 
 DELAWARE COUNTY. 
 
 Ashley C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Condit Cleve'd, Akron & Col. R. R 
 
 Delaware C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Eden C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Galena Cleve'd, Akron & Col. R. R 
 
 Hyatt's Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Lewis Center C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Powell Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Radnor " 
 
 Summit " " " " 
 
 Sunbury Cleve'd, Akron & Col. R. R 
 
 Ceylon 
 
 Huron. , , 
 
 Kelley's Island. 
 
 Sandusky 
 
 Venice 
 
 Vermillion 
 
 ERIE COUNTY. 
 ..L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 . U. S. Lake Survey. 
 ,L. S. & M. S. R. R. 
 
 985. 
 1086. 
 
 903- 
 927. 
 
 975- 
 923- 
 933- 
 960. 
 918. 
 
 953- 
 
 972. 
 970. 
 
 609. 
 
 598. 
 614. 
 
 593- 
 
 585. 
 596. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 183 
 
 FAYETTE COUNTY. 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. 
 
 Bloomingburg Col. & Cincinnati Midland R. R. 
 
 Washington C. H. .Cin. & Musk. Val. R. R 
 
 White Oak " 
 
 FRANKLIN COUNTY. 
 
 Alton P., C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 Columbus, U. Depot. Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 N.E.cor. State House. Jennings 
 
 Signal Office U. S. Signal Office 
 
 Edwards Station Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Elmwood " " " " 
 
 Grove City Col. & Cincinnati Midland R. R . 
 
 Groveport Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Lockbourne Scioto Vailey ■. 
 
 Morgan's Col. & Cincinnati Midland R. R. 
 
 Olentangy Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Westerville Cleve'd, Akron & Col. R R 
 
 Winchester Col., H. V. & Toledo R. R 
 
 Worthington C, C, C. & I. R. R. 
 
 Archbald 
 
 Delta 
 
 Pettisville . 
 Swanton . . 
 Wauseon . 
 
 FULTON COUNTY 
 ,L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Summit. 
 
 GREENE COUNTY 
 
 Beaver .' P., C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 Cedarville " 
 
 Claysville " 
 
 Goe's " 
 
 Harbine's " 
 
 Jamestown Dayton & Ironton R. 
 
 Kneisley C, C, C. & I. R. R. 
 
 Oldtown P., C.&St. L. R. R. 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 . 988. 
 
 . 983. 
 
 • 925- 
 
 . 928 
 
 • 747 
 . 781 
 . 805 
 
 • 755 
 . 844 
 . 960, 
 
 • 738 
 . 720 
 
 • 835 
 . 822 
 
 • 875 
 
 • 769 
 
 • 9i3 
 
 730 
 819 
 
 753 
 684 
 768 
 780, 
 
 R 
 
 808. 
 
 1035- 
 
 756. 
 
 863. 
 
 806. 
 107 1. 
 
 802. 
 
 828. 
 
184 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 GREENE COUNTY— Concluded. 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. ELEVATION. 
 
 Osborn C, C, C. & I. R. R 830. 
 
 Spring Valley P. , C. & St. L. R. R 758. 
 
 Xenia " " " 928. 
 
 Yellow Springs " " " 978. 
 
 HAMILTON COUNTY. 
 
 Batavia Junction . . . . P. , C. & St. L. R. R 49 1 . 
 
 Camp Dennison " " " 570. 
 
 Carthage C, C, C. & I. R. R 551. 
 
 Cedar Point Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R. . 726. 
 
 Chester Park C, C, C. & I. R. R 508. 
 
 Cincinnati Low water city datum 440. 
 
 " Signal Sta. . U. S. Signal office 620. 
 
 Cleves Cin'ti, Ind., St. L. & Chi. R. R . . 497. 
 
 Columbia Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R. . 503. 
 
 Delhi Cin'ti, Ind., St. L. & Chi. R, R . . 502. 
 
 Forestville Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R. . 834. 
 
 Glendale Cin'ti, Hamilton & Dayton R. R. . 640. 
 
 Linwood P., C. & St. L. R. R 503. 
 
