CIHM Microfiche Series (Monographs) iCMH Collection de microfiches (monographles) ^ Canadian Inatituta lor Hiatorical Mieroraproductiant / Inititut Canadian da mieroraproductlona hiKtoriquaa 995 Ttchnicil and BiMiographie Notts / NoUt nchniqiMi « bib4ia«raptiiqiMi Tht Instituu has •mmptMl to obuin Km but orifiiwl COPY anilabit lor f ilmini. Fnturat of thii copy wtiidi may ba biWiographically uniqiM. which may altar any of Mm imagai in tha raproduction. or which may n«nificantly changa tha mual method of filming, ara chaclcad balow. Coloured coMrs/ Couvirtura do eoulaur D Corns damagid/ Couvtrtura MHlomniaila □ Conrt rtftorad and/or laminatad/ Counrttm rastaurte «t/ou ptHicuMa □ CQvtr titia mining/ La titra da counartura manqua n n n n Colourad mapi/ Cartai gtegraphiqiiai an eoulaur Cotourad ink li.a. other than bhie or Ueckl/ Encre da eoulaur (i.a. autre qua Meue ou noire) Coloured platei and/or illusttationi/ Planches et/ou illustrations an eoulaur Bound with other mattrial/ Relie avac d'autres documents □ Tight binding mey ceuse shadows or distortion along inttrior margin/ La reliure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de le marga intirieure n Blank leevas added during restoration may appear within the ttxt Whenever possible, theea ham been omitted from filming/ II te peut que eertaines pages blanches ejouties hirs d'une restturation apparaissent dans le texte. mais. lorsque cele Mait possiUa. ces peges n'ont pasMf n Additional comments:/ Commenteires supplimentaires: L'Institut a microfilm* le mailleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M possible de se procurer. Las details de cat exempleire qui sort peut-«tre uniques du point de ¥Ue bibliographique, qui peuyent modifier une imege reproduitt. ou qui peumnt exiger une modification dans la mtthode normele de fihnaga sont indiquis ciariat/ Oualiti in4gale de I'impression □ Continuous peginetion/ Pagination cimtinua D Includes indexles)/ Comprend un Ides) index Title on heeder taken from:/ Le titre de l'en-t*tt proISOUniON TBI CHAtT (ANSI and ISO TEST CHMT No. 2) 1^1^ Ui _^ APPLIED IM/V2B he S^S r^ 1653 Zatt Warn Strtal ^5 {7-6) *82- 0300- Pho™ "" S£ C"6) 288 - 5989 - Fon X T ® Natural Gas in Ontario I W EUGENE COSTE, M.E. TORONTO \PAPER READ BEFOKE THE CANADIAN UININO InS^VTB AT THE ANNUAL UtETINO. MARCH, ,900 1^ TORONTO: ^ James * Williahs. Pwntmi, w Kino Stkbt East. , % 1901 i^ Natural Gas in Ontario EUGENE COSTE, M.E. PAPER READ BEFORE THE CANADIAN MINING INSTITUTE AT THE ANNUAL yBBTING, MARCH, igoo • TORONTO; James & Williams, Printehs, io KiNr .St«kbt East. 1901 K3,()0().(K), the gas being supplied since January, 1891, to Fort Erie, Bridgeburg and Buffala GEOLOGY OF THE ONTARIO GAS FIELDS, As we have stated above, in the Essex County gas field betw. •> Leamington and Kingsvillo, the gas is found in tL upper bed o{ tne Guelph dolomite. This could not be positively deter- mined until early last year when we drilled a wel; on the Wood- biidge form m the l^wnship of Colchester South, down to the depth of 2420 feet. This well found the Trenton limestone at 2130 feet and gave us the first good log of the complete series of the mevsures underlying that county, and we can now judge exactly of the correct relative [wsition of the gas rock which is the upper part ot the Guelph dolomite. '^ The following logs of some of the wells we drilled In diflerent parts of Essex County reveal many new features of the undc- ground geology of that district: — """n ^'1!; "t*- "•;* """'*'■ ■^' ''• '" >« Con 0' «•>• Township of OosHeW. Elevation of derrick floor 6S8 tt.; Drilled Doc. i888 and Onondaga Guelph Soil Grey Sand Brown and grey dolomitirl limestones with gypsum [ and wiih white and black 1 flint. J Grey blue and shaly dolo-'J mites and drab, brown | dolomiieswitha good deal j of gypsum. Shaly group, j Dark brown dolomites and I gypsum I with gyp>um bed [ \trom 970 to 985. ) j I Grey blue crystalline ves- 1 (iculcrdolomiie. j Dapih. 5 fl. to 5 ft. 115 ft. to izoft. 380 ft. to 500 ft. 360 ft. to 860 ft. 160 ft, to 1020 ft. II ft. to 1031 ft. r With a little clay I at 60 ft, and 85 ft. A littie gas at 910 ft. and 9J0 It. /Lai^e quantity of gas at I020 ft. or at 363 ft. below tide. t HATOBAL OAS IN ONTAHIO. 5 W«U No S Of the Ontario Natural Oai Company, UmltmL on Lot 8 In «h» 2nd Con. of OotOeld Townihlp. Eltvuion MS ft. rofnalioa. MA Onondaga RMMtly urn] (Crey, drab, l)fown«ndblue\ dotomilea, with gypaum f 1 (ahaly group from 585 ft. L to 930 ft.), gyp,um bed I Ifrooi 1055 ft. 10 1070 ft. ; ThIcknMi, Dapili. Ml ft- to 141 ft. 960 (I. lu 1 101 ft. (Salt water at 1095 feet, bottom well at not ?) WeU Na 1. Union Ou Co.. In N.