STATE GEOLOGIST. 251 
wells short-lived. According to Dr. Orton, gas was first used for lighting 
the streets and for domestic purposes in a general way in 1874. ‘The 
number of families supplied at that time was between 50 and 60, the charge 
being from $2.00 to $2.50 per month for each fire. 
The gas is derived from the Berea sand, which has a thickness rang- 
ing from 60 to 120 feet. It is worthy of note that as this formation rises 
nearer the surface its thickness increases. Concerning the structure of 
the field Dr. Orton says :? 
“East Liverpool lies in whole or in part, upon a low fold in the strata 
which is probably an extension of the Fredericktown anticlinal of Prof. I. 
C. White. The reality of the fold is made apparent from the fact that the 
Berea grit descends in both directions from Liverpool. At Dry run, 
four miles east, it lies about 100 feet lower than it does at Liverpool. At 
Wellsville, four miles west, it lies seventy feet below the Liverpool level, 
as has been demonstrated: by the drilling of a number of wells at this 
Oma, 
3 In the search for oil and gas, work has not stopped with the Berea. 
In the Knowles well a depth of about 2,500 feet below this was reached. 
Beneath the Berea two sand formations were found, one at a depth of 964 
and having a thickness of 41 feet, and the other at 1,800 and having 
a thickness of 5 feet. The higher of these two sands is reported to re- 
semble closely the Berea, and also to produce gas. The lower of the two 
contained a small quantity of both oil and gas. The result of this well, 
however, was far from satisfactory, and it came to be recognized that when 
the Berea sand was passed and was found dry that the last hope of gas 
or oil was gone. It is worthy of note that this deep well did not reach the 
base of the Ohio'shale formation. 
Yellow Creek Township.—A well is reported to have been drilled in 
the valley of Yellow creek in 1865, and to have begun producing 100 
barrels of oil per day, the pay-rock having been struck at a depth of 540 
feet. Two additional wells are said to have been drilled about the same 
time in that vicinity, but the results must have been unsatisfactory, for with 
them work ceased for nearly 25 years. Late in the eighties a Wellsville 
company interested in the iron business drilled a well to the depth of 3,250 
feet on the Hibbits farm in search for gas for its mills. A small flow was 
secured in the Berea, but the great shale series below was barren, so that 
the well was a failure. In 1899 the Wellsville oil field was discovered, the 
first producer having been drilled on the James Wells farm, just north of 
the town. The well started at 15 barrels per day, and drilling has been done 
at irregular periods from that day to the present time. Nearly 20 oil wells 
have been secured. These have, in the main, been drilled close together, 
and so occupy a very small area. The wells have started as high as 200 
barrels per day, but the decline has been rapid. In August, 1901, the pool 
1Geol. Sur. of Ohio, Vol. VI, p. 335. 
