THE  NINEVEH  AND  GORDON  OIL  SANDS  IN  WESTERN 
GREENE  COUNTY,  PA. 
By  Frederick  G.  Clapp. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Location.  I  he  area  discussed  in  the  present  paper  is  located  in  the  extreme  southwes 
corner  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  midway  between  Moundsville,  \Y.  Va.,  Waynesburjj 
Pa.,  Mannington,  \V.  Va.,  and  Washington,  Pa.  The  interest  of  the  region  lies  chiefly  it 
the  fad  that  several  geologic  horizons  underlying  the  surface  have  proved  productive  I 
<>il  and  gas.  The  Nineveh,  Bristoria,  and  New  Freeport  oil  fields  and  the  Richhill  anc 
Hoovers  Run  gas  Gelds  are  situated  here. 
General  statement.  Field  and  office  work  in  1904  5  by  the  writer  and  Frank  W.  DeWdj 
has  gn  en  a  better  understanding  of  the  oil  and  gas  sands  of  this  region,  and  demonstrate 
some  errors  in  the  drillers'  identifications  of  certain  sands.  By  careful  study  of  a  greal 
number  of  well  sections  throughout  this  and  adjoining  areas  it  has  been  found  that  the 
oil  horizon  known  by  the  name  of  "Gordon  sand"  in  western  Greene  County  is  not  equiva- 
lent to  tin'  sand  of  that  name  in  the  Washington  oil  field  several  miles  northeast.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  report  is  to  eorreet  previous  errors  in  such  identifications. 
PREVIOUS    IDENTIFICATION    OF    SANDS. 
The  ( i onion  -and  was  firsl  discovered  in  soul  hwestern  Pennsylvania  in  a  well  on  the  GoB 
don  farm  near  Washington,  drilled  in  August.  L885.  This  well  lies  in  the  Washington  oil 
held,  which  for  several  years  produced  large  quantities  of  oil  from  the  Gantz,  Fifty-foot, 
and  Gordon  horizons.  The  Gantz  well  in  t  hat  held  penetrated  the  Gordon  sand  2,416  feet 
he  low  the  surface,  or  'J  1  I  feet  he  low  the  top  of  the  ( in  i  it/,  sand.  During  subsequent  drilling 
both  these  horizons  and  also  the  Fifty-fool  sand  were  traced  from  Washington  into  eastern 
Washington  and  ( rreene  count  ies,  and  the  names  given  at  Washington  came  to  be  used  over 
larg<  areas  in  western  Pennsj  Ivania. 
Tints  it  happened  that  when  operations  firsl  commenced  in  the  Nineveh  held,  in  western 
Greene  County,  the  names  Gordon  and  Fourth  were  applied  to  sands  which  were  then  sup- 
posed to  be  equivalent  to  the  beds  hearing  those  names  at  Washington.  In  the  Richhill 
gas  field,  several  miles  southwest  of  Nineveh,  and  occasionally  in  the  Nineveh  oil  district, 
the  name  "  Nineveh,"  "  Nineveh  Thirty-foot ,"  or  simply  "Thirty- foot  "sand  has  sometimes 
been  used  for  the  sand  called  Gordon  at  Nineveh.  The  name  Nineveh  is  said  to  have  heen 
firsl  used  by  Mr.  John  Worthington,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  most  appropriate  name  for  this 
sand,  which  lies  75  to  LOO  feet  above  the  t  rue  Gordon  sand  and  100  feet  below  the  top  of  the 
Fifty-foot  -and.  This  name  has  been  used  by  most  of  the  drillers  of  the  Natural  (las  Com- 
pany of  West  Virginia  in  the  Richhill  held.  In  some  other  parts  of  western  Greene  County, 
in  particular  by  certain  drillers,  the  names  Nineveh  and  Gordon  have  heen  correctly  used. 
Such  is  t  me  of  a  majority  of  the  wells  in  Wayne  Township  and  of  a  few  in  ('enter,  Morris,  and 
Springhill  townships. 
Throughout  the  Nineveh,  Bristoria,  and  New  Freeport  oil  fields,  extending  from  Nineveh 
southwestward  to  I  tigbee  and  then  southward  to  the  West  Virginia  line  south  of  Deep  Val- 
ley, however,  the  name  "Gordon"  has  been  more  generally  given  to  the  Nineveh  sand. 
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