-W. corner of lot 17 In 7th Con. of the Townthip of Colebeiter, north. ElevaUon SS8 ft. Formaiion. Drift Cornirerous and Onondaga Onondaga Onondaga moatly clay White grey llmetlones and brown dolomitjc lime Depth. ] stones with gypsum below \t6oft. sandl '-- \ >elowf (Grey blue dolomltic shalei) and ibaly dolomites and drab brown dolomites with \ a good deal of gywum, gypsum bed 68oft. 10690 ft J Dark grey and brown dolo-'V mites with gypsum, gyp- ( sum bed from iiac ft. lol 1140 ft. I 65 ft. to 65 ft. 610 fL to 675 ft. 300 ft. to 975 ft. (of shaly group) aooft. to 1175 ft* Rnnuks. i Sulphur water at 58a fl. ami 613 ft.; prolwbly the upper 100 ft. repreaenti the Corniferout. Salt water at 1173 ft. WeU on I. De^jardin's Farm, lot 7 In Srd Con. of Tllbuiy West Town- ship. ElevaUon 608 ft Coriiiferous 0'»l(«ny boulder clay nVhite and yellow brown I I limestones. \ White yellowish fine sandstunc Thickness, Deprh. 120 ft. to IIO (t. 150 ft. to 250 ft. 50 ft. 10 JOO ft. NATURAL GAS IN ONTARIO. Well on I. Oeqjardln's Fsunn— Continued. Onondaga Shaly group Onondaga Onondaga (iiielph f Yellow, white and brown' dolomites, with cypsum ifrom 450ft. tosso": with I flint from 550 ft. to 650 ft. ; darker brown with gyp- sum from 650 ft. to 800 Blue and brown (mostly \ quite shaly) dolomite, [ with a good deal of gyp- f sum. I rOark grey and brown"! (dolomi.es with gypsum, I I gypsum oed from 1275 ft. I Uo 1295 ft. J } Thickness. Depth. I Whue grey . limestone. crystalline 500 ft. to gt» ft. 330 ft. to 1130 ft. 185 ft. to 1315 ft. iS It. 10 1333 ft. Altogether ir"5 ft. of Onondaga. Salt water at 1315 ft. In two wells drilled on Joseph Lalonde's farm, about one milo south-west of the Desjardin's farm well, some oil and gis were obtamed at 1213 ft. and 1240 ft. (53 barrels being shipped from there to Petrolia) from rocks of the lower part of the Onondaga- quite ft little gas and oil were also found on that farm at the bottom of the drift at 114 ft. *'co'iSh'e^'te'??o'!l'tS."*'1teoi?'6lJ k" ""' ''' '='"'• "' '"* ^"^^'^ "^ Drift Onondaga /Sand I Quicksand ''Grey and brown dolomitic^ limestone with flint and gypsum. White, fine, sharp sand White, grey and brown dolomites with white and black flint and with gyp- sum. I Grey blue and brown dolo- I mites (mostly shaly with a good deal of gypsum), shaly group. j Dark grey and brown doln- j mite wilh gypsum {gyp- ^sum iwd 865 ft. to 875 ft. ,' 20 ft. to 20 ft. 90 ft. to no a. 67 ft. to 177 fi. 10 ft. to 187 ft. 203 ft. to 390 ft. 370 ft. to 760 ft. ISO ft. to 910 ft. KATURAL OAS Ijr ONTABIO. Wellon the Woodbrldtre Fann-Cmh,„j. Fomutioo. Guelph and Nia{[ara 315 ft. Clinton 155 ft. Strata. Medina 285 ft. Hudson River Uti(» Trenton {Blue white, grey and-i brown dolomites, quite I crysiallioe and very porous/ r White and white blue lime- "1 \ stones. J fGrey blue shale Grey blur limestone Green shales Red pink shales Grey blue unctuous shales Grey blue and white sandy limestone ^Red pinl; shales /Grey blue lime shales wilh\ \ shells of lime. / Brown and black shales (White and dark grey lime- 1 stones. Thickness. Depth. Renurki. 315 ft. to 1135 ft. 155 ft. to 1280 ft. 7 ft- to 1287 ft. 5 ft. to 1293 ft. 8 ft. to 1300 ft. gft.'to 1305 ft. 88 fL to 1393 ft. 62 ft. to 1455 ft. 1 10 ft. to 1565 ft. 350 ft. to 1915 ft. 235 ft* to 2150 ft. 270 ft. to 3420 ft. {Salt, black sulphur water at 9ID ft. and again at lOio ft. rMore salt water at \ 123a ft. /A little gas a \ at 2150 ft. fi„t if"rt Tf'!'^""«'' »^»' half mUe east of Amherstbura, fifty 8^2 to 3SI f^t '^ '"'^"°"'' **"' '■'"""' '«'*'^° *« doP^-' of In wells drilled in lot 12 in 2nd concession of Maidstone Town- ttl'^;Z"'^^ iT."/™"/ '" '"f '~"°™ of ">« drift, on the top of rmZa foIIPf Vti^'^^.'^;' "''" '" ''""* °f '>"' Onondaga^ ^ 700 and 1040 feet. The Onsknay sandstone in the firet of th^e ZM^^^^fJ^u^/^ K"™ '"■"<='' '^*''««° 275 and 300 feeF Another well dnlled on lot one in concession one of Maidstone n™ fLr"* '° "•''*'■ P*'' "^ ""> Comiferous limestone at point'^outZTT' ^""^""^ '*'''*'"' ^y ^^"^ '°«^ "^'"^ ^0 "is'" 1 '?'r^S '*'* ?""* *"d south-east part of the County of Essex along LakeEne, the ti™t stratum met Jith. under a heav/s^d d^' 2nd.— Between the Coste Well No. 1 and Well Nn 1 r.r .»,. Ontario Natuml Gas Company, in a dist.nce'"of tl^artw I ^W T Hf "^'P ?u "«'">■ ^^'- Thi», « shown ?y ^"» of other wells between these two, is due to a fault in the strata n.n n.ng in a direction W.N.W. and E.S.E.. and passing only Ijitue to " NATUBAL OAS IN OSTABIO. ^^"ZtwiuT ,^»f " ^l- *■ '^''f ioS' °f """er wells to the west of Coste Well No 1 have also revealed another fault riiniunj?a short This faulty or fractured structure of the strata is a pronounced fiL.^f N ^rw""" *^''5??.*^ ''^'•y *«" ■"»*e'l in *e oil and gas fields of North-Westem Ohio (Geology of Ohio, Vol, 6, p.p. 33, 95 To us ;>,?■ ^^ *"' 1'' A""""' Report. 