Petroleum and Illuminating Gas. 



The occurrence of petroleum in New York was first recorded 

 by a Jesuit missionary who visited the oil spring at Cuba, 

 Allegany county, in 1627. Late in the present century the oil 

 from this spring was highly valued by the Indians for external 

 applications and was thought to have a highly curative power. It 

 was widely known under the name of " Seneca oil." The produc- 

 tion of oiLin New York is at present confined to Cattaraugus and 

 Allegany counties. The Cattaraugus county field is a northward 

 extension of the Bradford field of Pennsylvania and is continuous 

 over the State line. The Allegany field is more isolated, although 

 the oil comes from the same geological horizon. This has been 

 discussed in great detail by Charles A. Ashburner in the Transac- 

 tions of American Institute of Mining Engineers for 1887 and 

 does not need detailed consideration here. Within a few weeks 

 discoveries of oil are reported from Greig in Lewis county, but 

 the value of the find is uncertain. 



Natural illuminating gas was first used in New York at Fre- 

 donia, Chautauqua county, in 1821. This material is still in use 

 at the locality in question. Besides Fredonia, at the present time 

 Buffalo, Honeoye Falls, Pulaski and Sandy Creek are using 

 natural gas for heating and illuminating purposes and a well is 

 being bored in the vicinity of Oswego. Gas wells have beem 

 bored tentatively at a large number of places in New York State 

 and small quantities of gas have been found, but the enterprises 

 have not been financially successful. At present many of the 

 wells in Buffalo have ceased to yield and a large quantit}*- of the 

 natural gas now consumed in that city is brought in pipe-lines 

 from Canada. 



On the economic map the oil pools are shown as mapped by 

 C. A. Ashburner and corrected to 1893 by D. A. Yan Ingen, who 

 has written a brief sketch of the oil districts. 



