44 ANNUAL REPORT 
“By the receipt of $102,000 for the outside portion of the gas plant 
the city was able to pay the only issue of bonds that have become due, 
$100,000, on October ‘I, 1899. Some months later the distributing lines 
inside the city were leased to the Toledo Gas-Light & Coke Company for 
the insufficient sum of $6,500 a year. And this annual income of $6,500 
is all the returns that the city of Toledo receives for its expenditure of two 
million of dollars to establish a municipal gas plant—the grand spectacle 
of a magnificent failure. 
“Today (January 1, 1903) the natural gas used in Toledo is furnished 
by the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company (controlled by the 
Standard Oil Company), who secure it from the fields of Fairfield and 
Hocking counties, Ohio. This supply is obtained from the Clinton forma- 
tion and is sufficient for all normal occasions; on extremely cold days, 
however, the small quantity still obtained in the Wood and Hancock 
county fields is turned into the mains leading to Toledo, so that even at 
the present time some gas is secured from the Trenton rock of Ohio. 
The latter formation also furnished the supply of the municipal gas plant 
as long as it continued in operation. The cost of the fuel has steadily 
advanced from 12 cents per 1000 cubic feet in 1888 to 30 cents in 1903.” 
Fostoria, lying a short distance northeast of Findlay, drilled a test 
well in the summer of 1885, but this was a failure, though it made a 
showing of both cil and gas.t 
Another well was drilled a year later. After having been shot with 
a heavy charge of nitro-glycerine it made a fair showing of both oil and 
gas, but neither in commercial quantity. A third well was drilled west 
of the city but without noteworthy success. Encouraged by these failures 
the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company piped the city, giving the 
inhabitants their first experience with natural gas. This, however, did 
not boom the place, and to accomplish this free gas was necessary. Ac- 
cordingly the legislature was asked and granted the municipality the 
right to issue bonds to the amount of $35,000 to lease territory, drill wells, 
lay pipe, etc. Public-spirited citizens raised $25,000 additional to assist 
in the work. The territory leased lay principally in the townships west of 
the city. This commanded a high rental, adding materially to the city’s 
expense. An ample quantity of gas was soon secured, and the city at once 
began to feel the desired wave of prosperity. As in other gas towns, glass 
became the principal industry, but the fuel was used for numerous other 
purposes. Dr. Orton estimated the quantity of gas used by these fac- 
tories to have been at least 7,000,000 cubic feet per day.” 
Tiffin’s experience was similar to that of Fostoria. The first well 
reached the Trenton in January, 1886, and yielded a small quantity of oil 
and gas as well as salt-water. The result here was merely sufficient to 
1Geol. Sur. of Ohio, Vol. VI, p. 192-3. 2Tbid, First Ann. Rept., 1890, p. 190-2. 
