OIL RESOURCES OF BLACK SHALES OF THE EASTERN

UNITED STATES.

By GEOKGE H. ASHLEY.

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION.

It has long been known that black shales owe their color to 

bituminous or carbonaceous matter and that most such shales, if 

heated, will yield gas, oil, and other by-products. For many years 

such shales have been distilled for oil in Scotland and other European countries. The Scotch distilleries are reported to have been 

of the greatest aid to England during the present war in supplying 

the oil-burning ships of her navy, thus saving the excessive cargo 

rates on oil from America. It has long been recognized in this 

country that the time would come when the decline of yield in the 

oil fields would lead to tests of the black shales as a possible source 

of oil. The recent great increase in the use of light oils in internalcombustion engines has renewed interest in the black shales and 

has led to definite exploratory work on certain oil shales of the 

West and preliminary studies on the black shales of the East. Preliminary reports on the results of the studies of the western oil 

shales by the United States Geological Survey have already 

appeared.1

In 1914 the writer visited and sampled black shales at a number 

of places east of the Mississippi River. Later other samples were 

obtained in Pennsylvania by R. V. A. Mills and William R. Cameron, in Ohio by Wilbur Stout, in Illinois by Wallace Lee, in Kentucky and Indiana by Charles Butts, and in Tennessee by F. R. 

Clark. The samples are described and the results of their distillation given in this report. The writer's samples were all cut on the 

outcrop with an army adz. First a trench was dug through the 

weathered surface of the shale until the hard surface of the apparently unweathered shale had been reached. Then a shallow 

trench the width of the adz was cut in the unweathered rock, and

1 Woodruff, E. G., and Day, D. T., Oil shale of northwestern Colorado and northeastern 

Utah : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 581, pp. 1-21, 1915. Winchester, D. E., Oil shale in 

northwestern Colorado and adjacent areas: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 641, pp. 189-198, 

1916 (Bull. 641-F).

311
312 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PART II.

the material thus obtained was broken down and quartered after 

the manner of taking coal or other samples, until a 5-pound sample 

was obtained, and this was sent to Washington in^a canvas bag. 

In most places where samples were taken the soft, weathered portion 

of the shale proved to be very thin and the underlying rock very 

firm and tough. In a few places the shale was exposed as a vertical 

face, with little or no weathered material on the face.

OCCURRENCE OF THE SHALES.

The black shales of the Eastern States are mainly at one general 

horizon, in the Upper Devonian or possibly in part lower Carboniferous, which extends from New York to Alabama and westward to Mississippi River. Other extensive deposits of black shale 

occur at one or more horizons in the lower part of the Devonian 

and at one horizon in the Ordovician. In addition, black shales 

overlie some of the coal .beds, especially certain beds in the eastern 

interior coal field.

The principal body of black shale is known as the Chattanooga, 

New Albany, or Ohio shale. This bed underlies the eastern coal 

fields and crops 'out in a long line from central Alabama northeastward through Tennessee and Virginia and all around the Nashville 

Basin, in central Tennessee. West of the Appalachian coal field its 

outcrop extends from north to south across central Ohio, pas^ng 

close to Columbus and reaching Ohio River near Vanceburg. Thence 

the outcrop makes a loop through central Kentucky, past Lebanon, 

and northward to Louisville, from which it stretches in a broad belt 

northwestward across Indiana, past Indianapolis nearly to Chicago. 

From this western belt of outcrop the shale extends eastward under 

eastern Ohio and underlies nearly all of Kentucky except the area 

within the loop described and all of Indiana west of the outcrop. 

Samples of this shale were cut at Cumberland Gap, Rockwood, and 

Chattanooga, Tenn., on the eastern front of the coal field; at Bakers 

station and near Newsom station, Tenn., in the Nashville dome area; 

and near Columbus, Ohio, and at New Albany, Ind., on the western 

outcrop.

The Middle and Lower Devonian of New York, Pennsylvania, 

Maryland, and West Virginia contain thick beds of dark shale that 

is locally black and fissile. Samples were cut near Hancock station, 

W. Va., in the black layers of the Onondaga shale member of the 

Romney shale.

Black shales overlying coal beds were sampled near Boonville, 

Ind., where the No. 5 bed was being stripped by a steam shovel, and 

at Springfield, 111. Few of the black shales over the coals have a 

thickness of more than 5 feet.
OIL IN BLACK SHALES OF EASTERN UNITED STATES. 313

SAMPLES OF THE SHALES.

.INDIANA.

Samples were cut at two places in Indiana, at New Albany in the 

New Albany black shale, which is there about 100 feet thick, and 

northeast of Boonville, where black shale makes the roof of the No. 5 

coal.

 Sample 1 was cut in the upper part of the New Albany black shale 

in the bank of Ohio Elver at the mouth of Falling Run, just below 

New Albany. The sample represents a 10-foot section, of which the 

upper 5 feet Avas taken in the face of a vertical cliff on the east side 

of the run and the lower 5 feet from the shelving exposure just 

below. About 20 feet of black shale, carrying many thin streaks of 

hard, apparently limy shale, is exposed here, of which the sample 

represents the lower 10 feet. The shale in the vertical face was very 

tough. The shale in the shelving river bank breaks out into quadrangular plates 2 to 4 inches thick, which may be as much as 3 or 4 

feet in length .or width. The edges follow jointing planes that run 

S. 65° W. and S. 30° W.

Sample 2 was cut in 1915 by Charles Butts at the same place as 

sample 1.

Sample 3. Many large bowlders Or concretions of the black shale 

occur on the river bank at New Albany. The outside portions of 

these bowlders for a variable distance in are weathered to a gray 

color. The central portions are still a dark bluish black and give off 

a marked oily odor when broken. Sample 3 was made up of fragments from the black centers of a number of these bowlders. The 

bowlders appear to be concretionary.

Sample 4. At low water the immediate bank of the Ohio under 

the Kentucky & Indiana Railroad bridge at New Albany is a gentle 

slope, exposing about 25 feet of New Albany black shale. A trench 

1.5 feet long and 6 to 10 inches deep was cut in this rock near the 

upper edge of the exposure. Sample 4 was cut in the bottom of this 

trench and represents a vertical thickness of about 5 feet.

Sample 5 was cut just above the Kentucky & Indiana Railroad 

bridge at New Albany in 1915 by Charles Butts. ;.'

Sample 6. A ohort distance northeast of Boonville fee No. V coal 

bed is being stripped on a large scale by the Ohio Valley Coal Co. 

The coal is from 6 to 9 feet thick, and over it is 4 feet of black shale. 

Sample 6 was cut from the full thickness of the shale where freshly 

dug by the steam shovel. The black shale is overlain by 9 feet of 

drab to dark shale, 10 inches of limestone, 6 feet of light-gray shale, 

and 10 feet of light-brownish clay and soil. This sample should be as 

unweathered as any to be obtained by such stripping.

Sample 7 was obtained from a 5-foot cut in the lower part of the 9 

feet of dark shale immediately overlying the shale cut for sample 6. 

43768° Bull. 641 17 21
314 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PART II.

The sample was cut to determine if the dark shales carried even a 

small amount of oil.

Sample 8 was obtained from a second cut in the black shale immediately over the coal at a point near the power house at the upper 

end of the stripping. At this place the black shale is 6 feet thick 

and is overlain by 3 to 4 feet of gray shale and 10 feet or less of clay 

and soil. The black shale at this point had been exposed for many 

months, if not a year. It is of interest, however, to note that notwithstanding this fact and the small thickness of covering, the 

sample gave a larger yield of oil than sample 6. It may be noted 

that this shale is dead black on the fresh surface instead of having 

the chocolate-brown color of many of the shales sampled.

ILLINOIS.

