( B E R K E L EY\ LIBRARY :RSITY OF V. CALIFORNIA"^ EARTH SCIENCES LIBRARY AGRIODEFT. . FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Geological Survey of Ohio, BY EDWARD ORTON, STATE GEOLOGIST. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE. COLUMBUS, O.: THE WESTBOTE CO., ST.A.TK PBINTBBS. 1890. EARTH SCIENCEa LIBRARY OFFICERS OF THE SURVEY. EDWARD ORTON, - - State Geologist. STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, O. , Residence : 100 Twentieth St. PROF. N. W. LORD, Chemist. STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, O. Residence: .Corner Highland St. and Fourth Ave. I PROF. S. W. ROBINSON, Special Assistant in Measurement of Gas Wells and Pipe Lines. STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, O. Residence : 1353 Highland St. PREFACE. This first annual report of the Geological Survey of Ohio under its new organiza- tion has, to some eztent, fallen short of the purpose with which it was begun. It was intended that the report should furnish a review of the various mineral interests of the State, brought down to the date of publication. Under this plan, which is deferred rather than abandoned, the new facts pertaining to our coal resources and their practical development, to our quarries, to our clay deposits and the manufactures based on them, to our limes, cements, marls and plaster beds as well as to petroleum and gas would all find place in the annual report of the survey. The interest at present pertaining to the last subject named in the list given above has, however, been so deep and wide-spread and its economic importance has proved so large that the logic of events has rendered it necessary to devote this entire report to Natural Gas and Oil. .It has thus become a monograph upon this subject, and its entire 300 pages are occupied with facts and dis- cussions growing out of the marvellous discovery of Findlay gas and Lima oil in a Lower Silurian limestone six years ago. The natural gas interests of the State, in particular, have demanded and received in this report a measure of attention that is out of proportion to their intrinsic value. These interests are in marked contrast with the oil interests of the new fields in this respect, viz., that while the latter are almost exclusively in the hands of those whose knowledge has been derived from a varied and costly experience in the business, the former have been in many instances turned over to persons who have never seen a gas field aside from the particular one of which they are called upon to take charge. It is not surprising, under such circumstances, that crude and erroneous views in regard to the nature of the gas supply should find place among these companies and municipal boards, or that a wasteful and extravagant "policy in the use of the gas should be established or allowed by them. To convince such officials that gas is nol being generated in the un- derlying rocks as fast as their wells are able to withdraw it, that it is strictly stored power, and that every foot taken from the reservoir leaves the amount remaining there so much the less, has been a difficult, and in some respects a thankless task. Nature has, however, become the teacher of all these communities that have broken into her storehouses of force, and falling pressure and supply -pipes half filled, have come even more speedily than was expected to convince all who are able to learn that high pressure gas fields are always exhausted by use, and that in fact they begin to die the moment they begin to live. For the most efficient service of all the interests involved, it has been seen from the first that some simple means for determining the amount of gas consumed in the various uses to which it is applied is essential. A system of measuring the volumes of gas wells was published for the first time in Volume VI of the survey reports. This system has been universally adopted in the gas fields of the country, and is recognized as authoritative, alike in business transactions and in courts of law. It is a great pleasure to add that the present report contains a supplementary system devised by the same author and equally easy of application, by which the amount of gas flowing through a VI PREFACE. pipe of any size and under any pressure can b.e determined by a simple and inexpensive gauge, with absolute accuracy. The value of these two contributions of Professor Robin- son to the natural gas interests of the country can not well be overstated. The pipe line gauge is sure to find an equally important field in its applications to producer gas or other varieties of fuel gas. It is an honorable distinction of the Ohio Geological Survey that it furnishes to practical science the only known methods of %olving the two impor- tant problems already named. There are no gas meters made that are able to take account of the gas required by large works, or that is passing through main pipe lines; but to the new gauge, such measurements are as easy as the determination of the amount used by a cook stove or a grate. The largest meters that are in market are so expensive that this fact alone for- bids their adoption for any thing like general use, but the new gauge takes away all excuse from gas companies or municipal gas boards for disposing of the precious fuel that has come into their hands, with the ignorance and reckless extravagance that have hitherto prevailed. They can at least know what they are doing. It must be added that several of the companies and boards of trustees having the largest amounts of gas at their disposal have already availed themselves of the new system. The new gas rates of Findlay for manufacturers are based on measurements made by the Eobinson gauge, and which were executed in pajt by the officers of the Geological Survey. With this volume, the almost exclusive privilege which oil and gas have maintained in the publications of the survey for the last four years will terminate. In the next annual report, reviews of the coal fields, the stone quarries, the clay deposits and clay manufactures of the State will be made special features. Chapters on these subjects, indeed, are promised for the present volume in the introduction, page 8, but though a good deal of material has been gathered under these heads, both time and space are wanting for their proper presentation. The same line of remark will apply to the chap- ter promised on the Adams county fault, a careful study and survey of which have been already carried on. Acknowledgments are due to so many persons throughout the State for assistance in gathering the data of the present volume, that it is almost invidious to select the names of any for special mention. Many of those indeed that have contributed informa- tion of the greatest value would prefer to be left unnamed. It is from the representatives of the leading gas companies and oil companies, that the most important facts relating to the several fields have been obtained. These companies can at least be credited with a kindly interest in science. Among those from whom the largest amount of informa- tion has been derived, may be named The City Gas Works of Findlay (municipal), E. B. Phillip, Sup't ; The Lima Natural Gas Co., A. C. Eeichelderfer, Sup't; The North- western Ohio Natural Gas Co., The. Upper Sandusky Gas Trustees, (municipal), Dr. A. Billhardt, The Central Ohio Natural Gas Co., J. O. Johnston, Sup't; The Ohio Oil Co., The Shawnee Oil Co., The Geyser Oil Co., The Paragon Refining Co., The Eagle Refin- ing Co., and the Bradner Refining Co., E. A. Edwards, Pres't. To this list the follow- ing names may be added viz : C. S. Wade, Esq., of Findlay, for special facts pertaining o Henry township ; J. R. Ware, Esq., of Findlay, for special facts pertaining to the Stuartsville field, and John Raudabaugh, Esq., of Celina, for results of measurements of gas used in glass furnaces, made by the Robinson gauge. TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION , CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE. 1 Geological Scale and Geological Structure of Ohio 9 54 Origin and Accumulation of Petroleum and Natural Gas... 55 104 The Trenton Limestone as a Source of Oil and Gas 105 226 The Clinton Limestone as a Source of Oil and Gas 227 247 Remaining Sources of Oil and Gas in Ohio 248 258 The Utilization of Natural Gas in Ohio 259280 The Measurement of Natural Gas, by S. W. Robinson 281305 The Wood County Oil Field 306311 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. PLATE I. Geological Scale of Ohio '... faces page 9 PLATE II. Sections showing structure of Trenton Lirmsto.ie " " 105 PLATE III. Sections showing rise of salt water in Findiay gas rock.... " " 121 PLATE IV. Illustrations of the Pitot Tube Gauge " " 281 MAPS IN POCKET. Map of Hancock, Wood and other counties Scale, 2 ms. = 1 inch. Map of Allen, Auglaize and Mercer counties Scale, 2 ms. = 1 inch. Map of the Trenton Limestone, Oil and Gas Fields in Ohio and Indiana. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF OHIO. ANNUAL RBPORT, 189O. 2 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. survey of the State was duly established. An appropriation of twelve thousand dollars was made for the survey and Dr. W. W. Mather, of New York, was placed at the head of it, with the title of Principal Geologist. Six assistants, comprising some of the best known of the scientists of the State, were appointed to work under his direction. The period of financial distress which broke upon the country in 1837 proved disastrous to the newly organized survey. All possible re- trenchment in public expenditures was demanded on every side, and the appropriation required for the prosecution of the survey was conse- quently withheld by the next succeeding legislature, and the work of the survey was thus abruptly terminated at the end of the second season. Other causes contributed in some degree to this result, a change in the political composition of the legislature being a factor. Two annual reports remain to us from the first survey, the first one, covering the field work of 1837, sent to the legislature by Governor Joseph Vance, January 17, 1838, and the second one, covering the field work of 1838, sent to the legislature by Governor Wilson Shannon, December 16, 1838. These reports are respectively entitled, the First and Second An- nual Reports " on the Geological Survey of the State of Ohio, by W. W. Mather, Principal Geologist, and the several assistants. Columbus, 1838." These reports added much to our knowledge of the geology of Ohio, and the results attained by the first survey have been incorporated in all subsequent work. The volumes named above have never been reprinted, and although editions of five thousand copies were issued by the State, copies are now rare and when found in the book markets, they command a ready sale and a relatively large price. SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. The untimely suspension of the investigation of the mineral wealth of the State, which had been so well begun, was widely regretted by in- telligent citizens and many unavailing attempts were made in subsequent sessions of the legislature to resuscitate the survey. The messages of the governors in particular, during the next thirty years, contain numerous urgent recommendations of the policy of continuing or renewing the geological examination of the State. Among those who invoked the favorable attention of the legislature to this subject may be especially named : Gov. Corwin, in 1841 ; Gov. Bartley, in 1844; Gov. Chase, in 1857 ; Gov. Dennison, in I860; Gov. Cox, in 1868, and Gov. Hayes, in 1868. The survey was finally renewed under Gov. Hayes in 1869. An elaborate report on the desirability of resuming it on the part of the State, was made by Hon. Alfred E. Lee, then representing Delaware county in the lower House. The report was accompanied by a bill, also drawn up by INTRODUCTION. Mr. Lee, providing for the second geological survey of the State, and this bill became a law on April 3, 1869. J. S. Newberry was appointed Chief Geologist, and E. B. Andrews, Edward Orton and J. H. Klippart, were appointed assistants. Several changes were effected in the organization of the survey during its progress. Its duration was limited in the bill providing for it to three years, but the time of the corps was afterwards extended two years, and in fact the publications growing out of the work begun by it were continued to 1888. The last two volumes, viz., Volumes Five and Six, and the preliminary report that intervenes between them are the work of the present State Geologist, who was appointed to the specific task of preparing Volume V for publication in accordance with suitable legislation, by Governor Foster, in 1882, and to the preparation of Volume VI, by Governor Hoadly, in 1885. It is unnecessary to review in this connection the character of the work accomplished by the Second Geological Survey. Its publications are numerous and they have been widely distributed throughout the State, and, indeed, throughout the scientific world. They have been unmistake- ably serviceable in the remarkable development of the mineral wealth of the State that has gone forward within the last twenty years, and, in fact, they are inseparably connected with this development. The investment of many millions of foreign capital in our mines and railways has been largely determined by the impartial and judicial testimony of our State reports. The publications of the Second Survey, with a single exception, viz , the Geological Atlas, have been printed by the State. They are as follows : Name. Date. No. pages. No. copies. Geologist in charge. 1 Report of Progress 1869 176 14 500 2 1870 568 14,500 3 u 1871 3 300 HIO SHAL 3oo 2 600 HAMILTON SHALE DEVONIAN LIMESTONES 26-76 100 CLEVELAND SHALE IOB ERIE SHALE IOA HURON SHALE 200 KOO 850 50 150 200 35 '.'.'.' .' rzn r r hSOO < (0 z E 3 _l CO oc hi O LOWER HELDERBERG LIMESTONE 60-600 NIAGARA SERIES T~T r~r '60 HILLSBORO SANDSTONE 60 OUELPH LIMESTONE 6B NIAGARA LIMESTONE I , I , I .1' I 'I 300 800 CLINTON SERIES! BA NIAGARA SHALE. DAYTON LIME MEDINA SHALES HUDSON RIVER SERIES 6OO IO5Q/ UTICA SHALES o 3oo TRENTON LIMESTONE 600 300 CHAPTER I. GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF OHIO. In order to render intelligible the statements that are to follow, a brief account will here be given of the geological series of the State, and also of its geological structure. A somewhat elementary character will be given to this review, in order that it may meet as fully as possible the new demands for geological information that come from every section of the State. A few fundamental facts pertaining to the subject will be stated in the way of an introduction to this review. 1. 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, there are no rocks that have assumed their present form and condition from a molten state or that subsequent to their original formation 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 con- tain bowlders in large amount that were derived from the igneous and metamorphic rocks 1hat are found around the shores of Lakes Superior arid 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 reach the limit of these stratified deposits and come to the great foundations of the continent which constitute the surface rocks in parts of Canada, New England and the West. The granite of Plymouth Rock underlies the continent. 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 formed in water, and none of them have been modified or masked by the action of high temperatures. They remain in substantially the same condition in which they were formed. IO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 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 count- less 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 wide spread sheets, the lowermost of which are co- extensive with the limits of the State. As we aecend in the scale, the strata constantly occupy smaller areas, but the last series of deposits, 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 sections, so that their true order can generally be determined with certainty and ease. 5. For the accumulation and growth of this great series of 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 unlimited 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 agen- cies of erosion. The time that has passed since man has been in the world has been computed by some geologists as less than half of one per cent, of the entire time occupied by geological history. I. THE GEOLOGICAL SCALE OF OHIO. The geological scale of Ohio comprises strata of Lower Silurian, Upper Silurian, Devonian, Sub-carboniferous and Carboniferous age, and also a series of glacial deposits. The principal divisions are shown in the following table. The thickness that is assigned to each of the elements is not necessarily the average thickness of the various exposures. In some cases, the general measure is given ; in others, it is counted better GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. I I to indicate the thickness of some of the more characteristic exposures. In the text, the limits of each formation will be more definitely given : 18. Glacial drift to 550 feet. 17. Upper Barren Coal Measures 16. Upper Productive Coal Measures 15. Lower Barren Coal Measures 14. Lower Productive Coal Measures 250 j % v 13. Conglomerate Group 250 ' 12. Sub- carboniferous limestone, Maxville, Newtonville, etc. 25 " } ^ f lie Logan-Group, 0-350 1 500 " o . I HdCuyahogaSha]e,150-450. | 500M 11. Waverly Group -j lie Berea Shale, 20- 50 J- to 500 " lib Berea Grit, 3 to 160 | 80(Xj | -- [ lla Bedford Shale, 50-150... J J o> f lOc Cleveland Shale.. ") 10. Ohio Shale \ lOb Erie Shale [ 250 to 3,000 feet 300 " ] q (.lOa Huron Shale I | .5 9. Hamilton Shale (Olentangy Shale?) 25 " 8. Devonian Limestone, Upper Helderberg or Corniferous, | including West Jefferson sandstone. 75 " J P 7. Lower Helderberg limestone or Waterlime, including Sylvania sandstone, 50 to 600 feet 500 " ' 6d Hillsboro' sandstone 30 " 6c Guelph or Cedarville limestone, . 50-200 150 " Niagara Group -j gb Niagara ii mes tone 50 " , ~ | 6a Niagara Shale, including Dayton limestone, 5 to 100 100 " 5. Clinton Group, in outcrop, 20 to 75 feet ; under cover, 75 to 150 50 ' 4. Medina Shale, in outcrop, 25' ; under cover, 50 to 150 75 ' 3. Hudson Eiver Group, 300' to 750 X 750 " "1 *. a 2. Utica Shale, not seen in outcrop, but 300 feet thick under I I 'C cover in Northern Ohio , 300 ' ' o^a 1. Trenton limestone, seen only in Pt. Pleasant quarries 50 " Jg The geological order above described is further represented in the accompanying diagram, figure I. A brief review of each of these divisions will next be made. 1. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. The Trenton limestone is one of the most important of the older for- mations of the continent. It is the most widespread limestone of the general scale. It extends from New England to the Rocky Mountains, and from the islands north of Hudson's Bay to the southern extremity of the Allegheny Mountains in Alabama and Georgia. Throughout this vast region, it is found exposed in innumerable outcrops. It gives rise, as it a *K3ays, to limestone soils, which are sometimes of remarkable fertility, as ror example, those of the famous Blue Graes region of central Kentucky, 12 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. which are derived from it. It is worked for building stone in hundreds of quarries, and it is also burned into lime and broken into road metal on a large scale throughout the regions where it occurs. But widespread as are its exposures in outcrop, it has a still wider extension under cover. It is known to make the floor of entire States in which it does not reach the surface at a single point. It takes its name from a picturesque ami well known locality in Tren- ton township, Oneida county, New York. The West Canada Creek makes a rapid descent in this township, from the Adirondack uplands to the Mohawk Valley, falling three hundred feet in two miles by a series of cascades. These cascades have long been known as the Trenton Falls., and the limestone which forms them was appropriately named, by the New York geologists, the Trenton limestone. The formation as seen at the original locality is found to be a dark blue, almost black, limestone, lying in quite massive and even beds, which are sometimes separated by layers of black shale. But it is to be noted that a few feet of its uppermost beds consist of crinoidal limestone of great purity of composition. Both limestone and shale contain excellently preserved fossils of Lower Silurian age. By means of these fossils, and also by its stratigraphical order, the limestone is followed with perfect distinctness from Trenton Falls to ever^ point of the compass. It is changed to some extent in color and compo- sition, as it is traced in different directions, but there is seldom a question possible as to its identity. The Trenton limestone forms several of the largest islands, in whole or in part, in the northern portion of Lake Huron, as the Manitoulin Islands and Drummond's Island. It dips from this region to the southward, but it is found rising again in outcrop in the valley of the Kentucky River, and probably also at a single point within the limits of Ohio, viz., in the quarries of Point Pleasant, which are located in the valley of the Ohio, in Clermont county, twenty miles above Cin- cinnati. The Point Pleasant beds have a thickness of about fifty feet. The character of the rock found in the Point Pleasant quarries is briefly described in Vol. I, Geology of Ohio, page 370. The limestone is a light, or greyish-blue limestone, crystalline in structure, massive in ita bedding and fos3iliferous. The solid masses are interrupted to some ex- tent by thinner beds of shale. It breaks under the drill into thin flakes, rather than into cubical grains. The analysis of a single sample of Point Pleasant limestone is as follows : Carbonate of lime 79.30 Carbonate of magnesia 91 Silicious matter , 12.00 Alumina and iron 7.00 GEOLOGI :AL SCALE AND STRUCTURE 13 This composition represents the limestone fairly well in its Kentucky outcrops also. It is seen to be impure and of a character that, by its de- cay, would leave a large residue to the forming soil. In some parts'of northwestern Ohio and adjacent regions, the uppermost beds of the Tren- ton limestone for five feet to one hundred feet are found to be magnesian limestone of a good degree of purity. Its composition as seen in' the gas rock and oil rock of the new fields is given below : 1. Trenton limestone at Findley, 1,096 feet below surface. 2. " Lima, " 1,247 " " " 3. " Bowling Green, 1,091 " " " 4. " Kokomo, Ind., 950 " " " (1.) (2.) (3.) (4.) Carbonate of lime, 53.50 52.66 51.78 52.80 Carbonate of magnesia, 43.05 37.53 36.80 37.00 Alumina, iron and silicious residue, 2.95 4.15 4.89 The beds immediately underlying this magneaian portion of the stra- tum are found by analysis to have a composition similar to that noted in the outcrops of the rock in the Ohio Valley. They generally contain 75 to 85 per cent, of carbonate of lime, and ten to twenty per cent, of im- purities. The thickness of the Trenton limestone proper, as it appears in outcrop in the rocks of central Kentucky, is given by the geologists of that State as 175 feet. It is immediately underlaid, in this region, by two other limestones, viz., the Birdseye and the Chazy, which have a thickness respectively of 130 and 300 feet ; the entire set of unbroken limestones, including the Trenton, being thus about six hundred feet in thickness. It is altogether probable that these three limestones constitute the solid mass which the drill has so often penetrated in Ohio within the last few years to a depth of five or six hundred feet. The formations which the geologist separates when they rise to the surface, are counted by the driller as a single limestone, for which he needs no other name than Trenton. The several divisions, however, are found to vary somewhat in grain, in color and in chemical composition. Below this great limestone, a sandstone more or less calcareous is reported in many of our deep wells. This is probably on the horizon of the St. Peter's sandstone of the north- west and very likely deserves to be called by this name. It is forty to sixty feet thick as generally found, and is charged with the rank salt and sulphur water, which is known as Blue Lick water, though water of the same grade is sometimes found in or between the limestones above named. Still deeper, impure magneeian limestones again occur for the next one thousand feet, as shown in the deep wells of Springfield and Dayton. These beds must be referred to the Calciferous peiiod of the general scale. To the question so often asked, " How thick is the Trenton 14 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. limestone ? " it is thus seen that it is not easy to give a positive answer on account of the ambiguity of the term as it is popularly used. The interest of the question centers in those portions of the limestone that yield gas and oil, and in regard to this it can be stated, that no portions of the stratum more than a hundred feet below the top have thus far proved productive. 2. THE UTICA SHALE The immediate cover of the Trenton limestone, from which it de- rives its name, is a well known stratum of black shale, three hundred to seven hundred feet in thickness, which, from its many outcrops in the vicinity of Utica, New York, received from the New York geologists the name of Utica shale. This stratum has proved to be very persistent and wide- spread. It is sparingly fossiliferous, but several of the forms that it contains are characteristic, that is, they have thus far been found in no other stratum. The first of the deep wells that was drilled in 1884 in Findlay revealed at a depth of 800 feet, a stratum of black shale containing the most characteristic fossil of the Utica shale, and it was thus positively identi- fied with the last named formation. This bed of shale has the normal thickness of the Utica shale in New York, viz., 300 feet, and with the other elements involved, it extended and continued the New York series into northern Ohio in a most unexpected, and at the same time, in a most satisfactory way. The Utica shale, thus discovered and defined, is a constant element in the deep wells of north-western Ohio. Its upper boundary is not always distinct, as the Hudson River shale that overlies it sometimes graduates into it in color and appearance; but as a rule, the driller, without any geological prepossessions whatever, will divide the well section in his record so as to show about 300 feet of black shale at the bottom of the column or immediately overlying the Trenton limestone. This stratum holds its own as far as the southern central counties. In the wells of Springfield, Urbana and Piqua, it is found in undiminished thickness, but apparently somewhat more calareous in composition. From these points southward, the black shale thins rapidly. It is ap- parently replaced by dark colored limestone bands known as pepper and salt rock by the driller. No great falling off in black shale appears in the Dayton well, but at Middletown the driller reported a sharp boundary between fgray shale 310 feet thick, and black shale 100 feet thick the latter directly overlying the Trenton limestone. At Hamil- ton the same driller reported the boundary still distinct, but the black shale was here reduced to 37 feet, according to his record. GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 15 From these and similar facts it appears that the Utica shale is much reduced and altered as it approaches the Ohio Valley, and is finally lost by overlap of the Hudson River shale in this portion of the State and to the southward. 3. THE HUDSON RIVER GROUP. The very important and interesting series now to be. described appears in all the previous reports of the Geological Survey under another name, viz., the Cincinnati group. It is unnecessary to review here the long discussions pertaining to the age of this series, or the grounds on which the changes in the name by which it is known have been based. The return to the older name here proposed, is necessitated by the discoveries recently made in our underground geology, to which reference has already been made. So long as the Utica shale was held to be included in the section at Cincinnati but without distinct or recognizable boundary, so long could the maintainance of the name Cincinnati group be justified. It was held to cover two divisions of geological history which were practically inseparable, and therefore the name of either would be inapplicable to the compound series ; but since it has been demonstrated or at least made highly probable, that the Utica shale forms either no part, or but a very small part, of the section at or near Cincinnati, there is no longer any reason for continuing the name Cincinnati group. It becomes a synonym and must be rejected as unnecessary and indefensible The Hudson River group in southwestern Ohio consists of alternat- ing beds of limestone and shale, the latter of which is commonly known as blue clay. The proportion of lime and shale vary greatly in different parts of the series. The largest percentage of shale occurs in the 250 feet of the series that begin 50 or 75 feet above low water at Cincinnati. The entire thickness of the series in south-western Ohio is about 750 feet. The division of the series into lower and upper is natural and service- able. The lower is known as the Cincinnati division and the upper as the Lebanon division. The Cincinnati division has a thickness of 425 to 450 feet, and the Lebanon division a thickness of about 300 feet. The divisions are separated on both paleontological and stratigraphical grounds. Both divisions abound in exquisitely preserved fossils of Lower Silurian time ; and in fact the hills of Cincinnati and its vicinity have become classical grounds to the geologist on this account. As the series takes cover to the northward and eastward it retains for a time the same characteristics already described, but as it is followed further it rapidly becomes less calcareous. The limestone courses are 1 6 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. thinner and fewer, and inasmuch as they resist or delay the drill but little in its descent, the entire series comes to be counted shale. One other fact needs to be mentioned. The shale at certain points, and especially on the western border, often grows dark in color so that the boundary between this and the underlying Utica division is somewhat obscure. The entire interval in such circumstances may pass with the driller as black shale. The shales of this series are thinnest in this part of the State,.the entire measure running as low as 300 feet, or even less. To the eastward the greenish blue element already named, is always found and the shales also thicken considerably in this direction. The Hudson River shales are fossiliferous, as the fragments of corals and shells brought up in the drillings abundantly testify. A few of the fossils are identifiable. The Hudson River group occupies in its outcrop about 4,000 square miles in southwestern Ohio, but it is doubtless coextensive with the limits of the State. The shales of the series contain in outcrop large quantities of phosphates and alkalies, and the soils to which they give rise are proverbial for their fertility. The presence of these fine-grained and impervious shales in so many separate beds forbids the descent of water through the formation. In its outcrop the formation has no water supply, and, as found by the driller, it is generally dry. It gives rise to frequent u blowers " or short- lived accumulations of high-pressure gas when struck by the drill, as has been found in the experience in many towns of western Ohio within the last two years, and it also yields considerable amounts of low-pres- sure shale gas, which has proved fairly durable. 4. THE MEDINA SHALE. A stratum of non-fossiliferous shale, often red or yellow in color and having a thickness of ten to forty feet, directly overlies the uppermost beds of the Hudson River group at many points of outcrops in southwestern Ohio. The occurrence of 50 to 150 feet of red shale in most of the recent deep borings in northwestern Ohio at exactly the place in the general column where the Medina should be, and so much nearer to the known outcrops of the formation that its continuity with these was hardly to be questioned, this fact, taken in connection with the occurrence of like beds of red shale holding the same relative position in all the deep borings in the central portions of the State, gives warrant for counting the Medina epoch duly represented in the outcropping strata of southwestern Ohio. It occurs here only in included sections, its thin and easily eroded beds never being found as surface formations for extensive areas. There is good reason to believe that the Medina formation is coextensive with the GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 17 limits of the State, except in the regions from which it has already been removed. The red color of the shales is quite persistent, but there are many well-records in which this color does not appear. This is especially true in Allen county, and to the westward and northwestward from Lima. Blue shales alternate with the red in the eastern sections. In the western they replace the latter. Thin beds of sandstone are found in the Medina, especially to the westward. Small pebbles occur in some of these beds. 5. THE CLINTON LIMESTONE. The Clinton group of New York appears as a surface formation in Ohio only in the area already named. It forms a fringe or margin of the Cincinnati group through eight or ten counties, rising above the eoft and easily eroded rocks of this series, and of the previously named Medina shale in a conspicuous terrace. It is every-where a well-characterized limestone stratum. It is highly crystalline in structure, and is susceptible of a good polish. In some localities it is known as a marble. A consider- able part of it, and especially the upper beds, are almost wholly made up of crinoidal fragments. In thickness, it ranges between ten and fifty feet. Its prevailing colors are white, pink, red, yellow, gray and blue. At a few points it is replaced by the hematite ore that is elsewhere so characteristic of the formation. The ore is generally too lean and uncertain to possess economic value, but it was once worked for a short time and in a very small way in a furnace near Wilmington, Clinton county. The limestone contains a notable quantity of indigenous petroleum throughout most of its outcrop, but the only valuable accumulations of oil or gas that have been found in it thus far have been brought to our knowl- edge since 1885. It is the source of the low-pressure gas of Fremont (upper vein), and also of the gas at Lancaster, Newark and Hadley Junction. In a few instances it has proved itself an oil rock. A well near Trombley, Wood county, drilled to this horizon, yielded twenty to thirty barrels of oil for a number of months, the oil being referable .to this formation. Under heavy cover and particularly in the new gas fields named above, beds of sharp sandstone are interstratified with the limestones. The main reservoir of the Lancaster gas is in fact a sandstone. In outcrop the stratum is quite porous as a rule, and the water that falls upon its uncovered portions sinks rapidly through them to the under- lying shale (Medina), by which it is turned out in a well-marked line of springs. 2 G. 1 8 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. In composition'^the limestone, in its outcrops in southern Ohio, is fairly'constant. All of its most characteristic portions contain eighty to eighty-five per cent, of carbonate of lime, and ten to fifteen per cent, of carbonate of magnesia. At a few points, however, it is found as the purest carbonate of lime in the State. Under cover, to the northward, it is much more magnesian in composition, being indistinguishable from the Niagara. It also becomes shaly and changeable in character at many points. As it becomes shaly the thickness is much increased. It is every-where uneven in its bedding, being in striking contrast in this respect to the formations below it and also above it. The beds are all lenticular in shape, and they extend but a few feet in any direction. They seldom rise to one foot in thickness. The uneven bedding, the crystalline and crinoidal characters, the high colors, and particularly the red bands and the chemical composition, combine to make the Clinton limestone an exceedingly well-marked stra- tum throughout southwestern Ohio, and from the hints yielded by the drill in northwestern Ohio, it seems to have something of the same char- acter there, especially so far as color is concerned. It becomes more shaly andjj[much thicker to the eastward. It carries bands of red shale almost universally throughout the northern central and central parts of the State. The limestone is directly followed at a number of points in the terri- tory occupied by it, by a stratum of very fine-grained, bluish-white clay, containing many fossils distributed through it, the fossils being crystalline and apparently pure carbonate of lime. Some of them are characteristic of the formation elsewhere, while others are known only in this bed. A similar bed of white clay is reported at the same horizon, by the drillers in northern Ohio, and the drillings show the presence of fossils of the same characters. This clay seam can be designated the Clinton clay, but it merges in and is indistinguishable from the lowest element in the next group. The Clinton, in its outcrops, is entirely confined to southern Ohio. 6. THE NIAGARA GROUP. The Clinton limestone is followed in ascending order by the Niagara group, a series of shales and limestones that has considerable thickness in its outcrops, and that occupies about 3,000 square miles of territory in Ohio as a surface rock. The lowest member is the Niagara shale, a mass of light- colored clays, with many thin calcareous bands. It has a thickness of 100 feet in Adams county, but it is reduced rapidly as it is followed north- ward, and in Clarke and Montgomery counties it is not more than ten or fifteen feet thick. Still further to the northward, as appears from the records of recent drillings, the shale sometimes disappears entirely, but in GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 19 the great majority of wells, especially in Hancock and Wood counties, it is a constant element, ranging from five to thirty feet. Wells are often cased in this shale, but a risk is always taken in doing so, as water is liable to be found in the underlying Clintou rocks. In Montgomery, Miami and Greene counties the shale contains in places a very valuable building stone, which is widely known as the Day- ton stone. It is a highly-crystalline, compact and strong stone, lying in even beds of various thickness, and is in every way adapted to the highest architectural uses. It carries about ninety-two per cent, of carbonate of lime. The Niagara shale is, as a rule, quite poor in fossils. It is appar- ently destitute of them in many of its exposures. The limestone that succeeds the shale is an even-bedded, blue or drab, magnesian stone, well adapted' at many points to quarrying purposes. It contains many characteristic fossils of Niagara age. It is known in Ohio by various local names, -derived from the points where it is worked. There are several subdivisions of it that are unequally developed in differ- ent portions of the State. Like the shale below it, this member is thickest in southern Ohio. It can not be recognized as a distinct element in the northern part of the State either in outcrop or in drillings. It may be that its horizon is not reached in any natural exposures of the formation in this part of the State. The uppermost division of the formation is the Guelph limestone, which differs very noticeably in several points from the Niagara lime- stone proper. It obtains its name from a locality in Canada, where it was first studied and described. It has a maximum thickness in southern Ohio of 200 feet. It differs from the underlying limestone in structure, composition and fossils. It is either massive or very thin- bedded, rarely furnishing a building stone. It is porous to an unusual extent. It is generally very light in color, and is every-where in the State nearly a typical dolomite in composition. It yields lime of great excel- lence for the mason's use. It is exceedingly rich in fossils, containing a large number that are thoroughly characteristic of the formation. Unlike the previously named divisions of the Niagara, the Guelph limestone is as well developed in northern as in southern Ohio in all respects. Not more than forty feet are found in its outcrops here, but the drill has shown several times this amount of Niagara limestone without giving us all of the data needed for referring the beds traversed to their proper subdivisions. What facts there are seem to point to the Guelph as the main element in this underground development of the formation in this portion of the State. GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The Hillsboro sandstone is the last element in the Niagara group. It is found in but few localities, and its reference to the Niagara series in its entirety is not beyond question. In Highland county it has a thick- ness of thirty feet in several sections. It is composed of very pure, even-grained, sharp silicious sand. Other deposits of precisely the same character are found in the two next higher limestones of the scale at several points in the State. One of these deposits is interstratified with the Waterlime in Scioto, Wood and Lucas counties, and others are im- bedded in the Corniferous limestone in central Ohio. The latter have been referred to the Oriskany period, but, strictly speaking, this reference is inadmissible, inasmuch as normal Corniferous limestone with its most characteristic fossils is found below as well as above the sandstone. The subject will be further considered on a succeeding page. The Hillsboro sandstone is sometimes built up above all the beds of the upper Niagara limestone, but again, it is, at times, interstratified with the beds of the Guelph division. In the latter case it is itself fossilifer- ous, but when found alone it seems destitute of all traces of life. These sandstones in the limestone formations suggest in their peculiarities a common origin. They all consist of unworn and nearly perfect crystals, in considerable part. Their occurrence in outcrops becomes a matter of interest to us, now that we are called to interpret the varied records of deep drillings throughout the State. What would otherwise be altogether anomalous sections may be rendered intelligible by the known presence of such elements in our series. The Salina Group. This group has appeared in all the recent sections of the rocks of the State, but in the light of facts recently obtained, it can no longer be counted a distinct or recognizable element in the Ohio scale. Newberry gave it the place it has lately held in the column, and assigned to it a thickness of forty feet. To it he referred the plaster beds of the Ottawa county peninsula and certain impure limestones of Put-in-Bay Island. He also recorded the disappearance of what he counted the same stratum a few miles south of the lake shore in a shaly bed that rests immediately upon the Niagara limestone. These identifications are, however, incompatible. The limestones of Put-in-Bay and the plaster beds of the peninsula do not directly overlie the Niagara limestone, but on the contrary are separated from it by several hundred feet of the brown, even-bedded, sparingly fossiliferous magnesian limestone that we call the Lower Helderberg limestone or Waterlime. In other words, the plaster beds of Gypsum are buried in GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 21 the middle, or above the middle, of this great sheet of limestones, instead of being planted at its base. The reference of this formation to the Salina was rendered probable at the time from the fact that all the gyp- siferous formations of New York were then counted of Salina age. It has since been proved by Prof. S. G. Williams, of Ithaca, that gypsum is also contained in the Waterlime of central New York, and it is in like situations that the Ohio quarries are found. The Salina period is an important one in the New York scale, a thousand feet of deposits being credited to it, and there are probably some deposits in Ohio that are contemporaneous with it; but it can not be the gypsum bearing beds of Ottawa county, unless it is made to take in at least one-half of the entire formation that we now call Waterlime. This gypsiferous series proves to be of considerable thickness and to be wide-spread. It is struck in scores of the wells that are being drilled in northern and central Ohio. In Sandusky, gypsum was found in quite pure and thick beds, through several hundred feet of the strata through which the drill passed, and in the deep well at Cleveland both rock-salt and gypsum (anhydrite) were found in considerable deposits. Salt- beds of considerable thickness have also been recently discovered at a depth of 2,650 feet at Wadsworth, Medina county. Small deposits of gyp- sum, also, have been found in the deep wells of Columbus, Newark, and many other towns. Salt and gypsum are geological accidents, and can not well be used in determining the geological order of regions that are separated by intervals of hundreds of miles. The reference of distinct portions of our geological scale to the Salina period must accordingly be discarded for the present, at least. 7. THE LOWER HELDEEBERG OR WATERLIME FORMATION. The interval that exists between the Niagara and the Devonian limestones is occupied in Ohio by a very important formation. This for- mation was first separated from the previously undivided mass of the Cliff limestone by Newberry in 1869. He found and identified its fossils, and showed by means of them, and by the position of the stratum in our series, that the rocks of this interval are the equivalents, in part at least, of the Waterlime of the New York scale. The Waterlime of New York is classed by most geologists with the Lower Helderberg series ; but Hall counts it the upper member of the Salina Group, a reference that seems likely to be ultimately considered the true and proper one. The name is unhappily chosen. Strictly applicable to only an insig- nificant fraction of the beds of this series in New York, we are still obliged to apply the designation Waterlime, with its misleading suggestions, to all deposits of the same age throughout the country. 22 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Though the last to be recognized of our several limestone formations, the Waterlime occupies a larger area in Ohio than any other, its principal developments being found in the drift covered plains of the northwestern quarter of the State. It has also a much greater thickness than any other limestone, its full measure being at least 600 feet, or twice the greatest thickness of the Niagara limestone. It can be described as, in the main, a strong, compact, magnesian limestone, poor in fossils, and often altogether destitute of them for con- siderable areas, microscopic forms being excepted. It is, for the most part, drab or brown in color ; but occasionally it becomes very light-colored, and again it is often dark blue. It is brecciated throughout much of its extent, the beds seeming to have been broken into sometimes small and sometimes large angular fragments after their hardening, and then to have been recemented without further disturbance. In addition to this, it contains an immense amount of true conglomerate, the pebbles, many of which are bowlders rather than pebbles, being all derived from the rocks of the same general age. The surface of many successive layers at numerous points are covered with suncracks, thus furnishing proof of having been formed in shallow water near the edge of the sea. In such localities, the beds are usually quite thin, and are also impure in composi- tion. In these respects, it suggests the conditions of the Onondaga Salt Group of New York. These features are very characteristic ones. A rude concretional structure is also quite distinctive of the beds of this age. The Waterlime in Ohio every-where contains petroleum in small quantity which is shown by the odor of freshly broken surfaces. No noteworthy accumulations of oil or gas have thus far been found within it. At some points, it carries considerable asphalt, distributed through the rock in shot-like grains, or in sheets and films. Thin streaks of carbonaceous matter traversing the rock parallel to its bed planes are one of the con- stant marks of the stratum in Ohio. It is generally thin and even in its bedding ; but in some localities it contains massive beds. At some points, it is remarkable for its evenness, and great value is given to the formation on this account, when combined with other qualities already named. It is frequently a nearly pure dolomite in composition, and accordingly, it yields magnesian lime of high quality and is extensively burned in the State,' rivaling in this respect the Guelph beds of the Niagara. In southern Ohio, it has a maximum thickness of 100 feet, and here it reaches its highest quality in all respects; but in central and northern Ohio it attains the great thickness previously reported. There also, it contains several distinct types of limestone rock. A considerable part of it^is very tough, strong, dark blue limestone, while other portions are white, porous and soft. GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 2 3 The line of junction between the Niagara and Waterlime is some- times obscure, and no means are at hand for drawing sharp lines of division. All that has been thus far said applies mainly to the formation as found in outcrop ; but well-reamings brought up from considerable depths at various points in the State render it certain that the principal features now given mark the formation below ground, as well as above. There is no reason to doubt that the Waterlime has as wide a distribution in the subterranean geology of Ohio as the formations already described. It is to be found in every part of the State in which it is due. This formation has come into new prominence through the revela- tions of the drill within the last few years. In regard to no other element in the series have the geologists been so wide of the mark as in regard to the Lower Helderberg formation. What belongs to it was taken from it and given to a stratum that has no existence in the State ; and it was credited with but one -sixth of its real thickness. Its outcrops ought to have shown that it has a greater thickness than was assigned to it, since it covers several scores of miles in an east and west line. It demands a large amount of additional investigation to put it in order ; and to secure such a mastery of it as to be able to determine from an inspection of any outcrop what place it holds in the general series will be a valuable service to the geology of the State. Winchell established approximately one horizon in it which promises to be of some service, namely, the horizon of the Tymochtee Slate, a bed of dark blue shaly limestone that is found in outcrop in the Tymochtee Creek near Carey, W^yandot county. It is below the middle of the formation and probably within 100 to 200 feet of the Niagara limestone. A few other facts can be added that bear upon the same point. The excessively hard and strong dark blue impure lime- stone of Allen, Hardin and Hancock counties and some adjoining regions, which often has its surface conspicuously marked with suncracks, belongs to the middle portion of the formation, but probably rather above than below the middle. A single other element remains to be inserted in the Lower Helderberg column, the interpolation of which at this point will occasion surprise to all who are conversant with the older statements in regard to our geological scale. The Sylvania Sandstone. A remarkable deposit, or rather series of deposits, of extremely pure glass sand has long been known in Lucas and Wood counties of northern Ohio and in adjacent territory. The two best known deposits are those of Sylvania and Montclova, which respectively lie ten miles northwest 24 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. and west of Toledo. Other similar deposits are known in Wood c and it is probable that the sand deposits of Monroe county, Michigan, belong to the same horizon. The sandstone, twenty or more feet in thickness, seen in the Sylva nia quarries, rests upon beds of normal Waterlime, which are exposed a few rods to the eastward. The rocks are sharply inclined here, descend- ing in an almost due west direction, at the rate of one foot in seven. The rocks overlying the sandstone, as seen in extensive quarries, are unmistakable Waterlime, containing all the characteristic marks of the formation, its chemical composition, its bedding, its bituminous charac- ter and its fossils. Further on, the conglomerate phase of the Waterlime appears. There is nothing in the whole formation more characteristic than this. At the end of the series, 80 rods to the westward from the sandstone quarry, a few feet of undoubted Corntferous limestone occur, rich in the fossils of the formation and true to its chemical composition. All this is absolutely decisive as to the age of the sandstone. It lies nearly, or quite two hundred feet below the Corniferous limestone. The Monclova or Holland sandstone occupies the same position in the series as the Sylvania sandstone does. The Grand Rapids sandstone, of Wood county, probably belongs to the same horizon. It is probably the Sylvania sandstone that appears in the thirty-foot bed of sharp and pure sand that has been reached in the deep wells of Cleveland within the last four yeare, at a depth of about two thousand feet from the sur- face and under the cover of three hundred feet of limestone. At least the sandstone found at this level is of very much the same character as that found in the Sylvania quarries. That there is another sandstone of character similar to that of the Sylvania sand, included in the Corniferous limestone, is beyond question. This formation will be treated in the next section. The Sylvania sand can henceforth be counted an Upper Silurian sandstone and a part of the Lower Helderberg series. Whether the sandstone beds of Champaign and Logan counties are all to be referred to one horizon remains to be determined by further study. 8. THE UPPER HELDERBERG LIMESTONE All of the limestone of Devonian age in Ohio has been referred by Newberry to the Corniferous limestone, and this term is in general use at the present time. It may be questioned whether it is wise to break in upon this use, but inasmuch as several geologists hold that the Devonian limestone of Ohio covers more than the simple epoch known as the Cor- niferous in New York, a more comprehensive term, viz,, the Upper GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 25 Helderberg limestone, is on the whole counted preferable. A twofold division of the series is possible and proper in Ohio, the division being based on lithology and fossils. The divisions are known as Lower and Upper Corniferous, or as Columbus and Delaware limestones. For the upper division, the term Sandusky limestone is sometimes used. In central Ohio, at a few points, there is a marked contrast between the lower and the upper beds, the latter being thin and shaly, non-fossiliferous in the main, and interrupted with frequent courses of black flint. This phase is seen at the State quarries near Columbus. Generally, however, both divisions are calcareous and fossiliferous, and the differences consist in changes of color and composition, in thickness of the several beds and in the distribution, and also in the kinds of fossils present. The maximum thickness of the Upper Helderberg series in Ohio, so far as present records show, is 75 to 100 feet. Included in the lower beds of the limestone there are, at many points, deposits of sharp sand of the same character as the deposits already described under the names of Hillsborough sandstone and Syl- vania sandstone These beds may bs known as the West Jefferson sandstone, one of the localities at which the sand is found being near this village. This Upper Helderberg sandstone is not Oriskany in age. It nowhere underlies the Corniferous limestone, but is always underlain by it and interstratified w.ith it, at least where its place in the series can be determined. It attains a thickness of but few feet at most, and is nowhere worked for economic uses except upon the smallest scale. In chemical composition, the Corniferous limestone is easily distin- guished from all that underlie it. It is much less magnesian than the other members of the Cliff limestone of Ohio, already described. It is never a true dolomite in composition, as the Waterlime and Niagara limestones almost always are. The carbonate of magnesia ranges in it from two to thirty-five per cent., reaching the latter figure in but few cases. The composition of the typical, heavy-bedded lower Corniferous may be taken as seventy- per cent, carbonate of lime and twenty-five per cent, carbonate of magnesia. The higher beds of the Columbus stone regularly yield ninety one to ninety-five per cent, carbonate of lime. The upper division, or the Delaware stone, is much less pure in central Ohio than the lower, a notable percentage of iron and alumina, as well as silica, generally being contained in it. It is, therefore, seldom or never burned into lime. In northern Ohio, on the contrary, it is often found a fairly pure limestone. Both divisions, but particularly the lower one, carry occasional courses of chert, that detract from the value of the beds in which they occur. The chert is found in nodules which are easily detached from 26 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. the limestone for the most part. In some conditions in which the chert occurs, fossils are found in it in a remarkably good state of preservation. The percentage of chert and flint in any section would be considerable, and this fact must be borne in mind in the analysis of drillings from bore holes that penetrate the formation. The beds of the lower division are prevailingly light-colored, ranging from whitish to gray, drab and brown. The upper beds are oftener blue than otherwise. The beds of the lower division are, as a rule, much thicker than those of the upper. The lowermost courses are sometimes quite massive. In the State quarries they are not less than five feet thick. In the upper division the separate courses seldom reach a thickness of one foot. Throughout the entire formation Devonian fossils abound in great variety and in great numbers. They are often found in an excellent state of preservation. The oldest vertebrate remains of the Ohio rocks are found in the Corniferous limestone, a fact which gives special in- terest to it. The uppermost bed of the lower or Columbus division is, in many places, a genuine " bone bed " ; the teeth and plates and spines of ancient fishes, largely of the nearly extinct family of ganoids, consti- tuting a considerable portion of the substance of the rock. Corals of various types are also especially abundant and interesting in this lime- stone. In fact, the formation is the most prolific in life of any in the Ohio scale. At a few points in central Ohio, the upper division has been found in a shaly state and carrying characteristic fossils of the Marcellus slate. This fact was first noticed in its true significance by Whitfield. 