No. 200.j 
43 
feet in diameter. They consist of black mould, and are destitute of 
vegetation; from these gas issues, and on digging into the earth beneath, 
may be obtained in considerable streams. These hillocks have appeared 
successively, within a period of seven or eight years, although the 
ground has been cleared much longer. The first indication of their for- 
mation is the disappearance of vegetation at a particular point; this is 
enlarged, the mould accumulates and the hillock is gradually formed. 
In very cold weather, the gas is said to issue from the tops of hollow 
cylinders of ice, sometimes two or three feet in height, forming when 
lighted in a still evening a beautiful illumination."* 
JViagara Gas Springs. — In the town of Royalton, Niagara county, 
six and a "half miles east of Lockport, carburetted hydrogen issues 
through the water of a basin on the south side of the Erie canal. This 
is said by Prof. Eaton not to have been observed until the water was 
let into the canal. Upon testing this gas, it was found to resemble 
that at Vernon, but it approached nearer to the character of light car- 
buretted hydrogen. A large proportion of the flame is blue. The 
quantity which issued through the basin at one place exceeded a gal- 
lon a minute. This place was named Gasport.j 
Chautauque Gas Springs. — By far the most interesting exhibitions 
of the evolution of carburetted hydrogen which occur in this State, are 
to be observed in the county of Chautauque. The village of Fredonia, 
indeed, has attracted much attention in consequence of the gas springs 
found in its immediate vicinity, although they are by no means con- 
fined to this particular locality. 
The village of Fredonia is situated on the Canadawa creek, about 
three miles south of Lake Erie; and the gas springs seem to have their 
origin in the strata of slate which form the bed of the stream, and which 
are every where met with in this vicinity, a short distance from the 
surface of the earth. This slate has a blueish color, and some of the 
layers are exceedingly fragile, requiring only a few years exposure to 
be completely converted into a clayey soil. The lower strata, how- 
ever, resist atmospheric agencies, and are sometimes used as a building 
material. When recently broken, this slate always emits a strong bitu- 
minous odour, and it frequently contains thin seams of a substance re- 
sembling bituminous coal. Most commonly, however, this bituminous 
* Account of the Inflammable Springs of Ontario county, by Dr. F. Hayes. New- York 
Medical and Physical Journal, III. 49. 
t SiUimaa'* Journal, XV., 237. 