Sample 9 was obtained from the black shale roof of No. 5 coal at 

the East Capitol mine, in Springfield, 111., by breaking up a number 

of large blocks of black shale that had been removed from the mine 

about a week before in cleaning up a roof fall. Only the " hearts " 

of the blocks were taken to avoid including any shale that might have 

been weathered along the joints after the removal of the coal. The 

breaking down of the shale would naturally follow the joints, and 

the joint faces would form the outside surfaces of the blocks. The 

shale appeared to be massive, nonfissile, and blackish drab.

Sample 10 was cut by Wallace Lee in the roof shales of the No. 5 

coal at the Saline mine, Gallatin County.

KENTUCKY.

Sample 11 was obtained by Mr. Butts in 1915 from an 8-foot cut 

in the New Albany black shale at the west end of the canal at Louisville.

Sample 12, taken by Wallace Lee, consists of the so-called coal 

rash or mother of coal associated with the coal bed at the Barnaby 

mine, Crittenden County.

Sample. 13, also taken by Wallace Lee, represents carbonaceous 

shale that lies 50 feet above the Bell coal at Caseyville, Ky.

OHIO.

On the recommendation of Prof. J. A. Bownocker, State geologist 

of Ohio, samples'were cut in the Ohio shale in a ravine at Glen Mary, 

8 miles north of Columbus. The cuts were made in the nearly vertical face of a wash, about 200 yards below the pike.

Sample 14 represents a cut 5 feet long. The shale, after the removal of 6 inches of weathered rock, broke out in small chips, which 

had a drab color outside or where cut but black cross sections where 

broken.
OIL IN BLACK SHALES OF EASTERN UNITED STATES. 315

i

Sampl&_15-represents a 3-foot cut at the same place but lower in 

the section. Instead of taking all the material, it was prepared by 

using only the " heart" of the largest chips, in the hope of obtaining 

a sample more nearly representative of the rock away from the outcrop. About 15 feet of shale shows at this point.

SampleJjS. The Sunbury shale in Ohio is in the lower part of 

the Carboniferous system, overlying the Berea sandstone, one of the 

principal " oil sands " of the State. Sample 16 was cut by channeling from the middle of the Sunbury by Wilbur Stout, at Columbus, 

on the Broad Street pike near Black Lick Creek.

Sample 17 was cut from the base of the Sunbury shale by Mr. 

Stout on Eock Fork, above the covered bridge northeast of Gahanna. 

The shale is 6 to 8 feet thick and was sampled by channeling.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Sample 18. The Upper Kittanning coal is a cannel coal at many 

places in Pennsylvania. Near Cannelton, Beaver County, a deposit 

of cannel coal at this horizon occupies a narrow, oblong oxbow channel, 5 miles in length and 600 feet wide. The coal is 15 feet thick in 

the center of the basin, but thins to 2 feet or less at the edges. It 

is underlain by 1 foot of bituminous coal. Over the coal is a black 

shale that in places in the mine has broken down for several feet. 

Sample 18 was cut from the edge of one of these breaks, where the 

shale had been exposed to the air for 60 years or more. The black 

shale roof may have a much greater horizontal extent than the mutable coal beneath. I. F. Mansfield, who has mined the coal here for 

many years, estimates that there is a thousand acres of shale from 3 

to 5 feet thick.

Samples 19 to 24 were taken by R. V. A. Mills in Butler County 

but in connection with the geological survey of the Butler quadrangle. Probably none of these samples represents sufficient thickness 

to indicate a workable deposit, but they are of interest as showing 

what may be obtained from such shales.

Sample 19 represents a cannel-like shale, 1 foot thick, underlying 

16 inches of thin-bedded black shale and overlying 15 inches of 

mottled clay that in turn overlies the Lower Freeport coal 2 feet 

thick, in the southwest corner of Clay Township. The yield from 

this sample suggests a true cannel coal.

Sample 20 was taken from the dump of an old mine 1 mile north 

of Muddy Creek, three-quarters of a mile west of the Bessemer Railroad, 1 mile northwest of Queen Junction. The material is probably 

a low-grade cannel coal, apparently about 2 feet thick.

Sample 21 represents 1 foot of cannel-like shale or cannel coal in 

a weathered outcrop beside the road in the southwest corner of Clay 

Township, 1,000 feet [west of the Butler and Mercer Pike.
316 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PART II.

Sample 22 represents 1 foot of cannel shale and 3 inches of cannel 

coal from the unmined roof over the Upper Freeport coal in the 

Muntz mine, just south of Butler.

Sample 23 was gathered from the dump of an abandoned mine on 

the north bank of Swamp Run, on the eastern edge of the Zelienople 

quadrangle. The bed is reported to have been lenticular, to have 

had a maximum thickness of 6 feet, and to have consisted entirely of 

black shale at the Lower Freeport horizon.

Sample 24 represents the lowest 10 feet of a black shale over the 

Upper Freeport coal exposed on the old State road on the hill just 

south of Butler. The upper part of the shale grades into sandy 

shale.

TENNESSEE.

The Chattanooga black shale underlies nearly all the upland region 

of middle Tennessee. It crops out along the foot of the escarpment 

east of the coal field and near the foot of the escarpment facing the 

Nashville Basin. West of the Nashville Basin and along Tennessee 

River are many areas where the black shale underlies gentle 

slopes. It was sampled at Cumberland Gap; at Rockwood, where 

the writer was taken to the best exposures by Mr. George E. Sylvester, 

formerly State mine inspector; at the south end of the ridge south 

of Alton Park, near Chattanooga, in some old workings for " phosphate "; at Bakers station, on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, 

north of Nashville; and at the top of a quarry about halfway between Newsom and Pegram stations, on the Nashville, Chattanooga 

& St. Louis Railway, west of Nashville.

Samples 25 and 26 were taken at Cumberland Gap in the railroad 

cut at the mouth of the tunnel. At this point a fault crosses the 

mountain and the shales are much crushed and contorted. Where 

sample 26 was cut nearly a' quarter of the rock is sandy and calcareous material. All the rock has been crushed until it mines out in 

slickensided flakes. These samples do not afford a fair test of what 

this shale should yield away from the fault.

Sample 27. The samples obtained at Rockwood give a better test 

of the oil contents of the Chattanooga shale along the front of the 

Cumberland escarpment. Sample 27 was taken from a 2-foot cut at 

a corner one block north of the main street, near the railroad, where 

the shale has a high dip and is much crumpled.

Sample 28 represents a 5-foot cut at a point north of Rockwood 

and west of the iron mines. The shale here also has a high dip and 

is much crumpled.

Sample 29. A connecting spur built northeast of Rockwood station 

about 1900 cut through the black shale, which at this point has a dip 

of about 15 ° ? but is contorted so as to resemble material having cone
OIL IN BLACK SHALES OP EASTERN UNITED STATES. 317

in cone structure. Sample 29 represents a 3-foot trench at the west 

end of this cut.

Samples 30 and 31. Some years ago a mine was opened in the 

Chattanooga black shale a few miles south of Chattanooga, close to 

the road at the south end of a ridge extending south from Alton 

Park. The shale at this place is only 6 feet thick. It is underlain by 

10 feet or more of light-drab clay and overlain in order by 18 inches 

to 2 feet of cream-colored clay, 6 inches to a feather edge of darkdrab to black shale, 18 inches of drab shale, 2 feet 6 inches of creamcolored cherty clay, and 20 feet or more of gray chert. The rocks 

at the mine have a dip of about 12°. Sample 30 was cut 30 or 40 

feet from the entrance to the mine and sample 31 about 15 feet from 

the entrance. The black shale here is not typical. Sample 30, for 

example, resembles a hard grayish-black massive to fissile clay.

Samples 32 to 34 were taken at Bakers station, where the Louisville 

& Nashville Railroad crosses the Chattanooga black shale in descending from the highland rim to the Nashville Basin. The top of the 

black shale at this point rises above the railroad track a short distance above the station, and the whole of it is exposed a short distance 

below the station. The shale has a thickness of 27 feet, of which the 

upper 11 feet is jointed and " sheety " that is, it breaks out in large 

thin sheets and the lower 16 feet is fissile. Over the black shale is 

1 foot of green shale with concretions (Maury glauconitic member of 

Ridgetop shale), then 30 feet or more of characteristic Ridgetop 

shale. The railroad cut is only a few years old, having been made in 

a realignment and regrading of the road. The dip is less than 1°.

