DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR

BULLETIN 579

RECONNAISSANCE

OF

OIL AND GAS FIELDS IN WAYNE AND 

MCCREARY COUNTIES, KENTUCKY

BY

M. J. MUNN

Prepared in cooperation with the Kentucky 

Geological Survey

J.

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 

1914

CONTENTS.

Page. 

Introduction.............................................................. . 7

Location.............................................................. 7

Plan of the work....................................................... 7

Acknowledgments ................................................... 9

Topography............................................................... 9

Drainage.............................................................. 9

Belief................................................'................ 10

Geology................................................................... 11

Stratigraphy.......................................................... 11

General character of the rocks...................................... 11

Rocks not exposed................................................ 12

Ordovician system............................................. 12

Rocks exposed...............................'.................... 21

Silurian system............................................... 21

Devonian system.............................................. 23

Chattanooga shale......................................... 23

Carboniferous system.......................................... 24

General character of the rocks..........."................... 24

Mississippian' series......................................... 24

Subdivisions.......................................... 24

"Waverly " formation.................................. 26

Lithologic character............................... 26

Oil sands.......................................... 28

Newman limestone................................... 29

Pennington shale...................... '.............'... 32

Lithologic character............................... 32

Thickness......................................... 33

Spann limestone member.......................... 33

Pennsylvanian series....................................... 34

- Pottsville group........................................ 34

Lee formation.................................... 34

Lithologic character........................... 34

Rockcastle conglomerate member.............. 34

Structure..........................................J................. 34

General features................................................... 34

Method of mapping structure......................................... 35

Accuracy of structure contours...................................... 36

Structure of the Monticello district.................................. 36

Monticello syncline........................................... 36

Spann anticline................................................ 37

Steubenville syncline.......................................... 37

,' Cooper anticline. ................................................ 38

Sumpter syncline............................................. 38

Structure of the Parmleysville district.............................. 38

3
4 CONTENTS.

	Page. 

Oil and gas fields......................................................... 39

Nature of examination................................................ 39

Steubenville oil field and adjacent territory............................ 39

History.......................................................... 39

Oil sand.......................................................... 40

Structure........................................................ 40

Water............................................................. 41

Gas............................................................... 42

Test wells adjacent to the Steubenville field....................... 42

Sinking oil field........................................................ 44

Bratcher Hollow oil pool.............................................. 46

Gibson oil pool........................................................ 46

Barrier oil field........................................................ 47

Cooper-Oil Valley oil field and the western part of Wayne County....... 47

Location.......................................................... 47

History.......................................................... 47

Structure.......................................................... 48

Water................................ ; .......................... 48

Production.....................% . .................................. 51

Test wells in the western part of Wayne County..................... 51

Northern and eastern parts of Wayne County............................ 52

Parnell pool..................................................... 52

Scattered wells.................................................... 52

Scattered wells and small pools in the southern part of Wayne County.... 53

Corder pool....................................................... 53

Johnson Fork pool................................................. 53

Rocky Branch pool................................................ 54

Sunnybrook pool.................................................. 54

Dry Fork pool.................................................... 55

Slickford oil field................................................. 55

Young pool....................................................... 56

Parmleysville district................................................. 56

Mount Pisgah field................................................. 56

History...................................................... 56

Structure. ................................................... 57

Water......................................................... 57

Parmleysville field......:......................;.................. 57

History...................................................... 57

Structure...................................................... 58

Water. ....................................................... 58

Griffin field........................................................ 58

History................................................:....... 58

Structure.....................................'............... 59

Water....................................................... 60

Future extensions of the Griffin field........................... 60

General conclusions....................................................... 61

Technology.............................................................. 62

Analyses of oil from Wayne County pools.................................. 62

Well records................................ '.............................. 64

Index............... .'.................................................... 103
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

PLATE I. Specimens of Beaver Creek oil "sand," from oil wells in Wayne ' 

County, Ky.: A, From the Griffin field; B, From the Mount 

Pisgah field.................................................... 28

II. Specimens of Beaver Creek oil "sand," from oil wells in Wayne 

. County, Ky.: A, A very porous specimen of the Beaver Creek 

" sand," showing polished surface; B, A small part of the specimen 

shown in A, enlarged........................................ 29

III. Topographic map of the southeastern part of the Monticello quadrangle, Ky................................................... 34

IV. Sketch map of Wayne County, Ky., showing location of oil and

gas pools.................................................... 38

V. Farm-line map of the southern part of Wayne County, Ky........ 54

VI. Sketch map of the Little South Fork oil district.................. 56

FIGURE 1. Index map showing location of area examined in Wayne and

McCreary counties, Ky................... , .................. 7

2. Sections of deep wells in Wayne County, Ky.................... 16

3. Diagrammatic section from east to west across the axis of the

Cincinnati anticline in southern Kentucky.................... 22

4. Generalized section of rocks exposed in Wayne County, Ky....... 25

5. Sketch map of the Sinking oil field, Wayne County, Ky.......... 45

6. Sketch map of the part of the Cooper-Oil Valley field north of

Sumpter post office........................................... 49

5

RECONNAISSANCE OF OIL AID GAS FIELDS IN WAYNE 

AND IcCREARY COUNTIES, KENTUCKY.

By M. J. MTJNN.

INTRODUCTION.

LOCATION.

Wayne County lies in the southern part of Kentucky east of 

Cumberland River. It is bounded by Tennessee on the south, 

McCreary and Pulaski counties on the east and northeast, Russell 

County on the northwest, and Clinton County on the west. McCreary

FIGUBE 1. Index map showing location of area examined in Wayne and McCreary counties, Ky.

is a new county created in 1912 from portions of Wayne, Whitley, 

and Pulaski counties. ' The portion formerly in Wayne County 

includes some of the areas covered by this report. (See fig. 1.)

PLAN OF THE WORK.

In connection with the preparation of a report on the oil and gas 

fields of the southern Appalachian region, it was planned to make in 

1909 a general reconnaissance examination of the oij and gas develop-

'7 . .
8 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND Mc.CREARY COUNTIES, KY.

ments of eastern Kentucky and to study a few typical fields of that 

region in detail. In order to make the examination more comprehensive and at the same time to gain the advantage of an earlier 

publication of the result arrangements were made for the cooperation 

of the State with the Federal Survey in prosecuting the field work.1 

This cooperation made possible detailed mapping of the structure 

of the Campton oil pool in Wolfe County, the Ragland oil field in 

Bath County, the Menifee County gas field, and the several fields 

described in this report the Steubenville, Sinking, Oil Valley, 

Cooper, Mount Pisgah, Parmleysville, and Griffin oil fields.

The amount and nature of the material brought to light by the 

work in Wayne and McCreary counties seems to.merit special discussion and presentation, and this bulletin is therefore published. 

Short reports on the Campton oil pool 2 and on the Menifee gas field 

and Ragland oil field 3 have already been published.

During July and August, 1911, the writer spent two weeks in 

field work in Wayne County and his assistant, Mr. M. W. Grouch, 

spent three weeks. During July and August, 1911, about six weeks' 

work was done by the writer and in the latter part of November of 

that year he made a visit of .three or four days to the field.

When the field work was begun, topographic maps were available 

for only that part of Wayne County which is covered by the southern 

half of the Monticello quadrangle of the United States Geological 

Survey, and for this reason it was at that time thought best to confine detailed structural work to oil and gas fields within the quadrangle. After the structure of these oil pools was determined, 

similar work was extended to the-Mount Pisgah, Parmleysville, and 

Griffin fields, lying along the valley of the Little South Fork of Cumberland River in the southern part of the county, in order to compare the structure and altitude of the Beaver Creek "sand" in the 

two districts. For this work spirit-level lines were run from a bench 

mark of the United States Geological Survey in the southern part of 

the Monticello quadrangle to most of the wells in the Mount Pisgah 

and Griffin fields and to a large number of wells in the northern and 

eastern portions of the Parmleysville field in order to determine the 

altitudes of the wells above sea level. At the same time a rough 

topographic map (PI. VI, p. 56) was made of the area covered, and 

the positions of the wells were marked upon it.

Logs of most of the wells to which levels were run were furnished 

by the oil producers, making it possible to determine the altitude of

1 See Kentucky Geol. Survey Kept. Progress for 1908 and 1909, p. 92,19io. In addition to the sum of 

8300 first contributed by the State Survey, other aid in the way of field assistance was rendered by the 

State in 1911, when the last observations were made in this field.

2 Munn, M. J., The Campton oil pool, Ky.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, pp. 9-17, 1912. 

s Munn, M. J., The Menifee gas field and the Ragland oil field, Ky.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 531,pp. 9-26, 

1913.
TOPOGBAPHY. 9

the oil sand above sea level, which, in turn, reveals the dip or structure of the oil sand. In the southeast quarter of the Monticello 

quadrangle the oil fields are too widely scattered to admit of accurate 

structural mapping of the oil sand itself, and therefore, instead of 

determining the altitude of the oil sand in that area, it was found 

best to obtain the altitudes of an outcropping bed, the Spann limestone member of the Pennington shale, as shown on Plate III (p. 34).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Prof. C. J. 

Norwood, director of the Kentucky Geological Survey, for a base for 

the sketch map of Wayne County and for many helpful suggestions; 

and to almost every oil and gas producer in the district for well 

records, maps, histories of development, and data relative to operations. Special acknowledgments are made to J. A. Patton, Roy 

Snyder, E. J. Purtle, Vogler Bros., I. C. Ramsey, R. A. Dempsey, 

0. B. Cutting/the Kimball Oil Co., G. W. Smith, J. E. Jones, E. A. 

McElhaney, Jos. Marsh, Charles Smith, the Esperanza Oil Co., V. 

Southwood, G. E. Backer/A. E. Rosenburger, E. T. Caffrey, P. M. 

Berwald, C. C. Kimball, and J. T. Walster. The writer has also 

m-ade liberal use of the previously published geologic material pertaining to southeastern Kentucky, among which should be especially 

mentioned that by A. F. Foerste and J. B. Hoeing.

TOPOGRAPHY.

DRAINAGE.

Wayne County is drained by Cumberland River, which flows 

through its northern part. South Fork of Cumberland River, which 

marks part of the eastern border of Wayne County, receives the 

waters of Rock Creek, Little South Fork, and Big Sinking Creek. 

These drain the eastern part of Wayne County, and South Fork 

and Little South Fork drain the western part of McCreary County. 

The western part of Wayne County is drained into Cumberland River 

through Otter and Beaver creeks and their tributaries. These two 

creeks unite a short distance above their junction with Cumberland 

River. One of the principal tributaries of Beaver Creek is Elk 

Spring Creek, which flows from large springs at and near Monticello. 

These springs are probably outlets of underground streams which 

drain Elk Spring Valley south of Monticello and other smaller areas 

in that vicinity.

In the large interstream areas north of Monticello and Steubenville, in the vicinity of Alex, Murl, and Susie, and in the Shearer and 

Elk Spring valleys, there is no fully developed system of surface
10 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE. AND McCREAKY COUNTIES, KY.

drainage. In these areas the run-off flows into numerous sink 

holes in the limestones that underlie the surface and appears 

again as large springs at the heads of the small streams along the 

margins of the plateau next to the principal drainage courses. The 

small streams from springs on adjacent hillsides disappear within 

short distances after entering these valleys, and some of them evidently make up fairly well developed systems of underground 

drainage.

BELIEF.

Two distinct types of topography are present in Wayne County. 

In the northwestern part, as far south as Monticello, the surface is a 

fairly level plain having an altitude between 900 and-1,100 feet. 

This surface is broken by a few isolated well-rounded hills that rise 

to heights of 1,200 to 1,400 feet above sea level. Beaver and Otter 

creeks and their tributaries have deep, gorgelike valleys. Along 

the lower courses of these streams and immediately adjacent to 

Cumberland River the surface is deeply and minutely dissected by 

short, rapid streams.

The country lying southeast of Monticello consists of several chains 

of high hills, separated by the valleys of the principal streams. These 

ridges rise from 1,400 to about 1,700 feet above sea level, the highest 

points being near the southern edge of the county. The topography 

is mature. The thick sandstones and shales, which cap the hills and 

form their slopes for a distance below the summits of 100 to more 

than 400 feet, are minutely dissected by numerous small streams. 

The tops of the hills and ridges are very narrow and sharp except at 

a few isolated places on the highest ridges, where small, flat-topped, 

mesalike surfaces are maintained by remnants of a massive quartz 

conglomerate. Surface streams are numerous in this part of the 

county, wherever they flow over sandstones and shales; but on reaching the lower valleys, where limestones are exposed, many of the 

streams disappear in sink holes. A notable example of this type of 

drainage is the "Blue Hole," southwest of Burfield post office. This 

valley is several miles in length and from 100 to probably more than 

400 feet below the adjacent hills, by which it is said to be entirely 

surrounded, the stream which drains it disappearing in a sink hole.

The topography of Wayne County is very similar to that along 

the western border of the Appalachian-Cumberland plateau from 

Ohio to Alabama. The physiographic questions involved in a discussion of the topographic development of the surface of this county 

are therefore regional in their scope, and they do not constitute an 

appropriate subject for detailed discussion in an economic bulletin.
OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCEEAKY COUNTIES, KY. 11

GEOLOGY.

STRATIGRAPHY.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ROCKS.

As shown in figures 2 and 4 (pp. 16 and 25), the rocks of Wayne 

County consist of limestone, sandstone, shale, clay, coal, and other 

material and are all of sedimentary origin. The bodies of water in. 

which the material composing these rocks was deposited are supposed 

to have varied at different times from fairly deep, quiet, widespread, 

epicontinental seas to large bays,.estuaries of fresh or brackish water, 

fresh-water lakes, swamps of all sizes, and temporary floods of rivers 

and smaller streams. The rocks range in age from limestone of 

Ordovician age, found in the deepest wells, up to surficial flood-plain 

deposits of the present streams. Beneath the lowest level reached 

by wells in Wayne County lies a great thickness of sedimentary rocks 

concerning the character of which no local data are available.

For convenience of discussion in this report the rocks are divided 

into two groups those that are exposed at the surface and those that 

are entirely concealed but have been penetrated in deep wells. The 

Chattanooga ("Black") shale, lying practically at the base of the 

exposed rocks, is taken as the dividing bed between the exposed and 

unexposed rocks.

The strata which outcrop in Wayne County have a maximum 

thickness ranging between 1,200 and 1,500 feet. At the top they 

consist of sandstone, shale, conglomerate, clay, and coal belonging to 

the Pennsylvanian series ("Coal Measures") of the Carboniferous 

system. These beds are underlain by about 1,000 feet of limestone, 

shale, and thin sandstone, belonging to the Mississippian series 

("sub-Carboniferous"), which constitutes the lower part of the 

Carboniferous system. The Pennsylvanian rocks are absent over 

the northern part of the county and along the principal streams, having been removed by erosion. They attain their maximum thickness, 

probably 400 or 500 feet, in the high hills along the southern border 

of the county. The limestones and the red and green shales of the 

upper part of the Mississippian series are exposed along the valleys and 

hillsides of the mountainous region, and-the limestones of the middle 

and lower part form the surface of the rolling plain in the northern 

and western portions of the county. Cumberland River and some of 

its tributaries have cut their valleys as much as 200 feet into older 

rocks below the Carboniferous system. These older beds consist of 

20 to 40 feet of Devonian shale at the top, underlain unconformably 

by Silurian or. Ordovician limestones down to water level. Over 

1,500 feet of rocks, mostly limestones, which are not exposed at the
12 OIL AND GAS IN" WAYNE AND McCREAEY COUNTIES, KY.

surface, are known to have been pierced by a few deep wells. The 

formations are described in the order of their deposition, beginning 

with the lowest and oldest.

ROCKS NOT EXPOSED. 

ORDOVICIAN SYSTEM.

The oldest rocks in Wayne County reached by a well of which any 

record is available were found in the H. McBeath well No. 1, threefourths of a mile southwest of Steubenville. This well (fig. 2, p. 16) was 

drilled by Vogler Bros, for the New Domain Oil & Gas Co., their record 

being as follows:

Record of H. McBeath well No. 1.

Feet. 

Lime and shale................................................ 764

Beaver Creek "sand ".......................................... 8 '

Shale.........,.......................................:....... 50

Shale, black................................................. 35

Lime (includes both Sunnybrook "sands")...................... 803 -

Shale, white, soft............................................. 3

Lime, dark, brown, hard........................................ 277

Shells, lime, and shale......................................... 260

Lime, dark brown, hard....................................... 30

Lime, dark and light, hard..................................... 170

Shells, flint, hard.............................................. 30

Sand, white, hard (salt water) ................................. 5

2, 435

The following records of deep wells in other portions of Wayne 

County show the character of the rocks encountered as interpreted 

by the drillers (see fig. 2):

Record of Jordan & McGowan well No. 1.

Feet.

Lime, blue, hard................................................ 37

Lime, gray, hard................................................. 125

Lime, brown, hard............................................... 158

Slate, gray, soft.................................................. 32

Beaver Creek "sand," hard....................................... 3

Slate, gray, soft.................................................. 2

Shale (Chattanooga), black....................................... 40

Lime, gray, hard................................................. 33

Lime, brown, soft..................................."............. 75

Little pockets of gas at 505 feet.

Lime, brown, hard............................................... 95

Lime, gray, hard..,.............................................. 50

Lime, brown, soft................................................. 50

Lime, gray, hard...................................... 1.......... 60

Lime, brown, hard............................................... 70

Top of Sunnybrook at 830 feet.

Lime, brown, hard, sharp........................................ 80
STRATIGRAPHY. 13

Feet. 

Lime, gray, hard, sharp.......................................... 90

Top of "Pencil cave" at 1,000 feet.

"Pencilcave," aoft................................................ 3

Lime, gray, hard........:........................................ 72

Lime, brown, hard, sharp........ '................................ 25

Lime, gray, hard................................................. 50

j Lime, brown, hard, sharp........................................ 50

\ Lime, gray, hard, sharp.......................................... 100

' Lime, brown, hard............................................... 60

*" Lime, gray, soft.................................................. 30

Lime, brown, hard............................................... 110

Lime, gray, soft.................................................. 40

Lime, gray, hard................................................. 125

*" Lime, brown, hard............................................... 45

Lime, gray, hard, sharp.......................................... 25

Lime, brown, hard............................................... 75

Lime, gray, hard................................................. 15

Lime, brown, hard, sharp........................................ 27

Sand, gray, hard, sharp (show of oil)................................ .35

Unrecorded..................................................... 24

Soapstone...................................................... 10

Total depth, 1,921 feet.

j The following is the log of the J. W. Barnes well No. 1, near Murl 

' post office. This well was drilled by E. M. Williams and was completed August 24, 1903.

Record of J. W. Barnes well No. 1.

	Feet. 

Unrecorded.................................................... 104

Lime, black, hard............................................. 150

Slate, gray, soft............................................... 140

Lime and slate (Beaver Creek "sand ")......................... 46

Shale, black, soft (Chattanooga)................................ 40

Lime, blue, hard............................................... 100

Lime, pepper and salt, hard................................... 300

Lime, brown, hard (Sunnybrook "sand")........'............... 200

Slate, blue, soft............................................... 10

! Lime, dark blue or black,.hard................................ 200

| Flint, brown, hard............................................. 60

Lime, blue, hard.............................................. 540

Sand, white, hard, very gritty (slight show of oil)............... 47

Lime, flinty................................................... 15

Sand, light brown............................................ 5

Lime, nearly white........................................... 10

Lime, light brown............................................ 10

Sand, white, very gritty (salt water, 2 bailers an hour)........... 15

Sand, white, not so gritty..................................... 11

Total depth, 2,003 feet. '

f The following record is that of the Cyrus Brown well No. 1 of the 

New Domain Oil & Gas Co., in the Sinking oil field. This well was 

drilled by C/C. Reeder and was completed on September 8, 1904.
14 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

Record of Cyrus Brown well No. 1.

	Feet. 

Limestone, white, hard (stray vein of water at 85 feet).......... 105

Limestone, bluish white, dry, hard............................ 10

Limestone, white, hard....................................... 30

Do...................................................... 15

Do...................................................... 15

Limestone, dark, hard (gas'at 205 feet)......................... 30

Limestone, dark, hard........................................ 39

Limestone, white, hard....................................... 20

Do...................................................... 5

Do...................................................... 30

Limestone, black, hard (gas at 305 feet) ........................ 30

Limestone, "dark, hard........................................ 40

Limestone, white, hard....................................... 20

Limestone, white, soft........................................ 60

Do.......................................!............... 56

Slate, dark, loose............................................... 25

Hard shell................................................... 10

"Sand," white, soft (Beaver Greek)............................. 13

Shale, dark, loose (Chattanooga).'............................... 40

Sand, dark, loose ............................................. 15

Limestone, dark, hard...........:............................ 35

Limestone, dark,loose........................................ 50

Limestone, dark, hard........................................ 40

- Do.................:..................................... 352

Limestone, brown, hard........................................ 20

Limestone, brown, loose...................................... 40

Do....................................................... 40

Limestone, brown, hard........................................ 210

Limestone, dark, hard........................................ 45

Flint, dark, hard.............................................. 5

Limestone, dark, hard........................................ 152

Total depth, 1,497 feet.

The following record is that of the E. R. Walker well No. 1, of the 

New Domain Oil & Gas Co., in the Sinking oil field. This well was 

drilled by Peter Bros, and was completed October 7, 1904.

Record of E. R. Walker well No. 1. 

Rock at 8 feet.

Fresh water at 65 feet. Feet.

Lime, white, hard, to.......................................... 113£

Lime, white, soft............................................... 20

Lime, white, hard.............................................. 40

Lime, blue, soft............................................... 8

Lime, sandy, white, hard. . .................................... 7

Lime, white, hard (show of gas).................................. 20

Lime, blue, soft............................................... 37

Lime, blue, soft............................................... 5

Lime, white, hard.............................................. 50

Lime, sandy, white, hard. .......^............. ^................. 20
STEATIGEAPHY, 15

Eeet.