3rd OrganizaiiSn'^ 1890)! To us, this ,s one more direct proof to add to tho^ we will turner atd ptlle":"''"'^' °'** ^°'"'"'= "^•'-^ o^ -■«- of -*~- 3,-d._An extensive bed of gypsum, 10 to 20 feet thick has tt',7T^''^, °"\^ " '''* '""*'■ P""' "f ">e Onondaga forma io^ this bed underlies the greater part of the County of Essex n„vln„ iv*"'^ ^' """"Sh the first has not yet been found in ihlilT""'"^ '" *^ "°""'y' *"'* ""= «»<"«^ «"ly in one field, are ah-eady known to exist in many parts of the county and in a number of different strata. , ' ..th— Large quantities of salt water are always found in E8.sex (.ounty in the Gnelph and Niagara and in the Clinton. «,. ,""'—1'"' Onsknay sandstone is well developed under the nart^nf .T"^ northern parts of the county, but is missing in some parts of It, as shown by the record of Well No. I of the Union Gas Company, given above. ^ !.»., I'^r^^yn 7^"' "■* Woodbridge well, mentioned above has yet been dnUed down to the Trenton limestone in the county Tht ^t:?!!.^*™"' " ""'« 8- ""•^ -- -' - "•« upper part li V . ^•'« 'oilowiug logs of four of the wells of the Provincial No. 1 Well, Lot 86, Concession 3 trom Lake Erie, of the Township of Bertie. Elevation 618 ft. CornileroiiS'Dark jrey lime.'ilone I ,, ' ft'f'^y ••in'l ilrab dolomites) | Onondaga | and black shales with ' I I (gypsum. j I Guelph andL ... Niagara 1*^'^ dolomites I 2 ft. to 2 ft. 23 f lo 2S ft. 390 fl. lo 415 ft. 240 ft. 10 655 ft. /Fresh wal-r cased loir at 284 ft. .1" .Salt water at 548 ft. (.cased off at 596 ft. NATUBAL QAS IN ONTAHIO. Ko. 1 Well— Contixii.,;. t 4 Niaffara Shafes Blue shales ( While crystalline lime- ] j stones, grey and shaly to- t wards bottom. J Red sandstone Red shale Blue shale White sandstone Blue shale White sandstone ThickniflB, Depth. SO ft. to 70s ft. 30 ft. to 735 ft. 55 ft. t' 10 ft. to 8 ft. to 9l( 5 ft. to'81^ .. 20 ft. to 833 ft. 13 ft. to 846 ft. A little salt water |98ft. Gas at 836 ft. ^"b^« ^t °° ^°' *• '° ^^^ ****» Concession from Niaffara River of Bertie Township. Elevation 606 ft. "'affara Kiver. or Parmation Drift Onondaga Guetph and Niagara Niagara shales Clinton Medina Hudson River Utica Trenton Calciferous Archaean Stratx, Thickness, Depth. Clay /Do; __,^„, ^_. \ black shales and gypsum Grey dolomites /Dolomites, grey and drab, \ Blue shales White and grey limestones {Red sar 'stone Bluesh. e White sandstone Red shales Blue shares With lime shells Black shales White and grey limestones Yellowish sandstone Micaschist 38 ft. to 38 ft. 300 ft. to 338 ft. 330 ft to 568 ft. 60 ft. to 628 ft. 33 ft. to 660 ft. 83 ft. to 743 ft. 15 ft. to 758 ft. 16 ft. to 774 ft. S50 ft. to 1624 ft. 730 ft. to 2354 U. 171 ft. to 2525 ft. essft. to 3210 ft. 45 ft- to 3255 ft. 2 ft. to 3257 ft. Remarks. Sah water at 470 ft. A little gas A little salt water 10 NATCRAL GAS IN ONTARIO. ''* 81oV' '■'" ^' '" *'" <"""»"'°» Wfl'oughby Township. Elevation Formation. Drift Onondngct Guelph and Niagara Niagara shales Clinion Hudson River Uiica Trenton Calciferous Clay Dolomites and shales -with gypsum Grey dolomites Blue shales VViute limestones / Red sandstone and shales I White sandstone ■( Blue shale White sandstone I, Red shales Blue shales Black shales White an grey limestones Grey coarse sandstone Depth. Archaean Wliite quartz :8 ft. to iS ft. 202 ft. to 320 ft. 220 ft. to 440 ft. 50 ft. to 490 ft. 30 ft. to 5JO ft. 73 ft- to 593 f'- 10 ft. to 603 ft. 12 ft. to 615 ft. 18 ft. to 633 ft. 830, ft, to 1463 ft. 717 ft. t0 2lS0ft. 160 ft. to 2340 ft. 670 ft. to 3010 ft. 19 ft. to 3029 ft. I ft. to 3030 ft. Salt water at 330 ft. A little gas at 495 ft. and a little fait (Gas at 2940 ft. 1000 lbs. rock pressure Well No. 22, Point AWno, Bertie Township. Elevation 680 ft. Drift Corniferous Onondaga Guetph apd Niagara Niagara shales Clinton Medina Sand Grey limestones wuh flint /Grey and drab dolomites, i blue shales and gypsum Grey dolomites Blue shales White limestones ThickneBE. fRedsa i Blue si I White sandstone shale sandstone 10 ft, to 10 ft. 82 ft. to 92 ft. 388 ft. to 4S0 It. 235 fi- to 715 ft. 55 ff- to 770 ft. 30 ft. to 8'X) ft. 80 ft. to 880 ft. 13 ft. to 893 ft. fGas in large quan- jiity atsoo, 53oand I 580 ft. Salt water .at 600 to 630 ft. !7f{. 910 ft. jGaial90j II. NATVIUL OAS IN ONTAWO. n I t field In X wL»f"' '™i "'7°'* "" ' r"'^'' '"^ '"""' ""« ««'•<"« the J li „ 'oUpwing order from north to south:— No 61 14 No 1 Int ^^^uth' is'*:'' <'-,'*"- between the two extreme wellt north r<^^ and torn tK '""'r- ,^* "?y P™"' °"' f™" the above 1^8 and from the recor.!, of the other wells, now drilled in the field to the n- .iber of 142, the following features:- *i, .'"Pt '''™*^ "^'P *" '•he south and south east unifornilv at the mte of about thirty-five feet to the mile, except for a small synchnal (about one mile wide and thirty fee deep, he L™ of wh,eh .s about one n.ile north of No. 2i well at Poin?Abino f I? IT . ,T,''^'' ""^ ^t''"'^'' in e^ery well in large Quantities alTwaJr • ""f*"'/^ f'- ^'J.