MICHIGAN ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 
33 
THE SAGINAW OIL FIELD. 
BY R. A. SMITH, ASSISTANT STATE GEOLOGIST. 
Some years ago Dr. A. C. Lane, then State Geologist of Michigan, 
wrote an article upon the oil and gas prospects in Saginaw Valley. This 
article appeared in the Michigan Miner of Saginaw, and created not a 
little stir in the state at the time, especially at Saginaw. Nothing came 
of it, however, and the article was forgotten until a reprint of the 
article fell into the hands of some Saginaw business men in the winter 
of 1012. They became very much interested in the oil and gas possi- 
bilities of Saginaw Valley as portrayed by Dr. Lane and soon interested 
other business men of Saginaw to the extent that a company, the Sag- 
inaw Development Company, was organized for the purpose of putting 
down three wells, two of which were to be sunk down to the Berea grit, 
and a third to a depth of 3500 feet or more, unless oil or gas should be 
struck in quantity before that depth was reached. 
Representatives of the company came to Lansing to confer with the 
Geological Survey concerning all of the available information relating to 
oil and gas, or other mineral prospects in and around Saginaw. At 
their request, a compilation and interpretation of the evidence was made, 
which, though not at all conclusive, was deemed sufficient to warrant a 
thorough test of the Saginaw territory. Most of the evidence, indicating- 
favorable structural conditions for the occurrence of oil and ga.s in 
quantity in the underlying rocks of the region, whs derived from the 
numerous and comparatively shallow drillings for salt along Saginaw 
river. More or less indirect evidence was also furnished by drillings at 
Midland, Alcona, Caseville, Blackmar, Flint, Owosso, St. Charles, etc. 
The two deep wells at Bay City, especially that of the North American 
Chemical Co., were of great value in giving a general idea of the probable 
nature and thickness of the deeper lying formations. 
The rock strata of Michigan lie one upon the other like a pile of very 
shallow warped basins, each successively higher basin being smaller than 
the one immediately below. This basin like structure is known as the 
Michigan Basin. Obviously it follows that in general the rock layers 
should dip gently toward the center of the basin which appears to lie 
somewhere in Midland and Isabella counties. Saginaw and Bay City 
are to the east of the center, therefore, one should expect the strata 
on the whole to dip westward. As the general dip in the eastern part of 
the basin is about 20 feet per mile to the west, corresponding strata at 
Saginaw should be considerably deeper than at Bay City. 
Upon platting the salt wells, it was seen at once that the salt horizons 
of the Napoleon, instead of being deeper at Saginaw, are fully 200-300 
feet higher than at Bay City. In section, the top of the brine horizon 
of the Napoleon sandstone is seen to rise gradually from a depth of 
840-000 feet or more in Bay City to about 010 feet in the Wylie well 
near Bristol St. Bridge in Saginaw, where they again deepen rapidly 
to the southwest and west being found at 800-000 feet at St. Charles 
