846 



Report of the State Geologist. 



Natural Gas. 



In this report I have endeavored to assemble all available information 

 regarding the development and present condition of natural gas interests in 

 Erie count)". Recognizing the value of well records in determining the thick- 

 ness of geologic formations, I have taken pains to secure as many as possible. 

 The greater part are from the original "logs" of drillers and contractors, and, 

 in the main, are accurate. Where no record has been kept, or if kept, lost, the 

 data available have been given for what they are worth. These imperfect 

 records always give a gas horizon or other geologic fact worth preserving, 

 and usually the information of greatest economic value. With a few unim- 

 portant exceptions, the material included has not heretofore been published. 



History. The first gas well put down in Erie county was sunk at Getz- 

 ville in 1858 or 1859, and is said to be still furnishing a small amount of gas. 

 Following the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania, more or less prospect- 

 ing was carried on in the southern part of New York, and about 1860, Oil 

 Creek parties secured leases in the town of Boston and drilled a well near 

 Patchen. This appeal's to have struck a fair supply of gas ; but as oil w as 

 the object sought, the gas was disregarded. About 1872 the Buffalo Gas 

 Light Co. put down a well at their works, near the corner of West Genesee 

 and Jackson streets, and struck a pocket of gas, which lasted only a short 

 time. Another well was drilled near Boston Corners in 1878-79, which did 

 not find oil or gas in paying quantities, but passed through fifty or sixty feet 

 of rock salt. Strange to say, the owners appear not to have understood 

 the importance of their discovery, for the well was abandoned. With salt 

 worth $1.50 or more a barrel, the well would have been a more profitable 

 investment than most oil wells. 



The Buffalo Cement Co. made the first systematic search for gas within 

 the city of Buffalo in 1883, putting down a well with a diamond drill to the 

 depth of 45 1 feet 9 inches. A second well was sunk' in the following year 

 near the first, but this also gave very little gas. A third well in 1S87 gave a 

 good flow of gas, and was followed by several others. Encouraged by this, 

 in 1 889, Mr. Gerhard Lang drilled a w ell near his brewery, at Best and Jeffer- 

 son streets. A Hue flow of gas was found, and many other wells were 

 immediately started in various parts of the city. Mr. George Rochefort, 

 directly across Best street, got an excellent well, and the Erie County Pipe 

 Line w as organized to take the surplus gas from the Lang and Rochefort wells 

 lo dwellings in that vicinity. About this time Mr. Edward L. Everson struck 

 a good supply of gas in a well bored in the rear of i>7 1 -Jefferson street, and, 



