STATE GEOLOGIST. 31 
CHAPTER II, 
THE TRENTON LIMESTONE AS A SOURCE OF 
OIL AND GAS. 
This article is largely a review. The exhaustive reports of the late 
Dr. Edward Orton, published in 1888 and 1890, have greatly limited the 
field of the present writer. The early historical data contained in this 
chapter are based almost wholly on the reports of the geologist just 
named, and the same is true of the fundamental principles of the geology 
_ of the field. The present writer has merely taken up the work where Dr. 
Orton laid it down, attempting to show the progress made and the present 
state of the industry. 
THE DISCOVERY OF OIL AND GAS IN THE TRENTON. 
Knowledge of the existence of oil and gas in the rocks of Ohio dates 
back almost to the period of the state’s admission into the union. This re- 
sulted quite largely from the search of the pioneers for that necessary 
article, common salt. Thus a well drilled in 1814, near the village 
South Olive, Noble county, with this in view found such a pressure of 
gas that it threw the water and some oil to a height of from 30-40 feet, 
and these eruptions were continued as late at least as 1838.1 About the 
same time both oil and gas were discovered in Washington county to the 
south. The petroleum was called Seneka oil, and was used in a small 
way for medicinal, illuminating, and lubricating purposes. Similar re- 
sults were secured at many points in the southeastern part of the state, but 
the oil and gas were regarded as a nuisance. The former ruined the brine 
for the manufacture of salt, and the gas was regarded too dangerous. 
Deep wells, however, did not furnish the only evidence of mineral weaith 
stored in the rocks below. Sometimes ordinary water wells would liberate 
small quantities of oil or gas, and occasionally these products were 
found in still shallower excavations. At a few points oil was found as a 
very thin film on the surface of streams, and occasionally gas escaped with 
spring waters, the combination having been known as gaseous springs. 
It is interesting to note that evidence of this kind led later to tests at 
several points with the result that valuable pools of oil and reservoirs of 
gas were discovered in Washingon, Morgan and Knox counties, and 
finally the great Trenton limestone field itself. 
1Geol. Sur. of Ohio, First Ann. Rept. 1838, p. 62. - 
