1877.] 495 [Carll. 



" Owing to accident, losing tools in this well, and fishing for them several 

 weeks in a stiff mud vein at top of the pebble rock, the well was spoiled. 

 She WAS afterwards drilled to 1000' as an experiment, to ascertain the fullest 

 extent of Geology, but found nothing of importance below 857', and the 

 full regular oil-bearing rocks ending at 857'. It is my opinion, after careful 

 study and practical knowledge, that this land is equal to the best oil terri- 

 tory, and with further developments will prove an extended oil field. This 

 geology differs from all below on Stewart's Run." 



The foregoing records are published to secure them against accidental 

 loss by fire or otherwise, and to place them in a convenient form for refer- 

 ence. Many of them are imperfect, and some, without doubt, do not cor- 

 rectly represent the stratification of the rocks drilled through ; still they 

 are of great value, and when the whole series is completed there will be a 

 suflicient number of approximately reliable ones to exhibit in a very satis- 

 factory manner the genei'al underground structure to any one who will 

 take the trouble to study it out. Their value will be more apparent years 

 hence than it is now, when the old districts are again worked over, as 

 they undoubtedly will be, and the early records are not otherwise to be ob- 

 tained. During the first development of a district, when scores of wells are 

 in operation, almost every well owner or employe has a knowledge of the 

 rocks sufficient for all practical purposes; but when the district has become 

 partially exhausted, and the original operators have moved forward to 

 other fields, leaving new men behind who know very little of the history 

 of the wells, then these printed records will be sought after and appreciated. 



If this plan of preserving records had been adopted when oil was first 

 discovered and followed up to the present time what a vast amount of 

 valuable material would now be accessible to all. Thousands of faithfully 

 kept registers have been made. Some were merely written in a convenient 

 place on the derrick or engine house and perished with the well ; some 

 were kept in daily hand-books which were discarded and destroyed as they 

 became old ; many have been consumed by fire, that inevitable visitant of 

 all our oil towns ; and others are now stowed away among the oil region 

 relics of those who have left the country, and scattered almost to the four 

 corners of the earth. Scarcely one in a hundred of them can now be found. 



Those who have well records in their possession can now have them 

 published and preserved with the papers of the survey by mailing them to 

 the headquarters of the Oil District at Pleasantville. Pennsylvania. They 

 will be printed in pamphlet form from time to time as they accumulate in 

 sufficient numbers, for free distribution to those who have contributed them. 



In examining these records it will be observed that the first column of 

 figures gives the thickness of each sand-rock or interval ; the second, the 

 depth from the surface to both the top and bottom of each sand rock or in- 

 terval ; and the third, the elevation above ocean (where it is known), so 

 that it can be seen at a glance, without any calculation, just what the thick- 

 ness of each formation is, how far it lies below the surface, and how high 

 above the ocean. This form of keeping records if universally adopted will 

 be found to greatly facilitate their comparison and study. 