Lime, white, hard.............................................. 30

Lime, gray, hard............................................... 10

Lime, gray, hard (small show of gas)...................;........ 60

Lime, sandy, gray.............................................. 40

Lime, sandy, gray............................................... 70

Lime, sandy, white............................................. 70

Lime, blue, soft.................... ,.........................\ 3

Lime, sandy, white........................ . .................... 15

Lime, blue, soft (small show of oil).............................. 2

Shale, black, soft (Chattanooga), at 620 feet...................... 60

Lime, white, soft................................................. 50

Lime, blue, soft............................................... 20

Lime, blue, soft............................................... 100

Lime, gray, soft................................................ 200

Lime, gray, soft. ............................................... 100

Lime, white, -hard.............................................. 5

Lime, gray, shelly............................................. 25

Lime, white and black, shelly................................... 150

Lime, sandy, white............................................. 70

Lime, white and black, hard .................................... 30

Lime, black, hard............................................. 60

Lime, black, soft............................................... 12

Total depth, 1,502 feet.

The following record is that of the Rock Creek Property Co. well 

No. 2, in the Griffin oil field. This well was drilled by the New 

Domain Oil & Gas Co. and was completed July 29, 1909.

Record of Rock Creek Property Co. well No. 2, Griffin district, Wayne County, Ky.

Feet.

Mud, soft...................................................... 8

Gravel, yellow, hard..............:.:........................... 15

Lime, white, hard............................................... 142

Lime, white, soft............................................... 5

Lime, dark, hard............................................... 40

Lime, white, hard (gas at 210 to 215 feet)........................ 45

Lime, dark, shelly (oil at 327 feet).............................. 90

Lime, white, shelly (gas at 365 feet)............................. 100

Slate, blue, soft................................................ 40

Lime, white, hard (good Beaver Creek "sand" 488 to 496 feet)... 15

Slate, blue, soft...........................................:... 5

Slate, black, soft (Chattanooga) (from 505 to 540 feet)............. 35

Lime, white, shelly............................................ 160

Lime, white and black, shelly................................... 140

Lime, black, hard.............................................. 160

Lime, black, loose................................................ 93

Total depth, 1,093 feet.

That portion of the above . records describing rocks below the 

Mississippian series is shown in figure 2; which is drawn to scale. 

29755° Bull, 579 14 2
16 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

H. McBeath

No. 1

N. D. Oil Co. 

Steubenville 0'-

Jordan and

McGowan

No. 1

100-

200'-

300'

400'-

600'

600'-

700'

900

1.000

UOO*

1,200'

. 1,300

1.400'

1.500'

1.600'

Jhattanooga 

shale

Limestone, 

salt and 

pepper color

/'Pencil cave' 

Soft white 

shale

Lime.

dark-orown,

hard

Lime, shells, 

and slate

Lime,

dark-brown,

hard

Lime,

dark.or white, 

.hardFlint shells, 

hard white sand. 

St. Peter sandstone? 

FUleduptol500-1600feet 

with brackish water

Lime,

brown, soft 

Show of 'gas

Lime, 

brown, hard

Lime, 

gray, hard

Lime, 

brown, soft

Lime, 

gray, hard

Lime, 

brown, hard

Top of Sunny, 

brook "sand"

Lime, brown, 

hard, sharp 

Lime, 

gray, hard

J. W. Barnes

No. 1

N. D. Oil Co. 

Murl P. 0. 

Chattanooga 

shale 

Lime; 

gray, hard

ray, 1 

andsh; sharp

-"Pencil-cave,'J 

soft 

Lime, 

gray, hard 

brown, hard 

and sharp 

gray, hard

gray, hard 

and sharp

brown, hard 

gray, soft

brown, hard 

gray, soft

gray, hard

brown, hard 

gray, hard 

and sharp

brown, hard

gray, hard-"'

Chattanooga 

shale

Cyrus Brown E. R. Walker Rock Cr. Prop. Co

No. 1 No. 1 No. 2

N. D. Oil Co. N. D. Oil .Co. N. D. Oil Co;

Steubenville Big Sinking Creek Griffin district"

)lue, hard

pepper and 

salt color, 

bard

brown, hard 

Sunnybrook "sand"

Shale,blue, 

soft

dark, blue or 

black, hard .

Flint, 

brown, hard

blue, hard

Chattanooga, 

shale 

Sand

dark, loose 

dark, hard 

dark,loose

dark, hard

brown, hard 

brown, loose

brown, hard

dark, hard 

Flint, 

dark, hard

dark, hard

Sand, white, hard. Very gritty; 

/slight show of oil 

/ Jlinty lime 

X,Sand,.light brown, 5 feet

-White lime 

f.' Lime, light brown 

 \Sand, white,gritty, salt water

'Sand, white, not so gritty

gray, soft

white, soft, 

blue, soft

white, hard 

gray, shelly

white and

black,

shelly

.white, sandy

white, black, 

hard

black, hard 

black, soft

Chattanooga 

shale

white, shelly

white and black, 

shelly

black 

and hard

LEGEND

Sandstone

FIGUEE 2. Sections of deep wells in Wayne County, Ky., showing character of rocks below the Chattanooga ("Black") shale, as reported in the logs by drillers.
STEATIGEAPHY. . 17

The descriptions given by the drillers are the only information 

obtainable regarding the character of the rocks encountered in these 

wells below the. Chattanooga ("Black") shale. At the bottom of 

the McBeath, Jordan & McGowan, and Barnes wells is a stratum of 

sandstone, variable in composition and perhaps in thickness. In 

the Barnes well this bed is about 100 feet thick and is made up of 

alternating layers of hard, white, gritty sandstone and layers of 

flinty limestone. In this well the top of the sandstone is 1,470 feet 

below the Chattanooga shale, and in the McBeath well its top is 

1,600 feet below the Chattanooga. This stratum is identified as the 

St. Peter sandstone, and the identification is probably correct.

Between the St. Peter (?) sandstone and the Chattanooga shale 

occurs, except as noted below, a solid mass of limestone, described 

by the drillers as hard and gray, blue, brown, or pepper and salt in 

color.

In the McBeath well, however, in the space of 230 to 480 feet above 

the St. Peter (?) sandstone lies a body of rock described by the drillers as composed of lime shells and slate. This stratum is probably 

shale with thin limestone layers.

In the McBeath well 7.70 feet above the St. Peter (?) and in the 

Jordan & McGowan and Barnes wells about 830 feet above the 

St. Peter (?) lies a bed of shale about 10 feet thick that is a rather 

constant feature in the region. This shale is known to the drillers 

as the "Pencil cave," because of its tendency to break up into long 

pencil-like pieces and because it caves badly in the wells. 'The 

drillers generally believe they have recognized this shale at many 

points over a large area in southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee, though it is absent in a number of places. From 100 to 400 

feet above this shale and 250 to possibly 600 feet below the Chattanooga shale are zones of creviced limestone, which in the southwest 

part of Wayne County have locally furnished considerable quantities 

of oil from two or more horizons. Two of the more well-defined 

oil zones have been called by drillers the Lower and Upper Sunnybrook "sands."

From the nature of the records it is obviously impossible to make 

detailed correlations of the limestone revealed by these wells that 

would be reliable, but a fairly accurate correlation of a broad character is possible. A comparison of the well sections with descriptions 

of rocks occupying the same general geologic position in other districts in Kentucky and Tennessee shows that the drillers' identification of the St. Peter sandstone is probably correct. As the St. 

Peter sandstone is of Ordovician age, it follows that all the rocks 

which have been penetrated below the Devonian belong to the Ordo-
18 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

 vician system, except possibly in places a small portion at the top, 

which may be Silurian. J. B. Hoeing * classifies the first 1,600 feet 

of rocks below the Devonian shale in Wayne County as follows:

Classification of rocks below the Devonian shale in Wayne County, Ky.

[According to J. B. Hoeing.]

' Feet. 

Hudson.................................................... 550

Trenton, Birdseye, and Chazy............................... 800

Knox dolomite............................................... 225-250

Calciferous at the base.

Foerste 2 gives the following classification of the Ordovician rocks 

of eastern Kentucky:

Foerste's classification of the Ordovician rocks of eastern Kentucky.

System.

Ordovician.

Series.

Cincinnatian (Hudson 

River group of former 

reports of Kentucky survey).

Jessamine (corresponding 

approximately to the 

Mohawkian- rocks of 

New York).

Formation.

Richmond.

Maysville.

Eden.

Cynthiana.

Lexington. 

Highbridge.

Subdivision.

Saluda beds. 

{Whitewater division. 

Liberty division. 

Waynesville bed.

Arnheim bed. 

Mount Auburn bed. 

Corryville bed. 

Bellevue bed. 

Fairmont bed, including Tate layer 

in upper half. 

Mount Hope bed.

Paint Lick bed, or Upper Eden. 

Mimonbed..{Kdele|deen.

Fulton or Triarthrus becki layer. 

Point Pleasant bed. 

Greendale bed.

 

The Lexington formation, as classified above, corresponds to the 

Trenton of former reports of the Kentucky survey, and the Highbridge formation, which is of Stones River and Black River age, 

corresponds to the Birdseye and Chazy rocks of former reports of 

that survey.

1 Hoeing, J. B., Kentucky Geol. Survey Bull, i, p. 42,1905.

2 Foerste, A., Kentucky Geol. Survey Bull. 7, pp. 13 and 19,1906.
STRATIGRAPHY;

Ulrich classifies the Ordovician rocks of the Cincinnati dome as 

follows: 1

Ulrich's classification of the Ordovician rocks of the Cincinnati dolne. ^

System.

Ordovician.

Series.

Cincinnatian.

Mbhawkian.

Chazyan.

Group.

Maysville.

Eden.

Trenton.

Black River.

Blount.

Stones River.

Unnamed epoch.

Formation.

McMillan.

Fairview limestone. ^_________ - -^~^~^

Frankfort. "~~~ -~^_____^

Gratz shale. ~~^~~~^ -____Fulton.

Catheys.

Perryville limestone.

Flanagan chert.

Bigby limestone.

Wilmore. ' .

Hermitage.

Curdsville limestone.

Upper Decorah.

Lowville (Tyrone).

Hiphbridge

limestone. 

Oregon dolomite.

Camp Nelson limestone.

Not exposed.

. St. Peter (in wells).

G. C. Matson2 gives the following classification and description of 

the Ordovician rocks where they are best exposed in the Blue Grass 

region of Kentucky, north of Wayne County:

iUlrich, E. Q., Geol. Soc. America, Bull., vol. 22, p. 608. 1911.

a Matson, G. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 233, pp. 15-17,1909.
20 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE 'AND McCBEARY .COUNTIES, KY. 

Matson's classification of Ordovician rocks in the Blue Grass region.

System.

4 

Ordovician.

Formation.

Richmond.

Maysville.

Eden shale.

Winchester .limestone.

Lexington limestone.

Highbridge limestone.

St. Peter sandstone.

Character and thickness.

Heavy-bedded arenaceous limestones, gray or blue, weathering to buff; about 10 feet of dense calcareous shale in the 

lower part. Locally an impure sandstone. 60 feet thick.

Blue or dove-colored nodular limestone and blue shale beds 

predominating. 125 feet thick.

Interbedded blue limestone and shale. Shale predominates 

in northern part of the region, but heavy beds of limestone 

occur farther south. 80 feet thick.

Interbedded blue limestones and shales, the alternate layers 

usually thin and nodular. In- general the shales predominate, and the limestone layers are in places thin and shaly. 

Some moderately heavy beds of limestone occur at certain 

horizons, but the usual thickness of single beds is less than 

Ifoot. 230 feet thick.

. In southern part of region upper beds are of shaly sandstones, 

in some places concretionary, called the Garrard sandstone 

member; lower part is same as the Eden farther north. In 

northern part of region the formation consists of blue shales, 

containing some sandy layers and local beds of limestone. 

Maximum thickness of the Garrard sandstone member is 

about 150 feet, and it gradually thins northward. 200+ feet 

thick.

Blue and gray limestones with some blue shales. Limestone 

layers commonly rough and in some places having waved 

upper surface. 60+ feet thick.

Gray crystalline limestone, usually lighter colored and more 

cherty than the underlying limestone. (Flanagan chert 

member.)^ 75 feet thick.

Lower 10-35 feet consisting of light-drab argillaceous limestone 

with shale beds, overlain by 100 feet of gray or blue thinbedded nodular limestone, separated by thin partings of 

shale; at the top 20-60 feet of subcrystalline gray siliceous 

sand and locally phosphatic limestone. 194 feet thick.

Heavy-bedded coarse-grained crystalline cherty limestone; 

usually gray. 30 feet thick.

Dense fine-grained gray or light-drab limestone, 90 feet thick, 

near the base; covered by several feet of soft fine-grained 

limestone containing calcite crystals and some pyrite. The 

upper 20 to 40 feet dove-colored fine-grained limestones, containing many calcite crystals and separated by layers of shale 

a few inches to 4 feet thick. The top layer usually a lightgray crystalline limestone. Near the top a bed of soft unctuous green clay.

Dense fine-grained limestones, arranged in heavy even beds; 

light dove-colored to gray. Dolomitic at the top and bottom and containing many seams of dolomite through the 

entire series. 20 to 30 feet thick.

Dense fine-grained massive limestone, in places partly crystallized. Usually dark drab or dove-colored. Heavy bedded 

but with some shaly partings. 285 feet thick.

Known only from well records. Limestone resembling the 

overlying beds; rarely shale. 100+ feet thick.

A siliceous limestone, not exposed and known only from well 

records. Occurs at horizon of St. Peter sandstone.
STRATIGRAPHY. 21

From the above tables it is evident that more or less difference of 

opinion prevails among geologists regarding the classification of the 

Ordovician rocks in Kentucky where they are exposed and can be 

studied in detail. Even if these differences, which are probably more 

apparent than real, were eliminated, it would be impossible to properly subdivide the Ordovician rocks, as described in the above well 

records. It seems probable, however, that the thin bed of soft blue 

shale, called the ^Pencil cave" by the'clrillers, belongs to the upper 

portion of the Highbridge limestone or at the top of the Chazyan 

series of Ulrich. Possibly it represents the Curdsville or the Hermitage of Ulrich's section (p. 19) and lies, therefore, near the base of 

the Trenton group of his classification. The Sunnybrook " sands," 

mentioned on page 17, probably belong in the middle part of the Lexington formation and are therefore equivalent to a part of the Mohawkian of Ulrich.

The upper part of the limestone below the Chattanooga shale in 

wells of the western part of Wayne County probably belongs to that 

part of the Ordovician system which lies below the Cincinnatian 

series of the tables, whereas in the middle and eastern parts of the 

.county the beds lying immediately below the Devonian may belong 

to the Silurian system, which in a complete section overlies the Cincinnatian rocks. The Cincinnatian series appears to be absent from 

Wayne County.

This interpretation of the upper part of the limestone in the wells 

is based upon its lithologic character, which is entirely different from 

that of any of the well-recognized divisions of the Cincinnatian series, 

as that series is predominantly shale with thin layers of limestone. 

If this interpretation is correct,, however, the total thickness, 1,600 

feet, is nearly twice that given by Matson namely, 859 feet 

for the limestone from the top of the Winchester to the St. Peter 

sandstone. . ROCKS EXPOSED.

SILURIAN'SYSTEM. - .

The Silurian rocks of southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee 

are thickest in what are thought to have been great basin areas, 

which lay both east and west of the Cincinnati anticline at the time 

of the deposition of the beds. The axis of this arch passes a short 

distance west of Wayne County with a trend roughly N. 20° E. In 

southern Kentucky Silurian rocks are absent along the higher portions of this arch in a belt ranging probably from 40 to 50 miles in 

width (fig. 3), although it is possible - that they once covered this 

area, but were removed by erosion before the Chattanooga shale 

was deposited. The distribution and supposed stratigraphic relations of the Silurian rocks in this region are illustrated in figure 3.
22 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREAEY COUNTIES, KY.

Two exposures of Silurian rocks on Cumberland River in the 

northern part of Wayne County near the mouths of Little Cub and 

Forbush creeks, a short distance west of Mill Springs, are described 

by Foerste. 1 These two outcrops practically mark the western border of Silurian rocks on the east side of the Cincinnati anticline and

CARBONIFEROUSFIGURE 3. Diagrammatic section from east to west across the axis of the Cincinnati anticline in 

southern Kentucky, showing supposed stratigraphic position of the Silurian rocks on each side of the

are the only known exposures of them in Wayne County. The rocks 

exposed were described and correlated by.Foerste as follows:

Section of Silurian rocks at mouth of Little Cub Creek, Wayne County, Ky.

Devonian (Chattanooga shale) above. 

Silurian system:

Osgood formation: Feet. 

Shale (?), probably greenish clayey (poorly exposed)....... 9

Limestone, clayey....................................... 2

Shale, greenish, clayey................................... 2$

Clinton formation:

Limestone, layers with large crinoid heads and Whitfidella' 

subquadrata fossils 3 feet from top........................ 19

, 32J

It seems probable that this outcrop may be traced for a short distance upstream to a point where the easterly dip of the beds takes it 

below the water level. Westward no other exposures of Silurian 

rocks are reported. Sections made by Foerste at Eadsville, Horseshoe Bottom, Swan Bottom, and other localities as far west as Burksville show the Chattanooga shale resting directly on Ordovician strata.

Sections made by E. M. Kindle, of the United States Geological 

Survey, on Beaver Creek, 3 miles above its mouth, and on Indian 

Creek, in Clinton County, show the Chattanooga shale resting on 

Ordovician rocks. From these data it seems probable that the western margin of Silurian rocks under the surface of Wayne County 

would be marked by a wavy line trending a little west of south from 

the mouth of Little Cub Creek. East of this line the Silurian is 

probably present, although it can not be distinguished from the 

Ordovician in the well records.

1 Foerste, A. F., Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 12, p. 423,1901.
DEVONIAN SYSTEM. 

CHATTANOOGA SHALE.

Above the Ordovician and Silurian beds of southern Kentucky lies 

20 to 40 feet of black and greenish shale, which is easily recognized 

both in outcrop and in deep wells over thousands of square miles in 

Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. In reports of the United States 

Geological Survey on different portions of the southern Appalachian 

region this formation has been called the Chattanooga shale, from a 

typical outcrop at Chattanooga, Tenn., and has been referred to the 

Devonian system. This reference has been questioned by Ulrich, 1 

who considers the Chattanooga shale to be the basal formation of 

the Carboniferous system. As the exact geologic age of the Chattanooga shale is of no economic importance, the prevailing usage has 

been followed, and it is classed as Devonian in this paper.

The Chattanooga shale is called by drillers the "Black" shale, and 

is used by them as a key rock from which to reckon the position of 

oil and gas bearing strata. In the region south of middle Kentucky 

it rarely exceeds 100 feet in thickness, and over large areas of Tennessee and Alabama it ranges from less than 10 feet to probably 30 

feet in thickness, though very persistent in occurrence. Northward 

from middle Kentucky the Devonian rocks thicken abruptly, and the 

Chattanooga loses its identity in the thickened mass, so that it can 

not be recognized in deep wells in West Virginia, in eastern Ohio, 

and western Pennsylvania.

The Chattanooga shale in Wayne County is exposed in a narrow 

belt a few feet wide along the valley walls of Cumberland River and 

for a few miles in valleys of Beaver and Otter creeks. An exposure 

of this shale, on Beaver Creek about 3 miles above its mouth was 

examined in 1911 by E; M. Kindle, who describes it as follows:

Section of Devonian rocks (Chattanooga shale) at Charles Dow's farm, 1 mile above Beaver 

Creek mill on Beaver Creek, Wayne County, Ky.

Clay shale, green. Feet. 

Shale, fissile, black............................,..............'.. 0-1

Shale, greenish gray, with close gray to purple kidney-shaped 

phosphatic concretions...................................... 4

Shale, fissile, black (large Lingula, etc., in upper foot).......... 34

Ordovician limestone.......................................... 38-39

The 4 feet of greenish clay shale with phosphate nodules may represent the green shale which has been called Maury shale in Tennessee.

Practically all the deep wells drilled in Wayne County to the horizon of the Chattanooga shale have found it between 10 and 40 feet 

in thickness. It is a soft, black, petroliferous and carbonaceous

"'Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 22, No. 3, p. 608 (PI. XXIX), 1911.
24 OIL AND GAS IK WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

shale, easily recognized by drillers, who note it in well logs as the 

"Black shale" or "the "Devonian shale."

The Devonian system in the northern part of the coal field of 

eastern Kentucky includes the Boyle limestone of Foerste, which is 

equivalent, in part at least, to thei "Corniferous" of previous Kentucky and Ohio reports. This limestone is the oil-bearing bed in 

the Ragland field of Bath County, the Irvine field of Estill County, 

the Campton field of Wolfe County, and the large gas field near 

Rothwell, in Menifee County. In Wayne County it is absent in outcrop and has not been recognized in .records of deep wells. Its nearest 

known exposure is in the middle part of Rockcastle and Lincoln 

counties.

CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ROCKS.

The general character of the Carboniferous rocks exposed in Wayne 

County is shown graphically in figure 4.

The Mississippian series is separated from the Pennsylvanian by an 

unconformity, which represents a long interval between the deposition of the uppermost Mississippian beds and that of the lowermost 

Pennsylvanian beds which directly overlie them. This means that 

the deposition of sediments on the old sea bottom did not continue 

uninterruptedly from the Mississippian directly into the Pennsylvanian; but that at the end of Mississippian time this region was 

raised above sea level. The land surface thus formed was exposed 

to erosion by streams, wind, and the other agencies that are to-day 

reducing the present surface. After erosion had gone on for a long 

time the region was again submerged beneath a shallow epicontinental 

sea and the deposition of sediments of Pennsylvanian age began. 

The plane of contact between these two series is therefore an ancient 

land surface which was more or less modified by wave action when it 

was slowly submerged beneath the sea. The strata of these two 

series of rocks do not lie parallel, the lowest bed of the Pennsylvanian 

series having been deposited as sediment on the eroded surface of 

the slightly folded beds of the Mississippian series. .For this reason 

the dip of the coal and other prominent beds of the Pennsylvanian 

can not be used as a guide in determining the dip of the oil-bearing 

beds of the Mississippian series. Other unconformities of less magnitude may be present within both the Pennsylvanian and the Mississippian series. The few facts which suggest the possible presence 

of one or more unconformities in the Mississippian will be pointed 

out later.

MISSISSIPPIAN SERIES. 

SUBDIVISIONS.