Sample 32 includes 5 feet of the top of the bed where it reaches 

that height above the drain. Part of the rocks come out in plates 

one-fourth to one-half inch thick, but most of it breaks out as irregular massive chunks several inches thick. In places partly weathered 

pieces indicate that this massive phase weathers into the characteristic thin flakes. The rocks were shattered by blasting in making 

the cut, and the action of weathering has penetrated along the fracture planes to a slight extent. The top 18 inches has a chocolatebrown streak where cut across, but the next 30 inches gives a blackishgray to grayish-black streak.

Sample 33, taken at the west end of the bluff below the station, 

includes 5 feet of a section starting 6 feet below the top of the formation. The shale is hard and massive and of a dark chocolate color. 

It is strongly jointed, and the long or face joints run N. 63° W. and 

the short or butt joints N. 48° E.

Sample 34 represents 5 feet in the middle of the lower 16 feet of 

thinly laminated shale. The color is a grayish black. On the joint 

faces the shale has the appearance of a dull-black clay.

Sample 35. Around Newsom and between Newsom and Pegram 

are a number of large limestone quarries. At one of these, about
318 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PART II.

halfway between the two stations, the limestone is overlain by 10 

feet or more of black shale, which is exposed only at the top of the 

vertical face of the quarry. Sample 35 was taken at one side where 

the black shale reaches the slope of the hill and is obviously weathered, as after a preliminary trench several feet deep had been cut 

the material taken out below it was soft.

Sample 36 was taken at the same place as sample 35, but from the 

vertical face of the shale at the top of the quarry by v cutting steps 

down to a slight quarry shelf. The shale, though dull brown and 

weathered, had the usual firmness.

Sample 37 was cut by F. E. Clark and represents 6 inches of 

bituminous shale overlying the cannel coal at Newcomb, Tenn.

WEST VIRGINIA.

Samples 38 to 42 were cut in the black shale of the Onondaga 

member of the Romney shale, of Middle Devonian age, at a locality 

well east of the coal fields, in what has been called the Appalachian 

Valley. In this region the rocks have been closely folded, and it 

was therefore thought that the oil in the black shale must have been 

driven out and that the black color was due entirely to the residue of 

carbon. The distillation tests confirm this opinion. The samples 

were cut on the West Virginia side of the Potomac, near Hancock 

station. In the large cut half a mile above the station the rocks dip 

40° S. 45° E. The section shows 25 to 30 feet of black fissile shale, 

25 feet of olive-drab shale, and 40 feet of grayish-black shale with 

rusty joint faces, underlain by the Oriskany sandstone.

Sample 38 represents a 40-foot cut in the black fissile shale about 

100 feet above the railroad track. This shale was cut out in pieces 

ranging from plates 1 inch thick down to thin scales. The plates 

are rusty on the bedding faces but black on cross faces when broken.

Sample 39 was taken from a 5-foot cut at a bold outcrop of the 

olive-drab shale.

Samples 40 and 41 represent two cuts in the grayish-black shale.

Sample 42 was cut in grayish-black shale beside the road to 

Berkeley Springs, about a quarter of a mile from the station.

DISTILLATION TESTS.

Two sets of tests of the writer's samples were made under the 

direction of David T. Day by means of an electric furnace or a gas 

heater, in which the temperature was raised slowly until all the oil 

appeared to have been driven off, when the temperature was raised 

further to drive off the remainder of the gas. The first series of 

tests were of a preliminary nature and were made at the Geological 

Survey by J. A. Dorsey; the second series were made at the Bureau 

of Mines by C. R. Bopps, The samples collected in 1915 were tested
OIL IN BLACK SHALES OF EASTERN UNITED STATES.. 319

at the survey by D. E. Winchester. In order to show how the 

yields of these samples compare with the yields of cannel coal, results obtained from a number of cannel coals that were distilled at 

the same time and in the same manner are included in the subjoined 

table. These coals are described in a bulletin on cannel coal to be 

published by the Survey. With the possible exception of the Cannelton cannel they are not as rich as many of the Kentucky cannels.

Tests of Made shale and of some cannel coals from the eastern United States. 

[By David T. Day, except those marked *, which were made by D. E. Winchester.]

No. Sample 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

*10 

11 

*12 

*13 

14 

15 

*16 

"17 

18 

*19 

*20 

*21 

*22 

*23 

*24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 *37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42

Locality.

SHALE.

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Springfield, 111............

Gallatin County, 111......

Louisville, Ky. ...........

Crittenden County, Ky. . .

Casey ville, Ky, ...........

Glen Mary, Ohio. ........

Columbus, Ohio. .........

Gahanna, Ohio. ..........

Cannelton, Pa. ... ........

Clay Township, Pa. ......

Queen Junction, Pa. .....

Clay Township, Pa. ......

Butler, Pa................

Zelienople quadrangle, Pa. 

Butler, Pa................

Cumberland Gap, Tenn. . .

Rackwood. Tenn. . .......

.....do....................

.....do....................

Alton Park, Tenn ........

.....do....................

Bakers station, Tenn ..... 

.....do....................

.....do....................

Newsom, Tenn...........

.....do....................

Hancock station, W. Va. .

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

CANNEL COAL.

Altoona mine, Indiana 

County, Pa. ............

Bostonia mine, Armstrong

Pine Run No. 1, Armstrong County, Pa. ..... 

Pine Run No. 3, Armstrong County, Pa. ..... 

Cannelton, Beaver County, 

Pa......................

Preliminary test.

Amount 

used 

(grams).

100

166 

100

100 

100 

100 

100

100 

100

100

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100

100 

100 

100 

100 

100

100 

100 

100 

100 

100

Oil obtained 

(cubic centimeters).

3

7 

3

3 

0 

9 

5

3

4

12

1 

1

4 

3 

1 

0 

Trace. 

4 

3 

3 

0 

3

0 

0 

0 

0 

0

10 

17 

14 

8 

21

Yield 

per 

short 

ton 

(galIons).

7

16

7

7 

0 

21 

12

7 

9

28

2 

2 

9 

7 

2 

0 

0 

9 

7 

7 

0 

7

0 

0 

0 

0 

0

24 

40.8 

33.6 

19 

50.4

Final test.

Amount 

used 

(ounces).

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6

f

8J 

8J 

6 

6 

8J 

8* 

6

3

84*

?

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6

I1

6 

6 

6 

6

6 

6 

6

If

6

Yield per short ton.

Oil 

(galIons).

3.5' 

9.1' 

11.2' 

4.9;

11.9!

14 

None. 

15.4. 

11.9. 

16(/ 11. 2' 

14 

Trace. 

7.7. 5.6- 

4 v 

11 

27.3 

45 43^ 

34- 

24, 18 ' 

1 

1.4 Trace.' 

7.7' 

5.5' 

2.8' 

Trace. ' 

.7 9.r 9.1' 

6.3 v 

None. 4.2" 

21 v Trace." 

7- 

Trace/ 7 " 

None.

20.3 

33. 6 v 

25.2 

31.5* 

37.3'

Water (galIons).

5.6 

, 4.2 

7 

8.4 

6.3 

11.2 

9.8 

12.6 

9.8 

7.5 

4.2 

12 

Trace. 

5.6 

5.6 

18 

18 

9.1 

15 

13 

18 

11 

10 

11 

8.4 

3.5 

9.8 

7 

14 

14 

9.1 

4.2 

4.9 

8.4 

12.9 

8.4 

2 

7 

9.8 

11.2 

8.4 

7

7.7 

7 

9.8 

8.4 

10. 5

Gas 

(cubic 

feet).

719 

958 

2,043 

1,097 

1,197 

2,522 

479 

2,922 

2,186 

Not det. 

