PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS IN NEW YORK 521 



cerned relates to the origin of the petroleum. If we can deter- 

 mine its history we can learn also the history of the gas that is 

 now found there. That the latter could arise by destructive 

 distillation of the organic matter of the shales is certain. Even 

 the number of gallons of oil to the ton that those portions of the 

 series richest in organic matter can furnish has been determined. 

 It is entirely conceivable that these stocks of bituminous matter 

 may. all be needed in the ages to come and that the distillation 

 of the shales may be carried on in the future on a large scale 

 for the purpose of securing these sources of light and heat, but 

 there is no sound reason for believing that any process of dis- 

 tillation is now going on in the strata. The petroleum and gas 

 are found alike in all the varieties of shale, in the blue beds 

 as well as in the black. The preservation of the petroleum, if 

 it took its origin when the organic matter buried in the shale 

 was fresh, presents no difficulty. Petroleum, when sealed in the 

 strata, is a permanent substance, as durable, for aught we know, 

 as coal. No reason can be given why it should not last, as coal 

 does, through a dozen geologic periods. In the region that has 

 now been described the shale is covered with a comparatively 

 thin deposit of drift and in the beds of the larger streams and 

 also in many of the smaller streams it is not covered at all, or, 

 with only a shallow depth of water. 



It is in these last named localities that all the natural gas 

 springs of the district are found, but there is no reason to believe 

 that there is any more gas in the particular areas which the 

 accident of drainage has laid bare, than in the territory at large. 

 At the points named, there has been an open way for the escape 

 of gas, but undoubtedly had the valleys been established else- 

 where the phenomena would have been repeated. 



Another fact that points to the universal diffusion of gas 

 throughout the shales, is the discovery of successful wells in and 

 around every considerable village of the belt. At these village 

 centers there is wealth enough to multiply tests and at all of 

 them gas is found in greater or less quantity. If the villages had 

 been located elsewhere the results would have been the same. 



It may be asked why the presence of gas is restricted to a 

 single district as the lake shore belt. As the shales pass under 

 cover to the southward they retain, without doubt, their gaseous 



