PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS IN NEW YORK 



501 



the ground meant a not insignificant expenditure for the time at 

 which it was made. The projector of the gas line had, howt ver, 

 overlooked two important points, viz, the difference in elevation 

 between the spring and the lighthouse and the specific gravity 

 of the gas. The latter is only about half the gravity of air. The 

 spring is about 150 feet higher than the lake, and when the gas 

 was turned into the line it had force enough to send it only half 

 the distance required. Because of these facts the plan fell 

 through. 



The second stage of the history has already been referred to 

 as beginning in 1858. Preston Barmore is the most conspicuous 

 figure in the opening of the new chapter. In the year named, he 

 began the development of a new and independent gas supply, 

 one mile farther down the stream than the Main st. well. A 

 notable escape of gas had been observed here from the earliest 

 times. The boys of the village were familiar with it and had 

 long carried on various qualitative and quantitative experiments 

 of their own about it. The location was on the famous Kisley 

 farm where so many of the garden seeds of the early time were 

 raised. 



Mr Barmore secured a quarter acre of this tract in a strip a 

 rod or two wide, adjoining the creek, and proceeded to dig a well 

 near the gas spring. He had evidently studied the production 

 begun by Hart 30 years before and had drawn from this two 

 important inferences, viz, 1) that natural gas is to be found in 

 the strata underlying the village, and 2) that the people were 

 glad to pay for it, wherever and in whatever quantities it could 

 be supplied, and he saw room here for a profitable investment of 

 energy and capital. 



The handling of the gas had heretofore been conducted in the 

 village with the insignificant expenditures already reported. 

 The original well had been drilled on the lands of the McPherson 

 mill and the royalty on the gas was all embraced in the furnish- 

 ing of two lights to the mill, the cash value of w T hich, according 

 to the original schedule of prices, was $3 a year. The drilling 

 of the well had been accomplished in the same inexpensive way, 

 the gunsmith, Hart, probably sharpening his own tools, and very 

 likely doing the drilling himself at such times as he could obtain 

 from his other engagements. Probably the only considerable 



