40 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
J. H. Butler, has developed a good production principally to 
che east of the town. In 1898 the Edgar Zine Company es- 
tablished its mammoth smelters at Cherryvale, after having 
obtained a satisfactory supply of gas, principally from the 
field a few miles to the north. Other interests of lesser im- 
portance have been attracted to Cherryvale, but aside from the 
smelter and one or two small glass factories the only manu- 
facturing interests of note are brick plants. Cherryvale sup- 
ports a total of six brick plants, each of which is now doing a 
prosperous business on a large scale. The town is largely sur- 
rounded by hills and mountains composed almost entirely of 
shale very suitable for making high-grade brick of many va- 
rieties. This combination of gas and good material has re- 
sulted in making Cherryvale the greatest brick producing cen- 
ter in the entire gas district of the state. 
CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.—A small amount of drilling was 
done in Chautauqua county in 1894-95, principally in the vi- 
cinity of Niotaze and Peru. Guffey & Gailey drilled a few 
wells and Mr. Gyser a few more, from one or two of which he 
obtained a small supply of gas that was piped into the village 
of Peru. After the interests of Guffey & Gailey passed to the 
Forest Oil Company, the leases were allowed to lapse, but Mr. 
Gyser kept his leases alive, which later proved the making of a 
snug fortune for him. Early in the spring of 1905 a new im- 
petus was given to the Chautauqua county fields. The first 
large company to begin developments was the Chautauqua Oil 
and Gas Company, which obtained leases aggregating almost 
8000 acres. Partly by their own development and partly by 
subleasing they soon had a good supply of oil ready for the 
market. Simultaneous with their development other com- 
panies began operations and a rich oil-field was soon developed 
from five to seven miles south of Peru, known as the Blundell- 
Spurlock field. A year later extensive developments were 
made in the Huffman field, six miles west of Peru and three 
miles south of Sedan. About the same time a nice oil-field was 
opened up two miles north of Peru, known as the Alford field. 
Practically simultaneously with all this also, Mr. Gyser ob- 
tained a considerable number of good wells in the valley land 
just east of Peru, and drilling was carried into the village it- 
self, with the result that probably more than half of the town 
lots in the little village had derricks erected and wells drilled. 
A nice pool of oil was found immediately under the town, so 
