46 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



considerable cover which increases progressively with the distance 

 from the outcrop. The important gas pools of Erie and Genesee 

 counties occur in the Medina at depths of from 1200 to 1800 feet, 

 those in the southern part of Erie county being the deepest. The 

 lake shore gas belt of Chautauqua county also derives its main 

 supply from the Medina which is encountered at depths of igoo to 

 2300 feet. The deepest explorations have been in northern Cat- 

 taraugus county, where gas sands supposedly belonging to the 

 Medina have been encountered at 2500 to 3300 feet. 



Next to the Medina, the most important horizon is in the Che- 

 mung sandstones at the top of the Devonic, the same strata that 

 yield the petroleum production of New York. The wells are from 

 600 to 1800 feet deep and were primarily drilled for oil, but the 

 gas is an important subsidiary product that is utilized in part for 

 pumping the wells. The excess is piped to the communities in the 

 district and as far as Buffalo. 



The Trenton limestone affords a small supply of gas which is 

 developed at Pulaski and Sandy Creek, Oswego county, at the east 

 end of Lake Ontario and at Baldwinsville, Onondaga county. At 

 the localities first named the wells are 1200 to I5(X) feet deep and 

 at Baldwinsville 2400 feet. 



PETROLEUM 



The oil wells last year yielded about the average product, as 

 shown by the receipts of pipe-line companies who handle the New 

 York output. The total receipts were 928,540 barrels, against 

 933,511 barrels in 1914 and 916,873 in 1913'. For the last 20 years 

 the production has held steadily at about the same level, fluctuating 

 to a slight extent with the varying market conditions. When 

 prices are low there is less activity in drilling and the increment 

 from new wells falls short of balancing the natural decline in the 

 flow of the older wells, so that the production falls off ; whereas a 

 rising market usually results in an increase of output. 



While market conditions on the whole have favorod the industry 

 during the last few years, they have been subject to remarkable 

 variations, so much so that producers could place little reliance 

 upon their stability from month to month or day to day. Such 

 rapid changes naturally have a tendency to unsettle and discourage 

 plans for new undertakings. The causes for the rapid rise and fall 

 in the quotations for crude oil during 1914 and 191 5 have not been 

 apparent from the viewpoint of the refined market. 



