ENUNCIATION OF THE ANTICLINAL THEORY. 205 



Walks along the long row of boilers and sees but one man in attendance. The 

 house being whitewashed, not a sign of the dirty fuel of former days is to be 

 seen : nor do the stacks emit smoke. In the Union iron mills our puddlers have 

 whitewashed the coal-bunkers belonging to their furnaces. Most of theprincipal 

 iron and glass establishments in the city are today either using this Lias as fuel or 

 making preparations to do so. The cost of coal is not only saved, hut the great 

 cost of tiring and handling it ; while the repairs to boilers and grate-bars are much 

 Less.' 



"This new fuel, which bids fair to replace coal almost entirely in many of our 

 chief industrial centers, has not received that attention from the geologist which 

 its importance demands. So far as the writer is aware, nothing has been pub- 

 lished on the subject which would prove of any value to those engaged in pros- 

 pecting for natural gas, and it is the existence of this blank in geological literature 

 that has suggested the present article. 



"Practically all the large gas wells struck before L882 were accidentally dis- 

 covered in boring for oil ; but when the great value of natural gas as fuel became 

 generally recognized, an eager search began for it at Pittsburg, Wheeling and 

 many other manufacturing centers. 



"The first explorers assumed that gas could be obtained at one point as well as 

 at another, provided the earth be penetrated to a depth sufficiently great ; audit 

 has required the expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars in useless drill- 

 ing to convince capitalists of this fallacy, which even yet obtains general credence 

 among those not interested in successful gas companies. 



"The writer's study of this subject began in June, 1883, when he was employed 

 by Pittsburg parties to make a general investigation of the natural gas question 

 with the special object of determining whether or not it was possible to predict 

 the presence or absence of gas from geological structure. In the prosecution of 

 this work I was aided by a suggestion from Mr. William A. Earseman, of Alle- 

 gheny, Pennsylvania, an oil operator of many years' experience, who had noticed 

 that the principal gas wells then known in western Pennsylvania were situated 

 close to where anticlinal axes were drawn on the geological maps. From this he 

 inferred there must be some connection between the gas wells and the anticlines. 

 After visiting all the greal gas wells that had been struck in western Pennsylvania 

 and Wot Virginia, and carefully examining the geological surroundings of each, I 

 found that every one of them was situated either directly on or near the crown 

 of an anticlinal axis, while wells that had been bored in the synclines on either 

 side furnished little or no gas, bu1 in many cases large quantities of sail water. 

 Further observation showed that the gas wells were confined to a narrow belt, only 



one-fourth to one mile wide, along the Crests of the anticlinal folds. These facts 

 seemed to connect gas territory unmistakably with the disturbance in the rocks 

 caused by their upheaval into arches, bu1 the crucial test was yet to be made in 

 the actual location of good gas territory 0:1 this theory. During the last two 

 years ] have, submitted il to all manner of tests, both in locating and condemning 

 gas territory, and the general result bas been to confirm tin' anticlinal theory 

 beyond a reasonable doubl . 



■• Put while we can state with confidence thai all greal g is wells are found on the 

 anticlinal axe.-, the converse of this i< not 1 rue. viz, that <//•■"/ gas wells may lie 

 found on all anticlinals. In a theory of this kind, the limitations become quite as 

 i in porta ni as or even more so than the theon itself; and lie nee I have given con- 

 siderable thought to 1 hi.- side of the question, having formulated them into three 