^'P'' """ Niagamformatfon.^ r «: salt water is also found in the Clinton, in the White Medina ml rock and m the Calciferous at No, 14, but in none of thZto^. ations below the Guelph ax.d Niagam is there Inything 1 ke a contmuous body of salt water, which, on the contrary lies ftere in disconnected small bodies of water <.rary, nes tnei e m lo™ ^^""^^''f ' being found in the strata indicated in the above ftoL and"in th?""°" ''"kI"'"^- *T ^"" ■" *« '^-i Medina s^d- Btone and m the upper white sandstone of the Medina Some amber gieen color oil of a gravity of forty-two and ahSfde«?^s Beaume was found in the last few feet of the lower wh^ mS sandstone at wells No. 20, 28 and 62. The gas in that sandstone is generally found three feet in fr^m the top of it, butXn also another vein is found nine to ten feet in. HOW LOCATED-ORIGIN. In the opening remarks of this paper, I referred briefly to the tT^Zl-^^r^" T'y *^" 8"" fi«'d^ y«t fonnd in Ontario^ Tnd I mtj add in Canada, not so r ach as a matter of record or history i^L T "' f .introduction to the discussion of the much more ^KTu!::fj"'n'^:i' P^*- ^^KntiecaUy and economically! which led me to make these discoveries and which is no l^ss than the question of ongin of the natural gas and petroleum ,„-.„ f 1 i °°' entertained the firm conviction against the generally accepted theory in this country, in the United States and in England that the origin of natural gas, of petroleum and of bitumens in general, is volcanic instead of organic, I would have been unable to ITvll rH'^^'V.^"?"" '"*"™' Sa» fields these two localities in Essex and in Wellaud counties, 200 miles apart one from the other, :,d each about 100 miles from any other oil or gas field known at that time. It is indeed quite clear that one wfeving n the organic, theory of the origin of natural ga. and petroleum would natumlly consider that there might be natural gas or petroleum deposits under any parts of the peninsula of south-western Ontario 12 NATUBAL GAS IN ONTABIO. between the Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, and Iiake St. Clair to the north-west and Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to the south-east, a» the whole of that large section of the countrj' is underlaid with Dtvonian and Silurian sedimentary strata more or less fossiliferous; and it would be and has been impossible to anyone following that organic origin theory to localize any particular district of that vast peninsula where these hydrocarbon products should be found by drilling. In fact, according to that theory, if found in one place, these products should be found in almost any other part of the peninsula On the other hand, for one accepting, aa I did, the vol- canic origin of these products as gaseous emanations from the interior of the earth along certain fissured and fi-actuied zones of the crust of the earth, it was possible to select, in south-western Ontario, several likely new gas fields by mapping out the probable continuation in Canada of these fissured and fractured zones from other gas and oil fields already located and developed on the same zones in the United States. This was done by me, as stated above, with the result that our only two gas fields in Ontario were at once discovered, and this result is in itself a strong proof of the soundness of the theory I accepted of the volcanic origin of natural gas. Especially so when it is considered that in each of these two Ontario new fields the gas was found in formations, not before known, anywhere, to contain natural gas in large quantities, viz., as before stated: — the white Medina sandstone, just above the thick body of the Uedina red shales in Welland County and the upper bed of the Giielph dolomitic limestone in Essex County. Thus the volcanic theory allowed me not only to localize with precision two new and entirely unsuspected gas fields, but also to find the gas in entirely new horizons, showing conclusively that when these new fields were selected, it was not simply to ti-y and reach by drilling certain formations known elsewhere to be rich in oil and gas, but, on the contraiy, that they were selected with the conviction imparted by the volcanic theory of origin, that wherever found, natural gas and petroleum are simply emanations from below into a porous rock or into a drift, sand or gravel, and that that rock, drift, sand or gravel plays only the role of a tank or reservoir, and, therefore, that natural gas or oil, or both, might be found in any or all of the porous rocks or strata drilled through, no matter what their geological name or age might be, or whether they had or not a past record as producers of oil or gas. This is exactly what was found to be the case in the driUing of the 142 wells we have now drilled in Welland County, as we have to-day there, and have had for years, wells connected