9. THE HAMILTON OR OLENTANGY SHALE. Under this head Newberry has recognized fifteen to twenty feet of highly fossiliferous blue shale, intervening between the Corniferous lime- stone and the black shale. He finds it at only one or two points in northern Ohio, and notably at Prout's Station, seven miles south of San- dusky. The fossils found here are all of Hamilton age, unmingled with those of the underlying Corniferous limestone. On stratigraphical grounds it seems probable that the Olentangy shale of Professor N. H. Winchell is the extension and equivalent of New- berry's Hamilton shale. The Olentangy shale is a bed of blue calcareous shale, twenty or thirty feet in thickness, holding exactly the position of the northern Ohio stratum, but it is almost destitute of fossils. It is found in a few sections of three or four counties in central Ohio. In the well- driller's record it would seem likely to be classed with the limestone below rather than with the black shale above, and, as already suggested, GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 2/ the incorporation of this element might easily serve to expand the measurement of the limestone by a small amount. With this formation the great limestones of Ohio were completed. While they are built into the foundations of almost the entire State, they constitute the surface rocks only in its western half. The Upper Silurian and Devonian limestones of our scale, which were formerly known a the Cliff limestone, have an aggregate thickness of 750 to 1,150 feet where found under cover, and though differences exist among them by which, as has already been shown, they can be divided into four or more main divisions, there is still no reason to believe that any marked change occurred in the character of the seas during the protracted periods in which they were growing. The life which these seas contained was slowly changing from age to age, so that we can recognize three or more distinct faunas or assemblages of animal life in them. Differences are also indicated in the several strata as to the depth of the water in which they were formed, and as to the conditions under which the sedimentary matter that enters into them was supplied, but no marked physical break occurs in the long history. No part of the entire series indicates more genial conditions of growth than those which the Devonian lime- stone, the latest in order of them all, shows. It is the purest limestone of Ohio. Foot after foot of the formation consists almost exclusively of the beautifully preserved fragments of the life of these ancient seas. In particular the corals and crinoids that make a large element in many of its beds could only have grown in shallow but clear water of tropical warmth. The change from the calcareous beds of this age to the next succeed- ing formation is very abrupt and well marked, as much so, indeed, as any change in the Ohio scale. 10. THE OHIO SHALE. (Cleveland Shale, Erie Shale, Huron Shale, of Newberry.) A stratum of shale, several hundred feet in thickness, mainly black or dark brown in color, containing, especially in its lower portions, a great number of large and remarkably symmetrical calcareous and fer- ruginous concretions, and stretching entirely across the State from the Ohio Valley to the shores of Lake Erie, with an outcrop ranging in breadth between ten and twenty miles, has been one of the most con- spicuous and well-known features of Ohio geology since this subject first began to be studied. It separates the great limestone series already described, which constitutes the floor of all of western Ohio, from the Berea grit, which is the first sandstone reached in ascending the geological 28 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. column of the State, and which, in like manner, may be counted the floor of all of eastern Ohio. By the geologists of the first survey it was designated as the Shale Stratum or the Black Slate. It will be treated in this report under the designation Ohio shale. Newberry divided it into three divisions, which he named respectively the Cleveland, the Erie and the Huron shale. He based the separation of the hitherto undivided mass in part upon the colors of the proposed divisions, the Cleveland and the Huron being counted black shales, and the Erie greenish-blue. The names Huron and Erie were unfortunately chosen, for both are liable to be confounded with current names of other geological formations. The name Huron was adopted from Winchell, but a very different range was assigned to it from that which its author originally claimed. Winchell's " Huron group " extends, in his own words, from the top of the Devonian limestones, " to the conglomerate above the gritstones of Huron county." It is thus seen to include Newberry's Huron, Erie, Cleveland and Bedford shales, together with the Berea grit and the Cuyahoga shale. It would have served the interests of geological classification much better to have replaced the term altogether than to have thus restricted it to a small fraction of what it was originally made to cover. The name is also likely to be confused with the Huronian slates, an older and well-established division of the Canadian system of rocks. The Erie shale, in like manner, is sure to be confounded with the Erie clay, the older name of an important deposit of the Glacial epoch. Both shale and clay have their typical exposures in the same localities, and their outcrops are not dissimilar in appearance. It is not therefore surprising that the names should be confused in popular use. But aside from these grounds of objection to the particular names employed, the classification referred to is itself inconsistent with our present knowledge of the shale formation. We have records by the score of wells drilled through the shale at many points in northern Ohio during the last few years, and we have also the results of continued study of the formation in its outcrops. The facts gathered from both of these lines of investigation, not only fail to confirm the three-fold division above announced, but they demonstrate the impossibility of applying to the shale formation any system of classification based upon the color of the shales, and as for the fossils they are so sparingly distributed that they can not well be used to mark horizons in the formation, aside from a few that wUl be mentioned later. 10a. The Lower Beds Huron Shale. The Huron shale was defined by Newberry as a homogeneous mass of black, bituminous shale, 200 to 350 feet in thickness, directly overlying GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND STRUCTURE. 29 the limestone series already described. The objection to this definition is that there is no such mass of shale in Ohio. The mass on which the main statements pertaining to the Huron rests, and which furnishes nearly all of the examples instanced, is the shale stratum of central and southern Ohio, but this is not merely the bottom portion of the shale series of northern Ohio. It comprises all of the elements of the northern section. In other words, the so-called Huron shale of central Ohio is the Cleveland, Erie, Huron shale of northern Ohio. It is not a homogeneous mass rature of 212 F., especially where alkaline carbonates are present. The rocks of the Ohio shale that are now under coneidera- PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 75 tion contain alkaline chlorides, and these would, without doubt, take part in the reactions by which silica would be set free at the temperature named. But siliceous sheets are nowhere found in the deep drilling by which oil and gas are reached The rock cuttings brought up even from depths of four thousand and five thousand feet below the surface show the strata to be entirely unaltered. This fact renders it certain that temperatures of even two hundred degrees have never been reached even at the great depths named. Neither has there been in any case pointed out the carbonaceous resi- due in the shales, which the process of destructive distillation would render strictly necessary. There is carbonaceous matter in the shales in considerable amount as has been already shown, but it exists in the form of hydrocarbons and not as coke. Dr. Newberry occasionally speaks of the process which he evokes as if it were one with the ordinary chemical decomposition of decay. He says in a passage already quoted, " like all other organic matter, this i& constantly undergoing spontaneous distillation except where hermetically sealed deep under rock and water." This description applies to decay rather than to distillation in the proper sense of the word. Dr. Newberry holds that the vegetable matter of the shale derived from floating marine vegetation, presumably of the algal type, is the proper source of the production of the great fields. This theory, as above stated, is one of the most lucid and attractive of all that have been pro- posed, and while exceptions must be taken to some portions of it, it is certain that it contains many elements of great value. Peckham'8 Theory. In the United States Census Reports for 1880, Prof- S. F. Peckham, Special Agent for the collection of th^ statistics of petroleum, has given an extended and very valuable review f the various theories which have been proposed as to the origin and m U of accumulation of this substance. The bibliographical list which h p has compiled of the literature of the subject is probably the best that has ever been made in the English language. He states the leading theories of the origin of bitumens anda dopts Newberry's theory in the main with hearty approval, counting destructive distillation as the process involved in it. He recognizes r however, the two elements of weakness in it that have been already pointed out, and aims to supply the deficiency by showing first, how an adequate source of heat can be supplied and, secondly, by explain- ing why no carbonaceous residue is met within the rocks that are open to- our inspection. The heat necessary to the destructive distillation of organic matter, he considers to have resulted from the elevation of the Appalachian J? 6 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. border of the continent. The metamorphic action due to heat, which is so well seen in the strata that compose the eastern and central slopes of the Alleghenies, he says, could not have died out abruptly, and must have extended as far to the westward as the oil fields lie.. But the heat action to which petroleum is due, he holds must have taken place at immense depths, and the scene of the transformation must accordingly be sought far below the unaltered rocks in which petroleum is now found. We are also led to infer that if we could descend deep enough into the strata, we should find the carbonaceous residue required by all forms of the distillation theory. To these claims, we are obliged to answer, as under the previous head, that the rocks, for at least a mile in depth, show no signs of the meta- morphic action required by the theory ; they have not suffered the mineral transformation that would have been inevitable if they had passed through this history. In his anxiety to get deep enough to account for the heat and also to escape the necessity of showing a carbon residue, Professor Peckham drops far below the available sources of oil and gas even accord- ing to his own views. He accepts unreservedly Newberry's reference of these substances to the great shale system, but he is obliged to go to great depths below it in order to find heat enough to work the necessary trans- formation. He says of the Pennsylvania oils, " they are undoubtedly distillates and of vegetable origin," but the last stratum that we know that contains vegetable materials on the large scale is the great Ohio shale (Huron shale of Newberry). There are still other considerations that oppose this view. The close-grained shales that make the cover of the several oil and gas reservoirs prevent the passage of petroleum from lower depths to higher ones ; otherwise, they would not themselves be reservoirs. And again, the petroleum of different horizons differs considerably in character and composition. Such differences would not be explicable if all of them had a common source. This theory is thus found on examination to show the same weak- ness as the theory first examined, and in fact it gives no advantage what- ever over it. It is defective on the geological side, since it fails to make account of the established facts with reference to geological order and certain geological conditions of petroleum productions. Professor Peckham's theory is seen to differ from Newberry's as to the date at which petroleum was formed. Newberry considers the pro- cess a constant one; Peckham refers it to the date of the Apalachian revolution, or shortly subsequent thereto. Hunt's Theory. The two theories already given furnish the best presentation of the general view which refers petroleum and gas to the PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS, 77 destructive distillation of organic matter originally buried in the rocks of the earth's crust. The process is considered a secondary transformation of this organic matter. It was buried as organic matter; it is raised again in a new form, and the change is referred to the process already named and denned, viz., destructive distillation. There is, however, one other view of great promise and importance in this connection which refers oil and gas to the primary and not to the secondary decomposition of organic matter. It holds that the remains of living bodies, animal and vegetable, pass, under appropriate circum- stances, directly into petroleum. In other words, the bituminous decom- position must be added to the ordinary decay of organic bodies. The facts to which this theory appeals are comparatively few, and, as at pres- ent stated, they lack the fall authority necessary to establish so novel a doctrine, but some of them seem to carry great weight. If careful investigation shall hereafter show them to be thoroughly founded, the problem of petroleum production can be considered solved. The most elaborate and effective exposition of this theory is that of Dr. T. Sterry Hunt. He urges, with great force and vigor, the view that petroleum mainly originates in and is derived from limestones. When found in limestones he counts the oil indigenous, but when found elsewhere, as in sandstones and conglomerates, he counts it adventitious, and he then refers it to underlying limestones. In regard to this latter point, how- ever, he makes concessions, as will be seen on a later page. The following extracts from various articles that he has published contain a clear statement of his views upon this subject. In speaking of the oil fields of Canada, he says : "The facts observed in this locality appear to show that the petroleum, or the sub- stance which has given rise to it, was deposited in the bed in which it is now found at the formation of the rock. We may suppose in these oil-bearing beds an accumulation of organic matters, whose decomposition in the midst of a marine calcareous deposit, has resulted in their complete transformation into petroleum, which has found a lodg- ment in the cavities of the shells and corals immediately near. Its absence from the unfilled cells of corals in the adjacent and interstratified beds, forbids the idea of the introduction of the oil into these strata either by distillation or by infiltration. The same observations apply to the Trenton limestone, and if it shall be hereafter shown that the source of petroleum (as distinguished from asphalt) in other regions is to be found in marine fossiliferous limestones, a step will have been made toward a knowl- edge of the chemical conditions necessary to its formation." 1 Again, he says : " In opposition to the generally received view, which supposes the oil to originate from a slow destructive distillation of the black pyroschists, belonging to the middle and upper Devonian, I have maintained that it exists, ready formed, in the limestones below." 2 This statement seems to recognize the possibility of the transfer of petroleum from its sources to reservoirs in associated strata. 78 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Again, after describing the occurrence of petroleum in certain fossils and certain layers of the Corniferous limestone, he says : 3 " The facts observed in this locality appear to show that the petroleum, or the sub- stance that has given rise to it, was deposited in the bed in which it is now found at the formation of the rock." Finally, in referring to bitumen-bearing dolomite in the Niagara series near Chicago, he says : " With such sources ready formed in the earth's crust, it seems to me, to say the least, unphilosophical to search elsewhere for the origin of petroleum, and to suppose it to be derived by some unexplained process from rocks which are destitute of the substance." (Essays, p. 174.) In this passage, also, a possible transfer of petroleum seems to be recognized. These statements leave nothing to be desired as to clearness and explicitness. The author's view could not well be put into more concise terms than he has used. It must be added, however, that he has some- times described the oil of Pennsylvania and Ohio as indigenous to the Devonian and Carboniferous sandstones which contain it. (Essays, p. 171.) There is something to be said in favor of this theory, that petroleum originates in the primary decomposition of organic substances, but the author's restriction of oil production to limestones must, of course, be dis- carded, and just why the process should be made to terminate with the formation of the rock is not apparent. We know that vegetable substan- ces may remain unchanged when buried in the earth for long periods, and so long as they are present in unchanged state, they would seem to be available for the process here appealed to. Hunt denies that the so'called bituminous shales, " except in rare instances, contain any petroleum or other form of bitumen." (Essays, 169.) This statement is wide of the mark so far as the Ohio shale is con- cerned. Either gas or oil, or both, are unmistakably present throughout our great shale series, and especially in the black bands that traverse it. Whether taken from the natural outcrops or from the deepest drillings, every fresh sample of the black shale attests by the characteristic odor the presence of these substances. In drilling through the shale along the shore of Lake Erie, in particular, the gas is generally found in some harder portion of the light-colored bands that compose so large a portion of the series, each harder cap or " shell " giving a new though short-lived supply, but the real source of the gas becomes apparent if the drill descends a little PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 79 lower than the gas-producing " shell," when a darker band is almost inva- riably reported. Quantitative examinations show that the shale often carries at least one-fifth of one per cent, of petroleum, existing in it as petroleum and not merely there potentially. Newberry states the facts bearing upon this supply in the passage already quoted, and Shaler sets the same line of facts in strong light in his discussion of the Ohio shale in Kentucky. (Vol. Ill, page 109, Geol- ogy of Kentucky.) But the limestone series of Ohio is in very much the same case as the shale, so far as oil and gas are concerned. These substances are present in nearly all the limestone formations of the State, and apparently indig- enous to them. % The Corniferous limestone, the first to be reached below the Ohio shale, in some of its fields and in certain courses, contains representatives of this class of substances. The Marblehead limestone, of Ottawa county, gives out a bituminous odor when struck with a hammer, and other portions of this limestone stratum are even more bituminous than the Marblehead stone. The Waterlime or Lower Helderberg formation that comes next below, is decidedly bituminous. It contains grains of asphalt in cavities in the rock and carbonaceous films that have had the same origin, distrib- uted through its substance. When struck with a hammer, it gives out the fetid odor of " limestone oil." Bowlders of it in the drift can be dis- tinguished by this means from all associated limestones, except a part of the Corniferous. In Auglaize county, this stone becomes an asphaltic limestone, the bituminous element rising to a notable percentage. In other parts of the State, also, the amount of asphalt is so great that it is counted a decided advantage in the calcination of the stone for quick- lime. The Niagara limestone, as a whole, is less bituminous than the Helder- berg, but there are parts of it, as in portions of Highland county, that contains a considerable amount of these products, mostly in the shape of asphaltic films and grains. Fossil corals are often partially occupied by this asphalt, and petroleum is sometimes found in small amounts. The Clinton limestone is decidedly petroliferous in almost all of its outcrops. It yields oil in small amount at many points where quarries are opened in it, and springs that issue from it carry out small quantities of oil. These facts led, in the oil excitement of 1860, to the drilling of several deep wells along its line of outcrop. By the time the drill was buried in the rock, this source of oil was passed, and the remainder of the descent was relieved by but little encouragement. 8O GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Small deposits of asphalt have been found under convex surfaces of the Dayton limestone, just above the Clinton stratum, the asphalt being obviously derived from an inspissation of the oil of the latter formation. The limestones of the Hudson River (Cincinnati) group always con- tain bituminous matter in their outcrops, but when penetrated by the drill, they have seldom yielded at any point large supplies of oil or gas. Short-lived flows, especially of gas, have been occasionally found in this series, both in northern and central Ohio. The Trenton limestone has been proved by the drill to be a prolific source of oil and gas in a few localities, but aside from this great produc- tion, it almost everywhere carries diffused petroleum in appreciable amount. The limestones and shales of our geological series are thus seen to agree in these respects. Both of them carry petroleum through all of their substance, and the product of each class has its own characteristics. In other words, these supplies appear to be indigenous to both groups. Hunt's theory as to the petroleum in the limestones is that it was formed in them at the time the beds themselves were formed " by a pe- culiar transformation of vegetable matters or in some cases of animal tissues analogous to them in composition." But why shall not this view of the origin of petroleum be extended for what it is worth to other rocks that also contain this substance ? If there is good reason for believing in the contemporaneous origin of oil and limestones, there would seem to be a good reason for holding to a like contemporaneity of petroleum and shale. In referring the origin of petroleum to the primary and not the second- ary decomposition of organic matter, the process is made to be one that ought to be found in present operation in the world. Is this true ? Can it be shown that the formation of petroleum is now going on in nature ? The answers to these questions are not as positive and definite as we should desire ; nevertheless, there are some facts that seem to point to this conclu- sion. It is very desirable that more observations should be made. One of the most important papers on the subject is Mr. G. P. Wall's report on the Trinidad asphalt. A remarkable passage in it bears directly on the question before us. It is as follows, tw r o sentences being italicized : " When in situ, it (the asphalt) is confined to particular strata which were]originally shales containing a certain proportion of vegetable debris. The organic matter has under- gone a special mineralization, producing bituminous in place of ordinary anthraciferous substances. This operation is not attributable to heat, nor to the nature of distillation, but is due to chemical reaction at the ordinary temperature and under the normal conditions of the climate. The proofs that this is the true mode of the generation of the asphalt repose not only on the partial manner in which it is distributed in the strata, but also on numerous specimens of the vegetable matter in process of transformation and with the organic structure more or less obliterated. After the removal by solution of the bituminous material under the micro- scope, a remarkable alteration and corrosion of the vegetable cells becomes apparent, which is not presented in any other form of the mineralization of wood. PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 8 1 Sometimes the emission is in the form of a dense, oily liquid from which the volatile elements gradually evaporate, leaving a solid residue." ( Quart." Journ. Geol. Soc., XVI, 467.) Wall's testimony is confirmed by other authorities. (See Hunt's Essays, 177.) Petroleum, rapidly hardening into asphalt, is also recorded as|occur- ring in some of the small tributaries of the Coaxocoalcas River in Central America. The petroleum seems to arise from the decomposition of vege- table remains with which certain beds of shale are stored. If Wall's statements are to be trusted and they E |bear the marks of intelligent and discriminating observation the facts]are^as",follows : Beds of shale, formed in comparatively recent times beneath the sea, lut now raised above its level, containing in abundance vegetable remains brought down by the Orinoco River, near the mouth- of which Trinidad is sit- uated, are yielding petroleum in large amount, by a direct decomposition f vegetable tissues and the petroleum rapidly passes into asphalt, inasmuch as it is exposed directly to the atmosphere. At how great a depth in the rocks these changes are going on we have no observations to show, but no reason is apparent why these phenomena should be superficial. In subsiding areas, and almost all river deltas are uch, the beds containing vegetable remains may be buried to a consider- able depth before the decomposition can be fully effected, especially if the buried substances consist of the more durable vegetable products. In such a case we might expect the resulting petroleum to remain stored in the shale where it originated. Why the phenomena of oil-production have been generally reported from shales, and not from sandstones, has not been explained. The differ- ence between the two formations in this respect may be, in part, due to the fact that the shale seals up the vegetable matter more perfectly than the sandstone. In the latter ordinary decomposition would seem to have a better chance to go on. From the fact that all of the chief bituminous accumulations of recent age belong to the torrid zone, it seems necessary to conclude that a trop- ical climate, or a climate of at least 80 F. average temperature, is most favorable to a large production of this class of bodies. The main asphalt bodies of commerce are found about the southern and western shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The asphalt of Trinidad which seems to be in constant process of for- mation is derived from shales that belong to the later Tertiaries, and though derived from the most recent of all rocks that precede the present geological age, must still be separated from our time by a considerable 6 a. 82 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. interval. If then the formation of petroleum is made contemporaneous with the rock that contains it, it must be a geological contemporaneity that is meant, in which a thousand years will be counted as a single day. But according to this theory, what is there to hinder the process of petro- leum formation from going forward as long as vegetable matter remains undecomposed in the rocks. Why should it be restricted to the particular time in which the materials of the strata are being deposited ? It would seem, however, that in the vast periods that have elapsed since the Paleozoic era, there would have been time enough and to spare for all of these changes to be accomplished, and that the process would be necessarily arrested, either for want of material or for lack of proper conditions. The essential point in Hunt's theory of the origin of petroleum is, not that it was produced contemporaneously with the rock, nor that it is especially a product of limestones, but that it results from the primary decomposition of organic substances. Discarding these incidental ele- ments of the theory, and applying its central postulate to the explanation of the origin of the petroleum of eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, we can see what some of the steps in the history must have been. The shales which constitute its chief source were accumulated in a tropical sea. The Devonian limestone which immediately preceded them in time bears witness to most genial conditions of climate. Its massive corals required at least as high an annual temperature as is found in any part of the Gulf of Mexico to-day. The sedimentary deposits that were laid down on the floor of this Devonian sea consisted of clay and sand with occasional gravel bars, the sources of which must be sought in the rising Atlantic border or in the Canadian highlands, as is proved by all the deposits thickening and grow- ing coarser in those directions. To the western limit of this sea, along the shores of the emerging Cincinnati axis, only fine clay was borne, and this fine and homogeneous material accumulated very slowly, one foot requiring as much time as ten or twelve feet of the coarser and more varied series to the eastward. In these seas, as we know, there was a vast development of marine vegetation. Some plants of rhizocarpean affinities were especially abund- ant and their resinous spores and spore cases, which constituted by far the most durable portions of the plants, were set free in enormous quanti- ties. Even now, in some parts of the series, these spores constitute a notable percentage of the shale. In structure and composition, they are but little changed from their original condition. Other portions of this and like vegetation may have been carried to the sea-floor in a macerated condition and have there passed through the coaly transformation, result- PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 83 ing in the structureless, carbonaceous matter that constantly characterizes the black shales. This carbonaceous substance can still be made to yield the members of the bitumen series through the agency of destructive dis- tillation, and, doubtless, so also can the spores that remain unaltered in the shales, both leaving a carbon residue thereafter. The shales that wefe slowly accumulating on the floor of this tropical gulf, thus charged with vegetable remains, must have behaved as similar shales do around the border of the present gulf. The vegetable matter was turned into petroleum as it is in Trinidad and the West Indies now. The petroleum would have been absorbed by the particles of clay in con- tact with which it was originated, or if liberated in the water it would there have been laid hold of by like floating particles of clay, to be carried with them in due time to the sea floor, and the work would have gone on until the material was exhausted or the requisite conditions were lost. The resulting stratum of bituminous shale would have been much more highly charged with petroleum than any portion of these shales is at the present time. Over it at last a bed of sandstone is deposited which in turn is roofed in by another bed of fine-grained shale. The pores of the sandstone are occupied by sea-water, but a slow system of exchanges would be established between the rocks by which at last the petroleum would be gathered into its final reservoir. The presence of petroleum in considerable amount in a shale might give it a measure of permeability. Such would appear to be some of the steps in the production of petroleum, if Hunt's view of its origin by the primary decomposition of organic tissue is adopted. The result would correspond fairly well with those of the "spontaneous distillation" theory already discussed. Both would find petroleum distributed through the substance of the shales, and both would expect its constant escape from outcrops of shale or sand- stone. Continuous origination is by no means a necessary conclusion from continuous outflow. The advantage that the present theory has over others is that it seems to find more support in the processes of nature at the present time. We find the bitumen series in actual process of formation in many parts of the world to-day, and as some good observers hold, resulting from the primary decomposition of organic matter under normal conditions. On the other hand, we do not find this series in any cases which are open to observation and subject to measurement, resulting from the secondary decomposition of carbonaceous matter contained in the rocks, unless the comparatively high temperatures of destructive distillation are reached. The several views of the origin of petroleum that seem best to deserve attention have now been stated as fairly as possible. Some liberty has been taken with the last in the way of removing limitations, but no new 84 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. theory has been broached, and no real contribution to our knowledge'of these very interesting questions is claimed. In subjects which tempt speculation as much as those which are now under discussion, it is well to know the opinions that are most entitled to respect, even where grounds of positive knowledge are wanting. How little real knowledge we have of this subject has been made to appear*in this brief review, and it is safe to conclude that until the boundaries of our knowledge are con- siderably extended, every theory in regard to the origin of petroleum should be held as provisional only. The theoretical views that we hold as to the origin of petroleum'will influence our judgment also as to the duration of its supplies. The question is often asked, whether there is any provision in nature by which the supplies that are now drawn upon or exhausted, can be re- newed. It is to be observed that of the several theories passed in review, only the discarded chemical hypotheses hold out any promise of a peren- nial supply. Of the three views from which most will feel obliged to make their choice, two answer the questions raised above emphatically in the negative, and the remaining theory gives in reality no^ more en- couragement. Newberry's theory makes the process of oil formation a continuous one, it is true, but it extends it through such vast cycles of time that 1,000 years or 10,000 years would not constitute'an important factor. In other words, the reservoirs that we are now piercing with the drill, and that are yielding such vast and valuable stores of light and power, would in all probability have yielded about the same supply 1,000 or 10,000 years ago. Practically the stock is now complete, as much so as the contents of coal mines and mineral veins. As a result of our interference jwith natural conditions, small local movements of oil or gas^mayfgo^on in the rocks, but these would be but insignificant exceptions to a general rule that the reservoirs hold all the oil and gas that they will ever hold, and that when once exhausted they will never be replenished. Gas and oil have been considered together in all the preceding dis- cussions, as if the history of one would cover the history of the other also. There are, however, speculations which dissociate them in origin. By some, gas is counted the first and original product, and it is supposed to be converted into petroleum in the sandstone reservoirs by some un- known process of condensation. This question, like those that have preceded it, does not admit of a final and definite answer at the present time, but the chemical probabili- ties do not seem to favor this view. Petroleum is more composite and unstable than gas, and in these respects it seems to stand at less remove rom the organic world than the latter. A large percentage of natural PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 85 gas is light carbureted hydrogen, one of the simplest and most stable pro- ducts of decomposition. Petroleum readily gives rise to marsh gas when subjected to destructive agencies, but we have no known experience in which the higher compound results from synthesis of the lower. It seems, therefore, eafe to consider petroleum first in the order of nature. While, therefore, we can confidently assert that petroleum is derived from organic matter, we are obliged to confess that we do not know the exact steps of the transformation. There is, however, one mode of derivation that seems highly probable. The discussion of this class of theories can be concluded with the following summary : 1. Most geologists hold that petroleum is derived from organic sub- stances that were incorporated with the strata when the latter were formed. There is substantial harmony among the entire class of geolo- gists as to this point. 2. The majority incline to the opinion that vegetable substances have supplied the chief sources, but some count animal remains as also an important source. There are a few authorities upon the subject, chiefly foreign, who consider animal remains the chief, or, perhaps, the sole source of petroleum. 3. Many hold that it is the result of destructive distillation of the organic matter of the rocks. They rely upon such facts as have been already adduced, that certain shales, for example, contain a considerable percentage of hydrocarbonaceous material that is easily transformed by heat into the several products of the bituminous theory. 4. In accounting for the origin of oil and gas by destructive distilla- tion of the shale-; the advocates of the theory seem bound to furnish an adequate source of the heat required, and also to show what has become of the carbon residue that is inseparably connected with the process of destructive distillation. Real difficulties beset this theory in these re- gards. The view that destructive distillation is accomplished at ordinary temperatures would relieve the first difficulty, if a such process could be substantiated, but at present it only stands as an entirely unsupported suggestion. 5. According to one phase of this theory, petroleum is constantly forming in the rocks ; though, of course, as the world is old, the great stocks were formed thousands and millions of years ago. According to a second phase of the theory, the oil of the Allegheny field was formed at the time when the Appalachian mountains were elevated. 6. A small number of geologists hold the view that petroleum results from the primary decomposition of organic matter ; that the produc- 86 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. tion is not a lost art of nature, but is in actual, though perhaps feeble operation at the present time, its chief seats being in tropical or sub- tropical regions. According to this view, the disseminated petroleum that the rocks contain was formed when the rocks themselves were formed. Organic matter which is notoriously unstable reaches in the bituminous series its stage of rest, and we may, therefore, truly speak of Silurian oil, Devonian oil, Tertiary oil and the like, the several stocks really having the age of the beds that hold them. The process of oil formation, accord- ing to this theory, ceased long ago in the older rocks. 7. The facts upon which the last theory must rest are not well enough substantiated to allow as to build upon them with full confidence, but we are justified in looking upon it with great interest us it furnishes on the whole the best explanation of the facts for which we are obliged to account. 6. MODES OF ACCUMULATION. * In the preceding pages, petroleum has been shown to be widely dis- tributed in the rocks of Ohio. The limestones and shales of the series, in particular, every-where contain it. Hunt has made a calculation, showing the amount of petroleum which the oil-bearing dolomite of Chicago holds to the square mile for every foot in thickness of the stratum. If we apply a like calculation to the rocks of the Ohio scale, we shall find the total amount of oil enormously large. We may take, for example, the Waterlime stratum, which is notably and almost univer- sally petroliferous. Estimating its petroleum content at one-tenth of one per cent., and the thickness of the stratum at 500 feet, both of which figures are probably within the limits, we find the petroleum contained in it to be more than 2,500,000 barrels to the square mile. The total pro- duction of the great oil field of Pennsylvania and New York, to January, 1885, is 261,000,000 barrels. It would require only three ordinary town- ships, or a little more than 100 square miles, to duplicate this enormous stock from the Waterlime alone. But if the rate of one tenth of 1 per cent, should be maintained through a descent of 1,500 feet at any point in the State, each square mile would, in that case, yield 7,500,000 barrels, or nearly one-thirtieth of the total product of the entire oil field. These figures pass at once beyond clear comprehension, but they serve to give us some idea of the vast stock of petroleum contained in the earth's crust. If petroleum is generally distributed through a considerable series of rocks in any appreciable percentage, it is easy to see that the aggregate amount must be immense. Even y^nny of 1 per cent, would yield 75,000 barrels to the square mile in a series of rocks 1,500 feet deep, but this amount is PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 87 nearly one- tenth of the greatest actual production per square mile of any of the leading Pennsylvania fields. It is obvious that the total amount of petroleum in the rocks under- lying the surface of Ohio is large beyond computation, but in its diffused and distributed state, it is entirely without value. It must be accumu- lated in rocks that serve as reservoirs before it becomes of economic interest. In respect to the need of concentration it agrees with most other forms of mineral wealth. The conditions of the accumulation of oil and gas have come into clearer view in the late experience of Ohio in the production of these substances than ever before in the entire history of their exploitation. There are several interesting and important points connected with the subject that can now be considered settled. The sources of oil and gas do not need to be further discussed. Their well nigh universal distribu- tion in the unaltered strata of all geological ages has been already pointed out. As has been shown, their origin is to be found in some form of organic matter acted on by some form of chemical force. There remain to be considered the mechanical arrangements and the order of the strata by which concentration and large accumulation are rendered possible. The subjects pertaining to this division will be treated under the follow- ing heads, viz., Reservoir, Cover, Structure, Rock Pressure. a. Reservoir. The rocks of every stratified series can be divided into two general divisions with reference to their porosity, viz., the permeable and the im- permeable strata. We do not find, however, hard and fast boundaries in this particular any more than elsewhere in nature. Some rocks are freely permeable, others are less so and still others resist the passage of water so effectually that we call them impermeable. Sandstones and conglomer- ates, the coarser the grain the better, are types of the porous group. Shales, on the other hand, the finer the grain the better, represent the impervious series, but shales of the slaty order are often fairly permeable. Dolomitic limestones that have originated in fossiliferous strata and, in some in- stances, crinoidal limestones are also found to furnish excellent examples of the first division, while certain other forms of limestone are fairly im- pervious. Shaly sandstones come near the dividing line, though, as a rule, a small percentage of diffused shale in a sandy formation detracts greatly from its porosity, or even renders it altogether impermeable. Practically it comes to this, that sharp and clean and especially coarse sandstones, with conglomerates and dolomitic limestones, when the latter have been derived from originally fossiliferous beds, constitute the main 88 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. reservoir rocks in most series. These porous rocks are never found empty. They generally contain water, since this substance is almost universally diffused through the outermost layers of the globe. If found within four or five hundred feet of the surface, the water is mainly fresh ; but if the porous rocks are struck at a greater depth, they are generally found to con- tain saline, sulphur or brackish water. These porous rocks are also the oil and gas rocks of our series. It hai already been shown that neither cavities nor fissures are required for the storage of these substances ; they take their chances in the water rocks and can go wherever water goes. Not all porous rocks contain accumulations of gas or oil, but the majority of them do at least in small quantity and in portions of their extent. But the large accumulations of these substances are of insignificant amount when compared with the whole area of th stratum in which they are found. It often happens, and in fact it may be said that it generally happeni that there is more than one porous rock traversed by the drill in a deep well. All of them contain water in parts of their extent, as above described, and sometimes all may contain petroleum or gas in the same well. When this occurs, the oils from the different levels often vary noticeably in character. The uppermost porous rock often contains fresh water, while the deeper beds generally hold salt-water of varying composition and strength. The porosity of the reservoir rocks often extends to great distances. When it comes to gas and oil territory, this porosity has been so abund- antly proved and has been found so full of practical importance that im- portant legislation has been based upon it. In productive territory, for example, the laws of several States provide that wells must not be aban- doned when they have proved destitute of oil or gas, until steps have been taken by plugging them to prevent the surface water from flooding the deep-lying rock. Striking proofs of this porosity are also supplied in the practical development of many gas-fields. In the new district of northwestern Ohio, wells separated by intervals of a half or three-quarters of a mile are found to affect each other's flow and pressure to an important degree, and it is also found that areas of several consecutive square miles can some- times be drained of their gas by a single well. The deductions from this observation are of the highest moment in relation to the life of the fields. b. Covtr. It goes without saying that the porous rock which has become the reservoir of water, oil or gas .has done so by virtue of the fact that its con- tents, acquired from some sufficient source, are confined within it by am PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS 89 impervious cover which generally consists of shale. This element is obvi- ously a vital one in all accumulation. It is evident that of the three con- ditions already named, source, reservoir and cover, the source must come first in order of nature, the porous rock or reservoir next and last of all, the cover. But in point of fact, the sources of oil are so wide-spread that they may almost be taken for granted. Petroleum belongs in every rock series that we penetrate ; there are also but few sections of a thousand feet in extent that do not contain one or more water-bearing or porous rocks, and thus it comes about that practically the close-grained cover is the con- dition hardest to find. This is shown in the fact that wherever an imper- vious shale is met with in the descent of the drill, covering a porous rock, we are warranted in expecting the presence of oil or gas under favorable conditions of structure. The accumulations are, of course, mainly small, but their presence testifies to the influence of this element in the oil and gas series. The facts on which this order is based came clearly to view in the first experience in the modern search for petroleum in Western Pennsylvania. Similar facts have been repeated in the discovery of every succeeding field. That these covers do their work thoroughly is seen in the fact that the boundaries of the several substances under discussion are in many cases sharp and well-defined. A descent of a few inches will often unlock a great fountain of water, oil or gas. These substances are wanting alto- gether in the shales until the last inch of this formation has been passed. Almost every important mass of shale in the Ohio series has been proved to be somewhere the cover of accumulated petroleum ; as, for example, the Cuyahoga and Berea shales, covering the Berea grit ; the Ohio shale, covering the Corniferous limestone ; the Niagara shale, covering the Clinton group, and finally the Utica shale, covering the Trenton limestone. Minor deposits of shale also scattered through the Coal Measures are found to have a like effect. c. Structure. A third vital factor in all petroliferous accumulation is found in the structure or arrangement of the porous rock that contains the oil, gas and water. But the porous rock is never affected alone; in most instances the entire series with which it is associated, exclusive of the drift deposits, have been uplifted or flexed by the same movement to which it has been subjected. The facts brought to light in the drilling of the first oil wells of the country, forty years ago, suggested to the geologists, who studied them, the influence of structure. The existence of arches and troughs, or in geological language, of anticlines and synclines, was recognized more or 9O GEOLOGY OF OHIO. less clearly, and an obvious and rational use was made of the facts. It requires no argument to show that if gas and oil are associated in any porous rock that has been bent into an arch, the force of gravitation will necessarily affect a separation of these substances in the order of their speciiic gravities. An anticlinal theory was, therefore, evolved at an early day ; but, beyond the simple statement of it, little progress was made for thirty years. The geological work done in connection with the remarkable petroleum production of Western Pennsylvania, though of great value in many respects, failed to bring out the structural facts of the productive territory, and, indeed, attention was rather diverted from these facts by the suggestion of other elements thought to be concerned in oil accumulation. It was only when the new value began to be placed on natural gas in connection with its utilization on the large scale, which occurred about ten years since, that the prominent influence of structure came distinctly into view. For the most effective statement, and the most successful use of this theory, we are indebted to Professor I. C. White, of Morgantown^ West Virginia. He came to see, with perfect distinctness, that the gas- producing territory of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia was strictly confined to anticlinal lines. If a gas well seemed to occur in a syncline, the presence of the gas was really due to the interruption of the syncline by a low fold at the deepest portion of the basin a fact of structure which is very frequently met throughout the entire Appalachian region. Other limitations and qualifications he soon came to recognize, but th> theory was only strengthened and confirmed by the apparent exceptions to it. For a time Professor White's statements were called in question by other geologists, but in his replies to their criticism he proved himself to have so decided an advantage that interruptions of this sort soon ceased. He commended the theory, moreover, to the practi- cal men engaged in the exploration, by his prompt application of it to prospective territory, approving or condemning localities on this basis f and, in addition to this fact, he located a considerable number of excel- lent gas wells far in advance of previous development by the drill. The oil and gas production of Ohio, and especially the newer phases of this production, have brought the strongest confirmation to the view that structure is vitally connected with all the important supplies of either. The facts brought to light in the development of the Macksburg field proved to be very important in this connection. Under the skillful interpretation of Mr. F. W. Minshall, of Marietta, it was shown that the productive territory of this field consisted of a well defined terrace of the oil rock, bounded by gas on the rise and by salt water on the descent. The oil terrace, which occupies almost a geographical level, was traced by PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 91 the surface rocks and checked by the well records, the event proving that the entire series, from top to bottom of the wells, had been affected equally by the same forces which made a terrace of the gas rock. In other words, the terrace shows through to the surface, so far as the level of any particular stratum is concerned ; but to the eye the effect is lost on account of the excessive action of recent erosion, the present surface being very irregular. These facts were all demonstrated by careful in- strumental measurements after the general structure had been made known. The terrace which was thus found proves to be the result of what may be called a suppressed anticline. The force which, if great enough, would have resulted in a well-marked arch, has proved able only to arrest the previous dip of the strata for a short space. In other words, nature began to build an arch which she was not able to complete. It now seems as if the terrace is a form of structure particularly effective in petroliferous accumulation. It gives to the reservoir relief or variation of level as distinct as the arch, though in many cases less pro- nounced in its influence. The recent experience of northwestern Ohio has, however, furnished a greater number and even a more striking series- of facts pertaining to the influence of structure on accumulation than the older fields. This dis- trict affords many advantages for the determination of the structural laws which govern it. Its surface is almost a plain, and, furthermore, is thoroughly intersected by railroad lines, the levels of which afford con- venient points of departure in establishing the elevations of well heads. No other American field has equaled this in simplicity of structure, but on this very account the effect of the structure becomes all the more easily recognizable and traceable. Moreover, there are several easily identifiable horizons passed through in the drilling of every well, which attest and prophesy the facts that the oil rock IP finally found to show a& to its structural relations. It is not necessary to give details in this connection at this point. A single illustration will be taken from the famous Findlay field. The drilling of the first dozen wells in Findlay showed the following facts of structure. The bedded rocks are bent at this point into a very 1'ow arch* the axis of which bears approximately north and south. On the west side the arch is found to have a well defined boundary, the strata descend- ing from a terrace, or an approximately horizontal position, 150 feet, in the course of one-third of a mile, to another flat-lying or gently-sloping area. In other words, a slope of 150 feet in a third of a mile, rising to the east, connects two terraces of the same stratum, the surface of the 92 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. country meanwhile lying at the same absolute geographical level. The structure can well be called a monocline, so far as these features are con- cerned, though when all is considered, it is seen to be as previously named, & very low arch. The distribution of gas, oil and salt water in the Trenton limestone follows the lines of geographical level in a very interesting way. When the field was first opened, each element had a definite boundary. The dry gas occupied all of the stratum from about three hundred feet below tide water to about four hundred feet below ; to the oil a vertical measure- ment of fifteen to twenty feet was assigned directly below the gas, while underneath the oil, in turn, the salt water found its place. Sometimes, however, the latter element occurred at the levels where the oil would properly be expected. But with the development of the field and the ex- haustion of the gas, all of these levels have been gradually changed until the salt water has now intruded upon, if it has not entirely overrun the whole of the slope and the terrace as well. In the oil fields, in like manner, the elevations of different portions of the reservoir are always found connected in the most important and significant way with the production. Every foot is counted by nature in increase or loss of efficiency. If a well in the Lima field, for example, shows an elevation of the top of the oil rock of even five or six feet in excess of the wells around it, it becomes thereby a gas rock for a few days, instead of an oil rock. The Upper Sandusky field furnishes excellent illustrations of the same law, as will be cleaVly shown on a subsequent page. In short, the rational deductions as to the distribution of gas and oil in a reservoir, common to themselves and to water, are abundantly sup- ported by testimony derived from the Ohio oil fields, both old and new. There is but little obscurity and but few, if any, anomalies in the facts so far as known. Certainly there is nothing to raise even a question as to the validity of the explanations already proposed. Closely connected with the same line of facts is the very important element in gas and oil production that remains to be briefly discussed in a few succeeding paragraphs. d. Rock pressure. What is known as rock pressure in gas wells is the maximum pressure reached when the gas is shut within the well. It is supposed to be the pressure of the gas in the rock reservoir, this pressure equalizing itself throughout the new space. It is also known as closed pressure. The open pressure of the gas, on the other hand, is the pressure registered on PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 93 a gauge held in the current while the gas is escaping freely from a pipe of any size. When the gas escapes from the casing, a pipe of five and five- eighths inches in diameter, it requires a vigorous well to produce any eflect on an ordinary high-pressure steam-gauge. The highest pressure noted in the casing (five and five-eighths inches) of any Ohio wells up to 1889 was six or six and one-half pounds, but during the last year three wells have been drilled, the first flows of which have registered from eighteen to thirty-five pounds. The open pressure