JVotice of a Fountain of Petroleum. 97 



Art. XV. — JVotice of a Fountain of Petroleum, called the Oil 

 Spring. — Editor. 



The 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 

 to the spring. After crossing the Genesee River, our ride was to the 

 town of Friendship, six miles; then to Cuba, eight miles j 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 found, 

 without difficulty, by taking a guide at Hick's tavern, which is on 

 the corner of the road from Cuba, where it is intersected by the 

 road to Warsaw, two miles west of Cuba. The last 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. Its 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 

 immediate basis of the country; the sandstone and shale, (the lime- 

 stone I did not see,) lie in nearly horizontal strata ; the sandstone is 

 usually of a light gray color, and both it and the shale abound with 

 entrocites, encrinites, corallines, terebratulse, and other reliquiae 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 rising 

 through the pool. 



Vol. XXIII.— No. 1. 13 



