50 -NliW VOUK STATE MUSEUM 



square miles, mostly in Olcaii, Alk^any and Carrolton townshi])s. 

 The pcx)ls occur at several horizons from 600 to 1800 feet below 

 the surface. The principal ones are the Ricebrook, Chipmunk, 

 Alleijany and Flatstonc. 



The oil field of Allegany county extends across the southern 

 townships of Clarksville, Genesee, Wirt, Bolivar, Alma. Scio and 

 Andover and is divided into several pools that arc considered to 

 be more or less independent. The l^olivar, Richburc^ and Wirt 

 pools have been most productive. The oil is found at depths from 

 1400 to 1800 feet. The Andover pool lies partly in the town of 

 W est Union, Steuben co. and is tapped by wells from 850 to 1000 

 feet in depth. The discovery of oil in the town of Gran<Tcr on 

 the Livingston county border has been in some respects the most 

 noteworthy addition to the productive area of late years, since the 

 pool is much farther north than any heretofore found in the State. 



There has been little change in the production of petroleum for 

 several years past, though the drilling of new wells is not so actively 

 prosecuted as formerly ; the maintenance of the output at a nearly 

 constant level may be ascribed in a large degree to the relative 

 permanence of the pools. Many of the wells drilled 25 years ago or 

 more are still producing a sufficient quantity to make their opera- 

 tion profitable. Practical!} all of the production is now obtained 

 by pumping. By using gas engines which are fed by the natural 

 gas that accompanies the petroleum the pumps can be worked at 

 small expense, and wells yielding less than a barrel a day are 

 remunerative. The product is transported to the refineries by pipe 

 lines. The following companies handle practically all of the out- 

 put of the State : The Allegany Pipe Line Co., Columbia Pipe 

 Line Co., Union Pipe Line Co. and Fords Brook Pipe Line Co., 

 all of Wellsville ; A'acuum Oil Co. of Rochester, and the Tide 

 Water Pipe Co., Limited, of Bradford, Pa. 



The output of petroleum in 1908 amounted to 1,160,128 barrels as 

 compared with 1,052,324 barrels in the preceding year. The fol- 

 lowing table shows the total in each year since 1891. The statis- 

 tics are from the Mineral Resources of the United States Geological 

 Survey, except those for the years 1904 to 1907 inclusive which 

 have been compiled from the receipts of oil reported by the com- 

 panies above mentioned. 



