MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK l8l 



Some changes have been made in the terminology, but none in the 

 estimates as made by this authority. 



Portage shales and sandstones 



I 541 feet 



Genesee shale 



25 



Hamilton and Marcellus shales 



287 



Onondaga limestones 



108 



Salina waterlime 



60 



Salina shales 



386 



Niagara limestone, including 72 feet 





of shale below 



319 



Clinton 



27 



Medina sandstone 



109 



Medina shales, Oswego sandstone, and 





Cincinnati beds 



I 869 



Trenton limestone 



720 



Calciferous 



no 



Total 5 561 



The section probably falls short by 100 to 200 feet of the whole 

 range from the top of the Portage to the Precambrian basement, 

 for the Calciferous is not fully revealed in the wells on which the 

 above estimate is founded and also the Portage may be a little 

 thicker than indicated. 



Among the first successful wells drilled in Erie county were those 

 located within the city of Buffalo. According to Bishop the Buffalo 

 Cement Co. instituted the earliest systematic search for gas within 

 the city limits by drilling on its property situated near the Main 

 street crossing of the New York Central Belt Line. Its first well 

 was put down in 1883 to a depth of 452 feet, and the second in the 

 following year, both showing only a small flow. A third well in 

 1887 gave a good flow and encouraged the company to continue 

 drilling operations, so that shortly several productive wells were 

 opened. Active work was then undertaken by individuals and 

 companies, and the distribution of the gas for household and indus- 

 trial use provided for by the laying of municipal pipe-lines. In 

 1 89 1 drilling was extended into the town of West Seneca, just south 

 of the city line, and a large increment to the supply was soon obtained 

 from that section. All of the commercial wells in Buffalo and 

 vicinity had been absorbed by 1895 into the Buffalo Natural Gas 

 Co. The district as then developed included Biiffalo, West Seneca 

 and a little territory on the west side of the Niagara river, in Ontario, 

 Canada. Records of many of the wells are given in Bishop's paper,^ 

 " The vStructural and Economic Geology of Erie County." One or 

 two records are here quoted from that article. 



1 N. Y. State Mus. 49th Ann. Rep't, pt 2, 1895. 



