OATSKILL FORMATION. G 5 . 79 



What is the chance of finding petroleum in Susquehanna 

 and Wayne counties, by boring through the Catskill sur- 

 face rocks, until the Cascade sandstone or other higher 

 Chemung layers are reached % 



This question, of so much practical interest to the inhabi- 

 tants of the district, can only be answered by experiment ; 

 but it is evident that the rock outcrops corresponding 

 to the oil-measures of the western counties show no signs 

 of holding, or of ever having held, oil ; therefore the ante- 

 cedent probability is against their holding oil where they 

 are buried deeply beneath the surface throughout the two 

 counties. 



The Cascade rock, for example, all along its outcrop, is a 

 close-grained, compact stone, entirely unsuitable for oil 

 wells. There is of course a possibility that, in its under- 

 ground passage southeastward to rise in Pike county, it may 

 change its character and become coarse and loose ; but there 

 is no way of finding this out except by drilling ;. and even 

 if it does thus become a coarse conglomerate under southern 

 Wayne county (as some of the Catskill rocks do) it may 

 still be everywhere entirely destitute of oil. 



