WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 335 



presence of only one dry hole (350A), as these often occur in 

 the midst of good producers. 



Detailed Well Records, Courthouse District. 



Courthouse District occupies the central western portion 

 of Lewis next to Gilmer. The Grassland Syncline crosses it 

 in a northeast-southwest direction a few miles north of its 

 center, and along the southern border the Orlando Anticline 

 and the Roanoke Syncline also cross it, the three structural 

 features affording a considerable variation of underground 

 conditions that favor the accumulation of oil and gas. Oil 

 has been found in large quantity along the axis of the Grass- 

 land Syncline, and also at scattered localities along the rising 

 structure to the north, the principal producing sands being the 

 Salt, Maxton, Gordon Stray, and Gordon, the latter sand hav- 

 ing furnished more oil than all the others. Gas has been found 

 along both sides of the Grassland Syncline, and also along the 

 Orlando Anticline and the Roanoke Syncline, the axis of 

 which occupies a much higher structural level than that of the 

 Grassland Syncline, toward which the oil seems to have gravi- 

 tated. The producing gas horizons range from the Salt to 

 the Fifth Sand, much the greater portion of it being from the 

 Catskill Series. Development has gone so far that almost the 

 entire district may be considered good for either oil or gas, 

 depending on structural conditions. Numerous farms still re- 

 main untested and a large number of gas wells will eventually 

 be drilled. 



The Copley Oil Pool. One of the most spectacular dis- 

 coveries of oil in the State was made along Sand Fork of the 

 Little Kanawha River in the fall of 1900, when the South 

 Penn Oil Company drilled the Michael Copley Heirs No. 1 

 (363) Well 5 where the present village of Copley now stands. 

 According to common report, the well had been drilled into 

 the top of the Gordon Sand, the soft character of which led 

 the drillers to believe that it might produce oil, and opera- 



'Through erroneous information supplied to the State Geologist, 

 the original well of this pool was described in Volume I (A), page 369, 

 of the SurVey, as the John Copley No. 1, instead of the Michael Copley. 

 The two wells stand within a few hundred feet of each other. 



