MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I97 



black slates with thin sandstone beds to a depth of 2200 feet, passing 

 the horizon of the gas in the Altamont well at 1000 to 1050 feet, 

 according to Ashburner. No gas was found. 



Well in Cairo township, Greene county. A deep well for gas was 

 put down in 1886 in the town of Cairo, Greene county, about 3^ 

 miles southwest of Cairo village. It was located by Pennsylvania 

 oil operators, who it is said expected to tap the Trenton limestone, 

 although the formations in the vicinity are well up in the Devonian. 

 Drilling ceased at 2200 feet after encountering nothing more than 

 flagstones and shales of the Catskill series, without any gas. A flow 

 of salt water entered the well at 610 feet and filled the bore to a 

 height of 300 feet in 26 hours. 



References 

 Ashburner, C. A. Petroleum and Natural Gas in New York State. Amer, 



Inst. Min. Eng. Trans., vol 16, 1888 

 Bishop, I. P. Petroleum and Natural Gas in Western New York. N. Y. State 



Mus. Ann. Rep't 51, v. 2, 1899 

 Oil and Gas in Southwestern New York. N. Y. State Mus. Ann. 



Rep't 53, V. I, 1901 

 Orton, Edward. Petroleum and Natural Gas in New York. N. Y. State 



Mus. Bui. 30, 1899 



PEAT 



Peat bogs are present in most parts of the State and altogether 

 cover an extensive area. The most reliable estimates place the 

 swamp lands at about 5 per cent of the entire surface, which is 49,204 

 square miles. Just how much of the swamp area contains peat is 

 unknown, but it is certainly a considerable proportion, as the condi- 

 tions are usually favorable to the accumulation of peat. 



The occurrence of peat in New York has been described very fully 

 in the early reports of Beck, Mather and Hall and more recently 

 in the papers by Ries and Parsons, to which references will be foimd 

 at the end of this article. Parsons summarizes the general distri- 

 bution of peat in the State in the following manner: " It would be 

 difficult to find a spot in the entire State that is more than 10 miles 

 from a swamp, and though not all swamps furnish peat, yet it is 

 within the limits of probability that peat will be found in at least 

 half of them. The most extensive group of swamps is found in the 

 Finger Lakes region and the lowlands near the St Lawrence river, 

 though the largest swamp of all, the Drowned Lands of the Walkill, 

 is in the motmtainous part of Orange county, which borders New 

 Jersey. Many peat deposits are found in the Adirondacks, and, 



