78 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF UTAH 
HYDROCARBONS. 
By CARLOS BARDWELL, BENJAMIN ARTHUR BERRYMAN, 
THOMAS Bow BRIGHTON, KENNETH 
DROWN KUHRE. 
INTRODUCTION. 
About fifteen kinds of hydrocarbons occur in Utah; 
the five of those occurring most abundantly—gilsonite, 
tabbyite, wurtzellite, ozokerite, and rock asphalt—are the 
ones selected for investigation. 
Gilsonite or uintaite was first described by W. P. 
Blake! in 1885. He gave it the name uintaite because of its 
occurrence in the Uinta mountains. Later the name gil- 
sonite was adopted because S. H. Gilson of Salt Lake City 
brought it into prominence as an article of commerce. 
The deposits of gilsonite are limited to the Uncom- 
pahgre Indian reservation in Uinta County, being found 
in an area extending from about four miles east of the Colo- 
rado line westward along the fortieth parallel about 60 
miles. 
Gilsonite occurs as a filling of vertical fissures, which 
strike quite regularly 40 degrees west. The geological 
formation is the “Green River” of the Eocene period of the 
Tertiary, here at an altitude of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. 
The ‘Green River” formation consists of a series of cal- 
careous shales and limestones intercalated with thin sand- 
stone members. 
Tabbyite is so named from an Indian chief Tabby. It 
occurs in fissure veins in the shales and sandstones of the 
upper Tertiary. The deposits are in Tabby canyon, a 
branch of the Duchesne and are about 8 to 9 miles south 
and west of Theodore, Uinta County. It is being mined by 
the Salt Lake and Pittsburg Oil Co., tabbyite being the 
trade name of their product. 
1H. & M. J. Vol. 40, p. 431. 