 Mt Washington Cin'ti, Georgetown & Ports. R. R. . j66. 
 
 Newton P., C. & St. L. R. R 494. 
 
 North Bend Cin'ti, Ind., St. L. & Chi. R. R. . 497. 
 
 Norwood Cin'ti Northern R. R 626. 
 
 Plainville P., C. & St. L. R. R 492. 
 
 Pleasant Ridge Cin'ti Northern R. R 658. 
 
 Red Bank P., C. & St. L. R. R 501. 
 
 Sharon C, C, C. & I. R. R 601. 
 
 Silverton Cin'ti Northern R. R 825. 
 
 Terrace Park P., C. & St. L. R. R 555. 
 
 Valley Junction Cin'ti, Ind., St. L. & Chi. R. R . . 499. 
 
 HANCOCK COUNTY. 
 
 Arcadia Lake Erie & Western R. R 806. 
 
 Arlington Toledo & Southern R. R 862. 
 
 Findlay Lake Erie & Western R. R 782. 
 
 Godsend water t'ks . . B. & O. R. R 750. 
 
 Rawson Lake Erie & Western R. R 821. 
 
 Stuartsville Toledo & Southern R. R 815. 
 
 VanBuren " " " 782. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 HARDIN COUNTY. 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. 
 
 Ada Pitts., Ft. W. & Chicago R. R. 
 
 Blanchard's Fork " 
 
 Dunkirk " 
 
 Forest " 
 
 Hog Creek Marsh ... " 
 
 Kenton I. B. & W. R. R 
 
 Mt Victory C. C. C. & I. R. R 
 
 Preston Chicago & Atlantic R. R 
 
 Ridgeway C. C. C. & I. R. R 
 
 Scioto river, bed of. .1. B. & W. R. R 
 
 SilverCreek summit.. " " " 
 
 185 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 956 
 9OO 
 
 949 
 938 
 947 
 1015 
 1036 
 1007 
 1059 
 
 953 
 1 1 18 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Alma Dayton & Michigan R. R 710 
 
 Deshler B. & O. R. R 721 
 
 Hamler " " " 723 
 
 Holgate " " " 722 
 
 Liberty Center Wabash St. L. & Pacific R. R 683 
 
 Napoleon " " " " 680 
 
 Sand Hall " " " " .... 739 
 
 Texas, lock 12 Miami & Erie canal 66 1 
 
 HIGHLAND COUNTY. 
 
 Bald Mountain Orton 1250. 
 
 Fisher's Knob Orton 1 300. 
 
 Fort Hill Locke 1232. 
 
 Greenfield Cin'ti. Wash. & Balti. R. R 893. 
 
 Hillsboro " " " " 1075. 
 
 Leesburg " " " " 893. 
 
 Lynchburg " " " " 1001. 
 
 Paint Creek " " " " 896. 
 
 Samantha Orton 1 1 24. 
 
 Sinking Spring Whittlesey 723. 
 
186 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 STATION. 
 
 HURON COUNTY. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 .L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Bellevue 
 
 Centerton B. & O. R. R 
 
 Chicago Junction. .. . " " " 
 
 Greenwich C. C. C. & I. R. R 
 
 Havana B. &O. R. R 
 
 Monroeville L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 New Haven B. & O. R. R 
 
 New London C. C. C. & I. R. R 
 
 Norwalk L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Pontiac B. & O. R. R 
 
 Wakeman L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 755 
 873 
 901 
 
 1037 
 813 
 725 
 918 
 980 
 719 
 
 763 
 862 
 
 LOGAN COUNTY. 
 
 Bellefontaine I. B. & W. R. R 1216. 
 
 " summit near C. C. C. & I. R. R 1346. 
 
 Bellefontaine summit 
 
 iy 2 miles east of. .Ohio Geological Survey — Hill. . . . 1540. 
 
 DeGraff C. C. C. & I. R. R 989. 
 
 Gretna " " 1086. 
 
 Harper " 1 299. 
 
 Quincy " " 1050. 
 
 Rushsylvania " 1236. 
 
 West Liberty I. B. & W. R. R 1099. 
 