increases rapidly when the opening of the well is reduced in size. A well that showed six pounds in the casing registered 20^ pounds when the gas was made to escape through a four-inch pipe. The rock pressure, or closed pressure of Tren- ton limestone gas varies in different fields, but is generally the same in all the wells of one immediate neighborhood, in case the production of the wells is large. The present usual range is between two hundred and three hundred pounds to the square inch. Higher figures than these are sometimes obtained, especially from the deeper wells. At the opening of the Findlay field, 450 pounds was shown in most of the wells. The rock pressure in the Bowling Green field was about the same. The Carey wells attained a pressure of 435 pounds. In a Tiffin well a pressure of 600 pounds was registered, the graduation of the gauge stopping at this figure. A considerable excess was indicated. The wells of Lancaster have shown a, maximum pressure of 700 pounds to the inch, but they have not held these extreme figures long. The^ present pressures in the several fields Trill be given in the subsequent chapters of this report. In the Saint Mary's and Saint Henry's gas wells the original range was between 350 and 400 pounds. In the Indiana field it varied between 300 and 335 pounds to the square inch in the instances where reliable obser- vations were obtained. The closed pressure in the great gas wells of Pennsylvania is more than twice the highest pressure found in Trenton rock gas. Pressures of 750 pounds are reported on good authority, and many facts are on record indi- cating a pressure of nearly or quite 200 pounds beyond this figure. The rock pressure of the Ohio shale gas of the northern part of the State rarely exceeds 100 pounds to the square inch. With some remarkable exceptions the rock pressure, as already stated, is generally the same for all the wells of a particular field, whatever their production may be. In other words, pressure gives in itself no indication or clew to the amount of gas a well yields. By joining to it, however, the element of time, an empirical but uncertain calculation of the volume of gas produced may be made. If a well gains a certain number of pounds pressure in a certain number of seconds or minutes, for example, the vol- ume may be measured by one of the methods presently to be given and 94 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. then used as a check on other like increase of pressure in wells of the same depth. The well that produces the largest amount of gas in the Findlay field shows the same closed pressure that the smallest well of the field shows ; but in the case of the large well the entire pressure is reached in one or two minutes ; in the other, hours are required for it to creep slowly up to its maximum. The phenomena connected with high rock-pressure of gas and oil wells are among the most astonishing and impressive in the entire range of mining enterprise. When a reservoir of the character above named is penetrated, the gas, suddenly released from a pressure of 300 to 950 pounds to the square inch, rushes forth with amazing velocity and indescribable force. It drowns like a tornado all ordinary sounds in the vicinity of the well. Unless great care be used by one engaged about the well his sense of hearing is very likely to be permanently impaired. When the gas is lighted the roar is greatly increased and can be heard for miles. The light from a great well can be seen, under favorable circumstances, forty miles away. The cause of the rock pressure of gas and oil wells, is a subject upon which our best authorities have not been in haste to commit themselves, by offering definite and comprehensive theories to account for the facts. Three causes have been suggested as adequate to explain the results : (1) The gas produces its own pressure. Solid or liquid matters are converted into the gaseous form in the deeply buried porous rocks and the gas thus formed requires larger space than the solid bodies from which it was derived. In seeking this larger space, it exerts the pressure noted. (2) The weight of the overlying rock produces the pressure of the gas. According to this view, the gas is in the rock and the weight of the earth above it exerts a constant pressure upon it, and forces it out with the velocity observed whenever an exit is made for it. (3) The pressure is due to a water column that is behind the gas and oil. The porous stratum that makes the reservoir of gas and oil and salt water, and which always has an impervious roof, somewhere rises to the surface. Water entering at its outcrops will exert its pressure through all the flexures of the stratum upon the salt water that it contains, and thus upon the accumulations of oil or gas that are held within the arches and terraces of the stratum. This explanation makes the flow of gas and oil depend upon precisely the same cause that occasions the flow of water from artesian wells, viz., a water head of greater or less elevation, at a greater or less remove. The first theory doubtless has in it elements of truth. The beginning of gas pressure in any rock and all the pressure ever found in some forma- tions may very well be referred to this source. For the pressure of shale PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS 95 gas, for example, no other cause need be sought. But all the elements per- taining to this theory are vague and un verifiable. It is an explanation in name more than in reality. Moreover, the facts in regard to the great oil and gas rocks seem to require a cause at once more energetic and more variable than the expansive power of gas would furnish. If gas originates its own pressure, it would be difficult to account for the extreme range of pressure that we find in the same stratum, all the gas of which has essentially the same composition. The theory certainly is inadequate on this side, and we must look to either the second or third theory for a satisfactory explan- ation of the remarkable facts observed. The second explanation, viz., that which refers the pressure of reser- voir gas to the weight of the superincumbent rock, appears to have found the largest measure of popular favor, but the theory is certainly unsound. ' It gives Avay when subjected to the slightest examination. Professor Les- ley furnishes an excellent discussion of this theory in the Annual Report of the Pennsylvania Survey for 1885, and he demonstrates its invalidity. The rock can exert no pressure on the gas, as he clearly shows, unless its par- ticles are free to move upon one another, or, in other words, unless the rock is in a crushed state. The pebbles and grains among which the particles of gas are distributed, unless themselves actually moved, can exert no pressure on the gas, as Lesley well observes, any more than the walls of a cave can exert pressure on the river that flows through it. There is nothing whatever to support the belief that the rock exists in the state which this theory demands. There are many facts that demonstrate the opposite view. No force can be found adequate to crush the rock at the depths at which the gas occurs. The slightest examination shows that the weight of the overlying rocks is altogether insufficient. The Trenton lime- stone, for example, in its nearest outcrops, is a firm, strong stone ; and all the information we obtain as to its structure in the gas wells points to the same sort of rock there. But at its lowest measure of strength, it can bear, without giving way, 720 tons to a square foot, and much of it can bear four or five times this weight. On the other hand, the weight of the superincumbent rock that is to do the work of crushing the Trenton reservoir, is approx- imately one ton to the square foot for every fourteen feet in height, and there would thus be but eighty tons pressure on a foot of Trenton lime- stone in a Findlay well at a depth of 1,100 feet. This is but one-ninth of the lowest resistance of the rock, and but an insignificant fraction of its highest resistance to crushing weight. Besides this the driller finds the rock firm and compact to a high degree. The driller can not be deceived in this respect. It is unnecessary to follow this subject further. There is no standing ground whatever for the theory. When we come to the third theory we see at once that it rests on a 96 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. different basis from the theories previously discussed. It depends upon principles and facts of familiar experience and every-day use. Every one is acquainted with the flow of artesian wells. The present theory relegates gas wells to the same category. In fact, it makes the flow of gas from the rock reservoirs which the drill has penetrated due to the same cause that propels artificial gas through the mains of a city, viz., a water column behind and above it. This theory has been held more or less distinctly by numerous geologists. Professor I. C. White was one of the first to openly adopt it. In an article in the American Manufacturer early in 1887 he urged that artesian pressure would be found necessary to account for the compression of gas in the great reservoirs. Before entering more fully upon the discussion of the question to what the rock pressure of gas wells is due, let us ask another question, the answer to which may advance us in our inquiries. The driller in the Ohio field, as well as in all other oil fields, finds gas in the higher levels of the productive rock, and, at a somewhat lower range, he finds the stocks of oil, if any, with which the reservoir is charged. If he goes below the horizon of the oil or gas, or if he goes beyond its productive limits, he reaches at once salt water, \vhich rises in the well to a greater or less height, some- times filling it entirely, and sometimes even flowing out of the top of the well. This experience is universal in the great fields of the United States, at least. Every oil or gas field has a margin of water, generally more or less saline, surrounding its productive portion in whole or in part. The influx of this salt water is one of the^iost common evidences of total fail- ure in wells drilled for oil or gas. The moment this fatal flood is reached all hope departs. The question which should first be considered is this : " Why does salt water rise in wells drilled to the productive rock, but outside of the productive portion of the rock ? " Whatever explains the rise of the salt water from one portion of the oil rock will explain the flow of the gas or oil from another portion. The explanation that should reverse this order and make the rise of the salt water depend on the pressure of gas somewhere held in the rock would be ludicrously inadequate. There is an ocean of salt water ; there is but a thimbleful of gas. The gas is confined to narrow streaks, it may be, on the crests of anticlines, and it occupies but a few feet at most in the upper portion of the rock, while the salt water stretches out for scores of miles on every side and through great depths in the rock. Salt water makes the normal and well-nigh universal contents of the oil sands. The rare excep- tions, in locations favored by the accidents of structure, are the stocks of gas and oil, which in reality are very scanty, but which by comparison with each other we sometimes call great. Their total volume is insignificant PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 97 when compared with the other elements with which they are associated. We have no reason to believe that all the accumulations of petroleum con- tained in the ciust of the globe would exceed a few cubic miles in volume, but the s ilt water contained there would make a sea. What makes s.ilt water rise when its porous reservoirs, are tapped by the drill? Let us ask one question more: What makes fresh water rise- under similar circumstances? The mystery is dispelled with regard to artesian water supply. Every school-boy knows the explanation of the facts involved. If in its underground course water his dissolved from the rock more or less mineral matter, the laws which governed it before such solution took place are not thereby affected. It has grown a little heavier by its mineral contents and consequently will not rise in quite as high a column as fresh water will, but this is all the difference. Salt water rises in the rocks in which it has been sealed from precisely the same cause us fresh water. It is an artesian flow or an artesian ascent, as the case may be. No other explanation of the facts involved is possible. From what source is the water head derived? The apswer is the same as for all artesi m flow. It is de ived from water entering porous st-ata at their out- crops. The conditions for aa artesian flow must all be found united in every oil or gas field. But whatever causes the salt water to rise in wells drilled on the.edge - of an oil field or a g >s field is beyoi d question the cause of the flow of oil or gas contained within the field. This is demo istra ted by the close con- nection th t exists between the salt water and the oil or gas. Working from the edge of the field towards the center, we find a j regressive diminu- tion of Silt water and an iucre-se of oil or gas in the common reservoir. With the exhaustion of a field the oil and gas are followed up and finally replaced by salt water. This is the common fate of gas and oil wells; the death to * Inch they seem to be a, pointed. The height to which s >lt water rises in wells drilled on the margin of a gas field gives a measure of the force of the gas within the field. This is true, at least, within the several divisions of the Trenton limestone. The height to which the gas rock rises in its nearest outcrop will, in like man- ner, determine the height to which the salt water will rise in the wells, and this factor is seen to control the rock pressure of the gas. The outcrops of porous rock, it is evident, must be f llowed. A stratum, though contin- uous in geological n ime, may be so changed in character that it will cease to be a factor in problems of this sort. The porous character of the Tren- ton limestone appears to be maintained in a northerly and iiorthwesterly direction from the new gas fields and it is, perhaps, in the outcrops of Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin that the water head originates which 7 G. 98 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. gives its spring and energy to the gas of Findlay, Bloomdale and St. Mary's, and also to that of Kokomo and Marion, Indiana. While many questions pertaining to the subject can be raised that can not be fully answered from lack of knowledge at the present time, it still appears that the only rational explanation of the rock pressure of gas is to be found in the artesian pressure of the water that accompanies it. It is also apparent that if this is the cause the fact must be suscepti- ble of demonstration. If we know the height to which the salt water rises in any division of the field, and if we know the specific gravity of the salt water, by taking account of the depth of a well, the effective force of the water in compressing the gas can be calculated, and its rela- tion to the observed pressures can be noted. Agreement between the calculated and observed pressures in a sufficient number of instances and through a sufficient range of figures would furnish a demonstration of this hydrostatic theory. The facts that we need to know, in order to complete the demonstra- tion, have been suggested in the preceding paragraph. They are as follows : (a) the height to which the water rises in wet wells ; (6) the density of the water ; (c) the depth at which the water is found ; (d) the initial rock pressure of the gas when found. Can these several elements be obtained? All of them, it can be answered, are matters of observation, and if an intelligent interest in the questions could be assured on the part of the well-driller no difficulty would be experienced in supplying all the information necessary. Part of the facts are always easily determinable in any case. The questions have not been urged upon the driller, however, until recently, and in regard to one of them, viz., the normal rock pressure of the fields, the only time for noting it has long gone by. The facts can be obtained only from testimony as to figures observed several years ago. (a) As to the height to which the salt water rises in wet wells there is not as much exact information as could be desired. The general facts of its occurrence are thoroughly understood, but when the driller has once become certain that his well is a salt water well, as a rule, " the sub- sequent proceedings interest him no more." He is seldom likely to spend more time or trouble upon a venture that has already proved a dead loss. He can tell you that the water rose in the well at the rate of fifty or one hundred feet in an hour, or that it came up even into the casing for 100 or 200 feet, but the exact figures he has no curiosity to obtain. Some of these statements can be made, however, to give us a clue to the height of the rise. The level at which the bottom of the casing stands is one of the important points in the record of every well. In the salt water portions of both the Findlay and the Lima fields, this PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 99 level ranges from 300 to 400 feet above tide. If, therefore, we know that the salt water rises 100 or 200 feet above the bottom of the casing, we know that it stands from 400 to 600 feet above tide. When the surface of the ground in which the well is begun is lower, however, than in the fields already named, more definite figures can be obtained. Along the shore of Lake Erie, and in the Wabash Valley of Indiana, we find the most reliable data. The salt water in these districts rises so nearly to the surface that its height can be definitely determined, or it may, as in the last named district, flow from the well in a true artesian fashion. In a well drilled at Lindsey, Sandusky county, Ohio, for example, the elevation of the well head was about that of the railway station, viz , 622 feet above tide. The salt water rose within twenty-five feet of the top of the well, or in round numbers to a height of 600 feet above tide. In the Wabash Valley the elevation of the bottom lands, falls below 600 feet above tide. Wells drilled to the Trenton limestone in such stations unlocked a flood of bitter and sulphurous salt water that flowed from the wellhead, but if the wells were drilled in the adjacent uplands the water would rise to apparently the same height as in the other cases but would not overflow. In a few instances figures were given which would show an ascent of the water above the 600 feet level already named. At Huntington, for example, the water was reported to rise to a height of 900 feet in the well. This would make its actual elevation 617 feet above tide, but the figure given was undoubtedly a round number and not the result of careful actual measurement. The wells that were found most useful in this connection were those of Wabash City, Peru and Logansport, and of the districts contiguous to these towns. As a result of all these observations it can be stated that the strong and free flow of salt water from the Trenton limestone, when struck in the Ohio and Indiana fields, rises to approximately the same height in all the wells, viz., to about 600 feet above tide. There are a few exceptions to this statement in which the water rises higher than 600 feet. In various sections of the field, however, the salt water, when found, does not rise to this elevation. Whenever a shorter column is found, the gas that occurs nearest lacks the full pressure of the main fields. Both facts are associated with a harder and more compact condition of the petroliferous limestone than that found in productive wells, which the driller promptly notices and from which he draws valid conclusions. This 600 feet rise of the salt water represents the height of some out- crop of the porous condition of the Trenton limestone. We find such outcrops on the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron at approximately the same elevation as that which the salt water reaches. Fresh water finds access to the limestone in these outcrops, but its influence while available IOO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. for pressure would not go far towards changing the character of the peculiar bitterns or brines that occupy this great sheet in its subterranean expansion. , (6) The specific gravity of the salt water that occupies the Trenton limestone is high. Several determinations made by the Survey show a gravity of 1.1, and some samples were even heavier. A column of fresh water, one foot in height and having one square inch for the section, weighs .43285 pound avoirdupois. The average weight of such a column of sea water is .445 pound, but the Trenton brine when counted at 1.1 is found to weigh .476 pounds for twelve cubic inches. The heaviest samples would even reach a weight of .5 pounds to twelve cubic inches. The gravity undoubtedly differs in different samples of the brine and this element accordingly introduces to this extent a variable factor into the calculations. Its influence could not, however, in any case affect the result beyond a few feet in a thousand. (c) The depth at which the gas or water is obtained is the one ele- ment in the calculation that can, as a rule, be definitely ascertained. The depth at which the Trenton limestone is struck is one of the princi- pal facts in the history of every well. The gas generally lies not lower than thirty or forty feet below the top of the limestone. (d) The remaining inquiry, that, namely, pertaining to the original rock pressure of the wells, does not generally admit of present determina- tion and we are obliged to go back to the records of the earliest wells in each main section of the firld. There is but one date in the history of a gas field when its rock pressure can be properly obtained and that date is at the drilling of the first wells. As wells are multiplied, and especially as the gas is utilized, the pressure is soon reduced. If time enough could be given, and if the wells could be completely closed, the field would undoubtedly regain its normal pressure, but this restoration of the com- pressing force would in most cases be gradual and not immediate. There would be a slight reduction in this force in any case from the fact that by the exhaustion of a portion of the gas the salt water would reach a slightly higher final level in the reservoir than.it previously occupied. When we inquire as to the first records of rock pressure, we find several elements of uncertainty as to the facts. Gauges were not applied in some instances until the wells had been open for weeks or months. The gauges themselves are not always trustworthy in the record of the high figures that the wells require. The natural tendency to make as good a showing of the field as possible often leads to the reporting of the pres- sure in round numbers and these are never below the actual figures. In the list of early pressures noted, the following are counted fairly trust- PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. IOI worthy and also fairly representative of the several fields. All are based on observations of the author except those for which other authority is given. The highest pressure noted in any gas well derived from the Trenton limestone was found in the Loomis and Nyman well of Tiffin. The gauge used read only to 600 pounds. This figure was reached and passed, the well indicating a considerable surplus beyond 600 pounds. The Upper Sandusky well No. 1, as reported by Dr. A. Billhardt, of the Boad of Gas Trustees, showed a pressure of 515 pounds. The Kelly well No. 1, known as the Godsend well. Bloom township, Wood county, showed a pressure of 465 pounds, as reported by Mr. J. Stock, of the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company. This measurement was not taken until some time after the well was drilled. The Bairdstown well, as reported by Mr. M. C. Briggs and many others, showed a pressure of 460 pounds. Higher figures are recalled as having been observed in it originally, but no authentic record was made of them at the time, and they can not therefore be counted any thing more than tradition. There is nothing improbable in them, however, as will presently be shown. These figures are given as 515 pounds. The Pioneer well at Findlay, and other wells drilled in the town during the first year showed, according to Mr. W. M. Martin, the contractor who finished most of them, a pressure of 450 pounds. The original pressure for part of the field was un- doubtedly much more than this. The Axe well of St. Mary's, according to the observations of Mr. A. C. Reichelderfer, and many others, alter blowing into the air for three months, showed a pressure of 390 pounds. The first well at St. Henry's, according to the testimony of Judge Dennis Dwyer, of Dayton, for whom it was drilled, after treatment similar to that named in the last instance, showed a pressure of 375 pounds. Pass- ing into Indiana, the Kokomo well No. 4, showed a pressure of 320 pounds, six months after the field was opened. Col. J. T. Stringer, Secretary of the Natural Gas Company, informed me that the first wells registered, to his knowledge, 328 pounds. In Mirion, well No. 3, showed at the opening of the field 323 pounds pressure. The wells at Muncie, according to com- mon report, has a pressure of less than 300 pounds. The testimony of some good observers was to the effect that it was between 280 and 290 pounds. The figures for Tiffin, Upper Sandusky. Findlay and Marion, Indiana, were all obtained when these fields were freshly opened. These figures will now be combined with other data from the respect- ive wells, and to them will be added for comparison a column contain- ing "calculations of the pressure that should result from the following factors, viz., an assumed height of the salt water head to 600 feet above tide, and an assumed specific gravity of the salt water of 1 1, which jives .476 pounds to the square inch for every foot in height. To the IO2 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. depth of the gas rock below tide must be added the 600 feet to which the salt water rises above tide. This sum will be the effective water column. The pressure will be the product of this sum and the weight of a column of the water one foot in height, which is .476 pounds. Locations. Depth to gas. Relation of gas rock to sea level. Original pressure. Calculated pressure. Tiffin, Loomis & Wyman well Upper Sandusky well, No. 1 1,500 fe< 1,280 1,145 1,112 1,128 1,159 1,156 936 876 900 it. 747ft 478 395 365 336 238 200 98 78 * * At . below tide le ^ide. vel. 600tt 515 465 460 450 390 375 328 323 280-290 S.+ 1 1,347 X .476641 ft 1,078 X .476=513 995 X .476=474 965 X .476=459 936 X .476=445 838 X .476=399 800 X 476 385 s. Bloom Township Kelly well, No. 1 Bairdstown well, No. 1 Findlay Pioneer well St. Mary's, Axe well St. Henry's, Dwyer well Kokomo well, No. 4 698 X 476 332 Marion well No 3 678 X 476 323 Muncie City wells 600 X .476=286 The agreement between the last two columns of the tables affords nothing less than a demonstration of the principal cause of the rock press- ure of natural gas. It is due to the weight of the salt water that occupies the porous rock jointly with itself, though by a very unequal partnership, and the water pressure in turn is unmistakably of artesian origin. A better knowledge of the facts may modify to some small extent the assumed data, but it is certain that the general relations expressed above indicate a law of nature bearing upon the question with which this sec- tion was begun, viz., what is the cause of the rock pressure of natural gas ? The close correspondences of the taj^le may be accidental to a small extent. The general relation is all that need be insisted on. Strictly, we ought to reckon each field from the salt water level, whereas the figures given are those that show the depth at which gas was found. In several instances, however, and particularly in those which show the closest agreements, the salt water level is but little lower than that of the gas. An increase of pressure beyond the figures reported could however be ac- counted for on this basis in some of the fields. For example, the great Simons well of Bloom township is reported to have shown an original pressure of 520 pounds. The Bairdstown well is also reported to have shown 515 pounds. These figures stand for a depth of the salt water of 400 to 490 feet below tide, which is more than 100 feet below the original level of the gas. There is nothing improbable in such a relation, however. The results of this discussion can be summed up in the following statement, viz., the rock pressure of Trenton limestone gas is due to a salt woter column, measured from about 600 feet above tide, 1o the If vel of the stratum which holds the gas. The law is here limited to the Trenton limestone, for the reason that the data were derived from the wells of this horizon, but PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 103 it is exceedingly improbable that the gas production of this stratum differs in any important way from that of any other great gas rock. The importance of this deduction will not escape observation. A few obvious inferences from it will close this discussion. 1. There is no danger that the great gas reservoirs of to day will " cave in " or " blow up " after the gas is withdrawn from them. The gas will never leave the porous rock in which it has been stored until it is obliged to leave by the pressure of the water that is behind it. The last end of a gas rock is a water rock or an oil rock. Considerable uneasiness has been caused in the minds of even reasonably well-informed persons by the sensational articles that have appeared from time to time in the newspapers, predicting the subsidence of extensive areas from under which the gas has been withdrawn, or explosions resulting from admix- ture of air and gas as the latter is diminished in the reservoirs. The so- called science on which these predictions are based is of the spurious sort, and the authors of these predictions have been speculating in regard to sub- jects of which they had no adequate knowledge. There is not the shadow of a shade of danger in sight in these directions. 2. This doctrine lays the ax at the root of all the optimistic theories that blossom out in every district where natural gas is discovered, and especially among the real estate speculators of each new field, to the effect that nature will not fail to perpetually maintain or perpetually renew the supplies which we find so delightfully adapted to our comfort and service. Profound opinions of this sort, coming from such sources, have constituted a large part of our newspaper literature on these subjects hitherto, but the logic of events is rendering these claims more and more untenable each day, and they are blind, indeed, who now pretend to see any promise of an unfailing supply. 3. Unwelcome though it may be, this doctrine ought to be kept clearly and constantly before the communities that have begun to enjoy the inestimable advantages of the new fuel. If they believe that the sup- ply is indefinitely great or that it is being constantly renewed, they can scarcely be brought to employ any proper economy in its use, but just as far as they accept the demonstrated limitation of the supply, they will be ready to adopt all proper measures for husbanding the stock to which they have obtained access. The doctrine has also an important bearing on the question as to what uses natural gas should be put. Manufacturing establishments of any sort that consume a million or more feet in a day can not be greatly multiplied in any Ohio field without rendering a tolerably speedy exhaustion of the supply a certainty. 4. When the salt water takes possession of a former gas rock it comes to stay. A permanent equilibrium is established by its advent in the IO4 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. place of the unstable equilibrium which prevailed so long as the gas re- mained imprisoned in the arches of the rock. The "rest" which it is sometimes proposed to grant to an overworked and prematurely exhausted gas field will be a long one. Nothing but small and short-lived accumu- lations can ever be found in it again. 5. Of the original rock pressure of any field not all can be counted available for the supply of the pipes that are to carry the gas away. There is a large fraction that must always be left upon the well, if the best re- sults of production are expected. This is called " back pressure." The amounts and the proportions required vary in different fields, but in northern Ohio it is seldom safe to reduce the pressure below one-third of its original figure. If, for example, the gas showed 450 pounds pressure at first, it should never be allowed to flow with less than 150 pounds on the well. In other words, only the surplus of gas above 150 pounds be- longs to the line. As the energy of the field decreases, which is shown in the diminution of the r >ck pressure, the amount of back pressure to main- tain the protection of the gas must be increased, which is the same as say- ing that the available amount of gas is constantly decreasing. Nothing is so destructive of a gas field as to allow the wells to run " wide open" or without back pressure. Such a course is always an invitation and a per- suasion to tKe oil and water by which the gas is surrounded to come up higher and the invitation is always accepted. In the case of rival cor- porations occupying the same field, it sometimes happens that it seems to the interest of one to exhaust the field as rapidly as possible. To accom- plish this result but two things are necessary, first, to drill a good many wells, and secondly to allow them to flow with the gates opened full. PLATE II. [Sea, level S E CT ID N S 'SHOW ING GEOLOGIC ALJSTRUCT-URE NORTH WESTERN'OHIO HORIZONTAL SCALE OF MILLS 10. 2Q JO * VERTICAL SCALEOF \TRNTON LIMESTONE \UTICA ^ ESSJ HUDSON fi/VCff SHALE =' SHALE ' NIAGARA LIMESTONE SHALE. CLIH TON LIMES TONL ELi Tff3LOWe.fi HCLDEfiBCRG CHAPTER III. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE AS A SOURCE OF OIL AND GAS In the present chapter the development of the Trenton limestone as a source of oil and gas will be continued irom the date at which it was closed in the last preceding volume of the State Geological Survey, viz., Vol. VI, Economic Geology of Ohio. In this last named work a fairly complete account of the facts which make up this surprising history to the fall of 1887 was given, and in a supplementary chapter a few facts gathered from the first two or three months of 1888 were published. It will therefore be necessary in the present review to take up the history from the spring of 1888 and continue it to the present time, covering a period of about two years. For the benefit of those readers who are not acquainted with and can not obtain access to the above named volume, a brief resume of the leading facts that were established in it, pertaining to the new and important source of petroleum will here be given. Discovtry of Gas at Findlay. 9 (1) The discovery of high pressure gas in the Trenton limestone was made in Findlay in November, 1884. During 1885 a dozen wells were drilled here, the best of which reached a production of three and a half million cubic feet per day. The first great well at Findlay, viz., the Karg well, was struck on January 20, 1886. It gave new character to the entire field. Its production from the casing was about fourteen million cubic feet per day, and from the four-inch tubing about twelve million cubic feet per day. Since that time the development and the utilization of Findlay gas have been pushed forward very rapidly. The first oil obtained from the new source was found in a well drilled in Lima in May, 1885. Oil was also found dunng the same year and at but little later date at Findlay. The first large production of oil from any well is to be credited to the Hume well of Lima, which was completed in the Spring of 1886. It produced 250 barrels for the first day. The full development of the Trenton limestone as a source of oil production was not accomplished before the middle of 1887. 1C 6 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. (2) These large productions of gas and oil from a Lower Silurian limestone were entirely unexpected. It would be bard to say whether the geologist or the oil producer was most surprised by these results. That the Trenton limestone is petroliferous to a small extent was long ago known at least to the geologist. The fact was distinctly pointed out by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt in his Geological Essays. He showed that the outcrop of this great stratum on the Manitoulin Island is charged with oil, and further that a well drilled into the stratum, thirty or forty years ago, produced a number of barrels of oil. Dr. Hunt also argued very earnestly in favor of the view that limestones are the true sources of oil. But neither he nor any one else, so far as known, ever ventured to suggest or even to hint that this widespread stratum would become one of the great oil rocks of the continent and the world. Least of all, did the sagacious men who have been for the last forty years engaged in oil production have any suspicion of such a result. The Ohio experience constitutes an entirely new chapter in the geological as well as in the practical history of petroleum production. No one, as has been said, suspected it, or at least no one had prophesied it. (3) By the study of the facts of the new fields, the conditions of it oil and gas production soon came to view with great distinctness. In the first place, it was learned that the common reservoir of both of these substances was not a true limestone, as the name of the stratum might lead us to suppose, but that it consisted of orie or more sheets of magnesian limestone or dolomite, these sheets being situated either at the very sum- mit of the series, or distributed at one or more levels in the uppermost fifty to one hundred feet of the formation. The composition of the Tren- ton beds generally is that of an ordinary impure limestone. It contains from eighty to ninety per cent, of carbonate of lime and from five to fif- teen per cent, of silicious impurities. Occasionally, however, thin beds of exceptionally pure limestone are brought to light by the drill, carrying ninety-five to ninety-nine per cent, of carbonate of lime. This form of the rock frequently occurs at the very summit of the series, directly over- lying the gas rock proper. The oil and gas rock, on the other hand, as has been said, is generally a fairly pure dolomite of about fifty-four per cent, of carbonate of lime, and forty-four per cent, or less of carbonate of magnesia. The silicious impurities are commonly included within a small figure and their absence in this connection deserves to be noted, for it shows that the limestone from which the dolomite was derived by metamorphosis was of a very pure character, resembling, in fact, the last phase of the calcareous rock that was described above, If silicious impurities to a large extent had THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. IO7 ever been present in the limestone, they would be there to-day, as there are no means known by which they can be removed from a stratum with which they have once been incorporated. The precise steps by which a true carbonate of lime is converted into a magnesian carbonate or dolomite, r we not do know, but the process is one that has been carried on in nature on an extremly large scale. Half of the limestones of the Ohio series are dolomites, many of them of excep- tional purity. As deduced from a somewhat limited series of facts and observations, the following steps in the history of the dolomitization of the Trenton limestone are suggested as probable. In the first place, the original cap or uppermost beds of the great formation consisted of very pure carbonate of lime, derived from the remains of crinoids or stone lilies. The uppermost beds at Trenton Fails, N. Y., have this constitution to-day. They consist of very pure crinoidal limestone. Secondly, the purest beds and those only admitted the magnesian replacement in which the dolo- mitization consists; one-half of the atoms of carbonate of lime being removed and their places being supplied with atoms of carbonate of mag- nesia derived from the sea water. By means of this replacement, the rock became porous, the new crystals never entirely filling the^spaces from which the lime crystals had been removed. The impure portions of the rock would have resisted this change in all its phases. Be the origin what it may, it soon became evident in the development of the new horizon of oil that all its value was associated with this dolo- mitic composition. Whenever the normal composition of the limestone above described was found, the stratum was dry and unproductive, so far as gas and oil were concerned. In the second place, it was soon learned that each productive field was surrounded by salt water, or at least that salt water made a part of its boundary, while another part of the boundary was often found to be de- termined by the non-porous condition of the Trenton limestone. The level at which salt water was reached in each field proved to be fairly con- stant, and this level could be counted a dead line as to oil or gas. Wher- ever the drill descended to this or to any lower level, the rock was found occupied with the heavy brine peculiar to this horizon. The dead line for the Findlay field was found to be five hundred feet below tide water ; for the Lima field, four hundred feet below tide ; for the Saint Mary's dis- trict, about 350 feet below ; while west of the State line, in the great Indiana gas field, the salt water was reached at a hundred feet below tide. The inference was soon drawn that for the entire productive territory, the line of 500 feet below tide could be taken as a dead line. Subsequent ex- ploration has brought several exceptions to this deduction, but only one of them is thus far important, that, viz., of the Gibsonburg oil field. The IO8 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. exceptions, as a matter of course, depend on the discovery of other arches or terraces in the series at a lower level than those of the Fiodlay field. Aside from the Gibsonburg field, none of these arches have proved large enough to contain any considerable amount of oil or gis, and most of them have cost in their development a good deal more than has been got out of them. Bryan, Tiffin and Oak Harbor can be named as centers of these out-lying fields, the last being the most favorable of the list. As the work of exploration proceeds, other exceptions will probably be found, but there does not seem to be room for very large or very important additions to present territory between the various points that have been already proved. The results of the drilling done in 1886-7 are thus seen to have dis- closed two important conditions of production, one pertaining to the chemicil composition of the Trenton limestone and the other pertaining to its relative depth in each field This knowledge did very much to rationalize the work of exploration on the part of all who pobsest-ed intelligence enough to make use of it. (4) Another clew to gas and oil production was brought to light in 1887. It was observed that all of the gas production in Ohio and Indiana as well, was derived from territory in which the Niagara liuaestonn consti- tutes the surface rock; while the oil, on the other hand, was obtained from territory in which the Lower Helderberg limestone constitutes the surface rock. The explanation of this interesting line ot faces speedily became apparent. In the order of deposition the Niagara limestone be- longs below the Lower Helderberg. It has a total thickness ol time hun- dred to four hundred feet against a thickness of lour hundred to six hun- dred feet of ^the latter formation. In both States the surface of the country is approximately level for large consecutive areas, and hence it resulted that wherever the lower-lying Niagara limestone made the surfac- , the Trenton limestone must lie at a higher elevation than where the Lower Helderberg comes to the surface. The topography of the Trenton lime- stone, in other words, was found to be clearly indicated by the surface geology. The later facts have brought in a few exceptions to this genera- lization. The Gibsonburg field, for example is occupied by the Niagara limestone as a suiface rock, but it produces mainly oil. The explanation is that a considerable thickening of the shale takes place in this direction, as is shown in the records of the wells. The Upper Sandusky field also began as a gas field, though its surface rocks are Lower Helderberg, but the gas was soon superseded by oil. In Indiana there are some notable departures from the lines here indicated, but it is still true that the heart of the gas field there agrees exactly with the generalization above given. (5) Still another character of the new fields was made manifest THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 1 09 during these early explorations, but it is one which the driller and pros- pector found it hard to accept and recognize. It is this, viz., the Dew gas and oil fields are not confined to definite axes of elevation, but they rather expand after the continental type of uplift, in flat lying areas of scores, hundreds, or, as is the case in Indiana, of thousands of square miles in extent. These areas have in some cases sharp boundaries, on one side at least, and in all of them there is a prevailing direction for the very slight descent of one to ten feet to the mi'e by which they are character- ized. In Ohio, this prevailing dip is to the northward, or in some cases to the northeastward; in Indiana, it is to the northwest. The sharpest of the definite boundaries referred to in the preceding paragraph is found in connection with the Findlay, North Baltim< re and Bowling Green gas fields. The Findlay Break, as this boundary has been designated, parses through Findlay a little to the west of north and holds this general direction as far, at least, as the State line. It is by all means the most important structural line in the oil and gas fields of ihe new horizon. On the east side of it dry gas belongs, often in extremely large volume; on the slopes to the westward the great oil production of the district is found, while at the foot of the slope lies the salt water which gives to both oil and gas its head of pressure. These facts are represented in the accompanying diagram, figure 2. Three east and west eections taken ten to twelve miles apart, reveal with perfect distinctness this monocline. It can be traced still farther northward. The structural lines of the Gibsonburg and Oak Harbor fields, in like manner, bear to the northward; the Upper Sandusky and Tiffin produc- tion is derived from a line of elevation that heart* a few degrees to the east of north; the St. Mary's and Lima uplift has a distinct northeasterly diiection as its main feature. The Indiana gas field, as represented by a recent map prepared by Dr. A. J. Phinney and published in the American Manufacturer in February, 1890, is almost a miniature of North America in form and proportions. Dr. Phinney estimates the area of this gas field to be 2,500 equare miles. Subtracting a large body from the southward extension of it, that possesses comparatively little force at the best and that is also uncertain in production, we should still find eighteen hundred or two thousand square miles in a fairly continuous territory. Its princi- pal structural lines bear to the west of north. The early history of petroleum production in this country, as is well known, was confined to Western Pennsylvania, a region which is traversed by a number ot low, parallel folds that represent the dying out to the westward of the great anticlinal series into which the whole eastern border of the continent was bent during the progress of the Appalachian revolu- tion. In the oil regions these folds were characterized by the same south- HO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. westerly direction that marks the mountains themselves. They were, however, so feeble and low that they were easily masked by the accidents of erosion, and they became apparent only as extensions of the productive oil fields. If the absolute levels of the oil rock had been determined by referring all of them to the height of mean tide, for example, the law of accumulation would certainly have come out to view with perfect dis- tinctness at the very beginning of the recent remarkable history of petroleum. In default of this, we got nothing but " belt lines," "north, forty-five degrees east," or "north, twenty-two and one-half degrees east," according to the fancy of the explorer. We all believe at bottom in order in nature and in the presence of law, and the modern mind does not rest easy until it obtains some clew to the laws that afiect the special division of nature with which it is individually concerned. These northeast and southwest lines, standing as they do for real facts in nature and admitting of a thoroughly rational explanation, which was, however, altogether missed in the earlier construction of the facts, furnished to the driller his only clew and guide. New fields were discovered by what are called *' wildcat" wells; that is, wells drilled outside of known or probable terri- tory. But as soon as a successful well was obtained, the northeast lines came at once into play and territory was thereafter taken up altogether on this basis. While the deduction had in reality an entirely rational foundation, as has already been pointed out, as it was held and used, it was purely empirical and was marked by all the disadvantages of such an origin. So long as the driller was confined to Western Pennsylvania, and the territory adjacent thereto, he did very well with his northeast lines. In following them, he was following the great structural lines of the country on which petroleum accumulation would entirely depend. He could have found, in fact, no better guide, though even then there were numerous qualifications that deserved to be recognized. But the Appala- chian Mountain system does not after all cover the entire country, and as soon as this was left behind he had no longer a right to expect the old lines to be equally serviceable in guiding his explorations. But he was not prepared to make the necessary changes. The English coal miner, when asked what was the direction of the face of his coal answered that the coal faced u two o'clock sun, as all the coal in the world does " So, the Pennsylvania driller, if transported to the Caucasus or Rocky Moun- tains would still be trying to apply his northeast lines he knows no other guide. Working directly across Ohio from Pennsylvania, as he did, it is of course natural that he should have brought this line with him. In southeastern Ohio, indeed, he had already found it as distinctly ap- plicable as in Pennsylvania, but when he struck in northwestern Ohio an THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. I I I oil and gas rock in a lower Silurian limestone, he ought to have been prepared to find all things becoming new. It cost him a great struggle to give up sandstone as the sole and necessary reservoir of oil, and even to this day he persists in calling the purest dolomite, which will promptly and wholly dissolve in acid, the " oil sand." The old law of direction for oil and gas accumulation has failed as thoroughly as the character of the reservoir rock. By far the most important single line of structure in the new fields is found in Hancock and Wood counties, and this line bears north, or a few points west of north. The production of the Findlay gas and oil field, the Van Buren gas field, the North Baltimore gas and oil field, the Bowling Green gas and oil field, are all conditioned and controlled by this factor. In the Lima field, and a part of the St. Mary's field, it is true that a northeast line comes into play for a few miles, but the area affected by this northeast structure will not, at the outside, exceed one hundred square miles, while the new fields, taken together, comprise in Ohio and Indiana, at the very lowest calculation, 2,500 square miles, and the only portion of the entire area that can, by any lawful use of the facts, be counted as embodying a northeast line have been already named. The facts are represented to the eye in the accompanying sketch map, on which all of the principal areas of the gas and oil production, derived from the Trenton limestone, are represented in proper relations to each other. If any northeast lines are found in these tracts, except in the single district already named, they will be creations of the imagination, and rather poor ones at that. They are likely to prove in the future, as they have already done in the past, in many hundreds of instances, a delusion and a snare to those who attempt to find fortune along the belts that they indicate. But it is likely that the northeast line will continue to dominate the mind of the untrained driller and prospector for a good while to come. It meets the urgent demand that is after all so honorable and hopeful a characteristic of human nature, that we shall have a theory underlying our action. The more intelligent representatives of the oil interest in the new fields know that the old reliance has failed here, and that it can not be replaced by any other as simple and com- prehensive as the "forty-five degree line" of Pennsylvania. The points that can be used in intelligent direction of exploration are those already emphasized, viz., the facts pertaining to the composition of the Trenton limestone, and the facts pertaining to its relative elevation. The data for both must first be obtained from the point of the drill, it is true, but when obtained in any locality they often give some chance for forecast in advance of the drill. A prominent structural feature, like the Findlay break r can also be turned to the best of account in the location 1 12 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. of gas and oil territory whenever it occurs ; but of such factors there are but few. In the review that is to follow the several gas fields will be described in the general order of their discovery and development. The oil fields will be considered in a separate section. The present review, therefore, must include the last two to three years. SECTION I. GAS PKODUCTION OF THE TRENTON LIMESTONE, 1888 TO 1890. (A) HANCOCK COUNTY. This county still occupies the most prominent place, all things considered, in the new gas production of northwestern Ohio. Of the eighteen townships of the county dry gas has been produced in the eight named herewith, viz., Findlay, Marion, Portage, Allen, Cass, Washington, Jackson and Eagle. Portage and Eagle townships both have small gas areas and scarcely deserve to be counted in this list, and though Jackson has furnished several large wells, none of them has proved to have staying quality, and it is hardly proper to count any longer this township as available for the supply of pipe lines or for any large and constant use Weak production of dry gas has also been ob- tained in one or two other townships, while gas assDciated with oil has been found in the townships that constitute the important oil field of the county. There are but four or five of these eighteen townships that have failed to disclose one or other form of this bituminous wealth which has bren so surprisingly added to the resources of this favored county during the last six years. Findlay township, which is now embraced entirely within the city limits of Findlay, no longer holds the first place in the gas production of the county. In this respect, indeed, it has lost most of its importance; but in the history of this production it will always be the center of interest. At the present time Allen township takes the first rank, and after it come in the order named, Cass, Washing- ton and Marion. The principal developments, including the new features of the last two year?, in each of these subdivisions, will be here noted. (1) Findlay. As will be remembered, gas was discovered in Findlay in November, 1884. The use of it was begun in 1885, but no great pro- gress was made until 1886, beyond the furnishing of a domestic supply for the residences of the city. During this year glass factories, iron and steel mills, and various other manufacturing enterprises were established. In the winter of 1886 and the spring of 1887 a period of great speculative ex accomplished can not, of course, be foretold. It is greatly to be hop d that when the Findlay glass furnaces are closed lor the Bumm r the decline will be arrested. It often happens that pressures are re^-tored, to some extent, in gas fields between May and November. They are usually lowest in March and A pill. We are obliged to conclude from the experience of Findlay that when the pressure falls to 200 pounds the field is practically dead. There will still be a large amount of gas left in the di-trict, but it will be so encum- b red with oil and water that it can no longnr be safely distributed through the lines of the present systems. The hope his been entertained by many that when the pressure of the fi' Id has fallen to 250 or 300 pounds the further decline will be arrested or at lea-t its rate of fall will be greatly reduced. The experience of some of the Pennsylvania fields is adduced as pointing in this direction. Un- fortunately the experience which is, up to this time, available in north- western lio, does not support this expectation. The decline of the Findlay fWd, for example, is arrested only when the consumption is- stopped and the point at which the arrest is made is below that at which dry jias ca>i be supplied to the pip^s. Even without any large use the pressure of the Findlay field seems to be slowly falling at the present time, one of the best remaining wells in the city proper, showing a loss of twenty pounds between March and May of the present year, falling from 220 to 200 pounds. The gas in this case must be drawn awa> to po'tions of t e field somewhat remo e from the depleted district, as but little draught is made upon it here. Allen township has been the great reliance of the Findlay and Toledo- gas trustees, and the splendid induistdes of the farmer city are leaning hard upon it now, but the record of the last year, as given in the preced- ing pag-s, is undeniably alarming. The Findlay trustees are doing all that is in their power to maintain their supply and guard their wells, but the life of the field is not within their keeping Of the twenty-four wells drilled, or purchased by the gas trustees of Toledo, about halt are located in Allen township, and much more than half of their estimated production is credited to the^e wells. An account of the importint action of this city in the matter of securing a supply of 9 G. 130 *EOLOGY OF OHIO. gas which shall be under municipal control, will be given on a succeed- ing page. The trustees made contracts with landowners to drill wells and sell them the gas when found, at specified amounts for each million feet produced by the completed wells. In one instance where ten acres were counted to a well, $1,000 per million feet of daily capacity were paid to the landowner on the completion of the wells. In another case, three wells were drilled for the trustees on fifteen acres of land, only five acres being thus allowed to "each well. The price in this case was $750 per million feet. The territory proved productive to a high degree, and the three wells aggregated more than thirty million feet of daily capacity. There is good reason to believe that if fifteen wells had been drilled on the same territory, and under the same conditions, they would have averaged as well as the three that were drilled. In this case, the produc- tion of the tract could have been raised to 150 million feet per day, or even this amount might have been farther multiplied by putting down a still greater number of wells. Of course such a multiplication would stand for nothing in the supply of a pipe line, the life and service of which should be expected to continue for a reasonable term of years. Just what acreage would have been best adapted to the character of the Allen township field, it is vain to inquire. The rival interests in the acquisition and use of the gas forbade from the first a wise and economical administration of this noble stock of power. But if at least eighty acres could have been left to each well, and if a back pressure of at least 200 pounds could have been assured to each, instead of running a meteoric race of one or two years, this sub-division of the field might have con- tinued to pour out its store of light and heat and power for possibly a decade. A single well will undoubtedly drain a large acreage. Owner of land. Owner of well. Section. Quarter. Position. Northwestern Ohio Co 1 4 wells ... E. half. << 2 N E Border ii bles,No. I Fostoria 31 N. E < 'enter of N.half 74978 " No. 2 31 N. E 150 ft. from cen. of E. line Pruyn ii SO S. E 8. E. corner .".. 