Il6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Erie counties. The adjoining section 

 to the east contains scattered pools, mostly of small extent, and 

 there are a number of wells within the belt bordering Lake Ontario 

 from Jefferson to Niagara county. It is said that the first attempt to 

 use natural gas for light and heat in this country was made at 

 Fredonia, where shallow wells were drilled as early as 1821. 



The supply of natural gas is derived from several geologic hori- 

 zons, its range extending from the Potsdam sandstone in the Cam- 

 bric to the Chemung stage at the top of the Devonic. There are, 

 however, certain formations that are characteristic for its occur- 

 rence in New York State. They comprise the Trenton limestone 

 of the Lower Suluric, Medina sandstone of the Upper Siluric and 

 Portage and Chemung shales with interbedded sandstones of the 

 Devonic. With few exceptions the gas pools of the different fields 

 are associated with one or another of these formations. 



The oil field of Allegany and Cattaraugus counties has produced 

 large quantities of natural gas from the Devonic. The pools of 

 oil and gas are found in sandstones at different horizons, such as 

 the Bradford, Kane and Elk " sands " in the Chemung. Some of 

 the supply is consumed in the gas engines employed for pumping 

 the oil, and the remainder is used for light and fuel in the local towns 

 and villages. The industry is controlled by a few companies who 

 own the distributing pipe lines. The Empire Gas & Fuel Co. of 

 Wellsville, and the Andover Gas Co. and the Mutual Gas Co., of 

 Andover, are the principal operators. Some of the leading towns 

 supplied from this field are Olean, Andover, Wellsville, Friendship, 

 Hornellsville and Geneseo. In the northwestern part of Cattarau- 

 gus county there is a small field of which Gowanda is the center 

 and which extends across the border into Erie county. The gas 

 is said to occur in the Marcellus and Onondaga formations of the 

 Middle Devonic. The wells when first put down were very pro- 

 ductive, yielding as high as 10,000,000 cubic feet daily. The 

 Gowanda Gas Co. distributes the output which is mainly used in 

 Gowanda. 



In Chautauqua county the productive area comprises a belt border- 

 ing Lake Erie from Silver Creek southwest to the Pennsylvania 

 state line. The gas is contained in the Portage and Chemung beds. 

 The wells are mostly shallow and the individual yield is only suffi- 

 cient to supply a few families with gas. They are located principally 

 around Silver Creek, Dunkirk, Fredonia, Brocton, Westfield, May- 

 ville and Ripley. Some deep drilling has been done recently for 

 the purpose of exploring the formations below the Devonic. At 



