102 ANNUAL REPORT 
field is skirted along its western edge, and finally the Homer reservoir 
reached.’ The latter as developed in the fall of 1902 contained parts of 
Burlington, Bennington, Washington and McKean townships of Licking 
county, Milford, Miller and Morgan townships of Knox county. A well 
has recently been drilled in the northwestern corner of Clay township, and 
one in the northern part of Union. 
It is evident from what has been said that the gas fields of central 
Ohio extend north and south, the distance being about 60 miles. It must 
not be understood, however, that at any one time the producing territory 
has formed a continuous strip of this length. It is worthy of note at this 
point, that in the northern part of Vinton county, about 12 miles south of 
the southern limit of the gas belt, a small pool of oil has recently been dis- 
covered in the Clinton sand. Still later a small oil well has been secured in 
the same formation near Junction City, about 20 miles east of Lancaster. 
History and Development.—No other event in the history of 
Ohio has so stimulated the search for underground wealth as did the dis- 
covery of natural gas at Findlay in 1884. From that city the drill has 
moved out in all directions until every county in the state has been tested ; 
in some the wells may be reckoned by the score, yes, by the thousands. 
In the main these tests have produced negative results only, and still they 
have formed the basis of two of the state’s principal sources of wealth. 
The Findlay discovery was followed in 1885 by tapping the immense vol- 
ume of oil stored in the Trenton limestone, and two years later by the dis- 
covery of gas at Lancaster. 
The first step towards testing the rocks in the vicinity of Lancaster 
was taken December 2, 1885, when the Lancaster Natural Gas Company 
was incorporated.t. The capital stock was $50,000 in shares of $50 each. 
On the date just mentioned the company organized by electing the follow- 
ing@oticers:) President, 71. Slocum: Vice-President, Ay Getz sscere- 
tana, Jal, IB, IPenerss Wireasureeir, IN, leone: ! 
The directors included, in addition to the officers, H. C. Drinkle, J. R. 
Mumaugh, J. G. Reeves, E. Becker and George Lutz. In May, 1886, the 
company contracted with Albert Smith to drill a well, and work was imme- 
diately begun, the objective horizon being the Trenton limestone which was 
then yielding such astonishing results in northwestern Ohio. The location 
was on a lot owned by the president of the company and was situated near 
the Hocking Valley station. It was soon demonstrated that the territory 
is covered with a heavy mantle of drift. This retarded the work, and of 
course increased the expense, so that stockholders were required to pay ten 
dollars per share more than the face value of their stock. Gas was finally 
struck February 1, 1887, at a depth of 1,957 feet. On the tenth of the same 
month the flow was measured at the casing head and found to be 74,880 
cubic feet per day. However, the well contained a large quantity of salt 
1Lancaster Eagle, June 21, 1888. 
