BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



Vol, 28, pp. 667-676 SEPTEMBER 30, 1917 



PETEOLEUM IK OHIO AND LNDIANA ^ 



BY J. A. BOWNOCKER 



{Presented before the Society Decemher 28, 1916) 



CONTENTS 



Page 

 Introduction 667 



Principal oil-producing rocks in Ohio and Indiana 668 



The Trenton limestone field in Ohio and Indiana 668 



The "Clinton" sand field in Ohio 672 



"Corniferous" rocks as a source of petroleum in Indiana 673 



Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sands as sources of petroleum in Ohio 

 and Indiana 674 



Introduction 



The earliest elate of man^s knowledge of the presence of petrolenm in 

 the rocks of Ohio and Indiana is unknown. In places a film of oil was 

 ohserved floating on the surface of streams ; occasionally it was observed 

 in water wells, and drillers for salt occasionally found it to their sorrow, 

 for the smell was thought to be injurious to the salt. 



Thus, as early as 1819, or forty years before the Drake well, Dr. S. P. 

 Hildreth, one of the pioneer geologists of Ohio, reported that petroleum 

 had been found in a salt well at a depth of more than 400 feet, in the 

 Little Muskingum Valley. While the eruptions of this well interfered 

 with salt-making, the oil afforded "considerable profit" and was "begin- 

 ning to be used for lamps, in workshops and manufactories." "It af- 

 fords," said Dr. Hildreth, "a clean, brisk light when burnt this way, and 

 will be a valuable article for lighting the street lamps in the future cities 

 of Ohio." 2 



The discovery by Colonel Drake, on Oil Creek, in 1859, set the drill to 

 work at many places, and among these was the valley of Duck Creek, in 



1 This papei- is one of a sci-ies composing- a "Symposium on the Geolosy of Petroleum." 

 See this volume, p. 156. 



Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society February 12, 1917. 

 - Am. .Tour. Sci. and Arts, vol. x, p. 5. 



ly—BuLL. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 28, 1916 (667) 



