276 I. C. WHITE DEEP WELL NEAR MCDONALD, PENNSYLVANIA 



at exactly the same geologic horizon as the deep well (5,575 feet) drilled 

 on the farm of William Bedell, 20 miles southeast of the Geary well, near 

 West Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, by the late W. J. 

 Young, of the Forest Oil Company, the detailed log of which is published 

 in volume I (A) of the West Virginia Geological Survey, pages 103-107. 

 and which remained the deepest boring in the United States up -to the 

 latter part of 1912, when it was surpassed by the one herein described 

 and by another in West Virginia, which has now attained a slightly 

 greater (5,595 feet) depth. 



Purpose of the Well 



The Condor dome of the Burgettstown quadrangle has already pro- 

 duced a large quantity of natural gas from the Pottsville, Big Injun, 

 "Hundred-foot," and Thirty-foot Sands, and Mr. Pew and his field super- 

 intendent, Mr. Barger, concluded that this region, from which the strata 

 dip in every direction, would be a good location to make a test for any 

 oil or gas bearing sands that might be found lower in the geologic column, 

 hoping finally to reach the Clinton and even the Trenton Limestone, the 

 two great gas-bearing and petroliferous horizons of Ohio. The writer 

 figures that the Clinton horizon should be struck in this well at about 

 7,000 feet and the Trenton at approximately 8,000 feet. 



Method of Construction 



A steel cable is in use, the derrick has double strength, and a larger 

 engine and more boiler capacity have been provided than in drilling 

 wells to the usual depths, so that Mr. Pew confidently expects to make 

 the Geary well the deepest one in the world. Some trouble has been 

 experienced by the caving of the walls in the soft shales above the Cor- 

 niferous limestone, but when the temporary fishing job now on hand 

 (a set of tools having been caught by the caving shales) is completed, 

 the bore-hole will be lined with steel casing, so as to prevent any further 

 trouble from caving. 



Eesults of Temperature Determinations 



As is well known, Prof. William Hallock. of Columbia University, made 

 careful temperature tests on the West Elizabeth or Bedell well down to 

 a depth of 5.000 feet, where the temperature was 120.9° Fahrenheit, and 

 he also tested the Wheeling, West Virginia, deep well, finding a temper- 

 ature of 110.3° Fahrenheit at 4.500 feet, and the two wells agreed very 

 closely in temperatures throughout at the same depths. Figured on the 