 LUCAS COUNTY. 
 
 Air Line Junction. . .L. S. & M. S. R. R 607. 
 
 Holland " " " 641. 
 
 South Toledo Wabash St. L. & Pacific R. R 639. 
 
 Swanton L. S. & M. S. R. R 685. 
 
 Sylvania " " " 652. 
 
 Toledo, Union d'p't.. " " " 580. 
 
 Toledo, low water in 
 
 Maumee river Wheeling & Lake Erie R. R 573. 
 
 White House Wabash St. L. & Pacific R. R 653. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 1X7 
 
 STATION. 
 
 MADISON COUNTY. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 Duff's Forks Col. & Cin. Midland R. R 8 95 . 
 
 London P. C. & St. L. R. R 1049. 
 
 Mount Sterling Col. & Cin. Midland R. R 915. 
 
 West Jefferson P. C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 MARION COUNTY 
 
 Acton Summit C. H. V. & T. R. R. 
 
 Berwick N. Y. P. & O. R. R. . 
 
 Clifton's Chicago & Atlantic R. 
 
 GreenCamp, water t'k N. Y. P. & O. R. R 
 
 Marion C. C. C. & I. R. R. 
 
 Morral C. H. V. & T. R. R 
 
 Owen's " " " 
 
 Prospect " 
 
 Summit " " " 
 
 R 
 
 908. 
 
 943 
 918 
 982 
 920 
 
 979 
 908 
 
 957 
 918 
 
 983 
 
 MERCER COUNTY. 
 
 St. John's Geological Survey — Winchell .... 1003. 
 
 " " hills south. Geological Survey — Winchell.... 1064. 
 
 St. Mary's, canal level. Whittlesey 851. 
 
 MIAMI COUNTY. 
 
 Kessler I. B. & W. R. R 925 
 
 Laura " " " 970 
 
 Ludlow Falls " " " 900 
 
 Miami City P. C. & St. L. R. R 744 
 
 Piqua Dayton & Michigan R. R 918 
 
 Tippecanoe City ... . " " " 843 
 
 Troy " " " .... 850 
 
 MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 
 
 Alexandersville C. C. C. & I. R. R 725 
 
 Brookville P. C. & St. L. R. R 1033 
 
 Dayton, D. & M. Cr. Miami Canal 739 
 
 Union Depot 743 
 
 Harshmanville C. C. C. & I. R. R 783 
 
 Miamisburg " " 714 
 
 Cin'ti, Hamilton & Dayton R. R.. 749 
 
 Stillwater Junction. .P. C. & St. L. R. R 791 
 
188 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 STATION. 
 
 OTTAWA COUNTY. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 Danbury, Geodetic S. U. S. Lake Survey 594. 
 
 Elmore 
 
 Genoa 
 
 Graytown . . . 
 
 Martin 
 
 Oak Harbor. 
 Port Clinton. 
 
 ,L. S. & M. S. R 
 
 R. 
 
 PAULDING COUNTY. 
 
 Antwerp Wabash, St. L. & Pacific R. R. 
 
 Cecil 
 
 Indiana State line... " " " 
 
 658. 
 629. 
 601. 
 606. 
 596. 
 581. 
 
 729. 
 723- 
 745- 
 
 PREBLE COUNTY. 
 
 Eaton, sill of old C H.Whittlesey 1044. 
 
 El Dorado P. C. & St. L. R. R 1178. 
 
 Florence Cin'ti, Richmond & Chicago R. R. 1140. 
 
 New Paris .... 
 Sonora 
 
 .P. C. &St. L. R. R. . 
 
 1020. 
 1039. 
 
 732. 
 752. 
 746. 
 713- 
 
 PUTNAM COUNTY. 
 
 Belmore Dayton & Michigan R R 
 
 Columbus Grove. .. . " " " 
 
 Leipsic " " " 
 
 Ottawa " " " 
 
 SANDUSKY COUNTY. 
 
 Clyde L. S. & M. S. R. R 691. 
 
 Fremont " " " 632. 
 
 Lindsey " " " 622. 
 