In figure 4 the Mississippian series is shown to be divided into 

three general stratigraphic divisions. The lowest division, consisting 

principally of shale with a few thin beds of limestone, has a thickness
STRATIGRAPHY. 25

of 150 to 260 feet. This portion has generally been called Waverly 

formation in the Kentucky Survey and other reports on the region, 

and that name will be used in this report. Foerste correlates the 

lower part of the "Waverly" formation, which he called the Linietta

Cherty limestone f 

("Stray sand"?) ji,050

GENERAL CHARACTER

Coarse brown, very massive conglomeratic sandstone. 

Caps few of highest hills * 

Alternating massive to thin-bedded sandstone and 

yellowish to brown sandy shale containing two or more 

coal beds, locally of minable thickness. Hillsides -

Predominantly soft green and yellow clay shale, 

containing thin limestone beds, and one massive cherty 

geodic limestone 6 to 12 feet thick. Toward the top 

the shale is red and contains thin beds of shaly sandstone 

and a few thin beds of yellowish limestone.

Massive dark cherty geodic limestone.

Dark-blue and gray limestones, very hard, slightly 

bituminous in places, fossiliferous.

Shaly thin-bedded calcareous sandstone; thinner 

toward north but very persistent.

Light-gray and bluish limestones, oolitic In lower portion.

Cherty calcitic. porous limestone.

Dark-bluish (when wet),calcareous sandy shale, 

 very compact and homogeneous. Appears to be 

somewhat scantily fossififerous.

Soft green clay shales, containing thin beds of. dark-gray, 

' brown, and greenish cherty geodic siliceous limestone, 

which are frequently petroliterous.-

FIGURE 4. Generalized section of rocks exposed in Wayne County, Ky.

clay, with the New Providence shale of the Indiana Survey. This 

correlation agrees in part with that of Kindle, who in a section 

measured by him on Beaver Creek, Wayne County, Ky! (see p. 27), 

considers the first 178 feet of strata above the Chattanooga shale to
26 OIL AftD GAS IS1 ' WAY¥£ AND McClfeARY COuMlEg, KY,

be the equivalent of the New Providence shale of the Indiana Survey. This section of Kindle appears to be equivalent to the Parnell 

section given below, except that it includes at the top a sandstone 

which probably lies above the rocks of the Parnell section.

The middle division of the Mississippian series consists almost 

entirely of limestone with a few thin beds of soft shale and a thin, 

fairly persistent bed of sandstone and has a total thickness of about 

500 feet. It represents the beds in eastern Kentucky and farther 

south that have been described in reports of the United States 

Geological Survey as the Newman limestone. It is the age equivalent, in part at least, of beds in western Kentucky which have been 

classed as St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, and Chester. The upper division of the Mississippian, ranging from a feather edge to probably 

260 feet, is largely red and green shale with thin beds of both limestone and sandstone, and in the folios of the United State Geological Survey has been called the Pennington shale.

"WAVERLY" FORMATION.

Lifhologic character. The general character of the '"Waverly" formation is brought out by the following two sections, which are west 

of any exposed in Wayne County :

Section of the " Waverly " formation about 2 miles southwest of Parnell, Wayne County, 

Ky., on north side of Beaver Creek valley.

Top of section begins about 40 feet below top of terrace.

1. Limestone, probably "stray oil sand," dark gray, with. Ft. in. 

geo'dea. .......................................... 15

"Waverly" formation:

2. Shale, dark blue (when wet), calcareous, 'very»arenaceous

in places. ........................................... 150

3. Limestone, dark blue (weathers red), containing quartz

geodes. ............................................ 2-3

4. Shale, brown, arenaceous and calcareous. .............. 8

5. Limestone, coarsely crystalline, gray; weathers reddish 

brown, exposing many fragments of small crinoid 

stems (two layers with 4 feet of shale between) ...... 7

6. Concealed..........:.................................. 2

7. Limestone, dark to reddish gray, very tough and compact; weathers rusty colored.......................... 3

8. Shale, dark to bluish, very arenaceous and bituminous. . 3

9. Limestone layers, 2 to 3 feet thick, dark steel-gray, fine

to coarsely crystalline ; weathers reddish to brown. .... 9

10. Limestone, very arenaceous and bituminous, poorly

exposed. ......................................... 5

11. Limestone, light bluish gray, containing much reddish

fossiliferous chert; weathers brown to rust colored.... 8

12. Shales, soft, green, argillaceous. ....................... 6

13. Limestone, thin lenses, very fossiliferous, reddish,

siliceous ............................................ 6

14.. Shale and limestone, soft, green, argillaceous, containing a few 1 to 2 inch layers of limestone, fossiliferous. . 24 6
STRATIGRAPHY. 27

15. Limestone (Beaver.Creek oil "sand"), cherty, carrying 

geodes, very irregular, massive layers 2 to 5 feet thick 

in two sections separated by 3 feet or less of soft, green, Ft. in. 

argillaceous shale.............^.................... 14

16. Shale and limestone, light bluish, green, with 1-inch

inclusions, fossiliferous limestone similar to No. 14.... 10

268 6 

Chattanooga shale (Devonian):

17. Nodules, phosphatic, from one-half to 3 inches in diameter, in light-blue to greenish clay.................. 6

18. Shale, black, fissile, petroliferous and carbonaceous.... 5 

Concealed below drainage (?). 

273 6

Section of the "Waverly" formation on Beaver Creek 3 miles above its mouth and 1 mile

above Beaver Creek mill.

[By E. M. Kindle.]

"Waverly" formation: Feet. 

Drab-colored, locally shaly sandstone, with geodes............ 40

Gray crinoidal limestone.................................... 15

Greenish-gray highly calcareous shale........................ 83

Bluish-gray crinoidal limestone with some interbedded green 

shale. ...........^....................................... 10

Green shale with a few 2 to 3 inch bands of crinoidal limestone. 48 

Green clay shale.......................................... 22

Chattanooga shale. . 

218

A comparison of the Beaver Creek mill and Parnell sections shows 

considerable local variation both in the thickness and in the character of the "Waverly" formation. The details of this formation as 

revealed by well records suggest that the changes shown by the 

exposed sections are characteristic of this formation in the county! 

The Parnell section shows 60 feet of soft green shale at the base of 

the formation inclosing 14 feet of cherty geode-bearing limestone, the 

top of which is less than 30 feet above the Chattanooga shale. This, 

limestone, which is the Beaver Creek oil "sand," is absent in the 

Beaver Creek mill section. Above the green shale in the Beaver 

Creek mill section lies 10 feet of crinoidal limestone and green shale, 

which in the Parnell section appears to be represented by 48 feet 

of limestone and brown and dark-bluish shale. In the Beaver Creek 

mill section this limestone is overlain by 83 feet of greenish-gray 

highly calcareous shale, corresponding to 150 feet of dark-blue 

(when wet) shale of the Parnell section. In both sections 15 feet 

of crinoidal limestone occurs at the top. In the Parnell section the 

rocks overlying this limestone were concealed at the top of the 

valley wall and their character could not be determined. The total
28 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

thickness of the "Waverly" formation in these two sections ranges 

from 178 to 273 feet, the thickening being toward the east. A very 

scanty collection of fossils from the Parnell section suggests to 

George H. Girty that the beds may be in part at least of Keokuk 

age. This suggests the possibility that the variation in thickness 

and character of the strata in Wayne County may be due in part 

to unconformities, so that rocks of Burlington and Kinderhook age, 

which in western Kentucky lie between the Chattanooga shale and 

the Keokuk limestone, may be absent or only partly represented 

here. These questions of exact correlation, however, must be settled 

by more detailed work'than could be given to them for the present 

report. The "Waverly" formation is of economic importance because it contains the principal oil and gas bearing beds of Wayne 

County. . Oil sands. Most of the oil in this district is found in a cherty 

geode-bearing limestone (No. 15 of the Parnell section) called by 

drillers the Beaver Creek "sand." In well records the Beaver Creek 

"sand" is shown to vary considerably in distance above the top of 

the Chattanooga ("Black") shale. In many wells it is as much as 

60 feet above the Chattanooga shale, but in most places where productive it appears to be only a few feet above that shale, from which 

it is separated by light-green and blue clay shales. The writer suspects that in many places where the Beaver Creek "sand" is reported 

by producers to be "high" above the Chattanooga shale, the true 

Beaver Creek "sand" (No. 15 of the Parnell section) may be absent, 

as in the Beaver Creek mill section, and that the limestones Nos. 9 

to 11, inclusive, of the Parnell section or No. 4 of the Beaver Creek 

mill section may have been mistaken for it. This mistake could 

easily occur, for the character of the shale in which these limestones 

are embedded is identical, and the differences in the character of the 

limestones would be very difficult to distinguish in drilling. It is 

equally probable that the varying interval and local absence of the 

sand are due to deposition on an irregular and slowly subsiding 

surface having low land barriers and islands. It is obvious, that in 

such- a slowly sinking area each successive stratum would have a 

wider extent than the preceding one, that it would be absent where 

land areas existed at the time of its deposition, and that its distance 

above the surface existing prior to the beginning of submergence (in 

this case the Chattanooga shale) would vary from place to place. 

The name Beaver Creek "sand" appears to have been somewhat 

indiscriminately applied to any single limestone bed near the base 

of the "Waverly" formation, especially if it contained oil. Plates 

I and II show the appearance of the porous portion of the Beaver 

Creek "sand" where it is oil bearing.,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 579 PLATE I

 ..- ; s, . -> :- . -

SPECIMENS OF BEAVER CREEK OIL "SAND" FROM WAYNE COUNTY, KYA. From the Griffin field; H, From the Mount Pisgah field
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 579 PLATE I

A.

SPECIMENS OF BEAVER CREEK OIL " SAND " FROM WAYNE COUNTY, KY.

A, A very porous specimen, showing polished surface, enlarged 2 diameters; St A small part of A (marked A), 

enlarged 6 diameters, showing cavities due to interlocking caicite crystals (whiter portion),
STRATIGRAPHY. . 29

Near the top of the "Waverly "formation occurs a cherty geodebearing limestone, ranging from 10 to probably 30 feet in thickness, 

in which oil and gas have been found at a number of places in Wayne 

County. This is usually identified by drillers as the Corder or "Stray 

sand." More detailed descriptions of these beds will be given in the 

discussion of the oil fields.

NEWMAN LIMESTONE.

The rocks grouped as the Newman limestone in figure 4 (p. 25) conr 

sist of 450 to 550 feet of massive to thin-bedded limestone, in which 

occur a few thin beds of soft, green, blue, and red clay shales, and one 

thin persistent bed of shaly calcareous sandstone. The following 

sections are fairly typical of this formation:

Section of the Newman limestone and underlying beds on the north side of the canyon of 

Elk Spring Creek at the falls and water mill, 1% miles west of Monticello.

[The top of the section begins on the road 30 feet below the top of the terrace on the north side of the

creek near the waiting trough.]

Lower part of Newman limestone; probably of Keokuk age:

1. Limestone, massive, dove-colored, very brittle, fractures Feet. 

"crinkly".......................................... 8

2. Limestone, rotten, whitish,' very argillaceous............. 3

3. Shale, light bluish-green, soft, very argillaceous........... 3

4. Limestone, very dark blue, hard, coarse grained......... 2

5. Concealed.............................................. 2

6. Limestone, dark steel-gray, coarse, crystalline, very fossiliferpus, thin, irregular bedded, cliff making........... 11

7.' Limestone, crystalline, almost black to dark steel-gray,

growing lighter to ward top........................... 20

8. Limestone, steel-gray, very hard, weathers reddish to yellowish. ............................................. 2

9. Shale, dark blue (when wet), coarse, compact, calcareous, 

containing a few 1 to 4 inch layers of dark-blue shaly 

. . limestone............................................ 12

10. .Limestone, very massive, hard, compact, brownish blue,

cherty, forms top of falls............................ 9 

11. Concealed............................................. 1

12. Limestone, massive, steel-gray, very hard, compact, noncrystalline. ....................................... T 3

13. Limestone, gray, thin bedded, soft, shaly............... 2

"Waverly" formation (?): 78

14. Limestone, dark gray, compact, thin, irregular bedded,

very hard........................................... 7

15. Limestone, reddish gray or brown, massive, cherty, containing geodes...................................... 3

16. Shale, dark, bituminous, very soft.................... 3-4

17. Shale, dark, coarse, calcareous, and arenaceous.......... 5

To creek bed below falls. - 

18-19
30 OIL AND GAS IN" WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

Limestone No. 15 of this section is thought to be equivalent to 

limestone No. 1 of the Parnell section, but this correlation is by no 

means certain. The rocks of this section have been tentatively 

identified by George H. Girty from insufficient fossil evidence as 

being probably of Keokuk age.

Section of the Newman limestone from Elk Spring Creek up Monticello Hill 1 mile west

. of Monticello. 

Top of section. Feet.

1. Limestone, light colored, brittle, argillaceous................ 12

2. Limestone, massive, yellowish and brownish blue............. 12

3. Limestone, poorly exposed in reddish clay................... 10

4. Limestone, reddish and flesh-colored layers from 1 to 3 feet in

thickness............................................... 14

5. Limestone, one layer dark, steel-gray, very hard and tough,

the remainder brown, very hard.......................... 6

6. Clay (probably residual) with thin layers of limestone....... 10

7. Limestone, reddish, hard, tough, crystalline, weathers brown. 7

8. Limestone, d.ark brown to gray, containing brown and black

particles; cliff making................................... 14

9. Limestone, flesh-colored, fossiliferous layers from 2 to 4 feet

thick; cliff making...................................... 16

. 10. Limestone, crystalline, flesh-colored and very fossiliferous... 12

11. Limestone, massive, flesh-colored, crystalline, containing . many large crinoids; cliff .making........................ 8

12. Concealed................................................. 5

13. Limestone, massive, light colored; middle portion weathers

greenish, remaining portion blue; fossiliferous; cliff making. 18

14. Limestone, light-colored, weathers blue, crystalline, shows

mass of fossils on weathered surface....................... 12

15. Concealed................................................. 3

16. Limestone, white, oolitic, massive layer..................... 4

17; Concealed................................................. 10

18. Limestone, light-colored, brittle........................... 6

19. Limestone, with small geodes, flesh-colored................. 2

20. .Limestone, dark bluish, filled with minute calcite crystals.... 8

21. Limestone, coarse, crystalline, flesh-colored.................. 7

22. Limestone, dark and bluish, breaks in cubical blocks......... 12

23. Limestone, very light gray to whitish, coarse grained,'showing

distinct joints........................................... 12

24. Limestone, dark, crystalline, close grained, ' fossiliferous,

numerous crinoids........................................ 3

25. Limestone, peculiar bluish brown, very hard and brittle,

fractures easily; irregular, somewhat cubical blocks....... 9.

26. Limestone, tough, light gray to flesh-colored................. 5

27. Concealed (probably all limestone)........................... 38

28. Limestone, gray, cliff making................................' 15

29. Limestone, thin bedded, cherty, pinkish, crystalline, cliff

making................................................. 13

30. Limestone, massive, pinkish, cliff making......... J..!...... 9

. 31. Concealed (probably all limestone)........................... 40

32. Limestone, very dark blue, evenly bedded, probably equivalent to No. 4 of the Monticello section.................... 6
STRATIGRAPHY. 31

33. Limestone, partly concealed, dark, steel-gray, thin bedded? Feet, 

some layers brownish..................'................... 7

34. Limestone, weathering rusty yellow, very massive:.......... 9

35. Concealed................................................. 10

36. Limestone, greenish, very thin bedded, looks almost like

coarse shale in places.................'.................... 20

37. Concealed below by bed of Elk Creek.

No. 34 of the above section appears to be equivalent to No. 1 of 

the Elk Spring Creek section given above.

Section of the Newman limestone near Parmleysville. 1

Feet.

42. Limestone, flesh-colored to dark blue........................ 3

43. Limestone, hard, dun-colored, banded........................ 5

-" 44. Limestone, dense blue bands interbedded with fine shaly lime-

. stone.................................................... 6

45. Limestone, shaly, pale bluish gray, abundant fucoids........ 2

46. Limestone, blue, slightly crystalline......................... 3

47. Limestone, grayish blue, slightly crystalline................. 2

48. Limestone, blue-gray, pink, in places bituminous............ 20

49. Limestone, very hard, dark blue, fossiliferous, shaly toward

bottom.................................................. 6

50. Limestones, mostly hard, thin bedded, bluish to.gray........ 8

51. Limestone, ehaly, greenish clay pebble-like inclusions....... 3

52. Concealed........................................:........ 3

53. Limestones, bluish, somewhat thick bedded.................. 12

54. Sandstone, thin bedded, impure, curly ripple marked, fosBiliferous:................................................ 10

55. Limestone, thin bedded, bluish, oolitic ...................... 11

56. Shale, soft, bluish to green................................... 6

57.v Limestone, slightly oolitic, gray to pale blue, calcitic ....... 10

58. Limestone, rough, subgranular, slightly fossiliferous, pale blue,

reddish toward base...................................... 7

59. Concealed by reddish clay.................................. 6

60. LimestonejSuboolitic layers 12 to 14 inches, crystalline at top.. 15

61. Limestone, coarse, dark blue to reddish, hard, very fossiliferous 6

62. Shale, soft, olive-green, partly concealed at bottom.......... 6

63. Limestone, massive, buff with reddish streaks, containing

Bryozoa, not oolitic...................................... 9

64. Limestone, bluish gray, oolitic, top foot fossiliferous.......... 6

65. Concealed................................................. 3

66. Limestone, massive layer, calcitic inclusions;............... 2-3

67. Limestone, fine grained, noncrystalline, bluish, layers about

1 foot thick............................................. 10

68. Limestone, blue, slightly oolitic............................. 6

69. Limestone, creamy gray, weathers in thin shaly layers, slightly

oolitic inclusions........................................ 2

70. Limestone, massive, light gray, oolitic....................... 27

71. Concealed...............!.................................. 2

72. Limestone, light gray, oolitic,, fossiliferous, lower blue layers

very hard.............".................................. 20

To water below dam at Parmleysville.

i This section includes the exposed portion of the Newman limestone on the Parmleysville-Monticello 

county road from below the dam at Parmleysville to the top of the hill above the power house on the Bell 

property. (The upper part of this section is given on p. 32.)

29755° Bull. 579 14 3
32 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREABY COUNTIES, KY.

A comparison of this part of the Parmleysville section, with that of 

the Monticello Hill section suggests strongly that limestone No. 64 of 

the Parmleysville section is equivalent to limestone No. 16 of the 

Monticello Hill section. The fossils obtained from this part of the 

Newman limestone suggest to G, H. Girty that beds 55 to 64, inclusive, 

belong within the Ste. Genevieve limestone. On the stratigraphic 

evidence No. 54 appears to be the same as the Hartselle sandstone 

member of the Bangor limestone of Alabama and Tennessee, and 

the Hartselle sandstone member in turn may be equivalent to the 

Cypress sandstone of the Ohio River section. The balance of this 

section overlying the sandstone, forming bed 54, appears to Girty to 

be equivalent to the upper part of the Chester group farther to the 

west, but the Tribune and Birdsville formations of that group can 

not at present be differentiated here. All these correlations, being 

based on slight fossil evidence, are more or less tentative. Detailed 

work in this district will doubtless supply sufficient data for a much 

closer correlation of these rocks with those of western Kentucky and 

adjacent portions of Illinois and Indiana.

PENNINGTON SHALE.

Liihologic character. The Newman limestone is overlain by red 

and green clay shales ranging in thickness from a feather edge to 

250 feet, in which are included a few thin beds of limestone and 

sandstone. The top of this formation is marked by the unconformity already described as separating the Mississippian from the 

Pennsylvaman rocks. To this unconformity is due the great variation in thickness of the Pennington in Wayne County.

The following section of the Pennington shale is a continuation of 

the section given above (p: 31) of the Newman limestone near Parmleysville:

Section of the Pennington shale near Parmleysville.

Pennsylvania:!: Feet.

1. Sandstone, thin bedded, gray........................... 17

Pennington shale:

2. Shale, soft red clay........ T ....................:....... 11

3. Sandstone, gray....................................... 1

. . 4. Shale, soft.red.......................................... 10

5. Concealed.............................................. 7

6. Shale, soft, red........................................ 6

7. Shale, gray............................................ 6

8. Shale, soft, red......................................... 17

9. Concealed.............................................. 22

10. Shale, soft, red............................. 1........... 20

11. Shale, soft, lightblue.............................. ... r . 6

12. Shale, red, soft........................................ 5

13. Shale, coarse, reddish, micaceous.......... '... ..:........ 6

14. Shale, thin, curly, stiff, micaceous...................... 4

15. Sandstone, thin bedded to heavy, gray................... 15
STRATIGRAPHY. 33

.. Feet

16. Concealed..~......................................... 3

17. Shales, soft, green and blue clay........................ .7

18. Shale, soft, green, calcareous........................... 6

19. Concealed...................;......................... 1

20. Sandstone, thin-plated, greenish, probably calcareous.... 3

21. Concealed (probably green shale)........................ 10

22. Shale, soft, green...................................... 10

23. Shale, soft, bluish, calcareous, weathers like shaly sandstone. .............................................. 3

24. Limestone, thin bedded, blue, very fossiliferous......... 2

25. Concealed............................................. 3

26. Shale, soft, greenish.................................... 15

27. Shale, marly, greenish.........^........................ 2

28. Chert and calcareous shale and thin sandstones.......... 1

29. Shale, black............................................ 6

30. Shale, green, soft...................................... 5

31. Limestone, buff to blue................................ 3

32. Shale, soft, greenish, with 1-inch calcife veins........... 10

33. Limestone, calcitic.................................... 3

34. Shale, soft, green...................................... 2.

35. Limestone, Spann member, two layers dark, rusty, massive, finely crystalline, containing chert and numerous 

quartz geodes........................................ 11

36. Shale, green, soft...................................... 3

37. Limestone, bluish..................................... 2

38-. Shale,soft, yellow....................................... 3

. 39. Shale, soft, green......................................' 3

40. Limestone, badly weathered, yellowish, impure.......... 2

41. Shale, soft, olive-green, clay.............:.............. 8

Top of Newman limestone.

Thickness. The Pennington shale is generally thickest in the southern part of Wayne County, along Little South Fork, and probably 

toward the south and west. It appears to be thinnest and in places 

is entirely absent in the vicinity of Oil Valley and northeast of that 

place. The average thickness of the formation is probably less than 

90 feet and in many places the top of the Newman limestone is 

separated from the Pennsylvania sandstone above by less than 50 

feet of thin layers of limestone in green shale. The. Pennington 

shale seems to be equivalent in age to the upper portion of the Chester 

group. Its exact tune equivalent iri western Kentucky and southern Illinois and Indiana is not known, but both fossil and stratigraphic evidence suggest that it may belong largely if not wholly 

within the Birdsville formation, the uppermost formation of the Chester group.

