48 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



well drilled for water opened a pocket in the Hudson River shales 

 at 150 feet depth. The flow rapidly diminished. 



Production. The value of the output of natural gas in 1906, as 

 reported by the individual producers and pipe line companies, was 

 $766,579. In 1905 the output was valued at $607,000 and in 1904 

 at $552,197. The gain for the year was thus about 26 per cent, 

 while in the last years there has been an increase of nearly 50 per 

 cent. 



The quantity of gas produced in 1906 amounted to 3,007,086,000 

 cubic feet. In arriving at this total estimates are included for certain 

 producers who were unable to supply exact figures, but, as it is 

 only the smaller operators as a rule that do not keep records of their 

 wells, the estimate is very close to the actual production. The 

 quantity of gas yielded by the wells in 1905 is estimated at 2,639,- 

 130,000 cubic feet, and in 1904 at 2,399,987,000 cubic feet. 



Production of natural gas 



1904 



1905 



1906 



Allegany-Cattaraugus . 



Chautauqua 



Erie 



a Livingston ......... 



Onondaga 



Oswego 



b Wyoming 



$183 830 



31 822 

 254 899 



32 451 

 15 350 

 14 990 

 18 855 



$204 430 



26 232 



281 253 



41 805 



16 825 



13 583 

 22 872 



$247 208 

 94 345 

 317 554 

 52 805 

 16 385 

 13 182 



2"^ 100 



Total , 



$552 197 



$607 000 



$766 579 



a Includes also Seneca, Schuyler, Steuben, Ontario and Yates counties, 

 ft Includes also Niagara and Genesee counties. 



. The average value of the natural gas as given in the returns 

 ranges from a minimum of 18 cents to a maximum of 50 cents a 

 thousand cubic feet. The general average for the whole State 

 during the last three years has been about 25 cents. 



The largest relative increase in production during the past year 

 was shown by Chautauqua county, with a total valued at $94,345 

 against $26,232 in 1905. Erie county reported an output valued 

 at $317,554 as compared with $281,253 in the preceding year. There 

 was also a notable increase in the fields of Allegany and Cattaraugus 

 counties. 



