THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY 10,12 45 



means comparable in their yield to some of the natural gas fields 

 of Pennsylvania and Ohio, but they bear evidence of great persist- 

 ence when once tapped, which is a very important feature. 



The production of the State is contributed by sixteen counties 

 altogether, including Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Gen- 

 esee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Onondaga, Ontario, Oswego, 

 Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wyoming and Yates. These comprise 

 the section west of the meridian of JJ° , with an outlying area on 

 the north and east near the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The 

 existence of natural gas has been demonstrated for a number of 

 other counties, as far north as Jefferson and as far east as Albany, 

 but in too small quantity to have economic importance. 



The supply of natural gas is derived from several geologic 

 horizons, from the Potsdam sandstone in the Cambric to the 

 Chemung strata at the top of the Devonic. The more productive 

 formations include the Trenton limestone of the Lower Siluric, 

 the Medina sandstone of the Upper Siluric, and the Portage and 

 Chemung shales with interbedded sandstones belonging to the Dev- 

 onic. With few exceptions the gas pools now producing occur in 

 one or another of these formations. 



The oil fields of Allegany and Cattaraugus counties have con- 

 tributed, and still do contribute, considerable quantities of gas. The 

 pools are found in sandstones at different horizons in the Devonic, 

 such as the Bradford, Kane, and Elk " sands " of the Chemung. 

 Some of the supply is consumed in the gas engines for pumping the 

 oil, and the remainder is used for lighting and heating in the local 

 towns or is piped to Buffalo. The distribution of the gas is mainly 

 in the control of a few companies, like the Empire Gas & Fuel Co., 

 of Wellsville, the Producers Gas Co., of Olean, and the United 

 Natural Gas Co., of Oil City, Pa. Some of the local towns supplied 

 from the fields are Olean, Andover, Wellsville, Friendship, Hornell 

 and Geneseo. In the northwestern part of Cattaraugus county there 

 is a small field of which Gowanda is the center and which extends 

 across the border into Erie county. The gas is said to occur in the 

 Marcellus and Onondaga formations of the Middle Devonic. The 

 output is distributed by the Gowanda Gas Co. for use in Gowanda. 

 Explorations have been under way recently in northern Cattaraugus 

 county between Gowanda and Cattaraugus where pools are reported 

 at depths from 2500 to 3300 feet in what is supposed to be the 

 Medina sandstone. 



