MEMOIR OF PETER NEFF 543 



His first well pierced the Berea sandstone in June, 1865, and a strong 

 flow of gas resulted, which threw the water out of the well to a height 

 of 150 feet. This was the so-called " Geyser well," which obtained con- 

 siderable notoriety at the time, the mixture of water and gas being spouted 

 from the well at intervals of one and one quarter minutes. The second 

 well was completed the next year, successfully cased after a plan of his 

 own, which he was strongly advised would not be efficacious, entered 

 the Berea sand dry, and obtained a large flow of high-pressure gas. In 

 all he bored a considerable number of wells, scattered over quite an area, 

 for the purpose of defining the limits of the territory. He kept careful 

 records and samples of all of them, a quite unusual procedure at this 

 early day, being moved thereto solely by his interest in the geology of 

 the district. 



Being in doubt regarding some matters pertaining to the geology of 

 the region, he, in 1866, engaged Professors J. S. Newberry and A. Winchell 

 to unite in an investigation. Their report, which was corroborative of 

 his own work, was published in a pamphlet of the " Neff Petroleum 

 Company." 



He prepared a map and report on the geology of that portion of the 

 state, which the member of the legislature from that district presented 

 to the legislature for publication. Its presentation seems to have been 

 a large factor in inducing that legislature to enact the law establishing 

 the Second Geological Survey of the state. M. C. Read reported on this 

 district for the survey, and made large use of the data which Mr Neff 

 had so patiently accumulated and which were cheerfully and unselfishly 

 turned over to him in toto. In Professor Orton's later reports on the 

 economic geology of the state much use is made of the same material, 

 and its importance and interest is emphatically stated.' 1 * 



Mr Neff had bored for oil and found gas. The district was a remote 

 and unsettled one and the problem before him was its utilization. He 

 discovered in 1866 that a very fine quality of lampblack could be ob- 

 tained from this gas, devised appliances for its production, for which he 

 took out patents, and commenced its manufacture in 1875. The industry 

 is now a large one in western Pennsylvania, which district is much 

 more advantageously situated, but the process used is practically the one 

 laborious^ and successfully worked out and first applied by Mr Neff. 



In 1888 he changed his residence from Gambier to Cleveland, his son 

 having engaged in business there. From 1893 to 1899 he served as libra- 

 rian of the Western Reserve Historical Societ}' of Cleveland. During 

 his residence in Gambier he had made a large and important archeolog- 

 ical collection, which now forms a part of the society's collection. Since 



*Geol. Survey of Ohio, vol. iii, pp. 340-347, and vol. vi, pp. 340-343. 



