PART III. 



Mineral Resources. 



CHAPTER X. 



PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS. 



OIL AND GAS HORIZONS. 



Lewis and Gilmer, like many other counties in the central 

 and western parts of the State, have been prolific in their 

 yield of natural gas and high grade petroleum. Of the two, 

 Lewis has been more developed and has produced the more, 

 both of oil and gas, but in Gilmer a considerable quantity of 

 both has been found and there are still large untested areas 

 that offer favorable fields for drilling. In both counties, the 

 oil is of the famous Pennsylvania grade, having a paraffine 

 base and being high in volatile oils. The reservoirs that con- 

 tain it, as well as the gas, which accompanies the same, are 

 the sandstone members of the Pennsylvanian, Mississippian 

 and Devonian Rocks. So far as known no oil or gas has been 

 found in the Dunkard Series above, or the Chemung below 

 these producing limits, although the Dunkard has been often 

 drilled through and the Chemung has frequently been pene- 

 trated several hundred feet. The Big Lime, or Greenbrier 

 Limestone, often contains shows of oil and gas, but has sel- 

 dom produced it in commercial quantities, and no other lime- 

 stone of importance is encountered in drilling. 