on the lines irett.ino- their gas from each of the following different strata: — , 3. From three different horizons in the! at depths of 500, 530 and 580 feet, upper beds of the Ouelph dolomite. ) 1- j jj NATURAL QAI IN ONTAKIO. IS , t 4. From one horizon in ihe first ten feet I of the Clinton limestone. r 5. From one horizon in the upper part oft Ihe red Medina sandstone, ) 6. From one horizon in the upper wliite ! Medina sandstone. ) 8. From two horizons in the lower wl.ue I Medina sandstone. f 9. From one horizon in the Trenton lime- ) stone, 600 feet below the top of it, [ at a depth of 3940 feei. ) Which is aliout 300 feet deeper than the lower gas horizon just mentioned in the Guelph. About forty feet below the preceding horizon in the Clinton. About seventy feet below the preceding , horizon in the Medina. About twenty and thirty feet below the preceding horizon in the upper white Nfedina sandstone. About 2Z20 feet below the precedini; horizon in Ihe lower white Medina sand- stone. To these nine different "sands" (this term means any gas or oil rock in the parlance of a driller, whether it is a sandstone, a lime- stone, or any other rock) producing gas in Welland County several others could be added, in which smaller quantities of gas were found, especially in the big interval of shales, 1700 feet thick, between the lower Medina white sandstone and the Trenton lime- stone, where gas was encountered seA'eral times in "shells" or small shaly limestone layers. At a well at St. Catharines, about twenty miles north-west from our wells, in Welland County, yet another and lower "sand" was found to contain gas and some laige wells have been obtained in this same "sand" at different localities in Oswego and Onondaga Counties, New Vork State. This "sand" is a white yellowish sand- stone under the Trenton limestone and immediately above the Archaean formation. Hero then is a series of Silurian sedimentary rocks in Wciland County, some 3000 feet thick, resting directly on the Archaean rocks, and containing gas in every one of its porous pot tion or stratum from the one immediately above the Archaean to the surface. Is not that a proof that the source of tne gas is still lower and below the Archaean ? But let us now look over tho results of the thousands upon thousands of oil and gas wells drilled in the States of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York. There we have altogether a series of sedimentary strata some 10,000 feet thick, ranging from the Archaean to the Upper Barren Coal Measures of tho Carboniferous, and here, also, eveiy sandstone or porous limestone or other rock of that thick series of rocks has, in one locality or another in these States or in Ontaiio, produced either oil or gas, or both, in commercial quantities. Starting from the most southern of the oil and gas fields in West Virginia, where the newer rocks of the Carboniferous outcrop, and going north- west to Indiana and south-western Ontario and north-eastward across Pennsylvania and New York States &.< far as the Adirondack region where the Archaean 1 ocks outcrop, the oil and the gas are found geologically deeper and deeper as the measures rise to the surface in the following principal "sands" in descending order: — 14 KATURAL 0A8 IN ONTARIO. Pittsbure Hwditone JM« above the Pitttbutg coal. Fifty foot Mackiburg sandttone. i6o feet below the Pititbarg coal First Cow Run or Joy Sand 240 " |] |] Mahooiiu wnditone 300 * Middle Cow Run o? Freeport ^^ ^^ ^^ landitone .... 4*0 Upper Second Cow Run land- ^ ^^ ^^ itone 600 " Lower Second Cow Run sand- ^^ ^^ ^^ Itone 650 Tionetta, Homewood or 700 feet ^^ Mackiburg sandstone 810 " Upjier Connoquenessing or 800 ^^ ^^ feet Macksburg sandstone .... 9«> " Lower Connoquenessing or upper ^^ ^^ salt sand "»0 " Lower salt sand or Sharon Coo- glomerate or Olean Conglom- ^^ ^^ erate or Maxon sand 1050 |* ^^ ^^ Keener sandstone t!W*> ^^ ,, Big Injun sand "80 ' ^^ ^^ Squaw sand 135° „ Berea grit 1700 First sand or Butler Second sand or Gantt 100 foot i^ock 50 foot rock Second sand or thirty foot rock Blue Monday sand or Gordon Boulder sand or Hickory Stray third sand Third sand Fourth sand Fifth sand Elizabeth sand Warren slush oil sand Warren third sand Clarendon third sand Speechley sand Cherry Grove and Sheffield sand Cooper oil sand Bradford oil sand Lower Waugh and Porter sand Elk County group of sands, two ot three in °""*^' I The Petrolia' and Oil Springs, lOnt., upper show Oil Springs and Petrolia fields Euphemia Field, ( it Lower Carboniferous and Subcarbon- ifcrotu. Upper Devonian white sands Middle Devonian Hamilton limestone Comifeious sandstone Oriskany sandstone Guelph sandstone Niagara limestone Clinton limestone Medina red sandstone Medina upper white sand Medina lower white sand Trenton limestone, upper part Trenton limestone, lower part Calciferous sandstone L Lower Devonian /At least three different horitons \in Essex and Welland Counties /Seneca Falls, Alden, New York \ State and in Indiana f At I ^ncaster, Ohio and Welland ICo., iDU i Two different horizons in Well- I and Ca and in New York State . /Welland Co., Buffalo, Alden, 1 0swego and Onond^a Counties I Several horizons in Ohiu and \ Indiana I Several horizons in Welland Co. and Oswttjo and Onondaga Counties, N.Y, (St. Catharines, Ont., Oswego "land Onondaga Cities, N.Y. If Siluri.tn NATDBAL OAS IN ONTAKIO. 