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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Binning well had the same object in view, and for his own guid- 

 ance drew a line through the two wells named, extending it to 

 the farm on which the new well was to be sunk. A location on 

 the farm had already been selected, but when the contractor 

 came on the ground he changed the location by about 400 feet, to 

 bring it to the line above described and spoke rather vaguely of 

 the importance of the exact location, but without giving his rea- 

 son for the same. Now it turned out that the Binning well found 

 no gas whatever in the Medina but obtained a much larger flow 

 from the Trenton than any of the wells that preceded it. The 

 interest of the contractor in a particular location and the excep- 

 tional volume of the well were put together by those partially 

 conversant with the facts and the success of the well was cred- 

 ited to the exceptional prescience of the contractor, while in real- 

 ity he had completely failed in the object for which the northeast 

 line had been invoked. 



Of course where the accumulation of gas depends largely on 

 the structure of the strata, as has been urged in a preceding 

 part of this report, lines will be found in such fields indicating 

 the higher portions of the rock that contain the gas. Such lines 

 might bear northeast and southwest, but there is no more reason 

 why they should take this particular direction than any other. 



The most important structural lines in the new oil fields of 

 Ohio are north and south lines, or, in some instances, lines run- 

 ning a few points west of north. In the Bocky mountains the 

 main lines of uplift are northwest and southeast, while several 

 of the European axes are practically east and west lines. 



Section 4 

 Oneida county 



A considerable amount of drilling has been done in Oneida 

 county within the last few years. Deep wells have been sunk at 

 Utica, New York Mills, Borne, and in various other localities. 

 At the two localities first named, the avowed object was not to 

 search for gas or oil. Water was more distinctly in the minds 

 of several of the projectors of these expensive explorations. The 

 drilling has been carried on in several instances by manufac- 

 turing companies and in their work they have not seemed to 

 count the cost very carefully. The drill has several times been 