 SENECA COUNTY. 
 
 Alvada, summit Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 851 
 
 Attica B. & O. R. R 964 
 
 Bascom " " 783 
 
 Fostoria Lake Erie & Western R. R 782 
 
 Kansas " " " 731 
 
 Republic B. & O. R. R 885 
 
 Tiffin " " " 759 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 SHELBY COUNTY. 
 
 189 
 
 STATION 
 
 Anna . . 
 Botkins . 
 Houston . 
 Pemberton 
 Russia . . 
 Sidney . . 
 
 Spafford . 
 Summit . 
 
 C. C. C. & I. R. R. 
 
 AUTHORITY. ELEVATION. 
 
 Dayton & Michigan R. R 1018. 
 
 954- 
 
 959- 
 
 1063. 
 
 971. 
 
 " 969- 
 
 Dayton & Michigan R. R 1001. 
 
 Miami & Erie Canal 949. 
 
 C. C. C& I. R. R 1033. 
 
 Dayton & Michigan R. R 1053. 
 
 Broadway 
 
 Dover 
 
 Irwin 
 
 Marysville . . . 
 Milford Center 
 Richwood 
 
 UNION COUNTY 
 
 N. Y. P. & O. R. R 
 C. C. C. &I. R. R. 
 
 N. Y. P. & O. R. R 
 
 1032 
 
 971 
 
 1012 
 
 999 
 996 
 
 948 
 
 VAN WERT COUNTY. 
 
 Conway Pitts. Ft. W. & Chicago R. R . 
 
 Delphos...: " " " " . 
 
 Enterprise Chicago & Atlantic R. R. . . . , 
 
 Dixon Pitts. Ft. W. & Chicago R. R. 
 
 Middlepoint " " " " . 
 
 Rivare Chicago & Atlantic R. R 
 
 Van Wert Pitts. Ft. W. & Chicago R. R. 
 
 791 
 784 
 847 
 798 
 
 784 
 851 
 
 784 
 
 Corwin 
 
 Fort Ancient 
 Franklin . . . 
 Lebanon . . . 
 Morrow . . . 
 
 WARREN COUNTY. 
 
 .P. C. & St. L. R. R 7 2 9- 
 
 " " " 669. 
 
 .C C. C. & I. R. R 693. 
 
 . Cincinnati Northern R. R 709. 
 
 .Cincinnati & Musk. V. R. R 666. 
 
190 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 WILLIAMS COUNTY. 
 
 STATION. 
 
 Bear Creek 
 
 Bryan 
 
 Edgerton 
 
 Melbern 
 
 Melbern, summit w of. 
 Stryker 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 L. S. & M. S. R. R. 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 . . 6 9 8. 
 
 ■ ■ 765- 
 
 . . 83O. 
 
 ' . 843- 
 
 ■• 877. 
 
 ■• 715- 
 
 WOOD COUNTY. 
 
 Bairdstown B. & O R. R 747 
 
 Bloomdale " " 756 
 
 Bowling Green Toledo & Southern R. R 703 
 
 Bradner Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 693 
 
 Hoyt's Corners B. & O. R. R 721 
 
 Le Moyne Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 638 
 
 Millbury Junction . . . L. S. & M. S. R. R 615 
 
 Milton Center ". Dayton & Michigan R. R 690 
 
 Montgomery's " " " . . , 667 
 
 North Baltimore B. & O. R. R 740, 
 
 Pemberville Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 648 
 
 Perrysburg Dayton & Michigan R. R 622 
 
 Portage Toledo & Southern R. R 686 
 
 Rising Sun Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 707 
 
 Tontogany Dayton & Michigan R. R 652 
 
 Walbridge Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 620 
 
 WYANDOT COUNTY. 
 
 Carey I. B. & W. R. R 818. 
 
 Fowler Col. H. V. & Toledo R. R 899. 
 
 Kirby Pitts. Ft. W. & Chicago R. R. . . . 882. 
 
 Nevada " " " " .... 932. 
 
 Upper Sandusky " " " " .... 860. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 191 
 
 TABLE GIVING ELEVATIONS ABOVE SEA LEVEL IN 
 NORTHERN INDIANA. 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. 
 
