48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



raugus county attracted much attention, but the results as yet have 

 not been made pubHc. In this work the United Natural Gas Co. has 

 been chiefly engaged. The first well drilled in 1909 found gas at 

 3300 feet. The second well put down last year was said to have 

 encountered oil sand with gas at 2500 feet. The same company has 

 been active in acquiring other properties in northern Cattaraugus 

 and southern Erie counties and will construct a pipe from that 

 region to Buffalo. In Chautauqua county the Welch Gas Co. drilled 

 a well just west of the village of Westfield which showed an esti- 

 mated flow of 300,000 cubic feet a day. The Frost Gas Co. and the 

 South Shore Gas Co. put down several wells in the same region. 



PETROLEUM 



An output of 1,073,650 barrels was reported last year from the 

 oil field in the southwestern part of the State. This represented a 

 slight reduction from the total returned in 1909 which amounted to 

 1,160,402 barrels, but was about an average yield for the wells in 

 this field. Owing to the marked decline in the prices paid for crude 

 oil by the refining companies, the value of the output was lower 

 than it has been in a long time and at the average market quota- 

 tions amounted to $1,458,194 or $1.36 a barrel, as compared with 

 $1,914,663, an average of $1.65 a barrel for the preceding year. 



As a result of the fall in prices, exploratory operations were 

 conducted on a much reduced scale, which no doubt will have a very 

 apparent effect on the production of the current season. 



The oil field of New York is a part of the Appalachian district 

 which reaches its main development in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West 

 Virgina. The pools occur in fine-grained sandstones of dark 

 color belonging to the Chemung formation of the Upper Devonic 

 system and are scattered through the southern parts of Cattaraugus 

 and Allegany counties near the Pennsylvania border. The pro- 

 ductive area in Cattaraugus county includes Olean, Allegany and 

 Carrolton townships with an area of about 40 square miles. Some 

 of the larger pools in this county are the Ricebrook, Chipmunk, 

 Allegany and Flatstone. The wells average from 600 to 1800 feet 

 deep. In Allegany county are the Bolivar, Richburg, Andover and 

 Wirt pools which extend across the southern townships and are 

 tapped by wells averaging from 1400 to 1800 feet deep. The An- 

 dover field lies partly in the town of West Union, Steuben county. 

 A recent estimate places the number of productive wells in Alle- 

 gany county at 6000, and the total number in the entire field prob- 

 ably exceeds 10,000. 



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