506 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



a full supply of light and heat for his own use ever since. The 

 third well made no noticeable addition to the supply. 



These wells are about 100 feet apart and 300 feet deep. They 

 do not appear to affect one another in production. The gas is 

 found at slightly different depths in each. The chief horizons 

 where gas is expected are from 80 to 90 feet, 100 feet, 125 feet, 

 and 165 feet. At 60 feet a small vein of strong saline and bitter 

 water is found. All the water found in the shales is saline, but 

 }*■ can generally be exhausted by persistent baling when the 

 vein is struck and when once reduced it makes but little farther 

 trouble. When allowed to lie on the gas veins, however, it 

 soon weakens or destroys them. 



Mr Day is a practical oil producer and has thus recognized from 

 the first the necessity of constant care of his wells. He never 

 allows water to accumulate in them, but pumps them at least 

 four times a year. To this care he attributes their continued 

 vitality. The regulator is set at four pounds. He never shuts 

 in a well completely, fearing that under the pressure new chan- 

 nels in the shale would be opened for the gas. In summer he 

 sells the surplus gas. In past years he sold to the Dunkirk gas 

 co. at 25 cents a thousand, but of late years, his neighbors are glad 

 to pay f 1 a thousand for all that he can supply. His income 

 from this source sometimes reaches $30 a month. Taking every- 

 thing into account he has probably received, during the last 15 

 years, as much money from his wells as he originally invested in 

 them, while obtaining his own light and fuel free of cost. A 

 moderate estimate of the amount saved in the last named items 

 is $100 a year. 



The neighbors of Mr Day, influenced by his example, have 

 drilled many wells. Mrs D. L. Barker has one that has furnished 

 the entire supply of light and fuel for her residence for the past 

 16 years. Dr Kolfe has a fair well, removed but a little distance 

 from Mr Day's wells. 



The cost of drilling and equipping a well 300 feet deep will 

 not exceed $175 or $200. If such a well supplies a residence 

 with light and fuel for two or three years, it has paid for itself 

 amply, and if, thereafter, it keeps up the supply for 10 or 12 

 years, it has proved an excellent investment, better, in fact, than 

 most men know how to make for themselves. 



