16 RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE. 



the hole down. It is said to have flowed water from near the bottom. None 

 of the wells is said to have furnished more than good shows of oil and gas. 

 Two deep wells have also been drilled in the extreme southern part of the 

 county near Fosterville on the J. G. Miller and B. F. Ransom farms. In the 

 last named well the indications for oil are said to have been very favorable, but 

 no information regarding depth to, and amount of, oil obtained is available. 

 Several areas of considerable extent in this county are now under lease, but 

 no drilling operations are being conducted at present. 



Wilson County. Although several large blocks of leases have been taken 

 by oil and gas companies in this county since 1896, the drilling has been con- 

 fined to a single well put down by the Union Oil & Development Company of 

 Baltimore, Maryland, on the Chambers property near Moxie, about 5 miles 

 north of Lebanon. This well is said to have reached a depth of about 1,000 

 feet without finding oil or gas. 



Cannon County. In this county near Woodbury a well was drilled sev- 

 eral years ago by the South Penn Oil Company on the McFerrin property. 

 It reached a depth of about 1,700 feet without finding oil or gas. Large quan- 

 tities of Blue Lick water are said to have been found between 1,000 and 1,700 

 feet from the surface. Another well on the Samuel Banks farm was drilled 

 to a depth of 600 to 800 feet in search of water. It is said to have furnished 

 gas of sufficient pressure to blow the heavy drilling tools from the well. No 

 other deep holes are known to have been drilled in this county. 



Smith County. This county lies in the northeastern part of the Central 

 Basin, and so far as known but two wells have been drilled for oil within its 

 borders. The first well was drilled shortly after the Civil War on the Mc- 

 Murray 'property, in the extreme northwestern portion of the county near 

 Dixon Springs. This well is said to have reached a depth of several hundred 

 feet and to have furnished "shows" of oil. In 1896 a well was drilled by the 

 South Penn Oil Company on the T. J. Fisher farm, a short distance northwest 

 of Carthage, the county seat. This well reached a depth of 900 feet, finding 

 water at 235, 255 and 400 feet from the surface. An imperfect record of this 

 well gives a thickness of 888 feet of limestone, no mention being made of 

 shows of oil or gas. Numerous oil and gas springs occur in this region, es- 

 pecially in the vicinity of New Middleton, in the southwestern portion of the 

 county, where it is said that many shallow wells drilled for water contain 

 small quantities of oil and gas and much salt water. 



Davidson County. The writer was unable to secure any definite informa- 

 tion relative to deep wells drilled in this county, though it is very probable 

 that several tests have been put down for oil and gas. Shows of oil and gas 

 in wells drilled for water have been found at many places in the limestones 

 of the Central Basin and a number occur in Davidson County, but no pools of 

 commercial size have yet been found. 



