THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I909 57 



The recovery of carbon dioxid from the wells at Saratoga 

 Springs is the basis of an important industry that is carried on 

 independently of the mineral water trade. The production of 

 gas in recent years has averaged about 5,000,000 pounds valued 

 approximately at $300,000. The gas is separated from the water 

 at the well mouth and stored in tanks from which it is charged 

 into cylinders under high pressure for shipment. The producers 

 of gas include the Natural Carbonic Gas Co., New York Car- 

 bonic Gas Co., Lincoln Spring Co. and Geysers Natural Car- 

 bonic Gas Co. 



Saratoga Springs. The need for conserving the mineral 

 water supply at Saratoga has been brought to public attention 

 recently, and the first steps to that end were taken last year 

 through legislative enactment. It is aimed to place the spring 

 properties under State supervision or control as a means of 

 insuring against wasteful and injurious use on the part of pri- 

 vate enterprise. A commission was appointed to investigate 

 the situation at Saratoga and to take such action as might con- 

 duce to the restoration of the flow of the springs to their former 

 strength and the maintenance of the future supply. The im- 

 portance of adopting some plan for regulating the use of these 

 valuable waters can scarcely be questioned, since it is well 

 known that they are liable to deterioration and exhaustion in 

 much the same way as other natural resources-. Governmental 

 control or ownership of mineral springs is a policy that has 

 long been pursued by European states, with beneficial results. 



NATURAL GAS 



The productive gas fields of the State are distributed among 

 15 counties, of which Erie, Chautauqua and Allegany are the 

 leading ones. The fields outside of the counties mentioned art 

 scattered over the western section from Lake Ontario south to 

 the Pennsylvania boundary. The most easterly localities where 

 gas has been found in quantity are in Oswego county. Many 

 wells have been drilled at different places in the eastern part 

 of the State, particularly in the region south of the Mohawk 

 river, but the exploration has been uniformly unsuccessful so 

 far as locating any valuable pools. 



According to the returns received for the year [909, there 

 were about 1250 wells in the State, the output of which was 

 consumed for fuel and lighting purposes. No account was 



