NATURAL GAS. 



BY F. H. OLIPHANT. 



FF H Oliphant, geologist and mining engineer; born Uniontown, Pa., August 30, 1845; 

 educated at J. R. Moore's academy at Morgantown, Pa.; eniployed two years as rod- 

 man for the Pennsylvania railroad; graduated from the Polytechnic college of Penn- 

 sylvania; served for many years as mining engineer for the Pennsylvania Gas Coal 

 company and later as geologist for the Standard Oil company; has prepared the 

 United States government annual reports on petroleum and natural gas since 189b and 

 is the recognized American authority on these mineral products.] 



More than nine tenths of the natural gas output of the 

 United States is produced and consumed in Pennsylvania, 

 Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and New York. The value 

 of natural gas in Pennsylvania in 1902 was only $913,910 

 less than that of the petroleum product of the state. In this 

 state the largest part of the total value of the output of nat- 

 ural gas and petroleum was obtained. The combined value of 

 petroleum and natural gas in 1902 amounted to $102,265,602, 

 and ranked next to coal in the list of the values of the 

 crude mineral products of the United States. 



The principal elements in the composition of natural gas 

 are carbon and hydrogen, which are combined, practically in 

 the proportion of 75 per cent of carbon and 25 per cent of hy- 

 drogen forming CH4, known as marsh gas or methane. This 

 constitutes from 90 to 97 per cmt of the different varieties of 

 natural gas. The elements which go to make up the remainder 

 are nitrogen, oxygen, carbonic acid, and hydrogen sulphide. 

 In the United States the principal sources of natural gas so 

 far developed are along the west flank of the great Appalachian 

 uplift, extending from western New York to central Kentucky; 

 also on the crest of the great Cincinnati uplift, extending from 

 central Kentucky northward into northwestern Ohio and 

 central Indiana; and in southeastern Kansas. The areas thus 

 briefly described include the main natural gas fields which, in 

 1902, produced 99.5 per cent of the entire output. 



Natural gas is f oimd also in Hmited quantities in California, 

 Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Missouri, Texas, and Louisiana, 

 and a considerable amomit has been produced in these states, 

 although the pools lack the area, volume, and force of those 



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