Spann limestone member. Aside from the green shale in the 

lower portion of the Pennington and the red shale toward the top, 

the most characteristic bed is the limestone to which the name Spann 

limestone member is given in this report, from typical exposures at 

the town of that name in Wayne County. This bed is a massive
\

34 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

geode-bearing cherty limestone, ranging from 3 to 15 feet in thickness, the top of which lies from 20 to 35 feet above the base of the 

formation. This limestone, is very persistent throughout Wayne 

County, and is easily recognized wherever exposed by the numerous 

quartz geodes which protrude from the exposed edges of the limestone. The limestone resists weathering much better than the soft 

red and green shales in which it is embedded and is in many places 

exposed as a low cliff around the sides of the hills. This bed has been 

used as the key stratum for determining the dip of the rocks in the 

southeastern part of the Monticello quadrangle, as shown on Plate III.

PENNSYLVANIAN SERIES.

Pottsville group. 

LEE FORMATION.

Lithologic character. Above the Penhington shale and at the surface of the higher hills lie from a thin film to 400 feet or more of Pottsville rocks, known as the Lee formation. These rocks are sandy 

shales, weathering brown to reddish; massive sandstones; a few coal 

beds; and, at the top from 20 to perhaps 60 feet of conglomerate. 

These rocks are generally poorly exposed because of the accumulation 

of sandstone bowlders and debris upon the hillsides. In the field 

work for this report very little attention was given to these beds 

because, as they cap the higher hills, they have no geologic value 

in the study of the oil and gas fields. The measurements obtained 

of them were few and very incomplete. The generalized section 

of these rocks as shown in figure 4 (p. 25) is therefore largely hypothetical and will doubtless be greatly modified by future detailed 

work in this region.

Rockcastle conglomerate member. The conglomerate which caps 

a few of the highest hills appears to be equivalent to the Rockcastle 

conglomerate of the Standingstoiie quadrangle of Tennessee and 

the London quadrangle of Kentucky. It is generally composed of 

5 feet or more of white quartz pebbles and coarse sand at the base 

and a.similar layer about 30 to 35 feet above the base, the remainder 

of the bed being composed of very coarse brownish sandstone without 

bedding planes. This conglomerate is exposed as a vertical cliff 

on the tops of the highest hills,, only a few acres being present at 

any one spot. It forms the cap rock of Pilot Knob, 3 miles west of 

Monticello, where it reaches an altitude of over 1,600 feet and is 

probably as much as 100 feet in thickness.

STRUCTURE. 

GENERAL FEATURES.

Wayne County is situated on the western edge of the Appalachian 

coal field, which in Kentucky lies between the Cincinnati anticline 

and Cumberland (Pine) Mountain. The geologic structure of this
U S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH. DIRECTOR BULLETIN 579 PLATE III

84° 50' 84°45'

50'

36° 

45'

84° 50' 84° 45'

TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF THE MONTICELLO QUADRANGLE, KENTUCKY

SHOWING LOCATION OF OIL AND GAS' POOLS, DEEP WELLS, AND OUTCROP OF AND STRUCTURE CONTOURS 

ON THE SPANN LIMESTONE MEMBER OF THE PENNINGTON SHALE

- Scale 62,500

3 liiies

o 3 Kilometers

Coaitoixr interval 20 feet.

T)fitujn, ts me-oft sea, level*.

1914

Outcrop of the Spann limestone member

Numbers re-present altitude of limestone at 

 points indicated

Contours on the top of the Spann limestone member

Datum is mean sea level

WELL SYMBOLS

Oil well

* 

Gas well Show of oil Show of oil and gas Show of gas 

Numbers beside wells give altitude of Beaver Creek "sand" above sea level

-f 

Dry hole
STRUCTURE. . 35

region is that of a. broad, comparatively shallow trough in which 

occur many minor anticlines and synclines. The axis of this great 

trough or synclinorium passes through Knox, Whitley, and McCreary 

counties, east of Wayne County and a short distance west of Pine 

Mountain, with a trend generally northeast and southwest. The 

axis of the Cincinnati anticline lies west of Wayne County in Clinton 

and Russell counties and has a trend of about N. 20° E. The general 

dip of the rocks in Wayne County is therefore toward the southeast. 

This dip amounts to about 20 feet to the mile between Monticellp and 

Griffin, which is probably about,the average dip of the beds across 

the entire county. There is, however, considerable difference in the 

degree and direction of dip from place to place, due partly perhaps 

to unconformities in the rocks of the different series and systems and 

to unequal deposition of sediments, but mainly to warping in the 

process of folding, which caused the minor folds and wrinkles that 

are delineated on the structure maps accompanying this report and 

that seem to be so intimately associated with the origin of the oil 

pools.

In this report on the structure of the oil sands the discussion of the 

dip of the beds will be confined to that of the Mississippian series, 

which contains most of the oil and gas pools, in order better to show 

the possible effect of folds on the accumulation of the oil in pools. 

Under the circumstances controlling the field examination time could 

not be given to the determination of the dip of the Mississippian rocks 

over the entire area, the work being necessarily confined to the areas 

in and immediately surrounding the more important oil fields, especially in that part of Wayne County included in the Monticello quadrangle, of the United States Geological Survey.

Spirit-level lines were run tp many wells in the Mount Pisgah, 

Parmleysville, and Griffin fielc j, which lie along the valley of Little 

South Fork River in the southern part of the county. With the time 

available, even the area including these fields could not be completely 

covered, and no attempt was made to work out the structure in the 

Slickford and Sunnybrook districts, in the southwestern portion of 

the county.

METHOD OF MAPPING STRUCTURE.

In regions where the strata are but slightly disturbed the folds can 

best be represented on a map by structure contour lines drawn on the 

top of some persistent bed that can be certainly identified over a 

large area, and that is hence called a key rock. Each of these contour lines is supposed to be drawn through all points on the upper 

surface of the key rock which are at a uniform height above some 

horizontal datum plane, usually sea level. In this report two key 

.rocks were used. The structure contour lines for the southeastern part of the Monticello quadrangle (see PI. Ill) are drawn on
36 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREABY COUNTIES, KY.

the top of the Spann limestone member. Those for the map of the 

Cooper, Mount Pisgah, Parmleysville, and Griffin fields are drawn on 

the top of the Beaver Creek "sand." The datum plane for each is 

sea level, and the contour interval, or vertical distance between contours, is 10 feet. The contour lines are numbered to show the height 

in feet above sea level of the top of the key rock at the points through 

which the line passes on the map.

In order to draw these contour lines on Plate III, the altitude of 

the Spann limestone member above sea level was obtained at a great 

, many points in the area represented by the map, and the dip of the 

beds was noted at other points where this limestone is not present in 

outcrop. These altitudes were plotted on the field map, and points 

of equal altitude were connected by lines conformable to the shape of 

the reference surface, as shown by all the other altitudes obtained. 

The result is a structure map which shows the altitude of the Spann 

limestone member or the Beaver Creek "sand" at all points in their 

respective areas.

ACCURACY OF STRUCTURE CONTOURS.

From the preceding paragraph it is plain that the accuracy of the 

structure contours depends on the number and distribution of correct 

altitudes on the key rock. All degrees of accuracy are therefore possible. In the present work time and funds did not permit extreme 

accuracy in the structural mapping. The object sought was to determine whether or not the oil pools of Wayne County have any definite 

relation to folds in the rocks. For this work altitudes were obtained 

by hand leveling from bench marks on spirit-level lines run by the 

United States Geological Survey. The altitudes thus obtained 

probably have a maximum error of less than 5 feet. The altitudes 

of the Beaver Creek "sand" along Little South Fork, shown on Plate 

VT(p- 56), were obtained by running spirit-level lines to the mouths 

of many oil and gas wells and then adding the steel-line measurement 

made by the driller to the top of the Beaver Creek "sand." This 

system of levels was started from a bench mark of the United States 

Geological Survey on the Monticello-Parmleysville road about half a 

mile south of Burfield, and run to Parmleysville, thence to Mount 

Pisgah and Griffin. The instruments used were a telescopic alidade 

and plane table. The total error in this line may be as much as 10 

or 15 feet, but in any field the error in the altitudes of the mouths of 

the wells is probably less than 2 feet.

STRUCTURE OF THE MONTICELLO DISTRICT. 

' MONTICELLO SYNCLINE.

The most prominent structural feature in that portion of,the 

Monticello quadrangle shown on the structure map (PI. Ill) is the 

Monticello syncline. This broad trough extends from a point on
STRUCTURE. 37

Beaver Creek about 3 miles below Cooper in a general easterly direction to a point on the Elk Spring Valley pike about 2 miles from 

MonticeLlo; thence northeastward to a point about half a mile north 

of the Coffey coal bank, where the trend of the fold changes to a little 

south of east and leaves the quadrangle on Little Sinking Creek near 

the Rhoda Dodson farm. This structural trough is variable in width 

and depth'. Along its axis the top of the-Spann limestone member 

varies in elevation above, sea level from 980 feet at the eastern edge 

of the quadrangle to about 1,180 feet northwest of the Coffey coal 

bank. For about 1 mile westward from this point the limestone dips 

slightly along the trough to the central part of a small oval-shaped 

basin and then rises about 60 feet to the Elk Spring Valley pike,, 

where it has an altitude of about 1,225 feet. To the west the bottom 

of the syncline again pitches slightly to another long basin, which

extends from the point where this fold crosses the Monticello-Cooper 

pike to a point within half a mile of Beaver Creek, where the axis of 

the fold again appears to rise slowly toward the west.

SPANN ANTICLINE.

Northward from the axis of the Monticello syncline and west of the 

Monticello-Oil Valley pike the rocks rise at a fairly uniform rate as. 

far as structural work has been done in that direction. East of this 

area the rocks north of the Monticello syncline rise to the crest of a 

secondary fold called the Spann anticline, which has a general southeast trend from a point on the Monticello-Burnside pike about 4 

miles from Monticello. The Spann limestone member is highest on 

this fold where it crosses the pike. It pitches about 50 feet for the 

first mile, then rises slightly to a small dome located on the MonticelloSpann road 2£ miles west of Spann. From this dome the fold makes 

a sharp bend to the east .and continues in that direction to the edge 

of the quadrangle. The dip in the first half mile of this distance is 

negligible; in the last mile and a half it amounts to about 50 feet.

STEUBENVILLE SYNCLINE.

North of the Spann anticline the Spann limestone has a general dip 

east and north to the axis of the broad Steubenville synchne^ which 

extends from the vicinity of the Sue Jones farm almost due east to 

the edge of the quadrangle. This small trough has a pitch to the 

east of about 100 feet in the first 2 miles. Beyond that point it 

appears to be almost level.

North of this syncline there appears to be a small secondary fold 

which pitches steeply from the vicinity of Steubenville'in a direction 

a little south of east to the edge of the quadrangle. The total difference in height of the Spann limestone" member between Steubenville 

and the eastern edge of the quadrangle along this fold is about 140 

feet. North of Steubenville no attempt was made to determine the 

dip of the rocks.
38 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES,. KY.

COOPER ANTICLINE,

South of the Monticello syncline a well-defined arch,-the Cooper 

anticline, is shown by the contours on the structure map to cross 

Beaver Creek about 1£ miles below Cooper in a general east-west 

direction and extend to a point about 4 miles southeast of Monticello 

where the fold disappears. This anticline forms a broad, elongated 

dome, the center of which is about 2 miles northwest of Oil Valley. 

The location of the axis of this fold in the western part of the quadrangle is not known. The meager data at hand suggest that a low 

place on this axis occurs near the point where it crosses Beaver Creek, 

from which the rocks rise westward as far as they were traced. The 

doming of this anticline as suggested by the structure contours at the 

west end should not be considered as definitely established.

STTMPTER SYNCLINE.

South of the Cooper anticline the rocks dip uniformly to the axis of 

a broad flat syncline which extends westward from Barrier post office 

to a short distance west of Cooper, where it seems to disappear against 

the Cooper anticline. The pitch of this fold is quite pronounced at 

its western end, but from the vicinity of Sumpter to Barrier .the axis 

of the trough is almost level. At Barrier this fold connects with 

another small trough trending about S. 15° E., the pitch of the trough 

being slightly to the south. Between this part of the Sumpter syncline and the Monticello syncline to the north a broad irregular anticlinal nose juts out from the dome of the Cooper anticline in a general 

southeasterly direction. .From the top of this fold northward along 

the eastern edge of the quadrangle the beds dip about 190 feet. 

From the same point southwestward to the axis of the Sumpter syncline at Barrier the dip is not more than 30 feet. Very little is known

of the structure between the Sumpter syncline and the small area in 

which the structure was studied along Little South Fork from Mount 

Pisgah to Griffin.

STRUCTURE OF THE PARMLEYSVILLE DISTRICT.

The general attitude of the Spann limestone member was not 

determined in the Parmleysville district. The upper surface of the 

Beaver Creek "sand" was used for such structural mapping as could 

be done in the very short time at the writer's disposal. Contours on 

the top of this bed are shown on Plate VI (p. 56) in red. These contours show in part the dip of the sand in the producing portions of 

the Griffin and Mount Pisgah pools, and in the northern part of the 

Parmleysville pool. From these scanty data some general structural 

features can be deduced which may be of economic value to producers.

From a study of this material it seems probable that the Mount 

Pisgah pool is near the head of a broad shallow trough, the axis of
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 579 PLATE IV

P U L A S K I

R IT S S E L

KENTUCKY

TENNE'SSEE

From Montrcello topographic map 

with additional data by the author

SKETCH MAP OF WAYNE COUNTY, KY., SHOWING LOCATION OF OIL AND GAS POOLS.
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. .39

which lies probably a mile south of. Parmleysville and at a somewhat 

greater distance south of Griffin. This trough probably deepens 

somewhat from Mount Pisgah to Griffin.: A similar syncline appears 

to he to the north of the Griffin and Parmleysville field, as is evidenced 

by the trend of. the structure contours in these pools. The writer 

suspects the existence between these two synclines of a broad irregular somewhat flattened anticline, though the position of its axis in the 

Parmleysville pool is by no'means clear. This fold very probably 

pitches toward the east. A more, detailed analysis of the structure as 

shown on Plate VI (p. 56) will be made later in the discussion of these 

oil pools.

OIL AND GAS FIELDS.

NATURE OF EXAMINATION.

In work for this report only a few of the oil and gas fields of Wayne 

County were studied in detail, the object being to determine whether 

or not these pools show a definite relation to geologic structure, and 

to determine also,'if possible, the value of geologic work in the location of undiscovered pools in this part of Kentucky. This work was 

therefore in the nature of an experiment, only such pools being 

selected for study as seemed to offer the best opportunities for quickly 

mapping the .dip of the Beaver Creek "sand" and Spann limestone 

member. The following facts regarding these pools are not intended, 

therefore, to constitute a detailed report. No attempt is made to 

discuss the pools either in the order of their size or of their discovery. 

The general distribution of the oil pools of Wayne County and western 

McCreary County is shown on Plate IV.

STEUBENVILLE OIL FIELD AND ADJACENT TERRITORY.

. History. The first well in the Steubenville field was drilled by the 

Kentucky Colonel Oil Co. on the William or Sue Jones farm, about 1$ 

miles south of Steubenville. This well found oil in the Beaver 

Creek "sand" at a depth of a little over 400 feet. The date of completion of this well is not at hand, but the development of the Steubenville field, which quickly followed, appears to have been most rapid 

between 1904 and 1906. The field was found to be very "spotted," 

because of changes in porosity of the Beaver Creek "sand," considerable areas proving to be barren at places which seemed to be especially favorable on account of the general trend of .the pool and the 

location of surrounding oil-bearing territory. The initial production 

of the better wells in this field ranged from 100 to probably 500 

barrels a day, but most of them at their best furnished less than 100 

barrels a day. The field as developed to November, 1909, extends 

from the Sue Jones farm south of Steubenville in a direction a little 

south of east for a distance of 5 £ or 6 miles, the oil-bearing belt ranging
40 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

from about one-half mile to 1$'miles in width. Very little drilling, 

if any, is now being done in the field. The wells decreased rapidly in 

daily production as soon as they were put to pumping, and many of 

them have been exhausted and abandoned. Those that still produce 

yield only a few barrels a day and their output is steadily decreasing 

from year to year. In 1909 the total production from this field, as 

reported in the Wayne County Outlook, was as follows:

Production of the Steubenville field in 1909.

Barrels. . Barrels.

January....:................... 5,489

February....................... 4,713

March........................... 4,927

April............................ 5,031

May............................. 6,116

June........................... 5,144

July............................ 5,959

August.............. 1........... 4,292

September..................... 4,588

October......................... 5,784

November...................... 4,167

December...................... 4,715

Total..................... 60,925

This production is equal to a daily average of 167 barrels. This 

pool produced 757 barrels for the week ending March 9, 19.12.

Oil sand. The Beaver Creek "sand" has furnished practically all 

the oil found in the Steubenville field. On the Sue Jones farm this

A

"sand" (really a limestone) varies, where productive, from 10 to 18 

feet in thickness, the pay streak ranging from 2 to 10 feet below the 

top of the "sand." In wells Nos. 2, 3, and 13 in the middle portion 

of the field the Beaver Creak "sand" is 10, 20, and 14 feet thick, 

respectively. The average thickness of the "sand" on the Mike 

Boyles farm and eastward is probably between 10 and 18 feet. No 

measurements are at hand of the Beaver Creek "sand" in the area 

immediately surrounding the oil-producing portion, but it is reported 

to have been thin or absent in a number of places. Little was noted 

regarding the average thickness of the pay streak, but it probably . 

does not exceed 6 or 8 feet. The depth of wells to the top of the 

^Beaver Creek "sand" in .the Steubenville field ranges from about 400 

to 700 feet, depending largely on the altitude of the surface. The 

Chattanooga ("Black") shale is mentioned in but few well records. 

In the Sue Jones well No. 58 it lies immediately below the Beaver 

Creek "sand" and was penetrated 20 feet. It is 30 feet thick in the 

Boston & Jones heirs well No. 10 and in well No. 8 on that farm it 

lies 9 feet below the Beaver Creek "sand." In the H. McBeath well 

it is 50 feet below the Beaver Creek "sand" and is 35 feet thick.

Structure. From the general structure contour lines on the map 

(PL III) it appears that the Spann limestone member on which they 

are drawn has a dip toward the east of about 40 feet across the productive belt, but this is not certain. It is important to note that the 

productive part of the Beaver Creek "sand" on the same--farm is at a 

height of 548 to about 569 feet above sea level. Eastward the pro-
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 41

ductive belt roughly parallels the trend of the structure contours on 

the Spann limestone member to the edge of the quadrangle, at which 

point the pool appears to occupy the axis of the Spann anticline. 

Beyond the eastern boundary of the area shown on Plate III (p. 34) 

the Spann limestone member has not been traced, and the structural 

position of the pool has therefore not been determined.

At Spann post office the Jack Hughes wells Nos. 1 and 2 show the 

Beaver Creek "sand" at a height of 506 and 523 feet, respectively. 

On the Boston & Jones heirs farm wells Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 show the 

oil sand at 526, 527, 520,.538, and 518 feet, respectively, above sea 

level. East of Spann, near the edge of the quadrangle, the John 

Boston wells Nos. 2 and 13 reach the ."sand" at 502, 475, and 484 

feet above sea level. Between the Michael Boyles wells Nos. 8 and 

17 the Beaver Creek "sand" dips from an altitude of 436 feet to 419 

feet. Half a mile from the eastern end of the field the T. C. Morrow 

well No. 8 found the Beaver Creek "sand" at an altitude of 376 feet. 

In well No. 6 of this farm it is 305 feet, and in well No. 5 it is 299 feet 

above sea level. Well No. 5 is on the extreme eastern end of the 

Steubenville oil field. Less than 1 mile to the south a well drilled on 

the Elizabeth Dodson farm found 10 feet of hard close Beaver Creek 

"sand," without oil^or gas, at an altitude of 389 feet. The above 

altitudes on the Beaver Creek "sand" show that the oil pool in it 

west of Spann lies along the north slope of the Spann anticline, the 

upper edge of the oil-bearing belt in the "sand" being almost on a 

level. East of Spann the upper edge of the productive part of the 

"sand" dips irregularly about 200 feet in about 2£ miles. In this 

part of the field the available data are too meager to more than 

 merely suggest that the oil-bearing belt appears to lie on or near the 

north side of the pitching axis of the Spann anticline. It seems 

certain that the productive area on and adjacent to the James 

Alexander and 0. Smith farms south of Spann is south of the axis 

of the Spann anticline. More detailed study may show a close 

structural connection between this part of the field and .that to the 

east, but this is not evident from the material in hand.

Water. So far as the evidence goes, the Beaver Creek "sand," has 

furnished little'or no water in and adjacent to the Steubenville pool. 

Kecords of wells drilled below this "sand" are few, but such as are 

available report no water, except in the McBeath well (a log and 

section of which has been given under the heading "Stratigraphy"), 

where slightly saline water in considerable quantity was found in the 

St. Peter (?) sandstone at 1,660 feet below the Beaver Creek "sand." 

At an interval of about 270 to 320 feet above the Beaver Creek 

"sand" on the Steubenville field and adjacent territory is a very 

persistent water-bearing bed or zone which supplies Blue Lick or sulphur water under considerable head. This water is believed to come
42 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCEEAKY COUNTIES, KY.

from a limestone bed at or near the top of the " Waverly" formation. 

In the T. C. Morrow well No. 5, at the extreme eastern end of the field, 

salt water is reported at 110 feet above the Beaver Creek "sand." 

This is the only salt water reported in the available records of this 

field. It appears to come from one of the thin limestone beds within 

the "Waverly" formation. This horizon may furnish salt water in 

other wells of which the writer has no record. . Gas. Gas in considerable quantity was found in many oil wells in 

the Steubenville pool, and several wells on the south and west edges of 

the pool have supplied gas alone.- Probably the best wells were on 

the John Bohon farm, half a mile south of Steubenville, some of which 

are reported to have had initial daily capacities between 1,000,000 

and 3,000,000 cubic feet. This gas is now being utilized for power 

by the Cumberland Pipe Line Co. Sufficient gas is still being procured from the oil wells to furnish most of the power for pumping 

the wells.

