H ke Y nnedy D ] "SULPHUR DISTRICT. 133 
A small quantity of oil is reported from this well at a depth of 1,460 
feet. Gas was found at several depths, but no record was kept of its 
occurrences. The test can not be regarded as complete until the well 
has reached a depth of 2,500 feet, unless rock salt or strong brine is 
found at a shallower depth. 
SULPHUR DISTRICT. 
This district was probably the first to be prospected for petroleum 
in any portion of the Coastal Plain field. The oozing of petroleum 
and escape of gas from sulphur springs in a small marsh first attracted 
attention about the year 1868, and the Louisiana Oil Company was 
formed for the purpose of drilling for oil. A well put down in sec. 
29, T. 9 S., R. 10 W., gives the following section: 
Log of Louisiana Oil Company's well at Sulphur, La. 
Feet. 
1. Blue clay, with layers of sand 160 
2. Sand 173 
3. Clay rock, " soapstone " 10 
4. Blue limestone, fissured . _ . 40 
5. Gray limestone GO 
6. Pure crystalline sulphur 100 
7. Gypsum, with sulphur 137 
8. Sulphur 10 
9. Gypsum, grayish blue 540 
Some petroleum was found in this well to a depth of 380 feet, but in 
too small quantities to be commercially valuable. The incidental dis- 
covery of heavy beds of native sulphur led to the formation of a com- 
pany to develop this mineral, and numerous wells were drilled for this 
purpose, the method of mining finally adopted being to melt the 
sulphur by means of superheated steam and pump it out in that con- 
dition. In all the wells put down for this purpose small quantities 
of oil were found from the surface down to a depth of 357 feet, and in 
one well drilled within the last few years the petroleum is reported to 
have spouted 65 feet above the casing. This well still continues to 
flow small quantities of a heavy black oil. 
This thickness ascribed to the sulphur bed does not appear to agree 
with the records of the well drilled about 1892 or 1893. At that time 
a test well was put down by the Diamond Prospecting Company, 
in which the sulphur was first found at 436 feet, below which it was 
found to alternate with beds of limestone down to 603 feet, the limit 
of the boring. The Avell was drilled for the American Sulphur Com- 
pany and is located near the boiler house. 