 Albion B. P. & C. R. R 
 
 Alexandria L. E. & W. R. R. . . . 
 
 Anderson C, C, C. & I. R. R. . 
 
 Angola Ft. W., J. & S. R. R. 
 
 Auburn 
 
 Bloomingsport L, B. & W. R. R 
 
 Blufifton Ft. W. M. & C. R.R. 
 
 Brightwood C, C, C. & I. R.R 
 
 Bristol L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Bunker Hill . .Pan Handle R. R. . . 
 
 Butler L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Cambridge City P., C. & St. L. R. R 
 
 Cassville Pan Handle R. R. . . 
 
 Cedar Creek Eel River R. R 
 
 Collamer " " " .... 
 
 Collins " " " .... 
 
 Columbia City P., Ft. W. & C. R. R 
 
 Corunna L. S. & M. S. R. R. 
 
 Crown Point Station. Pan Handle R. R. . . 
 
 Dayton L. E. & W. R. R... 
 
 Decatur C, R. & Ft. W. R. R 
 
 Dunlaps L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Elkhart " " " " " " " 
 
 English Lake P., Ft. W. & C. R. R. 
 
 Fairmount C, W. & M. R. R. . 
 
 Foresters L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Fortville C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Ft. Wayne P., Ft. W. & C. R. R 
 
 Frankfort L. E. & W. R. R . . 
 
 Fremont Ft. W., J. & S. R. R 
 
 Gebhard's Pan Handle R. R. . . 
 
 Gillman L. E. & W. R. R. . . 
 
 Goldsmith ••• 
 
 Goshen L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 . 927. 
 
 • 857. 
 . 880. 
 . I052. 
 . 872. 
 . 1225. 
 
 • 83/. 
 
 • 792- 
 
 • 785- 
 . 80O. 
 
 . 863. 
 
 . 84I. 
 
 . 684. 
 
 . 86l. 
 
 • 795- 
 
 . 870., 
 
 . 836. 
 
 • 957- 
 . 7H- 
 . 648. 
 . 807. 
 
 • 748. 
 . 755- 
 . 663. 
 . 893. 
 . 852. 
 
 . 857- 
 
 • 775- 
 . 841. 
 
 . io55- 
 
 . 762. 
 
 . 852. 
 
 . 903. 
 
 . 78Q- 
 
192 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. 
 
 STATION. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 Gundrum Pan Handle R. R. . . 
 
 Harrisville C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Hobart P., Ft. W. & C. R. R 
 
 Hobbs L. E. & W. R. R . . 
 
 Holmesville L. S. & M. S. R. R. 
 
 Huntington T., W. & W. R. R. 
 
 Indianapolis C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 Jonesboro Pan Handle R. R . . . 
 
 Kendallville L.- S. & M. S. R. R. 
 
 Kennard... I., B. & W. R. R . . 
 
 LaCrosse Pan Handle R. R . . . 
 
 LaGrange G. R. & Indiana R. R 
 
 LaPorte L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Ligonier " " " 
 
 Lima G. R. & Indiana R. R 
 
 Lisbon " " " 
 
 Logansport W., St. L. & P. R. R 
 
 Losantville I. B. & W. R. R. . 
 
 Marion Pan Handle R. R . . 
 
 Mexico Eel River R. R . . . 
 
 Michigan City Michigan Central R. R 
 
 Millersburg L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Monticello T., P. & W. R. R. . . 
 
 Montgomery L. E. & W. R. R . . 
 
 Mooresville Eel River R. R 
 
 Muncie C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 New Haven T., W. & W. R. R. 
 
 Ossian Ft. W., M. & C. R. R 
 
 Pendleton C, C, C. & I. R. R. 
 
 Peru W., St. L. & P. R. R 
 
 Plymouth P. , Ft. W. & C. R. R 
 
 Portland, low water 
 
 Wabash W. & E. Canal 
 
 Sedan L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Selma C, C, C. & I. R. R 
 
 South Bend L. S. & M. S. R. R. 
 
