S$ | / 3968/4: bul 3 Bulletin No, 3 w WM. LEIGHTOR November 28, 1919. COMMONWRALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL APPAIRS James F, Woodward, Secretary —— BUREAU OF TOPOGRAPHIC AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY George H. Ashley, State Geologist eee a — a ee wee DEVELOPMENT AND PROBABLE LIFE OF GAS POOL AT \ McKEESPORT , PENNSYLVANIA By George H. Ashley ‘The ‘pxcitement in Western Pennsylvania 60 years ago when oil wes first obtained in a drilled well was so great that families drove for ailes to see the natural curiosity. As affecting numbers of yeople --the excitement was.small in comparison with that now filling the minds “lot a dense ‘bopulation in Allegheny County, The city of McKeesport has Yheen roaring for several weeks over the bringing in of a mishty gas -well almost Within the city limits, When I visited the city early this month to investigate the present development of the new gas pool anc get a line on its possibilities, among the things that attracted my attention were the eager discussions on street corners, and the Windows of store after store decorated with yellow land maps or pietures of derricks with 2 notice thet "the last chance to buy stock is at hand". In the field itself long rows of automobiles line the ditehes and the roads are filled with trucksloaded with lumber end machinery to be used in opening new wells. There is a hustle and bustle in end about Mexeesport like that of a mushroom oil town in the Gulf Coast field, The excitement began on jugust 29 when a well Grilled to the Speechiev sand just south of McYeesport came in with a yield of 4 million cubic feet per day end quickly increased the pro- duction to 62 million feet, The field centers along a ridge between Snake Hollow and the ‘alley of Long Run and has, extendec through Versailles along the bank £ Youghiogheny River e few miles above McKeesport, Long Run Valle: is occupied with farms and because the land is held in large acreoges, fells there ere widely spaced, Snake Hollow, nearer the city, has heen subdivided into lots; many or which are occupied by houses, Rady i } d pie | te al! | oi Shee are be th q a arnt ‘a -, Ubi ak We RA ‘ VR Tip agent! or ia ke ie 8 RGM SRD aa ss Pars +, * i : ae ey hr 1% Pots Ste BAe ale ot aan on i | RAED S: Vin hy + ‘i se a i ‘eA 7 at ae / t * Every lot in the hollow is ¢ vossible leasehold and may form the basis ror one of the gas companies whose advertisins Cecoretes some “4s the MeKeesport store windows. Where a lot is too small to eccomo- Gate both house and well the house is pulled Govm or moved off. The number of wells is increasing daily and one fells the air charged Witn the incentive of a rece to see who can be next to complete a hole to the gas-bearing sand, The eective development is located on the crest of what is probably the southward continuation of the. Murrysville or Roaring Run anticline, a long arch extending northeast from Monongahela City “$0 the center of Armstrong County. The general position of this enti- cline hos been known for fifty yecrs or more and many wells have been Grilled on all parts of it, sas being reached in the Murrvsville and Other sends at depths or less than .2,000 feet. The Murrysville scanc is from 1700-to 1900 feet below the Pittsburgh coal.’ Some of tne deeper sonds, such as the Thirty foot and Sixth send, have elso vieléed one or tWO millions of feet of gas in ceri ein of the wells. 3elow the Sixth sand is the Elizabeth sand “hte then below an intervcal or several hundred feet of non-paving strato, lies the Venango a 1 YOR ; ‘th my, ike ay é a “a3 cate at 7 * \e One | ot \y psy ae } it as “ nae mi F ay ae re! } gy ie, uy ” { j og , re i 3 . ’ Pei} Vs ‘ " i, ( me , La : . Nae » ay r . ‘ 2 ‘ rf } \ Law J HM m is < Ag : ; : ¢ ns p Nw ah) a an 4 7 nt Se rah wee * Py ' iy WEN ty ¥ ; AY tae ' Mt 4 ~, ' # - ‘oy at , a th 7 rr + HA 0 Cy ns v ou Va ae iy AUD. oe ‘ . tes ‘ 1 1 he « "witr eR : LW i 4 Deity Oak ira bai ug sae ; ules NO + ye). 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Ps ee C8 da LM ah w Wy Bihan" Viele i, (Oe att cual x ‘A r pig tea } An Has i held * NY, i Ve cory ‘ \ Yi wi Mit ae tame i a ¥ fs : ’ | ory 7 ae n “4 fm eed Vv Whe Wy uA ish : : ed j “ye war te Me 7 y A our i \ p i Pais) a "i / hen a a ays bal | : al GNP oh a tg ene el y iy) . rh ee: . a 4 ; ‘ Ne * at ill ie dae ald . u brine Mae or is ° pa ara ore nef eee, AA ih yA lg an apd Sy tee FO) PE ay ene Lie ay 18 LS ER AeD Nd dal ; LG ” si Ch gate Bree GIORDANO By - “ . 1 ; ‘ aa f ~ iP % yes ae a nats ” { i oa oh eS Re aie We “ne wa se ie ees, eee te hoe ake 7 cee Ae Ye bee a sh K si M nn We diy TA iG ¢ ; r ay iS y rip ah ten | 3 ie, aie Gt 3 f Ne jy the ‘i bbe, ae SO ee OR ee i gr AT ane : ie ty of dy Zhen Lent Awe 1 a ae ibaa ‘ Hee't aa vi ‘ y ' #4, a). head ry ie na rie} i p By mh " af hey to 50,000,000 cubic feet of ses a day, It may be doubted if many wells Will be found thet will vielc as largely as the Poster Hamilton No. 3 which is doing better than fifty million cubic feet a day, That well appears to be on the very crest of the anticline but judging by the smaller and varied production of other wells in the same neighborhood and apperently located equally well, the differences of production Seem due to differences in the rock texture rather than to nosition on the structure, None of the vells have as vet been shot. . Among the questions naturally arising in developments such as those about McKeesport are those concerning the possibility of ges in still lower sands, the possibility of oil in the field, and as to the ife of the field. Several wells that failed to get a lerge flow from ne Speechley sand are now being driven cow to the lower beds. ‘AS che Bradford sand is only a few hundred feet below the Speechley, the oresence of gas in lower sands should soon be known, It cannot be Said cefinitely that no oil will be found in the field but a glance 2t an oil and gas map of Pennsylvenia will suffice to show that most of the oil found in Allegheny County has come from northwest of a northeast-southwest line through the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, If one~half of the gas wells now projected in the MoZeesport gas district are drilled, the immediate field will do well to last two years as a large producer of gas. The life of any field naturally depends on the rete at which oil and gas sre withdrawn, leaving out of account drowning by water. A few wells judiciously placed and supole- mented from time to time in the McKeesport district might heve supylied McKeesport industries for a helf century or more, but the present practice of punching the producing sané as full of holes as a colander Will inevitably result in the speedy exhaustion of the pool. By ex- tendins the drilling to the northeastward -a supply may be obtained whien will continve to furnish heat for the industries of Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati and other cities for a dozen or a score of years upon a consicerable scale. The Bureau of Tovogranhic and Geological Survey will prepare a structural map of the liceesvort area and in the meanvhile it is requested thet drillers keep as accurate a record as possible of the depth at which the several sands are struck and in particular of the Upper rreevort coal, which lies about 170 feet below the top of the senestone that forms the cliffs along Long Run between the reilroad id Walnut Street near the cement bridge. —= PP 20M sercera crn... ip) oh Vet, uh Ws ft a: wie (she Ait eRe G Gh et ah hii ih i #4 | a _