STATE ‘GEOLOGIST. 49 
Mercer county. ‘The fuel was used for domestic purposes, and also for 
factories, the principal industry being glass. 
While the company was a private affair, an arrangement was made 
between it and the city council by which free gas was to be furnished for 
the two glass houses during a period of five years. The result of the heavy 
demands was the cry insufficient gas, the rock pressure of the field having 
fallen from 390 pounds in 1887 to 240 in June, 1890." 
The Mercer Natural Gas Company was by far the largest one oper- 
ating in Mercer county. Its principal territory lay in Franklin township, 
but it had wells in Auglaize county as well as in Mercer. The company’s 
lines supplied Sidney, Piqua, Troy, Springfield, Dayton, and a number of 
smaller places. It is hardly necessary to state that this corporation did 
not furnish free gas to factories, and consequently that the places named 
did not enjoy the boom that Findlay and adjacent towns did. The fuel 
was used economically and its life prolonged to the farthest limit. It is 
interesting to note in this connection that these places are now, in part at 
least, supplied from the Sugar Grove field, a line having been laid from 
that territory to Springfield, where it connects with the old lines of the 
Mercer Natural Gas Company. 
The city of Urbana, anxious to enjoy the prosperity that seemed to 
follow free gas, began by testing the Trenton limestone in that vicinity, 
and finding it barren of the desired fuel, turned to the territory in Aug- 
laize and Mercer counties. The course from this time was of the usual 
nature; the legislature passed an act (1889) permitting the citizens to 
vote on a proposition to bond the municipality for a quarter of a million 
of dollars to lease territory, drill wells, lay mains, etc. The proposition 
appealed to all, for out of a vote of 1,240 only 27 were recorded 
against it.? 
Lands were leased in Marion township, Mercer county, and the trus- 
tees soon had a fine supply of fuel. However, the town did not enjoy the 
manufacturing boom that it had looked for. This resulted from several 
causes: (1) The late date(1890) at which the city was prepared to furnish 
gas; (2) the remoteness of the producing territory; (3) the demon- 
strated brief life of gas wells. However, the municipality was supplied 
for several years with the best fuel known, and later when its territory 
gave out, the lines were filled from the Sugar Grove field. The later 
history of natural gas in Urbana is given below; the data having been sup- 
plied by I. N. ‘Keyser, Superintendent of Schools: | a 
“The city of Urbana was bonded for $250,000 to make the necessary 
preparations to supply gas. The supply was derived from the St. Marys 
field, and at first the pressure was sufficient to yield a good flow. After 
four years the field pressure ran down so that it could no longer force the 
1Geol. Sur. of Ohio, Vol. VI, p. 162-4. 
2Ibid, p. 166-70. 
48. G. 
