516 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



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point the tools were lost. Some say that they were lost at a 

 depth of 1800 feet, others at a depth of 2000 feet. A one inch 

 pipe brought up the gas that was previously found, and it was 

 kept burning for a long while. Interest in the scheme gradually 

 died out and the owner of the land has lately resumed his right 

 to the property and has removed the derrick. 



The Devonian limestone was undoubtedly reached in the drill- 

 ing, but no record seems to have been kept as to its exact depth. 

 This was really one of the most important facts this well should 

 have been able to supply. It is said that the contractor counted 

 himself within 100 or 200 feet of the Medina sandstone when the 

 drilling tools were lost. 



The people of Westfield spent $4000 on this test and nothing 

 resulted from it. The driller recognized two sand rocks in the 

 series penetrated; one at 1000 feet, 30 feet thick, and another at 

 1300 feet and 20 feet thick. Both proved to be reservoirs of gas. 

 The volume was small but the supply seemed fairly persistent. 



The rock pressure of the shale gas is weaker in Westfield than 

 in Portland, to the east, or in Kipley, to the west. The natural 

 escapes of the gas, like the well known one at the lighthouse 

 spring and at other points under the waters of the lake, from 

 which gas is constantly rising, are counted by some an adequate 

 explanation of this low pressure, but it should be remembered 

 that similar vents are found in the other townships named. 



d Ripley. All the surface rocks of the belt under considera- 

 tion in Ripley are of Chemung age, the Portage group going under 

 cover on the eastern line of the township. The series consists 

 as largely of shales as those of the townships previously de- 

 scribed, albeit they differ somewhat in character and composition 

 from the latter. 



Within the last 12 or 15 years this township has developed its 

 gas resources more fully than any other in the county, unless 

 Portland be excepted, and probably no exception is needed even 

 in this case. Wells have been drilled westward to the Pennsyl- 

 vania border and while they are multiplied at the village center 

 they cover territory several miles to the eastward, and excellent 

 success has been also registered in trials three to four miles 

 south of the lake and thus well up on the rising ground of the 

 hillside. 