746.78 8tilwell, 8 ii 30 S. W S. E. corner 745.15 " (Dry) . ii 30 S. W N. E. corner Wineland ii 32 S. W S. E. corner . week Two wells of the corporation have been cut out of the line for the reason that they had turned into oil wells. The remainder require to be "blown off" two or three times a week to relieve them of the oil and water that constantly follow the gas. The rate of advance of these sub- stances is not rapid, however, and the field shows fair vitality. The de- cline of pressure is the most serious feature in the case. The Fostoria wells, however, are so ne-ir the points of supply that they are taxed but little in delivering their gas, and they can maintain their supply when more distant stations will fall short. Some of the wells, according to the information at hand, have fallen as low as 275 pounds rock pressure, and none now exceed 325 pounds. The original pressure was 450 to 470 pounds. The loss of the last year has nowhere been less than fifty pounds and it has probably averaged seventy-five pounds. The Tiffin trustees hold a large acreage of so-called gas territory in Perry township, for which they paid $20,000. On this territory they have drilled nine wells, and with their present knowledge they would scarcely drill one, and for the entire gas right they would be willing, with their present knowledge, to pay but a very small amount. The trustees have already expended on this township, at the lowest calculation, $30,000, from which no adequate return seems likely to be secured. By this costly experiment they have come to the same point which all who were properly intelligent in regard to the fit-Id had reached when the trustees started upon the development. They had no competition at any time from those who had followed the history of tbe gas production of the neighborhood. Of these wells several are entirely unproductive several others produce oil and water in such amount that they must be excluded from the lines r and the best of them is but very small in value. 140 GEOLCGY OF OHIO. (3) Henry Township; North Baltimore. Henry township gets its dis- tinction and value in the present connection, from oil and not irom gas; but in its southeastern corner, Sections 25 and 36 have proved fair gas territory. The gas field has been found by development to make an unusuil excursion to the westward, through SfCtioiis2, 3, 4, 10, 11, Portage township, and on its return to the general northward direction that it follows here, it includes the two sections of Henry named above. The gas of these two sections has been turned to accoui.t by the village corporation of North Baltimore, and to some extent by the other -companies whose lines traverse the field. It was first reached by a well drilled in 1886 by C. C. Conroy & Co. The well was located on the Peters farm, three-quarters of a mile east of the village The Trenton is found to have risen seventy one feet in the interval between this point and the center of the corporation. The^e wells now belong to the municiptl corporation, and with two other wells furnish a full supply for tliK dwellings and the factories of the village. The original well is re- ported as continuing its production in fiir volume s'ill. The corporation has secured the gas rights of 280 acres, mainly in the west half of Section 36, and has drilled the two wells named above. The second of these was drilled a little deeper than No. 1, and whenever the back pressure is allowed to fall it throws a little ^alt water. Well No. .3 shows, in like manner, a little oil. All the wells of the line need to be blown twice a week at least. The line consists of 1,700 and 1 600 feet, respectively, of three inch And two-inch pipe, with a single line of four inch pipe to a glass factory. The rates for gas in the corporation are as follows : Cooking stoves, $1.00 per month. Heating stoves, $1.37 per month, seven months of the year. Lights, eight cents per j-t, per month. The lighting of the streets is thus far effected by torches and arches that make night hideous. It is surprising and discouraging, after all the experience that has been accumulated, to see the same wasteful policy that prevailed in the older centers blossom out on the smaller scale here. The trustees have no knowledge of the production of their wells, or of the amount of gas used irom their lines. By reason of the manufactures recently established here upon free gas, and also by reason of the develop- ment of an important oil fi-;ld included in and continuous with the village limits, the village is growing very rapidly at the present time. As in other towns, where gas is obtained, the first industry to find a foot- hold is glass manufacture. North Btltimore has secured three glass making establishments, viz. : The Enterprise Window Glass Works, with a capacity of ten pots; the Zihlman Flint Glass Works, with a THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. capacity of eight pots, and the North Baltimore Bottle Works, with a capacity of ten posts. These establishment were brought in by the promise of gas at a total charge of five dollars each per annum for ten years, and by donations on the part of citizens of the town to the parties. Village lots were given, by the sale of which $8,000 were obtained lor the building of the factory. The Bottle Works secured $15.000 in the same way, and the Zihlmau Works, $1 500. None of these factories are under any restrnint whatever as to the use of gap. If any of them choose to double or treble its plant, there would be no power to inteifere in the protection of the interests of the town. The only four-inch gas line in the town goes directly to the Window Glass Works. It is generally run wide open, and it is supposed by the trustees that this establishment con- sumes as much gas as both of the others combined. There ii- also a large factory established here for the manufacture of a fine grade of pressed brick. This manufacture depends also on the gas supplied by the corporation line. The clny is an alluvial deposit, quite similar to that which is turned to such excellent account in Findlay. The North Biltimore Works turn out a very superior article, that meets with a ready Hale in the best markets at $20 per thousand. The c< rporation has bonded itself for eight thousand dollars, the proceeds of which have been used in securing gas territory, in drilling wells, and in piping the town. It is now proposed to increase this indebtedness by the issue of $25 000 of additional bonds. With even moderate returns from the factories that are consuming nearly all the gas, the village might begin at once to reduce its indebtedness. The rock pressure is prac ically the same as that of Bloom township at the present time, viz , about 325 pounds. It is reported as originally 4^0 pounds. This wou'd show a loss of thirty-two per cent, of pressure to date, and of course a much larger per centage of loss of available pressure. Pipe Lines of the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company. In the account of the gas fields of Hancock and Wood counties, mention has repeatedly been made of this great corporation, in which the Standard Oil Company holds the controlling interest. We find it occupy- ing altogether the most prominent place in every important sub-division of the gas fi -Ids of the counties named above. It owns the gas rights of not less than thirty thousand acres, and its lands were selected from what was counted the best territory in the beginning of the development. Much of this territory it holds in large and continuous blocks. Bloom township, for example, when colored to show the areas of the different gas companies, strikes the eye as almost the solid possession of the North- western Ohio Company. The gas wells of the company are counted by 142 GEOLCGY OF OHIO. the score. Its pipe lines in Ohio aggregate nearly two hundred miles, and are supplying fuel, and to some extent, light and power to a large popula- tion. Among the towns which they reach may be named Toledo, Fre- mont, Tiffin, Fostoria, Sandusky, Clyde, Bellevue, and a number of small villages that are situated upon or near their main lines. These systems probably reach 150,000 people. The Company has also constructed a line of large size to Detroit, Michigan. All the outlays required by the best experience have been freely made in its entire plant, and its service throughout meets the highest demands. The relations of the great corporation to the landholders with which it deals are in the main amicable. Those who leased their lands before competition sprung up in regard to gas territory are somewhat dis- contented and unhappy because they are receiving so much smaller rentals than those of their neighbors who waited a year or two before leasing; and when any of the earlier contracts lapse, large advances are insisted upon and obtained for the extension of the leaseholds. In the opening of the field some of the contracts were based upon Pennsylvania experience and their terms would have proved very unjust to the land- holders. As the real facts have appeared, the rentals have in many cases been voluntarily advanced by the company. Its disbureements in the region which it mainly occupies are very large, and the farmers are deriv- ing great advantage from this new use of their lands. The company has recognized from the first the value of the gas which it has acquired, and has carefully avoided all unnecessary consumption of it. While the city of Findlay, for example, was burning millions of ieet in a day in vain display or in wanton waste, the Northwestern Com- pany was locking in every well and reducing every standpipe along its lines to the smallest possible proportions. The difference lay in the fact that one company understood the work it was engaged in, while the other not only did not understand but proved very slow to learn. The Northwestern Company has taken all needful care of its gas territory in every way. It has avoided alike the unnecessary multiplica- tion of wells and the dangerous over-draft of any. -In all ordinary cases, it maintains a back pressure of 200 pounds or more upon its wells. To this statement there are, however, numerous important exceptions that have arisen within the last year or two, as the several municipal and other corporations that are engaged in piping gas have extended their lines into the main fields, and these exceptions are at the present time multiplying rapidly. The Northwestern Ohio Company gained posses- sion at an early day of a very large acreage in such centers of gas produc- tion as Bloom township, but it was either unable to acquire or it did not count it necessary to acquire the whole of these gas lands. Occasional THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 143 farms and many smaller tracts remained outside its holdings. Village corporations, with scores of owners of one or more lots, each of the lots embracing a lew thousand square feet, were also left out of the account by the company. Its reasoning seems to have been that the lands which it did not acquire, being widely scattered and in small tracts for the most part, could not make a proper basis for any new company to enter upon the business of carrying the gas away on the large scale. The conclusion was a true one, whether taken by the company or not. There was no proper basis left in connected and sufficiently extended acreage for under- taking such line a of work, but in coming to the conclusion that on this account no one would undertake it the company was reckoning without its host. It did not make account of the boards of municipal gas trustees, and others who, following their example, presently appeared upon the scene with little or no knowledge of the business, as a rule, and with public money to expend, ready to lease or purchase any tract of land large enough to hold a derrick. A three acre or a five-acre tract, for example, was counted by such parties ample for a well. So, indeed, it would be, if let alone. A village lot would be just as advantageous a location for a well as a quarter section of land, provided other parties in interest would leave the well drilled upon the village lot the same acreage that the well of the quarter section could command. But it is certain that the other parties will not give the village well this unpurchased advantage. Where one such well appears, a second, a third and a fourth are likely to follow. Even then, although the drilling of four wells in the compass of an acre or two would be a useless waste of money, if each well were fceld locked back to a proper pressure so as to insure the safety of the immediate territory, no other evil effect would follow. The vitality of the field would be maintained for a proportionately short time, it is true, by the fourfold draught upon it, but this would only stand for rapid utili- zation of the gas. It is, however, certain that in such a case as is repre- sented, every well will not be locked back to the point necessary to pro- tect the field. One or another will be allowed to flow unobstructed, to make sure of its obtaining its proper share of the gas while it is going. Asa consequence of this treatment, water and oil are invited into the gas rock, and presently the entire district is found to be overrun and perhaps destroyed. The advent of new companies owning only small tracts leads thus not only to the unnecessary multiplication of wells, but to the premature exhaustion of entire sections of the gas field. It is even con- ceivable that one company having large and undisturbed holdings else- where, will consent to, or even deliberately work to the destruction of gome particular sub-division of the field in which it finds too many or too aggressive neighbors. 144 GEOLCGY OF OHIO. The most important section of the company's lines is the double system that reaches Toledo, which furnishes the domestic fuel of the city. Two glass furnaces and a large rolling-mill are also attached to its lines, and in addition they furnish power to a large number of manufacturing establishments of various grades. The company began the "city supply under a contract running for three years, which terminates in July, 1890. A great deal of controversy has been carried on over the rates now in force and over the renewal of a contract for another term. An account of the gas question in the city is given at more length in the succeeding section. The glass furnaces are supplied with fuel and power at the rate of $30 per pot, per month. One of the establishments is a ten-pot window glass furnace. The other is a thirteen-pot furnace for the manufacture of the finest varieties of cut glass made in the United States. The rates to these two establishments are very unequal, as both pay the same price per pot, while a window glass furnace consumes two-fifths more fuel per pot than a table ware furnace. If $30 is a proper price for a window glass furnace, $18 would be the equivalent for a table ware factory. It is almost a crime against a community to consume the natural gas that can be made tributary to it in rolling mills. The daily supply for such establishments can never be counted by less than millions of feet. It is greatly to be hoped that the Toledo lines will cut off this monstrous consumption forthwith. No gas field yet found in Ohio can be ir the bur- den of ii on working for any long term of years. It was a serious mistake for the gas companies to undertake this line of service. The gas that goes into a rolling mill every day would supply with the inexpressible con- venience and comfort of gaseous fuel 1,000 to 5,000 families. When the interests of the people and the gas companies unite as they do in shutting off such vandal-like waste of natural gas, it is to be hoped that the exclu- sion of the iron mills from the lines will soon be effected. The Toledo gas rates are given herewith. FOR COOKING. From November 1 to May 1. From May 1 to November 1. Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th. Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th Discount. Charges. Discount. Charges. No. 7 Mixer.... No. 5 Mixer.... No 3 Mixer.... 2 78 2 22 1 67 .28 .22 .17 $2 50 2 00 1 50 No. 7 Mixer... No. 5 Mixer... No. 3 Mixer... $1 66 1 39 83 .16 .14 .08 $1 50 1 25 75 THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. FOR LARGE COOKING BANGE. From November 1 to May 1. From May 1 to November 1. Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th. Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th. Discount. Charges. Discount. Charges. No. 9 Mixer.... 83 33 .33 $3 00 No. 9 Mixer... 82 22 .22 82 00 FOR LAUNDRY. (When gas is furnished for cook stove also.) Monthly charges. Discount. Charges. Monthly charges. Discount. Charges. No. 7 Mixer.... ' 81 11 .11 81 00 No. 5 Mixer... $ 83 .08 $ 75 Manufacturers' rates for fuel shall be 75 per cent, of the cost of coal, and no more. FOR HEATING. -A 7 o. 7 Mixer. Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th. Annual charges. If paid before the 10th Discount. Charges. Discount. Charges. 1st Mixer... 2d Mixer.... 3d Mixer.... 4th Mixer.. 5th Mixer.. 6th Mixer.. . $5 00 4 44 3 89 3 33 2 78 2 22 .50 .44 .39 53 .28 .22 84 50 4 fO 3 50 3 00 2 50 2 00 1st Mixer. 2d Mixer 3d Mixer 4th Mixer 5th Mixer 6th Mixer 830 00 2fi 64 23 34 19 98 16 68 13 32 83 00 2 64 2 34 1 98 1 68 1 32 527 CC 24 00 21 00 18 OC 15 00 12 00 No. 5 Mixer. Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th. Annual charges. If paid before the 10th. Discount. Charges. Discount. Charges. 1st Mixer. . 2d Mixer.... 3d Mixer.... 4th Mixer.. 5th Mixer.. 6th Mixer.. S3 89 3 33 2 78 2 22 1 66 1 39 .39 .33 .28 .22 .16 .14 83 50 3 00 2 50 2 1 50 1 25 1st Mixer 2d Mixer 3d Mixer 4th Mixer 5th Mixer 6th Mixer $23 34 19 98 16 68 13 32 9 96 8 34 82 34 1 98 1 58 1 32 % 84 821 00 18 00 15 00 12 00 9 00 7 50 10 G. 146 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. No. 3 Mixer. (For heating small rooms, and for special purposes.) Monthly charges. If paid before the 10th. Discount. Charges. 1st Mixer $222 1 66 32 ' .16 82 00 1 50 2d Mixer FURNACES. If paid before the 10th. Annual contracts. Monthly charges. Discount Charges. Annual charges. Discount. Charges. "A" Mixer, 21-inch fire pot $6 95 $ 70 8625 $41 70 $420 $37 50 B" Mixer, 24-inch fire pot 8 66 86 7 80 51 96 5 16 46 80 "C" Mixer, 26-inch fire pot 9 44 94 8 50 56 64 5 64 51 00 "D" Mixer, 28 inch fire pot 10 00 1 00 9 ) 60 00 6 00 54 00 "E" Mixer, 30-ii.ch fire pot 11 66 1 16 10 50 69 96 6 96 63 00 "F" Mixer, 35-inch fire pot 13 89 1 39 12 50 83 34 8 34 7500 The Toledo Pipe Line. The city of Toledo has been engaged for the last two years in by far the largest undertaking in connection with natural gas of any municipal corporation in the State, and, although the work upon which it has entered, has not yet been completed, its importance demands that an ac- count of the action already taken, shall be given in this chapter. In 1887 natural gas from the Wood and Hancock county fields was introduced into Toledo by two companies, known respectively as the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company, and the Toledo Natural Gas Company. In the former, leading representatives of the Standard Oil Company were known to hold a controlling interest. It was given out at first that the second company was independent of the great corporation, and that its presence in Toledo would insure competition in gas rates ; but it soon became apparent that it was not likely to bring about such a result. The two companies evidently held the same views as to the business which they had in hand, and during the last year the second company has been formally merged in the first. The maximum rate that the companies could charge for gas in the city was fixed by the common council, after considerable discussion, for a period of three years. The rates were not in excess of those prevailing in other towns of the country which obtain their supplies of gas from fields twenty or more miles distant. From a table published in the American Manufacturer, December 6, 1889, the following data are taken : THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 147 Annual Rates for Cook Stoves. (1) Toledo, (5) Youngstown, (2) Fremont, (6) Meadville, Pa., (3) Tiffin, (7) Jamestown, N. Y., (4) Titusville, Pa., (8) Erie, Pa. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) $19.50 $19.00 $16.00 $24.00 $25.00 $32.00 $28.30 $31.50 Annual Mates for Heating Stoves a single heater being employed. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) $21.00 16.00 $16.20 $24.00 $18.00 $21.00 $23.40 $26.45 The rate at Toledo on cook stoves was the result of a compromise, $18 being named by one company and $21 by the other. Considerable reductions were allowed when more than one heater was employed, and different rates were charged also for mixers of different sizes. The years 1887 and 1888 marked great activity in the towns situated in or near to the gas fields. Such towns, were, during this time, holding out potent inducements to manufacturers to locate in them, especially by the offer of free fuel, and many of these towns were securing the establish- ment of glass factories, iron mills and other like enterprises. Findlay, Bowling Green, Fostoria, and later Tiffin, all attracted large and important manufactures on the basis named. These towns were consequently making rapid gains in population and in volume of trade, and from some points of view they could be counted as gaining at the expense of Toledo. With these towns that were able to offer free fuel, Toledo could not com- pete. The companies above named had brought natural gas into the city, it is true; but they had brought it in to turn it into money, and they were not in any way directly interested in building up the town, and least of all in creating the state of speculative excitement, called a " boom," so dear to the heart of the real estate dealer. They had already learned that by far the largest returns for natural gas were to be derived from its use in domestic supply, and they were unwilling to appropriate any large part of the production of their lines to great factories that would not expect to pay more than a quarter or a tenth of what the former use would bring to them; if, indeed, such establishments did not expect the gas to be fur- nished without any charge, whatever. In other words, the companies preferred to make the money out of the gas themselves, rather than to turn it over with scanty advantage to themselves, to real estate dealers and manufacturers to make money out of. The inferior position of Toledo, as contrasted with the towns already named in these respects, became a source of annoyance and irritation to many of her active business* men. 148 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. and during the winter of 1887 and 1888, more than six thousand names were attached to a petition sent from Toledo to the State Legislature, to obtain authority for the city to construct a gas line from the .southern fields to its limits. A vigorous opposition to this project was, howe\ 7 er, made at this time by many citizens. The dissatisfaction with the situation grew rapidly, however, during the subsequent year, and it had gathered such force that early in the session of 1889, the legislature was easily prevailed upon to pass an enabling act, authorizing the city to provide for a pipe line to the gas fields. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives almost unani- mously, and by the Senate by a vote of twenty-three to eleven, the vote of the last body being taken after a committee of its members had visited Toledo and had studied the situation on the ground. It became a law on January 22, 1889. This action of the legislature is said to have been vigorously opposed by the gas companies. A provision was inserted in the bill requiring ratification of the action by a three-fourths vote of the citizens. At the election in April, 1889, after an energetic and spirited canvass,, the vote in favor of the ftity line was 7,002, an^l the vote in oppo- sition 4,199. These figures show more than 62 per cent, in favor of the bill, and less than 38 per cent, opposed to it. The governor forthwith appointed a board of five gas trustees, who entered upon their duties in April, 1889, the common council unani- mously authorizing the sale of $75,000 of the bonds to enable them to be- gin their active work. The advertisement of the sale of these bonds was the signal for the beginning of open resistance on the part of the North- Avestern Ohio Natural Gas Company. Application was at once made in the United States Circuit Court of the northern district of Ohio, for an injunction against the sale of the bonds. The case was heard in chambers at Nashville, Tennessee, Judge Howell E. Jackson presiding. A strong and sweeping decision was given by Judge Jackson in favor of the city, affirming the full right of municipalities to undertake work of the charac- ter proposed. The first issue of bonds to the amount of $75,000, was sold in June, 1889, and the trustees at once proceeded to procure gas territory in the Hancock and Wood county gas fields. The Allen township district was at this time the most promising subdivision of the field, and here the chief investments of the Toledo trustees were made, though tracts were leased along their proposed pipe line, for a distance of nine miles from north to south. The acreage that they secured was comparatively small, aggregat- ing not more than five or six hundred acres ; but the separate tracts were located at the very centers of the best production. In Allen township contracts of a peculiar kind in this line of business- THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 149 were entered into with certain parties owning gas lands. One company, organized under the designation of The Stuarts ville Land Association, entered into a contract to furnish fifty million feet of gas per day from completed wells, the wells to be so located that each should have ten acres tributary to it. For every million feet of gas produced, the company was to receive one thousand dollars. The company owned or controlled about 150 acres. On one tract of fifty-three acres six wells were drilled. The contract was fulfilled and the aggregate specified amount was turned over to the trustees in completed wells. Three other wells which were drilled by J. R. Ware, Esq., on a fifteen-acre tract, near Stuartsville, proved the largest of the whole number secured by the city. Their aggregate daily volume was 32,465,560 feet, but because of the smaller acreage going with each well, onl^y $750 per 1,000,000 feet was paid. Mr. Ware received for the combined production over $24,000. Still other wells were drilled on village lots. In their first annual report, dated December 31, 1889, the gas trustees gave a list of twenty-four wells that the city now owns, including those already named, the daily capacity of which is given as 154,880,054 cubic feet. When it became evident that the city of Toledo was to enter the gas fields as a competitor of the companies already established there, the price of gas territory was rapidly advanced. The Findlay gas trustees had been driven out of their own township by the exhaustion of the home supply and began leasing lands in the nearest available territory, viz., in Allen, Cass and Marion townships. For single farms they are now pay- ing as high an annual rental as $20 per acre. The Northwestern Ohio Company, in like manner, sought to increase and consolidate its gas lands, and it did not hesitate to advance rentals to many times what they had previously been. The Toledo trustees were obliged to make all their leases and purchases under these conditions. During the year the balance of the gas bonds, viz., $675,000, was placed upon the market. Of this amount a hundred thousand dollars was taken by citizens of Toledo, but no bids were obtained from the moneyed centers, by which it was expected that the bonds would all be promptly absorbed. The sales up to the present date are all reported in the two items already ^iven. The balance of the bonds, $575,000, remain unsold. The friends of the pipe line project attribute the lack of bids to the efforts of the North- western Ohio Gas Company and its natural friends and allies, the Standard Ohio Company, by whom the money markets were prejudiced against the bonds. There seems no reason to doubt that this charge is founded in fact. Through the agency of the Northwestern Ohio Company, suit was afterward brought in the United States Courts, although the injunction had been denied, and a hearing was given to the case upon its merits. A decision was rendered in January, 1890, again in favor of the validity of I5O GEOLOGY OF OHIO the action entered upon by the city. The case is still, however, in court, and is probably destined to reach the highest tribunal of the United States for adjudication. The delay has, however, worked against the city and has served the opposing interests, almost as well as- success in court would have done, as will be hereafter shown. The gas trustees have come into possession, as will be seen, of some- what more than $175,000, by the sale of the bonds and by accumulation of premiums. For gas territory and wells they have expended about $120,000, and for other purposes somewhat more than $30,000, leaving about $45,000, which has recently been applied to the construction of a pipe line from the gas fields, as far as the money would go. The line as laid begins in the northwest quarter of section 30, Allen township. As projected, it is to consist of twenty-nine miles of ten-inch, wrought iron, screw-joint pipe, opening into about eight miles of twelve-inch wrought iron pipe. Two eight-inch wrought iron pipes of extra strength are to be laid across and underneath the Maumee River. The field connections are to be made by three, four ami .six-inch wrought iron pipes. All of the materials it is designed shall be of the best. A few miles of the main line have been already laid, but the work is at present arrested for the want of available funds with which to continue it. There seems to be no present probability that the line can be completed during the current year. Meanwhile, the portions of the field in which the best production of the Toledo wells is to be found, are being rapidly depleted of their gas. The Findlay trustees are obliged to draw hard upon the same region in order to meet the large demand which their factories make. The North- western Ohio Company sees to it that a well of its own is drilled close ta every well of the Toledo Company. If the latter locates a well on a village lot, another lot near by is made to give standing ground for a new derrick, and pipe line connections are extended to every well as soon as it is com- pleted. In this respect, the Northwestern Company has an overwhelming advantage. It can fill its lines from the new wells and shut back the pro- tected portions of the field. The rock pressure in the Allen township field has fallen fully 100 pounds during the last ten months ; and all the wells, whether worked, or locked in, have fallen alike. The gas rock is also being rapidly overrun with oil to a dangerous extent. Shrinkage in volume accompanies the fall of rock pressure. One of the large wells of the Find- lay trustees, in the Stuartsville field, was re-measured in June, 1890, and it was found to have lost, without use, fully 40 per cent, of the volume that it showed in August, 1889. The figures given above for the Toledo production probably need to be divided by two or by even a larger number to express the present volume. It is certain that the rock pressure has been lessened more than 25 per cent, within the year, and all this without THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 15 1 any use of the wells owned by the city trustees. If the line should reach the field this fall, it would find it in a state of incipient exhaustion, and if it does not reach the field until 1891, in case the decline that has been in steady progress for the last year shall be kept up during the coming winter, it will find no dry gas to take away. At least, it does not now seem possible that dry gas in large enough quantity for manufacturing supplies can be found in the Stuartsville field for more than one, or at most two winters, especially if severe weather occurs; Even if no delay had been experienced in the construction of the pipe line, the production reported in these figures of the trustees would have furnished but a short-lived supply, by reason of the crowding of the wells. More than one-fifth of the entire amount reported is derived from the three Ware wells, to which, as will be remembered, but fifteen acres of land are tributary. In a gas rock of the character shown in the Allen township field, fifty acres would be a small enough assignment of territory for a single well. The controversy has engendered bitter feeling, and has led to more or less acrimonious discussion throughout the city and adjacent commu- nities. There is probably a considerable number' of the citizens, though a decided minority, that distrust the policy on which the city has entered. But some of this class appear to have laid aside their opposition through resentment at the depreciation of the credit of the city, which has been brought about by the Northwestern Gas Company in the course of the struggle. The Gas Company takes the ground that, after being encouraged, and authorized by the people of Toledo through their regularly constituted representatives to bring the much-coveted fuel into the city, and after hav- ing done this by an outlay of more than a million dollars on its part, its business ought not to be destroyed by the action of the city itself. It further holds that after having taken the only proper way to pro- vide a basis for large pipe lines, by securing at heavy outlay large and con- tinuous tracts of gas lands, it is not right for another company to come in and establish a line on the mere odds and ends of land that are left over from such occupation. It demonstrates that the second company has no proper basis when it empties the wells that this company has drilled with- out going off of its own ground. (4) Portage and Liberty Townships. The petroliferous production of these two townships takes the form of oil rather than gas at the present time. In fact, neither of these areas really deserves the name of gas territory. In the earlier stages of the development, when gas alone was valued and the discovery of oil was counted ill-fortune, a few sections along' the borders of these two townships were considered available for the supply of the pipe lines that were being extended across them. But 152 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. these sections never produced dry gas constantly for any great lengt\x o time. Oil and water were almost the invariable accompaniments of the gas at an early stage in these wells. The best of the territory was the extreme northwesterly sections of Portage township. The tract of Water- lime or Lower Helderberg rocks, in which the valley of the Portage is now established, indicates a low level of the underlying Trenton, and all the facts of the development correspond to these indications of the surface geology. The most productive and best protected territory of the township is found as the rock rises from the swamp toward the north- ward. The gas wells of this territory have seldom ranged above one million feet in daily capacity. Several of them have showed fair vitality, responding to a heavy and steady drain for two years or more. They were not adequate, however, to the service asked of them, and both volume and pressure have fallen to such a point that they are no longer greatly valued. (5) Center and Plain Townships. Along the boundaries of these two townships, as in the case last described, a light production of gas was found in the early history of the field. The wells showed an original pressure of about 450 pounds, but their volumes were never large. A history of this district is found in Volume VI. Nearly all the gas it has produced has been utilized by the village of Bowling Green, and the further account of this part of the field can best be given in connection with the history of the gas supply of this town. Bowling Green. There are two companies bringing gas into Bowling Green, one a public, and the other a private corporation. The municipal corporation, through a board of gas trustees, has leased lands, drilled wells, laid pipe lines, and undertaken to supply the glass factories and other manufacturing enterprises of the town with fuel. The domestic supply, on the other hand, has been furnished from the first by the private company. The corporation trustees have already expended fifty thousand dollars in their work. Five glass factories have been brought in to depend on the supply of gas which the corporation offered, without charge, for five years, or rather at the nominal charge of five dollars per annum for each factory. The names and lines of production of the glass factories are as follows : Canastota Glass Company, window glass, twenty pots ; Buckeye Novelty Glass Company, table ware, six pots, and one tank of the same capacity, equals twelve pots ; Ly thgo Glass Company, table ware, fruit jars, etc., six pots; Crystal Glass Company, table ware, bottles, etc., ten pots; Safe Glass Company, bottles, jars, etc., one tank, equals eight pots; total, window glass, twenty pots ; table ware, thirty-six pots. These factories require for their daily supply 1,400,000 cubic feet of gas for the window glass plant, and for the table ware, four plants, 1,800,- THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 153 000 feet, or a total supply of 3,200,000 feet per day. To meet this demand, the trustees have drilled in all twelve wells in the territory which they had secured, mainly in the northern sections of Portage township. Nine of these wells are still in the line, but three have completely failed. None of these wells exceeded in daily volume one million feet per day when they were first drilled ; their best average would probably not have greatly exceeded five hundred thousand feet. The field did not prove adequate to a demand of this character, and consequently the wells were over- drawn and their rock pressure and volume began to decline to an alarm- ing extent in the winter of 1888 and 1889. The decline has continued without abatement or reduction of rate up to the present time, the last registration of the gauges of the company showing but 100 pounds in the wells. During the past year, in the vain attempt to meet the heavy demand that had been already established, the wells have been allowed to flow without any back pressure, and consequently they have been invaded by oil and water to a troublesome, or even to a fatal degree. The trustees see no promise in drilling new wells to relieve the situation, for the reason that the later wells, when brought in, show the same exhausted condition of the gas rock as that which the earlier wells show. In other words, the decline of their gas territory affects the entire region which the leases of the company cover. During the last winter the smaller glass works that were nearest the field secured a moderate supply of gas for them- selves, but the larger factories that happened to be built to the northward of the town were subject to a constantly increasing shortage of fuel, until at last their fires went out altogether. The trustees have endeavored to induce their neighbors of the private gas company, and also the North- western Ohio Gas Company, whose line passes near the corporation boundary, to undertake the supply of these factories in their place ; but neither company seems disposed to respond to the call, and the largest glass company is now planning removal to some other location. These works were destroyed by fire in the early part of 1889, but were re-built by a contribution of $25,000, raised by the citizens. They had previously received a considerable donation from the town in the shape of land, in addition to fuel, without charge. The Bowling Green Natural Gas Company, the private corporation above referred to, has maintained a good supply of gas for domestic fuel through the town during the last two years. The lands of this company interlock, to a considerable extent, with the lands of the municipal cor- poration, but it has been possible for it to take proper care of its own wells, and accordingly they are in much better condition than those last described. The rock pressure has, however, declined in all of them, so 154 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. that it nowhere registers above 170 pounds at present. The last of the wells to be drilled, which was completed in the fall of 1889, on compara- tively fresh territory, showed an initial pressure of 190 pounds. The gas itself shows the incipient exhaustion of the field. It is less lively than at first, from the constant invasion of oil. The mixers become clogged and its flow is obstructed in ordinary use. The company has become satisfied that if it would maintain its supply, it must acquire new and more productive territory, for its home sources are practically exhausted. It has, accordingly, bought land and gas rights to the extent of $36,000 in Bloom and Henry townships, to the south of the Portage swamp, already described, and it proposes to extend its lines to this field. The wells that are being drilled there at the present time find' a rock pressure of 325 to 330 pounds. If this field, with this pressure, is judiciously treated, it ought to prolong the life of the supply by several years. Lime burning by natural gas has been carried on in a large way at Bowling Green and at Portage for the last three years, and probably with as much success as at any point in the field. The limestone that makes the eastern boundary of the corporation offers the best of facilities for obtaining the rock. The quality of the rock is high, its composition showing it to be an almost chemically pure dolomite, like most of the Niagara limestone of northern Ohio. All the difficulties experienced in the first attempts to manufacture lime by the use of gas as a fuel have one by one been overbcome. The lime burned has been mainly depend- ent on the wells of the private company, rather than on the line of the municipal corporation. The products of these quarries and kilns is" highly valued by the glass manufacturers of the new field, as well as by those of Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. For this use the raw stone is ground, in part, and in part the lime itself is ground, while still other manufacturers prefer to use the lime in bulk. The four kilns of this dis- trict average in daily production from 75 to 100 barrels each. By anemometer measurements, taken one year ago, it was found that each kiln consumed from 150 to 175 thousand feet of gas in the production of a hundred barrels of lime, or 1,500 to 1,750 cubic feet in burning one barrel of lime. The price charged for the fuel used in burning the lime is three cents per barrel. The cost of fuel, if wood were used, even at the cheap rate of $1.25 per cord, at which it can be furnished in Bowling Green, would be at least twice the price which is paid for the gas. The magnesian lime of Bowling Green has also been brought into requisition for paper factories and pulp works to some extent. Both of thgse lines of consumption have heretofore been directed entirely to the hotter lirnee derived from the true carbonates. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 155 In the history of Bowling Green we can see the stages through which all the dther towns that have introduced gas, as a fuel, must each in its turn expect to pass. The failure of the supply in Bowling Green has come sooner than was anticipated by any one, but the several stages have, after all, been distinctly marked. In 1887 the rock pressure was 450 pounds; in 1888, 375 to 390 pounds; in 1889, February, 290 pounds; in 1890, May, in the gas company's wells, 170 pounds ; in 1890, May, in the gas trustees' wells, 100 pounds. The volume has given out in apparently the same proportion. The remnant of the gas of the field will doubtless be highly valued, and domestic fuel in considerable amount can still be supplied by it, but the larger uses are apparently already at an end. (6) Remaining Townships. In Middleton and Perrysburg town- ships small quantities of gas have been found in the Trenton, just enough to lure on the companies drilling the wells to repeated trials. No value has thus far been derived from the supply. Gas is, of course, found in considerable quantity in association with the oil of Montgomery and Freedom townships, but no store has been found separate and distinct from the oil. These occurrences will, therefore, best be treated under a subsequent head. (7) The Waterville Gas Field. No better point will be found in which to give a brief history of the Waterville gas field than the present. Although it belongs in an adjoining county, all the approaches to the .field were made through the northern townships of Wood. Its develop- ment was begun by parties representing Maumee interests. An effort was made to establish a glass plant here, and in the search for an adequate supply of fuel wells were drilled in the river valley, at intervals, several miles above the town. They were finally extended to the village limits of Waterville. The corporation of Maumee was at last led, in 1887, to purchase the territory and wells that had already been tested, to lay a pipe line, and to undertake the supply of its population with fuel. Eight wells have been drilled in all, in this subdivision of the field. The gas was brought in to Maumee by five miles of four-inch pipe, opening into one mile of six-inch pipe. When the work was begun the supply was counted ample for the town, but it proved insufficient when less than 500 stoves had been attached to it ; and in the course of the first year of its use the supply was found to be overtaxed when 300 stoves were depend- ent on it. The wells of the corporation were measured in March, 1889, with the following result : 156 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Cobb well, No. 2 59,227 cubic feet per day. " " 3 15,780 " " " 4 46,209 Hutchinson well V 73,440 Haskins well 70,560 Ballou well, No 1 30,672 " " 2 60,768 Starkweather well 73,440 Total production 430,000 " " These wells found the Trenton at a fairly favorable depth, viz., from 1,125 to 1,150 feet, but the rock was lacking in porosity. The closed pres- sure of the wells was never reported above 300 pounds. Several of the wells showed a small quantity of oil in the Clinton limestone. The corporation has since abandoned the vain attempt to supply fuel from this source, and the people have gone back to one of the North- western Ohio Company's lines, which passes through the corporation limits. The gas rates established by the home company, while its supply was maintained, was one half of the Toledo rates. The latter are in force under the service of the Northwestern Ohio Company. The entire amount invested by the corporation in the plant must be counted lost. () GAS WELLS OF MERCER COUNTY. The important gas production of Mercer county is confined at pres- ent to three townships, viz., Franklin, Marion and Granville. The gas field of Franklin, which is developed considerably in advance of either of 11 G. 1 62 GEOLOGY OF OHIQ. the others, is a bodily extension of the St. Mary's gas field last described, sharing all the peculiar features of the latter. The Trenton limestone lies in it at a depth of about 1,100 feet below the surface, and about 200 to 250 feet below tide. It gives rise to somewhat larger wells than the eastern half of St. Mary's, the maximum figures being attained in the Nedderman well, section 26, southwest quarter. In 1888, this well showed fifty-five pounds open pressure in a three-inch pipe, which stands for a daily production of 9,962,000 cubic feet, which is practically 10,000,000. The original rock pressure of the Nedderman well has already been given in a preceding paragraph, viz., 395 pounds. This is the highest pressure registered in this section of the field. As shown in the discussion above referred to, it is, however, about the normal pressure that the Trenton limestone, under the conditions as to depth which here prevail, should show. Nearly the whole of Franklin township is counted gas territory, the southwestern sections only being excluded from the boundaries which are recognized at the present time. The main development has been made in sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 1, 2 and 3, in all embracing nearly twenty square miles. Marion township has been tested mainly on its northeastern border, where it unquestionably shows the character of the Franklin township field. There is no present ground for expecting the southern half of the township to repay further exploration. The Granville township gas field, as far as developed at the present time, consists of about ten square miles in the southeastern quarter of the township, with sections 25, 26 and 27 for the northern boundary of the field. The character of the gas production of these several centers can best be shown in a brief review of the several pipe lines that are carrying gas away from this field. (1) The Oelina Pipe Line. A private corporation, viz., The Celina Light and Fuel Company, consisting of thirty stockholders, with capital stock of $90,000, of which $50,000 is paid up, is furnishing Celina with fuel for domestic use, and also, to some extent, for manufacturing purposes, The company holds under lease about 500 acres of approved gas land in sections 28 and 30, Franklin township, upon which it has already drilled five wells. The territory is fairly compact, but still several small tracts are included within it, of which other gas companies have obtained control. The Mercer, the Van Wert and the Urbana companies hold the interlocking territory. The line consists of seven miles of four-inch pipe and two miles of six-ineh pipe, the latter being distributed in the town. The rock pressure THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 163 which the wells showed when first drilled was 380 pounds. Early in 1889, it fell to 350 pounds, in 1890 to 325 pounds, and at the present time, June, 1890, it registers 540 pounds. The pressure sometimes falls below the danger line under the demands made upon the gas. The locations of the wells are as follows : No. 1, northwest corner of northwest quarter of section 30; Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all in section 28 and mainly in the southwest quarter. The volumes of the several wells are approximately as follows : No. 1, original volume 1,500,000 cubic feet; a small production of oil came with the first gas and has gained upon the gas so that the well is no longer of great value. No. 2, originally estimated 5,000,000 cubic feet; probably about 2,000,000 feet at the present time. No. 3, by measurement from three- inch pipe, early in 1890, 3,935,000 cubic feet ; No. 4, 2,187 500 cubic feet. The latter measurement was taken in the tubing. The domestic use of gas in Celina does not extend to more than about a thousand stoves. In addition, a flouring mill, several boilers in small factories, and two glass furnaces are supplied with fuel from the lines of the company. The glass furnaces consume a good deal more gas than all the rest combined. The ten-pot window glass factory uses about 700,000 feet per day upon the average, as has been determined by a month's careful observation of a pipe line guage. The tank of the second glas? factory has not yet settled to regular work and no estimate can be therefore formed of its consumption. The company already finds it somewhat difficult to keep up the sup- ply, and this difficulty is sure to increase in time to come. The gas is to be furnished to the glass furnaces free for five years, by a contract entered into on the part of the company and common council, but there are some possible complications arising from the terms of the contract, The ten- pot furnace was built on the assurance that it required but about 300,000 cubic feet of gas per day, while the actual amount of this and every other ten-pot furnace in the gas field is more than twice this amount. If the company could have secured any protected area of gas which could be held for its own use, it would undoubtedly have conduced far more 1o the public advantage to have maintained this supply for domestic use alone than to have burned it as rapidly as it is now doing in these glass furnaces. This most admirable of fuels could have been maintained under such circumstances for a term of a do/en, or possibly a score of years. But, deriv- ing their supply from a field which is reached by ambitious corporations whose lines go out to large centers of population and manufacturing enter- prises, the smaller companies have no resource but to take the gas while it is going, and to obtain their share of advantage from it in every way possible. The 500 acres of the company can not long survive the heavy draft which it is now obliged to make upon them. Its territory has already 1 64 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. lost at least one-fourth of the original pressure of the gas, and the volume has fallen in like proportion. If the company could even now get free from its contracts with the glass houses, a longer lease of life could be assured for the domestic supply. Since writing the above paragraph, the Celina Municipal Corporation has purchased from the company named above the entire plant, land,, lines and distribution service, and another case of the supply of fuel and light at the public charge is to be recorded in the State. The company received from the corporation two dollars for every dollar invested. The rates for gas remain as fixed by the original company, viz., one dollar per month for a stove a price far below the real value of the service. (2) The Mercer Pipe Line. The Mercer Natural Gas Company, in which eastern capital is largely represented, makes by far the largest use of the gas of Mercer county. In fact, it transports more gas than any company in the State, the Northwestern Ohio Company alone being ex- cepted. It derives from Franklin township the bulk of the supply Avhich it is furnishing to the cities and villages to the south of it, including Day- ton, Springfield, Piqua, Troy, Sidney, Tippecanoe, Covington, Versailles, and several small villages in addition. It has a few wells in Marion town- ship, which adjoins Franklin on the south, and it also holds a consider- able acreage in St. Mary's township, upon which a number of good wells have been drilled, and from which the Company has, at times, drawn very heavily. Its pipe line consists of two main stems, one of which, starting from Section 36, Franklin township, extends to the southward as far as Piqua and Troy. This line is eight inches in diameter through its entire extent ; but from a point due west of Sidney, a six- inch pipe is taken off, which delivers gas to that town. The gas for this system is gathered by a six-inch pipe, which traverses a number of land sections in Franklin and in St. Mary's townships. Two miles south of Troy, the Piqua line unites with the other main stem, which consists of a twelve-inch line with about five miles of ten-inch pipe nearest to the wells. It starts from the St. Henry's, or Dwyer wells of Granville township. This is known as the Dayton line. A few miles south of Troy, a ten-inch line goes out from the united stem to Springfield, while the main twelve-inch line continues to Dayton. These lines are all constructed of the best material and are laid in the best manner, and the entire service is kept up to the highest standard of efficiency. Wells have been drilled for the Company on the following named farms in Franklin township : THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 165 PARTIAL LIST OF WELLS OF MERCER NATURAL GAS COMPANY IN FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP. Name of landowner. Section. Quarter. J. Offenhour 20 H. E. Bennett 21 I. Brandon 22 C. Schmidt 24 L. Doenges 25 R. Wellman 25 L. Strassburg 25 E. Long 26 W. F. Nedderman 26 A. H. Vornholt 26 I.Selby 27 E. A. McGee 28 H. Schwieterman 33 W. C. F. Ahlers.. 35 G. Bertke 35 D. C. Ahlers 36 H. J. Doenges 36 J. Temple 36 J. F. Dammeyer 36 W. Kawell 1 C. Koettger..... I. C. Greene 1 II. F. Dammeyer 1 J. C. Schierholtz 1 A. H. Hirschfield .. 2 S. E. N. E. N. W. S. W. S. E. S. W. S. W. S. E. S. E. S. W. S. W. K. E. S. W. S. E. N. W. N. W. N. W. N. E. S. E. N. W. N. W. S. E. N. E. S. W. N. E. Of this list, the Nedderman, Schierholtz, Offenhour wells are counted among the strongest, the first one having a volume of very nearly ten million cubic feet per day when first drilled. In 1889, there were prob- ably but two or three wells of the entire list that produced less than one million feet per day, and the average production of the list would prob- ably exceed three million feet per day, and might possibly reach three and a quarter million feet. This is certainly an excellent record. The company holds a very large acreage in an almost continuous and un- broken tract in the eastern half of the township, and especially in what is counted the best gas land. It is thus able to protect its territory, except from the excessive draft of its own lines. That the territory must feel the draft already established on it goes without saying. It is probable that the reduction of volume in the wells already enumerated for the year ending August, 1889, would not fall below 25 per cent. Such a decline, at least, is found to be the case with the wells of the neighboring district. The highest original rock pressure observed in Franklin township, as has been already shown, was 395 pounds. Parts of the township still show a summer pressure of 340 pounds. The decline in pressure has been much slower than the decline in volume. 