coal. 443 



down searching for water and for other purposes which have penetrated a gas 

 bearing stratum. 



I am of the opinion that the gas in this part of the State will be found 

 only in the Carboniferous formation, yet that formation may be overlaid by 

 some of the newer formations at places where it may be possible to reach it 

 by deep boring. 



No deep wells east of the Carboniferous area in Texas have gone below 

 the Cretaceous strata. It is not known what lies below the Cretaceous strata 

 in the middle portion of Texas. The deep wells that have been put down at 

 Fort Worth, Dallas, Waco, and other places that have given a fine flow of 

 water have only penetrated the lower beds of the Cretaceous. 



With the lights before me, I am now of the opinion that the entire Creta- 

 ceous area of middle Texas is underlaid by the Carboniferous. Every fact 

 that I am in possession of leads to that conclusion. 



If that be the case, then there is no reason why the same Carbonaceous 

 shales that produce the gas in the Carboniferous regions would not exist un- 

 der the Cretaceous, and would in all probability be equally if not more pro- 

 ductive of gas than in the other regions of the State, and might be reached at 

 a reasonable depth by boring. 



The lower beds of the Cretaceous are reached at Dallas at about eight hun- 

 dred feet. These beds along the line of outcrop where they have been meas- 

 ured are about two hundred feet thick. Placing, then, the Cretaceous strata 

 at one thousand feet at Dallas, if the next formation below that is the Car- 

 boniferous, it would not take many hundred feet to reach the gas bearing 

 shales. A hole put down to the depth of two thousand feet or less would 

 determine the whole matter. 



This matter is well worth the expense of the experiment. In case such a 

 flow of gas was reached, which is probable, as was found in the Dalton well 

 in Palo Pinto County, it would at once solve the fuel question of that city. 

 This matter can not be predicted with the same degree of certainty as was 

 that of the artesian water, for gas supplies are not subject to the same laws 

 as that of water; yet there are indications sufficient of supply of gas existing 

 there to warrant me in making the suggestion that the test be made. 



Now that it is demonstrated that a fine flow of water can be obtained at a 

 given depth, and that the city will put down other wells, when that work is 

 commenced let the drilling continue for a few hundred feet further and de- 

 termine the question of the possibility of finding natural gas, and if the mat- 

 ter should prove a failure there would only be a few hundred feet of work 

 lost, for the casing could be taken up and the water allowed to come in and 

 flow from the top. 



The last part of the drilling ought to be in charge of a practical geologist, 