1,016 

Not det. 

Not det. 

1,199 

958 

Not det. 

Not det. 

2,905 

Not det. 

Not det. 

Not det. 

Not det. 

Not det. 

Not det. 

598 

230 

1,488 

1,128 

1,077 

835 

1,437 

1,916 

1,485 

1,557 

835 

835 

Not det. 

538 

636 

393 

230 

319

4,790 

5,029 

5,029 

4,311 

5,268

Ammonia 

(pounds).

0.08 

0 

.15 

0 

0 

.97 

0 

.61 

.65 

3.44 

0 

2.58 

2.28 

.11 

0 

1.02 

1.61 

.92 

3.^2 

4.99 

5.21 

9.43 

2..r;3 

1.C6 

.28 

0 

.15 

.17 

0 

0 

0 

.33 

.10 

.10 

.15 

.21 

5.07 

0 

1.00 

0 

0 

0

5.57 

5.37 

5.06 

3.68 

2.24
320 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PART II.

According to these figures the Devonian black shale can be expected 

to yield not over 10 or 12 gallons of oil, 2,000 cubic feet of gas (as a 

by-product), and one-third of a pound of ammonia to the ton. -Shales 

that are highly folded yield less oil or none at all, though the first 

sample cut at Rockwood, Tenn., gave an unexpectedly high result, 

notwithstanding the folded condition of the rocks at that place. 

Later experiments show that by distillation under steam the yield 

of ammonia may be increased above the figures given in the table.

It seems possible, if not probable, that many of the apparently 

nnweathered samples have lost some or much of their oil. The black 

shale was found to be unexpectedly tough, so that the attempt to 

cut samples in the same manner as coals or clays are sampled proved 

extremely slow, and, moreover, doubt remained as to whether the 

shale face had been trenched deeply enough to be beyond the reach 

of surface weathering. This toughness will have a marked influence 

on the cost of mining. At the stripping near Boonville it has been 

found that the steam-shovel teeth ordinarily used wear out at once 

in digging the black shale, so that it is necessary to use special teeth 

of manganese steel, and even these last only two weeks.

OIL, CONTENT.

To give some idea of the amount of oil in this shale a few figures 

are given for the body of black shale in southwestern Indiana. The 

weight of this shale is not known. Common shale weighs about 160 

pounds to the cubic foot, or practically twice as much as coal, but 

this weight is reduced by the presence of hydrocarbons, and highgrade oil shales weigh as little as 100 pounds to the cubic foot. If 

a weight of 130 pounds to the cubic foot is assumed, it will require 

about 15.4 cubic feet of shale to weigh a short ton. If 1 ton of shale 

is assumed to yield 10 gallons of oil, 100 cubic feet of shale may be 

assumed to yield 64.9 gallons, or say roughly 1| barrels (of 42 

gallons).

The following table gives some measurements of the thickness and 

depth to the top of the black shale at places in Indiana, as obtained 

in drilling oil wells:
OIL IN BLACK SHALES OF EASTERN UNITED STATES. 321 

Reported thickness and depth of Neio Albany blade shale in Indiana.

Locality.

Albion, Noble County ......................................................

Brownstown, Jackson County ..............................................

Crawfordsville, Montgomery County ........................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

65+

120

124

147

87+

80

92

100+

120

120

104

100+

85

102

103

130+

87

Depth to top

Feet. 

« 375

790

140

318

26

550

a 280

" 100

100

408

80

"385

5

- 1,044

627

"75

303

a Roof of black shale is glacial clay.

These figures give an average thickness of not far from 100 feet. 

As exposed from Jeffersonville to and beyond New Albany, the shale 

shows little variation from top to bottom. It is not certain that 

the black shale as reported in the well logs is all of the same character. In fact, some of the exposures of the "black shale" in the 

northern part of the State indicate that the shale in that region is 

not uniformly black, as is shown by the following section: x

Section of " black shale" at Delphi, Ind.

Ft. In.

Drift_________________________________ 7 0 

Bluish-black shale, sheety and tough 45 0 

Drab-grayish, slightly sandy shale _____________ 4 6

Band of gray concretions '. ___________ 6 14

Drab sandy shale___ _ _ . 10 6 

Bluish-gray sandstone _ 4 10 

Drab sandy shale __ 5 6 

Covered________1_________ _ 8 (?) 

Devonian limestone.

The log of a deep well at Terre Haute, believed to have gone 

through this black shale, shows the following beds:

Partial record of deep well at Terre Haute, Ind.

Limestone.

Thickness

Feet. 

40

15

5

15

5

5

Depth.

Feet. 

1.622

1,637

1,642

1,657

1,662

1,667

1 Kindle, B. M., Indiana Dept. Geology and Nat. Res. Twenty-fifth Ann. Kept., p. 533. 

1900.
322 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PAET II.

It is a very moderate assumption to place the average thickness of 

the oil-yielding rock at say 30 feet, of which it might be possible to 

mine out one-half, or 15 feet. The New Albany black sha]e underlies 

about 16,000 square miles. If 15 cubic feet of rock weighs 1 ton and 

yields 10 gallons of oil, 10 gallons of oil should be obtainable for every 

square foot of this area in southwestern Indiana. As a square mile 

contains roundly 28,000,000 square feet, the yield would be 280,000,000 

gallons or nearly 7,000,000 barrels of oil to the square mile, or say 

100,000,000,000 barrels for the total area underlain by the shale in 

southwest Indiana.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.

If it costs as much to mine a ton of shale and distill the oil from it 

as it does to mine a ton of coal, say $1 (as a matter of fact the cost is 

likely to be.higher), a barrel of crude oil obtained in this way will 

cost about $4.20. This estimate assumes that the gas yielded is used 

in the distillation of the oil and takes no account of the value of byproducts nor of the possibility that the oil may yield products of 

higher value than the crude oils now obtained by drilling.

At present interest in the mining of the eastern black shales as a 

source of oil must confine itself to localities where one of three conc

ditions is met. The shale can be utilized, first, where it outcrops in 

a position to permit mining on a large scale by steam shovel at a,, 

minimum cost; second, where coal that is overlain by bituminous shale 

is being stripped; and third, where a coal bed that is being mined has 

a black shale roof that comes down and must be removed from the mine 

in large amounts. Of these the second condition seems to offer the 

best opportunity for a trial plant, as the overlying black shale must 

be removed in mining the coal. At such pits it would require only 

that another shovel be installed to lift the shale, or the small shovel 

now used to lift the coal could be used to lift the black shale first. 

This black shale over the coal appears to have the advantage of a 

higher oil yield. Where the roof shale is as rich as at Cannelton, Pa., 

it may pay to mine the shale with the coal.

ANALYSES.

In the Twenty-first Annual Report of the Department of Geology 

and Natural History of Indiana Hans Duden gives two analyses of 

black shale obtained at New Albany, and as that report is now out of 

print, they are quoted here:
OIL IN BLACK SHALES OF EASTERN UNITED STATES.

Analyses of black shale from New Albany, Ind.

[By Hans Duden.]

323

Water expelled at 100" C....... ..................................................

Silica. ..........................................................................

1

0.50

14.16

9.30

50.53

25.30

.09

.12

100.00

2

0 <ift

14.30)

^23.60

9.30)

65.43

8.32

.09

19

2 ft9

100.00

"The amount of pyrite and alumina changes considerably in different layers. This piece had 10.307 per 

cent iron pyrite and 14.933 per cent alumina.

In the same report Duden gives the results of experiments in 

making illuminating gas from the shale, using as a retort a 4-inch 

pipe 6 inches long, capped at both ends and connected by a f-inch 

pipe with washing and refining apparatus.

Gas produced from black shale and Pittsburgh coal.

Gallons.