 South Whitley Eel River R. R 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 7IO. 
 IIOI. 
 623. 
 867. 
 800. 
 
 734- 
 709. 
 846. 
 
 974- 
 1057. 
 
 675. 
 
 915. 
 
 811. 
 
 886. 
 
 882. 
 1022. 
 
 606. 
 1 140. 
 
 811. 
 
 700. 
 
 603. 
 
 886. 
 
 672. 
 
 672. 
 
 877. 
 
 948. 
 
 753- 
 
 831. 
 
 847. 
 
 655. 
 781. 
 
 667. * 
 
 9 2 3- 
 
 1005. 
 
 725. 
 
 808. 
 
PETROLEUM AND INFLAMMABLE GAS. 
 
 193 
 
 STATION. AUTHORITY. 
 
 Star City Pan Handle R. R . 
 
 Syracuse B., P. & C. R. R. . 
 
 Teegarden " " " 
 
 Terra Coupee L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Tipton L. E. & W. R. R . 
 
 Turkey Lake, high • 
 
 water B., P. &'C. R. R. . 
 
 Valparaiso , P. , F. W. & C. R. ] 
 
 Wabash W., St. L. & P. R. 
 
 Warren L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Warsaw P. , Ft. W. & C. R. 
 
 Waterloo L. S. & M. S. R. R 
 
 Wawaka " " " 
 
 West River I.. B. & W. R. R . 
 
 Winamac Pan Handle R. R . . 
 
 Winchester C, C, C. & I. R. R. 
 
 
 
 ELEVATION 
 
 
 
 706. 
 
 
 
 
 87O. 
 
 
 
 794- 
 
 
 
 760. 
 
 
 
 868. 
 
 
 
 868. 
 
 R ... 
 
 
 738. 
 
 R... 
 
 
 735- 
 
 731- 
 
 R... 
 
 
 824. 
 
 897. 
 
 896. 
 
 1 1 10. 
 
 713. 
 
 1089. 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 B. P. & C. R. R Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Chicago. 
 
 C. C. C. & I. R. R Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis 
 
 C. R. & Ft. W. R. R.... Cincinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne 
 
 C. W. & M. R. R Cincinnati Wabash & Michigan 
 
 Ft. W. J. & S. R. R Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw 
 
 Ft. W. M. & C. R. R Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati 
 
 G. R. & Ind. R. R Grand Rapids & Indiana 
 
 I. B. & W. R. R Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western 
 
 L. E. & W. R. R Lake Erie & Western 
 
 L. S. & M. S. R. R Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 
 
 P. C. & St. L. R. R Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis 
 
 P. Ft. W. & C. R. R Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago 
 
 T. W. &W. R. R Toledo, Wabash & Western 
 
 W. St. L, & P. R. R Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
 
INDEX TO PRELIMINARY REPORT. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Anemometer, in measuring gas flows rj, i g 
 
 Anticlinals — 
 
 effects of in oil and gas production 20 
 
 in Ohio rocks , 2 
 
 Berea „, 
 
 Cambridge 40 
 
 Cincinnati 4? 
 
 Fredericktown 81 
 
 Arches in rocks 47 
 
 Ashburner, C. A 21 
 
 Asphalt . . . . , 14 
 
 Bedford shale 36 
 
 "Belt-lines" 72, 104 
 
 Berea, gas wells of 91 
 
 Berea grit 14, 20, 36, 37, 79, 84 
 
 a source of oil 79 
 
 territory occupied by 79, 88 
 
 elevations of above sea 79 
 
 Berea shale 36 
 
 Bloomdale, gas well of. 67 
 
 "Blowers " of gas 98 
 
 Bowling Green, gas field of. 7, 57 
 
 Canada oil 8 
 
 oil field of 72 
 
 Carey, gas wells of 68, 96 
 
 Carll, J. F 16 
 
 Casement, J. S 94 
 
 Cincinnati axis 41 
 
 Cincinnati group 29 
 
 Clay, office of in oil accumulation '. 14, 22 
 
 Cleveland shale. See Ohio shale. 
 
