Oil and Gas Conditions in the Reelfoot 

 Lake District of Tennessee* 



BY A. H. PURDUE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Within the past year, a good many inquiries have come to 

 this Survey about oil and gas conditions in the Reelfoot Lake 

 area, and in quest of oil one well has been put down near 

 the east shore of the lake, a short distance south of Samburg. 

 At least one other company has been formed for the purpose of 

 drilling, but at this writing they have not begun operations. 

 The general search for oil and gas will continue for many years 

 to come, and further inquiries are sure to be made about the 

 possibility of finding these products within the area under con- 

 sideration. This fact supplies the reason for this paper. Also, 

 the question sometimes comes as to the general oil and gas 

 conditions in West Tennessee, and in search of these products 

 some wells were in recent years put down near Memphis. These 

 have been reported on by Ashley and Munn.f This paper 

 supplements the information given by those authors, for the 

 reason that oil and gas conditions in the Reelfoot district can 

 not be intelligently discussed without more or less attention to 

 those of the Embayment area in general. 



REASONS WHY THE REELFOOT LAKE AREA HAS ATTRACTED 



PROSPECTORS. 



In stating the reasons why the Reeifoot area has attracted 

 the attention of prospectors, it must not be understood that 

 the writer is giving them his indorsement. It appears that 

 three things have brought the attention of oil and gas men to 



*For a good understanding of this article, the layman should read that part 

 of the preceding one that relates to the conditions for the occurrence of oil 

 and gas. 



fAshley, Geo. H., Tenn. Geol. Survey, Bull. 2-E, pp. 40-46: and Munn, 

 M. J., Res. of Tenn,, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 42-68. 