1 66 GEOLOGY OF OHIO (3) The Van Wert Pipe Line. The Van Wert Natural Gas Company is now drawing a supply of fuel for the town to which it belongs from the Franklin township field. It has leased several hundred acres of land in Sections 28 and 31, and has drilled five wells, all of which show good vol- ume and pressure. These lands interlock with those of the Mercer and Celina companies. The company did not abandon its own immediate neighborhood until it had been demonstrated that no gas supply was available there. The wells first drilled in the vicinity of Van Wert seemed to have encour- aged the company to such an extent that in 1888 it proceeded to pipe the town in advance of securing a supply of gas. When later it began this important part of the work it found itself disappointed on every side. The exploration was kept up until fourteen wells had been drilled in Ridge and Pleasant townships. Several of these were total failures, and the very best that were obtained were inadequate to the supply of 250 stoves in the town. There had now been expended fifty thousand dollars, and there was nothing to show for it. It was in this emergency that lands were leased in Mercer county. Of the first two wells drilled in the new field, the production of one was light, but the second was counted good for six million feet per day. The two were thought to promise an adequate volume, and the company proceeded to lay a pipe line from Franklin township to Van Wert. The line is thirty-one miles lotfg. The first twenty miles of it consists of six-inch pipe; the balance is eight-inch pipe. The gas is gathered in the field by four-inch pipe. The line is laid under water across the Mercer Reservoir, the Board of Public Works giving the company this privilege at an annual rental of $100. The rock pressure, when the wells were drilled in the summer of 1889, was 385 pounds ; the reduction during the last year has been but forty pounds, the gauges now showing 345 pounds. The draft upon this section of the field is just beginning, and its prospective duration can be estimated more safely after another year of use. The two glass furnaces of Celina are making the heaviest demand upon it at present. (4) The Urbana Pipe Line. Urbana has been very unwilling to take "no" for an answer to the question, whether gaseous fuel could be found in the rocks that underlie the town. As is proper, the answer has been sought at the point of the drill, but the importunity of the town has been very costly. In Vol. VI, Geology of Ohio, the records of five tests of the Trenton limestone in this immediate neighborhood are given. In one well the limestone was penetrated to a depth of 380 feet, where a strong flow of salt water was reached. In other wells the effects of heavy shots were invoked, and in fact nothing was omitted in the way of proving the THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 167 new horizon. These wells were all failures. No value worth recording was developed in any of them. In 1889, however, legislative authority was sought and obtained for the submission to the popular vote of a proposition to bond the town for $250,000, the funds to be used in finding and utilizing natural gas. The proposition was voted upon, and a vote of 1,240 votes cast, only twenty- seven of which were recorded in opposition to the issue of the bonds. Five gas trustees, selected from among the leading citizens of Urbana, were appointed by the Governor ; and the first work done by this board, presumably in obedience to the popular demand, was to bore another deep well in the neighborhood of the town. In this well, the driller was able to get down 2,100 feet before finding a strong flow of salt water; but the flood found at that depth could not be shut out from the well, and the privilege of using public money in sinking the well more than 800 feet below any geological horizon in which gas has ever been discovered in the hundreds and thousands of wells that have been drilled in the country at large, was denied the town. In Dayton and in Springfield private means had been expended in drilling wells 1,800 feet and 2,100 feet, respectively, below the top of the Trenton limestone, without any result but the dis- covery of a great many different horizons of salt water. This last test seemed, however, in some way, to satisfy the people, that it was not worth while to drill longer in their immediate vicinity. There is ground for congratulation on this result being reached at length. The record of this well was like the records of those that had preceded it, and it was entitled to no more respect than had been awarded to them. It settled nothing that had not been settled already. The next step of the trustees was to visit the northern gas fields and to secure territory there. Locations were sought in Mercer county as the nearest section of good gas land. About 450 acres of land were leased in Marion township, mainly in Section 12, directly south of the great Schier- holtz well of the Mercer Company. Of the lands thus leased, 320 acres lie in a compact body. Three wells have been drilled for the company, the aggregate gas production of which, from the tubing, without the use of torpedoes, is reported as ten million feet per day. The gas is entirely dry, neither water nor oil being found associated with it in any of the wells. The rock pressure of the field at the present time is 340 to 345 pounds. The lands of the company lay somewhat outside of previously proved territory and thus make a valuable addition to what was before known as gas land. The length of the pipe line to connect the field and the town is nearly forty-five miles, and in the distribution within the corporate limits, about seventeen miles of pipe of various sizes will be used. Bids have been in- I 68 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. vited for the furnishing and laying of the entire system. For the main line separate bids are asked for six-inch pipe for the entire distance, and for twenty-seven miles of six-inch pipe, with the balance of eight- inch pipe. It is not yet certain, however, that the bids for the whole service can be brought within the limits of the $250,000 that are available for this use. If not, the project will necessarily be abandoned, at least for the present. A division of sentiment in the Common Council of the town prevented the construction of the pipe line last year. It is believed that the line could have been laid at that time within the limits of the available funds ; but doubts are entertained as to whether this can now be done, on account of the advance in the cost of pipe. (The contracts have been let and the construction is going forward.) The rates that the trustees propose, if the gas is brought to the town, are the same as those that are in force in the neighboring towns. It seems to be assumed that the business of furnishing gas is certain to be a re- munerative one, and that though Urbana pays the same rates for fuel as its neighbors who depend upon private companies, the people of the city will be in some way benefited by the investment of a quarter of a million dollars in the gas plant. This result could be obtained by taking up the bonds of the corporation as they mature from the proceeds of the gas rates. If a surplus should accumulate after all the bonds have been pro- vided for, it could be used in reducing the rate of taxation in the city, and the investment could thus be made to serve the entire population. Another view of the possible advantages to be derived from a city gas line, is that by the introduction of natural gas into a town, manufactur- ing interests will be stimulated and enlarged, and perhaps new enter- prises attracted. By this means the population will be increased, new demands will consequently arise for real estate, and all branches of busi- ness will feel the influence of the rising tide of prosperity. Most of these towns that have made this sort of investment rely altogether on the second line of advantages. They count the public money well expended in promoting the business activity of the town. Of course such business prosperity must affect the population of the town very unequally. There are many who are unable to avail themselves of it, and who find the new prosperity rather a burden and a damage than a source of profit to themselves. The expenses of living and the rates of taxation are increased, and they may be so situated that no corresponding advantage can accrue to themselves. The only advantage would be that they could, perhaps, obtain more for their real estate if they choose to sell it. As to refunding the money expended in the establishment of a natural gas plant from the proceeds arising from the sale of fuel, there THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 169 has not even an important beginning been made as yet in any Ohio town. The question in Findlay, for example, to-day, after $350,000 have been expended in this line of service, is how much shall this debt be increased for the present year, whether by borrowing $50,00(3 more, or by borrowing a $100,000. It is found impossible to maintain the plant and the supply on the entire income. Similar conditions obtain in Bowling Green, in which a vote was recently taken authorizing the council to issue $100,000 additional of natural gas bonds to extend the lines of the.company and continue the supply of free gas to the glass factories, in Fostoria, Tiffin, North Baltimore, Maumee, and in fact in almost every city or village of the State in which municipal control of natural gas has been obtained. Not a dollar has yet been paid in any of these towns from the proceeds of the gas on the original indebtedness; and, further, there is not the remotest prospect that a dollar ever will be paid in this way. More than the entire income from the plant is constantly required to maintain and extend it so as to cover an evergrowing deficiency, caused in part by the general reduction of the field, and oftentimes by increased consumption. In the case of towns that supply domestic fuel and light to their people, the situation is somewhat improved, when the gas rates are kept below the intrinsic value of the supply, as is shown by their being below the expenditure previ- ously required for the same service. By means of these low rates, the taxpayer is able to recoup himself to some extent from the increased taxation that he has to meet, and perhaps he can, in this way, be made good for the entire amount of his outlay for the plant. There has come about in this way an undesigned and unconscious application of the principles of nationalism to some of our important civic problems. In the case, however, of the towns that furnish gas to manufacturers only, the resulting gains are very unequally distributed. The larger indi- vidual shares come to the manufacturers who become residents of the town for the sake of the advantages which are offered. The owners of the real estate who secure the location of a factory on or sufficiently near the lands which they hold for sale, often realize large amounts from the advance in price. So, also, tradesmen and mechanics have a chance to derive some advantage from the increase of the business of the town, but there must always be a considerable body of citizens who find their taxes increased without being able to discover any compensation to themselves. It now seems inevitable that the gas bonds of every town will remain to be paid after the final exhaustion of the gas. As long as the much coveted fuel lasts, all the revenues which can be gotten together will be used in protract- ing the life of the supply. The strong arguments that can be urged in favor of the municipal ownership of gas-works and water-works can not be safely applied, it ap- I7O GEOLOGY OF OHIO. pears, to the introduction of natural gas under like municipal control. The reason seems to lie in this : natural gas is in reality a product of min- ing enterprise, and it is surrounded with all the glamour and uncertainty of other mining enterprises. A speculative element is almost necessarily introduced into the search for it, and it sometimes happens that the most unwisely confident members of a community become its accepted guides in this sort of exploration and development. The best that can be hoped is that after the wonderful advantages of gaseous fuel have been demonstrated to a city by the introduction of natural gas, and the available sources have become exhausted, the people will call to their service their soundest busi- ness men and charge them with the duty of adopting some system for filling the exhausted pipes with fuel gas, all the elements and stages in the manufacture of which are thoroughly understood and susceptible of exact determination. The immense saving in the use of crude fuel that would be effected by such a course, and the great advantage in the way of convenience and cleanliness that would accrue from its use, makes such a result very much to be desired. It is certain to come, and the date of its introduction on the large scale will mark one of the great advances of civilization, inferior to but comparable with the application of steam power to manufactures and locomotion, or of electricity to the various services that we are now obtaining from it. (5) The Greenville Pipe Line. In 1889, permission was obtained from the legislature for the municipal corporation of Greenville to submit to a popular vote a proposition to bond itself for $130,000, the proceeds arising from the sale of the bonds to be applied in procuring a supply of natural gas to be used as fuel and light in the town. The proposition was carried by a large majority, and a board of five trustees was forthwith appointed by the mayor. Political considerations were apparently entirely excluded in the appointment, and the selection was made from among the most prudent a'nd successful business men of the community, including the presidents of three banks. This mode of appointment, so far as can be judged by a single example, seems preferable to appointment by the Gov- ernor or election by the people, as removing the positions further from the reach of professional politicians. Certainly, no board appointed by a Governor represents the town to which it belongs as satisfactorily as the present board represents the interests of Greenville. The board organized by making one of its own members superintendent. His administration has been sagacious, energetic and thoroughly economical from every point of view. Greenville furnishes by far the best example of municipal con- trol of a natural gas plant that has been found in the State, and it goes some ways towards redeeming the system from the unfavorable conclu- sions to which most of the administrations would lead the unprejudiced THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. student of facts. It is repaying the citizens for the outlay in two ways, ' viz., by a low rate for fuel and by prompt redemption of the city bonds. The trustees were preceded in their work by a gas company that had leased about twelve hundred acres of land in Granville township, Mercer county, the land lying in Sections 25, 26, 27, 30, 33 and fraction 25. Most of the leases were taken at a rental of one dollar an acre, the leases to be exchanged for two hundred dollars royalty on each well; drilled and used. By experience the trustees have learned that some~of the lands that have come in their possession are of little promise, and they are therefore allowing some leases to lapse. The old company drilled two wells, and the corporation! has since added three. The number will be doubled during the present season. Well No. 1 produces dry gas, but the amount is not large. Measured in February, 1888, it Was found to yield 417,500 feet per day. Well^No. 2, measured at the same time, produced about two million five^hundred thousand cubic feet per day. The gas rock yielded also a smalLamount of oil and salt water with the gas, but this well is still valuable. k3t Well No. 3 was characterized by an immense flow of shale gas. In well No. 4 the lower limestone was barren when first struck. It was drilled fifty feet into the Trenton limestone and then was heavily shot. A fair volume was developed by this treatment, but the presence of salt water requires a back pressure of at least 120 pounds on the well to keep the gas dry. Well No. 5 is estimated to produce two and a half million feet of dry gas. It is, all things considered, the best well of the list. The total capacity of the wells at the present time is estimated at eight million cubic feet. The original rock pressure of well No. 2 is reported as 412 pounds, the highest record of this part of the field. By the time the last well had been drilled the pressure of the entire district had been reduced to 350 pounds. In May, 1890, it had fallen to 265 pounds. It will probably recover fifteen or twenty pounds beyond this figure during the present summer. A pressure on the line of 180 to 200 pounds is maintained. In the entire length, with present use, the pressure falls but five to fifteen pounds. In gathering the gas four-inch pipe is used. A six-inch wrought iron pipe, laid with lead joints, extends for eleven miles from the wells. At Ansonia an eight-inch line begins of wrought iron and screw joints, which continues to Greenville, a distance of eight miles. The village of Ansonia is to be supplied from the Greenville line, the municipal corporation of Ansonia laying the distributing pipe in that town, and paying the Greenville company forty per cent, of the Wapako- neta gas rates. . The gas rates in Greenville are as follows : Cook stoves, $1 per month. Heating stoves, $1.50 per month. Gas is also supplied to 172 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. a tile works and a flouring mill, and to five boilers for power. For such uses the aim is to charge about seventy-five per cent, of the cost of coal. There are 2,000 stoves dependent on the line in Greenville. The gas is distributed in town under six to ten-ounce pressure. The aim is to keep the pressure at six ounces. (E) GAS WELLS OF OTTAWA COUNTY. Oak Harbor. The only gas field of Otta\ra county, at present, is the one which was described at considerable length in Volume VI, that, namely, of Oak Harbor. A great deal of drilling has been done at other points within the county since the publication of Volume VI, but there are no results that require chronicling. Nine wells have been drilled in and immediately around Oak Harbor. Six of them were drilled by the Oak Harbor Natural Gas Company, which has ex- pended nearly $16,000 in this work and in piping the town, so as to make the supply available. The three remaining wells were drilled by the Cleveland Syndicate, and are known as the Axworthy wells. The latter have not been utilized to any considerable extent, and two of them are very weak. The average cost of a well at Oak Har- bor is somewhat less than $1,500. All of the wells have the same general character. They are cased in the Niagara shale at 400 to 420 feet below the surface and this depth of casing has proved sufficient to keep them dry until, at least, the Trenton limestone is reached. The Clinton generally yields a small amount of gas. The'section is normal throughout, as the records of the wells previously published indicate. In all of them the drilling is continued in the Trenton to a depth of twenty to thirty feet. The gas is found at the very surface of the rock. As the drill descends a few feet further oil is invariably found. But the gas gen- erally is delivered dry until after the wells are torpedoed. The result of shooting the wells is marked. A greatly increased production im- mediately follows the shot, after which a rapid decline sets in that lasts for about a month, and from that time on the wells show but little change aside from the gradual reduction that characterizes all gas wells that are being drawn upon. The amount of this reduction, in the three years since the wells were drilled, is variously estimated at from ten to twenty- five per cent. From its six wells the Natural Gas Company supplies something less than 175 stoves. A small amount of gas is also used for lighting purposes. The wells have all that they can do to meet even this small demand. Not more than half the town is supplied with this fuel. Whenever the temperature falls to an unusual degree a shortage is even now experienced. The rates are indicated in the accompanying schedule : THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 173 From October to May, monthly charges, for cooking stoves $3 90 " " " " " heating " 6 00 Annual charges for the same time are 35 00 For furnaces forty or fifty dollars are the annual charges. (F) GAS WELLS OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. The main interest of this county in this connection is in oil, rather than in gas, at the present time, and the new oil field will be discussed in the succeeding section. A little gas is, however, used at two points in the county, viz., Gibsonburgh and Lindsey. (1) Gibsonburgh. In the supplementary chapter of Vol. VI, brief mention was made of the occurrence of gas and oil at both these points. Gibsonburgh is now coming into unexpected importance as an oil center, and its gas is losing force and TDeing overrun with oil to some extent. Still the supply has proved exceedingly serviceable. Two large lime interests have turned the gas to account, and the dwellings of the village all make use of it as fuel. Zorn and Hornung manufactured 100,000 barrels of lime last year, with gas as fuel, and Smith and Dohn 50,000 barrels. Thie year both will reach 100,000 barrels. The gas supply is no more than adequate to this production. Each of the firms has drilled one or more wells, and all are turned into a common line that unites all the wells. In the winter, when the domestic use is largest, the kilns are not in operation. The gas is burned somewhat wastefully in the new kilns of Smith and Dohn. A cloud of black smoke escapes from the top of the kilns as when wood is used. This effect is desired by the company, as it gives assurance that no everburning is going on. To secure such a result, the gas is burned undi- luted with air. No long life can be expected for the gas under the cir- cumstances. The wells that furnish what gas is now used, all produce more or less oil; and the latter element increases in relative amount. One year ago the rock pressure of the gas was 440 pounds; it does not now rise above 340 pounds. The original rock pressure should have been not less than 515 pounds to the square inch. There are no figures at hand that go back to the opening of the field. The largest production of any of the wells does not probably exceed 500,000 cubic feet per day. Salt water rises to the level of Lake Erie, or perhaps even a few feet above in the wells in the center of the township, as in Sections 17 and 28. In the same township, however, two much more vigorous gas wells than those found at Gibsonburgh have been recently struck, viz., in Sec- tions 35 and 27, Madison. The first well is known as the McCarty well, and its volume is estimated at 1,500,000 feet of dry gas per day. It be- longs to the Ohio Oil Company. It seems to promise a gas supply to the 174 GEOLCGY OF OHIO. village of Helena, that is but a mile and a half east of the well. The second well was drilled by a company of farmers. Its gas production is reported as quite large for this field. The Gibsonburgh Gas Company has expended more than $6,000 in providing a supply of gas for the village. The rates are $15 for a cooking stove and $12 for heating stove per annum, or $25 for both. For burning lime three cents per barrel is charged. (2) Lindsey. The wells drilled in 1888 have been in steady opera- tion since that date, but though the supply for the town is limited to domestic fuel in 200 to 300 stoves, it has been found necessary to re-enforce the original wells by drilling a new one during the last few months. It is located to. the west and south of the village, and is reported to yield more gas than all the others combined. So far as can be now made out the gas supply of Sandusky county is likely to be of small force and comparatively short duration. It will be exhausted in the devtlopment of the oil resources of the county which is going on so rapidly. The structure of the field will be considered at more length in the succeeding section. (6?) GAS WELLS OF WYANDOT COUNTY. The results of the early drilling at Carey and Upper Sandusky were duly reported in Vol. VI. The recent facts will here find place. (1) Carey. Thirteen wells were drilled at this point and in the immediate vicinity before the expectation of finding a home supply of natural gas was abandoned. The city has expended several thousand dollars of public money in this search, but it at length became evident to most that gas must be brought in from outside if the town was to enjoy the advanta of the new fuel. For a year great expectations were placed on the Ridge, a somewhat elevated region that circles around the town to the north and west. Several of the wells drilled to the northwest had shown fairly good promise and the gas had been piped in to the town from them. A company based upon outside capital had meanwhile bought the wells of the corporation and the right to supply the residents with fuel and light. The company had proceeded to pipe the town for the dis- tribution of the gas, but the Ridge wells upon which their first reliance was placed also proved inadequate and treacherous, and the loss of the entire investment seemed imminent. At this juncture one of the stock- holders and managers of the company went over into Marion township, Hancock county, adjoining or constituting a part of the Findlay field, and began leasing lands on his own responsibility in a district known to be productive. After securing leases upon several hundred acres of land, THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 175 a well was drilled which was found to produce dry gas in large volume. This well and the territory leased were then sublet, with privilege of pur- chase, to the original Carey company. A pipe line was laid from the new wells to the old mains of the company and Carey was, in 1890, for the first time, put in possession of a full and generous supply of gas. The company now holds leases on 550 acres in a half dozen separate tracts, the largest of which is 120 acres. These tracts interlock with the Northwestern Ohio (Tiffin) Company's wells, and also with the Kenton Oompany's wells. Such interlocking is always dangerous to gas property. Four wells have been drilled in all by the Carey interest, the united pro- duction of which from the casing, at the date when the wells were first completed, is reported as 26,000,000 cubic feet per day. The rock pressure is reported as having been 380 to 390 pounds, when the wells were com- pleted in 1889, but in one of the Tiffin wells it has fallen as low as 260 pounds, and in the entire district it has fallen to 300 pounds or lower. This exemplifies the source of danger in wells so situated. The tempta- tion of one or the other company will be to run the wells beyond their proper capacity. The pipe line is 14.7 miles in length six miles consist- ing of 5-f- inch pipe (casing), and the balance of 4^- inch pipe. Two and one-half miles from the wells the rock pressure is reduced to ninety pounds, and this pressure is maintained to Carey with but very little diminution. The loss is sometimes but five or six pounds. There are but 600 stoves and a few steam boilers at present on the line in Carey, but the small village of Vanlue, intermediate between Carey and the wells, is also furnished from this line. One of the Carey wells was drilled within six hundred feet of the famous Adam Roth well, which belongs to the Northwestern Ohio (Tiffin) Company. This well was made to furnish the entire supply for both Tillages for several weeks, and at no time was its pressure materially de- creased thereby. The Roth well, it will be remembered, when first drilled, produced a remarkable volume of gas, the measurement showing more than 15,000,000 cubic feet per day. But the well was soon overrun by salt water, and this result threw discredit on all the surrounding territory. The Carey well found the gas rock eight and a half feet higher than it was in the Roth well, and thus far it has shown no trace of salt water or oil. The uncertainties of gas production are well illustrated by these facts. The most sagacious operators of the new field abandoned the ter- ritory around the Roth well because of the record it had made. The reservoir was counted small and consequently short-lived. It must, how- erer, be borne in mind that the draft on the Carey line is thus far very ligkt, and that the conclusion above named has not yet been set aside. Steps are now being taken to secure a wider market for the gas, as will 176 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. presently be shown. When this use begins a severer test of the life of the wells will be made than has been thus far possible. On general princi- ples, an enduring gas supply can not reasonably be expected from the vicinity of the Roth well for the reason that the salt water lies so near the gas. One fact in the history of the Ridge wells, referred to above, deserves to be put on record. There were two wells drilled on adjacent farms that may be designated numbers three and four. The interval between them was fully three quarters of a mile. Well No. 3 was almost destitute of gas and had no appreciable value. Well No. 4, on the other hand, showed a fair volume of gas. It was packed with a Hoadley packer just below the casing so that it could get the advantage of the upper veins of gas from the Hudson River shales. From the date of the packing of No. 4, gas began to appear in well No. 3, three quarters of a mile distant. The farm houses near by were at once connected with the well, and for a number of months they enjoyed an ample supply from this source, and the gas was constantly flowing in a strong current from an escape pipe besides. The superintendent of the line, suspecting that the packing of Well No. 4 was in some way the source of the new life of No. 3, de- termined to lower the packer and set it near the Trenton limestone. The moment that the packer was disturbed the pressure fell away altogether in No. 3 and it has never returned. It thus appears that the gas was transmitted fully three-fourths of a mile through some channel of com- munication in the Hudson River shales. In Volume VI, page 206, an anomalous condition of things was re- ported in the case of well No. 1 of the Ridge series. It showed a good volume of gas and when shut in would very promptly register a pressure of sixty pounds, but beyond this figure it never rose. No explanation of the anomaly was attempted at the time, but in the light of the more recent experience recorded here a possible clew to the interpretation can be found. The gas may have escaped through the rock when the pressure rose beyond the figure named. The present gas rates at Carey are as follows : Cooking stove, No. 5, mixer $2 25 per month. " " 7, " 3 00 " Heating stove, No, 3, " 250 " " " 5, " 3 00 " " " 7, " 4 00 A discount of ten per cent, is allowed from all these rates on pay- ments made before the 10th of the month. (2) Upper Sandusky. By reference to Volume VI it will be seen that several wells were drilled during 1887 by the village corporation in and THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 1 77 adjacent to the village limits. All of them proved unproductive. The county commissioners were next induced to undertake the work of ex- ploration at the instance of many citizens, locating and drilling a well on the infimary farm, four miles northwest of the court-house. This well yielded a light flow of gas, but a spray of oil came with it, especially when the well was allowed to flow unrestricted. The amount of gas was ample, however, for heating and lighting the infirmary buildings and its use has been maintained without interruption for the last two years. The original daily flow of the well was about 75,000 cubic feet of gas. This partial success encouraged the Upper Sandusky village council to resume work, but an injunction was presently served upon this body to prevent any further expenditure of public money in this way. A private company was then formed that took up the work on the same lines and forthwith proceeded to sink three wells. Drilling was done on the infirmary farm and well No. 1, of the company, was located about a quarter of a mile northeast of the county well already described. It was completed in the fall of 1888. It yielded but little gas at first, but what there was proved dry. A torpedo of eighty quarts increased the flow to about 175,000 cubic feet per day. This was a decided advance on the first well drilled upon the farm. The Trenton limestone was found to carry, at this point, a bed of porous dolomite, essential to production, a feature which was entirely lacking in the village wells so far as could be judged from the drillings. Well No. 2 was located 2,500 feet northwest of Well No. 1. It was also completed in the latter part of 1888, but it was entirely unproductive. Well No. 3, which was located 1,000 feet northeast of No. 1, turned out to be a respectable gas well, yielding, after being torpedoed with sixty quarts, dry, about one and one-half million feet per day and not a trace of oil or water was found with the gas. This gave great encouragement to the drilling company. Early in 1889, Wells Nos. 4 and 5 were drilled. No. 4 was located 1,500 feet southeast of No. 3. It proved much stronger than the latter. A measure taken February 14, showed the daily volume to be three and a half million feet. Well No. 5, 1,800 feet north of No. 4, was finished in March, 1889. It was at least as good a well as No. 3. The company had now drilled five wells and four of them were productive. The gas was entirely dry and one of the wells showed a volume that would be counted fair in any field. The success with which their search was at last had attended, put a new face on the whole question of a gas supply for Upper Sandusky. A field of considerable apparent promise had been brought to light within three or four miles of its boundaries. Every one was eager to have gas brought into the town, but the company was not 12 G. 178 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. able to construct a line and to pipe the town at its own charges. The choice must therefore be made between foreign capital, invited in for this purpose, and municipal purchase and control. The latter proved decidedly the favorite scheme. The necessary legislation was procured and the cor- poration at once proceeded to bind itself for the purchase of the well, the drilling rights of the old company, and for the necessary outlays in the utilization of the gas. The rights of the old company, together with its wells, brought them somewhat more than $30,000, a sum that repaid the company five or six times its investment. The introduction of gas wag at once begun. Meanwhile new wells were drilled by the gas trustees of the village corporation, so as to insure, if possible, a full supply for all pur- poses. On May 1st, Well No. 6 was completed. It was located 3,000 feet southeast of No. 4; it was practically a failure. At this time the case stood as follows : Six wells had been drilled in the new district, and the total output of the four that were productive was about six and a half million feet of dry gas per day. Several other wells had been drilled in the same neighborhood, one or more of which produced smaller volumes of gas than those already described. The rock pressure of two of the corporation wells, as measured by certain representatives of the gas interests of the Findlay field, was reported by the trustees to the Geological Survey as follows : Well No. 1 515 pounds. " 5 525 The figures were considered entirely trustworthy. Well No. 7 was then located on the Robert Gibson farm, 1,600 feet south of No. 5, one-half mile due east of Well No. 3, and about the same distance northeast of No. 4. Its location was in a sense central for the territory that had furnished the best wells thus far and large expectations were consequently built upon it. Meanwhile a line of levels had been run to all of the wells drilled to date and the structure of the new field was brought quite clearly to light. The records of the wells are as follows : Elevation at Drift. Casing. To Tren- ton lime- stone. Trenton below tide. Depth of well. Well No. 1 805 ft. 43 314 1,268 464 1 308 Well No. 2 815 78 314 1 308 493 1 386 Well No. 3 804 30 314 1,262 458 1 294 Well No. 4 820 44 315 1,269 449 1 298 Well No. 5 820 52 318 1,288 468 Well No. 6 827 45 318 1 295 468 1 333 Infirmary well 807 1,285 478 THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 1 79 An examination of these figures shows that the surface of the Tren- ton limestone in the Infirmary well was found 478 feet below tide. Well No. 1 of the county had fourteen feet advantage in this respect ; the Tren- ton limestone, in other words, being that much higher. In Well No. 2, the same stratum was found sixteen feet lower than in the Infirmary well. In No. 3, an advantage of twenty feet was found and in No. 4, an advan- tage of twenty- four feet, as compared with the first. In Wells I\os. 5 and 6, the surface of the limestone was ten feet higher than in the first. These figures do not furnish us all the essential facts. The depth at which the gas was found must also be taken into consideration. The gas and oil streaks are not altogether uniform, but they generally occur between ten and thirty feet below the surface of the limestone. The depth of the main gas, for example, in Well No. 4, was 478 feet below tide ; in the Infirmary well the gas and oil level was about 494 feet below tide. The startling fact was thus revealed that the entire range of the top of the Trenton limestone for the wells that had been drilled was less than thirty feet, and the range of the dry rock was much less than this, not exceeding at the outside twenty feet. It was also shown by the records of other wells that had been drilled upon either side of the productive territory, that there is a rapid descent of the limestone both to the east and to the west. More- over, the two failures in this group of wells had brought to light another fact of great importance in this connection, viz., an unsteady or unreliable character of the Trenton limestone as to porosity. Nos. 2 and 6, for ex- ample, had been found dry. Well No. 2, as is apparent from its depth, would have been a salt water well if it had produced any thing ; but its failure was due altogether to the defective character of the rock, the level of the limestone being the same as in No. 5. The gas trustees of the corporation were at once notified of the un- welcome revelations of the level, and the urgent need of economy at every step, if the field were to furnish any valuable supplies to the town, was set before them. Up to the date of this discovery it had seemed prob- able that Upper Sandusky might profit more from its gas field than some of the towns that had discovered and utilized the gas at an earlier date. The lessons of experience could be heeded and greater economy observed in the use of the great gift of nature. It was at this time, September, 1889, that well No. 7 was completed. Its record is as follows : Elevation of well head, 826 feet above tide ; drift, fifty-three feet; casing 310 feet; top of Trenton, 1,268 feet; top of Trenton below tide, 442 feet. At sixteen feet in the Trenton a good vein of gas was found, a second vein at seventeen feet, and at thirty-two feet a monstrous and uncontrollable volume was released, making absolutely insignificant any well that had hitherto been found in the field, or even ISO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. the combined volumes of all the wells that had been previously drilled. It was, undoubtedly, the largest well, or one of two or three of the largest wells that had been drilled up to date in this State. The top of the Trenton limestone was found seven feet higher than in any other well, but the main gas came from 474 feet below tide, or only two feet higher than the gas of No. 4. It thus appeared that the new well, enor- mous as its volume was, had added but little to the scanty volume of the dry gas rock of the field, and it was manifestly pouring forth into the air the stored resources of the reservoir at a rate that could not be maintained but a little while without exhaustion. The exact figures of its production can not be given. An open pressure in the casing of from ten to eleven pounds was reported, but these figures were afterwards recalled as some- what in excess of the facts. Such a pressure as this would have shown a flow of eighteen to twenty million cubic feet per day. The production was probably not less tban fifteen or sixteen million feet; it may have reached 18,000,000 feet for the first two or three days. This would be a monstrous well in any field. But even these figures failed to satisfy the local "experts," so-called, who kept on figuring until one "insatiate archer " had reached a daily output of 54,500,000 cubic feet, while another kindly drew the line at 47,800,000 cubic feet. It is enough to say that there is no properly authenticated case on record in which even 40,000,- 000 cubic feet ever came out of the casing of a gas well in twenty-four hours. The entire community, and especially the people of Upper Sandusky, were greatly excited over this astonishing display, and large plans for the utilization of the gas were at once formed. But the history of the field from this date proved brief and disappointing. The great flow of well No. 7 was struck on September 6, 1889. The well was tubed and packed with difficulty, four-inch pipe being used ; but in the week of its un- restrained flow it was noticed that the production was steadily declining. Public exhibitions were made of it thereafter, however, during the county fair, but on Saturday, the 21st, the gas was accidentally set on fire. It burned for thirty- six hours before the flame could be brought under con- trol. On the 23d the well began to show indications of salt water; on the 24th it threw gait water in a steady stream, though a large volume of gas was still escaping. On the 25th oil was delivered with the salt water and gas, and it was presently made manifest that the tremendous flow of the well had not only exhausted its own portion of the reservoir but that of the entire district as well. For examination of the adjacent wells at once revealed the unwelcome truth that they were being overrun with oil and salt water. No portion of the Upper Sandusky field was any longer, therefore, able to supply dry gas. Various attempts were made by lock- THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 181 ing in the wells until several hundred pounds back pressure was obtained, or by separating the water mechanically to improve the condition of the gas. But none of these attempts were more than partially successful. The supply from all the wells has been insufficient during the past winter for 1,500 stoves, and the patience of the consumers has been severely tried by the frequent interruptions resulting from water and oil in the pipes. All the expectations of the town, which during the first half of 1889 seemed to be so reasonable and well founded, were thus brought to naught. The gas trustees, however, continued their explorations within the same general limits. Other companies were also drilling wells around the margins of their territory, but with results even less valuable than those already reported. All of the drilling above described was done in adjoining sections of Salem and Crane townships. Wells 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 are in Section 12, Salem township. No 2 is in Section 11. No. 6 is in Section 13. The registers of the remaining wells of the Upper Sandueky corporation is found in the list below : Drift. Top of Trenton. Total depth. Well No. 9 58 1,291 1,325 Oil and salt water. ' 10 55 1,337 1,356 Oil small amount. ' 11 45 1,322 1,351 Oil 35 bbls. per day reported. ' 12 44 1,323 1,355 Gas oil near by. ' 13 1,277 Dry. ' 14 62 1,336 1,377 Gas in small amount. In all these wells, so far as productive at all, gas is found at from thirteen to fifteen feet in the Trenton, and oil from four to nine feet below the gas. The prospect of an oil field within the limits above named has awakened even greater excitement than that which was produced by the dis- covery of the gas. The facts pertaining to this latter phase will be taken up on a succeeding page. The value of the district in this particular will undoubtedly be determined early in the present year. The corporation has already bonded itself for $95,000 in this interest. Further expenditures will bring up the amount to considerable more than $100,000 of public indebtedness. The village has a valuable plant in the ground, arid it is hoped that from the sale of the oil rights of the territory ..which it controls, a handsome sum may be realized. The Carey Gas- Company, it is understood, stands ready to connect its present line with the Upper Sandusky gas line. This could be done by laying six miles 6f six-inch pipe at a cost of $25,000. The wells- of the Carey Company, it 1 82 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. will be remembered, are located in Marion township, a part of the Find- lay field. Further explorations will probably be undertaken in the Marseilles district, on the southern border of the county, during the present year. The surface limestone indicates a proper disposition of the Trenton as a reservoir of gas and oil, but in the tests already made the rock was found hard and dry. If a proper quality occurs at any point within the limits indicated by the surface geology, there is reason to expect fair response to the drill. The rock pressure of the Upper Sandusky field has already been given, viz., 515 pounds in well No. 1. The gas was struck in this well at a depth of 478 feet below tide, and as we have subsequently learned, the oil and salt water level was perilously near. Calculation, based on the method of the preceding chapter, would indicate that the pressure should be 513 pounds. This agreement is certainly close enough with the pressure as reported. GAS WELLS OF HARDIN COUNTY. (1) Kenton. In Volume VI, the resolute attempt of Kenton to find an available gas field near at hand was duly reported. Gas was piped from the McElree wells, of Jackson township, to the town and used as far as it would go, but the supply was altogether inadequate. The search was persistently kept up through 1888 by the company until the entire circuit of the town had been made in these tests, so far as fifteen or twenty wells could be made to serve such a purpose. When all of these efforts had proved virtually fruitless, the company began to turn its atten- tion to outside fields. The nearest large production was found in the vicinity of Houckstown, Jackson township, Hancock county. Several wells had been drilled here by Findlay parties and a fair volume of gas had been discovered. The main drawback was the indication of salt water at no great depth below the gas. A well of two to three million feet, however, and drilling rights on several hundred acres of land were .purchased by the Kenton Company at this point, and a six-inch pipe line about twenty miles in length was completed to the town. Other wells were also drilled, and for a few months a satisfactory supply was enjoyed at Kenton; but in the winter of 1888 and 1889, it was found necessary to draw upon the wells for all they could produce and they proved unable to bear this treatment, salt water soon appearing in them and in the pipe line. As is uniformly the case, this element, when once it had found entrance, proved aggressive, gaining steadily upon the gas, and the Houckstown field was presently recognized as practically exhausted far large supplies. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 183 The Kenton Company once more extended its lines. Tracts aggre- gating about 700 acres were leased for gas purposes in Marion township in the neighborhood of the great Thorntree well, eight or nine miles north of the Houckslown field. Three wells have been drilled in this neighbor- hood and the company is at present able to furnish an abundant supply in Kenton for all purposes. The tracts of the Kenton Company in Marion township interlock, as has been already stated, with the lands of the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company (Tiffin Natural Gas Company), and also with those of the Carey Company already described. These facts seem to indicate a comparatively short life for the field, especially when taken in connection with the disclosure of water and oil, both dangerously near the gas, in both the Thorntree and the Roth wells, which have been previously described. The rock pressure is reported at 315 pounds on August 1st, 1890. Home capital has undertaken and provided the supply of gas for Kenton, and in this respect the town is in contrast with most of the towns around it that have secured a supply thus far. The common practice has been either to invoke the aid of foreign capital, or to put the burden of the search for and the utilization of gas upon the public treasury. The company has already expended $130,000. Its line is now thirty miles in length. It is a wrought iron, screw joint, six-inch pipe, and is well laid. Kenton furnishes at present a demand represented by 1,000 mixers, two- thirds of which are No. 5. Gas is furnished to the Pulp Works, the City Water Works, the Champion Iron Company and the flouring mills. The price charged these large consumers is designed to equal the cost of coal displaced. Toledo rates are in force except that the discounts below the third mixer are not in force. (2) Forest. In Volume VI the drilling of one well which proved without value within the village limits of Forest was reported. In the same record it was pointed out that as far as the surface geology could be trusted, more favorable conditions were likely to be iound a mile or so to the west- ward. A gas company consisting of fifteen to twenty members was pres- ently organized and drilling was begun one and one-half miles southwest of the village. Five wells were drilled upon a single farm ; four others were distributed through the same neighborhood. The five wells first named all proved to be small producers of dry gas. Their flow was some- what improved in all eases by the use of a torpedo, but the total produc- tion was still very light. All the wells but one were tubed with two-inch pipe. The Trenton limestone was found at about 1,350 feet below the surface, or about 425 feet below tide. The rock pressure, as observed in May, 1889, was about 300 pounds. 184 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The wells were measured for the company early in May, 1889, and again in July of the same year. In the first measurement the wells had not heen opened for more than a half hour before the gauges were applied. Before the second measurement they had been left open fur twenty-four hours. By the first measurement, the combined daily production of the wells was found to range between 400,000 and 500 000 cubic feet. By the second measurement, a production of not more than 150,000 feet was shown. The company piped the gas to the village during the summer of 1889., and its use has been going on from that time forward. (3) Ada. An early test of the Trenton limestone was made at Ada, as reported in Volume VI. In 1888, a company of nine members was organized to carry on a more thorough search for gas, to be used in the supply of the village. The citizens were also invited to contribute to the test with the guaranty that returns should be made to them, in case of success, at the rate of two dollars for one. The drilling has been distrib- uted over a number of farm?, but mainly through a district from two to three miles northwest of the village, in Sections 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Liberty township. The first well of the new company was drilled on the Lynch farm, near the center of Section 8. The level of the surface was approximately 950 feet above tide ; the drift was twelve to fifteen feet thick. The Tren- ton limestone was struck at 1,354 feet, or about 400 feet Lelow tide, and it was penetrated to a depth of 1,394 feet, when the drilling tools were lost. They were never recovered. The well yielded a little gas, but gave no promise of value. A portable rig was used in drilliDg this well, and six months were occupied in sinking it. The second well was drilled on the Tressel farm, about the center of Section 9. It was sunk to a depth of 1,634 feet without a show of gas, oil or water. The third well gave decidedly more encouragement. It was located in the northeast corner of Section 7, on the farm of James Harshee. The drift beds were sixty feet thick. The elevation of the well head was about 950 feet above tide. The Trenton was found at 1,372 feet below the sur- face, and the drilling was continued to 1,405 feet. The main gas was found at seven feet below the surface of the limestone. The supply at first was small, but the amount was greatly increased by a heavy shot of 100 quarts of nitro-glycerine. Throughout its entire history the well has pro- duced nothing but dry gas. Its flow was measured in May, 1889, and the well was found to produce, in round numbers, one and one-half million feet per day through the two-inch tubing. The measurement was repeated in April, 1890, and, although several wells had been allowed to blow un- restrained for some weeks in the immediate neighborhood, no falling off THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 185 was apparent in the production of this well. The rock pressure as taken at the time of the last measurement, was 318 pounds in one hour's time. It rose to 261 pounds in fifteen minutes. The well is decidedly the most promising that has been drilled by the company thus far. The fourth well of the company was drilled on the Van Valkenburg farm, in the northwest quarter of Section 5. The drift was here fifty- six feet thick; the casing was set at 470 feet; the Trenton was reached at 1,357 feet, and a good vein of gas was found at seventeen feet in the rock. But when the drill reached 1,390 feet a very strong brine was struck, which is now delivered with the gas. The well was subsequently shot with eighty quarts. Its gas production from the two-inch tubing is a trifle over 1,000,000 feet per day. When the well has been locked in for several flays the gas will escape dry, upon opening it, for a half hour or so. The fifth well was drilled on the Turner farm in the northwest quar- ter, and near the western boundary of Section 8. The drift was found thirty-nine feet thick. The casing was set at 476 feet. The Trenton was reached at 1,367 feet. At seventeen feet in the rock light gas was reported, and salt water in considerable volume at twenty-two feet. The water rose 300 to 350 feet, and the well was then plugged and abandoned. The sixth well was drilled near the center of "Section 6, on the Shaw farm. The drift beds were fifty-nine feet thick, the casing was set at 498 feet, and the Trenton was reached at 1,380 feet. Oil and salt water were struck twenty-three feet below the surface of the limestone. The eleva- tion of the ground may be counted as approximately the same as that of the Harshee well, a half mile distant. On this basis the following facts come to light : In the Harshee well dry gas was reached at 1,379 feet, or approximately at 430 feet below tide. In the Shaw well oil and salt water were found at 1,403, or approximately 450 feet below tide. The entire amount of dry gas rock, according to this calculation, must be less than twenty feet. The seventh well was drilled on the Bauman farm, in the southwest corner of Section 5, and but one-third of a mile distant from the success- ful Harshee well. Its daily production was found to be 1,160,000 cubic feet. Its rock pressure accumulated for one hour is 301 pounds. The gas thus far has proved entirely dry. It reproduces the record of the Harshee well very closely, and the same thing can be said of two wells that have been drilled, on the Nichols farm, in the southeast corner of Section 6, by parties from Indiana. The wells are known as the Fulton wells. The united production of these wells, measured in April, 1890, was found to be about 1,000,000 cubic feet per day. The rock pressure in No. 2 rose to 291 pounds in twenty-six minutes. The gas from these two wells and from the Bauman well, previously described, is entirely dry. I 86 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The last of the company's wells has now been completed. It will be seen that the company has secured by the drilling of seven wells an available stock of dry gas of 2,600,000 cubic feet per day, derived from two of the wells. Another 1,000,000 feet has been unlocked by the two wells drilled between these, on the Nichols farm, as above reported, but these do not, in reality, add to the resources of the field. The Harshee and Bauman wells would, undoubtedly, draw all the gas from the territory which these outside wells occupy if time enough were given to them. The amount of gas is large enough and its rock pressure is high enough to warrant the piping of the gas to Ada, but the presence of the salt water, as above described, is a fact of evil omen in the field, and it does not seem probable that if the gas rock were drawn upon in an amount large enough to meet the demands of the village of Ada, that it would show much vitality. . The corporation has voted upon the purchase of the wells and the piping of the town. The proposal was defeated. This case deserves special remark, as it is the only instance in this section of the State in which a question of this kind has been voted down. The result indicates a more discriminating population as to the burdens of taxation than most of our towns possess. It is still undecided whether the gas will be conducted into the town. The productive territory which the Ada company has discovered is, in all probability, continuous with the rather feeble production of gas and oil that was developed several years since in Orange and Union townships, Hancock county, and of which Cannonsburg was the center at that time. (4) Dunkirk. A second well has been drilled during the last year in this village, and its record is regarded as more encouraging than that of the first. It was located in the center of the village and drilled at the expense of a prominent business man Thomas Appleman. The drift was but seven feet thick, the casing was set at 410 feet, and the Trenton limestone was found at 1,370 feet, or 420 feet below tide. Gas appeared as soon as the limestone was reached and oil presently followed. The column was lifted above the top of the derrick, and it was estimated that a hundred barrels of oil flowed out before it was brought under control. Territory was at once leased with reference to further tests for oil. (J) GAS WELLS OF SENECA COUNTY. The present record of this county is substantially confined to two towns, viz., Tiffin and Fostoria. (1) Tiffin. The drilling that was so energetically carried forward in 1886 and 1887 in Tiffin and its immediate vicinity, in the search for gas and oil, exhausted itself in the opening months of 1888. It became at THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 187 last apparent to all that the Trenton limestone underlying Tiffin fur- nished too shallow a leservoir to give any good promise of supplying the town. At the longest, five weeks of open flow of the wells that yielded at the outset dry gas, brought oil or salt water, or hoth, into every one ; nor was the oil in large enough amount to justify the drilling of wells to obtain it. The Loomis and Nyman wells produced continuously for a year or more from two to three barrels of oil per day. From another well a production of twelve to fifteen barrels per day was reported in 1887, but how long the flow was continued at this rate is not known. These were probably the best records of the field in this particular. The necessities of the town in the way of fuel were provided for at an early date in this history, by the introduction of gas from Hancock county through the pipe lines of the Tiffin Natural Gas Company, a branch of the North- western Ohio Company, which represents the interests of the Standard Oil Company in this field. Gas was also furnished for manufacturing purposes by this company, but the rates at which the large consumers were supplied were in reality based on the rates for domestic use, some abatement, of course, being made for the largest consumption. Tiffin could not, of course', compete on these terms with Findlay, Fostoria, Bowling Green, and a number of smaller towns that had found gas near their own borders and that were offering it, if not as free as air to all manufacturers that would locate in them, still at a merely nominal cost, no matter how large the amount required or how wasteful the use might be. The project for a city line to supply gas to manufacturers on as favorable terms as their neighbors were oflering began to be agitated. As is usual in such cases the plan found favor with the majority of the voters, and when the question was brought before them for action there was practical unanimity in its adoption. Unusual ingenuity was dis- played in finding authority for using public funds for these purposes in existing legislation, but new legislation was subsequently secured. The city gas trustees at once proceeded to lease and purchase gas lands, proved or prospective, to drill wells and to lay a pipe line to the city. Their lands are located in Bloom and Perry townships, Wood county, with a single tract in Cass township. The lands leased in Bloom township are mainly in excellent territory, but they are held in comparatively small tracts, and therefore interlock with the gas lands of other companies, especially with those of the Northwestern Ohio and the Fostoria com- panies. Two of the purchased tracts, consisting of forty and eighty acres respectively, are situated in the very heart of the best production. The Bloom township lands of the company aggregate 333 acres, on which seven wells are already drilled. The lands leased in Perry township can scarcely be said, in the light of present knowledge, to be gas lands at all. I 88 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The city paid $20,000 cash for the gas rights of about 1,200 acres. Nine wells have been drilled on the lands, but most of them are already re- jected from the line, because of the oil and water that they produce. The property that the city paid $20.000 for would have been counted dea.r at the time by any competent judge of the facts at one-tenth part of this amount. The city pipe line is nineteen miles in length, and consists of fifteen miles of eight-inch pipe, and four miles of six inch pipe. Besides this there are three miles of four-inch pipe connecting the wells and the line. The character of the supply has already been discussed in the de- scription of the Wood county field. The expenditures of the city, in this interest, already aggregate $250,000, according to the testimony of the trus- tees. Free gas was promised to the large companies for terms of three to five years, and therefore the income derived from the gas is very small. It is all used in keeping up the supply. In the establishment of manufactures, on the new basis, Tiffin has been highly successful. There are now thirty or more manufacturing establishments, of various grades, that are dependent on the city lines. This list includes three gla*s factories, viz., the Beatty Glass Works, the Tiffin Glass Works, and the Belgian Glats Works. The Beatty Works manufacture table ware exclusively. Their plant consists of the ( quiva- lent of forty-five glass pots, and the establishment is the most complete in this line of manufactures in the country. The Tiffin Glass Works also manufacture table ware, the equipment being based on twelve glass pots. The plant of the Belgian works is an eight-pot factory. Its specialty is colored or Venetian glass, and in this manufacture it is very successful. The total number of glass pots is sixty-five. The Brewer pottery is a large establishment, built and equipped ac- cording to the best knowledge of our time. In it the most successful ex perience and the highest skill of the eastern potteries are represented. It makes use of about 450,000 cubic feet of gis per day. A brief account of it will be given in a succeeding chapter. Among the remaining industries that rely upon the city gas line there may be named the three brick yards engaged in the manufacture of common brick ; a Pulp and Paper Works Company, that uses twenty tons of straw per day, and that makes use of five 120 horse- power boilers; two flouring mills, with a daily united capacity of three hundred barrels; a nail factory, and many other industries. One of the brick yards turns out four million bricks in a season. Draining tile is also manufactured in the same yards. These works pay fifty cents per thousand for the gas used in burning brick. The kilns of one company produce 200,000, and of another, 340,000 A rough estimate, based on approximate measurements, made the amount THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. ! 