Notice of a Fountain of Petroleum. 97 
oer XV.—Notice of a Fountain of Petroleum, called the Oil 
pring. —EpIrTor. 
Tue Oil Spring, as it is called, is situated in the western part of 
the county of Allegany, in the state of New York. This county is 
the third from Lake Erie, on the south line of the state—the coun- 
ties of Cataraugus and Chatauque lying west and forming the south 
western termination of the state of New York: the spring is very 
near the line which divides Allegany and Cataraugus.. 
. Being in the county of Allegany, I was indebted to the kindness 
of a friend, who, on the 6th of September, took me from Angelica 
tothe spring. After crossing the Genesee River, our ride was to the 
town of Friendship, six miles; then to Cuba, eight miles; and thence, 
into the township of Hinsdale, three and a half miles; making seven- 
teen and a half miles from Belvidere, the seat of Philip Church, Esq. 
and twenty one miles from Angelica village. ‘The place will be cao 
without difficulty, by taking a guide at Hick’s heed which is 
the corner of the road from Cuba, where it is oa 
road to Warsaw, two miles west of Cuba. The'fist half mile is in 
the forest; a road is cut, for the greater part of the way, through 
the woods, but the path becomes, finally, an obscure foot track, in 
which a stranger, without a guide, might easily lose his way, or at 
least fail of finding the object of his search. 
The country is rather mountainous, but the road running between 
the ridges is very good, and leads through a cultivated region, rich 
in soil and picturesque in its scenery. Tes geological character is 
the same with that which is known to prevail in this western region ; 
a siliceous sandstone, with shale and in some places limestone, is the 
; of | 3 the sandstone and shale, (the lime- 
stone 1 did not see,) lie in ieadly horizontal strata; the sandstone is 
usually of a light gray color, and both it and the shale abound with 
entrocites, encrinites, corallines, terebratule, and other reliquie char- 
acteristic of the ancient secondary or transition formation. 
The oil spring or fountain rises in the midst of a marshy ground ; 
it is a muddy and dirty pool, of about eighteen feet in diameter, and 
it is nearly circular in form. ‘There is no outlet above ground—no | 
stream flowing from it, and it is of course a stagnant water, with no 
other circulation than that which springs from changes of tempera- 
ture, and from the gas and petroleum which are constantly ped 
through the pool. 
VoL. XXII—No. 4, 13 
