280 I. C. WHITE — ORIGIN OF GRAHAMITE 



feet under the hase of the Waynesburg- sandstone. The coal at 980 feet 

 i,s {)roba))ly tlie Upper Freeport, though it may ))e lower than that coal. 



Extent of Grahamite-bearing Fissure 



The fissure holding the grahamite extends from the little valley of 

 Mine run (a tributary of MacFarlan, Avhere the well starts) up through 

 the Washington coal and on to the tops of the hills 100 feet higher, while 

 downward it extends to an unknown depth. When Professor Fontaine 

 visited the locality the mine had been operated through a vertical dis- 

 tance of 300 feet, and he gives the following section of the beds exposed 

 within the fissure in descending order: 



B'laterial. Feet. 



Gray shale 45 



Sandstone 35 



Gray shale (Washington coal in middle) 55 



Sandstome, Waynesburg 95 



Gray shale (boring begins in this) 55 



Sandstone 30 



Gray sbale 20 



Red sbale to bottom 



The higher summits above the top of the section are made up of a 

 succession of red shales and brown or gray sandstones, typical members 

 of the Dunkard Creek' or Permian series. 



Conversion of Petroleum into Grahamite 



The development of the oil-field in this region of the grahamite deposit 

 has been carried on chiefly b}' the Cairo Oil company, of which Mr W. K. 

 Jacobs, of Cairo, West Virginia, is the superintendent. Mr Jacobs in- 

 forms me that w' ells drilled near the fissure obtain good sand, but it acts 

 like a drained or exhausted field, and produces oil in small quantity 

 only, but that when the wells are located from 800 to 1,000 feet distant 

 from the fissure good producers are obtained ; hence there can be no doubt 

 w^hatever that the fissure made b}' tension from the Burning Springs- 

 Eureka uj^lift was filled with petroleum largely from the sand at 1,530 

 feet, which is the main producing rock of this region, though the " Big 

 Injun " sand, below at 1,652 feet, rna}'' also have contributed something. 

 Then the oil filling the fissure was gradually converted b}'' subsequent 

 oxidation from infiltrating water, etcetera, into grahamite wdthout any 

 heat other than that afforded by the temperature of the earth, since there 

 is no evidence whatever of any disturbance of the rocks in the immediate 

 region, aside from a gentle tilt common to the rocks of every oil-field^ 

 Hence the views of Wurtz and others that the grahamite originated from 