15 1' To (hu list of about fifty different porous rocks, rich in oil and gas, quite a number of other horizons could be added by a more careful study of the subject ; and the Cambrian rocks of the Quebec group, now furnishing oil in Newfoundland, can also be added. J fact that so many porous rocks, one upon the top of the other, and all through the 10,(>0(t feet of sedimentary measures, from the Arehaean floor to the surface of this region, are in plac<:8 tilled with oil or gas, should serve not only as a strong evidence, but in our opinion as a most convincing proof that these hydrocarbon products are not indigenous but adventitious to every one of these "sands" and, therefore, that they came through fissures in the Arehaean beJow and have penetrated and imbibed every porous rock they encountered m their ascent. We cannot indeed admit a different and new organic source under each one of these formations especially when we come down to rocks of the lower Silurian md Cambrian ages, during which time the development of vegetable or animal life was most certainly entirely inadequate to explain by some decomposition of organic remains, the enormous quantities of petroleum and natural gas, for instance, in the Trenton or lower Silunan limestone of Ohio and Indiana. This ancient formation we might here remark, has been the most prolific one on the North American Continent in hydrocarbon products. But we have still a more direct proof that these hydroca;bon products are due to gaseous emanations from below. This proof is the rock pressure of natural gas. As is well known, when first tapped in any of the wells, the natural gas rushes out of the hole impelled by a great foree, which, when the gas is closed in and con- fined records on a gauge in some fields up to 1500 lbs. to the square inch, but IS, generally, between 200 and 1000 lbs. And here comes the most important point in this relation :— in every field when gas IS tound in several strata, the highest pressure is always recorded in the lowest or deepest stratum. For instance, in the Welland County field, the rock pressure of the gas was 300 lbs. in the Guelph dolomite; 400 lbs in the Clinton; 525 lbs. in the Medina white sand • and, 1000 lbs. in the Trenton limestone. These enormous pres.sures decreasing as the gas travels up from below by friction through the small fissures and the small pores of the "sands," we submit, can- not be explained any other way than by a volcanic source from below. It certainly is not to be argued that the expansive nature of the resulting gas from the decomposition or distillation of orcanic remains, will show 1000 or 1500 lbs. pressure, as it sometimes^does m a certain rock, while in another rock, or in the same rock nearer the surface, the prea^iue resulting from a similar uxpansion due lo an organic decomposition or distillation will only be a few pounds. Neither is it to be argued seriously that the weight of the superincumbent rocks is the cause of the high pressure of natural 10 NATURAL OAS IS ORTABIO. gaa in ite rwerToir and of the increaae of that preanire in depth; lor the gas i» in the pores of firm cohesive rockii, which no more weigh on it than the walls of a cavern would on the water in that cavern. Neither is the theory of hydrostatae or artesian water pressure advanced and strongly advocated by Professor I. C. White, of West Virginia, and by th' ,ite Professor Orton, of Ohio, in their interesting papers and reports on natural gas and petroleum, able to explain how organic made gas came to iw rock pressure; for the simple reason that the oil and ras rocks of North America are not permeable or pervious i-ocks, though they are porous iu places, as e\ eryone who has made a study of these rocks will admit. But if, for the sake of argument, we admit that they are pervious rocks, then this hydrostatic theory is at once condemned again, absolutely, by the well-known fact, so often strongly illus- ti«ted by Professor Orton himself, that the rock pressure of all gas fields constantly d.minishes as the gas is taken out and used from the field, and the similar fact that an oil field furnishes flowing wells only for a short time when first discovered. Indeed an artesian water pressure communicated through a pervious rock, from the outcrops of it would