STATE GEOLOGIST. 227 
The second failure dampened the enthusiasm of the company but did 
not stop the work. However, at this stage counsel was sought, and had 
the information received been applied, the company would have secured 
two fine pools of oil which would have radically changed the profit and 
loss columns of the company’s books. At the request of the company, 
the State Geologist, Dr. Edward Orton, visited the territory during the 
holiday vacation of 1887, and, from reports received from reliable citizens, 
ran several lines east and west from Cadiz to determine the arrangement 
of the strata, or in other words to locate, if present, anticlines and terraces, 
which he regarded essential to the production of oil or gas in large quan- 
tities. A preliminary survey was made with the aneroid barometer, and 
the principal variations in the dip noted, and then a surveyor was em- 
ployed to run levels over the most promising territory. A report was made 
by the Geologist to the company early in January, 1888, but this seems 
to have been lost. Fortunately the citizens of Cadiz still remember dis- 
tinctly the nature of the report, and besides the information secured in 
this manner the following paragraph taken from the Cadiz Republican, 
January 19, 1888, shows conclusively that Dr. Orton had determined the 
anticline of the region: “Professor Orton has furnished maps and draw- 
ings of this region of country to the Cadiz Gas and Oil Company, which 
show that the anticline of the region is to the east of the town. It is there- 
fore well settled Geologically, that if either oil or gas is to be found here 
it must be found in that direction. ‘The first two wells which the company 
have sunk were therefore in locations in which there was no hope of finding 
oil. The next well will be sunk in the right location from a Geological 
standpoint. Whether gas or oil will be struck-there, of course, is an un- 
solved problem.” The reports made by citizens of Cadiz are even more 
specific; they state that not only did he locate the anticline, but that he 
foretold the two places on it where conditions were most favorable. One 
of these is now occupied by the Bricker pool, and the other by the Snyder. 
In the former he stated correctly in what part oil and in what part gas 
would be found. In the latter pool, however, the tract which he regarded 
most favorable lies about a quarter of a mile east of the best wells. It is, 
however, within the producing territory. He advised against drilling 
west of Cadiz, but notwithstanding this numerous holes have been sunk, 
all of which have been failures. 
A short time after the receipt of Dr. Orton’s report the company 
began drilling another well, the location being on the Boggs heirs’ farm 
in the southwest corner of section 29, Green township. This territory 
was within the area which Dr. Orton reported favorable, though he did 
not regard it ds the most promising locality. The well made a good show 
of gas, the closed pressure being 150 pounds per square inch, but no oil. 
Salt-water was abundant, running from the top of the well. In June the 
company completed its fourth well, the Berea having been struck at about 
