676 J. A. BOWNOCKER PETROLEUM IN OHIO AND INDIANA 



regular way for many years, the production did not assume commercial 

 proportions until 1913. The wells are shallow, 600 to 900 feet, and hence 

 inexpensive. In June, 1914, Sullivan County alone was yielding 3,500 

 barrels per day, and the production of the State for that year showed 

 40 per cent increase over that for the preceding year, the increase being 

 due to this shallow sand. The relation of the petroleum to the rock 

 structure has not yet been described. 



Within the past few years Messrs. Smith and Dunn, of Marietta, Ohio, 

 have devised and put into practice a method for increasing the production 

 of old oil wells. Their aim is to restore to the oil rock the same condition 

 of pressure that existed when the well was first drilled, and this is done 

 by forcing air into the rock. Naturally the pressure applied varies with 

 the texture of the rock, and in practice this ranges from 40 to 350 pounds 

 to the square inch. The depth of wells in Ohio and West Virginia to 

 which pressure has been applied varies from 43 to more than 2,000 feet, 

 and the increase in oil has been as much as 800 per cent, based on a year's 

 production, though the inventors do not claim more than 100 or 150 per 

 cent increase on an average. Attempts to apply this system to the Trenton 

 limestone field of Ohio and Indiana have thus far been unsuccessful. 



Looking to the future of the petroleum supply, conditions are not at 

 all encouraging in Ohio and Indiana. So extensively has drilling been 

 done that no large areas remain untested. Every county has had at least 

 one well drilled in it and most counties a half dozen or more. It is a 

 reasonable conclusion, therefore, that large pools need not be expected, 

 though small ones are probable. Both States reached the zenith of their 

 production years ago, and the decline which then set in will continue, in 

 all probability, with occasional interruptions, to the end. 