 Clinton series 30, 97 
 
 clay 31 
 
 limestone 31 
 
 shale 97 
 
 Corniferous limestone 34, 89 
 
 Cuyahoga shale 38 
 
 Dean, I. E 62 
 
 Dip of strata in Ohio 20, 79 
 
196 INDEX TO PRELIMINARY REPORT. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Dislocations of strata 43, 50 
 
 Distillation — destructive, as a source of oil 10 
 
 Spontaneous 10 
 
 Drift beds of Ohio 22, 39 
 
 composition of 99 
 
 gas contained in 99 
 
 thickness of 99 
 
 East Diverpool, gas field of 81 
 
 Erie shale. See Ohio shale. 
 
 Findlay 8, 29, 42 
 
 discovery of gas at 8 
 
 geological section of 49 
 
 geological structure of 54 
 
 Production of gas of 52 
 
 Findlay gas — 
 
 composition of 53 
 
 contained in limestone 16 
 
 heating power of 53 
 
 pressure of 54 
 
 prices of 56 
 
 Fire damp 99 
 
 Ford, S. A 53 
 
 Fremont, gas wells of '. 69, 97 
 
 Gas, natural — / 
 
 origin of 14, 10 
 
 connection with oil g t 94 
 
 in what rocks stored 9 
 
 measurements of 52, 107 
 
 value of > 53 
 
 Gas wells, measurement of 52, 107 
 
 Geological scale of Ohio 26, 27 
 
 Grafton oil field g 
 
 Howard, C. C o 
 
 Hamilton shale ■,. 
 
 Hudson river shale .28, 48, 58, 69 
 
 Huron shale. See Ohio shale. 
 
 Karg well ca 
 
 Lima — 
 
 discovery of oil g g 
 
 limestones of 33, , 2 
 
 oil field of g Q 
 
 Limestone oil g» 
 
 Limestone a source of petroleum l j > 22 g- 
 
 Logan group 3 g 
 
 Lord, N. W • I3) , 4 
 
 Macksburg ,- 
 
 oil field gg 
 
 Marsh gas 10I 
 
INDEX TO PRELIMINARY REPORT. 197 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Martin, Wm. M _ 
 
 Mecca oil field g Q 
 
 Medina shale 2g ^ s g 
 
 a source of gas 6g> 97 
 
 Miami river, ancient channel of :oo 
 
 Minshall, F. W.. !".'.!!".'.'.'.'.'.".'" .'"44. 84 
 
 Neff' s gas wells g 2 
 
 Newberry, J. S 2 i 
 
 Niagara series ,, 
 
 Oak Harbor, gas well of 07 
 
 Ohio, geological scale of 23 
 
 Ohio shale 13, 35 
 
 a source of gas 1 7 go 
 
 section of g 2 
 
 Oil sands 17 
 
 Fainesville gas wells 54 
 
 Petroleum, origin of 9 
 
 distribution of 12 
 
 accumulation of. 14 
 
 horizons of '. 45, 102 
 
 Pittsburgh gas 7, 23 
 
 composition of 53 
 
 heating power of 53 
 
 Read, M. C 83 
 
 Robinson, S. W 52, 107 
 
 Salt-water with oil and gas 18, 21, 94 
 
 Spontaneous distillation II 
 
 St. Paris, drift beds of 99 
 
 Structure — geological — 
 
 effects of on oil and gas ' 14, 18, 41, 54, 64, 102 
 
 "Surface indications" 8, 93, 101 
 
 Terrace structure in oil production 42, 84 
 
 Trenton limestone 8, 1 7, 25, 45, 54, 68, 70 
 
 composition of '. 18 
 
 relation to sea level 27, 54, 73 
 
 Venango oil sands, place of in Ohio scale 36 
 
 Utica shale 28, 47, 57 
 
 Waterlime 13. 33 
 
 Waverly groups 36 
 
 Wellsburg gas field 85 
 
 White, I. C 20 
 
Index to Supplement, 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Andrews' gas well 149 
 