9 of gas used in firing one of the smaller kilns, 1,500,000 cubic feet. At this rate the gas would be bringing to the company six and two-third cents per thousand, which is an ample return as compared with charges for other lines of manufacturing. Fifty cords of wood would be required for doing this work, and on this basis 30,000 feet of gas are equal to one cord of wood. Similar results have been obtained in other calculations. The gas daily used in burning common brick in Tiffin will probably amount to at least one million feet. The brick are sold at 4 per thou- sand or for even less than this. While this fuel is much cheaper than wood in original cost, this factor is only one among s-rveral in the saving that is effected by the use of gas. The quality of the product, for example, is greatly improved, and the total number of marketable brick is increased; and, furthermore, the labor used in burning the brick is muoh reduced. The Tiffin brick yards do not indicate any excessive waste of gas, but the application of so large an amount of the finest fuel of the world to purposes so rude is utterly inexcusable. In fact no word in the language describes it better than the somewhat opprobrious word vandalism. As has been abundantly proved, the stocks of this fuel are definitely limited in amount, and the supply can not in any case be maintained for many years. But under the conditions ol the introduc- tion of the gas at the public expense these results can not, perhaps, be avoided. The presence of this cheap supply in the city has naturally aroused uneasiness and discontent on the part of those who are paying the regular rates for fuel that the Northwestern Ohio Company has established in all of the towns that it supplies. The city line has, in fact, displaced the old supply in some of the public buildings, as the court-house and the orphans' home. The question very naturally comes up among the tax- payers why the latter should not altogether be displaced by the production of the wells that have 'been drilled at the public expense, especially when it is held that the new supply need cost but a fraction of what the people are now obliged to pay. The drilling in of two wells at Bairdstown during the present summer has increased the available supply of the city to such an extent that the project for furnishing fuel to the city, as well as to the manufacturers, seems likely to be pressed. Both of these wells are drilled within the limits of the village corporation. The first one, which was completed in February, is located on an eight-acre tract owned by Emerine & McMurray. The rock pressure on June 10 was found to be 300 pounds strong. Its volume, tested after the well had been opened but twenty minutes, was found to be 3,737,400 cubic feet per day. A con- siderable reduction might follow its open flow for several hours. I9O GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The second well, known as No. 18 of the Tiffin trustees, produced about two million feet per day from the casing before it was torpedoed. A shot of sixty quarts increased the flow to somewhat more than 6,000,- 000 feet per day. Using the measurement from the center of the tubing (3-inch) the flow is found to be 6,334,500 cubic feet. Averaging the flow, the figures 6,160,000 cubic feet are obtained. The rock pressure is 300 pounds. The Northwestern Ohio Gas Company has drilled a well within 136 feet of the Tiffin well and is apparently duplicating its history. The close proximity of these wells renders the speedy exhaustion of both certain. (2) Fostoria. Fostoria has made great progress as a manufacturing center by means of the fuel which has been brought in by the city pipe line. The establishment of this plant was duly reported in Volume VI, as was also that of several of the leading factories based upon the gas supply. The city has now expended more than $50,000 in securing terri- tory, in drilling wells and in piping and distributing gas to consumers. All the income of the plant is also used in this way. But little new territory has been acquired within the last two years. The annual rentals on all lands of fair promise as gas territory has been greatly increased during this interval. It now reaches as high as $14 per acre for the best lands, and probably averages $8 or $10. The gas lands of Fostoria are situated mainly in Perry and Washington townships, but a few small tracts are also owned in Bloom township. These lands interlock with those of the Northwestern and Tiffin Gas Companies, and the Toledo City trustees are also leasing lands in the same field. The company now has nine wells in its line. Two wells have been cut out because of the oil that they produced. In one of them oil was found when the well was first drilled, but the amount increased until the gas could no longer be profitably used. The second of these wells pro- duced dry gas at first, but began to throw oil during the last year. Two new wells have been recently drilled by the company in Section 23, Bloom township, one of them a few rods east and the other a half mile south- west of Eagleville. Both of them proved to be light wells when drilled, but the volume of the second was greatly increased by the effect of a heavy shot. Unfortunately, however, salt water came with the gas. Neither of these wells has been put into the line as yet, but the second will soon be tried. The rock pressure in these wells is said to be good, as the territory is comparatively fresh. As in all other parts of the gas field that are undergoing development, the wells of the city line show a gradual reduction of pressure and of volume. The oil and salt water by which the gas territory is every-where surrounded are steadily advancing, en- THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 1 9! croaching on the gas levels and taking permanent possession of them One of the best wells, which two years ago had a daily capacity of three and one-half million feet, is now reduced to one and one-half million feet, a loss of 57 per cent. From all of them the oil a ad water now need to be removed by the process of blowing, two or three times a week, and some which are known to be in the worst condition receive more frequent attention. The rock pressure falls least rapidly in wells that have the largest areas to draw from. For example, well No. 1 of the city line is nearly a mile distant from any other wells and it maintains a better press- ure than the rest. It is, however, overrun with water and oil to the extent of four or five barrels per week. The actual figures as to rock press- ure are not given by the company. The trustees have no knowledge of the total amount of gas which their wells supply, nor of the quantity used by any one of the several establishments that are depending on their line. The main effort is to keep the pressure in the line to the point demanded by the factories. This task must, of course, be an increasingly difficult one and deficiencies can not be overcome in the future as easily as they have been thus far by drilling new wells, for the reason that the levels of oil and water are rising in the entire territory as the gas is with- drawn from it. The last wells drilled furnish striking testimony on this point. The principal manufacturing establishments now depending on the Fostoria line are the following, viz. : The Mambourg Glass Works, win- dow glass, ten pots; The Crocker Glass Works, window glass, ten pots; The Fostoria Glass Company, table ware, twelve pots; The Nickel Plate Glass Company, table ware, sixteen pots; The Calcine Glass Works, win- dow glass, one tank equal by schedule to eighteen pots ; The Butler Art Glass Works, established here in 1888, was recently burned and a division of the local interests that had been united in it was called for by the stock- holders. Out of it two glass companies have been organized, viz., The Butler Glass Company, chimneys and bottles one tank equal to ten pots, and The Fostoria Lamp and Shade Company, sixteen pots. The total glass production is thus counted as 92 pots. In addition to the glass factories there are dependent on the line the Cadwallader Milling Company ; the Electric Light Works ; the Fostoria Buggy Company; the Lloyd Lime Kilns, three in number, and two estab- lishments for the manufacture of common brick and draining tile. The milling company pays $300 a year for its gas ; the electric, light works are rated at 300 horse power, and the lime kilns pay about $350 per annum. These prices show that the rates for gas are scarcely more than nominal. An annual rate of $20 per pot was fixed for the first glass works, but the later establishments have been called to pay twice this amount. The GEOLOGY OF OHIO. largest amount paid by any one establishment is $500 per year. Brick have been thus far burned at the rate of fifteen cents per thousand, and tile at eight dollars per kiln. On the basis of calculation employed in the Findlay field, the gas used in Fostoria in glass manufacture is, at the lowest possible figure, 5,500,000 cubic feet daily. The window glass companies that pay 20 per pot for tVieir annual rate obtain for this sum not less than 21,OCO,000 feet, and accordingly the rate is f-omething like one mill for 1,000 feet. The charge for the gas daily used in each glass pot is about five cents. The amount of gas used in the Fostoria glass works every day, if sold for domestic use in the surrounding cities that are eager to avail them- selves of it and that expect to pay at least ten cents per thousand feet, would, at this lowest rate, command $550. The monthly income would be $16,500, and the annual income $198,000. The total amount of gas used in Fostoria when all the manufacturing establishments are in operation can not fall below 7,000,000 feet per day. It may greatly exceed this amount. The Fostoria pipe line consists of six to seven miles of six-inch wrought-iron, ecrew-joint pipe, extending from the Avells to the corpora- tion. Diverging from this point two lines of the same size are carried out that extend completely around the town, united on the opposite side from the point of departure. A further account of the gas supply will be found in a preceding sec- tion describing Perry township, Wood county. (.7) GAS WELLS OF PUTNAM COUNTY. One other attempt to find and utilize natural gas must be given at this point. The village of Ottawa is at the present time engaged in search- ing for natural ga=i, to be used as a public fuel supply. The search is being conducted at the point of the drill b the common council of the village corporation. Authority has been granted by the S ate Lf g slature to bond the vilhge for $45,000 for this purpose. The proposition was submjtted to the people and a well nigh unanimous decision in favor of it was given, the opposition making less than four per cent, of the total vote. The council has taken leases on several 'arms lying three or four miles to the southeast of the village, and it has thus far drilled six wells at an outlay of something more than six thousand dollars; the first wtll of the series, however, being located in obedience to the popular demand nearer to the village limits. This immediate territory had already been tested by three or more wells and no value, whatever, had been found in it. The new well confirmed the unfavorable judgment of this location. Of the THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 1 93 remaining wells only two have given any promise of service, viz., Nos. 3 and 5. Both of them are situated in the valley of Riley Creek. Well No. 3 was drilled in the fall of 1889. When the Trenton was reached at a depth of 1,290 feet, or about 600 feet below tide, a small vol- ume of gas was found in it. The gas was at once turned to account in drilling other wells near by. Its entire volume has been used for that purpose almost uninterruptedly up to the present time, and the well has naturally, been considerably reduced by this treatment in volume and production. Measured on June 27, 1890, its volume was found to be 110,880 cubic feet per day, and the rock pressure rose to forty pounds in thirty minutes. The supply of gas is insufficient for running the boiler with which the drilling of the new wells is being done. Well No. 4 was drilled deeper into the Trenton than No. 3, and a few feet below the gas horizon oil was reached. These two forms of petroliferous accumulation are perilously close in the entire region when either is found, and thus far there has not been developed enough of either to justify the outlays necessary to obtain it. This well is not counted of any value. Well No. 5 was but little removed from the list of dry holes until it was shot with forty quarts of nitro-glycerine. By the effect of the torpedo^ a light flow of gas was developed. The volume of the well, after being opened for one hour, was found to be 148,300 cubic feet per day ; and its rock pressure, under the same conditions, increased as follows : 100 pounds in 5 minutes. 200 pounds in 23 minutes. 250 pounds in 60 minutes. 290 pounds in 15 hours. The well would undoubtedly have fallen to lower figures in produc- tion if it had been left open for a longer time, and its rock pressure would have increased correspondingly slower. No use has been made of this well, but it has probably been affected by the draft on No. 3, which is not more than 1,500 feet distant from it. Several other wells in the same general district are now under contract. In all these cases, the Trenton limestone is found at a depth of about 1,300 feet below the surface, and the sections of the wells are normal in all respects. The two wells producing gas show a small amount of relief in the surface of the Trenton limestone, as com- pared with the other wells. If sufficient gas is found to warrant utilization, it is expected to bring it into town by a four-inch pipe line. As there are less than a thousand stoves to be supplied, and as the distance of the wells from the corporation boundary does not exceed four miles, a pipe of this size will undoubtedly answer the purpose, provided volume and pressure prove sufficient. 13 G. 194 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The territory is not such as would invite the investments of any per- son acquainted with the general business of drilling wells for oil and gas, and at the same time conversant with the character of the northwestern Ohio production, as thus far developed. In other words, no individual .and no private company would think for a moment of doing with their own means what the municipal corporation is now doing. The balance of probabilities against the success of the undertaking is altogether too great to allow those who have only their own money to spend to drill a dozen wells, one after the other, in a region that has been as fully tested as this. The territory presents every appearance of belonging to that large division of northwestern Ohio, in which the Trenton limestone is found slightly petroliferous, but without accumulations of either oil or gas that can be made to repay exploitation. SECTION II. OIL PRODUCTION OF THE TRENTON LIMESTONE, 1888 TO 1890. The Trenton limestone is by far the most important single source of petroleum in the United States at the present time. The oil production of Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia is derived from not less than six distinct strata of sandstone of very unequal value as oil rocks ; and these several strata are distributed through several thousand feet of the Devonian, Sub-carboniferous and Carboniferous series of these respective States. Of these petroleum-bearing rocks the Bradford sand has undoubt- edly been the most important, but the period of its greatest production has long passed. It is hot necessary to compare the Bradford field of twenty- five years ago with the Trenton limestone of to-day ; but it is certain that neither it nor any other of the great sand-rocks of the eastern field is now producing or can be made to produce one-half as much oil as this last found source, which proves to be a magnesian limestone of Lower Silurian age. The oil-producer and the geologist alike find it hard to adjust them- selves to these surprising facts. The discovery of oil in the Trenton limestone was made early in 1885 in the Paper-mill well at Lima. Gas in large amount had been found in the same stratum a few months before at Findlay and Bowling Green, and the discovery of oil was consequently only a question of time. No stratum is known in the geological scale that furnishes gas in large amount which does not, also, in some part of its extent, produce oil as well. An account of the remarkable development of the new oil fields was given in Volume VI, Geology of Ohio, bringing the history down to the date of issue, viz., to the close of 1887. At this time there were three principal centers of production, viz., the Findlay field, the Lima field, in- THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 195 eluding a continuous development through several townships of Auglaize and Mercer counties, and the North Baltimore field. Oil had also been found at various other points, but in comparatively small quantity. Two or three light wells were being worked at Bradner, and at Tiffin and Gibsonburg a little oil was also produced with the gas, which was being utilized at these points, and which was the main object of the search. When in 1886, an oil field of considerable dimensions became ap- parent in northwestern Ohio, the Standard Oil Company appeared upon the stage under the name of the Buckeye Pipe Line, assuming the relation to the new field that it usually bears to oil fields, in purchasing, storing and transporting the oil. It would not have consisted at all with the established policy of this company to allow a field of such importance as this promised to become to be developed outside of its control. It also began about the same time an extensive refinery at Lima. Other com- panies also undertook the refining of the new oil during 1886 and 1887. One such refinery was established at Findlay, two at Lima, one at Brad- ner, and a previously existing refinery at Toledo was set to work on Trenton limestone oil. The price that the Standard Oil Company established for the oil when the field was first opened was forty cents a barrel, Bradford oil at that time ranging between eighty and ninety cents. But it was soon found that oil production in the new territory required very small outlay as compared with production in the eastern fields. Not more than 400 feet of casing was, as a rule, required, and the depth of the wells never exceeded 1,300 feet. Sections in which large production was possible were beginning to tje reached. During the latter months of 1886, 10,- 000 barrels of oil were brought to the surface every day, and the Pipe Line Company was kept busy in tank building. Two thirty thousand- barrel tanks were needed every week to cover the production. The state of things in the new oil field during the last half of 1887, and the beginning of 1888, can not be better shown than in the following extract from a report made by the author in the summer of 1887, and published in the Eighth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey : '' PRODUCTION AND PROMISE OP THE FIELD. "Drilling in the Lima field was begun in the spring of 1885. It was a year, how- ever, before the oil producers entered vigorously upon its development. The wells on the Shade farm, south of the town, made the first significant departure from the day of small things with which the work was begun. All these were flowing wells. The early summer of 1886 marked the beginning of rapid development. The production of single wells increased from sixty and seventy barrels to 100 barrels a day ; aad presently, in the Hume well, to 250 barrels in a day, and a little later to 700 barrels in the Tunget well. To the southward great wells were presently found. The Ridenour farm, the Hueston, Moore, 196 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Ditzler, Ballard, Lehman, Goodenow and Spear farms all became centers of large and certain production. By October 1 the character of the field had come into clear view as second to none yet found in the United States in volume of production. During September, 1886, thirty-three wells were added to the 128 previously drilled. Of these one was dry. * The total production of the new wells was 2,455 barrels daily, shewing an average of seventy-five barrels to the well. Six of these wells were credited with an aggregate production of 1,300 barrels daily. In November a number of other great wells were brought in, and the Douglas, Crumrine, Boop, Mechling, McLain and other farms were added to the prolific areas. A well drilled during this month on the Alonzo McLain farm, Section 13, Shawnee township, reached a production for its first day of nearly or quite 1,000 barrels. This well is still flowing at the rate ef 150 barrels a day. The largest production in the Lima field for a single day is that of a well on the J. W. Eidenour farm, Section 18, Perry township. It put into tanks in the first twenty-four hours, 2,760 barrels of oil. Its rate was 115 barrels per hour. " Of twenty wells completed in November, one was dry, and nine produced daily 100 barrels each or more. Of twenty-two wells completed in December, one was dry, and eleven wells produced daily 100 barrels each or more. The eleven wells of this- group are credited with 2,500 barrels daily. "On January 1, 1887, according to the published accounts, there were in the Lima field 235 wells, with a daily production of 9,488 barrels. In January, thirty- five wells were added to the list, and in February, thirty-four. Of the latter, sixteen wells were reparted as producing from 100 to 250 barrels daily. It is unnecessary to follow the development in detail further. " On the 1st of May, 1887, there were 444 wells in the Lima field. The number has been increased but slightly since this time on account of the determined effort of the Buckeye Pipe Line Company (the Standard Oil Company) to restrict production. The price of the oil was reduced in the latter part of 1886 from forty cents to thirty-five^ Other reductions, each of five cents, have subsequently followed, the latest being made on July 20, when the price fell from twenty to fifteen cents per barrel, at which point it rests at this writing. These successive reductions, the company insists, are justified and rendered necessary on several grounds. Prominent among these is the bringing in of the great wells of the North Baltimore field of Wood county, one of which has reached the amazing production of 5,000 barrels of oil in a single day. This is the highest mark of the Trenton limestone. " At a conference between the producers of the field and the Buckeye Pipe Line Company in July, 1887, it was agreed that drilling should be suspended for the rest of the year, or at least until some efficient means of reducing stocks should be found, and that the torpedoing of wells should be entirely abandoned. The average production for the total number of wells drilled in the Lima field does not reach a very large figure, because the early wells were mainly drilled on the edge of the field where the oil rock lies near its dead line. In the wells drilled during the last six months nearly 50 per cent, have been of the 100-barrel rate, or even larger. The average for the new wells of several separate months has exceeded seventy-five barrels. The proportion of dry holes has been very small since the laws of the field have been approximately ascertained probably not exceeding five per cent. The highest daily production of the Lima field proper is not far from 14,000 barrels. It must be borne in mind that this production has been reached under the most adverse circumstances. Drilling has been confined during the last few months to the holders of leases for the main part, and it is being avoided now, in many instances, by the lessors waiving the terms of the lease in this regard. " THE QUALITIES AND USES OF TKENTON LIMESTONE OIL. "The Trenton limestone oil is in all respects a typical limestone oil, dark in color rather low in gravity, and containing a percentage of sulphureted products which though small, make themselves offensive and resist expulsion with great stubbornness. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 1 97 The extremes of gravity observed in the new fields are thirty-one and forty-two degrees, but the great bulk of the oil is included between thirty-five and forty degrees. " The initial experiments with Lima oil seemed favorable. The quality of illuminat- ing oil obtained from it was thought to be equal to any, though the percentage was smaller than of Pennsylvania petroleum. The Standard Oil Company undertook the large expenditures necessary in taking care of the oil and afterwards entered upon the work of refining it on an extensive scale. Independent refineries were established with considerable outlay at Lima and Findlay, and more recently at Bradner, and the oil has also been handled at a Toledo refinery in small quantities. " With all this expenditure and experience we are still unable to make positive and final statements as to the value and capabilities of the oil on account of the diametrically opposite testimony that is given by different parties in the field. The Standard Oil Com- pany has planted in the new field more than $2,000,000, and it now avers, through its representatives that it has made a great mistake, and declares that the numerous, exten- sive, and very costly experiments conducted by it in seeking to obtain from Lima crude an illuminating oil that will fairly compete with Pennsylvania oil in open market hare resulted in complete and utter failure. The company declares that out of 200,000 barrrels refined by them no oil that could be successfully used as an illuminant has been obtained. Representatives of the company further declare that the only use that they have been able to find for Lima oil is for fuel, and to its introduction for this purpose they are now directing all their efforts. They have more than 2,000,000 barrels already stored in the field, and the stocks are increasing at the rate of 15,000 to 20,000 barrels a day. This increase has gone forward in spite of the severest attempts at repression in the reduction of the market price of the oil. "There are, however, other companies in the field engaged in refining Lima oil, and their testimony is not of the same tenor as that already quoted. They declare that they are obtaining satisfactory results in refining Trenton limestone oil. They claim that the deodorization of the oil is practicable, and that the cost of the process is not excessive- One of the companies so engaged reports as the result of its operations, when fresh oil of 40 Baume at 60 Fahr. is treated, 50 per cent, kerosene of 150 fire test, 10 per cent, gasoline, and the same proportions and qualities of lubricating oils that are obtained from Pennsylvania crude. The quality of the illuminating oil is excellent. A larger percentage of loss than in eastern oil is admitted, but it is alleged that the loss is not excessive. " Laboratory experiments on crude petroleums can not always be trusted to indicate what their behavior will be when treated in a large way for commercial purposes, but the results of a few analyses recently made for the Ohio Geological Survey will be found instructive. " Professor Lord, chemist of the Ohio survey, adopted the comparative method im his examinations. Crude oil from the Macksburgh field, the character and yield of which are well known, and crude Trenton limestone oil from northwestern Ohio, were subjected to the same treatment with the following results, viz. : Macksburgh oil, Trenton limeston'e oil, 41 gravity. 39 gravity. Per cent. Per cent. Naptha 16. 15. Kerosene, between .73 and .83 38. 33. Sulphur .025 .535 "The distillation was arrested before "cracking" had begun. It is known that the Macksburgh oil can be made by the latter process to yield a total of seventy to eighty per cent of distillates. It is probable that the limestone oil would closely follow these figures if treated in the same way. "The enormous disproportion in sulphur compounds in the two oils can not fail to 198 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. attract attention. It is not certain, indeed, that all of the sulphur present in the oils is shown in the analyses, owing to possible defects in the method used. "The refiners of the Trenton limestone oil are certainly able to mask, more or less ompletely, the offensive sulphur compounds by their several methods of treatment, but they fail in some of the processes, at least, to remove them. This is shown in the follow- ing results from the examination of one sample of oil : Crude Trenton limestone oil, sulphur 553 Crude distillate, sulphur 52 Refined distillate (deodorized) sulphur 36 The results of the chemical examination here reported seem to show that the new petroleum has about the same character as the Macksburgh oil, except in its high per- centage of sulphur compounds. "In considering the conflicting testimony to which attention has now been called, we should not lose sight of the fact that very large interests and investments elsewhere are involved in the success or failure of the Lima oil, nor of the further fact that de- idedly the greatest oil field of the United States, so far as capacity of production is con- cerned, is coming into view in the Lima district, to the equal surprise of practical and scientific observers. Its development on the scale that we are now compelled to recog- nize is no hing less than revolutionary so far as the present interests of production and refining are concerned. An output of 20,000 barrels a day, as already shown, has been forced upon the Standard Oil Company, which has undertaken the task of purchasing and storing the petroleum of the country. The company has built more than a hundred tanks in the new field, each holding 30,000 to 36,000 barrels, and at the rate which the producers were maintaining in spite of the severe repression by the reduction of the price from forty to fifteen cents a barrel, the company found itself obliged to add to its plant two or three tanks each week. In fact, it became apparent that Trenton limestone oil could be produced, at least from one section of the new field, with a profit, even at fifteen cents a barrel. No fact illustrates more significantly the character and possibilities of this production. To check this marvelous yield it was, at length, found necessary to warn producers in substance that no further provision would be made for new wells daring the year 1887. Under this compulsion the drill was finally brought to rest. " If the price of Lima oil had been maintained at forty cents, there is no question that the field would now be producing 100,000 barrels a day. If the price should be raised to thirty cents, a production of 50,000 barrels a day would be reached inside of sixty days. These estimates are certainly within the limits. " It is obvious that the exploitation of the new field is premature. The markets of the country can not endure without a total collapse of prices the influx of even 20,000 barrels a day of crude oil from new sources, to say nothing of thrice or five times that much. It thus becomes a question whether the new oil shall be temporarily marked down to a price far below its first cost, its production being thereby greatly restricted, or whether by a general leveling of prices the eastern stocks shall be ruinously depreciated. The older centers could easily be impoverished without enriching the new. With such a field at hand as that which has now been described, in which the expenses of drilling and production are reduced to their lowest terms, crude. petroleum is certain to be cheap in any case. " Taking all the sources of information into account, the following statements seem warranted in regard to the new petroleum : " (1) Trenton limestone oil is inferior to oils of the Bradford fields, or, in other words, to the best oils of Pennsylvania, on the following grounds, viz., (a) it yields a smaller percentage of illuminating oils, unless cracking is resorted to ; (b) it contains a vastly larger proportion of offensive sulphur compounds which must be removed before the oil is ready for market and which resist removal with great stubbornness; (c) it smffers a larger percentage of loss in distillation. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 199 "(2) The best of the illuminating oil produced from it is fully equal to the best oil of any field. It endures comparison with any as to the brightness, the clearness and the duration of its flame, but a good deal of the refined oil that is in the markets from this source can not endure the test ; it crusts the wick and clouds the chimney of the lamp in which it is burned. " (3) Trenton limestone oil can be deodorized with small expense, to this degree at least, that it can enter the market without serious prejudice or disadvantage arising from its odor. Complete deodorization is claimed by most of the firms that are engaged in re- fining it, but while the possibility of the entire removal of its sulphur compounds is beyond question, this result has not thus far been generally attained. " (4) The lubricating oils and the other accessory products of refining are of a high degree of excellence. " (5) The present price of Trenton limestone oil, viz., fifteen cents a barrel, is in no way a measure of its real value as compared with the present price of Pennsylvania oil. " There is one use of Lima crude oil in regard to the success of which all are agreed, via., its use as fuel. It is excellently adapted to the convenient and economical produc- tion of heat for almost every purpose. It has been applied to simple uses, as to cooking and heating stoves, and also to the production of power in stationary steam-boilers and to locomotives to a small extent ; to the heating of gas retorts, to puddling and reheating furnaces, and to various other uses. In all these it has demonstrated its adaptability and great value. " Various processes for using it safely and conveniently have been devised, and there in probably room for important additions in this field. Four barrels of oil are counted equal to one ton of soft coal. At the present price of crude oil it could scarcely be dis- placed by natural gas where it is introduced. The crude oil ought to be deodorized before being applied to any of the purposes already named, but this has not yet been done where it is used for fuel, except in an experimental way. There seems to be no doubt that this result can be easily accomplished. " If all other and higher uses of petroleum are dropped entirely out of the account it is still evident that an enormous stock of fossil power, vastly greater than all that can furnished by the newly discovered natural gas fields of this part of the country, is made available to us in the Trenton limestone oil." The foregoing statements show the estimation in which Lima oil was held in 1887 : During 1888, a rapidly extending market was found for crude Lima oil. Excellent modes for burning it were brought into use, and an unlim- ited demand could well enough have been created for it at the price that then prevailed. The Buckeye 'Pipe Line (Standard Oil Company) con- structed an eight-inch line from Lima to Chicago, the length of the line to the city limits being 208 miles. The highest elevation on the line is near the point of beginning and but ten feet higher than the Lima sta- tion, and the total fall is about 300 feet, most of which is accomplished in the last seventy -five miles. There was but one pumping station to begin with, and this was at Lima; but a second was soon established at Laketon, which is nearly intermediate between the two extremes. The maximum delivery with a single pumping station and with 750 pounds pressure at Lima, is 10,000 barrels in twenty-four hours. With ordinary pressure of 400 to 500 pounds, the delivery ranges from 6,000 to 8,000 barrels per day. 2OO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Under these conditions the embargo was little by little removed from the drill and its vibrations were again resumed, and even multiplied. It is probable that the Standard Oil Company really entertained a poor opinion of Lima oil during the time above referred to, while the price was being gradually forced down from forty to fifteen cents per barrel. It had attained no better success, apparently, in refining the oil at that time than the smaller companies had achieved ; but there is no reason to doubt that, like the smaller companies, it was during all this time getting fair results in its great refinery. The probability is that it was taking the heart of the oil for refining, satisfying itself with a small percentage, and turning over the bulk to the fuel department. But a change soon appeared in its policy. The independent producers were multiplying and growing strong during 1888. The small refineries were carrying on their work successfully. Some of them were finding distant markets so promising that the Standard Oil Company apparently counted it necessary to begin to hold them in check. The districts which they were occupying were flooded with anonymous circulars, prejudicing, as far as possible, their sales. Up to 1888 the Standard Oil Company had purchased no oil territory. It probably gained some additional knowl- edge in the course of this year as to the real value of Trenton limestone oil, perhaps through the development of the Frasch process, presently to be named. At any rate, it entered during the year upon a policy which it had not heretofore adopted in any field, that, namely, of purchasing territory and producing oil for itself. The new departure is a very im- portant one, so far as Ohio oil is concerned, and certainly so far as the interests of the company are concerned. It puts this field, which has far greater productive capacity than any other in this country, more entirely into the hands of the great company than any other field has ever been. It began by absorbing the holdings of the most sagacious or the more fortunate of the independent companies. The Ohio Oil Company was in the front rank of the producers. It held a large acreage in the heart of the Lima and Auglaize county fields. The Standard interest bought out this company bodily, and retained its name for its own use in its new capacity. It bought out the Trenton Rock Oil Company, the bulk of whose lands were in dead territory, but which still held some valuable production. At a later date it bought out the Lima Oil Company, the Sherman Oil Company, and scores of other companies, and individual producers in every section of the field. It turned its attention also to promising: districts that were still in the hands of the original land- owners. Where oil rights could be obtained, it purchased them in the large way, but it also bought many thousands of acres in fee simple. In acquiring new territory in which possible production is indicated, the THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 2OI company has competed eagerly for possession during the last year, seem- ing to prefer to deal with the landowners direct than with oil companies after they have become strong. This policy has been of wonderful ad- vantage to the landowners. All these purchases, let it be remembered, were made on the basis of oil at fifteen cents a barrel, the price to which the product of the Trenton limestone had been forced by the Standard control. It must also be re- peated that this price has no relation to the intrinsic value of the oil. According to the rates at which Bradford oil was selling through all this history, Trenton limestone oil was, in reality, worth four or five times what was paid for it. Taking all these facts into the account, it is easy to see that the Standard Oil Company is likely to gather more wealth from Trenton limestone oil than all that it has accumulated in the east- ern fields. The Black Swamp of northwestern Ohio will enormouily increase the almost fabulous wealth which it has accumulated else- where during the last twenty years. All that was claimed in regard to the oil in 1887, in the passage quoted on a preceding page, has been made good during the last year, and the claims still fall short of the reality. Trenton limestone oil is now yielding as fine a quality of illuminating oil as has ever been produced in the eastern field. THE REFINING OF TRENTON LIMESTONE OIL. (a) Paragon Refinery. It is to the year 1889 that the great advances in the recognition of the real value of the new oil must be ascribed, so far at least as the knowledge of the outside world is concerned. Much of the advance is due to the work of a single factor, viz., the Paragon Re- fining Company of Toledo. This company, compact in numbers and financially strong, thoroughly acquainted with the oil production and the refining interests of the old fields, through the persistent experimenta- tion of one of its members, viz., George H. Van Vleck, of Buffalo, New York, came into possession of a process, worked out by Mr. W. H. Pitt, professor of natural science in the Buffalo High School, by which the sul- phurous compounds that so stubbornly inhere in Trenton limestone oil, and that have thus far, though more or less masked by the process of refining, been able to defy expulsion, were at last eliminated so far as all offensive properties are concerned. The essential feature of the Paragon process, which has been covered by a patent, is the removal of the sulphur compounds by means of iron filings, while the oil is in a state of vapor. The process thus agrees closely with one of the best processes for the purifi- cation of ordinary coal gas, and like the latter it is thoroughly successful. A sample of oil, taken from the tanks of the Paragon Company, was sub- 2O2 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. milled for chemical examination to Prof. N. W. Lord, the chemist of the Survey. It was carried through a thorough examination for sulphur, side by side with a sample of the best eastern oil that could be obtained in Columbus, and the result showed ,that there was no more sulphur in the Paragon than in the Pennsylvania oil, though originally there was fifteen or twenty times as much. The new product has naturally been submitted to many practical tests, all of which show it to belong to the very highest grade of illumi- nating oils. When it passed the critical and not over-friendly inspection of the Oil City Exchange, and no fault could be found with it, all ques- tions as to its quality might safely be counted settled. There is no par- ticular in which it shows any inferiority whatever to the most perfect types of eastern oils and it has certain advantages of its own. The refinery of the Paragon Company is one of the most complete and best equipped in the country. It occupies seventeen acres of land, well situated with reference to railroads, on the south bank of the Maumee River, three miles below Toledo. At the present time there are in opera- tion four stills of 400 barrels capacity, and four of 500 barrels capacity. In addition there are two steaming tanks of 800 and 1,200 barrels capacity respectively. The company owns tank-cars and controls a considerable amount of oil-producing territory, largely in the Gibsonburg field. Its total holdings are said to be about 5,000 acres. During 1889 the refinery was able to purchase as much oil in the field as it desired, but the con- solidation of the producing interests in the hands of the Ohio Oil Com- pany, which has been reported as in rapid progress at the present time, will probably change this in the immediate future. The Paragon Company makes great claims for Ohio oil as contrasted with Pennsylvania oil, but it does not give the percentage of the former to the public as yet. It affirms that the recovery of the parafine from its oil is greatly facilitated by the process to which it is subjected in the elimination of the sulphur. As intimated above, the process is owing to the determined purpose of Mr. Van Vleck, the president of the company, to master the treatment of Ohio oil so far as its sulphur is concerned. For this purpose he built, several years ago, on his own ground at Buffalo a miniature refinery and began his work, trying every thing which his knowledge of the oil busi- ness could suggest as promising success, and at the same time calling in the chemical assistance already named. For six months he continued his experiments without being able to report progress. At last the sub- stance of the present method was hit upon. After the process was per- fected in the experimental way, Mr. Van Vleck put it to a practical test in a small refinery, built by himself at an expense of several thousand THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. dollars. He found the results all that he expected. The present com- pany was then formed and the large works at Toledo were begun. Tested on the large scale, the process is said to work even more satisfactorily than it had worked in either of the trials through which it had been previously followed. (6) The Solar Refinery The great refinery of the Standard Oil Com- pany is established at Lima. In its equipment nothing has been spared which could contribute to the efficiency of such a plant. It is now run- ning twenty-nine stills of 500 barrels capacity, with which are connected five agitators and acid recovery works. The stills are run six or seven times in a month. The company has introduced within the last year a new process for treating the oil and eliminating the sulphur. It is known as the Frasch process, from the name of the chemist who originated it. It is similar in its desulphurizing agency to the Paragon process, though differing in other respects. It is unquestionably a decided advance on the previous methods of treating the oil in the Solar works. As to how it compares in efficiency with the Paragon process, there has been no opportunity to determine by comparative analyses, but the resulting product is unquestionably of very high grade. The company is now shipping its product under the brand of the Solar Refinery and it has no better illuminating oil. During the last year, pipe lines have been ex- tended from the Ohio field to the great refineries of Cleveland and Oil City, and the company is, without doubt, assured that when consumption permanently overtakes production in the eastern districts, it has the great resources of northwestern Ohio upon which to draw for a long term of years, and with the product of which it will be able to maintain the highest standard of quality to which it has ever yet attained. 'It is build- ing near Chicago a refinery of enormous size to which its oil pipe line will be tributary. (c) The Eagle Refinery. This refinery was established early in the history of the Lima field and has been pursuing the even tenor of its way from that day to the present. Its outfit is comparatively small. It has seven stills of 250 barrels capacity. It holds a process of its own in elimi- nating the sulphur. This is understood to be some modification of the lead process. The company bas made steady improvement during the last two years in treating the oil, improving its quality and at the same time using constantly smaller percentages of the necessary chemicals. It has always furnished a thoroughly marketable and acceptable oil. By its treatment the odor of the oil is almost entirely removed. A little clouding of the chimneys still remains, owing to the percentage of sulphur, which resists elimination. In its practice it obtains from seven to ten per cent. less of water- white oil than Pennsylvania crude is expected to yield. The 2O4 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. percentage of benzine is stated to be in excess of twelve. The lubricating oil and the residues are eagerly taken up by those who treat these pro- ducts. The waste is reported as relatively large. The company owns its^own oil production, at least in part. It has given over the use of oil from the Lima field proper altogether, on account of its low gravity, which, as will be remembered, ranges between thirty- seven and thirty-nine degrees, B. The gravity of the North Baltimore oil is about forty-one and one-half degrees, B., and gives correspondingly bet- ter results in distillation. The company has, accordingly, secured a con- siderable acreage in the North Baltimore field which, when fully drilled, is expected to produce a full supply for the refinery. At present the crude oil is all received by tank cars from the North Baltimore field. The refinery has done its work thus far on fifteen cent oil. How it will be affected by the new conditions that are being established in the field, remains to be seen. (d) The Peerless Refinery. This establishment is located at Findlay, and has been in operation with various fortunes during the last four years. During the last year its business is reported as very prosperous. It com- mands its own oil production, holding about 4,000 acres in the best part of the Findlay field. Its wells and tanks are connected with the refinery by its own pipe lines, so that it commands every advantage in this respect. Findlay oil is not quite equal for refining purposes to North Baltimore and Gibsonburg oil, but no complaint is made of it here. This company, like the one last named, uses some modification of the lead process in its treatment of the sulphur of the oil. Like the last, also, it has made great progress in its work during the last year or two. It is now furnishing, beyond question, an excellent and popular oil, which there is no trouble in maintaining in the markets. The refinery is turning out about 1,500 barrels per month, and it proposes to double its plant forthwith. (e) The Bradner Refinery. This is a email establishment, built in 1887, but it has been in operation for only a small part of the intervening time. It was located at Bradner with the expectation that it could obtain in the immediate vicinity a supply of oil of the best grade; but the wells first drilled proved small or failures, and for several years the location hss worked greatly against the success of the refinery. Though removed but a few miles from the North Baltimore field, a car loaded at the wells of this district would be obliged to traverse the lines of three railroads before reaching the refinery. But recently fortune has proved more kind. An important oil field has been developed within two or three miles of the refinery, and the owners of the latter have secured a large amount of the best territory in the new district. The mode of treating the oil in this re- finery, when in operation, was quite similar to that in force in the two THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 2C>5 last named; but not having been constantly engaged, as the latter have been, in the work of distillation, it has probably failed to keep pace with them in their improvements. The business of producing oil for the general markets has proved more attractive to the company of late than the work of refining it. If, however, the company should resume its pro- per office it would be free from many of the disadvantages that have attended its work hitherto. From this brief review it can be seen that the work of refining Tren- ton limestone oil has certainly been mastered by two companies, and that refined oil, of as high quality as has ever been produced in the country, can now be supplied in the largest amount from this great field. It has been also shown that several other companies have attained fair success in their work under the conditions that have heretofore prevailed in the field. It has thus become certain that Trenton limestone oil is henceforth to be valued as a basis for refining and not for any inferior uses. The very fact that it is available for the higher uses forbids its being turned to these commoner applications. All the oil suitable for refining in the country will be needed before many decades go by. OTHER USES OF TRENTON LIMESTONE OIL. Reference has been made in the preceding section to the low estimate of value that was at first placed upon the new petroleum, especially by the Standard Oil Company. This company felt obliged to take care of the product of the Trenton rock because it was oil; but for the first two years of its occupancy of the field, it failed to realize the value of what it reluctantly found itself obliged to handle in the execution of its well- known purpose to control the oil interests of the country. During this time the main use for which it could recommend Lima oil was for fuel. As soon as the proper means were contrived for handling and burning the oil conveniently its natural excellence asserted itself, and all who used it were only anxious to be assured that a supply would-be maintained at the rates at which it was first offered. It was found equally available for the production of power, the manufacture of fuel gas by the new processes, and the various uses of fuel in connection with iron- working and other like industries. Wherever it was introduced it became at once exceedingly popular. The manufact- urers of the northwest sent representatives to the Ohio field to make sure, if possible, by the purchase of productive territory, of maintaining their supply, and all along the Atlantic seaboard the appreciation was equally emphatic. This state of things made a brisk market during. 