Test wells adjacent to the Steubenville field. No attempt has been 

made in this report to locate all the wells that have been drilled in 

and adjacent to the Steubenville field, because many of them have 

long since been abandoned and their locations could not be.readily 

found. The more significant test wells have been plotted on the map.

North of the Steubenville field two wells were drilled on the J.'H. 

Duncan farm by the New Domain Oil & Gas Co. Well No. 1 is 

located one-fourth mile north of Steubenville; it reached a depth of 

about 879 feet below-the Chattanooga shale, which is 30 feet thick.

A 15-foot "shell" was reported at the horizon of the Beaver Creek 

"sand" at an elevation of 563 feet above sea level. Well No. 2, 

located about 1 mile southeast of Steubenville, reports no Beaver 

Creek "sand" and 34 feet of black Chattanooga shale at an altitude 

of 477 feet. This well reached a depth of 1,150 feet, passing through 

the horizon of the Sunnybrook "sands." A well on the Eli Corrall 

farm, less than 1 mile east of Steubenville, is reported to have found 

18 feet of Beaver Creek "sand," but a record of the well could not 

be found. The well mouth stands at an elevation of about 917 feet. 

A well drilled on the Dr. Joseph Jones farm, about 11 miles northeast 

of Steubenville, is said to have found 18 feet of Beaver Creek "sand," 

but the record of the well was not obtained.

At the time of the writer's visit in July, 1910, two Wells had already 

been drilled along Meadow Creek, near the eastern edge of the Monticello quadrangle. The locations of these wells are shown near the 

upper right-hand corner of the map (PI. Ill, p. 34). Just outside the 

quadrangle, on Meadow Creek, eight or more wells have been drilled 

on or adjacent to the George Duncan farm. In two or more of these 

some oil was found. Another is said to be a moderately productive 

gas well.
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. . . 43

West of the Steubenville oil field, in the area shown on the map 

(PI. Ill), a number of test wells have been drilled of which no records 

are at hand. These include one well on the farm of J. H. Duncan, 

one on that of Charles Bock, two on that of Amaziah Kelley, and the 

deep well on that of H. McBeath, already discussed. A well on the 

Michael Castillo farm found the top of 16 feet of Beaver Creek " sand" 

at 381 feet and the top of the Chattanooga shale at 422 feet, the height 

of the Beaver Creek " sand " above sea level being 596 feet. This was 

a small gas well and was without indications of salt water in the 

Beaver Creek " sand." Wells.Nos. 1 and 2 on the J. H. Gregory farm 

found the Beaver Creek ''sand" 12 and 15 feet thick at altitudes above 

sea level of 598 and 591 feet, respectively. Both of these wells pro^. 

duced a little gas and No. 1 a showing of oil from the Beaver Creek 

" sand," which contained no salt water. The top of the Chattanooga

shale in well No. 2 is 26 feet below the bottom of the Beaver Creek 

"sand."

South of the Steubenville field several unproductive wells have been 

drilled along the valley of Elk Spring Creek, among them being the 

T. J. Frogge well No. 1, the Brent Crawford well No. 1, and the 

R. Kendrick well No. 1.

Two "freak" gas wells were drilled in the eastern edge of Monticello during 1908. The first well found gas in limestone at 233 feet 

and on down to 273 feet, the strongest flow coming from the depth 

of 253 feet. The top of the limestone is 176 feet above the Chattanooga shale. The well was completed to a depth of 273 feet on June 

2, 1908,. and shut in until August 31, 1908, when it was opened to 

drill deeper. On September 4 it was gaged and is said to have shown 

a closed pressure of 340 pounds to the square inch and a volume of 

about 900,000 cubic feet a day. .In this well black sulphur water was 

found at a depth of 57 feet, gas at 92 feet; and gas and salt water at 

155 feet. Later the well was drilled to the Chattanooga shale, at a 

.depth of 400 feet, finding at 387 feet 1 foot of Beaver Creek "sand," 

which has an altitude of 529 feet above sea level. No water is reported 

below the gas-bearing strata. In the second well gas was struck at 

about the same depth as in No. 1. This well is reported to have had 

an initial production of 8,500,000 cubic feet a day, with a closed pressure of 525 pounds to the square inch. The town of Monticello was 

piped to utilize this gas, but when it .was turned into the lines the 

pressure and volume decreased rapidly, and the wells became practically exhausted within a few weeks.

South of the Steubenville field comparatively few test wells have 

been drilled for the first few miles. Two wells on the Isaac Draughon 

and Nancy Alexander farms are located near the axis of the Monticello syncline, about 1^ miles from the eastern edge of the quadrangle. At a depth of 516 feet the Draughon well reached the
44 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

Chattanooga shale, which was found to be 31 feet thick. The 

Beaver Creek sand is absent in both of these wells. About a mile 

southeast of the Draughon well four more wells have been drilled 

on the A. R. Humble farm, near the head of Dry Fork of Sinking 

Creek. Humble well No. 1, drilled by E. T. Coffey & Co., is reported 

to have unexpectedly flowed 25 or 30 barrels of oil from shale at a 

depth of 302 feet while the well was being drilled. Humble well 

No. 1, drilled by the Union Oil & Development Co., found 14 feet 

of Beaver Creek sand at a depth of 605 feet. This sand here has 

an altitude of 387 feet above the sea and is 8 feet above the Chattanooga shale. Two wells were producing a small amount of oil 

from this farm at the time of the writer's visit in July, 1911.

On another branch of Little Sinking Creek, about three-fourths of 

a mile south of the Humble wells, five or more wells have been 

drilled on the Foster or Moore property, one of which was a small 

oil well and another appears to be -a moderately productive gas well. 

The others are reported as being unproductive. The mouth of the 

oil well is about 1,162 feet and that of the gas well 1,193 feet above 

sea level. No records of the wells were obtained.

The locations of all the test wells east and southeast of the Steubenville oil field are not known. One well, drilled by Clay B. Steel 

on the Isaac Baker farm, is reported to have flowed 1,000,000 cubic 

feet of gas from the "Stray sand" at a depth of 385 feet. The 

closed gas pressure and the length of time this well produced are 

not known. Other wells on the R. B. Walker and Rhoda Dodson 

farms are reported to have been unproductive.

SINKING OIL FIELD.

The Sinking oil field is situated about 2 miles south of the eastern 

end of the Steubenville field and less than a mile beyond the eastern 

edge of the Monticello quadrangle. It is about 2| miles long by 

one-half to three-fourths of a mile in width. The sketch map (fig. 5") 

shows only some of the productive wells in it.

The Sinking field was discovered in 1905 and was not fully developed in 1909. Most of the wells were small, their initial production 

being below 25 barrels. The best well in the pool was Chrisman 

No. 7, which produced 435 barrels the first day and at the end of 

four months was making 200 barrels a day. The other wells rarely 

exceeded 200 barrels a day and decreased rapidly. The best closed 

pressures in the gas wells were from about 180 to 200 pounds to the 

square inch. The Cyrus Brown well No. 5, drilled by the New 

Domain Oil & Gas Co. and finished October 6, 1906, had a closed 

pressure of 105 pounds and an initial capacity of 1,344,000 cubic 

feet a day. The gas came from both the "Stray" and Beaver Creek
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 45

"sands." This well produced for about three years. .AH the oil 

in this field comes from the Beaver Creek "sand."

Salt water is reported in considerable quantities in the "Stray 

sand" over parts of this field. A few wells toward the southern

Well symbols N

 Oil well 

+ Show of oil

*Gas well 

Dry hole

FIGURE 5. Sketch map of the Sinking oil field, Wayne County, Ky., from data furnished by the Wood 

Oil Co. Scale 1 inch=2,000 feet. Numbers of wells correspond to those given in tables showing well 

records, pages 64-101. Figures followed by prime mark (') show elevation of well mouth above the 

Beaver Creek "sand." 

end of the field on the T. S. Dick farm report some salt water in 

the Beaver Creek "sand," but its approximate volume .and head 

are not given in the brief records.

Very little geologic data of importance are available relative to 

this field. A;single line of spirit levels was run from the northern
46 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

end of the Nancy Chrisman farm to the southern part of the T. S. 

Dick farm and the elevation of a few wells obtained. The numbers 

ranging from 377 to 416 on the map show the altitude of the Beaver 

Creek "sand" in the adjacent wells. From these few altitudes 

contour lines on the oil "sand" can not be drawn with accuracy. 

It should be noted, however; that the altitude of these wells is 

practically the same as those in the eastern part of the Steubenville 

field.

BBATCHEB HOLLOW OIL POOL.

About 2 miles, west of the Sinking oil field several wells have been 

drilled on the Coffey and Oats property in Bratcher Hollow. The 

best of these wells is reported to have furnished a few barrels of oil 

a day when first drilled, but the total, production from them has 

been very small. In well No. 10 on this property gas is reported to 

have been found in a stray "sand" about 46 feet above the Beaver 

Creek "sand" and at a depth of 606 feet. Some oil was found in a 

10-foot pay streak of the Beaver Creek "sand." "No altitudes above 

sea level of wells in this field were obtained and very little information is available regarding them

GIB SON OIL POOL.

Six or more wells have been drilled on the Travis Gibson farm, 

about 4£ miles southeast of Monticello. Some of these wells found 

considerable gas in the "stray sand," which is about 213 feet above 

the Beaver Creek "sand." In the Gibson well No. 1, drilled by 

Backer & Co., the Beaver Creek "sand" is reported to have furnished some gas with a closed pressure of 110 pounds to the square 

inch. In wells Nos. 2 and 3, drilled by Wm. Gearing & Co.,.some 

oil and salt water are said to have been found in the Beaver Creek 

"sand." No salt water is reported from this "sand" in the other 

wells. Gibson well No. 5, drilled by Gearing, found the top. of the 

Beaver Creek "sand" at a depth of 544 feet, where it is 466 feet 

above sea level. This well is said to have produced as much as 8 

barrels a day and slowly settled to a steady production of 5 barrels 

a day. No good records of these wells were obtained.

Between the Gibson pool and Monticello four or more wells have 

been drilled in Elk Spring Valley, on the Oats and Coffey farms, all 

of which were unproductive. In one of these, drilled by the Wood Oil 

Co. on the John F. Oats farm, located about 2 miles from Monticello, 

6 feet of Beaver Creek "sand" was encountered at a depth of 415 

feet, where it has an altitude of 514. feet. The Chattanooga shale 

in this well is 9 feet below the Beaver Creek "sand" and is 40 feet 

thick. This well reached a depth of 1,254 feet and is reported to 

have passed through the "Pencil cave" (see fig. 2, p. 16) at 1,200 

feet. No water was found below 155 feet in this well.
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 47 

BARRIER OIL FIELD.

At Barrier post office less than a dozen wells have been drilled for 

oil on the E. Miller and Henry Thompson farms, and possibly on 

adjacent property. In a few of these wells oil was found in small 

quantities in the Beaver Creek "sand," sufficient to justify pumping 

them for a short time. In 1909 all these wells had been abandoned. 

Level lines were run to the mouth of the E. Williams wells No. 2 .and 

No. 9, and to the Henry Thompson well No. \, their altitudes being 

930, 924, and 1,078 feet, respectively. The record of the Henry 

Thompson well shows the Beaver Creek "sand" to. be 463 feet above 

sea level at this point. It1 is 12 feet thick, and lies 23 feet above the 

Chattanooga shale. Some gas was found here in a limestone 240 

feet above the Beaver Creek "sand" and salt water at 205 feet above 

it. This well was unproductive.

On the map a few unproductive wells are shown to have been 

drilled in the southeastern part of the Monticello quadrangle, surrounding the Barrier pool and southeast of Oil Valley.

COOPER-OIL VALLEY OIL FIELD AND THE WESTERN PART OF

WAYNE COUNTY.

Location. The term "Cooper-Oil Valley field" in this report is 

meant to include all the oil-producing areas in and south of the 

Monticello quadrangle from 1J miles west of Cooper to Oil Valley, 

a distance of about 4£ miles. The geologic .work done in this field 

was fragmentary and insufficient for. drawing accurate structure 

contours on the Beaver Creek "sand." The same is true of the 

contours on the Spann limestone, member. It seems very probable 

that the contours on the Spann limestone member may prove to be 

quite inaccurate over the area southwest and west of Sumpter and 

Cooper where no elevations were obtained upon it.

History. One of the first wells drilled for oil in Wayne County 

was put down in 1895 at the forks of Beaver Creek, about 2 miles 

south of Sumpter post office. This well furnished about 15 barrels 

a day from a porous limestone, named by the drillers the Beaver 

Creek sand, at a depth of about 480 feet. Salt water is said to have 

been found in limestone 95 feet from the surface, and, at about 180 

feet a considerable amount of Blue Lick or sulphur water. The well 

showed little loss in daily production for 10 or 12 years and is said 

to have been drowned out by an invasion of water, presumably from 

the overlying water-bearing bed. The next well drilled in this 

vicinity was on the Miller farm, but no facts are at hand regarding 

it. The' third well was drilled on the Sandusky property, near 

Sumpter, in 1896 or 1897. It began flowing at the rate of about 

100 barrels a day, and is said to have maintained this rate for 19 

days. This strike led the Cumberland Pipe Line Co. to lay a pipe 

29755° Bull, 579 14 ft
48 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES. KY.

line to the well from Somerset. . With a market for the oil, drilling was 

rapid, a large portion of the Cooper-Oil Valley district being developed 

within the three years following.

Structure. The general structure of the Spann limestone member in 

the Cooper-Oil Valley field is shown by red contour lines on the map 

(PI. Ill, p. 34) to be that of a broad, flat trough, called the Sumpter syncline, trending almost east and west, roughly parallel to the 

longer axis of the oil-producing belt. Near the eastern end of the 

field the oil is found at or near the axis of the syncline. Westward 

from the middle of the field the productive area rises higher and 

higher along this trough, northwest of Cooper, to a point where it 

appears to reach well up toward the axis of the Cooper anticline on 

the William Hurt, T. S. Oats, and R. E. Vickery farms. The greatest 

difference in altitude of the Spann limestone member within the 

field is about 100 feet. The variation in altitude of the Beaver 

Creek "sand" within the oil-bearing portion of this .field is not known, 

but it is probably over 100 feet. At the extreme eastern end of 

the field, on the A. J. Roberts property, the Beaver Creek "sand" 

has an elevation between 430 and 440 feet above sea level. On the 

B. E. Roberts farm, farther west, the altitude of this sand ranges 

from about 430 to 470 feet, the highest being in wells farthest west. 

On the Coffey farm, along the dividing ridge between Elk Spring 

Valley and Beaver Creek, the oil sand has an altitude of about 485 

to 495 feet. Farther south along this ridge, on the Miller property, 

in what is locally called the Stillhouse Hollow pool, the oil "sand" 

lies at a height of 500 to 516 feet in the wells to which levels were 

run and of which records were obtained.

Spirit levels were run to a number of wells on the B. S. Huffaker 

farm, north of Sumpter post office, and the records procured. From 

these data it appears that the structure of the Beaver Creek "sand" 

in this part of the Cooper-Oil Valley field is that shown on the accompanying map (fig. 6).

From the map (fig. 6) it is seen that the exact position of the axis 

of the Sumpter syncline is not known, though it appears to lie north 

of the Huffaker farm. The position of this fold hi the Spann limestone member has not been definitely determined over a considerable 

area around Cooper and Sumpter. It will require much more time 

than could be allotted to this, work to map in detail the structure of 

the rocks in this vicinity. The Beaver Creek "sand" has an altitude 

of 480 to 554 feet across the area over which structure contours are 

drawn.

Water. Special attention should be called to the underground 

water in wells on the Huffaker farm as shown in figure 6. An examination of the records of these wells as given in the table at the end 

of this bulletin shows that wells Nos. 5? 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12, which
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 49

found the oil "sand" at points structurally lowest, furnished no 

water of any kind, except Blue Lick, in beds from 200 to 300 feet 

above the Beaver Creek "sand." On the contrary, in some wells

Marshall Goddara

480 TT 

490 * -^

Well symbols

 Oil well

Show of oil

Gas well

Show of oil and gas 

4- Dry hole

 SO3' flgufes show altitucte of

Beaver Creek "sand"above sea leva!

A. and P.M.Miller

FIGURE 6. Sketch map of that part of the Cooper-Oil Valley field situated just north of Sumpter 

post office, showing structure of the Beaver Creek oil "sand." Numbers of wells correspond to those 

given In tables showing well records, pages 64-101. Contour lines show height of Beaver Creek 

" sand "v above sea level.

near the southern side of the field, where the sand has a higher altitude, more or less salt water was found. In this connection it should 

be. noted that probably 200 to 350 feet above the Beaver Creek
50 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

"sand" the "Waverly" formation contains only a few thin beds of 

limestone. (See fig. 4, p. 25.) In Huffaker well No. 22 salt water 

occurs in two places, at 128 and 30 feet, respectively, above the 

Beaver Creek "sand." The upper salt water entered in sufficient 

quantities to require casing off; the lower supply was exhausted by 

pumping. In well No. 24 the salt water was found at 71 feet above 

the Beaver Creek "sand" in such quantities as to require casing. In 

well No. 16 very strong salt water was encountered 180 to 170 feet 

above the.Beaver Creek "sand." In well No. 20 the salt water was 

found 99 feet above the oil "sand." This "sand" is reported absent 

in Huffaker well No. 18, and in No. 19 the bottom of the "sand" is 

43 feet above the Chattanooga shale. Considerable salt water was 

found in well No. 3 at a level only 40 feet above the Beaver Creek 

"sand." This well was finally exhausted by pumping. The data 

presented show that (1) the salt water is not found in or below the 

Beaver Creek "sand"; (2) it is not found in wells at the lowest places 

structurally; (3) it occurs at very irregular heights above the oil 

'' sand "; (4) it is seemingly most abundant where it is farthest above the 

oil "sand"; and (5) where it occurs a short distance above the Beaver 

Creek " sand'' the supply may be exhausted by pumping. These facts 

alone are far too incomplete and local in character to be used as a 

basis for theoretic conclusions, but if such material is carefully 

recorded by oil men in future work in this region it may eventually 

prove to be of special importance to geologists in settling the question 

of the origin and the causes of accumulation of oil and gas in this 

region.

Nothing was learned about the structure of the. Beaver Creek 

" sand " in the oil field west of the area shown in figure 6. In fact, the 

exact outline of the area that has produced oil is not known. The 

altitudes of a few wells on the B. S. Huffaker farm, west of Beaver 

Creek, and on the William Gregory, William Duncan, and the W. E. 

Hurt farms were taken, but no records of them were procured. In 

the extreme northwest end of the field 5 wells drilled on the R. E. 

Vickerey farm by the New Domain Oil '& Gas Co. found the Beaver 

Creek "sand" at a depth of 403 to 417 feet, the average height of this 

"sand" above sea level "being about 501 feet.

The western portion of this field is practically exhausted, and few 

producing wells now remain. A knowledge of the structure of this 

part of the field would be of considerable theoretic interest if determined very accurately, but it was thought very doubtful if sufficient 

data had been preserved by the oil men to justify the time and expense 

of attempting such a study. The general dip of the strata indicated 

by' the altitudes of the Spann limestone member, as shown on the 

map, suggests that the Sumpter syncline ends a short distance west 

of the oil field. The strata rise steeply westward from that £oint to
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. .51

the vicinity of Shearer Valley, beyond which they have not been 

traced.

This field shows the same "spotted" characteristics as the Steubenville and the Sinking fields. There appear to have been a number of 

very productive patches of the Beaver Creek "sand," separated by 

areas in which the wells were either small or dry. This condition is 

largely due to the character of the "sand" (limestone), which changes 

in porosity very greatly within short distances. It is probably also 

due in a less degree to the variation in the structure of the oil "sand."

Production.- The greatest daily production of the largest well in 

the Cooper-Oil Valley field is not known. Many wells exceeded 100 

barrels a day, and it is believed that the best well yielded less than 

500 barrels. The field has been fully developed for 10 or 12 years, 

and has shown more than 'ordinary lasting qualities in comparison 

with other oil-bearing areas in the Beaver Creek "sand." The pipeline reports show that this pool produced about 1,100 barrels a week 

in 1909. In March, 1912, it probably did not exceed 100 barrels a 

day, many of the wells having been exhausted and abandoned within 

the previous two years.

Test wells in the western part of Wayne County. At the time of the 

development of the Cooper field a number of dry holes were drilled 

along, its western margin in an endeavor to find a further extension 

to the field. These were not noted in the field work for this report.

Near the head of Shearer Valley a well was drilled on the Andrew 

Young farm, where a good gas flow is reported to have come from 

the Beaver Creek "sand." About half a mile farther north a well 

drilled by the Wood Oil Co. on the J. B. Huffaker tract is also reported 

to have furnished some gas. In the same valley, about 1£ miles 

southwest of Bethesda, a well on the R. B. Hubbard farm is reported 

to have reached the Beaver Creek "sand" at a depth of 475 feet, 

which, if the report is true, found this "sand" at an altitude of about 

590 feet. The well supplied some gas from the "Stray sand" at a 

depth of about 300 feet. A small gas well was also drilled on the 

W. K. Gillespie farm, about one-half mile south of Bethesda. This 

well lies at an altitude between 930 and 945 feet above sea level. 

Another test well was drilled on the E. H. Wray farm, about threefourths mile northwest of Bethesda. The mouth of this well is about 

1,010 feet above sea level. At Flat Rock Springs a dryholewas drilled 

on the Levi Ferrel farm, just across Beaver Creek from the springs. 

About hah0 a mile farther downstream sulphur water flows copiously 

from another "dry" hole on the M. F. Sexton farm. The deep well 

drilled to a depth of 2,003 feet at Murl post office found the Beaver 

Creek "sand" at an estimated height between 570 and 590 feet above 

sea level. A record of this well is given on page 13 and in figure 

2 (p. 16).
52 .OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREAEY COUNTIES, KY.