5 pounds of Pittsburgh coal____________________ 105 

8.5 pounds of black slate______________________ 45 

8.5 pounds of black slate, Ohio banks_______________ 50 

8.5 pounds of black slate, Falling Run banks__________ 65 

15 pounds of freshly broken slate_________________ 105 

15 pounds of the same after exposure to air for 14 days____ 100

He also quotes from a letter describing an experiment in the production of gas at the New Albany Gas Light & Coke Co.'s plant:

I carbonized 3 tons of the New Albany black slate and obtained a yield of 

2.20 cubic feet per pound of 22-candlepower gas. Ordinary unenriched coal 

gas is about 18 candlepower. The quality of gas, therefore, is better and the 

yield 45 per cent of that obtained from Pittsburgh coal. Of the amount of oil 

or tar obtained I know nothing, as I did not make any measurements. The 

slate does not materially change its color or form by being carbonized. The 

residue contains much sulphur and, so far as I know, is useless for fuel. 

I made no scientific test. With the arrangement we have for making gas, it 

would not pay us to use the slate, even though we could obtain it for nothing. 

The slate was obtained from near the exposed surface of a creek bottom, and 

I am sure that if a sample was gotten at a greater depth, a much better yield of 

gas would be obtained.

Duden then describes the oil obtained in his experiments:

Crude oil obtained by atmospheric pressure from the slate exhibits a black 

coloration, has a very bad smell, and is very difficult to refine. In oil obtained 

with.stills provided with a vacuum pump the vapors are removed from the hot 

still walls as quickly as formed. At the same time the temperature necessary
324 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1916, PART II.

to form the vapors is materially lowered (about 100° C.). A vacuum of 15 

inches gave very good results. The oil is nearly colorless and without much 

smell. By leading into the still a small amount of steam and the vacuum, apparatus left as in the last case, then in the watery part of the distillate ammonia was increased materially and can be used for manufacturing sulphate 

of ammonia.

GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATIONS.

In 1916 Mr. Winchester continued his studies of the oil shale in 

the Uinta Basin of Utah, and it was planned that C. F. Bowen 

should examine the black shale in southwestern Montana, near 

Dillon. In addition to these studies, samples of black shales are 

being collected by other members of the Survey as opportunity offers 

and tested by Mr. Winchester.

In addition to this work by the Geological Survey, the Bureau of 

Mines proposes to erect a shale retort of the Del Monte type in the 

navy yard at Washington, D. C., for the purpose of carrying on 

preliminary investigations of the commercial possibilities pf oil 

shales. This work will be under the direction of David T. Day. If 

the results justify further investigation on a large scale, the bureau 

will probably erect a large retort, with a capacity of possibly 500 

pounds, at either the petroleum experiment station at San Francisco or the Pittsburgh station, for the purpose of obtaining complete information upon the value and possible by-products to be 

derived from the distillation of shale. This work will be predicated 

upon the results of the distillation of shale in other countries. The 

bureau contemplates sending an expert to Scotland to study the 

Scottish practice at first hand.
INDEX.

A. Page.

Albertson (coal) mine, Mont___ 207

coal, analysis___________ 210

Alcova anticline, Wyo_______ 262-264

section, structural __ 268

Alkali Butte anticline, Wyo____ 252-254

Ammonium sulphide : '

distillation from shale____ 151-154,

158-1GO

Antelope Creek anticline, Okla___ 40 

Anticlines:

definition _____________ 248 

See also Mississippi; Oklahoma ; 

Wyoming; Blackfeet 

Indian Reservation. 

Ashley, G. H.:

Oil resources of black shales of 

eastern United States

311-324

Aspen shale (Wyo.) __ ___ 238 

oil __________________ 237

B.

Badger Creek, Mont.:

anticline ______________ 299 

Ball, M. W.:

work ________________ 235 

Banatyne well, Mont _________ 90-91 

Barnett, V. H.:

Geology of Hound Creek district, Mont______ 215-231 

Bates Hole anticline, Wyo______ 264 

Bearpaw Mountains, Mont.:

maps ________________ 82, 88

structure _______._____ 65-88 

sections____________ 82, 88 

Bearpaw' shale : 

/Havre field, Mont ____ 53, 54, 68, 72 

Bear Elver formation (Wyo.)___ 238

oil __ ____ - ________ 237 

Beaver Creek anticline, Okla____ 33-34 

Big Sand Draw anticline, Wyo__ 251-252

section, structural_ __ 252 

Big Sulphur Springs anticline, Wyo.

271-272

section, structural _ _ 272 

Billings, Okla.:

anticline _____________ 121-122 

geology ___________ 122-128

map _________________ 122

oil and gas________ 121,129-132

sections, stratigraphic____ 123-124,

133-138

structure __________- 125-128

Birch Creek, Mont.: Page, 

anticlines _____________ 303

Bitter Creek, Wyo. :

Green River formation, section- 188

Blackfeet anticlines, Mont_____ 298

Blackfeet Indian. Reservation, Mont.:

anticlines __..<_____ 28.1, 294-303

map ______________ 302

Canada, correlation __ 282, 290-291

Colorado shale___.__ 285, 287-289

oil and gas _____'.__ 287-289

Cretaceous rocks ______ 285-290

gas ______ ______ 287-290

geography ______________ 282-283

geology ___ _ ______ 284-303

Kootenai formation___v 285, 286-287 

map _________________ 302 

map, geologic _______ 284 

oil ________________ 287-289 

structure ____________ 291-303 

Virgelle sandstone ___ 285, 289-290 

gas ______________ 290 

\\ells _______________ 303-305

Black shales:

oil ________________ 311-324 

See also Oil shales.

Blacktail Creek, Mont.:

anticlines ______ _____ 302-303

Blackwell field, Okla.:

oil and gas_________ 130

Bon Air coal (Tenn.)____ 307-308,310

Book Cliffs, Colo.:

Green River formation, sections_______ 182

Bopps, C. R.:

work_____________ 318

Bow Island gas field, Canada:

structure._____ ___ 88

Boxelder anticlines, Mont_ 70

Brooks anticline, Okla______ 35

Brown anticline, Okla____,____ 35-36

Brown Bear (ozokerite) group,

Utah______________ 14

Browns Coulee, Mont.:

structure 80

Buck Springs anticline, Wyo__ 255-256 

section, structural____ 255

Butts, Charles :

Coals between Bon Air and

Clifty, Tenn____ 307-310

Byram, Miss.:

section 105

C. 

Calvert, W. R.:

Geology of Upper Stillwater

Basin, Mont _____ 169-214

325
326 INDEX.

Cambrian rocks (Wyo.) : Page, 

oil __________________ 242 

Campbell, M. R.:

on oil shale in northwestern

Colorado. ______ 139-140 

Canada:

Montana, correlation ______ 61-62, 

282, 290-291 

Cannel coal:

distillation _____________ 319 

Carboniferous rocks:

Montana_____________ 218-220

Casper Oil Co.'s well, Wyo____ 242, 276

Castle Creek anticline, Wyo___ 275-276

section, structural _ 276

Catahoula sandstone:

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss _ 97,

105-106

sections__________ 105-106 

Cedars, Miss.:

section, stratigraphic __ 119 

Ceresin. See Ozokerite. 

Chattanooga shale:

eastern United States_______ 312 

Chinook, Mont.:

section, stratigraphic 81

structure_______ 814

Chugwater formation (Wyo.)_ 239, 243-244

oil__________________ 237, 243

Claggett shale:

Havre field, Mont __--.__ 53, 67, 72 

Claiborne group :

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss_ 97-

98,116

Clifty coal (Tenn.) 308-310 

Cloverly sandstone (Wyo.) :

oil___________-__ - 237, 244 

Coal:

Eagle sandstone_____ 142, 207-209 

Hound Creek district, Mont.

(q. v.)_________ 229-231 

Kootenai formation______ 229-231 

Upper Stillwater Basin, Montana (q. v.)___ 142,205-213 

Coal Creek, Mont.:

structure 82 

Collins, A. C.:

work _ 235 

Colorado, northwestern 144-146 

Green River formation (q. v.)