1889 for fifteen-cent oil ; and wherever the production of the rock was- generous, drilling went forward with considerable activity. Many com- 2O6 GEOLOGY OF OHIO panics were growing fairly strong by the sagacious handling of their own product in meeting these new demands. Several of the more enterpris- ing were buying oil at a slight advance above the price which the Stand- ard Company had fixed in 1887. One company kept a standing offer of two and a half cents more per barrel than the Standard Company would pay, but up to the present summer it has never needed to change its rates. But Trenton limestone oil is altogether too precious a form of stored power to be applied to these common uses, and the fact was discovered none too soon. These common uses have been brought about by the insignificant figures to 'which the Standard Oil Company had crowded down the price of the oil, and by the missionary work done by this company during 1887, in teaching the people of the country what an admirable fuel Tren- ton limestone oil is. The company long ago discovered its mistake. The pipe line that it had built to Chicago, ostensibly, and probably at the out- set in reality, for the conveying of fuel oil was now made to terminate in a gigantic refinery, one of the largest in the United States, and the origi- nal pipe line is being duplicated. It did not renew its contracts for fuel oil when they expired, but the independent producers stood ready to take them up, and even to greatly extend this sort of use. But as the oil began to be refined on the large scale the refineries themselves needed the markets which had been secured for the crude oil for the benzine that they themselves were producing. The crude oil could be sold on the sea- board and in the northwest at about three cents a gallon, so long as the initial price was kept .at fifteen cents a barrel; and while this state of things was maintained benzine could not be sold for the same uses at five cents a gallon, the price which the refineries needed to obtain for it. The remedy for these conditions was to be found either in marking up the price of Trenton limestone oil, or in buying out the independent pro- ducers, or in both lines of action. The independent, companies, under the new conditions above described, were already paying several cents per barrel more than the Standard Company, and were obtaining a growing share of the outside production. Prominent among these companies were the Lima Oil Company, the Shawnee Oil Company, the Sun Oil Company, the Peerless Refinery Company, ttc. The first advance was made by the Standard Oil Company on March 6, 1890. It was then officially announced that from that date the Buck- eye Pipe Line Company would pay twenty cents per barrel for Lima oil_ This was two and a half cents in advance of the price which several of the independent companies were at the time paying, but the latter instantly raised their offers above twenty cents. Three times in the THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 2QJ course of the week, beginning with March 6, advances were made by the Pipe Line Company, leaving the price at the end of the week twenty-, three cents. On March 19, it was raised to twenty five cents by the com- pany. Each advance was promptly met by the independent producers. On April 8, the Standard price was raised to twenty-seven and one-half cents; on April 15, to thirty-two and one-half cents; and on May 6, to thirty-seven and one-half cents, where it rests at the present time, the independent producers paying meanwhile forty cents for the oil, an advance of 266 per cent, in sixty days. Side by side with this exciting competition, the absorption of the more active companies has been going forward. The Lima Oil Company was one of the first to receive the price at which it held its property and business. The terms of the sale were private, but it is fair to suppose that the sale was not effected on a basis of fifteen cent oil. The demands of several other strong companies, it is said, have been so far reached by the Standard too late, the advancing rate of oil carrying a constantly in- creased valuation. Of all these other companies we may say, "They a little longer wait, but how little none can know." There is no reason to doubt that the great corporation will ultimately secure full control of the entire field. In fact it has, at the present, but very little more to do to reach this result. It already owns either the oil rights or the fee of by far the most important portion of every subdivision of the field. The independent companies that are at work beside it are not in the field as representatives of any high views of public policy for which they would be willing to make all needful sacrifices; they are in the field to make money, and whenever they find that the Standard Oil Company will pay them more for their property than they can reasonably expect to make out of it themselves, they will sell. In addition to all this, the pipe lines, the tankage, and the refining interests of the company would put the field virtually under its control, even if it did not own a large preponderance of the production. The stocks of oil that the company holds give it another overwhelming advantage as against the independent producer. There are now in the tanks of the company in northwestern Ohio more than 14,000,000 barrels of oil, paid for at fifteen cents, but by a stroke of the pen converted into thirty-seven and one-half-cent oil, and in reality worth even twice this figure. The company added more than three and a half million dollars to its credit by simply writing a new figure for the price of the oil, and it could just as easily double this amount in the same way. With such a leverage in the hands of a company that is commonly reputed to know no scruple in its treatment of competitors, it seems im- possible for individuals or companies to permanently hold their place in the Ohio field ; they exist but by sufferance. 2O8 GEOLOGY OF OHIO At no previous time in the history of the field has there been any- thing like the excitement that sprang up under the advance of prices that has been described in the preceding paragraph. When the price reached thirty cents, a basis was at last afforded on which new territory could be explored, and the driller has turned to this work with great energy. All territory that could be counted as giving any promise, either from its his- tory or its situation, has been covered by the operator's leases, and scores of wells are now bringing in their reports from new districts and will con- tinue to do so through the coming season. Gas is relegated to decidedly the second place by the new movement. Even in centers like Findlay it has already become " a back number " and its rapid decline is noted without undue excitement, the speculative ele- ment that has been connected with it in the past being now absorbed in the fortunes of the oil field. " The king is dead ; long live the king," is the motto for the occasion. The new movement has put into circulation a large volume of money which is being widely distributed through a half dozen counties in north- western Ohio. Few leases are now taken in territory of any real promise without a bonus ranging from one to ten, or even fifteen dollars per acre. It is safe to say that the farming community of these counties have paid their taxes during the last month easier than they ever paid them before. It must also be added that through the same agencies the districts that are being explored and developed in the new interests have been turned for the time being into mining camps. An unwholesome and restless excite- ment prevades whole communities, making the gains of ordinary industry seem insignificant, and giving rise to widespread speculation and extrava- gance. It is not in all respects an advantage for a farming district to be turned into an oil field. GEOLOGICAL FACTORS IN THE OIL PRODUCTION OF THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. (a) The Oil Sand. The oil sand of the new horizon, as is known to all who have made themselves intelligent in regard to the subject, is a magnesian or dolomitic limestone. It sometimes constitutes the very sur- face of the Trenton limestone, being struck by the drill as soon as the latter has passed through the Utica shale ; but it is more frequently, or even generally covered by a hard cap, one to ten feet in thickness. This cap is a true calcareous rock. It is quite likely from its situation to be brought up from the well by the explosion of torpedoes, and we consequently have many opportunities of learning its character. It is often very pure, rang- ing between 93 and 97 per cent, carbonate of lime. It is generally highly THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 2 09 fossiliferous, carrying the common fossils of the formation. Wherever it occurs as a pure limestone, it may be suggested that the process of dolo- mitization did not have time to transform it before the interruption in the conditions of the sea occurred that is represented in the formation of the Utica shale. We know that the dolomite is in all cases a secondary forma- tion, the limestone from which it results being dissolved, atom by atom, and replaced in part by the new material. The oil sand lies, as has been said, directly below the hard cap, when the latter is present. It consists of one or two, or sometimes even more beds of porous dolomite, interstratified with the ordinary limestone of the Trenton type. The main or upper bed varies greatly in thickness. It seldom, if ever, exceeds fifteen feet, and a thickness of three to ten feet would cover most of its occurrences. This sand does not, therefore, gener- ally exist more than twenty to twenty-five feet below the top of the Tren- ton. The second bed is often found, and especially in the most productive portions of the field, separated from the first by an interval of fifteen to twenty feet. The second sand has all the characteristics of the first and is even more productive than the first in many cases. Nearly all the extra- ordinary flows of oil that are reported are derived from the lower stratum. The second oil streak especially characterizes the Wood county field. (6) Presence of Salt Water. The salt Avater occupies a very different place in the new oil field from what it holds in the eastern fields. In the latter its appearance is generally a sign that all is lost ; in the former it is no longer regarded with suspicion or disfavor. It is thought that the oil rock is kept in better condition when it produces with the oil four or five barrels of salt water in a day. Such a production would be preferred by many operators to a well producing oil alone. Even where wells produce twenty, thirty or fifty barrels of salt water in a day, they may still be highly valued as sources of oil. The salt water gains in many cases but slowly. In present practice in the Lima field, wells are universally drilled to a depth of fifty feet in the Trenton limestone, and this depth is generally sufficient to release more or less salt water. The difference in the eastern and the western fields in these respects is obviously connected with the differences of structure by which they are characterized. The Pennsylvania field is marked in most instances by the presence of more distinct anticlinals or arches than appear in Ohio. In the latter the terrace structure prevails, and broad tracts of apparently level oil rock are revealed by the drill. On the margins of these terraces, the water column is often aggressive, but in the interior it works its way forward but slowly. It is this factor which protects the oil rock from being overflowed. The same structure protects the gas fields of Bloom township, Wood county, and also of Franklin town- 14 G. 2IO GEOLOGY OF OHIO. ship, Mercer county, for example, from as speedy reduction as Findlaj and Stuartsville have shown. Just outside the oil boundaries, at a little lower level in the lime- stone, a flood of salt water unmixed with oil, lies which rises nearly to the surface when it is struck, and which pumps are as powerless to ex- haust as they would be if connected with the sea itself. But the driller always knows wells of this character as soon as they are struck. They are in no sense oil wells at the present time or prospectively. Abundant observations show that the salt water, when it rises most freely, attains a height of about 600 feet above tide. (c) Acreage demanded by Oil Wells. Opinions vary considerably as to the proper acreage to be assigned to an oil well, among those who have the most experience in the field. It is probable that different sections of the field would require somewhat different answers in this respect, but no judicious operator would locate wells so that, any one would have less than ten acres tributary to it. Most hold that in territory where they are not obliged to guard against rival interests, economy would be consulted by giving to each well at least twenty acres, and some place the limit as high as fifty acres. In the best sections of the field a well will undoubt- edly draw oil from a much larger area even than the last named, if time enough is given to it. There are a few cases in which the oil rock lies more unsteady than usual, where a part of the production might be missed, unless wells were drilled closer together than any of the limits assigned would require. The most of the answers would name ten to twenty acres as the proper territory to go with a well. (d) Production of Oil to the Acre. As to the total production to be realized to the acre, it is too early in the history of the field to give results. Only estimates are available, and here also the estimates vary considerably. No estimate obtained has placed the total production of what is called good territory at less than 2,000 barrels to the acre. Many judicious esti- mates name 2,500 barrels to the acre, and some operators are confident that the best territory will range between 4,000 and 5,000 barrels to the acre. There is no doubt that the last named figures will be attained in the vicinity of the greater wells. (e) Capacity of Single Wells. As to the production of single wells, it is still too early to report. The Slaughterbeck well No. 3, of Henry town- ship, Wood county, had produced^ total of 200,000 barrels one year ago, and it was still a good well. The Alonzo McClain well of Shawnee town- ship had reached a total of 160,000 barrels a year ago and was still a good well. Probably a score of wells have passed the 100,000 barrel mark with- out losing their vitality. One operator reports an average production of THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 211 30,000 barrels to thirty- five wells, all of which were still in fairly vigorous production. Probably no single well has produced 10,000 barrels in a day, but several have started off at this rate. There are three or four wells that have put into the tanks at least 5,000 barrels per day. (/) Life of the Oil Wells. As to the life of the wells of the Trenton limestone, we know that three years does not exhaust them when proper care of them is taken. There are numerous instances of wells yielding twenty to fifty barrels to the pump at the end of the third year, and a few of them produce nearly as much even, spontaneously, when they have attained this same term of years. (p) Number of Oil Wells in the Trenton Limestone Fields. In August, 1889, there were about 1,200 wells producing oil from the new horizon. The number has been largely increased during the last three months. The state of things in the several districts is shown in the appended re- port of the Buckeye Pipe Line Company for June, 1890. This report betokens great activity in all of the established districts : Wells Completed. Drilling. Eigs up. Lima District 29 36 50 Findlay 29 31 29 North Baltimore 58 59 68 St. Mary's 21 15 26 Gibsonburg 28 40 63 Upper Sandusky 3 3 Spencerville 4 Totals 165 188 239 Wells abandoned in June Lima district, 1 ; North Baltimore district, 1 ; Gibson- burg district, 3 ; total, 5. Dry holes completed in June Lima district, 1 ; Findlay district, 1 ; North Baltimore district, 2 ; St. Mary's district, 2 ; Gibsonburg district, 5 total, 11. There are now more than 600 tanks in the different portions of the field. The tanks average at least 30,000 barrels. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEVERAL FIELDS. A brief account will now be given of the new features in the oil pro- duction of the Trenton limestone during the last two years, and particu- larly of the new fields that have been developed since the date of the preceding report. For the facts pertaining to the early history of the main fields, the reader is referred to Volume VI, Geology of Ohio. They will not be treated in this report, except as they may be incidentally mentioned. The divisions of the oil field will be considered in their geographical relations, rather than in the order of their importance, and the review 212 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. s will begin with the westernmost counties. Oil is now produced from the Trenton limestone in Mercer, Van Wert, Auglaize, Allen, Hancock, Wyandot, Seneca, Sandusky and Wood counties. (A) OIL WELLS OF MERCER COUNTY. The Reservoir Oil Field. Two townships of this county, viz., Frank- lin and Granville, have been famous centers of gas production for the last four years, but the discovery of oil in quantity large enough to be taken account of belongs mainly to the last year. Oil has been found in paying quantity in Jefferson township, directly north of the reservoir, and the productive rock also extends into Center township. Exploration is going forward in all the northern and western townships of the county. The chief factor in the extensive work which is being done in Jeffer- son and Center townships is a well drilled upon the farm of Mrs. McMann during 1890. It started with 400 barrels per day, and for a number of weeks kept up to a 300-barrel rate. There are a half dozen wells finished in Jefferson township that indicate a fairly remunerative production, so long as oil does not fall below the present price. This territory is pretty thoroughly covered with leases. There is no longer room for the im- pecunious operator. Leases can not be obtained without a bonus of at least one dollar an acre, and the rate is generally higher near the centers where production has been proved. South of the reservoir is a great gas field ; immediately north of it, as is now seen, an oil field of some promise is coming into view. Speculators are now looking at the 16,000 acres of the reservoir, covered with a depth of ten or twelve feet of water, with longing eyes. This district is certain to contain both forms of petroliferous wealth. If the State were prepared to lease the lands handsome returns could, no doubt, be secured. The control of the lands is shared by two boards at the present time, viz., by the Board of Public Works and by the Canal Commission. It is understood that there is no present disposition to lease the lands for these purposes. If they are held back for a year or two the gas that underlies the reservoir will be mainly withdrawn to fill the pipe lines of the companies who are so eagerly competing for this buried fuel in Franklin township. The oil production of Mercer county, at the present time, as will be seen by this review, is of scanty proportions, but its promise is counted fair. (B) OIL WELLS OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY. This county is one of the five principal oil-producing counties of the State at the present time. Its development was well under way at the date of the publication of the last geological report, and since that time THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 213 it has been steadily progressing. The boundaries of production remain about as they were indicated on the map of 1887, though an occasional section has been added to the southern boundary in one or two townships. Oil and gas are limited thus far to the eight northwestern townships. The rock fails to the south and east in production apparently for want of porosity. The present features can be described under two headings, viz., the St. Mary's field, including St. Mary's and Washington townships, and the Buckland field, including Moulton and Noble townships. (1) The St. Mary's Field. The oil production of St. Mary's is some- what irregular in its distribution. The township is rather to be counted gas territory than oil territory, but in spots throughout its northern half, and increasingly toward the northern border, oil is found instead of gas. The latter conditions are also found in Noble township along the common boundary. These districts mark the westernmost limits of oil in im- portant quantity. It would seem as if the Ohio oil field of Auglaize, Mercer and Allen counties is the corresponding term to the great gas field of Indiana. The latter in reality extends into Ohio in the Mercer county field. The bodily connection between the two has not yet been dis- covered, but there is little reason to doubt that such connection exists in the shape of continuous bsds of porous rock. (2) The Buckland Oil Field. Under this designation, an account will be given of one of the leading centers of production from the new horizon. The field will be made to include Moulton and Noble town- ships. On its northern and eastern boundary it is directly connected with the Lima and Cridersville fields, from which, in any case, it must be separated, if at all, by an arbitrary line. All the boundaries of this part of the oil field, in fact, are recognized as arbitrary. Careful study may reveal natural boundaries in salt water troughs that will give rise to a number of minor subdivisions. The surface of Moulton township is very flat, ranging mainly between 840 and 870 feet above tide. The bedded rock is covered by a series of drift deposits that generally range between 100 and 350 feet in thickness. The deeply buried Trenton limestone that underlies this monotonous surface is found by the drill to exist in the shape of a terrace that has scarcely more relief than the drift-covered surface above described. There is, however, no correspondence between the elevations and depressions oi the one and the elevations and depressions of the other. The upper surface of this limestone, as revealed by the work of the driller, has a, range of only thirty or forty feet throughout the township. The highest portions of it are about 310 feet below tide, and the lowest troughs are less than 350 feet below tide. There are entire square miles in which the surface of the Trenton limestone will not vary in eleva- 2I 4 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. tion more than four or five feet. If revealed at the* surface funder the same conditions that prevail under ground, the limestone^would con- stitute a swampy plain, from which the water would find it difficult to escape ; or, if partially overflowed with water, two or three long troughs would be found filled to a depth of ten to twenty feet, after the fashion of the Mercer Reservoir to-day, while much the larger portion of the surface would appear as broad and irregular ridges. These ridges constitute the oil field, while the depressions which would form the shallow lakes above represented would be found buried in salt water. One of these salt water troughs has been found by the drill to cross the township in the vicinity of Glynnwood. Another passes just south of Buckland, and still a third, on the eastern border of the town. A section taken by the Survey across the township in a southeast direction, beginning near Buckland, gives the following results: Trenton below tide Results of drilling. Bowlby well, No. 1 310 fe 323 et.... .. 400 barrels of oil with large ariiount of gas Johnston well .. Oil and salt water the latter preponderating Dixon well 342 320 314 323 Salt water only. 130 barrels oil per day. 200 " ' " Doering well Harshberger well H. T. McConnell, No. 1 No. 2 Crow well 336 333 310 321 333 Salt water only. .< 80 barrels oil per day. Good oil well. Salt water only. Sheffer well Sharp well, No. 2 Bowsher well, No. 2 These figures are significant and will repay study. They show how absolutely the relief of the Trenton limestone dominates its production. The salt water wells found along the line of the section show the following levels of surface of the Trenton, viz. : 342, 336, 333 and 333 feet below tide. Of two other wells that report salt water in excess in connection with the oil, both find the Trenton at 323 feet below tide. In the oil wells proper, the limestone was found at the following levels, viz. : 310, 320, 314, 310 and 321 feet below tide. Three productive ridges of the Trenton were crossed in the line of the section, indicated respectively by the Bowlby well, Tren- ton, 310; the Harshberger well, Trenton, 314, and the Sheffer well, Tren- ton, 310. These elevated tracts can not be called anticlinals in any strict use of this term. The Trenton limestone in these oil fields lies like a carpet on a floor before it is nailed to its place; there are many and irregular, albeit small, ridges and furrows crossing its surface in varying directions. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 215 Among the more productive districts of Moulton township may be named Sections 15 and, 16. These sections can be safely estimated as good for at least 2,500 barrels to the acre. In other words, a well with twenty acres area tributary to it will furnish 50,000 barrels of oil. This is be- lieved to be a moderate estimate. Sections 11, 12, 13 and 14 are occupied in part by the salt water troughs above described. The southern tier of sec- tions of Logan township are the only sections from which important pro- duction has been so far obtained. In the salt water territory the water rises to 1,000 or 1,100 feet in the wells, or to a maximum elevation of about 600 feet above tide. (3) The Cridersville Field. Under this head a brief account will be given of Duchouquet township. As remarked above, it is directly con- tinuous with the Lima field, and is separated only for convenience in description. The boundary lines remain about the same as in the report of 1887-8, except that on the southeastern border a little productive terri- tory must be added. The northwestern sections, and particularly Sections 32, 33, 34, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, have yielded as good wells, all things con- sidered, as are to be found in the western oil counties. Section 7 has proved very prolific. The oil sand reaches a maximum thickness of twelve feet, an average thickness of eight to ten feet. It is, generally, covered by the hard, non-productive cap, previously described, five to ten feet in thickness. Salt water is expected in all wells at a depth of seven- teen to thirty feet, and is welcomed by the driller, unless the quantity is excessive. Four to five barrels a day are counted as a decided advantage in oil production. The water column does not prove to be aggressive. Salt water may lie upon the oil in this field for three months without seriously affecting the production of a well, while in Pennsylvania the value of a well would be probably destroyed by the salt water lying upon it a single week. The Shawnee Oil Company holds a very important pro- duction in this township, ranking next, at the present time, to the Ohio Oil Company (Standard Oil Company). The Shawnee Oil Company owns not only its oil territory, but has its own system of pipe lines, tanks and tank cars as well. It finds abundant market for all that it can produce as far east as the Atlantic seaboard. Its oil is sold for fuel purposes exclusively. (C) OIL WELLS OF ALLEN COUNTY. This county still holds a very prominent place in the oil production of the Trenton limestone. For the first two years of the new production it was decidedly in the lead, but with all the rest of the field it has been overshadowed by the wonderful developments in Wood county during the last two years. There is practically but one subdivision of the field. 216 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Shawnee, Perry, Bath and Ottawa townships are not separated in their oil production by salt water troughs, and they can, accordingly, all be rated under one head. (1) The Lima Oil Field. The oil production of the townships named above constitutes this field. The first two townships contain most of the real value. Their production agrees, in all respects, with that of Duchou- quet and Moulton townships, described in the last section, except that as their wells have been drilled longer, the territory has suffered a somewhat greater reduction in vitality than that. This is shown by the fact that new wells come in smaller than they would have done two years ago in the same territory, and they decrease more rapidly after being drilled. This is simply saying that the Lima oil field behaves like all other oil fields. The best portions of this county for oil production are probably Sec- tions 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Perry, and the southeastern sections of Shaw- nee township. Much of this territory promises to far exceed 2,500 barrels to the acre. A well on the Alonzo McClain farm, which started with 1,000 barrels per day, had produced 160,000 barrels of oil in the summer of 1889 and was still a good well. A well on the Ridenour farm, which started with 1,300 barrels per day, had passed the 100,000-barrel limit a year and a half ago, and was still flowing from twenty to thirty barrels per day. It is believed that a considerable number of wells can be found that have reached a total of 100,000 barrels. Wherever such wells are found, the total production to the acre must rise to 4,000, or even 5,000 barrels. This is a splendid showing for any oil territory. Thirty-five wells, the production of which had been followed by the operator who drilled them and owned them, had reached an average of 30,000 barrels each before they were sold by him. Their total production was probably not more than half delivered at the time of the sale. Some of the most experienced operators declare that in territory like this, provided they could fully control it, they would set wells 1,500 feet apart. They believe that they would obtain all the oil by this system and with the least possible outlay. This would give more than fifty acres to a well. No judicious operator advocates setting wells nearer than 750 feet, and this would give to each well about thirteen acres. Lima has been made the center of the interests of the Standard Oil Company for this part of the new field. It has profited very greatly by the outlays made here. The Solar Refinery, which has already been briefly described, has grown to very large proportions. The pumping station o f the Chicago pipe line is also located here. These two interests require great concentration of tankage. The 30,000-barrel tanks of the company cover farm after farm as closely as they can be safely set. The rising price THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 217 of oil, together with the growing disregard of the presence of salt water has led to a renewal of drilling to the east and southeast of Lima ; and some wells, condemned three years ago because while producing some oil they also produced salt water, are thought to warrant further outlay at the pres- ent time. The tests that are now being carried on will determine whether any considerable additions are to be made to the field along those lines. Present appearances do not seem to favor such additions. (2) The Spencerville Oil Field. A considerable amount of drilling has been going forward during the last two years in Spencer and adjoining townships of Allen county, and in Jennings township, Van Wert county, which joins the former on the west. This territory must be called an oil field by courtesy only, at the present time, as it has not yet been proved to deserve the name. The principal part of this work has been done in this area by the Gey- ser Oil Company, which takes its name from the owner of a farm in section 12, Spencer township, on which one of its first wells was drilled. The company has taken up about 35,000 acres of land, a large part of it in the western portions of Allen and Van Wert counties. During the latter part of its leasing, it was obliged to meet sharp competition from the Ohio Oil Company. It has drilled thirty-four wells, seven of which are unproduc- tive. A few of these wells produce dry gas, and this product has been util- ized in the supply of Spencerville and of Delphos. The drilling in this region was begun by a company representing the interests of the last named town, the object of their search being gas for the general use. This com- pany drilled eight wells in Section 12, Spencer, and Section 8, Marion townships, and found enough gas to warrant them, as they supposed," in the building of a pipe line three or four miles in length to Delphos. But the supply, when tested, proved entirely inadequate for even 400 stoves. The Geyser Company took up the work where this company left it, by drilling another well in Section 12, Spencer township. The result was not very different from that already attained by the Delphos Company, a small quantity of gas being found in the rock ; but in addition a small flow of oil was also secured. The company located its next well two and a half miles southwest, on the Nicholas Kill farm, Section 22, Spencer. The Trenton limestone was found here at a depth of 1,167 feet. It was drilled ato for fifty-one feet, and the well is reported as giving promise of being an excellent one. Storage for the oil has been but recently provided, and therefore no full tests of the wells have been possible. A 38,000-barrel tank is now completed and nothing apparently stands in the way of determin- ing what the field as thus far drilled is worth. In Section 28, Jennings, a light gas well was found; in the same Sec- tion, nearly a mile distant, a well estimated at two million feet of dry gas 2l8 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. was obtained. This well was drilled but twenty-five feet into the Tren- ton. Oil would undoubtedly have been reached by sinking the well a, little deeper. The gas was conveyed to Spencerville by a two- inch line from this well, and from Spencerville by a three inch line to Section 12, to which point the six-inch line of Delphos had already been laid with which it was there connected. Gas enough was now secured for both villages, at least temporarily. The original rock pressure of the gas is re- ported at 440 pounds. In Section 16, Jennings township, the Nicholas Miller well is located. The oil rock was found in it at 1,163 feet. This well gives the best promise of any drilled in the township thus far. In Section 10, one and a half miles northeast of this last well, the Trenton limestone has fallen sixty feet. This descent would stand ft* a salt water trough had not the rock been dry. Other wells have been drilled in the two townships as follows : In Sections 8, 16, 19, 21, 28, of Jennings township, and in Sec- tions 11, 12, 14, 18, 23, 26 and 27 of Spencer. The Geyser Oil Company is composed of as sagacious and successful operators as there are in the field. It is said to have already expended $150,000 in its work so far. We should expect that its confidence, as evinced by this large expendi- ture, would have a solid foundation. The grounds of this confidence are not, perhaps, fully apparent as yet, but from what is reported from the wells already drilled it is probable that the field at best will be a spotted and irregular one, dry holes, gas wells and oil wells alternating through the whole territory. (D) OIL WELLS OF HANCOCK COUNTY. (1) The Findlay Field. The Findlay oil pool maintains nearly the same boundaries that it showed two years ago, being almost entirely con- fined to Findlay and Liberty townships, except in one particular, which -will be hereafter named. To the westward and southward no extension has been reported, the salt water holding undivided possession of the porous Trenton limestone in that direction. The dead line of the field is still the line of 500 feet below tide. In the rarest instances has any oil been derived from a lower level. The lines have opened, however, on the northward, so as to embrace all the sections of Liberty township. They have not been found thus far to include any territory of value in Portage township. The field has lost in great part, its relative importance, by reason of the development in Wood county to the northward. During the last three years the field has receded in vitality neces- sarily, because it has been undergoing steady development during all this period. Some of its best lands have already yielded 3,000 barrels to the acre, with the promise of a large addition before they are finally aban- THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 2 19 doned. The Ohio Oil Company has secured control of by farfthe largest portion of the production, and has covered several farms^with its exten- sive system of tanks. The Peerless Oil Company, perhaps, comes'next in production at the present time. It holds about 4,000 acres under lease, in what is counted the best territory of the township. The geology of the Findlay oil field was treated at considerable length in Volume VI, and nothing remains to be added from more' recent work. As will be remembered, the level of the oil rock was originally be- tween 400 and 500 feet below tide throughout the Findlay field. The extension of oil production, in what was originally dry gas 'territory, which is now in progress in the township, is a matter of unusuaFscientific interest. It completes the demonstration of the id entity "of the gas rock, the oil rock and the salt water rock of the Trenton limestone, and of their complete continuity. It compels even the most undiscriminating ob- server to recognize the fact that the gas is driven forward injts reservoir toy a sheet of oil, accompanied with salt water, that slowly* rises to take the place of the gas as the latter is withdrawn. The facts arejnost signifi- cantly shown in the heart of the Findlay township gas-field. Wells are now being drilled expressly for oil in what was unquestioned gas terri- tory, and the apprehension exists that the comfort of the town will be materially interfered with if drilling is allowed to go forward in this interest in the districts that are more or less occupied as residence quarters. As to the total production of the replaced rock there are no data for determining the facts at present, but it would scarcely be ex- pected to equal the production of those portions of the limestone which received their stocks during the vast periods in which the contents of the porous stratum were slowly differentiated under the influence of gravity. In other words, a great oil field is not to be looked for in an exhausted gas field. The largest production that has been noted in such a case is that of the Adams well, which was drilled in the early history of the field, and which yielded dry gas for six or eight months. After the oil had taken the main possession of the rock it produced from fifteen to twenty-five barrels per day for three or four months. (2) The Stuartsville Oil Field. Allen township has, during the present year, aroused as great an excitement in regard to oil as its great gas wells had previously done. A well that was drilled in the spring of 1890, by McConica & Co., in the northwest corner of Section 36, led the way. It was drilled with the confident expectation that it would produce dry gas as the nearest localities tested had all done. But it found the Trenton about 450 feet below tide, which showed it to be within original oil terri- tory. This well produced within the first two days 1,965 barrels of oil. 22O GEOLOGY OF OHIO. The unrestrained flow was, however, too much for it and it began forth- with to produce salt water with the oil. It was then locked back to a production of about 600 barrels a day, which it maintained for some time. Great excitement followed this unexpected record, and there were at least twenty derricks erected in Sections 25 and 36 by May 1. As many oper- ators as could find standing-room had hurried to the scene. None of the wells subsequently drilled have quite equaled in production the first, though the list embraces many excellent wells for any field. The surface elevation of this district is about 810 to 825 feet above tide. The Trenton limestone is commonly struck in it between 1,212 and 1,260 feet. This shows that the upper surface of the limestone ranges from 400 to 450 feet below tide. A part of it is thus seen to have been originally gas territory which has been overrun with oil by the rise of the latter into the portion of the stratum which the great gas wells have drained. A small part of the territory was originally oil rock. (3) Marion and Cass Townships. An oil field can not be predicated of these townships as yet, but some of the gas wells, including the famous Thorntree well, show oil in such an amount that if they were allowed to flow without restraint it is fair to infer that they would speedily be con- verted into oil wells of moderate capacity. Whether oil or salt water lies nearest to the clusters of Xells that have been drilled by the several com- panies represented here, has not been made apparent in all cases as yet. There seems no reason, however, to expect any important oil field in these two townships. (E) OIL PRODUCTION OP WYANDOT COUNTY. The determined search for a home supply of natural gas, which was made first by Carey and afterward by Upper Sandusky, though failing in its direct object, has led to the discovery of oil in several townships of the county in quantity large enough to command the interest of the oil pro- ducer, especially since the advance in price previously recorded. Many of the Carey wells found a little oil associated with the gas that they were searching for, but it was finally demonstrated in a very expensive way that there was not enough of either at this location to justify its exploitation. It was thought in the early stages of the work that the Trenton limestone descended below the salt water level of the field im- mediately beyond its occurrence at Carey, but it has since been learned that a broad terrace of the limestone extends to the southward and south- eastward of Carey, occupying in part the following named towns : Craw- ford, Salem and Crane. The lower limestone is not characterized, as is shown by the drill, by an even surface, but many minor folds and troughs traverse it without any order that has yet been learned. THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 21 No further advance was made in the vicinity of Carey after its early experience until the present year, and even then the new drilling which has opened up a possible oil field, advanced from the southward. The ex- perience of Upper Sandusky in the search for a natural gas supply in its own neighborhood has already been narrated. The elation over its one extraordinary gas well was great, but short-lived. When, two weeks after it was struck, it began throwing salt water in quantity, together with a little oil, signifying that the reservoir of dry gas had already been emptied, all the earlier gas wells of the neighborhood began to throw oil also. The gas field was, in fact, turning into an oil field, but no important produc- tion was yet realized in any of its wells. Among the new wells, however, that the trustees forthwith drilled in adjoining territory, one or two that were finished early in 1889 gave somewhat more promise in this direction. The Swable well, located in the northeast quarter of Section 12, Salem township, was in no sense a gas well at any stage, but when allowed to flow, it was thought to be good for twenty to thirty barrels of oil per day. The surface of the Trenton limestone was reached in this well at 1,322 feet, or about fifty feet below the highest gas level of the immediate neighborhood. The Gibson well No. 2, located in Section 7, same town- ship, and the Russman well, in Section 14, northwest quarter, were also counted oil wells. The former showed a descent of the surface of the Trenton limestone of at least seventy feet within 2,000 feet of horizontal measurement. These discoveries occurred just as the price of Lima oil was beginning to be advanced and while the possibilities in regard to the enhancement of price seemed very great. The promise of a new field came to the oil producers opportunely at this juncture, and they competed with great spirit for the possession of Crane and Salem townships, to which the pro- duction thus far was mainly confined. One of the great prizes was thought to be the acreage of the Upper Sandusky municipal corporation, leased primarily for gas, but with a clause covering oil production also. One company is said to have offered $50,000 for the oil rights of the corporation, but this offer was presently withdrawn. Other companies offered heavy royalty. The Ohio Oil Company took a leading part in the acquisition of territory. Numerous other companies, and also individual producers, spent money very freely in getting control of the land. Many tens of thousands of dollars were distributed among the landowners of these townships during the spring of 1890. A dozen wells were started at once, though not altogether confined to Salem and Crane townships, and at the present time the results of these tests are beginning to be avail- able. They are not encouraging in the townships named. There has 222 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. nothing been brought to light better than the Swable well already noticed, and that was of doubtful value. Among the wells begun about this time, however, was one located near Crawford Station, northeast quarter Section 23, in Crane township, on one of the Carey farms, by the Ohio Oil Company, that has brought in a much more encouraging record. The well yields a considerable amount of gas with its oil, but the quantity of the latter is estimated at 75 to 100 barrels per day. This result has renewed and extended the interest in this township, but it will require a number of wells to confirm the claim that it marks the beginning of a new oil field of any importance. The tests are already going forward, and during the present summer the character of the oil promise of Wyandot county will be definitely de- termined. The promise does not seem at the present time to be very brilliant. (F) OIL PRODUCTION OF SENECA COUNTY. In the first wells drilled in this county, as in fact in all the early drilling of northern Ohio, the object of the search was gas, not oil. To miss the former was failure, and small compensation was found in a light production of oil that was occasionally met. It resulted, therefore, that little account was taken of the numerous cases of this sort that presented themselves throughout the counties in which the bulk of the drilling was being done. No proper tests were made of such wells. During the last three years, however, there has been a slowly rising appreciation of oil in the field, as compared with gas, and during the last year it has taken decidedly the first place in economic importance, and no such neglect of oil indications would occur in any field under the present conditions. We shall soon learn whether the small oil wells named above can be made to expand into a regular and valuable production. The statements above made explain Avhy four years after oil was first discovered in Tiffin we are still unable to say whether or not there is any value in the production. The Loomis and Nyman well continued to pro- duce four to five barrels of oil per day as long as it was allowed to remain open. So, also, in well No. 2 of the corporation series, oil rose within 150 feet of the surface at the time of drilling. The well has been shut in during the interval, but it is opened three or four times a year and a pro- duction of 150 to 175 barrels of oil has been secured from it for each of the last three years. The drilling done near Tiffin shows marked flexures and irregularities of the lower rocks, but thus far all the portions of the Trenton that have possessed the proper relief for oil or gas accumulation have appeared to THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 223 exist in small and insulated areas. Every gas well, for example, has been overrun by oil or water within six weeks of the date of its completion. Companies are still being formed in Tiffin, and the leasing of terri- tory is even yet going forward. Under the present interest it will certainly happen that the value of the new wells will be at once tested and de- termined. There is no production in sight of real value in Seneca county. (G) OIL PKODUCTION OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. Under this head we reach a really important section of the history of Trenton limestone oil. Sandusky county ranks next to the four counties already named as the main centers of oil production, viz., Au- glaize, Allen, Hancock and Wood. Its history is an interesting one from eyery point of view. The first fact to be noted is that two low anticlinal ridges are shown by the geological map to traverse the county in a north and south direction. The structure may, perhaps, be better described by saying that a relatively broad syncline extends from the south line of Jackson and Ballville townships in a northerly direction, bearing a trifle to the westward, to the lake shore, a distance of about twenty-five miles, and taking in all or part of twelve townships in Sandusky and Ottawa counties. The average breadth of the syncline is about six miles. The surface of the county being exceedingly uniform, the age of the lime- stone that makes the surface determines the elevation or depression of the series. When, for example, the Niagara limestone constitutes the surface, the presence of a low arch or anticline is assured ; and by the same token an area of Lower Helderberg limestone stands for a depression or trough in the series. On either side of this syncline oil and gas production haVe been ob- tained ; on the west side at Gibsonburg, Helena and Lindsey, and on the eastern uplift at Oak Harbor. The latter has already been described under another head. Its production is not important in any sense and never has been. The western area, however, holds a very different place. Madi- son township is becoming a large and increasingly important source of oil, and with it a few sections of Washington must be counted. Jackson township and Woodville township also make contributions of some pro- spective value. A single oil well has been drilled in Scott township also. The Gibsonburg and Helena Oil Field. The discovery of oil and gas in this district goes back to 1887. The main object of the early search was here, as elsewhere, natural gas. At Gibsonburg the long-established lime-burning interest led the way. Gas- burned lime was beginning to come into threatening competition with wood-burned lime. A supply of gas was found here, as shown on a pre- 224 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. ceding page, but its value was thought to be greatly reduced by a small quantity of oil that was produced with the gas. Up to this time, while oil in small quantity was found at many points in this .vicinity, the pro- duction had been insignificant, and this fact, taken in connection with the insignificant price for oil that then prevailed, made its occurrence in the gas wells a serious drawback. At Gibsonburg, however, the oil that appeared with the gas was utilized from the first. It was also noted that the oil was of the Wood county type rather than of the Findlay and Lima type. Its gravity was not below 41 B., and it was counted less impregnated with sulphur than the Lima oil. These points especially recommended it to the refining interests that were now in the field, and during 1888 and 1889 a good deal of leasing of prospective oil territory was going on in the vicinity of Gibsonburg. By the early summer of 1889 fifteen wells had been drilled in Madison and Washington town- ships, and one of these wells, viz., the Shoemaker, No. 2, was credited with a production of 400 barrels per day for its initial flow. In a month after its completion, however, the salt water overtook the oil. Others that were finished about the same time were found good for varying quantities of oil, reported as ranging from fifteen to seventy barrels per day. These results awakened great activity among the rival oil companies, and high prices were paid during the last year, and during the first half of 1889. The Ohio Oil Company took a leading part in this development, paying as high as $25 an acre bonus for some territory counted unusually promis- ing, and $8 and $10 per acre for considerable territory besides, while royalties ranged all the way from a fifth to an eighth. Other companies were, of course, obliged to meet these figures. The Paragon Refining Company has had an interest in the field from the beginning, and has acquired a large acreage and production. The Sun Oil Company also holds a large territory here, and has drilled a considerable number of wells. Naturally, with the advance in the price of oil, the excitement has been intensified, and at the present time nearly all of the ten town- ships named, and a great deal of territory besides, has been covered by the several oil companies and by individual operators who are established in the field. The general conditions of oil production in these townships are about as follows : The surface of the country ranges in elevation between 625 and 675 feet above tide. The Trenton is found in productive wells at a depth of 1,200 to 1,250 feet, or from 575 to 625 feet below tide. The depth of the casing does not exceed 400 feet in any oil well. Where more than 400 feet of casing is required the Trenton, if porous, is found full of salt water. Salt water rose in the field, in very many examples, to a maxi- mum of 600 or 625 feet above tide. The separation of gas and oil territory THE TRENTON LIMESTONE. 225 is of course marked by differences of elevation in the Trenton limestone, just as in the fields previously described. Every foot of elevation is brought into the account in this separation. The oil wells have a good degree of vitality, some of them flowing for more than a year without interruption. When salt water is struck in connection with the oil, pumping is necessary from the start. The boundary of productive terri- tory is in many cases quite sharp and well denned, but such boundaries can be found only by the drill. There are no well-marked structural lines traversing the field so far as present developments indicate, unless such a line shall be found in a salt water trough that traverses the follow- ing named sections of Madison township, viz., 28, 21 and 17. This trough bears, as far as it can be followed, a little to the west of north. The Tren- ton limestone is found here at about 1,280 feet in depth, and the casing of the wells is 425 feet or more. Two or three dry gas wells can be connected by a line parallel to the salt water trough referred to above. This is the only feature that can be claimed as recognizable in the way of structure in Madison township, and this is far from being positively established. The best production of the township has been realized thus far in Sections 10, 11, 12, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 and 36; or, in other words, on the eastern half of the township. A dozen wells belonging to a single com- pany, half of which have been drilled in the last year, have averaged during the present summer fifteen barrels. Many wells begin with forty to fifty barrels, but in a week they fall away to about half that production, and this latter rate they maintain thereafter for some time. The produc- tion to the acre can not be safely estimated as yet. It does not promise to be large. The Ohio Oil Company, on the 1st of May, 1890, had drilled thirty wells in the Gibsonbusg district. At the same date there were about twenty wells belonging to other parties in the same field ; of this number, eleven belong to the Paragon interests. The numbers have been greatly increased and probably doubled during the present season. The Helena field, so-called, is strictly continuous with the Gibsonburg field. Much of the work at the former point is concentrated in Section 31, Washington, but adjacent sections in Jackson are also occupied by the driller. The village lot has come into requisition here and the derricks of rival com- pa^iies confront each other at intervals of 50 or 100 feet. Such a colloca- tion illustrates, not the strength of the oil rock but the weakness of human nature. In only rare instances will any of these crowded wells repay the driller in the oil that they produce. He must count himself paid by the rendering of his neighbor's investment worthless, seeing that he has lost his own. 15 G. 226 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Drilling in this general neighborhood has been done in Woodville township on Sections 1, 4, 5, 11, 12 and 28. A well in Section 4 has pro- duced fifty barrels a day without the use of the torpedo. In Scott town- ship, east half of Section 4, a twenty-five-barrel well has been drilled, while barren rock was found in Section 1. Section sixteen has also been tested < CQ O iss ,- S ^ 2 P-t ^ * B'l ,! ; w P r H ^ ^ = H Sa S g? a B w o a Jz< W H O Oc D 14 cc o s H s *" H O K M BJ B CO O &q w o ^ S ^ u ooooooooc ^ ?O X) ~l ^J O O O < O 'MOliCtO T^; ^88sgs if83|li 2 iSi?ll^il Z 'S\} ni SB ' -saad Xq ainsaaid poAiasqo I -Sg ut SB 'aSnwS ja^BAV ^q aanssaid paAaasqo -jgni Xq ainssaad paAJosqo O iO O O . O -; rH THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 28; a j -Sij ni 8B'9SnB3-ajn9 said Xq aanssa [ - Sg ai SB ' aju aSrveS Xino -isni q ain.ssa.id paAaasqo OO ^COCO'ft-3'CO'^tO - T O O at I^iffXCOC^ C^3C CO .^ o ~* ir co as co i^ o o og to 10 "M i^ L~ 'ff CM C3 -if 10 jcni- TPO to CM t^. co co CN_OO e "" O o'o o O^J^5 OOO ^ rc s Ji^-o4cc to -f I- CO l oocooocjoo O -OOOOO^C- ~ OOOO O O O; C^ ^c^-'TO^icor^oco t oi 00 n O l~ CC -- O 1^ t~-r- j 'f. ot^cia^ac^co OvOOOOOOOOOOOOwOT OOOOOOO oooooooopo^oopc.oocg-ooooo oc a> co co to" oT 10" ." >o oT " t" oT 31 o rN TT cT i c co" co x -r to 10 O T032 Tri^-OuOCOCN^'TOCO .^CO*'CT>=ireM> o-^co'T^ioaiCNioai TTCT. ocoTf^-_i^^HrNccc^cni^-ro l^ X 00 OS OJ oT O O O (N X rf 10 in t^ CO 0> O O" JH -N CO rHi (r-(rHi IT 11 c r^sTi^-"?-! o"-T CO-^I^CiCCCOCiO iffT-lCOO l^l^CMCCl^l^COiC O ' ooooooooo OOOOOC^O O~ -a- r~- OT o> co ' ;jc i.c i^ CM o> oc cr. T-^ to co *? i^ rr o CM ci i.o ' 00 T 00 O O O> ~ CT. CO lO to -T 1C -r 1C lO . 