A number of wells were drilled several years ago on Otter Creek 

about 1£ miles southeast of Zola. In one or two of these wells, on 

the T. B. Kennedy farm, small quantities of oil were found in the 

Beaver Creek "sand." One well was drilled on the Frank Upchurch 

farm and one or more on the R. N. Hicks farm by Ross, Wetzel & 

Co. The Upchurch well is said to have furnished a small quantity 

of oil from the Beaver Creek "sand." Hicks well No. 1 is reported 

to yield a small quantity of oil with flowing salt water, presumably 

from the "Stray sand." None of these wells have produced in commercial quantities, and at the time of the writer's visit no development work was being done in this vicinity. It is probable that other 

wells have been drilled still farther down Otter Creek and in the 

extreme northwestern portion of Wayne County on Cumberland 

River and near the mouth of Beaver Creek. This part of the county 

was not visited by the writer.

NORTHERN AND EASTERN PARTS OF WAYNE COUNTY.

Parnell pool. A well was drilled in 1900 by P. M. Berwald on the 

Polly Lair, farm, about 1 mile from Parnell. This well supplied 

about 7 barrels of oil a day from two pay streaks at depths of 595 

and 692 feet, which are, respectively, 391 and 478 feet below the 

Chattanooga shale. This oil has a light-green color, contains much 

gas, and is highly charged with hydrogen sulphide. The greatest 

daily capacity, noted above, has been maintained with but little 

loss for the last nine years. Other wells were drilled within 300 feet 

of Lair well No. 1 on all sides without finding either oil or gas.

Scattered wells. About a mile north of Parnell a well drilled on the 

Butler farm by Vogler Bros., found the Chattanooga shale at a depth 

of 212 feet. This well reached a total depth of 2,050 feet and stopped 

in hard white sand, probably the St. Peter sandstone, which contained 

considerable quantities of Blue Lick water. In 1904 or 1905 two 

wells were drilled in the valley of Cumberland River, a short distance 

north of Mill Springs, on the Shelby Brown and McBeath farms. In 

the Brown well the Beaver Creek "sand" was found at a depth of 

about 96 feet and the Chattanooga shale 40 feet below it. Some 

salt water was found in this well at a depth of 60 to 80 feet. The 

McBeath well reached a depth of about 900 feet, the Beaver Creek 

"sand" being found at 160 feet. A slight show of gas was found in 

this well but no salt water. Other wells have been drilled in the vicinity 

of Mill Springs and Frazier and farther to the west along Cumberland 

River, all of which were unproductive. On the Riley Correll farm 

near Correti post office, an unproductive well, drilled by the New 

Domain Oil & Gas Co., found the Beaver Creek "sand" at a depth 

of 413 feet, the "sand" being 25 feet thick and of good quality. The 

Chattanooga shale in this well was 48 feet thick, the top being 20
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. . 53

feet below the "sand." At Pueblo a dry well was drilled by the New 

Domain Oil & Gas Co. to a depth of about 1,500 feet, on the Greenville Dick farm. A well drilled by this company on the Eli Walker 

farm, about 1£ rniles southwest of Denny, was also drilled to a depth 

of about 1,500 feet and found a show of oil in the Beaver Creek 

"sand." Another dry hole was drilled on this farm by the New 

Domain Oil & Gas Co., about 1,200 feet north of the first. Four wells 

have since been drilled on this farm by Porter Bros., in one of which 

about 1 barrel of oil a day was found in the Beaver Creek "sand." 

The other wells were said to have been dry. In this part of the 

county a small pool was developed on the Brown & Nixon farm by 

about six wells, drilled by the New Domain Oil & Gas Co. The first 

well reached a depth of 1,500 feet and was dry. The second, had an 

initial daily production of 200 to 400 barrels. Two other wells near 

this one produced from 5 to 10 barrels a day and two others were 

small gas wells. The production of this pool ran down rapidly and the 

field was exhausted in less than two years. All the oil came from the 

Beaver Creek "sand."

On Fannys Creek a small pool has been developed by a number of 

wells on and adjacent' to the J. T. Tompkins farm. No information 

in regard to this pool is available.

SCATTERED WELLS AND SMALL POOLS IN THE SOUTHERN PART

OP WAYNE COUNTY.

The general position of test wells and the producing areas in the 

southern part of Wayne County is shown on Plate V.

CORDER POOL.

In the southeastern portion, of Wayne County, or just across the 

line in McCreary County, on Middle South Fork River, oil was found 

a number of years ago on the James Corder property. This pool 

is said to have furnished a well with a capacity of more than 2,000 

barrels a day from the "Stray sand," about 200 feet above the 

Beaver Creek "sand" and at a depth of less than 300 feet. This oil 

is reported to have come entirely from crevices in a gray limestone.. 

The wells were very short lived, the oil giving way to water. This 

field was not visited by the writer and no detailed information is 

available regarding it.

JOHNSON FORK POOL.

In 1908 a small oil pool was developed on Johnson Fork, aboufr" 

4 miles north of Parmleysville, by the Demsey Oil Co. In November, 

1909, this pool consisted of 17 producing wells on the Aaron Barrier 

and Miles Gregory farms. These wells found oil in the "Stray sand" 

at a depth of 200 to 250 feet. This oil is said to come entirely from
54 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

crevices in a grayish limestone within a zone of about 50 feet. The 

wells had an initial production from a few barrels up to as much as 

200 barrels a day, the average being over 50 barrels. Two or more 

gas wells have been drilled on the western side of this pool, on the 

Preston Miller farm, which have furnished closed pressures of 40 to 

50 pounds, and initial capacities up to probably more than 1,000,000 

feet a day for a short period. This pool is located at a point where 

the height of the Beaver Creek "sand" is from 400 to about 420 feet 

above sea level. .

In the Johnson Fork pool salt water has been reported in three 

wells, into one of which it entered in sufficient quantities to shut off 

the flow of oil. No water was reported from the Beaver Creek' 'sand " 

in this,field. All of the four wells drilled to the Beaver Creek "sand" 

in this pool were unproductive. The "sand" is reported to range 

from 5 to less than 10 feet in thickness and as a rule to be hard and 

close.

KOOKY BRANCH POOL.

During the fall of 1909 four wells were drilled on Rocky Branch, 

about 1£ miles southeast of the Johnson Fork pool. In well No. 2 

on the Grant Roberts farm, at a depth of 187 feet, oil was found which 

rose to a height of 125 feet above the "Stray sand." In wells Nos. 1 

and 2 on the R. G. Bell farm the Beaver Creek "sand" was reached 

at depths of 501 and 598 feet, respectively, the "sand" being 15 feet 

thick in well No. 1 and 12 feet thick in well No. 2. In well No. 2 oil 

was. found in the "Stray sand" at a depth of 380 feet. Along Rock 

Creek, in the southeastern part of Wayne County, and the southwestern part of McCreary County, a number of wells have been 

drilled, in some of which small quantities of oil were found in the 

Beaver Creek "sand," but no pools of commercial size have yet been 

developed. Also a small pool of oil has been developed by probably 

half a dozen wells on South Fork River, on the Cockrill & Keeney 

property, but no information in regard to this territory has been 

collected.

SUNNYBROOK POOL.

A well was drilled in 1901 on the J. S. Bertram farm, near Sunnybrook, in the extreme southwestern portion of Wayne County. This 

well found oil in what came to be known as the Sunnybrook "sand" 

and began producing at the rate of about 200 barrels a day. Between 

1901 and 1903 this pool was fully developed; its length was about 

1£ miles and its average width about 1,000 feet. Most of the oil was 

found at a depth of about 550 feet below the Chattanooga shale. It 

is said to have come mainly from crevices in the porous limestone, 

which is of Ordovician age. The productive area was on the farms of 

J. S. Bertram, J. C. Bertram, R. S. Bertram, C. T. Dalton, Geary &
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR BULLETIN 579 PLATE V

FARM LINE MAP 

OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF

WAYNE AND McGEEAEY COUNTIES

KENTUCKY

Compiled from field maps of oil companies

. Gregory/ Bell j

Cockri I f. Ja nd Keeney

Rock Creek Property Co.

PAF^T OF

F.DobbsX W.M.Roger U R.Cr. P.Co.

J-V D.//DonTuie

Kinnie, 

addle,

and f\ Kinnie,Waddle, 

Gibson \ and Gibson

Kmnte,Waddle, 

and Gibson

Gocksril! and Keeney

Oil welt 

Gas well 

Show of oil

* Show of gas

-f Dry hole

Property Co.

KENTUCKY
OIL AND GAS FIELDS.. 55

Waddell, Lizzie Lester, and B. E. Peercy. Many of the wells produced as much as 100 barrels a day, but few of them exceeded 200 

barrels a day. The pool was very short lived. Within a few months 

after the first well was drilled water appeared in this well and slowly 

encroached on the oil-producing territory .until .the entire area was 

flooded and the wells produced water exclusively. Wells threatened 

by the encroachment of this water doubled their capacities for a short 

time preceding the appearance of water in them, after which the 

change was very rapid from oil to water. The J. S. Bertram well 

No. 11 was pumping 75 to 80 barrels a day and increased to 150 barrels 

within one week, but then within 24 hours changed entirely to water. 

In 1909 this pool had been entirely exhausted and the wells abandoned.

DEY FORK POOL.

In 1902 to 1904 the Mayfield Oil Co. opened up a small oil pool on 

Dry Fork, about 2£ miles south of Slickford. This pool had a maximum production of about 275 barrels a day from about 20 wells in 

the Beaver Creek "sand." In 1909 it had an estimated production of 

about 25 barrels a day from 14 wells. No other details regarding this 

field were obtained.

SLICKFORD OIL FIELD.

The first well drilled In this field, and probably one of the first 

wells in Wayne County, was put down on the Morgan farm near 

Slickford. Oil from this well was hauled by wagon to Rowena on 

Kentucky River and shipped by boat to Nashville. No detailed 

records of these old wells are at hand. They are reported to have 

been from 200 to 400 feet in depth. It is estimated that the Beaver 

Creek "sand" in this vicinity is about 400 feet from the surface in 

the valleys, and it is possible that this old well procured oil from that 

stratum. On the Cyrus Brown farm a small well produced about 

150 barrels of oil from this shallow "sand" at a depth.of about 

200 feet.

A well drilled on the Ruth Upchurch farm in 1905 by the Turkey 

Rock Oil & Gas Co. -began producing about 150 barrels a day from 

the Beaver Creek "sand." This well led to the development of what 

is locally called the Turkey Rock pool of the Slickford field, which 

covers all or a portion of the following farms: Ruth Upchurch, C. A. 

Williams, A. M. Williams, William Marsh, State National Bank, 

T. T. Davis, G. W. Morris, J. F. Young, W. A. Young, M. E. Hall, 

Davidson, Hicks, James Coope, and J. A. Brown. In 1909 about 

150 producing wells had been drilled in this pool. At that time the 

total production of the field was about 200 barrels a day. Salt water 

was found at a number of places in the "Stray sand" in this field. 

Very salty water has been reported from the Beaver,Creek "sand" at
56 OIL AND GAS IN''WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

places along the northern edge of the field, where it is said to increase 

in amount with pumping and to seriously retard production. No 

spirit-level lines were run hi this field, and only a portion of it is shown 

on the farm line map (PI. V).

YOUNG POOL.

A small oil pool was developed a number of years ago on the left 

fork of Beaver Creek, about 3£ miles southwest of Sumpter, by about 

10 or 15 wells on the W. A. Young and J. H. Edwards farms. This 

pool lies in the "Stray sand" at a depth of about 150 feet. The 

largest wells produce about 200 barrels a day but were pumped out 

within one or two months. No water is said to have been found with 

the oil in this.pool.

PABMLEYSVILLE DISTRICT.

In this report the Pannleysville district includes the Mount Pisgah, 

Parmleysville, and Griffin oil fields, as shown on Plate VI. Spiritlevel lines were run to many of the wells in this district, and the dip 

of the Beaver Creek "sand" was ascertained in more or less detail 

over a considerable part, of the producing areas. The object of this 

work was to determine the approximate structural relationship of 

these three fields, so that their structure, might be compared with 

that of the Steubenville and the Cooper-Oil Valley fields. The work 

was reconnaissance in nature, and therefore the structure which is 

shown by the red contours on Plate VI may be more or less in error, 

especially where the contours are dotted.

MOUNT PISGAH FIELD.

History. Gas was found several years ago in considerable quantities in the "Stray sand" in four or five wells drilled on the K. T. 

Turner farm, about 1£ miles east of Mount Pisgah. Some of these 

wells are reported to have had an initial daily capacity of more than. 

1,000,000 cubic feet. One or two of them found good shows of oil in 

the'' Stray sand." The gas wells were short lived and have long been 

abandoned.

A number of other wells were drilled northwest of Mount Pisgah on 

what is now the Alfred Cooper farm, in two or three of which a small 

production of oil was obtained from the Beaver Creek "sand." Gas 

wells were also found in this "sand" on the Keeton farm, west of 

Mount Pisgah. In 1908 the Wood Oil Co. drilled a well on the H. T. 

Hurt farm, which began flowing at a rate of several hundred barrels 

a day from the Beaver Creek "sand." Other wells on this farm and 

on the S. C. Dobbs, T. B. Dobbs, and Alfred Cooper farms have developed a pood covering less than 1 square mile, which in March, 1912, 

was being slowly extended. Practically all the oil in this pool comes
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR BULLETIN 579 PLATE VI

SKETCH MAP OF A PORTION OF

LITTLE SOUTH FORK OIL DISTRICT

WAYNE COUNTY, KENTUCKY

2,opo 4,000 6,000 8,opo 10,000 Feet

WELL SYMBOLS 

* OH well

Show of oil

Gaa well

Dry hole

Note : Dotted surface contours show the 

general surface features only, and not exact 

elevations
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 57

from the Beaver Creek "sand," though small quantities were found 

in the '/Stray sand" in a few wells. . In most of the wells the initial 

daily capacity was less than 50 barrels, but in a few of them it was as 

much as 150 to 200 barrels. Gas which had an initial closed pressure 

of about 145 pounds, was obtained in the Beaver Creek "sand" on the 

S. C. Dobbs farm, at the western end of the field. The capacities of 

these wells are not known. In this pool the Beaver Creek "sand" 

ranges from a thin film to probably 30 feet in thickness, and, as elsewhere in this county, it is a gray to brown calcitic cherty limestone, 

lying between 4 and 20 feet above the Chattanooga shale.

Structure. The Mount Pisgah field appears to occupy the western 

end of a broad flat-bottomed trough which extends almost due east 

from the field. The structure is very similar to that of the western 

ends of both the Steubenville and the Cooper-Oil Valley fields described above. At the western side of the field the top of the Beaver 

Creek "sand" ranges from about 50'0 to 530 feet above sea level. It 

is probably as low as 440 feet above sea level at the eastern end of the 

field. These altitudes are almost identical with those given above 

for both the Steubenville and the Cooper-Oil Valley fields, showing a 

remarkable uniformity in the height of the Beaver Creek "sand" 

where it is oil producing in this county. The dip of the Beaver Creek 

"sand" in the Mount Pisgah field is shown by contour on Plate VI.

Water. No salt water is found in or below the Beaver Creek " sand " 

in the Mount Pisgah field. It is found, however, in considerable 

quantities over most of the field in the "Stray sand" at'150 to 200 

feet above the Beaver Creek. In the Alfred Cooper well No. 1, which 

is one of the three producing wells at the extreme south end of the 

field, salt' water flowed from a limestone 166 feet above the Beaver 

Creek "sand." In the Cooper wells Nos. 3, 6, and 7, on the same 

farm, very salty water was found 120 to 129 feet above the Beaver 

Creek "sand."

PARMLEYSVILLE FIELD.

History. Parmleysville field, as developed up to November, 1909, 

covers a roughly triangular area, each, side of which is about 2£ 

miles in length. The oil in this field comes entirely from the Beaver 

Creek "sand," which lies at an altitude between 400 and 500 feet 

above sea level. The largest well in the field is not known. The 

John Keeton well No. 3, at the extreme west end, began producing 

about 100 barrels a day, and maintained a daily production of more 

than 40 barrels for the first year. Other good wells were obtained on 

the James Burnett farm at the northern end of the field. The initial 

production of most of the wells in this field ranged from 2 to 40 

barrels a day. The development began in the southwestern portion 

of the field, where a small pool was found on the John Keeton farm, 

and another on the Alvis Hurt, Cullen Koger, and adjoining farms.
58 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREABY COUNTIES, KY.

At about this time another small pool was developed on the M. W. 

Powers property, just south of Parmleysville post office. In 1907 or 

1908 the Parmleysville field was extended to the northeast by the 

development of a very productive pool on the James Burnett, W. M. 

Powers, Foster, Davis, and Faust farms.

The Beaver Creek "sand" in this region varies greatly in thickness 

and character. The gas pressure in it appears to have not exceeded 

150 pounds .to the square inch. The rate of decrease of production 

in the field is much less rapid than that of most of the fields of Wayne 

County. The field is now down to a settled production, which is 

slowly decreasing from year to year. Many of the wells have already 

been exhausted and abandoned.

Structure. For lack of time the structure of the Parmleysville pool 

could not be mapped in detail. Levels were run to a few wells on the 

John Keeton, Alvis Hurt, and J. R. Bell farms in the southwestern 

part of the pool, and to most of the wells on the James Burnetfc farm, 

and to some on the M. W. Powers, F. Foster, Marcus Foster, and 

Davis farms in the northeastern part of the field. Records of nearly 

all these wells were supplied by the owners, and it is believed that 

the contour lines, as shown on Plate VI, depict the general structure 

of the Beaver Creek "sand" fairly accurately. From these contour 

lines it will be seen that the Beaver Creek "sand" dips steeply to the 

north around the northeast margin of the pool, and that the lower 

side of the productive area is bounded very closely by the 400-foot 

contour. The altitude suggests that the Parmleysville pool occupies 

a broad, flat terrace or a flat-topped anticline in the Beaver Creek 

"sand," where it lies at an altitude of about 400 to 475 feet above 

sea level.

Water. Little water is reported in and below the Beaver Creek 

"sand" in the Parmleysville field. The "Stray sand" in this field, as 

in most other fields of Wayne County, carries water, which is reported 

in some wells to be salty, but no other details regarding the water in 

this "sand" are at hand. The Parmleysville field is separated by 

about a mile of barren territory from the Mount Pisgah field on the 

west and by about the same distance from the Griffin field on the east. 

The character of the "sand" between these fields is not known, but 

in a few of the dry holes in these areas it is reported to be absent, 

and in others hard and close, without oil, gas, or water.

GRIFFIN FIELD.

History. The Griffin field has been developed since the spring of 

1909, at which time a few scattered wells had been drilled on the 

James Rice and J. W. Steel farms. In January, 1912, this field consisted of two or three more or less completely isolated areas, the 

territory between which had not been fully developed. One of these
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 59

developed localities was on the William Gregory and James Gregory 

farms at the extreme western end of the field. This pool also included 

some wells on the Rice and Clark tracts. Another pool had been 

fairly well outlined by dry holes to the east on the J. W. Steel farm, 

just north of Griffin. A similar pool had also been partly developed 

farther to the east, on the Rock Creek Property Co.'s farm. This 

pool was separated from another about H miles northeast of Griffin 

on the Denny heirs' property. It seems probable that future development will connect some of these pools.

Gas and some oil have been found in a number of wells in the 

"Stray sand," but most of the oil comes from the Beaver Creek 

"sand," which lies at a depth of 400 to 500 feet. The best well in 

the field did not exceed 300 barrels a day. The average wells range 

from 5 to probably 30 barrels a day, though a few wells have a daily 

production of more than 100 barrels. The Beaver Creek "sand" 

ranges in thickness from a feather edge to about 30 feet, averaging 

between 15 and 20 feet. It shows its customary abrupt variation in 

porosity from well to well.

Structure. The dip of the Beaver Creek "sand" in part of the 

Griffin field is shown by the red contours on Plate VI. At the tune 

field work was done the pool had not reached a state of development 

that would enable a detailed structural map to be made of the Beaver 

Creek "sand" for all the productive territory. The contours show 

that the lower edge of the productive area in the Beaver Creek 

"sand" is closely outlined by the 320-foot contour and that the 

highest point on the "sand" which has been found to contain oil is 

less than 400 feet above sea level. The pool appears to lie along 

the northern side of an anticline which crosses Little South Fork 

about one-fourth mile southwest of Griffin, except a small area on 

the Rock Creek Property Co.'s farm, about three-fourths of a mile 

southeast of Griffin, and the two small producing wells on the Cephas 

Rice farm. These areas appear to lie on the south side of this fold 

at about the same altitude. At the time field work was done a number of wells on the E. L. Foster and James Rice farms, which are 

shown on the map, had not been drilled. The dip of the Beaver 

Creek "sand" in this portion of the field is therefore somewhat in 

doubt. No records of the wells drilled by Rust & Co. on the James 

Gregory farm could be secured. It seems probable, however, that in 

well No. 13 on this farm the Beaver Creek "sand" has an altitude of 

about 380 feet above sea level, and therefore is at approximately the 

highest point where oil has been found in the Beaver Creek "sand" 

in this field. The structure contours indicate that a broad syncline 

exists in the Beaver Creek "sand" somewhere to the northeast of 

the Griffin pool, but work was not extended over sufficient territory 

to permit the mapping of this trough.
60 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

Water. No salt water was found in the Beaver Creek "sand" in 

the Griffin field. In the J. .W. Steel well No. 1 fresh water was reported at a depth of 40 feet and sulphur water with some gas at 140 

feet. More gas was found at a depth of 220 to 260 feet and oil at 

306 feet. In the J. W. Steel well No. 3 sulphur water was found at 

145 to 148 feet. In the records at hand no salt water is reported as 

coming from the "Stray sand," which lies from 150 to 200 feet above 

the Beaver Creek "sand."

Future extensions of the Griffin field. It seems probable that extensions to the Griffin field may be made along a belt where the Beaver 

Creek "sand" lies at an altitude between 320 and 380 feet above sea 

level. The direction of the contours, as shown on Plate VI, indicates 

that this belt will be found to include some undeveloped territory 

west of the new wells that have been drilled on the E. L. Foster and 

James Rice farms, west of the Griffin-Parmleysville Road. The 

extension of the pool in this direction appears to be made possible by 

the shallow trough which passes across the James Rice farm a short 

distance west of the crossroads 1 mile northeast of Griffin. No data 

are at hand, however, to show how far this trough extends to the west. 