of course furnish a constant hydrostatic head, and, consequently, the last cubic foot of gas from a gas field would come out of it with the same pressure as the first cubic foot, and flowing oil wells, impelled by this constant force, would continue to flow and would not have to be pumped. Especially af<, if it is admitted, as Professor Orton did (Bulletin of the Oeol. Society of America, Vol. I, pp. 91, 92 and 93, Mareh 1st, 1890; also Oeol. of Ohio, Vol. I Third Organization, pp. 102), that the norosity is so perfect in the gas rock, Detween the outcrops of it and the gas field, that the water pressure sufiers absolutely no loss by friction ; then surely, with such a free communication, the imparted pressure to the gas or to the oil, by this water head, should bo absolutely constant. Instead of that the rock pressure of the gas in the North Findlay field is now only a few pounds at many points instead of 450 as at first, and thousands of flowing oil wells in north-western Ohio have had to be pumped for years ; and this has been the case in every field. If it is held that the porosity through which the communi- catiou of the gas field with the outcrop of the rock is maintained is so f-mall and defective that only the help of long geological time has allowed the water from the outcrops to slowly [jenetrate and to finally give to the gas its high rock pressure, while, on the other hand, now that the gas is being used so rapidly from the field, it is impossible for the long and tortuous water column to react promptly enough to prevent the well-known, rapid and gi-eat recorded diminuation of the gas pressure; then, to those presenting this argument it is only necessary to answer that this great want of porosity would of necessity wear off the pressure, and therefore. MATUKAI. QAS IN OMViHla J7 th»t in Riich a cue the rock preiuure of the natural gas would be very small, ai it is with natural ffu, lounil in iiholea (no-called -haio Kas) where a good example is at hand to show how the ininutenexH <>t the pores of the Hlialexand the want of porosity has destroyeil the shS""/ "Xll ""'' P""*"" "*' '•'* 8" pefmeiting through these To show by a direct example that the artesian water pressure theory m inadmissible, we will consider the original rock pressure of the Medina lower white "sand," in the Welland County Held, which at No. 1 well was 325 lbs.; there, the gas was found in that sandstone at 218 below tide, and as this sandstone outcrops (some Bflcen milea north, at Queenstown and Lewiston, below Niagara L i^M r' '° ^'"'** "^ **' *■««' *• T- the hydrostatic head would be H18 feet. Therefore, such a column of salt water, weighing 476 .•■ ^l ?3"»™ '""h <■"■■ e^efy 'oot in height, would exert a pressure ot 294 lbs. (that is, supposing a perfectly free and easy communi- cation and no loss of pussure) as against ri2.j lbs., the actual rock ''J^TMSf? „■ , "' "^eno* consider the minuteness of the pores ot that White Medina sandstone and the necessary loss by friction which water entering the outcrops of it at Queenstown would suffer in Its long travel to No. 1 well, we can readily see that water entering the outcrops there never would get to No. 1 well mid therefore, that not a single pound of that supposed water head would be available m the gas field to impart pressure to the gas. We see, then, that it is impossible to explain, through an oroanic origin of the gas, its rock pressure, and especially the increase in depth of that pressure ; while the volcanic theory, on the contrary accounts for these facts at once. We now propose to show that throvgh the volcanic theory aU the other conditions of the oil and gas fields are most readily explained, firstly:— We will recall the well-known geological fact that the volcanic action is, and has been during all geological ages, shifting and intermittent along the fiactui-ed zones of the earth crust, that is to say, that while a volcanic activity mamfests itself intermittently in a certain region during a certain geological age, in subsequent age» it dies out and becomes entirely quiescent in that particular region to break out anew in other portions of the earth ; and this explains why we find that natural gas and oil, though volcanic products, arc also stored products, and why their rock pressure and quantity gi-adually decrease as we take these products out of heir deposit. The vol- canic action which brought them there was active, as it always is only for a time, and is now dead and unable to refill the reservoirs • just as it IS in most mining reeions of the earth, where a similar volcanic activity once was filling with quartz and other veinstones more or less mineralized, fissures, veins and lodes now long ago solidifaed. Secondly:— Though many new oil and gas fields and 18 NATUBAL 0A8 IN OMI new dUtricU renmn yet to be discovered, still enough U known to- a«V of the dirtribution of theee products in oertMn regions »."