278 I. C. WHITE — ORIGIN OF GRAH AMITE 



roLinding.s, and as this was only a few montlis before the mine was 

 closed and al)an(loned, his paper gives the last and best description of 

 the mine. 



Investigations by Others 



By reference to the papers in question the reader will discover that 

 the grahamite fills a vertical fissure about two-thirds of a mile long, 

 varying in width from a few inches at the ends to 4 and 5 feet in the 

 center. The direction of the fissure is north 12 degrees west, and exactly 

 at right angles to the great "Oil Break" anticlinal which, with dips 

 from 30 to 70 degrees, crosses the measures about 7 miles west of the 

 deposit. 



Fontaine recognized the connection of the fissure with the upheaval 

 of the measures on this Burning Springs-Eureka anticlinal, and the 

 gifted Lesley foretold the origin of the grahamite in his first paper as 

 follows : " This gash was once, no doubt, an open fissure, communicating 

 with some reservoir of coal oil (petroleum) which still, it may be, lies 

 beneath it undisturbed." 



This hypothesis of Lesley, made 35 years ago, and without his ever 

 having seen the region, has recently been verified in every particular. 



Results of Exploration by Drilling 



In 1890 a well was drilled for oil near Cairo, Ritchie county, 10 miles 

 north of Ritchie mines, the locality of the grahamite, and an oil-pool 

 developed in the basal member of the Pottsville conglomerate, or '• salt 

 sand " of the drillers. Since that time operations have graduall}^ ex- 

 tended southward, until in 1897 the developments reached the region 

 of the asphaltic deposit, and there, at a depth of 1,500 to 1,600 feet be- 

 low the surface, was found, as Lesley had predicted, the pool of oil from 

 which the grahamite was undoubtedly derived, since a j^rolific oil-field 

 has been discovered in the immediate vicinity. The first well drilled in 

 the region was located within 300 feet of the fissure, and hence, although 

 some oil was obtained (one barrel daily), it was not in pajdng quantity, 

 and no more drilling was done for several years. 



The following record of the well drilled on MacFarlan run, Ritchie 

 county, West Virginia, nearest the fissure, will give an idea of the geo- 

 logical succession in the region : 



Record of Ritchie Mines Well 



Material. Feet. Feet. 



Unrecorded (cased 7| inches at 247 feet) 600 to 600 



Black slate 57 657 