162-182,189-190

maps_______ 142 ; in pocket

oil shale__ 139-142, 147-182, 189-190

analyses - 161

distillation ________ 141-142

geology _____ 162-182,189-190

maps __________ In pocket

sections, stratigraphic_ 167-168,

170-182 ; in pocket

views____________ 144, 145

section, structural- _ 190

structure 189-190

Colorado & Wyoming Land & Oil

Co.'s (oil) well, Wyo__ 239

Colorado shale: Page.

Montana____:__ 53, 54, 56-58, 69, 

88-91, 222-223, 285, 287-289 

map ___ _ ________ 64 

Colton, Utah:

ozokerite ______________ 1-2 

Conant Creek anticline, Wyo___ 254-255 

Cooke, C. W.:

work ________________! 95 

Cottonwood Creek anticline, Wyo_ 270-271

section, structural________ 271 

 Cottonwood limestone:

Foraker quadrangle, Okla___ 22-23 

section_____________ 23 

Cretaceous rocks:

coal _______ 202

Montana__________ 53, 54, 56-60,

201-203, 220-223

section, stratigraphic___ 64

oil____________ 237-238, 244-245

Wyoming______________ 239, 244 

Crouse limestone :

Foraker quadrangle, Okla___ 22 

Culmer Bros.' (ozokerite) mine, Utah- 12 

Cut Bank Creek, Mont.:

anticlines__________ 298-299, 300

D.

Dakota sandstone (Wyo.)__ 238,244,245 

oil ____ 244

Davis, C. A.:

on oil shale _______ 163-165 

work- _____ 143

Day, D. T.:

ozokerite tests__________ 5-8 

work_______ 139, 140, 143,147, 318

Devonian shales:

eastern United States_____ 312-320 

oil content.____________ 320-322

Dog Creek, Mont.:

structure _ __________ 86-88

Dorsey, J. A.:

work____ _________ 318

Dragon, Utah:

gilsonite_______________ 140

Duden, Hans:

analyses of black shale____ 322-324

Dutton anticline, Wyo_______ 256-258 

oil__________________ 243, 244 

section, structural________ 256

E.

Eagle sandstone:

coal_____________ 142,207-209

analyses _ __ 210

gas ________________ 68, 72-76

Havre field, Mont. (q. v.)__ 68-69,

72-73

section _ _________ 69

Montana____________ 53, 58-59,

68-69, 72-73, 201-203

Edwards city well, Miss_______ 120

Eldorado monocline, Miss_______ 111

oil _____ ________ 114-115
INDEX. 327

Eldridge, G. H.: Page.

on origin of ozokerite 10 

Elk Creek, Mont.:

coal _______________ 229-230 

section, stratigraphic _ 229 

Elliott, F. A. :

work _____________ 143 

Ellis formation :

fossils ____________ 219

Montana _______:____ 219 

Elm Creek anticline, Okla____ 39-40 

Embar formation (Wyo.)_____ 238,243

oil _________________ 238,243 

Emigrant Gap anticline, AVyo__ 272-274

sections, structural 273 

En taw formation :

oil and gas___________ 116,117

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss 117 

Evacuation Creek, Utah :

Green River shale, section__ 183-184

F.

Fath, A. E.:

Anticlinal fold near Billings,

Okla _________ 121-138 

Faulting:

effect on gas accumulation 75 

Finch, E. H.:

work ________________ 94,95 

Fitzhugh (oil) wells, Wyo 241, 242, 277 

Flossie Running After Arrow (oil)

well, Okla_______ 134 

Foraker anticline, Okla 39 

Foraker limestone:

contour map 20 

Foraker quadrangle, Okla 25

See also Foraker quadrangle.

Foraker quadrangle, Okla 17-20

anticlines _____________- 33-40

Cottonwood limestone 22-23

section, stratigraphic 23

correlation _____________ 29-30

Crouse limestone _ 22

Foraker limestone 25

contour map 20

correlation __________ 29-30

stereogram 32

geography __ 19-20

geology 21-31

map ________ 20

Neva limestone__ 23-24

correlation __________ 29-30

oil and gas____ 47

prospecting _ 45-47

Red Eagle limestone 24-25

section, stratigraphic 24

sections, stratigraphic 21, 28

stereogram ___ 32

structure _____ 32-45

synclines ____ --- 40-41

Wreford limestone_______ 21-22

section, stratigraphic ____ 22

Fort Assinnibone, Mont.:

gas __________ ______ 72, 75 

section, stratigraphic 72

Fort Union formation : Page.

coal __________ 143, 205-206

Upper Stillwater Basin, Mont__ 203 

Fossil Butte, Wyo.:

Green River shale, section__ 189 

Fourteenmile Creek, Colo.:

Green River shale, sections__ 180 

Franco-American (oil) well, Wyo_ 241-242,

262 

Frontier formation (Wyo.) 238,246

oil ________________ 237,246

G.

Gallcia (Austria) :

ozokerite _____ ____ 10

Gas:

distillation from shale____ 151-153

Gas, natural:

accumulation, effect of faulting. 75 

Blackfeet Indian Reservation,

Mont. (q. v.)____ 287-290

Chouteau County, Mont____ 90-91

Eagle sandstone________ 68, 72-76

Havre field, Mont. (q. v.)___ 66-67,

68, 72-76

Kevin, Mont____________ 89-90 

Medicine Hat, Alberta______ 74 

Milk River valley, Mont_____ 75-76 

Sweetwater Hills, Mont___..__ 88-89 

See also Oil and gas.

Gilsonite :

Dragon, Utah__________1 190

Girty, G. H.:

on fossils of Montana______ 219

Goose Egg anticline, Wyo __ 264-265 

section, structural. _____ 265

Gosling, E. B.:

on origin of ozokerite ____ 9

Grainola anticline, Okla.______ 34

Graneros shale (Wyo.) __ 238 

oil __________ ____ 237

Great Falls, Mont.:

Hound Creek district (q. v.)_ 215-231 

section, stratigraphic ______ 58

Green River, Wyo.:

shale________________ 168

1 distillation __________ .1.69

sections..___ __ 168-169

Green River formation_______ 3-4, 162 

analyses ______________ 161 

Colorado (q. v.)__ __ 139-190 

distillation _ ____ 142 

maps 1 In pocket, 

oil _ __ 139-140 

sections, stratigraphic____ 167-168, 

170-189; in pocket, 

structure __ __ 189i-191 

Utah _______ 3-4, 152, 161,189-190 

Wyoming (q. v.) 152, 161, 168-169, 191 

See also Oil shale.

Guthery (oil) well, Wyo_____ 240, 245

H. 

Hares, C. J.:

Anticlines in central Wyoming _____ ____ 233-279
328 INDEX.

Havre field, Mont.: Page. 

Bearpaw shale 53,54,68,72 

Claggett shale ________ 53, 67, 72 

Colorado shale__________ 69

Eagle sandstone __ 53,68-69,72-73

gas________!____ 68,72-76

section, stratigraphic____ 69

gas __________ 66-67,68,72-76

analysis ___ ___ 74

geology _______________ 67-72

Judith River formation____ 53,

67-68, 72-73

map, geologic _ 70

sections, structure_______ 70

structure _____________ 69-72

Havre Natural Gas Co.'s well, Mont. 73

gas, analysis____._______ 74

Hay Creek anticlines, Okla_____ 36-37

Heald, K. C.:

Oil and gas geology, Poraker

quadrangle, Okla __ 17-47 

work ________________ 235 

Hells Hole Canyon, Utah :

Green River formation, section __________ 185-186 

Higgins (ozokerite) shaft, Utah__ 16 

Holmes (oil) well, Wyo_______ 241 

Hopkins, O. B.:

Structure of Vicksburg-Jackson

area, Miss_______ 93-120

Hound Creek district, Mont___ 215-217

Carboniferous rocks______ 218-220

coal _______________ 229-231

quality___________ 230-231

section____________ 229

Colorado shale_________ 222-223

geology_____________ 217-228

igneous rocks_________ 223-225 

Jurassic rocks __________ 220

Kootenai formation______ 221-222

Madison limestone _ _ 218

map, geologic____1______ 216

Morrison formation_____ 220-221

section, stratigraphic ___ 221

Quadrant formation_____ 218-220

fossils_____________ 219

section, stratigraphic _ _ 219

section ________________ 216

structure_____________ 225-228

Humphreys Petroleum Co.'s (oil)

wells, Okla_____ 128-129 

Hundred and One (101) Ranch Co.'s

(oil) wells, Okla_ 134,136

I. 

