REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AXD STATE GEOLOGIST 



rl25 



solid and firm, ending in about five feet of pure sand. This i» 

 probably the most easterly point at which the quartzose or 

 white Medina has been found. The well Avas barren of gas; 

 but a black sulphur water was found at 1315 feet in the Niagara 

 limestone, where sulphur gas usually occurs. The record is spe- 

 cially interesting for the reason that this is the only well in the 

 salt district which has gone below the bottom of the Salina. 



Onondaga county 



Since January 1898, several wells have been bored in the vicin- 

 ity of Syracuse, concerning which Charles Loccard, manager of 

 the Empire portland cement co., has furnished the following in- 

 formation. 



We drilled one well across the road from our factory, and got 

 a flow of gas in the Trenton rock at a depth of about 2500 feet. 

 This giving out after one winter's use, we drilled through to the 

 granite at the depth of 3600 feet, but, as we found no gas, the 

 well was abandoned. About a mile west, on the Sherwood 

 farm, we then drove a second well, which gave a small flow of gas 

 in the Trenton; but, drilling it through to the Potsdam sand- 

 stone, we found a fair supply at the depth of 35S0 feet, which 

 we are still using. Hoping to better this well, it was shot with 

 200 quarts of nitroglycerin, but the flow was not increased. 



The third well drilled was on the Franklin farm about three 

 fourths of a mile west of the Sherwood well, finding gas in the 

 Trenton with an initial pressure of 1500 pounds a square inch. The 

 pressure rapidly fell, however, after we began using the gas. We 

 are now utilizing the gas from these two wells in offices and in 

 the boiler house. 



Though we can not state how many cubic feet of gas the wells 

 are producing, we do not consider them paying investments, and 

 have consequently given up explorations. The wells in this 

 vicinity have a high initial pressure but small volume. If we 

 stop using our wells they soon show a high pressure, which on 

 using decreases very rapidly. 



An attempt to confine the gas in the Franklin well at first re- 

 sulted in blowing out 1300 feet of casing. In the Sherwood well 

 the Trenton limestone was 900 feet thick and the Potsdam sand- 

 stone 75. 



