22 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
INDUSTRIAL GEOLOGY 
Oil survey. In the report of last year considerable information 
was given relative to the oil survey being carried on in southwestern 
New York. During the past season this work has been continued 
-and completed. 
The geological field work was carried on by William L. Rus- 
sell of New Haven, Conn., and the necessary instrument work by 
T. C. Major of Wellsville, N. Y. The notes and maps submitted 
by the field workers are now being used in preparing a report on 
the New York oil fields. 
This survey was primarily concerned with problems relating to 
new processes for increasing the recovery of oil from the oil sands 
through methods of restored pressure. Restored pressure takes the 
place of, or acts as a substitute for, natural gas when the latter 
becomes exhausted to such a degree that it is no longer able to 
drive oil through the sand. ‘The artificial pressures used to take 
the place of natural gas are either water or air, or natural gas itself, 
any one of which may be introduced into a well, and made to serve as 
a motive force to propel the oil through the sand to another well 
or wells from which it can be pumped. When air or gas is used 
it must be put under pressure, but with water, the hydrostatic pres- 
sures are derived from the column of water in the well. Much in- 
formation concerning these new methods of extracting oil has been 
obtained, and field studies have resulted in throwing much additional 
light on the structural relations of the oil sands. 
New York State has already produced 70,000,000 barrels of oil 
since the fields first attained commercial importance about 1878, at 
which time 250 wells were producing. The maximum annual pro- 
duction was in the early eighties with the opening of the Allegany 
county field with a production for the State of over 5,000,000 barrels 
annually. In 1888 the annual production had fallen below 2,000,000 
barrels and in I9I1I it was below 1,000,000 barrels. With the use of 
flooding, the annual yield of oil is again increasing and the 1922 
production was once more to the 1,000,000 barrel mark. 
Natural gas. Natural gas has been produced in New York State 
on a commercial basis for more than I00 years. At the present 
time some 1600 wells are producing outside of the oil regions of 
Allegany, Cattaraugus and Steuben counties. As a commodity 
natural gas has an ever increasing value both for fuel and lighting 
purposes. With the gradual exhaustion of the present gas pools, 
