174 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



encountered within the beds in that section. The most westerly- 

 point at which any considerable flow has been met is at Baldwins- 

 ville, Onondaga county, where the top of the limestone lies 2240 

 to 2400 feet from the surface and is covered by 500 feet of Pulaski 

 and Utica shales. In Oswego county small but persistent wells 

 have been opened in the Trenton at Fulton, Pulaski and Lacona 

 where the first was drilled about 30 years ago. In this region the 

 Trenton aggregates 600 feet or over and is overlain by an equal 

 thickness of shale. Through the Mohawk valley the Trenton occurs 

 in more or less broken areas, with the outcrop lying close to the 

 Precambrian border; the character of the formation also changes, 

 shales largely superseding the limestones. In Oneida county, how- 

 ever, it is still undisturbed and appears in considerable thickness 

 in the wells at Rome and Utica. Gas flows that developed high 

 initial pressure have been found at Rome but they did not prove 

 persistent and no production has been recorded from them for 

 several years. The top of the limestone was found at 660 feet and 

 the thickness was a little over 400 feet. At Utica the limestone is 

 360 feet thick. In the lower Mohawk the Trenton is largely a 

 shale formation being represented chiefly by 700 feet of black shales 

 (Canajoharie shales) of lower Trenton age. 



NOTES ON FIELD DEVELOPMENTS 



The following pages summarize briefly the present stage of 

 development of the natural gas industry in the principal districts 

 which are listed according to the counties of their occurrence. The 

 information has been obtained by correspondence with the larger 

 producers and distributing companies, and from individual coopera- 

 tion of those engaged in field exploration. Among the latter Mr 

 D. W. Williams, formerly field expert for the Dominion Natural 

 Gas Co., Buffalo, has been particularly helpful. For the records 

 of the earlier developments preceding 1900, the reports by I. P. 

 Bishop and Edward Orton, listed at the end of this chapter, have been 

 freely used. 



Allegany county. The gas belt lies in the southern townships 

 where the pools are found in sandstones that are probably to be 

 correlated with the productive oil and gas sands of the Bradford 

 field of Pennsylvania. The horizon is probably Chemung, but may 

 extend locally up into the Lower Carboniferous. Many of the 

 wells yield both oil and gas, and some of the latter is employed at 

 the well mouth for operating the pump. The excess of production 

 over the requirements for fuel and light at the source is sold to 