10 us iri 10 to" > o> ci i-< <-^ ci CM" co co' co" So ooooooooooooooo o oo o OOOOOO" -O^CiOOOOwOOOO ^L-^'ic'iO^aicc''of5^cccco iffoa'oc'-TO*co x'o'co ^ o oooo t -.,c5. ^coo. i QOOOOOOOOOC oc;ooooo^jc>oc: ^^-'^SsS'rjCoSTjvtSc^' OO OOO OOOQO ~-C co oo ^ "* i--' TO" o ^r -r t- a oT ic r^ x" 06 o - tC -^ 'M CTi . -M X) i-T O >!? OC ^ ift Si 00 O O T X ^ T5 ic '^ L--OOOOC: o o i MCOiri>xaii-^07?oara5T t c^ ^ 10 * '-' >COOOOOOOOOC:OC:oOOOO cooe co ec ^ ' to o cc O ' 00 00 C> I-! (N CO ' .rf to' 00 O ' OC JJ to O O --' -H r-*rH* (i (rHr-1^Hr-lCN(NCNCOCO^O?Dt B. S r 8 S o i i 5 >. s ^ a - OJ 9 - S? on s > ^ ^ a o o H ^3 288 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Examples illustrating uee of Table I : 1st example. The Karg well, Findlay, Ohio : Observed gauge pressure = 15. Ibs. by Pitot tube. Temperature flowing gas = 32 Fahr. Temperature storage = 50 Fahr. Diameter of exit mouth = 4 inches. By Table I, V. day = 11,107,500 (interpolating) for a temperature of storage at 32. Correction for temperature of storage at 50 is 3 66 per cent., = 406,534, which added, gives V. day = 11,514,034 cubic feet per day. 2d example. The Briggs well, Findlay, 0. : Observed gauge pressure = 6.5 ft>s. by Pitot tube. Temperature flowing gas = 32 Fahr. Temperature storage - 50 Fahr. Diameter of exit mouth 2J inches. By Table I, V. day = 2 ; 510,700 cubic feet found by interpolating between 1,959,400 for a 2-inch mouth, and 3,062.000 for a 2^-inch mouth. j^pThe correction multiplier is 3.66 per cent, by foot note. The correc- tion is then 91,891 cubic feet,*and the corrected value V. day"== 2,602,591 cubic feet per day. 3d example. The Jones well, Findlay, 0. : Observed gauge pressure = 3.79 inches by water gauge. Temperature flowing gas = 32 Fahr. Temperature storage 50 Fahr. Diameter of exit mouth = 3f inches. By Table I, V. day = 871,658 cubic feet, found by interpolating under d = 3 inches, between observed pressures of 3 and 4 inches ; also, by interpolating likewise under d = 3 inches, and then interpolating between the quantities thus obtained for the diameter 3| inches. Then the multiplier is 3.66 per cent., giving a correction + 31,90:5, and the final results for a storage temperature of 50, of V. day = 903,561 cubic feet per day. APPLICATION TO PIPE LINES. The recent rapidly increasing demand for natural gas at points com- paratively remote from the gas well districts has led to the piping of gas to such great distances as to render a knowledge of the capacity of long pipes for conducting gas a necessity. It has been slated that the quantities of gas transferred in these long pipes considerably exceeds the amount determined by the ordinary THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 289 formulas for calculating gas-flow in pipes. This is probably owing to the fact recently determined by trial that the co-efficient of friction of the gas under the conditions of flow of high pr ssures and comparatively low velocities, is much lower than is usually allowed, indeed for some : observed values less than half that value. This one fast makes it very desirable that some reliable and con- venient method of measurement be brought forward where the friction consideration be eliminated. A meter of sufficient capacity to measure a main pipe line would be very expensive, besides being expensive to apply. MEASURING PIPE LINES WITH THE PITOT TUBE GAUGE. In this gauge we find the above mentionel desired qualities in the highest d grte, such as small cost", ease of application, and accuracy of results. The instrument is furnished ready for attaching to a pipe Hue by drilling an 1 tapping a f-inch p ; pe size hole in the line, and ap- plicable to a horizontal or vertical pipe. This gtuge is shown in Fig 3, Plate 4, as applied to a pipe line, A B being the double mouth tip, and C D being the 10-inch U tube gmge for water, alcohol or mercury. By the theory of this instrument we have the velocity of flow (2) Where g is the acceleration of gravity = 32.2 and H the head, in feet, due the velocity. As high as four inches of mercury and 500 feet velocity have been observed in a by pass with a fall of pressure in the pipe of about half a pound per foot length of pipe. Probably a higher value of head will rarely be observed, so that a 10 inch gauge is ample ior all practical cases. In the above formula H is in terms of the gas flowing. If h=the observed head in the water giuge in inches, the velocity of gas in the pipe will be v=8 6 J k- 15 (3) p + 15 Where p is the gauge pressure of the gas flowing in the pipe pounds per square inch. The cubic feet of gas per hour flowing in the pipe will be V per hour = 169QcP x / A (i +JL) \ \ 15 ' 19 29O GEOLOGY OF OHIO. Where d = inside diameter of pipe in inches and h = inches of water and in which the temperature of flawing gas is taken at 40 F., and that of storage at 50. By aid of this formula Table II was calculated. When mercury is used in the U gauge, look in the first column of the table for h; for water, the second column ; and for alcohol in the third. At the top of the table four lines are given in which to find the ob- served static pressure of gas in the pipe the top Ime if the pressure gauge be mercury; the second if it be water; the third if the pressure is given in ounces and in the fourth if in pounds. The table gives the cubic feet per hour for a one-inch pipe. For another size of pipe use the multiplier from the supplemental table at the right to change the cubic feet for the one inch pipe to that for the actual size. PRECAUTIONS IN USE OF INSTRUMENT. In selecting a place on the pipe line at which to apply the instrument it is important that the pipe be uniform and continuous for some ten or fifteen diameters up stream from the instrument, also at, and for a few diameters below it, in order to secure normal conditions ol flow. For instance an elbow causes serious eddyings, and a greater velocity at one side of the pipe than the other and the tip of the instrument located in either side will not give fair results. A T fitting, even if it be plugged, when near the tip, on upstream side will vitiate the indications. Irregularities of conduit on the down- stream side of tip is of far less importance than if on the upstream side, and may be allowed to come much nearer the tip. When locating the instrument in a short portion of pipe, of say fifteen diameters between fittings, it should be placed much nearest the down stream end to secure the best conditions above named. Great care should be taken to see that the connections through the instrument are fre-> of obstructions, and perfectly free from leaks at the joints where the instrument is connected up. In most cases the instru- ment may be tested for this on the spot after connected up, and before applied to the pipe; by turning the cocks tight near top of instrument, and placing the tip ends A and then B in the mouth in succession and drawing by suction. It is very important that all joints be perfectly air- tight. One indication of free action of instrument is the pulsations of the column. The stream of any fluid in a p>pe is accompanied with more or less of whirling motion, the mouth of tip being thus more fairly struck at one instant of flow than another, causing a momentary rise of column and vise versa. THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 29! The indications of the U tube should be averaged for the instant of observation by noting an intermediate value ^among the pulsations. Several such values may be read off and the mean of all taken for the correct result. In cases where the flow of gas is not uniform which is most apt to be the case in service pipes and branches about a city, the gas supplied for the day should be determined by repeated readings, taken every hour, or perhaps oftener according to accuracy sought. GEOLOGY OF OHIO. TABLE IL FOB THE PITOT TUBE GAUGE, GIVING CUBIC FEET OP GAS PER HOUR OF UNIFORM RE AND SPECIFIC GRAVITY, O.6.* THE TEMPERATURE OF X 4) a; -_ i, -S S & 0) ?"? P^3 4) ? *" 0. .63 126 1.91 2.57. 3.82 5.07 7.65 10.11 20.22 30.37 CJ * /: ** " .c T 5 r QC ''" J- .^ 0. 8.6 17.2 26. 35. 52. 69. 104. 1*8. 275. 413. -2 ^^ (.60 S'c hi 0. .5 10. 15. 20. 30. 40. 60. 80. 160. 240. III |H 0. 0.31 0.625 0.94 1.25. 1.875 25 3.75 5 10 15 .02 .025 239. 242. 244. 247. 219. 254 259. 2C8. 276 S09 339. .04 .05 323. 342. 345. 353. 359. 36. 879. 391. 487 479. .06 .075 4 If. 419. 423. 428! 432. 440. 448. 46i. 479. 5 5. 58 6. .08 .10 479 484. 493. 498. 5(8. Bi7, .'35. 653. 618. 677. JO 5:5. 541. 546. 552. 557. 668. 578. 598. 091. 7.7. .15 !l87 65o 662. 609. 676. 690. 695. 7o8. 73X. 757 840. 927. .20 .2o 757. 705 772. 780. 787. . 802. 818. 846. 874. 977 1,1,70. .25 .312 840. 855. 863. 87*. 880. 897. 9 4 946. 577. 1,093 1 15)7. .30 .375 927 930. 946. 5-55. 905. l.'Ol 1,1-36. 1,070. J, 1-7. .40 .50 l,07o. 1 ('81 1,092 1,103. 1,114. 1,13ft! 1,156. 1,21.1. 1 ,235. 1 ,882. 15! 3! .51 .62, v 1,1516. 1 .209. 1,223. 1,2:3 1,242. 1 2i 9. 1,25-2. 1.K81. ] 692. .60 .75 1,311. 1 ,32*. 1.351. 1,304. 1,401. l!468'. U92. 1,854. .80 1.00 1.513. 1.530. 1546! ] f gt l_ 1 ,575. 10(5! 1,635. 1 61-2. 1/747! 1.5154 2,140. 1.1.0 125 1.692. 1,709. 1 ,7*7. 1,744! 1,761. 1 75)5 1.8*8. 1,892. 1,954 2,185. 2,393. 1.2 1.50 1,853 1 ,87 1 . 1875. 1 .91 1 1.9 9. 1,%6. 2,002. 2,076. 2,14' . 2,: ,513 2,021. .10 1.4 1.75 2,U< 2. 2,1 '25 2,123. 2.064. 2084. 2,123. 2,162. 2,. '40. 2.312. 2,585 2831. .12 1.6 200 2, '.40. 2,108. 2,116 2,'.( 6. 2,228. 2,270. 2,312. 2 393 2.47 . 2,703. fa 027. .15 18 225 2,270 2, 291. 2,3'. 4. 2,340. 2.36:<. 2.4C8 2.454 2.538. 2621. 2,931. 3 210. .15 2.0 25 2,393. 2,4i 9. 2456. 2,466. 2490. 2538. 2.585. 2,676. 2 703. 3,189. 3,384. J8 2.5 3.12 2,675. 2,7(,2. 2.7,10. 2.7. : 8. 2.7M. '. 837. 2,8 J<0. 2,97r. 3.09 3,45 .. 3.785. .22 3.0 3.75 2.531 *,9iS. 3 1 00. K ,( '2 1 . 3.050. 3,1(8. 3,106. 3277 3384 ;i,784. 4 '44. .29 40 5.-0 3,*84. 34i9. 3459. 3,487. 3.522. 3589. 3055. 3.798. 3.907. 4,309. 4.78.6. .37 5.0 625 3784. 3.82.'. 3,>-67 3900. 3,938. 4.0X1. 4,' 87. 4,2:0 4,369. 48-5. 5 *51. .44 6.0 75 4,145. 4,185. 4 237. 4,272. 4, 3 IS. 4,396. 4.477. 4 643. 4.786 5,351. 5>6L. .69 8.0 10.0 4.786. 4 ,*: 8. 4,886. 4,933. 4918 5 076. 5, 69. 5,^51. 6,5*6 6,179. 6796. .74 10.0 125 5.H57. 6,407. 546 . 5,520. 551.9 5,077 5.780. 5,980. 6,178 6,5,08. 7,507. .88 12 15. 5.801. 5917. 55180. 6,042 6,100. 6.216. 6,331. 6, r .65. 6,'68. 7,167. 8 289. 1.10 16. 18.75 6,553. 6,134 6 7*4. 6 755. 6 91 0. 6.5fO. 7,079. 7,K27 7.507. 8,461. 9.268. 147 *0. 25. 7,507. 7610. 7,753 7.79H. 7878. 8.1 25. 8 174 8,40'l . 8.737. 9,770. 10, 700. 1.84 25. HI. 25 8461. 8,544. 8061. 8,721. 8 802. 8 972. 9,138. 9,460. 9.708. 109*5. 11,970. 2.21 30. 37.5 9,'. 68. 9354. 9,488. 9553. 9 (345 9,829 10,OiO. 10,805. l(-,7(i(> 1 1 905. 13,1' 5. 2.9i 40. 500 107.--. 10,815. 10940. 11 030 1,440. 1 1 ,%0 11.500. 12.010. 12,3 5. 3,8.0. I5.1o0. 3.68 f>0. 6>.5 1 ,965. 12.1 90. 12.230. 12,330. 12.450. 12.690. 12,950 13,380. 13.814. 15,45U. 10.9.0. 442 60 7)5 1? i(J6. 13,233. 13,41'0. 13,510. 13.640. '3900. 14.160 I4,08o 1513' . 16,9.0. 18535. 6.15 70. 875 14,160 14.3(0 14,480. 14,590. 14,73. 1 ft,OH'. 15,290. 15803. '6350. 18,280. 200*0. 6.89 80. 100. 15,180. 15300. 15450. 15,000. 15 750 16.150. 16 3..0. 16,9.0. 17,474. ll) r >40. 2l,4('5. 6.62 90. 1125 16,' 50. 16221'. 16,405. 16545. 10705 17,020. 17,340. 1798u. 1>,535 -072o. 22,700. 7.36 100. 125. I0.520. 171(0 17,270. 17,440. 17610. 17.5MO. 18,2>0. 18,l'20. 19 537. 21,845. 23,'. 30. 8.10 110. 137.5 17,750. 17,'.i20. 18,410. 18,29,i. 18,470. 18.820. 19,170. 19860. 2u49o. *2,910. 25.KO. *To change the result by this table to that for any other specific gravity than 0.6 multiply by dp. gr.gas. THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 293 TABLE II. FLOW THROUGH A ONE-INCH PlPE LlNE, THE MEASURED VOLUME BEING AS AT AlJt STORAGE BEING 50 F., AND OF FLOWING GAS 40 F. ll\ A | 50.55 60.63 1 Gau re 40 41 82>! inches of (v>lumn h j vra.t. -r puii^e. of e-w 2o! 4-0! 48). 560. 640 8)0. 960. 1,120. 1^8). 1,610. = ounces.. " flow'gin 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80 100 = pounds. the pipe J line. SO'*. 392. 415. 437. 458 498. B85 569. 692. 663. For any pipe. 517. 55 i. 586. 618. 648. 704. 756. 806 852. 917. 63!. 680. 718 757. 794. 863. 927. 9S7. 1,06 {. 1,148. Multioli^rs for pipes 7U. 782. 829. 874. 916. 996 1,070. 1,139 1.201 1,325. larger than one inch. 818 8^4 927. 977 1 ,025 1,114. 1,196. 1 ,271. 1,347. 1 ,482 1,011 1.070. 1,135. 1,196. 1,255. 1,361. 1460. 1,56 '. 1,649 1,814. Multiply cubic feet 1,1^6 1 236. 1,3 U. 1,38 1. 1,419 1,576. 1,6s) 2. 1,802. 1,904. '2,0 16. for one inc i pip>- by 1,382. 1.465 1,544. 1,6 :0. 1,7"! 1.8D2. 2,013. 2.121). 2,343. value in t lis table l!44. 2,049. 2,'228. 2.59:5. 2518. 2,693. 2963. pip i. 1 ,<<2 '. 1,"54 2.072. 2,184. 2291. 2.49 >. 2,675. 2,818 3.011. 3.313. 2.002 23' 2. 218% 2, '40. 2,471. 2,763. 2.270 2(121. 2.931. '2.395. 2.76 !. 3,0-9. 2.510. 2,898. 3,210. 2,728. 3,'50. 3,522. 2,930. 3/7S2 3.120 3.602. 4,02s. 3,298. 3,8 '8. 4 256. 3650. 4.191. 4,686. Diam'r. Vlultiplier. O G'l t 3,'V>7 3,210. 3 >8 1 3.5(0 3*58. 4,144 441 >. 4,664 5,133 l > . 3.058. 3,2 i9 3.46S. 3,699! 3851 4 168. 4,476. 4.76S. 5,0)6. 5,54l! Inches. 3.t T, 3707. 3.90-!. 4,100. 4.451. 4,784. 5,ii9rt. 5.3 4. 5.926 1. T s'i ') 3707. 3,032. 4.144. 4318. 4724. 5.076. 544. 5 700. 6,286. 1M IJM 3 fi5\ 3 9' '8 4 144 4,3K 4.5*14. 4980. 5,352. 5 6J6. 6.o;o. 6,6 6. '5= <> V 4.087. 4,368. 4.636. 4. 884. 4.724. 5.568. 5 080. 6.36S 6,732. 7,408. 9 4^ "7 4.177. 47<4. 5,184. 5,35 2. 5,612. 6 100. 65.2. 6,976. 7376. 8,1 1 . 2V 6.25= '^ 5.1 " 90 '/ 8,17'. 8,7:!!. 9,2n8. 9.768. 10,248 11,136. 11.961. 12.7)0. l<,4t>8. 11,816. R ' Iff * 9571. 10 153. 10,701. H.226. 12 2"1. 1.3.108 13953 '4 "50. 16 2 ill. KV 30 25-" !OJi 10 "10 10,674. 11,567 li 963 12,5-10. 1.3643. 146.2, 14,510. 16490 18.145. O/2 rf>2 31 *i. 1775')'. 17.611. 19292. 20721! 20.14'): 22061. 2 '.291. 23.320. 23,427. 25.660. 7 2 42.25=12^ 49. 10 350. 17,177. 1 -",5 'A. 19537. 20492 25.275. 23.930 25,47'-. 26,930. 29.63 ). g 6t' 19,537 20.7 >0 21,511. 22.910 24905. 26,75 5. 2H4* 3,i,llo. 33 130. 10 10 n 20 rvxv 21,40i. 72.70 ). 23.028. 2i09<. !7 285. 29,305. 31 20 ' . 32,980. 36.3 0. 12 144! 21 .6 ?5 2 Ml 6. 24A16. 2i.H46. 27,'0't. -'9 468. 31 65 !. 33,700. 35.623. 39,200. 16 256! 23 ' 20. 21,711. 262M. '7,630. 28 980 31.502. 3 ! 8 10 36 ')_' '. 33.082. 41.910. 18 32 l 2 1 5 20. 26,111. 27,><07. 29.305. 30 735 33.413 35891. 38,211. 40,39 ). 41,150. 20 40 i 25.810. 27,'*2't 29308. 3 ) 89.). 3! 4>2. 3 1,221. 37871 40,280. 4 '.5,80. 4-.850. 27,110 28,979. 30.635. 32,402. 33 980. 36,940. 39,670. 42,241 44,670. 49,140. 294 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. ABSOLUTE MEASUREMENT TEST OF THE PITOT TUBE GAUGE AS APPLIED IN MEASURIKG GASES. To strengthen and confirm confidence in the Pitot tube gauge for accuracy as applied to gas measurements further than already done by citing its accuracy in streams of water and its agreement with theory in development of pressure due to impact agiinst its tip mouth, some abso- lute quanti'ative experiments were recently made in connection with a gas metfr prover, where a known volume of air was forced through a pipe in a measured interval of time, the same being carefully measured with the Pitot tube gauge, the results of which are given in the following : TABUS OP COMPARATIVE VOLUMES OP AIR SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURED BY THE GAS METER PROVER AND THE PITOT TUBE GAUGE. Diameter of pipe inches. Volume by gauge. Volume by prover. r 1.25 173. 161. 12 experiments, October 4, 1890. \ .865 .865 148. 182. 150. 185. { 173 263. 240. 9 experiments, October 11, 1890. j 1.23 .86 201. 190. 200. 188. 1928 187.3 Difference, less than 3%. The Pitot tube mouth was here placed in the center of the pipe, where the cuirent is most rapid, but the figures were corrected for this, as well as for temperature of air and all known causes of error. The final difference of three per cent is believed to be within the errors of observation and might be plus or minus, as indeed the individual comparisons are, indi- cating that the instrument is practically exact for measurement of gases as well as liquids. Practical Field Test of Pitot Tube Gauge with Standard Meters. In the course of practical field work with the Pitot tube gauge, it has been applied to pipes which, at the same time, were conducting gas as measured with the Westinghouse natural gas meter, the latter being read and noted each time. Comparative results thus obtained are given in the following : THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 295 OF SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS BY THE WESTINGHOUSE NATURAL GAB METER AND BY THE PITOT TUBE GAUGE. Diameter of pipe line inches. Gauge pressure in pipe. Cubic feet hour by meter. Cubic feet hour by gauge. 6 13.6 ounces. 11,970 12,005 3 10.4 " 4,430 4,025 6 9.2 " 14,933 15,843 6 9.2 " 14,933 15,336 6 7 pounds. 28,900 29.702 6 7 32,032 29,460 6 7 33,0i 34,590 6 19.2 ounces. 20,930 20,611 6 19.2 " 19,063 19,175 6 19.2 " 17,990 17,733 3 8.8 " 4,307 3.924 6 7.0 " 12,720 13325 6 13.3 " 12,310 12^97 Means 17,500 17,578 - It was not always practicable to make the readings absolutely simul- taneous, though they were usually separated by less than one minute. In this way the diSerences between gauge and meter might fluctuate somewhat as indeed they do. The density of the natural gas where the above figures were obtained was 0.66, and the values obtained from the tables for the Pitot gauge observations were corrected as per foot note to the table, also for the velocity curve as explained below, so that the Pitot tube gauge column of figures is to be regarded as fully corrected. The meter results were low before correcting for pressures, the values for seven pounds being decidedly low, the correction being nearly 50 per cent. This fact indicates that the Westinghouse meter m- asures volumes at whatever density the gas passes the meter, so that where the gas is sub- sequently expanded to the true storage value, that storage result is too low. Hence, in using this meter, a pressure gauge should be an adjunct and be read for the purpose of determining a correction. With these facts in view, the above results of observation are in essential agreement either instrument proving the other satisfactory for accuracy. CORRECTION FOR VELOCITY CURVE. In using the Pitot tube gauge the tip A, figure 3, plate 4, should, to avoid correction of the result tor the so-calltd " velocity curve " of the flowing stream, be placed at from one-filth to one-sixth of the depth or diameter of the pipe, because of the varying velocity of the flowing gas in 296 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. the diameter of pipe, it being greatest at the center of pipe and about two- thirds this at the side. The mean velocity in the whole pipe at a given cro&s section is only about 85 that at the center, 87 that at a third the diameter, 0.92 that at a fourth the diameter, 0.96 that at a filth the di- ameter. To avoid using the above correction multipliers several t'ps of various lengths may be ctrried in the instrument kit when, for particular cases, the proper length to employ may be selected, it being the one who*e pene- tration into the line pipe is, as above stated, about one-fifih to one sixth the depth of diameter. But more reliable results are probably obta ; ned by placing the tip at the center of the pipe and applying the correction 0.85. This correction is to be understood as due to varying velocity in the pipe diameter and not to an incorr* ct result for velocity by the Pitot gauge, as that is still found to be truly the theoretical velocity for the position occupied by the tip. In ueing the instrument alcohol is found to be the best liquid to work free in the glass tubes of the gauge C D, as water acts at times as if the interior of the tube were greasy. Proof alcohol of ab >ut 98 per cent, has a specific gravity of 8, and the gauge reading fur alcohol may be reduced to those for water by multipl}ing the reading by 0.8 though a column for alcohol is given in Table II. la using the instrument it is essential that the connection between the tip A B and gauge C D be abs >lutely air tight, especially whtn the .openings A and B are small, but with this precaution the gauge C D may be at a considerable distance from the point of application of A B to the pipe Hue, as for instance in an office fifty feet or more away, and all ptr- manently installed for convenient reading at any moment. In cas-e of a permanent location the tip B may be S'-parattd from A by one or two feet to simplify the const; uction of the parts. Examples from actual measurements taken to illustrate application of Pitot Tube Gauge to measurement of pipe lines : Example 1. Pipe 10-inch main. Pressure 24 inches water. Flow 0. 10 inches water by Pitot Gauge. Table II, V. hour = 550 6 for 1 inch pipe. " 55,060 for 10-inch pipe. Example 2. Pipe 2 inch by pass. Pressure 4 pounds. Flow 3.8 inches mercury. -Table II, V. hour= 12 255 for 1-inch pipe. 49,020 for 2 inch pipe. THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 297 Example 3. Pipe 8 inch main pipe line. Pressure 101 pounds. Flow 24 inches water. Table II, V. hour = 151,000 for 8-inch main. Correcting this for the "velocity curve" requires for this case a multipler of about 0.93, making the value 140,000. Same case by pipe line measurement, 142,000, by Table III, for which the pressure was 112 pounds at eleven miles from where the above 101 pounds was taken. Example 4. Pipe 1| inch service pipe. Pressure 5 ounces. Flow 19 inches water. Table II, V. hour, 1J72 for IJ-inch pipe. Same by Westinghouse meter, 1,170. II. BY THE PRINCIPLES OF FLOW IN PIPES. For measurement of gis actually flowing in an existing pipe line the Pitot Tube Gauge can not be surpassed for simplicity, convenience and accuracy. But as the instrument can not be applied to an imaginary pipe line, such as a proposed line from a gas field to a city, where the capacity of the pipe line must be up to a certain figure, the Pitot giuge will not apply, and here we find an important service fur pipe line formu- las and tables. Thus to establish the dimensions of a pipe line for conveying a given quantity of gas per hour and other puposes, the following formulas and tables are g'ven. The coefficient of friction of the gas against the inside of pipe is here an important factor, its value as determined for natural gas being variable, as well as for other fluids., and closely represented by the ex- pression (see Ohio Geology Report, Vol. VI, p. 582), f= 0.00053^. The flow in long pipes, like natural gis pipe lines, will be approxi- mately isothermal ; that L->, though the gas will expand as it flows along, and become cooled by such expansion, unless protected by non-con- ductors, yet in an iron pipe, buried in earth, the pipe can readily impart heat to warm the g is as it cools. The work done by the expansion of the g*s will aid in overcoming the resistance to flow, as well as the difference of pressure in the pipe at opposite ends. A formula, taking account of 298 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. all the components producing motion, a3 well as all the resistances to flow in a pipe for this case, is v* d p z j spi v i ^-WJTd^l\^)- 1 \ (6) where v = mean velocity at " down-stream " end of pipe, feet per second. g = acceleration of gravity = 32.2 feet. d = diameter of pipe, in feet, inside. f = coefficient of friction = .00053 v% I leng h of pipe in feet. ' ^ o C5 > ^ a < a a H OH ^ O ff 3 a ^ a ^ 25 S r? 5 H > a 2 ' S * M L* pq 1 2 n D 5 <2 Jl ^ 69 a5 2 ^ i 3 ;* E S g g K a u, S ~ 5 rr-, ^ PH a a r o M Q c4 as a E- S S a .- a a 25 '* 3 a 3 , a a 03 as a a a > o a ? P j < 5 -^ O 2 + - O3 J r a Hi M <] H a o S25 S P Hi c o w 05 X M p c3 ^ ^ Q < a O Q oooooooo OO OOOOOOOO 1 OOT^- ^ 1C X ' I i I CN !M M 74 CM CC CO CO CO + 9 add O CO CO ^ < M-N Oi---f CO THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. TfC? -C^Ci^iOOOO -i'SO 'O ic x j.' cTt^TfTo ib oT fTicst xT ' ic^cTrr. o~, o ib - - c- x ~f COt^OOGl'-'TTiOt-SiG' tC-*iOOJ r -S^^3'Cidccoooi-'- e o o o sfi ^4 i ~ CO T i- i~ -.; O -i _ 3 s O c^ c; UT O O o O <=> C CS^?JO5CI> : C5C>l--SO ^ l-^CO l-^l^; O TJ S^Ci^ ^ rl^ t-^tCo^iC^T-f ^D cTtO "O "-C l-~ t~- lO l> ~^rtt io'lb~'C CJ^CC l?-l CO 00 CC CO C- s TT :O "~O i-t O M T-l 'O C5 -C _ C- >C C5 X C5 lO '. . Ol CC Ol O lO ^TcTi T^i 05 ^foTifTi^i-* ^p t-r.i-T'^ji sc'oi co ^ o''* cTs-Tio rp ^- ~. 10 coi~-i.~i^ooccG-Oi^i i i i i i ^-r-47^-M(M* | '* l '^ i '*iioo CO l^ CO i-J' "(N (M CN CO CO" M" c c~ oo cs ^ y. 10 i~ as c to .2 B 2 2 -S fci O ? 302 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. TABLE IV. MULTIPLIERS FOB CORRECTING QUANTITIES TAKEN PROM TABLE III, FOR CASES WHEKE THE FALL OF PRESSURE OF GAS FLOWING FROM UPPER END TO LOWER END IN A PIPE LINE is CONSIDERABLE. Gauge pressure at upper end. Gauge pressure at lower end of pipe, or terminal pressure. 5 10 20 40 60 80 100 150 200 300 20 30 40 60 80 100 150 200 300 400 500 1.125 '1.197 1.261 1.367 1475 1.037 1.132 1.190 1.295 1.380 1.460 1.632 1.780 2.018 1. 1.050 1,097 1.198 1.260 1.326 1.468 1.590 1.801 1.980 2.122 1. 1.060 1.121 1.175 1.288 1.390 1.557 1.710 1.823 1. 1.049 1.090 1.187 1.270 1.417 1.540 1.648 1. 1.035 J.110 1.190 1.324 1.440 1.531 1. 1.070 1.137 1.258 1.360 1.445 1. 1.057 1.147 1.235 1.303 1. 1.080 1.153 1.214 1. 1.060 1.105 By comparing these two diameters it appears that the 100 pound terminal pressure is better than the forty, giving diameters of pipe of eight and nine inches respectively. But at a terminal pressure of 200 pounds there could he no flow, and hence there seems to be some one terminal pressure for each cor stant initial pressure that will give a maximum flow, as expressed in terms of cubic feet at storage pressure. By a mathematical invesigation a maximum flow for a given pipe is found to exist when jo 2 = pi .5222. for absolute pressures, and p 2 l pj 1 .5222 7. nearly, for gauge pressures. (9) It is a singular fact that the conditions for maximum flow are in- dependent of both length and diameter of pipe line. This fact of a maximum flow is an important one, and is shown in the following set of figures for a pipe line thirteen miles long, six inches in diameter, with an initial pressure of 97.4 pounds per square inch : THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 303 Then for a terminal pressure of tt>s. the flow = 76,000. cubic feet, storage value. 10 20 30 50 60 70 80 82 90 82,900. 88 000. 92,000. 93,000. 91,000. 85,000. 76,500. 73,800. 62,000. The maximum value, 93,000, occurs at about half the initial pressure as by the formula (9.) TABLE V. MULTIPLIERS CHANGING THE VOLUME OF GAS FROM THAT AT THE OBSERVED PRESS- URE AT THE " DOWNSTREAM" END OF PIPE, AS GIVEN BY TABLES III AND IV, TO THAT AT ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AS THOUGH STOKED IN A GAS-H'LDER. THUS, IF THE OBSERVED PRESSURE is 30 POUNDS, TABLES III AND IV GIVE ONLY ABOUT ONE-THIRD THE ATMOSPHERIC VOLUME. " fl , v a O * fl O CO . s i . P O 00 "O III 1 O (jj *bo 3 ^ 00 X *"^ > o o> . '&! 5 si -0 > O 4> '5:33 "S"O 3 * i "S^ 2 ^ i 8 *^ o o: 8 (H TO Q 5iO S oT ^^ CJ fl? ^^ . be O> 0> ^ _- M bo * '5. 2 'C t <*>% 5 a s *^ >* ** ^ *Q _rl a> >^ tH *^ C ^3 q} ^ * 2 "5 J3 & >> ?3 "i ' q S *o to SOP, ^ 43 to C3 > P< _g -O on S (> P. Q J^ qp 8 a O a O O ^ 2 1.137 30 3.055 70 5.795 180 13.330 4 1.274 32 3.192 75 6.137 190 14.015 6 1.411 34 3.329 80 6.480 200 14.700 8 1.548 36 3.466 85 6822 220 16.070 10 1.685 38 3.603 90 7.165 240 17.440 12 1.822 40 3.740 95 7507 260 18.810 14 1.959 42 3.877 100 7.850 280 20.180 16 2.096 44 4.014 110 8.535 300 21.550 18 2.233 46 4.151 120 9.220 320 22.920 20 2.370 48 4.288 130 9.905 340 24.290 22 2.507 50 4.425 140 10.590 360 25.660 24 2.644 55 4.767 150 11.275 400 28.400 26 2.781 60 5.110 160 11960 450 31.825 28 2.918 65 5.452 170 12.645 500 35.250 304 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. In Table VI are given the terminal and initial pressures for the maximum of flow through pipe lines. For a 13 4 initial pressure the maximum occurs for the outlet to be into free air. For a fifty-pound initial pressure the maximum flow occurs for a terminal pressure of 19.11 pounds, etc. TABLE VI. RELATION OP THE INITIAL GAUGE PJRESSURE TO THE TERMINAL GAUGE PREBS- UKE FOB THE MAXIMUM FLOW, STORAGE VALUE, OF GAS IN A PlPE LlNE. a> bO bo be P p p B p 0? be p be . bo OS bo . bC tt bo . tuo 3 bO . "3 3 00 2i e 3 5 CO J Ol as !i aS ^^ r c en _ to c ^ ao C co _ to C QQ .5 " hi .2 g . CO g Hi .5 . ca h| 1J JU av (H *- o. fc * . p-j h p | -^ CN ^ A i i H i-H H. c t i S & c M H 13.4 45 16.50 100 45.22 210 102.65 16 1.36 50 19.11 110 50.44 220 107.88 18 2.40 55 21.72 120 55.67 230 113.10 20 344 60 24.33 130 60.89 240 118.32 22 4.49 65 2694 140 66.11 250 123.55 24 5.53 70 29.55 150 71.33 260 128.77 26 6.57 75 32.16 160 76.55 270 133.9 28 7.62 80 34.77 170 81.77 280 139.21 30 8.67 85 3738 180 86.99 290 144.43- 35 11.28 90 4000 190 92.21 300 149.66 40 1389 95 42.60 200 97.43 310 154.88 Example 1. A pipe line ten mile? long, four-inch pipe, initial press- ure 200 p lunds, terminal 97.4 pounds for a maximum flow. Then Fall per mile. _ 200 97.4 _ _tr-2 6 _ _ 14 6 -\- lower gauge pressure. (14.6 + 974) 10 llzO Looking in first column of Table III, opposite .092, and under four- inch pipe we find (interpolating) 8,360 cubic feet per hour. If the temperature of flowing gas were 44, that of storage being 50 F., the correction for temperature would be about 1^ per cent, which correction applied to 8 360 would give 8,464. The correction multiplier from Table IV is practically 1.137, which, in round numbers, is 1|. Hence, 8,464 X 1| = 9,673 cubic fett per hour. THE MEASUREMENT OF NATURAL GAS. 305 This volume is still at 97.4 pounds per gauge pressure, and will expand to atmospheric pressure on putting it in a storage gas-holder where it may be regarded as at the storage pressure. To correct for this expansion to storage pressure, use multiplier from Table V, viz , 7.68, and we get 9,673 X 7.68 = 74,289 cubic feet per hour as the maximum flow of the pipe, or the greatest possible amount of gas either in weight, or in cubic feet of gas at storage pressure it is possible to get through the ten miles of four-inch pipe with the stated initial press- ure of 200 pounds whatever the terminal pressure. Suppose this pipe be extended by a six-inch pipe thirteen miles long, making a pipe line of ten miles of four-inch, and thirteen miles of six- inch pipe, twenty-three miles in all, then the initial pressure for the thirteen mile part will be 97.4 pounds. This thirteen-mile portion will convey more gas, under maximum flow than the ten- mile portion will supply to it, and hence the maximum flow of the system occurs when the ten-mile portion is working at its maxim am. This requires the thirteen-mile portion to be working under a terminal pressure such that it will convey the 74,289 cubic feet per hour. This is found to be at nearly eighty-two pounds by gauge. If the thirteen- mile portion were a little longer there would be two terminal pressures that would give thus 74.289 cubic feet per hour, either of which could be adopted for the maximum service of the whole line. In designing pipe lines as of various sizes and lengths of pipe, the first lengths should be of the smaller size, because of the high initial pressure and very considerable fall available in that portion; and then for highest economy in cost of line the several sizes should be arranged so that when one portion is working under maximum conditions, all are. Example 2. Pipe line forty- two miles, six inch diameter, initial press- ure 200 pounds, terminal 97.4 pounds for maximum flow. Cubic feet per hour, storage value, = 112,360. If the terminal pressure be thirty-five pounds instead of 97.4 the cubic feet flow 100,820. Example 3. Pipe line forty-two miles by eight-inch pipe, maximum flow for 97.4 terminal pressure = 223,790 cubic feet per hour. For thirty- five pounds terminal pressure the flow = 198,900 cubic feet, storage conditions, the initial pressure being the same 200 pounds. 20 G. CHAJPTER VIII. THE WOOD COUNTY OIL FIELD. By an unfortunate oversight, the section pertaining to the Wood county oil field which should have found place on page 226 et. s*g., was overlooked until after the succeeding chapter had been begun. The section is accordingly raised to the rank of a chapter, but the matter is to be con- sidered as strictly supplemental to Chapter III. All the facts pertaining to the field at large and the character of the oil produced by it which are given in the last named chapter (pages 194 to 211), are to be kept in mindjn reading the account which here finds place. The Wood county oil field is the heart of the production of Trenton limestone oil. The total amount of this oil brought to the surface in the northwestern Ohio fields during October, 1890, has exceeded 50,000 barrels per day. Some estimates place the amount as high as 60 ; 000 barrels. Of this oil, Wood county has produced more than half. Its production is lield by some to have exceeded 35,000 barrels during October. The amount of drilling induced by the advance in the price of oil from 15 to 37^ cents, described on page 207, has culminated during the months of September and October in the following remarkable record, taken from the columns of the^Toledo Commercial of November 1 : Wood County Oil Wells. Completed Wells. Production. Dry. Wells Drilling. Eigs Building. September 129 147 8,208 bbls. 11,165 " 9 7 116 314 127 125 During the same time, the remaining fields of Trenton limestone oil made the following record : Completed Wells. Production. Dry. Wells Drilling. Rigs Building. September October 178 172 8,101 bbls. (>,261 " 24 25 122 180 83 69 THE WOOD COUNTY OIL FIELD. 307 This is the highest mark yet reached in Trenton limestone produc- tion. The price of the oil has receded to 30 cents within the past few weeks, and this fact will doubtless check the drill from this time forward to some extent. Centers of Production The chief oil production of Wood county is derived from the follow- ing townships, viz : Henry, Bloom, Liberty, Portage and Montgomery. Plain has recently been added to the list. Perry adds a little to the gen- eral stock, and Freedom and Middleton also belong within the limits of the present production. Henry, Liberty, Portage and Montgomery are the most important townships in this connection, but Bloom township is rapidly rising in valus as oil territory. Structure of the Oil Fields. The most productive oil district of the county, and of the State as well, is that known as the Wood County Oil Pool. It occupies the eastern portions of Henry and Liberty and makes some small excursions into Portige and Bloom. It is represented under the name given above on the map that accompanies this report. The boundary of production as laid down on the map of 1888 has been changed in a few particulars and nota- bly by an extension to the westward in the vicinity of North Baltimore. It is also being extended to the northward into Plain township. Since the map was engraved, section 34 in the last named township has been added to the productive district on the strength of the records of two wells which are reported as good for 25 and 60 barrels, respectively. A new pool of great promise is now coming to light to the eastward of the main pool, encroaching to some extent on what was considered, and with the best of reason a year or two ago, as dry gas territory. The new pool as its boundaries now appear takes its rise in section 6, Bloom township, and extends from there due north through sections 31, 20, 19, 18 and 7 of Portage township. The productive belt appears to be less than a mile in width and about six miles long in a north and south line. The characteristic of the southern portion of the new pool is the presence of dry gas in large amount when the rock is first reached. The wells are large gas wells when struck, but in a few days they are converted into strong oil wells, yielding 100 to 600 barrels per day. The north and south trend of all the prominent structural features of this portion of the county has been insisted upon in all the geological reports that have been published since the discovery of gas and oil in the county. This feature is now recognized by the intelligent oil-producers of the 308 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. field as a settled fact and account is taken of it in all new development . No one can find rational grounds on which to maintain the existence of a northeast line of structure in the Wood county oil field. A slight deflec- tion of the axis to the westward shows in the two main pools already named. In Montgomery township, the lines enclosing the chief production have not been made equally apparent, but there is a strong probability that the axis of the new field will be found as in the other cases, to bear to the northward. As so often shown in previous reports upon these new fields the struct- ure of each productive tract is most closely related to its behavior. Whether a well shall yield oil or gas is wholly a matter of the level at which the limestone is found in it by the drill. Each subdivision of the fields had originally its own dead line, as the level at which the salt water is found can be styled. The withdrawal of the gas on the large scale has allowed the oil and the water that occupied the porous rock at lower geographical levels to ascend to the levels which the gas at first held. This movement has gone forward on a large scale and the oil field is constantly extending itself inland with reference to the dry gas rock. The drillers are recog- nizing this movement and are obtaining large and valuable wells in what was unmistakably gas land in the beginning of the development. It goes without saying that the gas fields are correspondingly reduced in area and force. The driller has found his interest in getting the entire oil production of the rock, which is insured by his going down to the salt water. The best practice now in the Wood county wells is to drill until salt water is at least touched. There are wells that are pumping five to ten barrels of water to one of oil, but when the latter rises to fifty barrels or more, even this large amount of dead work can be undertaken. The separation of the water from the oil becomes, however, an added burden to the producer. The use of the torpedo increases the salt water, but it is the universal practice to "shoot" the smaller wells, despite the increase of water. The production of the oil is often multiplied ten fold by the explosion. SUBDIVISIONS OF THE FIELD. The North Baltimore Field. In Henry township, oil in large quantities is found in the eighteen easternmost sections, with the exception of sections 25 and 36, and in addition in sections 21, 28 and 33. Comparatively little of section 15 is counted good territory, in the light of what is at present known, but the remaining sections are counted first-class oil lands, without qualification. THE WOOD COUNTY OIL FIELD. 309 The development that was in such active progress in 1888 has gone forward with but slight check since that date and during the last summer, at a greatly accelerated rate. The driller could thrive in Henry township with oil at 15 cents per barrel, provided that his product could be marketed as soon as it reached the surface, but when oil was advanced to 37^ cents, with a brisk demand for all that was produced, it was only the fact that the best lands were already held by interests that preferred to keep the oil tanked in the ground rather than to see it brought to the surface, that pre- vented even the present great production from being multiplied several fold. The Ohio Oil Company which owns the bulk of the producing ter- ritory has drilled to guard its lines and leases principally, and not with a desire to increase the production of oil. The only unexpected additions to the territory are found in sections 26, 27, 28, 33, 34 and 35. A well drilled early in 1889 in the village cor- poration of North Baltimore began the excitement by starting out with a production of not less than 400 barrels per day. Here was a field in which the local talent of the country could disport itself. Village lots were easy to secure and in the course of a few months more than fifty derricks were in sight within the corporate limits. Drilling was at last forbidden by the common council. Few, if any, of this group of wells have paid for themselves, but the movement thus originated led directly to the discovery of one of the most prolific districts in the township that, namely, of sec- tions 27 and 28. The salt water boundary passes through section 28, but its eastern half has given rise to a noble cluster of wells. The oil rock lies at nearly 1,200 feet below the surface or about 450 feet below tide. The oil itself is found at a depth of not more than thirty feet in the limestone or at about 480 feet below tide. The wells require a little more than 400 feet of casing. An in- teresting example illustrating the structure and condition of the oil rock was brought to light in the drilling of the two wells, viz : the Chase well, No. 1, drilled by C. S. Wade and a well located on a small lot adjoining the Chase farm line. The stake for the latter well was driven fifty feet from the boundary of the Wade tract. This was counted rather close for good neigh- borhood and a new location was forthwith made, 100 feet within the farm boundary, leaving 150 feet between the wells. A race ensued with the oil rock as the goal. The second well won the race and started out at a 2,000 barrel rate. For nineteen consecutive days it averaged 1,400 barrels. But the time of the Wade well was to come. It found a great flow at twenty-nine feet in the Trenton, and the production of the other well was forthwith entirely arrested. But this did not last long; the second well regained its production and the flow of the Wade well ceased altogether. The latter was then drilled seven feet deeper and shot heavily. It started with great 3io GEOLOGY OF OHIO. vigor, the second well becoming for a short time quiescent. Two more alternations of fortune followed, the one well suspending its functions while the other was in operation, until at last No. 1 settled down to 400 barrels daily while No. 2 produced about 300 barrels daily. The great wells of 1888 are now being pumped in almost all cases and their production has fallen off to little if any more than 25 per cent, of their initial production. The largest production known in the field is that of a well drilled by the Palmer Oil Company in section 31, Portage township. It has already put into the line 250,000 barrels of oil and is still flowing regularly at the rate of 150 barrels per day. The conditions under which the oil is found in Henry township are seen in the following well records that fully represent the field, except in production. In this respect the record is more favorable than the aver- age. In sections 2 and 3, on the Lawrence Cable farm, the records of wells 1 and 2 are as follows : No. 1. No. 2. Casing set at 368 381 Top of Trenton 1167 1169 Oil at 1190 1190 1195 Finished at 1195 1211 Production first day 400 bbls. 150 bbls. In section 10, on the Jacob Neier farm, the records of wells Nos. 1, 2 an d 3 are as follows : No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. Soil and clay 5 8 Casing set at 376 366 368 Trenton struck at 1167 1163 1164 Gas found at 1200 1190 1187 Oil " " 1207 1200 1204 Finished at 1207 1203 1219 Production first day 125 bbls. 700 bbls. 200 bbls. In section 11, on William Hamman's farm, the record of wells 1, 2, 3 and 4 are given below : THE WOOD COUNTY OIL FIELD. No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. CEsing 86t at 380 365 375 376 Trenton struck at 1156 1150 . 1170 1168 Gas struck at 1200 / 1200 to Oil " " 1185 1207 \1207 Finished at , 1196 1210 1207 1218 On section 13, the famous Slaughterbeck wells afford the following partial records : Trenton struck at 1142, 1145, 1148, 1144, 1140, 1140, 1141, 1140. The marvelous steadiness of the Trenton limestone in this field is brought into clear light by these records. It proves to be a terrace more nearly level than any sheet of rock that we can find at the surface, the drift covering of this region being excepted. The surface of this district is exceedingly flat and monotonous. The records of wells from the other townships of the field agree in all important respects with those already given. A few will be added at this point. In section 25, Liberty, on the J. M. Weiland farm, wells Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 furnish the following records : No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. Casing set at 365 365 360 350 Trenton struck at 1160 1162 1153 1145 Oil " " 1180 1201 1183 1100-70 Finished at 1198 1303 1188 1179 Production first day..'. 75 bbls. 700 bbls. 800 bbls. 800 bbls. (After torpedo.) (Salt water with oil.) In section 18, Bloom, on the James Madden farm, the following records are found : No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. 347 350 350 350 Trenton struck at , 1146 1147 1143 1135 Oil " " . ... 1175 1167 . 1168 Finished at 1197 1201 1198 1201 312 GEOLOGY OF OHiO On the western edge of the field the Trenton is found 1,200 feet and more below the surface. Whenever it is struck at 1,225 feet or lower, the territory is condemned. There is not a single important exception known in this field to the deduction of 1886 that salt w r ater reigns supreme in the Trenton limestone when its surface is 500 feet or more below tide. The Freeport Oil Field. A very important addition to the oil production of the county has been made in Montgomery township during the last year. During the present season, indeed, this district has been or.e of the main centers of interest and speculative excitement of the county. In the discovery of the field, the Bradner Oil Company, under the leadership of E. A. Ed- wards, appears to have taken the lead. Several small wells were drilled at Bradner by this interest at an early period in the development of Trenton limestone oil. To most who knew the record, they seemed to give but little promite, but Mr. Edwards and the company construed the facts otherwise and extended their leases to the westward without any special theory as to the location of an oil belt. A well drilled late in 1889 in section 3, Montgomery township, on the Fralick farm, may be counted as fixing the initial date of what is now known as the Freeport field. This well yielded at least fifty barrels of oil per day. The Bradner Company's leases had been made in many cases on a cash royalty of four cents per barrel, but the drilling of this successful well brought an army of oil-pro- ducers^into the field and prices were forthwith run up to $20 and $25 per acre, bonus, with royalty of one-fifth, one-sixth, one eighth, etc. Up to May 1, 1890, twelve more wells had been drilled in sections 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 15, all of which proved productive and valuable. The best of them showed a daily production of 150 barrels for the first day, but such wells soon fell to sixty and seventy barrels which they main- taine'. )rake well 9 )unkirk field 186 Sagle refinery 203 Everett Glass Works ... 237 ^aults in Ohio 54 rindlay break 109 continuation of 23 Tindlay gas field. (See also under Trenton limestone) depth of deadline 107 discovery 105 failure of 115 gas production 112 iron works of 120 rates 121 rock pressure 116, 117 summary of facts 122 total gas consumption 123 utilization of gas 119 works using gas 121 Findlay oil field 218 Findlay monocline 48, 54, 67 structure of 91 Forest gas field 183 Fostoria gas field 138, 190 amount of gas used 191 wells 190, 191 Fredericktown axis 50 Freeport oil field 312 G Gas fields Barnesville 254 Cambridge 255 Findlay 105 Gibsonburg 108 Indiana ; 109 Lancaster 234 Marysville 273 Mercer county 161 Stuartsville '.. 128 Thurston 231 Waterville 155 Wood county 133 Gas measurement (chapter) 281 Pitot tube gauge 281 examples 288 tables 292, 293 tables illustrating use.. .286, 287 INDEX. PAGE Oasts measuremen Principle of flow in pipes 297 formula 298 rule for determination... 299 table for pipe line flow.. 300, [301 Gas, natural ' and oil (see also pe- troleum) Chemical theories 61 Anderson's statement 62 Berthelot 61 Mendeli'eff 61 Geological theories 71 duration of supply 84 Hunt's Dr. T. 8. theory 77 Newberry's theory 72 Peckham's theory 75 quantity of gas supply 86 summary of 85 importance , 60 modes of accumulation 87 cover 88 reservoir 87 porous rock .". 88 structure 89 anticlinal theory 90 illustrated in Ohio 91 relation to relief 92 origin 60 rock pressure - 92 calculated and observed pres- sure 98, 102 back pressure 104 causes of 94 discussion of theories 95 law of 102 inference from 1 aw 103 records of 100, 102 White, I. C., theory 96 Gas rates schedule of Cambridge 256 Carey 176 Columbus 242 Findlay 121 Gibsonburg 174 Greenville 171 Lancaster 237 Lima 198 Newark 239 Oak Harbor field 173 Wapakoneta 161 Toledo 144 Urbana 168 PAGE Gas utilization of, in Ohio (chapter).. 259 conclusion 280 summary 278 uses domestic fuel 259 meters 263 mixers 262 prices 262 for manufacturers ... 264 amount consumed 264 equivalent of, in coal 265 fuel proper 267 iron and clay working 273 clay working 275 iron mills 274 glass manufacture 267 amount consumed per day ..269- 271 consumption total 212 number of glass pots 272 lime burning 276 Gauge pressures 298 Geological scale of Ohio divisions 10 -11 thickness II Geological structure of Ohio character of the ancient seas 45 character of the surface 46 eastern Ohio 49-51 dip 49 fundamental facts 9 marine formations 10 northeastern Ohio 51 dip 52 depth of Berea 52 order of deposits 10 stratified deposits 9 Geological Survey, First date 1 officers 2 reports 2 Geological Survey, Second character of reports 3 date 3 distribution of reports 4, 5 officers 3 publications 3 Geological Survey, Third advantages of plan 6 date 5 law 6 objects 7 organization 5 relation to agriculture 7 relation to water supply , 7 INDEX. 319 PAGE Geyser Oil Company 217, 218 Gibsonburg Gas Company 174 Gibsonburg oil field 223 Glacial drift 45 Glass manufacture use of gas in 267273 locations of furnaces,*! 19, 144, 153, 163, [188, 191 number of pots 272 Greenville pipe line 170 rates 171 rock pressure 171 wells 171 Guelph limestone 19 character 19 thickness 19 Gypsum beds 21 Hamilton^'shale 26 character 26, 27 locality ,. 26 Hardin county gas wells 182 Ada 184 wells of 184, 185 rock pressure 185 .Dunkirk 186 Forest i .. 183 Kenton 182, 183 Hancock county gas production... 112 Allen township 123 Cass township 131 Findlay' 105-123 Marion 131 Washington 132 oil wells of Findlay field 218 Marion and Cass townships... 220 Stuartsville 219 Helderberg, Lower, limestone 21 bitumens of 79 carbonaceous, matter of 22 description 22 revealed by drill 23 thickness 22 Helderberg, Upper, limestone 24-26 exposure at Columbus 26 composition 25 divisions 25 thickness 25 Herrick, Prof. C. L 34, 35, 39, 40, 42 PAGE Hillsboro sandstone.. 20 characteristics 20 thickness 20 Hofer, Hans, Prof 71 Hudson River group 15 area 16 character of 15 discussion as to name. 15 shales 16 Hunt's theory of origin gas and oil 76 advantages of 83 bituminous decomposition 77 essential points 82 examination of 78 oil and gas in limestones 106 Huron shale 28 Hydraulic Press Brick Works 122 Iron mills using gas 274 Findlay 274 Toledo .. .. 144 Johnston, J. O., discovery Thurston field .. .. 241 Kenton Gas Company 183 L Lancaster gas field 231, 232, 234 date of drilling 234 rates for fuel 237 rock pressure 237 utilization 236 wells of 235 Leidy, Joseph, Prof 68 Lesley, J. P., Prof., theory of rock pressure , 95 Lima gas field 105 depth of dead line 107 structure Ill Lima Natural Gas Company 157 wells of 158 Lima oil field 216 amount 198 character of 196 Chicago pipeline 199 date of drilling 195 prices of oil 198, 314 production 195 purchase by Standard Oil Co 200 use of oil as fuel 199 wells 196 320 INDEX. PAGE Lime burning with gas 276 Limestone, Subcarboniferous identi- fied by Andrews 43 characteristics 43 localities 43 Lindsey gas field 174 Locke, John, Dr , mention of oil in Clinton 227 Logan group 39-42 best development 40 characteristics 40 conglomerate 39 connection with gas and oil 42 separation by Prof. Andrews 40 thickness 40-42 M Macksburgh anticline 51 associated with gas 51 associated with oil 197 analysis of crude oil 197 Manitoulin island 106 Marion township 131 wells of 132 Medina shale 16 color 17 thickness 16 Mendeljefi's theory of origin gas and oil 61 Anderson's statement of 62 character of 70 conflict with geology 69 examination of 67 process of formation 65 relation of oil fields to mountains 63 Mercer county gas wells 161 Celina pipe line 162 purchase of 164 Greenville pipe line 170 Mercer pipe line 164 wells of 165 pressure 162 Urbana pipe line 166 Van Wert pipe line 166 Mercer county oil wells .. 212 reservoir oil field 212 Mercer pipe line 164 wells of 165 Meters for natural gas 263-278 Monclova sandstone 24 N Newark gas field 231, 237 rates 239 PAGE Newark rock pressure 238 wells 238 Newberry, J. S., Prof., theory of origin gas and oil 72 Niagara group 18-21 area jg bitumens of 79 character of limestone 19 shale 19 thickness ig North Baltimore ^ ;as field 140 North Baltimore oilfield 305 Northeast lines 110, 111, 307 Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Co... 141 tow.ns supplied 142 Oak Harbor Natural Gas Company... 172 rates 173 Ohio Oil Company, 219, 221, 222, 224, 225 Ohio Valley oil field 257 Oil (see petroleum). Oil Creek, Pennsylvania 58 Drake well 59 fir&t important well 59 Oil fields Buckland 213 Cadiz 250 - Cridersville 215 Findlay 218 Freeport 312 Gibsonburg and Helena 223 Lima 216 Macksburg 250 Ohio Valley 257 Reservoir, Mercer county 212 Spencerville 217 St. Mary's 213 Stuartsville 219 Wood county 306 Oil production of Trenton limestone. (See Trenton limestone). Oil sand 208 of Pennsylvania 30 Oil wells, number in Trenton lime- stone ,.. 211 acieage demanded 210 Olentangy shale 26 Olive shales 41 Ottawa county gas wells 172 Oak Harbor field 172 rates 173 oil field 192, 913 INDEX. 3 2I PAGE Paragon refinery 201 capacity of 202 Peckham's theory origin of gas and oil 75 examination of 76 Peerless refinery 204 Petroleum and natural gas date of great development 59 early history of 57, 109 later history 59 origin 60 origin and accumulation (chapter) 55 vegetable origin 71 Pipe lines Buckeye 4 195, 199 Carey 168 Celina 162 Columbus 241 Greenville 170 Mercer 164 New Bremen 161 Northwestern Ohio 141 Toledo 144 Urbana 166 Van Wert 166 Wapakoneta 160 rates at Toledo 145 Pipe lines, measurements of 297 examples ; 304, 305 formula for 298 rule for determination 299 table for pipe flow 300, 301 Pitot tube gauge 281 application to gag wells 283 examples 288 service capacity of gas wells 285 velocity of flow 284 volume of flow at well mouth 283 application to pipe lines 288 absolute measurements 294 tables 294, 295 correction for velocity curve.. 295 examples 296 measurement of pipe lines.... 289 precaution to be observed 290 tables for 292, 293 forms of 282 stream with frte exit 282 stream enclosed 282 references 281 Point Pleasant quarries 12 analysis of limestone 12 Prairie Depot oil field 314 PAGE Putnam county gas wells 192 Ottawa 192 wells of 193 B Refineries Bradner 204 Eagle 203 Paragon 201 ' Peerless 204 Solar 203 Refining of Trenton limestone oil 201 Robinson, S. W., Prof. invention pipe line gauge 266 on measurement of gas 281-305 Rock pressure of gas (see gas, natural). 8 Salina group 20 gypsum beds 21 in New York series 21 Salt water cause of ascent 97 dead line to oil and gas 107 height of coltimn 97 pressure of, in oil field 209 quantity 96 specific gravity 100 Srndusky county {ps wells 173 Gibsouburgh 173 Lindsey 174 supply of gas 174 use in lime kilns 173 oil wells. 223 Gibsonb'rgli and Helena fields 223 number of wells 225 Seneca county gas wells 186 Fostoria 190 Tiffin 186 pipe line 188 rock pressure 189 utilization of. ..188, 189 wells 189, 190 oil wells 222 Shale, Ohio, or black character of 27 fossils of 31 - 33 Newberry's classification 28 oil and gas of 78, 248 boundary of.. 32 Solar refinery 203, 216 G. 322 INDEX. PAGE Standard Oil Company 195 advances in price of oil 206 reductions in price 310 in Cadiz oil field 253 price of oil established by...l95-310 Solar refinery, of 203 St. Mary's village'corporation gas line 157 Structure, relation to gas and oil (see natural gas). Stuartsville gas field 128 Stnartsville oil field Sylvania sandstone 23 locality 23, 25 thickness 24 Tables- cubic feet e;as discharged 286-287 for absolute measurement 294 for pipeline flow 300, 301 for Pitot tube gauge 292, 293 test for Pitot tube gauge 294, 295 Thurston gas field 231, 240 Columbus pipe line 241 discovery of gas 241 pressure 242 rates at Columbus 242 Tiffin Natural Gas Company 187 wells of 189, 190 Tiffin wells 138 Toledo pipe line 144 legal proceedings involved 149, 150 rates 145 } 147 report of trustees 149 Trenton Falls 12 character of limestone 107 Trenton limestone composition 13 106 cover of 14 dip of 12 extent of 11 gas production (1888-1890) 112 Auglaize county 156 Hancock county 112 Allen township 123 Cass township 131 Findlay (see Findlay field.) change of policy 120 discovery of gas 105, 112 depth of dead line 107 failure of gas 113 gas production H2 growth of city 113 PA6E Trenton Limestone utilization of gas 119 waste of gas 113, 120 Marion township 131 Washington township 132 Hardin county 182 Mercer county 161 Ottawa county 172 Putnam county 192 Sandusky county 173 Seneca county 186 Wood county .,'. 133 Bloom township 133 Henry township 140 Perry township 138 Wyandot county . 174 guides in drilling....* m oil production of (1888-1890) 194 chemical analysis 197 conclusions 198, 199 development of the fields 211 Allen county 215 Auglaize county 212 Hancock county 218 Mercer county 212 Bandusky county 223 Wood county 306 Wyandot county 220 Geological factors 208 acreage of oil wells 210 capacity of single wells 210 life of oil wells 211 number of wells 211 oil sand 208 presence of saltwater 209 prices of oil 196 [199, 206, 314 production of oil to acre 210 used as fuel 206 qualities and uses of oil 196 chemical analysis 197 conclusions 198, 199 refineries Bradner 204 Eagle 203 Paragon 201 Peerless 204 Solar 203 refining of Trenton oil 201 origin of name 12 place in scale 13 as reservoir 106 source of gas and oil 80, 105 thickness 14 thickness in Kentucky INDEX. 3 2 3 PAGE Trenton Limestone topography 108 underground distribution 47 Tymochtee slate 23 Utica shale 14 Upper Sandusky field 176 production 180 records 178, 181 wells .' 177 Urbana pipe line 166 rates 168 Van Vleck, George... H.... 202 Van Wert pipe line 166 W Wall, G. P., on Trinidad asphalt 80 Wapakoneta pipe line 160 gas rates of .. , 161 Waterlime group 21-24 Waverly group 33, 42 boundaries 34 origin of name 33 Wells, deep Amanda 243 Axe 158 Ballard 114 Bloomdale 136 Carey 175 Carnaham 127 Coshocton 245 Dewey 125 Dresden 246 Eaton 228 Findlay 125 Flushing 253 Gibson 221 Heck 118 Holliday 252 Hume 105 Hutfeon 125 Jones 114 Kagy 123 Karg 105, 114 Wells, deep Lancaster 235 Loomis 187 Mansfield 245 McCarty * 173 Melott 125 Mt. Vernon 244 Newark 238 Pioneer 116 Plain City.. 246- Both well 131, 175 Somerset 246 Swable 221 Thorntree 131 Tippecanoe 117 Ware 126 Well records Amanda '. 243 Coshocton 245 Flushing 254 Lancaster *. 232 Mansfield 245 Mt. Vernon 244 Plain 'City 246 Somerset 246 White, I. C., Prof. anticlinal theory of 90 on Berea grit as source of oil and gas 249 theory of rock pressure 96 Winchell, N H 26 Wood county gas wells 133 Bloom township 133-137 Center and Plain townships 152 Henry township 140, 141 Perry township 138, 139 Portage and Liberty 151 Remaining townships 155 Waterville gas field 155, 156 Wood county oil wells 306 Wyandot county gas wells 174 Carey field 174-176 Upper Sandusky 176-178 records of 178-181 oil wells.... .. 220 RETURN EARTH SCIENCES LIBRARY TO ^ 230 McCone Hall 642-2997 LOAN PERIOD 1 1 MONTH 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS Books needed for class reserve are subject to immediate recall DUE AS STAMPED BELOW FORM NO. DD8 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY BERKELEY, CA 94720