220 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



Creek. Very naturally, when the oil excitement began, the oil springs 

 of Grafton attracted attention. They are quite copious, and, in some in- 

 stances, the soil about them is completely saturated with tar and asphalt, 

 produced by the evaporation of the oil. A series of pits which may be 

 seen about the oil springs at Grafton furnish evidence that here, as at 

 Mecca and Oil Creek, oil was collected by the ancient inhabitants of the 

 country. In 1861 several wells were bored for oil in Grafton, and at one 

 time speculation ran high there. The oil proved, however, to be limited 

 in quantity, and, being very thick, was not well adapted to distillation 

 (the only use then made of petroleum) ; and, as a consequence, the enter- 

 prise was not successful. Since then this variety of oil has come into 

 general use as a lubricator, and is very much more valuable than the. 

 lighter kinds. The character and promise of this oil district is very 

 similar to that of Mecca, Trumbull county. The oil is undoubtedly de- 

 rived from the Cleveland shale, and has risen into and saturated the 

 Berea grit ; but inasmuch as the quantity coming from this bituminous 

 mass, which is of only moderate thickness, is not large, and there is no 

 impervious cover over the reservoirs furnished by the sandstone, the oil 

 has evaporated, or flowed away, as fast as formed, and no such accumula- 

 tions have taken place as in the capacious, deeply buried, and closed res- 

 ervoirs of Oil Creek. The oil of Grafton is dark in color, has a specific 

 gravity of 22° to 25° Beaume, is an excellent lubricator, and would be 

 worth in market about a dollar a gallon. The details of the efforts made 

 to obtain oil at Grafton are as follows : Four wells have been sunk there. 

 The Rising well, on lot 58, was bored to the depth of 150 feet. This well 

 yielded 30 barrels of lubricating oil within three months' time, the oil 

 flowing from a seam 85 feet below the surface. Erastus Jones' well, one 

 and a half miles north of the center, was sunk to the depth of 600 feet, 

 but drew its oil from a point 100 feet below the surface. The total yield 

 of this well was about 30 barrels of oil. The Crittenden well is the only 

 one of the series now worked. It is pumped by a wind-mill, the yield 

 being about 40 barrels in six months. It is possible that well-directed 

 efforts would greatly increase the yield of oil at Grafton, at such a cost of 

 time and money as would be well repaid. 



During the prevalence of the oil excitement several wells were bored 

 in the valley of Black River, at and below Elyria. In these some oil was 

 obtained, but not in " paying quantity." There is still a conviction 

 lingering in the minds of some of those who were interested in this 

 enterprise, that further trials would be more successful. To this faith, 

 however, I am unable to give much encouragement. To me it seems 

 more probable that if additional wells were bored in the valley of Black 