It is known that the Beaver Creek "sand" rises toward the west, and 

it is therefore probable that the oil territory may extend to or beyond 

the top of the hill south of the Griffin-Parmleysville Road. This 

extension, of course, is dependent on the continuation of ail open 

porous pay streak in the Beaver Creek "sand." Another possible 

extension to the Griffin field appears to be along a narrow belt .passing 

east from the bend in Little South Fork, about half a mile northeast 

of Griffin. Wells located in this belt above the 320-foot contour, as 

shown on Plate VI, should have a good chance of getting oil if the 

Beaver Creek "sand" is of fair quality. In fact, there is no structural reason why the productive territory may not extend in this 

direction to the small pool on the Denny heirs' property. Two wells 

on the Cephas Rice farm, south of Griffin, and the five producing wells 

on the Rock Creek Property Co. farm, southeast of Griffin, suggest 

strongly that a pool may be developed along the southern side of the 

anticline between, these developments. The three dry holes on the 

J. W. Steel property between these developments may indicate a poor 

quality of sand in this area. As a purely wildcat undertaking, the 

territory in the vicinity of the Pilot Rock, south of Griffin, and as far 

west as Little South Fork, may prove worthy of a test. In the northwestern part of the Griffin field it seems probable that a further extension of the field may be made by wells drilled a little west or north 

from the William Gregory well No. 1 of Rust & Co. All these suggestions are based on structural conditions alone and do not take into 

account the quality of the Beaver Creek "sand."
OIL AND GAS FIELDS. 61 

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.

As shown by the foregoing data the productive areas in the Beaver 

Creek "sand," so far as they have been examined in Wayne County, 

show a structural relationship, which may be briefly summarized as 

follows: The height of the producing area in the Beaver Creek "sand" 

in the Steubenville field ranges from a maximum of about 560 feet 

at the western end of the field to about 300 feet at the eastern end, 

the pool being situated on the north slope of the Spann anticline and, 

at the western end, at the head of a canoe-shaped syncline" which 

pitches toward the east.

In the western end of the Cooper-Oil Valley field the maximum 

altitude of the Beaver Creek "sand" in the producing area is between 

520 and 570 feet, where the field occupies the western end of the 

Sumpter syncline, the productive part of the sand in this syncline 

dipping to the east with an altitude of about 430 feet at Oil Valley.

In the Parmleysville district the highest portion of the Beaver Creek 

"sand" isdn the western portion of the Mount Pisgah pool, where it 

is about 520 feet above sea level. Eastward from this point the productive area in this "sand" decreases in altitude to about 400 feet 

at the northeastern edge of the Parmleysville pool, and in the Griffin' 

field the altitude of the oil-bearing portion of the Beaver Creek "sand" 

reaches a minimum of .about 320 feet. The geologic similarities of 

these three districts are (1) the clearly marked tendency of the oil to 

occupy the sides and bottoms of structural troughs; (2) the definite 

decrease in altitude of the sand in the productive areas from west to 

east in each district; and (3) the approximately uniform altitude of 

pools in the Beaver Creek "sand."

This tendency of the various fields, toward a definite structural 

grouping seems more remarkable when the variability in porosity and 

the irregularity in distribution of the Beaver Creek "sand" is considered. The possibility of this tendency being due in part to the 

wider distribution of this limestone in structure troughs than on the 

adjacent anticlines, because of conditions of deposition or because it 

may mark the horizon of an unconformity, can not, for want of data, 

be discussed in this paper. That this relation does exist between the 

structure of the Beaver Creek "sand" and its oil-bearing areas is the 

fact of special importance to oil men. The fragmental and disconnected data presented above probably justify the assertion that 

good detailed geologic maps of Wayne County and of similar territory to the north and to the south should enable any practical 

oil man who will take the trouble to study and understand them 

to so place his test wells in undeveloped areas as to increase his 

chances of getting oil between 50 and 75 per cent over the ordinary 

wildcatting methods. There is every reason to suppose that many
62 OIL AND GAS IN WAYNE AND McCREARY COUNTIES, KY.

other profitable oil pools will be found eventually in districts in and 

adjacent to Wayne County. The structural conditions here seem to 

favor the practical application of geology in finding these pools.

TECHNOLOGY.

Most of the drilling to the Beaver Creek "sand" is done with drilling machines. The wells are shallow, ranging from about 400 to 

1,000 feet in depth. A single string of 6J casing is generally used to 

shut off all water, which usually occurs above the "Waverly" formation. The cost of drilling a well to the Beaver Creek "sand" and of 

putting it to pumping ranges from about $1,OQO to $2,000. A large 

item of this cost is hauling. The oil fields, especially in the southern 

part of the county, are remote from railroads. Most of the oil-well 

supplies are brought in to the fields from Burnside, a station on the 

Queen & Crescent Railroad, 20 to 40 miles distant.

A good macadamized pike connects Burnside and Monticello, and 

other roads extend from Monticello to Oil Valley and Cooper. In 

the mountainous region south of these places the roads are usually 

very bad, being both steep and rocky.

In some districts considerable difficulty is experienced during dry 

seasons in procuring a sufficient supply of water. Wood for fuel is 

plentiful and fairly cheap. Coal is in places available from local coal 

banks at a reasonable price. Gas engines, to which a number of wells 

are shackled, are generally used for pumping. .

ANALYSES OF OIL FROM WAYNE COUNTY POOLS.

The following list of analyses of oil from Wayne County is reprinted from "The production of petroleum in 1909" by David T. 

Day: 1 __________________

i U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 1909, pt. 2, pp. 412-413,1911.
Analyses of oil from Wayne County well

o

fc

3 

1

3 

4 

5

7 

8 

9

10 

12

13

Location of well.

P a r n e 1 1 pool Sunnybrook 

"sand." Polly Lair farm, 

P. M. Burwald, Monticello. 

Sinking pool, Beaver Creek 

"sand," Wood Oil Co., Monticello. 

Oil Valley pool, Beaver Creek 

"sand/' Ohio & Kentucky 

Oil Refining Co., Oil Valley.

Cooper pool. Beaver Creek 

"sand?' B. S. Huflaker 

' farm, Pa. Lubricating Co., 

Monticello. 

Turkey Rock pool, Slickjord 

district, Jos. Brown & Co., 

Slickford. 

Rocky Branch pool '(near 

Monticello), Grant Roberts 

farm, Demsey Oil Co., 

Bradford, Pa., first oil from 

well. 

Parmleysville pool (north 

end), Beaver Creek "sand," 

James Burnett farm, Ross, 

Wetzel & Co., Parmleysville.

Collected by 

. M. W. Crouch. 

M. J. Munn ... 

.....do......... 

.....do.........

. ....do.... ......

M. W. Crouch.

M. J. Munn... 

M. W. Crouch.

M. J. Munn...

Collected from well No.

1

""&

2

2

Depth of well(feet).

692 

600 

690

187

Physical properties.

Gravity 

at 60° F.

10.'

o<

03

0.8083 

.8154 

.8154

.8408 

. 8235 

.8178

.8163 

.9021

.8348

Baumd.

43.2

41.7 

41.7

36.5 

40.0 

41.2

41.5 

25.2

37.7

Color.

Light green. 

Dark green..

Brown...... 

Dark green. . 

Black.......

Dark green:. 

Black.......

Dark green..

Odor.

Like Pennsylvania oil.

.....do....... 

.....do.......

.....do....... 

.....do....... 

.....do.......

.....do....... 

.....do.......

.....do.......

D

Begins to boilat°C.

43 

65 

50

53 

60 

35

60 

170

76

To 150

G °3

o 03

27.0 

22.0 

20.0

13.5 

16.5 

25.0

23.0 

13.0

o

£ 

0

f

0

0.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

td

Crisman No. 1. 6 Ingram No. 1. 
WELL RECORDS.

The following are detailed records of wells in the area covered by th

Well reco rds of Wayne County, Ky.

Name.

Isaac Baker ............

James Barnes . .........

Do.................

Do.................

D0....1............

Well 

No.

1

1

3 

1

Company.

Consolidated Developing Co.

.....do................

Wood Oil Co.... ......

Altitude.

1,161.5

Stratum.

Name.

"Sand," black, shallow 

(Beaver Creek).

Sand, black; no Beaver 

Creek "sand."

Lime and slate (Beaver 

Creek "sand"). 

Shale, black, soft (Chattanooga).

Lime, pepper and salt, hard. 

Lime, brown, hard (Sunnybrook "sand").

Lime, dark blue or black, 

hard.

Sand, white, hard. ..........

Lime, nearly white .........

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

385

/ 260 

\ 450

234 

679

104 

254 

394

440

480 

580 

880

1,080 

1,090

1,290 

1,350 

1,890 

1,937 

1,952 

1.957

Thickness.

Feet.

... 5

19

150 

140 

46

40

100 

300 

200

10 

200

60 

540 

25 

15 

5 

10
A. Barrier..............

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Col. Barrier..... _ .....

G.W.Bell. ............

E.G. Bell..............

Do.................

Do.................

1 

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

11 

1

2

.1 

2

Dp-msfly Oil Co.. , L1

.....do.. ..............

.....do................

do .......

.....do......_........

.....do................

.....do................

ElliottOfl Co... ......

Demsey Oil Co. .......

.....do................

.....do................

855.1

898.7 

854.1

854.2 

865.7

862.7 

862.5

1,108.6 

1,133.8

Sand, white, very gritty .... 

Sand, white, not so gritty. . .

First "sand"; did not go to 

Beaver Creek "sand."

Slate........................

Shale........................

"Sand"....'.................

Slate........................

Shale, black.................

Shale........................

.....do......................

1,967 

1,977 

1,992

488 

495 

497

197 

188

734

486 

501 

506

586 

611}

624 

632

10 

15 

11

7 

2 

i

14

532

15 

5 

11

12

15 

20
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Contin

Name.

Do.................

Do.................

\ '. -

No.

3

13

8

17

! 

»

Company.

Belvedere Oil Co .....

.....do..............:.

Wood OH Co..........

.....do................

tude.

1,122.9

1, 161. 2

1,068.5

Stratum.

Name.

.....do..........:...........

.....do......................

......do......................

Limestone, bluish white, 

dry, hard. 

Limestone, white, hard . ... 

Limestone, dark. hard.. ...

Do.................. ...

Limestone, white, hard . ...

Limestone, white, hard . ...

Slate, dark, loose. ...........

Hardshell..................

Shale, dark, loose (Chattanooga).

Do......................

Limestone, brown, hard. . . . . 

Limestone, brown, loose. .... 

Limestone, brown, hard. . . . . 

Limestone, dark, hard ......

Flint........................

Limestone, dark, hard ......

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

648

677 

647

650

0

105

115 

175

205

244 

299

329

369 

389

505

530

540

553 

593

608

643

693

733

1,085 

1,105 

1,185 

1,295

1,340

1,345

Thickness.

Feet. 

10

14 

14

15

105

10

60 

30

39

55 

30

40

20 

116

25

10

13

40 

15

35

50

40

352

20 

80 

110 

45

5

152
Do. 2 New Domain Oil & 

Gas Co.

Do .......

J. A. Brown....

.........

Mud........................

Mud........................

Mud........................

Mud........................

Slate........................

Slate, black, soft. ...........

Mud, blue, soft. . . . . '. ........

Mud, soft, yellow. ..........

Pay sand, white, medium.. . 

Slate, blue, soft .............

0

28

34

65

120

132

202

206

369

386

401

450

471

720

732

747

752

0 

24

114

274

334

424

500

640

655

720

739

7470

35

200

338

340

342

350

400

475

485

. 490

502

550

580 

588

286

31

55

12

704

163

17

15

49

21

249

12

155

14

24 

90

160

60

90

76

140

15

65

198

29

35

165

138228

50

75

105

12

48

30

8 2
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Contin

Name.

Do.................

Do..................

Do.................

Do.................

Well 

No.

2

2

'5

Company.

Mount Fisgah oi 1 field . 

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

Altitude.

Stratum.

Name.

Sand, black, hard ...........

Limestone, dark, hard ......

Beaver Creek "sand". ......

..... do... ....................

Beaver Creek "sand," very 

hard and close.

Depth 

to top.

Feet.

90 

140 

160 

200 

250 

300 

410 

425 

438 

448 

480 

495

554

523

527} 

586

448 

450

Thickness.

Feet. 

90 

50 

20 

40 

50 

50 

110 

15 

13 

10 

32 

15 

52

6 

58J

«i

18

o
Do.

Do.

Do...........

D. Frank Cooper.

Riley Corell.

John Crabtree.

J. B. Crawford.

.do.

.do.

Wood Oil Co....

Demsey Oil Co.

Jones Bros.

914

Beaver Creek "sand". ......

Beaver Creek "sand," dry . . 

Shale, black.... . ............

Lime, black (Sunnybrook 

"sand") with here and 

there bluish shale layers.

Sand........................

417 

402

415 

443 

396

464 

449

590 

688

413 

458

233 

387 

400

19 

12

20

16

26 

12

30 

30

25 

42

40 

1 

4
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

Name.

Do.................

Do.................

No.

2

1

1

2

3

Company.

Bodine Oil Co. _......

\

.....do................

....do................

- tude.

Stratum.

Name.

Black shallow sand .........

Slate........................

dium.

Beaver Creek "sand," blue, 

hard.

Mud........................

Limestone, black, hard .....

Depth 

to top.

Feet.

522

423

564

582

0

26

392

417

517

550 

0

18

50

90

165

215

260

280

Thickness.

Feet.

11

18

8

26

366

25

100

33

25 

18

32

40

75

50

 45

20

190
Do.

Do. 1 ,

5g

.....do................

.....do...............l

.....do..:............. ' Beaver Creek "sand," light 

gray, hard .

Shale, black....... ..........

Mud........................

Limestone, white, hard. . . . .

Slate and shells , blue, soft ....

Limestone, white, hard. . . . .

Beaver Creek'"sand," white, 

hard.

Clay, red, loose.. . ...........

Limestone shell, white and 

blue. hard.

Beaver Creek "sand," white 

and blue;, hard.

Slate and mud, dark, soft . . . 

Grit, light, hard and close. . . 

Grit, darker, hard and close .

Beaver Creek "sand," light, 

hard.

470

490

535

581

599

61109

89

239

259

269

277

302

342

467

527

614

629

64803

93

193

253

403

443

525

535

5440

20

60

64

104

180

190

210

260

265

365

515

690

720

770

20

45

46

18

' 129

80

150

20

108

25

40

 125

60

87

15

193

90

100

60

150

40

82

109

16

20

404

40

76

10

20

505

100 '150

175

30

50

20
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Cont

Name.

'

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do. ................

Do.................

Do.................

Well 

No.

10

3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Company.

New Domain Oil &

Gas Co.

Wood OiLCo.. ........

Wetzel & Co..........

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do..................

.....do.................

.....do.........;.......

Altitude.

Stratum.

Name.

Beaver Creek "sand," gray, 

medium. 

Slate, blue, soft.............

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

...:.do.. .....................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

Depth 

to top.

Feet.

44

244

459

659

727 

739

941

908

539

490

641

478

627

660

535

607

748

736

758

Thickness.

Feet. 

44

200

215

200

68

12 

13

16

11

13

20

13

12

11

13

14

8

11

12

12
Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do. ............. ...

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

1

2

3

0)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.......................

.:...do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do........ ..... T . ........

.....do.......................

....,dd......... ..............

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

489

505

494

577

517

543

752

578

591}

586

607

691}

740

480

420

430

485

588 

560 

537 

652 

707 

701 

602

/680or

\ 670

10

13

18

16

12

. 11

14

13

' 9}

12

10

' 8}

9

15 

14} 

15 

14} 

14 

14}

}.......

Church lot.
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

Name.

Butler.................

Mike Castillo. ..........

Do.................

Do.................

No.

9

1

1

2

4

6

Company.

Wood Oil Co. .........

.....do................

.....do.................

tude.

976. 8

 876.6

884

914.6

Stratum.

Name.

.....do.......................

Sand, white, hard, gritty. . . .

....do.......................

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

603

936

965

955

2

212

1,900 

381

397

499

70S

714

482

tort "

Thickness.

Feet.

24

15

212

30

1,658

150 

16

25

6

34

13

11
Do.................

Do..................

Do.................

t'

DO................;

6

7

4

5.

1

6

.....do.................

.....do.................

Mount Pisgah oil field .

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

Beaver Creek "sand " .......

Shale, black (with 28 feet 

blue shale overlying).

Limestone, dark gray, hard .

Limestone, light gray, hard .

Beaver Creek "sand,'-' blue, 

soft. 

Slate, light blue. soft. .......

483

687

914

920

915

930

444

452J

0

6

36

146

196

241

281

431

471

517

551

14

13

6

39

Si

9*

6 '30

110

50

45

40

150

40

46

34

5
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

Name.

C.H. Denny. ..........

Do.................

Do.................

G.F. Dick.............

Well 

No.

1

1

2

3

1

Company.

Gas Co.

Wetzel&Co. .........

.....do................

.....do................

tude.

Stratum.

Name.

Clay........................

Lime, white, medium .......

Lime, white, and black sand . 

Slate, gray, loose. . ..........

Shale, black................

Sand........................

Shale, black.................

Clay and gravel, soft. .......

Lime, white, hard, and 

sandy. 

Lime, gray and very hard..

Lime, gray, shelly, and very 

hard.

Shale, blue, soft. ............

Lime, Beaver Creek "sand," 

white. 

Slate, blue, soft .............

Shale, black, soft. ...........

Lime, white, hard, and 

sandy.

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

0

2

230

284

490 

640

646

656

660

647

468

478

0

114

111J

131J

201J 

221J

250

275

375

475

519

527 

540

554

594

604

Thickness.

Feet. 

2

228

62

194

150 

6

10

4

17

10

18

11§

100

20

70

20 

28J

25

100

100

44

8

13

. 14

40

10

11
Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

1

2

3

1

10

12

1

Wood Oil Co..........

.....do................

1,111

1,102

1,039

Lime, bine, loose. ..........

Lime, white, black, hard, 

shelly.

Lime, black and white, 

shelly. 

Lime, white, very sandy ....

Beaver Creek "sand".......

.....do......................

Beaver Creek "sand " ..;....

Beaver Creek "sand" .......

Beaver Creek "sand".......

.....do......................

Beaver Creek "sand" ... ....

Slate........................

615

815 

965

1,100

1,200 

1,212

1,232

1,332

1,482

396

421

474

395

447

540

.561

263

458

474

663

641

506

543

660

317

413

431

200

150 

135

100

12 

20

100

150

25

20

20

22

10

20

10

8

8

35

10

170

96

18

14
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Contin

 

Name.

Do.................

/ 

Do.................

Do..:..............

Do.................

No.

6

4

5

6

g

. 1

2

Company.

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

4 Hi

tude.

. 986

986

941

Stratum.

Name.

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

....do......................

....do......................

Shale, black. ................

Slate, white, soft.......... .

Shale, black, soft. ...........

Limestone, hard. ...........

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

575

458

414

479

330

355

879

319

363

423

457

950

1.070

Thickness.

Feet.

191

11

12

13

i 3

15

30

44

60

34

493

120

88

d

o
B. Fairchild...........:

'J£ Do.................

«o

VI

-Cn

 l^

Crt

 <!

T

£

Jo DO.:...............

 -

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

1

2

3

1

4

5

6

1

3

....do................

.....do................

Wetzel&Co..........

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

1,090

Slate........................

Shale.......................

Clay........................

Mud........................

Slate, dark gray, soft. .......

Limestone, dark gray, hard .

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do.......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

502

514

520

0

' 17

77

87

150

155

178

400

410

437

452

24

120

145

155

185

305 

335

400

503

505

546

925

912

753

943

886

996

1,007

928

2

12

6

10

17

60

10

63

5

23

222.

10

27

15

49

24

96

25

10

30

120

30 

65

103

13

11

14

17

191

9

15

12

15

14
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Con

Name.

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Hiram Gregory. . .......

No.

1

2

q

1

1

2

1

Company.

.....do................

.....do................

Belvedere Oil Co. .....

Gas Co.

.....do................

Humble Oil Co........

tude.

869.1

860 7

863.8

Stratum.

Name.

^

....".do......................

"Sand".....................

Beaver Creek "sand ".......

Sand........................

Beaver Creek "sand," light. . 

Slate, blue ..................

T^ime, light, hard . .

Beaver Creek "sand," dark, 

medium.

Beaver Creek "sand". ......

Slate........................

Shale........................

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

203

203

430

435

200

850 

865

10

870 

550

564

569

Thick

ness. 

Feet. 

41

919

5

31

200

650

15 

2

10

860

13 

14

5

4
Gregory................

Do.................

M. Gregory. ............

Do.................

Do.............:....

Do.. ........... J...

Do.................

Do.................

Wflliam Gregory. ......

Do.................

Dc>. ................

Do..................

Do.................

Do..................

Do.................

1

2

1

2

3

5

6

7

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do................

Vogler Bros ...........

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

...:.do... .............

963.3

1,015.7

867

853.4

859.7

.....do.......................

Slate........................

Shale, black.................

Slate, blue. .................

......do.....................

Sand........................

.....do.......................

.....do:.:....................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do......................

365

424

436

462

457

465

466

435

620

567

538

523

521

532

568

15

12

26

1

2

5

10

8
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Continu

Name.

~B. S. Huflaker..........

Do..................

DO. ................

:DO. .....:. .........

Do.................

Do.................

Do. ....... ...... ...

Do.................

Well 

No.

1

3

5

6

7

8

9

10

- Company.

B. S. Huflaker........

.....do.................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

Altitude.

881

1,034

1,082

QrtOil

1,072±2

897 ±2

910 ±3

Stratum.

Name.

.....do.......................

Slate.......................

.....do......................

Slate........................

....do......................

....do......................

Slate........................

Depth 

to top.

Feet.

367

561

5 SO

594

509

523

592

490

512

526

Thickness.

Feel.

20

18

12

14

14

15

13

T

d

of 

F

5
Do

Do

Do...

Do.

'Do

Do

Do

Do

12

13

15

16

17

19

20

.....do................

.:... do. .............:.

.....dO.............:..

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.. ..do................

.....do................

1,007

862 ±2

877

ooe

842

835±2

OAK K

,....do. .....................

.....do......................

Slate........................

Slate........................

.... .do. ......^... ...........

Beaver Creek "sand," veryhard, white. 

Slate.......... .............

514

456

441

.4CK

454

476

415

431

383

439

412

15

14

14

4

. 22

5

19

on

13

24
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

Name.

B. S. Huffaker . ........

Do.................

Do.................

No.

22

24

1

2

29

1

Company.

.....do................

.....do................

