PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS IN NEW YORK 



449 



The record below the Trenton in this well was specially inter- 

 esting and valuable. Good sized fragments of the greenish white 

 sandstone and also of the black limestone were brought up by 

 the sand pump. The limestone was examined microscopically 

 by Dr J. M. Clarke of Albany, who reports it as a true brecciated 

 limestone carrying a little phosphate of lime. Fragments of 

 shells of Obolella and Lingulella are recognizable in it and, m u e 

 doubtfully, fragments of rrilobite crusts. The fossils named 

 agree with the stratigraphic position of the limestone, which is 

 of Cambrian age and not far removed from the Potsdam sand- 

 stone. Probably the sandstone overlying it belongs to the last 

 named formation. 



At 45 feet in the Trenton, namely, at 970 feet, a light vein of 

 gas was struck and a slight increase was noted also at 1045 feet, 

 but beyond this there was no sign. This well was drilled under 

 the direction and inspiration of C. W. Vroman, who has had much 

 experience in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio and who 

 has been prominent from the first in the test wells of central 

 and northern New York. The Orwell well was located in part 

 on a theory. A little amber oil is said to have been found, 

 emerging from a bed of sand which is the source of a spring in 

 the township of Greig, Lewis co. The oil was believed by those 

 who reported it to be native to the location. The sandy drift 

 was 40 feet thick, but whether derived from a sandstone disin- 

 tegrated in place or from glacial deposits has not been made 

 clear. The first rock formation beneath this sand is the granite 

 of the region. A well was drilled here over 800 feet into the 

 granite. 



This little show of oil has made a great impression on several 

 of the drillers who have been at work in this region and has 

 led to the spending of many thousands of dollars. It will scarce- 

 ly lie believed, but such is the fact, that this light surface indi- 

 cation, which may be the result of a deliberate attempt to de- 

 ceive and not natural at all, has been counted the evidence of a 

 new geologic horizon of oil which it may be worth our while 

 to investigate. Lines have been drawn on maps of varying scale 

 and having indefinite degrees of inaccuracy, connecting this little 

 spring in the North woods with the great oil fields of Pennsyl- 

 vania and a charm has by some been supposed to lie in points 



