RECORDS OF MEETINGS OF 1908 469 



during the year 1908, so that the production now surpasses that of any other 

 field in the United States, and the production of Oklahoma exceeds that of 

 any other state. The mid-continent production is given at 47,566,906 

 barrels by Professor E. Haworth, in the Engineering and Mining Journal. 

 Its nearest rival, California, is estimated in the same journal to have pro- 

 duced 40,000,000 barrels. The oil is of intermediate grade, being used as 

 fuel oil only in exceptional areas or in cases of local congestion. While 

 inferior to Appalachian and Lima oil, it is superior to that of Illinois. The 

 production might have been greater had it not been for the lack of suffi- 

 cient pipe lines to transport the product and the consequent low prices. 

 With this limitation removed, the production will doubtless reach consider- 

 ably higher figures in the future. One pool in one township, the Glenn 

 Pool, made the phenomenal record of 19,632,337 barrels in the year, being 

 much more than the production of the entire Texas and Louisiana field in 

 the same time. This establishes it as the greatest pool yet found in Amer- 

 ica. The oil has so far been chiefly derived from sandstones within the 

 Cherokee shales of Middle Carboniferous age in Kansas and Northern 

 Oklahoma. Recently, horizons in the underlying strata, which are so 

 extensively developed in eastern Oklahoma, have been found to be produc- 

 tive of a lighter oil, comparing with the Pennsylvania oil in its paraffin con- 

 tent. These finds are especially encouraging, since there is in this region a 

 very favorable deformation of the strata. This is the result of two sets of 

 folds at an angle to each other. One set, running about north and south, 

 was caused by the Ozark uplift. The other set, running east and west, was 

 caused by the folding of the Ouachita Mountains to the south. 



In general the mode of occurrence and the horizon of the oil and gas in 

 the mid-continent field is similar to that of the Appalachian field and con- 

 trasts strongly with the heavy-oil fields of the Gulf Coast and California. 



Professor Hill's paper was illustrated by maps and drawings; that of Mr. 

 Johnson by charts showing geologic structure and comparative productivity. 

 Both papers were listened to with much interest. 



The Section then adjourned. 



Charles P. Berkey, 



Secretary. 



SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 



March 9, 1908. 



Section met at 8:15 P. M., Professor E. B. Wilson presiding. 



The minutes of the last meeting of the Section were read and approved. 