Illinois :

oil shale ____________ 314,319 

Indiana :

New Albany shale______ 320-322

oil shale ______ 313-314,319-322

analyses___ 323

supply _____________ 322

Iron Creek anticline, Wyo 265-266

section, structural 266

J. Page. 

Jackson, Miss.:

sections, stratigraphic _ 100,106 

Jackson anticline, Miss______ 109-110 

oil ______________ 113-114 

Jackson area. See Vicksburg-Jackson area. 

Jackson formation :

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss_ 97,

98-101

sections, stratigraphic___ 100 

Judith River, Mont.:

structure ______________ 85-86 

Judith River formation :

Havre field, Mont__ 53,67-68,72-73 

Jurassic rocks :

Montana ___________ 220

K.

East, H., and Seidner, S.:

on origin of ozokerite___.__ 9 

Kay, P. H.:

work_________________ 139 

Kentucky :

oil shale _____________ 314,319 

Kevin, Mont.:

oil and gas_______________ 89-90

section, stratigraphic _____ 58, 90 

Kimball sand (Wyo.)_________ 238

oil___________________ 237 

Kimberly-Wing Co.'s well, Miss____ 119 

Kootenai formation :

coal________________ 229-231

Montana ______________ 53, 

54, 55, 221-222, 285, 286-287 

map ____ ___ 64 

Kyune Canyon (ozokerite) claims,

Utah __________ 16

L. 

Lee, Y. K.:

work ____________ 143 

Lehner (coal) mine, Mont _ 208 

Lewistown, Mont.:

section, stratigraphic _ __ 58 

Linley conglomerate :

Upper Stillwater Basin, Mont- 203-204 

Little Belt Mountains, Mont_____ 225 

Livingston formation (Mont.)__ 201-203

coal______________ 202, 206-207 

Lodge Creek,. Mont.:

structure ________ ___ 80-81 

Loffer (coal) mine, Mont_____ 207-208

coal, analysis______ _ _ 210 

Lone Tree dome, Okla _ 34

M.

Madison limestone:

Montana _____ _ __ 218 

Margaret Primeaux (oil) well,

Okla _________ 135-136 

Mary Hess (oil) well, Okla.:

log___________ 28
INDEX. 329

Massey, J. N.: Page.

work_________________ 143 

Matson, G. C.:

work___________________ 94, 95

Medicine Hat, Alberta:

gas _ , 75 

analysis 75 

Meili fault, Mont____ _ 70-71 

Mid-Co Petroleum Co.'s (oil) well,

Okla_______ 128-129,133 

Midnight (ozokerite) claim, Utah__ 15 

Midwest Oil Co.'s (oil) wells, Wyo_- 240,

275-276 

Milk River, North Fork, Mont.:

anticline_____________ 299-300 

Milk River anticline, Mont_____ 294-297 

Milk River valley, Mont.:

gas _________________ 75-76 

Miller (ozokerite) claim, Utah__._ 15 

Miller (James) ranch well, Mont__ 90, 305 

Mississippi:

anticlines-__________ 112-114 

correlation______ _ _ 115 116 

oil and gas_______ 93-94, 112-120 

section, stratigraphic______ 97 

structure _____________ 108-112 

Vicksburg-Jackson area (q. v.)_ 93-120 

Missouri River, Mont.:

structure _ _ _ _ _ __ 84-85 

Monongahela Oil Co.'s (oil) well,

Wyo _______ 241, 245, 274 

Montana :

Blackfeet Indian Reservation

(q. v.) ________ 281-305 

coal________________ 229, 281 

Colorado shale________ _ 53-58,

69, 88-91, 222-

223, 285, 287-289

Cretaceous rocks__ -..______ 53 54,

56-60, 201-203 

section, stratigraphic ____ 64

Eagle sandstone_ 53, 58-59, 201-203

. Ellis formation ____ 219

fossils_____________ 219

geology ___ 52-91, 200--205, 284-303

Havre field (q. v.)- 66-76

Hound Creek district (q1. v.)_ 215-231

igneous rocks ____ _ _ 62, 204

Jurassic rocks____ ____ 220

Kootenai formation ___ 53-55,

221-222, 285, 286-287

Madison limestone-__ _ _ 218

Morrison formation ______ 220-221

oil and gas_____________ 49-50,

63-64, 66-91, 213-214 

Quadrant formation _____ 218-220 

structure-____ 63-66, 205, 291-303 

Tertiary rocks. 143-144, 203-204, 285 

Upper Stillwater Basin (q. v.)_ 199-214 

See also Montana, north central. 

Montana, north central_______ 50-51 

Bearpaw Mountains __ 65-88 

Blackfeet Indian Reservation

(q. v.) ________ 281-305

43768° Bull. G41 17 22

Montana, north central Contd. Page. 

Canada, correlation __________ 61-62,

282, 290-291 

Colorado shale.________ 53, 54,

56-58, 69, 88-91, 285, 287-289 

map______________ 64

Cretaceous rocks_______ 53-54, 

56-60, 285-290

section, stratigraphic____ 64 

drilling, recognition of formations__________ 60-61 

Eagle sandstone _______ 53, 58-59

gas __________ 68, 72-74, 287-290

geology_________ 52-91, 285-303

glacial drift____________ 60

Havre field (q. v.)________ 66-76

Kootenai formation _ 53, 54,

55, 285, 286-287

map._______ _ ______ 64

map, geologic _ 64

maps _________ 82, 88

oil and gas____________ 49-50,

63-64, 66-91, 287-290

map, geologic________ 64

stratigraphy _ __________ 52-60

structure________ 63-66, 291-303

Tertiary rocks______ 143-144, 285

Virgelle sandstone member__ 53, 54,

58-59, 285, 289-290

map _ 64

wells________________ 303-305

Morris, Colo.: . Green River formation, section. 182 

Morrison formation :

Montana_____________ 220-221

section __.,__________ 221

Wyoming __________ 238, 244

oil ___________ 243

Mowry shale (Wyo.)_______ 238,245

oil___________ 237, 238, 245-246

Muddy sand (Wyo.)_________ 238

Oil. _____________ 237

N.

36

161

152

Neva anticline, Okla________.

Nevada:

oil shale, analysis. . 

distillation ______....

Neva limestone:

correlation __________ 29-30 

Foraker quadrangle, Okla____ 23-24

New Albany shale:

analysis _ ____________ 323

eastern United States______ 312

Indiana _____________ 320-322

Niobrara formation (Wyo.)______ 238 

oil______-___________ 237

North Bird Creek anticline, Okla_ 38-39

North Casper Creek anticline,

Wyo__________ 274-275 

section, structural.-_______ 274

Northwestern Oil Co.'s (oil) well,

Wyo--.*_______ 239, 260
330 INDEX.

Nye, Mont.: Page.

coal __________ 147-149, 211-212

analyses 150

0

Ohio :

oil shale__________ 314-315, 319 

Ohio Oil Co.'s (oil) wells, Wyo___ 240-241,

245,253, 268 

Oil. See Shale oil; Oil shale; Oil

and gas. 

Oil and gas:

accumulations_____ _ _ 41-45 

anticlines ______ 126S-128\, 248-279 

Billings,'Okla. (q. v.)__ 121-138 

Blackfeet Indian Reservation

(q. v.)__ 281-282,287-305 

Foraker quadrangle, Okla.