 Berea grit 164 
 
 Bloomville gas field ^ , . 136 
 
 Bowling Green 127 
 
 gas field 138 
 
 Bryan 162 
 
 gas well 162, 163 
 
 Carey gas wells 139, 161 
 
 Casing of oil wells- 
 showing the thickness of limestones 133, 160 
 
 Cincinnati axis 124 
 
 direction of 126 
 
 Clinton group 119, 163 
 
 a source of gas and oil 141 
 
 Clinton limestone 164 
 
 Clinton ore , 119 
 
 Corniferous limestone 121 
 
 Cory oil well 151 
 
 Cranberry Marsh, gas wells of ; 142 
 
 Crestline well 164 
 
 Cridersville oil field 143 
 
 Dayton, deep well at 144 
 
 Dwyer, Dennis 142 
 
 Eaton, Ind., Eaton Ohio 127, 128 
 
 Elevations in Indiana 191 
 
 Elevations in Ohio 178, 190 
 
 Emerson, C. H 136 
 
 Findlay monocline. 127, 130, 131, 135, 157 
 
 direction of 130 
 
 Findlay gas field 129, 135 
 
 extent of 137 
 
 gas, speci fie gravity of 1 50 
 
 Findlay oil 135 
 
 Findlay oil field 157, 159 
 
 Fremont gas wells 141 
 
 Garvey gas well 153 
 
 Gas in its relation to oil 145 
 
 Harlan, Geo. O 141 
 
 Hayes, president 142 
 
INDEX TO SUPPLEMENT. 199 
 
 146 
 146 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Gas wells, classification of 
 
 measurements of 
 
 Generalizations of preliminary report 158 
 
 Godsend water tanks, gas wells of 137 
 
 Gypsum, horizon of I2 o 
 
 Karg well , 33) , 47 
 
 measurement of i 34) I4 g 
 
 Lancaster gas well .• no, 163 
 
 Lima axis 127 
 
 Lima oil 143, 1 55 
 
 qualities of !j4 
 
 as a fuel 1 54 
 
 Lima oil field 151, 152 
 
 characteristics of. 1 53 
 
 production of 1 56 
 
 limits of 152 
 
 Linney, W. M 116 
 
 Lower Helderberg limestone 1 20 
 
 new facts pertaining to 120 
 
 thickness of 1 20 
 
 indicative of oil 132 
 
 Medina shale 118 
 
 Mercer county gas wells 142, 143 
 
 Miller, S. A 116 
 
 Monclova 130 
 
 sandstone 121 
 
 Muncie, Ind 127 
 
 Niagara limestone 119, 133 
 
 indicative of gas territory 132, 144 
 
 thickness of 119 
 
 North Baltimore 137 
 
 oil field 157 
 
 Nor thwestern Ohio Gas Co . . , 138 
 
 Oak Harbor gas wells 140, 161 
 
 Ohio shale , 123 
 
 thickness of 124 
 
 Oriskany sondstone .' 121 
 
 Phinney, A.J 128 
 
 Pressure in gas wells 147 
 
 Pt. Pleasant 116, 125 
 
 Robinson, S. W. Prof., method of measuring gas wells 148, 149 
 
 Rock pressure 134 
 
 Salina group - 120 
 
 Shale series 118 
 
 thickness of. 118, 124 
 
 Simon's gas well 137 
 
 St. Henry's gas well 143 
 
 St. Mary's oil wells 143, 156 
 
200 INDEX TO SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Sylvania 127, 130, 139 
 
 sandstone 120 
 
 Thorn Tree well 135 
 
 Trenton limestone 116, 125, 127, 132, 133 
 
 a source of oil and gas 1 52 
 
 a. trap for oil and gas 145 
 
 in indiana 1 28 
 
 influence of elevations of 153 
 
 topography of .... . 126 
 
 Upper Helderberg limestone 121 
 
 Upper limestones, thickness of 122 
 
 Utica shale 117 
 
 extent of 117 
 
 thickness of 117 
 
 Van Buren gas well % 136, 147, 148 
 
 measurement of 136 
 
 Vanlue 140 
 
 Waterlime — See Lower Helderberg. 
 
 Winchell, N. H 131