Wood Oil Co..........

Gas Co.

tude.

872

840

1,374

1,423

Stratum.

Name..

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

Mud, blue, soft. .............

Black shale. ................

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

448

386

868

900

497

511

20

160

170

320

340

400

570

710

720

734

760

Thickness.

Feet. 

19

26

23

20

140

10

150

20

60

170

140

10

14

26

1
Do.................

H.T.Hurt.. ...........

Do.................

Do. ................

Do.................

Do.................

,I>0. ................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

2

7

9

10

19

15

16

17

1ft

2

8

10

8

6

10

Wood Oil Co........

957

930

937

.....do......................

.....dol. ................ ....

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

l....do.:. ...................

.....do......................

.....do......................

Shale, ereen. ................

463

473

611

455

426

449

409

527

446

530

446

445

462

508

523

429

449

454

412

621

578

597

10

6

9

12

20

10

19

20

18

24

29

9

13

14

10

11

9

13
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

Name.

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

No.

11

12

i^*

1

2

6

8

4

9

14

15

16

- Company.

-

Wood Oil Co..........

.....do..............l.

.....do.................

& Gas Co. 

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

tude.

1,154

902

1,337

1,345

1,397

1,254

1,288

Stratum.

Name.

.....do......................

Shale, green.................

Slate........................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

......do......................

.....do......................

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

404

453

665

673

399

413

811

818

877

716

770

800

529

635

426

426

704

Thickness.

Feet. 

12

10

14

20

20

20

20

9n

17

15

14

14

14
Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

.Do...................

Do.................

19

20

21

<Wl

31

33

37

44

53

54

57

58

.6

1

1

2

3

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

...'.do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

Holly Oil Co..........

Co.

.....do................

.....do......................

.....do......................

Sand. .......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

...,.'do. .....................

.....do......................

Slate........................

Beaver Creek"sand,"faulty.

Shale, black.. . ..............

Slate........................

Shale. ......................

Sand. .......................

Slate, just feather. ..........

404

512

520

442

550

405

486

439J

390

400

393

400

412

718

733

528

474

456

479

486

455

477

12

15

18 

14

16

12.5

10

10

12

14

12

20

15

35

9/U.

1

23

7

2

21

2
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Cont

Name.

Col. Koger ...........

Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

Well 

No.

4 

5

6

7

1 

1

Company.

Lafayette Oil & Oas 

Co.

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

New Domain Oil & 

Gas Co.

Altitude.

Stratum.

Name.

Sand. .......................

Slate........................

Shale, black. ................

"Sand," first. ..............

Slate........................

' Beaver Creek "sand," thin.

Shale, black (Devonian) .... 

Lime (includes both Sunnybrook "sands"). 

Slate, white, soft ("Birdseye"). 

Lime, dark-brown, hard ....

Lime, dark-brown, hard .... 

Lime, dark and light, hard. . 

Flint shells. ................

White salt sand ("Calciferous").

Beaver Creek "sand," braid.

Shale, black, soft (Chattanooga). 

Lime. erav. hard. ...........

Depth 

to top.

Feet.

703 

. 712 

728

705 

715 

716

764 

772 

822 

857

1,660

1,663 

1,940 

2,200 

2,230 

2,400 

2,430

37 

162 

320 

352 

355 

357

397

Thickness.

Feet.

18

13

9 

16

10 

1 

1

764 

8 

50 

35 

803

3

277 

260 

30 

170 

30 

5

37 

125 

158 

32 

3 

2 

40

33
Miller Bros...........

Do...............

2 

'l

28

30

Hibbs Oil Co.:........

.....do................

.....do.....:..........

1,400 

1365, ±10

Lime, brown, hard, sharp. . . 

Lime, gray, hard, sharp. ....

Lime, brown, hard, sharp. . .

Lime, brown, hard, sharp. . . 

Lime, gray, hard, sharp. ....

Lime, brown, hard. .........

Lime, brown, hard, sharp . . .

Below sand .................

Shale. ......................

Slate........................

Shale, black. ................

.....do......................

Slate... ............ ......'...

430 

505 

600 

650 

700 

760 

830 

910 

1,000 

1,003 

1,075 

1,100 

1,150 

1,200 

1,300 

1,360 

1,390 

1,500 

1,540 

1,665- 

1,710 

1,735 

1,810 

1,825 

1,852 

1,887 

1,911

528 

522 

598

362 

380 

385

884

855 

870

75 

95 

50 

58 

60 

70 

80 

90 

3 

72 

25 

50 

50 

100 

60 

30 

110 

40 

125 

45 

25 

75 

15 

27 

35 

24 

10

23 

40 

12

18 

5

17 

15
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

Name.

Preston Miller........

Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

J. F. Oats. ...........

M. A. Puttie heirs ....

No.

31

 1

2

3

5

6

8

1

2

Company.

Demsev Oil Co. ......

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

....do.................

Belvedere Oil Co......

Altitude.

1,365±10

986

902

937

Stratum.

Name.

Shale.......................

Shale, black (Devonian). ....

Beaver Creek "sand".......

Shale.......................

poor).

....do.......................

....do.......................

....do.......................

Beaver Creek "sand".......

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

851

411

499

431

739

749

390

587

597

561

415

430

1,200

682

Thickness.

Feet.

19

11

g

8

5

10

12

13

6

40

21
Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

'Cephas Rice. .........

Do...............

J.L. Rice............

Do..........:....

Do...............

Do...............

6

7

10

11

12

13

15

1

1

1

2

4

WoodOilCo..........

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.....'............

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.....;...........

.....do.................

1.300±2

1,084

1,020

1,317

1.232

....do.......................

.....do.......................

Sand........................

Slate........................

Sand........................

....do.......................

.....do.......................

Sand, hard. .................

Mud.......................

Limestone, dark gray , hard . .

Limestone, black, hard. .....

Slate, blue, soft..... . ........

Limestone, dark blue, hard . 

Beaver Creek "sand," light 

brown (good).

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

921

700

712

729

629

. 757

932

849

860

798

0

65

140

190 

215

315

345

0

55

145

175

195

200

250

390

450 

498

513

568

557

515

620

622

15

12

17

10

10

18

11

3

10

65

75

50

25 

100

30

46

55

90

30

20

5

50

140

60

48 

15

11
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Conti

J.L. Rice... ...........

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do...... .. . ....

Do.................

Do.................

Do.............;...

Mack Rice. .............

A. J. Roberts...........

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Well

No.

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

1

1

8

10

.....do.................

.....do..... ......... . 

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

.....do.................

....'.do.................

.....do.................

Altitude.

Stratum.

Name.

Sand........................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

Strav sand ..................

Sand. .......................

.....do.........-....'..........

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do................:......

......do.....................

hard).

T>OT7

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

529

555

494

320

545

487

472

510

560

K4Q

516

626

871}

876

898}

772

778

635

640

Thickness.

Feet.

16

16J

18
Do...................

Do.................

"Do. ................

J)o. ................

T>o. ................

15o. ................

T)o.. ...............

T>o. ................

Do.. ...............

JDo.. ...............

12

14

15

1

2

5

7

8

9

10

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

First pav ....................

Beaver Creek "sand".......

.....do.......................

Pav.........................

Pav.........................

Sand..........'..............

602

731

564

572

612

622

600

601

553

556

624

629

640

624

625

628

790

15

19

24

16

15

5

18

15

14

14
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Contin

Name.

:B. E; Roberts. .........

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

No.

11

12

13

14

16

17

18

19

20

Company.

tude.

Stratum.

Name.

rest very good) (chocolate 

color).

Sand. .......................

Shale, black.. . ..............

Sand........................

Sand........................

T*av

.....do.......................

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

709

731

839

844

765

740

755

680

698

.'"

Thickness.

Feet. 

11

13

15

'

16

13

15
Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

21

22

23

24

3

5

1

2

1

3

.....do..........................

i

.....do..........................

.....dp.......... .............

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

.....do.......................

Slate........................

Shale........................

621

770

864

914.6

AQQ

496

501

635

700

774J

780

800

20

oc

7

5

2

10

17
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Contin

Name.

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

No.

5

1

Company.

Gas Co.

tude.

»

Stratum.

Name.

Sand, loose, chocolate color..

Pay.........................

Pay.........................

Slate, blue, very hard .......

"Sand," white, hard (Beaver 

Creek). 

Slate' blue, soft .............

Depth 

to top.

Feet.

791

' 727

840

712

780

784

797

0

9

439

528 

540

Thickness.

Feet. 

13

21

9

430

89

12 

3
Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do..................

Do.................

Do..................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

2

3

4

5'

6

7

....8

9

10

1

2

.....do.................

.....do.................

Wood Oil Co..........

.....do................

Slate, black, soft (Chattanooga).

Lime, white and black, 

shelly. Lime, white and black, hard. 

Lime, white and black, loose.

Sandstone, brown, hard.. . . .

Limestone, light gray, hard. .

Beaver Creek "sand,' lightr 

brown.

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do.. ....................

.....do......................

.....do......................

(No Beaver Creek "sand.")

(No Beaver Creek "sand.") 

Shale, black.. ...............

0

8

. 23

165

170

210

255

345

445

485

500

505

540

700

840

1,000

0

8

43

128

225

. 425

470

450.

530

690

730

784

846

760

899

877

552

635

630

235

329

533

8

15 

142

5

40

45

90

100

40

15

5

35

140

160

93

8

' 35

85

97

200

25

20

60

160

40

54

18

21

19

18

111O

15

15

1Q 

1O

20

14
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Continu

Name.

J.W. Steel. ............

Do.................

No.

oo

i

5

Company.

.....do................

.....do................

tude.

996

Stratum.

Name.

hard. 

Beaver Creek "sand ".......

Shale, black.. . ..............

Slate........................

Clay, soft...................

Lime, white, hard. ..........

Lime, white, hard, sandy...

Lime, dark, soft ............

Lime, dark, hard, shelly ....

Lime, dark, soft.. . ..........

Lime, dark, hard... ... ......

Lime, white, hard. ..........

Lime, white, hard, and sandy

Lime, white, hard, and sandy

Lime, dark blue, hard ..:...

Lime, dark blue, shelly .....

Lime, white, shelly (stray 

sand). 

Slate, dark, soft .............

Lime, white, sandy (stray 

sand). 

Mud . blue, soft. .............

Depth 

to top.

Feet, 

427

415

465

0

5

14

55

65 

70

175

180

270 

300

310

315

0

3

7

62 

90

150 

190

220

365

385

398 

420

. 431 

445

Thickness.

Feet. 

18

20

5

1 9

41

10

5 

105

5

90

30 

10

5

17

4

55

28 

60

40 

30

145

20

13

22 

11

14 

5

T

d

of 

F
Do.

Do.

Do..

Do.

Creek "sand").

Lime, white, hard, sandy ...

Lime, white, hard, sandy . . .

"Sand. "white, soft (Beaver 

Creek).

Limestone, light gray, grit. .

"Sand," white (Beaver 

Creek).

Limestone, white, hard ..... 

Limestone, black, hard. ..... 

Mixed slate, blue, hard ...... 

Sand, white, hard (Beaver 

Creek). 

Slate, blue, soft. ............

450

4670

16

19

21

81 

121

152

270

350

. 395 

405

415

. 4300

25

65

175

185

190

205

355

405

485

495

512

52405

. 100

150

400 

425

500

675

760 02

' 52 

200 

400 

500

525

17

. 13

1632

60

40 

31

18

80

45

10 

10

15

15

25

40

110

105

15

150

50

80

10

17

12 8

95

50

250

25 

75

175

85

19 2

, 50

148 

200 

100 

255
Well records of Wayne County, Ky. Contin

Name.

J. W. Steel.............

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do......:..........

»» Oil

No.

1

7

8

g

10

19

13

14

15

1

4

Company.

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

tude.

1,078

 ij 162

Stratum.

Name.

.....do............;.........

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do......................

.....do .....................

Slate........................

Shale, black................

.....do......................

.....do......................

Little slate. .................

Depth 

to top.

Feet. 

751

311

496

474

444

475

760

325

468

340

' 498

615

650

617

654

630

Thickness.

Feet. 

8

TO

25

14

' 7

15

15

12

15

17

12

18

18

25
R. E. Vickery.. ........

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

E. B.Walker..........

1

1 New Domain Oil & Gas Co ....

(

Sand........................

Limestone, dark, hard, close.

Limestone, hard. ...........

Sand........................

Limestone, dark, hard ......

Lime, white, soft. ...........

Lime, blue, soft. ............

Lime, white, hard, sandy. . .

Lime, blue, soft. . ...........

Lime, white, hard...........

Lime, white, hard, sandy. . . 

Lime, white, hard ..........

Lime, gray, hard. . ..........

Lime, white, sandy .........

Lime, blue, soft .............

Shale, black, soft (Chattanooga).

Lime, blue, soft..... ........

Lime, white, hard...........

Lime, gray, shelly...........

Lime, white and black, 

shelly. 

Lime, sandy, white .........

Lim, white and black, 

shelly.

Lime, black, soft. ...........

414

412

409

403

0

113

 133

173

181

188

208

250

300 

320

350

420

530

600

603

' 618

620 

680

730

850

1,150

1,155

1,180 

1,330

1,400 

1,430

1,490

16

15

18

16

113

20

40

7

7 

20

32

50

20 

30

70

110

70

3

15

2

60 

50

120

300

5

25

.150 

70

30 

60

12

INDEX.

A.

Acknowledgments to those aiding............ 9

Analyses of oil, table of...................... 62-63

B.

Barnes (J. W.) well, record of............ 13,17,51

record of, figure showing................ 16

Barrier oil field, description of............... 47

Beaver Creek, location and character of...... 9; 10

sections on.............................. 23,27

Beaver Creek "sand," oil from............... 28

specimens from, views of................ 28,29

structure contours on.................... 36

See also particular fields, wells, etc. 

Bethesda, wells near........................ -51

Big Sinking Creek, location of............... 9

well on, record of........................ 14-15

figure showing...................... 16

Black shale. See Chattanooga shale.

Blue Lick water, source of............... 41-42,47

Boyle limestone, occurrence and character of.. 24 

Bratcher Hollow oil pool, description of...... 46

Brown (Cyrus) well, record of. 13-14,44-45,55,66-67

record of, figure showing................ 16.

C. 

Carboniferous system, character of........... 24

section of, figure showing................ 25

See also Mississippian; Pennsylvanian. 

Chattanooga shale, correlation of............ 23

occurrence and character of.............. 17,23

section of................................ 23

Chazyan series, classification of............. 19,21

Cincinnati anticline, rocks on............... 22

rocks on, figure showing................. 22

Cincinnatian series, classification of ......... 18-21

Contours, structure. See Structure contours. 

Cooper anticline, structure of................ 38

Cooper-Oil Valley field, history of........... 47-48

location of................................ 47

map of.................................. 49

oil from, analysis of...................... 63

oil sand in............................... 48,50

production from..................... 51

structure of.............................. 48,61

water in................................. 48-51

Corder pool, description of................... 53

Correll, wells near........................... 52-53

D. 

Day,D. T., analyses by.......:............. 62

Denny, wells near........................... 53

Devonian system, distribution and character

of............................ 11,23-24

section of................................ 23

Drainage, description of..................... 9-10

Drilling, methods of......................... 62

Dry Fork, wella on....:..................... 44

Dry Fork pool, description of................ 55

E.

Economic conditions, abstract of............ 62

Eden shale, occurrence and character of...... 18-20

Elk Spring Creek, location of................ 9

sections on.............................. 29-31

wells on................................. 43.

F.

Fannys Creek, wells on...................... 53

Field work, extent of.....................'... 8-9

Foerste, A., classification by................. 18

correlation by........................... 25

section by............................... 22

Frazier, wells near........................... 52

G.

Gas fields. .See Oil and gas fields.

Geology, description of...;.................. 11-39

Gibson oil pool, description of................ 46

Girty, G. H., correlation by................. 32

Griffin field, Beaver Creek sand from, view of 28 

extensions of......"...................... 60

history of................................ 58-59

structure of.............................. 59,61

water in ; ................... ; ............ 60

well in, record of......................... 15,60

record of, figure showing............. 16

EL . '

Highbridge formation, occurrence and character of....................... 18,20,21

Hoeing, J.B., classification by.............. 18

I.

Index map, figure showing................... 7

J.

Jessamine series, occurrence and character of. 18 

Johnson Fork pool, description of............ 53-54

coil from, analysis of...................... 63

Jordan & McGowan well, record of.... 12-13,17,88

record of, figure showing................. 16

K.

Kentucky, cooperation with..

Kindle,E.M., correlation by.

 sections by...............

L.

Lee formation, distribution and character of. 34

Lexington formation, occurrence and character of............................ 18,20

LittleCub Creek,section on................. 22

Little Sinking Creek, wells on............... 44

Little South Fork, location of................ 9

Little South Fork district, map of........... 56

Location of area............................. 7

map showing............................ 7

103
104 INDEX.

M.

McBeath (H.) well, record of.............. 12,17,88

record of, figure showing................. 16

McCreary County, location of................ 7

location of, map showing................ 7

Map of Little South For \: district............ 56

of part of Monticello quadrangle......... 34

of Wayne County........................ 38,54

Map, index, showing location of area......... 7

Matson,G.C., classification by............... 19-20

Maysville formation, occurrence and character of................... ........ 18-20

Meadow Creek, wells on..................... 42

Mill Springs, wells near...................... 52

Mississippian series, deposition of............ 24

distribution and character of......... 11,24-34

oil sands in.............................. 35

See also Waverly formation, 

section of, figure showing................ 25

structure of............................... 35

subdivisions of.......................... 24-26

Mohawkian series, classification of........... 19/21

Monticello, sections near..................... 29-32

topography near......................... 10

wells near............................... 43

Monticello district, structure of.............. 36-39

wells near............................... 43,46

Monticello quadrangle, map of part of....... 34

Monticello syncline, wells on................ 43

Mount Pisgah field, Beaver Creek sand from,

view of.......................... 28

history of............................... 56-^57

structure of.............................. 57,61

water in................................. 57

Murl, well at, record of....................... 13,51

well at, record of, figure showing......... 16

N.

Newman limestone, distribution and character of....................... 25,29-32

sections of............................... 25-31

Norwood, C. J., aid of....................... '9

O.

Oil and gas fields, conclusions on............ 61-62

description of.....'....................... 39-60

examination of.........:................ 39

Oil sands, structure and position of.......... 28-29

structure of, determination of............ 8-9

Ordovician rocks, classification of,........... 18-20

distribution and character of.......... 11,12-21

wells in, sections of...................... 12-15

figures showing...................... 16

Otter Creek, location and character of........ 9,10

wells on................................. 52

P.

Parmleysville, sections near................. 31-33

Parmleysville district, description of......... 56-60

structure of:............................. 38-39

Parmleysville field, history of............... 57-58

oil from, analysis of...................... 63

structure of.............................. 58,61

water in................................. 58

Pamell, section near......................... 26-27

wells near................;.............. 52

Parnell pool, description, of.................. 52

oil from, analysis of...................... 63

Pencil cave, occurrence and character of..... 17,21

Pennington shale, distribution and character

of .............................. 32-34

section of................................ 32

See also Spann limestone member. 

Pennsylvanian series, distribution and character of....................... 11,24,34

section of,figure showing................ 25

Plan of report............................... 7-9

Pottsville group, distribution and character of 34 

Pueblo, wells near........................... 53

R.

Relief, description of..... 1.................. 10

Richmond formation, occurrence and character of.......................... 18,20

Rockcastle conglomerate member, distribution and character of............ 34

Rock Creek, location of........'.............. 9

wells on.......;......................... 54

Rock Creek Property Co. well, record of. 15,60,96-97

record of, figure showing................ 16

Rocks exposed, description of............ 11,21-34

Rocks not exposed, description of........... 11-21

Rocky Branch pool, description of.......... 54

oil from, analysis of...................... 63

S. 

St. Peter sandstone, occurrence and character

of............................... 17,20

Shearer Valley, wells in..................... 51

Silurian system, distribution and character

.Of............................... 21-22

position of, figure showing....... 7....... 22

Sink holes, prevalence of.................... 9-10

Sinking oil field, description of.............. 44-46

map of.................................. 45

oil from, analysis of...................... 63

Slickford oil field, description of............. 55-56

South Fork, location of...................... 9

wellson.................................. 54

Spann anticline, structure of ................ 37

Spann limestone member, distribution and

character of..................... 33-34

structure contours on ................... 9,36

determination of.................... 9

plate showing....................... 34

Steubenville, wells near..................... 42-44

wells near, records of.................... 12

record of, figures showing-............. 16

Steubenville oil field, gas in................. 42

history of................................ 39

oil sand of............................... 40

' production of........................ 40

structure of.............................. 40-41

water in................................. 41

wells of.................................. 42-44

Steubenville syncline, structure of........... 37

Stillhouse Hollow pool, structure in......... 48

Stratigraphy, description of.................. 11-34

Stray sand, oil and gas from................. 29

See also particular districts, wells, etc. 

Structure, details of.......................... 36-39

general features of....................... 34-35

mapping of.............................. 35-36
INDEX. 105

Structure contours, accuracy of.............. 36

description of............................ 35-36

Sumpter, wells near......................... 47

Sumpter syncline, structure of............... 38

Sunnybrook pool, description of............. 54-55

Sunnybrook sands, occurrence and character

of............................ 17,21,54

T. 

Technology of field.......................... 62

Topography, description of.................. 9-10

Trenton group, classification of.............. 19,21

Turkey Rock pool, description of............ 55

oil from, analysis of...................... 63

U. 

TJlrich, E. 0., classification by............... 19

WV 

Walker (E. R.) well, record of............... 14-15

record of, figure showing................. . 16

Waverly formation, correlation of............ 25

distribution and character of............. 25-29

Page.

Waverly formation, oil sands in. ............ 28-29

sections of ............................... 26-27

Wayne County, location of .................. 7

location of, map showing . . . f ............. 7

maps of ................................. 38,54

northern and eastern parts of, wells in ... 52-53 

southern part of, wells in ................ 53-56

western part of, wells in ................. 50-52

Wells,costof............... ................. . 62

drilling of, methods of ................... 62

oil from, analyses of ..................... 62-63

records of, alphabetic 1 ist of ............. 64-101

See also particular fields.

Winchester limestone, occurrence and character of .......................... 20

Y.

Young pool, description of ................... 56

Zola, wells near. ............................. 52

o