498 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the distinguished professor of Yale college, published in 1831 an 

 account of this experience in the scientific journal which origi- 

 nally bore his name and which afterward became the American 

 journal of science and art. Fredonia became known even in for- 

 eign lands, on this same account. Sir David Brewster, the emi- 

 nent scientist of Scotland, republished this same account in the 

 scientific journal which he edited. As to the author of the 

 account it is to be regretted that we have no knowledge. It was 

 evidently furnished by some eye-witness of the phenomena. 

 There are some inaccuracies in it, geologic and otherwise, but 

 it clearly shows the interest excited by the facts. The article 

 was copied, during the years to come, in many of the newspapers 

 of the country. The account is as follows: 



A village lighted by natural gas 



The village of Fredonia, in the western part of the state of 

 New York presented this singular phenomenon. The village is 

 40 miles from Buffalo and about two miles from Lake Erie. A 

 small but rapid stream called the Canadaway, passes through, 

 and after turning several mills discharges itself into the lake 

 below. Near the mouth is a small harbor and lighthouse. 

 When removing an old mill which stood partly over this stream 

 in Fredonia three years ago, some bubbles were observed to 

 break frequently from the water, and on trial were found to be 

 inflammable. A company was formed and a hole, an inch and 

 a half in diameter being bored through the rock, a soft fetid lime- 

 stone, the gas left its natural channel and ascended through this. 

 A gasometer was constructed and a small house for its protec- 

 tion and pipes being laid, the gas was conveyed through the 

 whole village. 100 lights are fed from it, more or less, at an 

 expense of $i.50 each. The streets and public places are 

 lighted with it. The flame is large but not so strong and bril- 

 liant as that from gas in our cities; it is, however, in high favor 

 with the inhabitants. The gasometer, I found on measurement, 

 collected 88 cubic feet in 12 hours during the day. But the man 

 who has charge of it told me that more might be secured with a 

 larger apparatus. About a mile from the village and in the 

 same stream it comes up in quantities four or five times as great. 

 The contractor for the lighthouse purchased the right to it and 

 laid pipes to the lake, but found it impossible to make it descend, 

 the difference in elevation being very great. It preferred its 

 own channel and bubbled up beyond the reach of the gasometer. 

 The gas is carburetted hydrogen and is supposed to come from 

 beds of bituminous coal. The only rock visible here, however, 



