62 ANNUAL REPORT 
about $2,500. Not caring to add to the discouragement by refusing, the 
visitor promised to consider the proposition and drove away. A few 
minutes later, when only a fraction of a mile from the well, he heard a 
loud report, and looking back saw a solid stream of oil flowing from the 
well, and rising higher than the derrick. He at once returned to the well, 
offering to purchase it on the terms which the driller had proposed a 
half hour before, but now it was the latter’s opportunity to decline. 
The giant was not gotten under control for 48 hours, and during all 
that time flowed over the derrick top. By actual guaging it later pro- 
duced at the rate of 10,000 barrels per day. When it was flowing over the 
derrick the production was probably several times larger. 
The owner kept the well about six months and then sold it for $10,- 
ooo. The well changed hands several times, finally becoming the prop- 
erty of the Standard Oil Company. Another hole was drilled on the same 
lease, but it is reported to have never exceeded 15 barrels per day. The 
driller leased other tracts and made an immense fortune. He then bought 
a good farm on which he has since resided. 
As has already been stated most of the oil from northwestern Ohio 
has been obtained from depths of less than 50 feet in the Trenton rock. 
Nearly always the top of the rock, called the cap, is free from both oil and 
gas. Immediately below this, these fuels may be expected. Sometimes 
they are found at about the same depth in the rock over considerable 
areas, but at other times the depths change rapidly. An illustration of 
this is found in Bloom township, where a driller of wide experience re- 
ports no definite horizon in the rock at which oil or gas may be expected. 
Within a distance of a few rods this may vary 50 feet. 
One of the comparatively recent developments in the Trenton rock 
is the deeper pays. Sometimes two are found and at ethers three. The 
positions of these are made clear by the following data: 
: aun Top of Trenton.| First Pay. Second Pay. 
Township.| Section. Weet. aaa Feet. 
Bloom . 31 1100 1142 1250 
Bloom . 33 1068 1108 1268 
(gas) 1174 1233) (gas) 
Bloom. | 26 | 1103 i) ae ae 
(oil) 1176 ean (oil) 
Bloom . ae 1099 } (gas) 1212 1310) (oil&gas) 
Henry . 34 1171 1195 1225 
Near Bairdstown, while the first pay had the largest initial produc- 
tion, the second one promises to have the longer life. The upper and 
lower pools are by no means coextensive. The lower one has not been 
