1865.] 53 [Lesley. 



of oil were obtained at 124 feet, 160 feet, 193 feet, and 213 

 feet. The pump rods came up covered with oil as thick as 

 softsoap, so that a pint of it could be scraped off at a time.* 

 The oil obtained at 124 feet was of a specific gravity of 15°, 

 while that obtained at 213 feet had a gravity of 30°. f The 

 limestone and "marble" were tested with acids, and undoubt- 

 edly mark the place of the upper layers of the Sub-carbonife- 

 rous Limestone of XI, Avhich nowhere crops out to the surface 

 in all this sandy country. | 



The depth of the S. C. Limestone below the Conglome- 

 rate may be stated, therefore, from the imperfect record of 

 this well, to be 150 feet ; which suits the recorded thickness 

 of the Shales of XI, measured further to the westward. The 

 thickness of the Limestone of XI may be reckoned at about 

 the same ; so that the Lyon Well would have struck the top 

 of the Devonian Knobstone Formation, if it had been con- 

 tinued to a depth of from 300 to 350 feet. 



It is as yet beyond our ability to distinguish the several 

 original sources of the petroleum obtained at different depths 

 from any one well. The specific gravities of the oil decreas- 

 ing with the increase of depth, is a fact which shows conclu- 

 sively that a chronic evaporation or distillation of the whole 

 mass of oil in the crust of the earth (within reasonable reach 

 of the surface) has always been and is still going on,§ con- 

 verting the animal and plant remains into light oils, the light 

 oils into heavy oils, the heavy oils into asphalt or albertite ; 



* I saw several barrels of oil in the well itself resting on the surface 

 of the water. There are from 60 to 100 feet of pipe jammed in the hole, 

 as it was dropped by accident when the well was abandoned on account 

 of the unsettled state of the country. 



f Mr. Lyon has been a distiller of coal oil, and had a distilling appa- 

 ratus in his well-house, so that his testimony is entirely intelligent. 



X It is, no doubt, the "Marble Limestone" of the main street of 

 Mount Vernon, in Kockcastle County, a fine-grained white limestone, 

 much esteemed by limeburners there, lying 40 to 50 feet below the top 

 of the formation, and giving origin to a distinct horizon of springs. K. 

 K , IV, p. 482. 



§ See my paper on the Petroleum Vein of Northwestern Virginia, 

 published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 

 Philadelphia, May, 1863, Vol. IX, p. 185. 