•><>» how loclized »nd accidenUl their deposita »re. For instance, in the State of Ohio, where so many wells have been drilled all over the State, it is only from a very limited area in the north-western part of the State that 200 million barrels of oil and enormous quantittea of uas have been produced in the last twelve years, yet in many other couoUes of the State we have the same fossiliferous »nd Porous strata, presenting also numerous anticlinal and other folds; but they nevertheless have been proven to be barren ol hydrocarbon producU. SimiUrly the oil region of Pennsylvania is altogether confined to a belt in the western part of the State from Greene County to McKean County and all the central i>art and north east- en- part of the State, aUo underlaid with porous and sedimentary »t«ta,are barren of hydrocarbon; and. the disturb-id condition and the high inclination of the strata cannot l>e advanced to explain it, as other oil and gas regions produce from much more disturbed an.l inclined strata, as for instance, C'aliforaia. The same localiation can be pointed to in Ontario and New York State, where the oil and gas fields cover an exriedingly small percentage of the poious and fossiliferous areas, though there U no doubt that luither dis- coveries will somewhat increase this small perceiitage in both Ontario and New York State ; but where this localization is most striking, is in the famous oil fields of the volcanip peninsula ot Apcheron, near Baku, in Russia, where^ from a «»»' "«*^ not over eight square miles, a production of oil of over 700,000,000 barrels has now been obtained. Wo could give a much fuller illus- tration of this local distribution of the oil and gas deposits m small fields along the fissured and fractured zones of the crust of the earth, in connec jion with the big orogenic movemento of that crust; but we will have to leave this to a further occasion. Wn have, however, r. ferred to this point here to show how this local and accidental distribution is unlike what would be expected trom deposits of crg.\nic origin, which, like the coal beds, would naturally spread out uninterrupted over wide regions. On the other hand, a volcanic product is u piiori found localized along the lines ot volcanic activity, and there in laige quantities, while the neighbor- ing localities or districts not subjected to this volcanic action are uaiTen. . , , , , Thirdly:— In aU the oil and gas fields, either above or below, or in the producing sands themselves, a bitter, strong, salt water very often sulphurous, is found. Sulphur is also found in some ot the oils, as in the Ontario and Lima oils, and often in the natural gas under the form of hydrogen sulphide. In the Welland County field of Ontario the upper ferent oil and gas fields. Surely this is a much stronger analogy to compare to the products of the oil and gas fields than the fact often advanced that niaitih gas is produced in the swamps and marshy grounds of to-day by the decay of vegetation. If that be taken as analogous, then where is the coal ' other carbonized residue in the Devonian and Silurian gas and oil rocks of North America, lor to follow this supposed analogy, the decaying vegetation of the swamps must continue to decompose into peat or lignite, and finally into coal ? If it is claimed that the pro- cess of decomposition or destructive distillation has been so complete as to leave no residue, then how can there be si Ji large undisturbed ■oal fields associated with the upper gas and oil rocks of Pennsyl- vania, West Virginia and South Eastern Ohio? 20 NATURAL OAS IN ONTARIO. TIlia association, of coui-dc, would on that supposition be im- possible, and all these coal iields would also be distilled into liquid and gaseous bitumens. Therefore, from every point of view, it can cei'tainly he said that the organic theory of origin does not account for the facts, phenomena imd conditions of our oil and gas fields ; and, if this theory is held by so many, it appears to us that it is simply because they consider it as an axiom that everything consti- tuted with carbon must be an organism or result from an ovganism, forgetting not only that they should not use "axioms" in geology, but also tliat to exist and to subsist an organism must first derive carbon from the mineral world, where it must therefore be in large quantities, under many forms, and the hydrocarbons of the oil and gas fields are only a few of these mineral forms of carbon brought into their present deposits, as most minerals have been under the influence Of the volcanic agency, which has left so many marks on the constitution of so many parts of this globe, from the oldest geological age to this day. TOBONTO, February, 1900. EUGENE COSTE, M.E.