OIL AND GAS IN THE CENTRAL BASIN. 9 



feet deep, and in some cases several hundred feet deep. The 

 stimulus to the sinking of the shallow wells has been the find- 

 ing of small pockets of oil or gas, usually in drilling for water. 

 When such are struck, the common belief is that by going 

 deeper, a good supply would be found, but this has always re- 

 sulted in disappointment. The conditions over the Central 

 Basin are unfortunate for the reason that oil and gas are suffi- 

 ciently common to entice people into spending money in their 

 quest, yet they probably nowhere exist in paying quantities. 



The reasoning followed by those who have backed the more 

 pretentious searches by deep drilling, probably has been some- 

 what as follows : The striking of oil or gas is only a matter 

 of luck anyway, and there is as good show for these here as 

 anywhere. So we will take the chance. Or it may have been 

 this way: Oil occurs in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It 

 also occurs in Louisiana, and we are on the line between the 

 two. Therefore, oil should be found here. Without going into 

 details, the writer wishes to say that neither of these supposed 

 reasons are reasons at all, and no one should ever permit him- 

 self to be pursuaded to part with his money upon any drilling 

 venture that has no more claim for merit than they contain. 



Nature of the rocks, The rocks that form the floor of the 

 Central Basin are nearly all limestone. These rocks extend up a 

 short distance above the floor around the edge of the Highland 

 Rim and pass off in all directions beneath it. They are of Ordo- 

 vician age, though this is of little interest to the prospector, 

 except that a good portion of them belong to the Trenton divi- 

 sion of the Ordovician. Many drillers still look with favor on 

 rocks of Trenton age because these are the rocks that supplied 

 the eastern Indiana and western Ohio field, which was in prom- 

 inence 20 years ago. But it is one of the mistakes of drillers 

 to suppose that Trenton rocks everywhere contain or are liable 

 to contain, oil and gas. 



The formations composing the above mentioned limestones, 

 named from the upper to the lower ones are Leipers, Catheys, 

 Bigby, Hermitage, Carters, Lebanon, Ridley, Pierce and Mur- 

 freesboro. The maximum total thickness of these formations 

 exceeds 800 feet. Below the Murfreesboro limestone, but not 