(q. v.)__________ 45-47

Montana, north central (q. v.)_ 49-50,

63-64, 66-91,

map, geologic _ 64 

sources. See Shale oil. 

Upper Stillwater Basin, Mont_ 213-214 

Vicksburg - Jackson area, Miss.

(q. v.) _________ 93-120

Wyoming, central (q. v.)__ 233-279

See also Gas ; Oil shale ; Shale oil.

Oil Mountain anticline, Wyo___ 266-268

sections, structural _______ 267

Oil shale__________ 139-142,147-191

ammonium sulphate- 151-154,158-160

analyses __________ 161,322-324

bibliography __________ 191-198

Colorado, northwestern (q. v.),

139-142, 147-190

distillation __________ 141-142,

151-160, 318-320, 322

by-products _ 142

cost ______________ 322

field apparatus _____ 147-150

view __________ 148

methods _________ 147-150

results __________ 151-161

gas _____ _ 151-153

Indiana _________ 313-314,319

investigation ___________ 324

Illinois _____________ 314,319

Kentucky ____________ 314, 391

maps _ ______ __ In pocket

Nevada, distillation________ 152

Ohio ____________ 314-315, 319

oil _____ 139-140, 151-158, 320-322

fractionation __ _ __ 156-158

Pennsylvania _______ 315-316, 319

sampling, views_________ 147

sections _______ 167-168, 170-189

structure ____________ 189-191

Tennessee _________ 316-318, 319

Utah. See Utah, northeastern,

Green River formation.

views______ 144,145,146, 147, 149

West Virginia ________ 318,319

Wyoming. See Wyoming, Green

River formation. 

See also Green River formation ; 

Shale oil.

Oklahoma: Page, 

anticlines _______ 33-40,126-128 

Billings (q. v.)__-______ 121-138 

Foraker quadrangle (q. v.)__ 17-47 

oil and gas ____ 45-47,121,129-132

Ozokerite:

Galicia (Austria)_________ 10 

imports______________ 10-11

Utah, central (q. v.)_____ 1-2,4-16 

map ___ ____ 16

P.

Pearl River, Miss. :

section, stratigraphic ______ 104 

Peary sand (Wyo.)_________ 238,246

oil ________________ 237,246 

Pennsylvania:

oil shale __________ 315-316, 319 

Philip (T. B.) (coal) mine, Mont 206 

Piceance Creek, Colo.:

oil shale ______________ 165

distillation __________ 168

sections __ 167,177-178,180-181

view _____________ 144

Pikeville quadrangle, Tenn.:

coal ________________ 307-310 

Pine dome, Wyo___________ 268-269

section, structural _______ 267

Pine Dome Oil Co.'s (gas) well,

Wyo ____-_____ 243, 269 

Plain, Miss.:

section, stratigraphic ____.. 104-105 

Pleasant Valley (ozokerite) mine,

Utah __________ 15 

Pole Gulch, Colo.:

Green River formation, section- 181 

Ponca City field, Okla.:

oil and gas_____________ 129 

Potato Creek anticline, Okla____ 38

Q.

Quadrant formation:

fossils _____-________ 219

{Mto'ntana_____________ 218-220

section ____ _ 219

R.

Rattlesnake anticline, Wyo_ __ 258-261 

oil_________________ 243-248 

sections, structural _ 257, 258

Red Eagle limestone:

Foraker quadrangle, Okla__ 24-25 

section : 24

Red Rock Coulee, Mont.:

structure- 78

Redwood, Boverton:

on ozokerite__ - 4,10

Reeside, J. B., jr.:

work_______ 235

Ripley formation:

oil and gas___________ 116,117 

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss 117

Robinson, H. M.:

Ozokerite in central Utah__ 1-16 

work_________ ____ 143
INDEX. 331

Rocky Mountains, Mont.: Page, 

structure- _ 66

Rullson, Colo.:

Green River formation, section. 182

S.

Saddle Post Canyon, Utah :

Green River formation, section- 184 

St. Clair, Stuart:

work 235

Schramm, E. F.:

work_____________ 199

Scotland:

oil-shale distillation ___ 141 

hy-products________ 142, 159 

Seidner, S. See Kast and Seldner. 

Selma chalk :

Vickshurg-Jackson area, Miss 117

Shale, black:

analyses_____________ 322-324 

distillation____________ 318-320 

eastern United States____- 311-327 

oil_______________ 311, 320-322

Shale oil____________ 141,151-158 

Colorado, northwestern

(q. v.)__ 139-142,147-168 

fractionation _______:___ 156-158 

sources_ _ 141 

supply (Indiana)____ 322 

Utah, northeastern (q. v.)__ 152,161 

Wyoming (q. v.) ___- 152,161 

See also Oil shale.

Shannon sandstone (Wyo.)___ 238 

oil___________________ 237

Sheep Mountain anticline, Wyo 250-251 

section, structural _ __ 251

Signal Butte, Mont.:

structure _ _ 76-77

Smith, C. D. See Taff and Smith.

Soldier Summit (ozokerite) mine,

Utah^__________ 13

South Fork anticline, Mont____ '297-298

Stanton, T. W.:

on fossils from Montana__ _ 220

Stehlnger, Eugene:

Anticlines in Blackfeet Indian

Reservation, Mout__ 281-305 

Oil and gas in north-central

Montana ________ 49-91

Steele shale (Wyo.)_________ 238 

oil___________________ 237

Stillwater Basin. See Upper Stillwater Basin.

Structural terraces ____ 293,301-302 

Two Medicine Creek, Mont__ 301

Sundance formation (Wyo.)___ 238,244 

oil_____-____________ 243

Sweetgrass arch, Mont _______ 64-65

Sweetgrass Hills, Mont.:

oil and gas_____ ______ 88-89 

section, stratigraphic ______ 58, 89

Sweetwater anticline, Wyo _ 249-250

T. Page. 

Taff, J. A., and Smith, C. D.:

on ozokerite______ 8,11, 12,13,15 

Teapot sandstone member (Wyo.)_ 238,

246-247

oil___________________ 247 

Tennessee:

oil shale __________ 316-318,319

Plkeville quadrangle, coal 307-310

map ______________ 310

Tensleep sandstone (Wyo.)__ __ 238

oil___________________ 243 

Tertiary rocks:

coal _________________ 203

Upper Stillwater Basin, Mont- 203-204 

Thermopolls shale (Wyo.)_____ 238

oil___________________ 237 

Toltec Oil Co.'s (oil) well, Wyo__ 242,

245,271 

Torchlight sand (Wyo.)______ 238,246

Oil_________________ 237, 246 

Town (ozokerite) mine, Utah 14-15 

Two Medicine Creek, Mont.:

anticline ______ _____ 299

structural terrace 301

U.

Uinta Basin, Colo., Utah :

structure____________ 189-190

U. S. (ozokerite) prospect, Utah_ 12-13

Upper Stillwater Basin, Mont__ 199-200

coal_____________ 202,205, 213

analyses_ _ 209-212

character-__ _ _ 212

development __1____ 212-213

Cretaceous rocks_______ 201-203

Eagle sandstone________ 201-203

coal__________ 202, 207-209

analyses_-___ __ 210

Fort Union formation..-___ 213

coal__________ 203, 205-206

geology___________ 200-205

igneous rocks _ _ 204

Linley conglomerate _ _ 203-204

Livingston formation _____ 201-203

coal__________ 202,206-207

map______,_________ 200

map, geologic 202

oil_________________ 213-214

section, stratigraphic __ __ 201

structure 205

Tertiary rocks _________ 203-204

Utah, central:

fossils____ _ _____ 3

geology 2-4

Green River formation_____ 3-4

ozokerite __ _ ______ 1-16

character.___ ____ 4-8

map __ __ _____ 16

origin.. _ ____ 9-10

production _ _ __ 11

tests______________ 5-8

uses _____ _ _ 11

Wasatch formation _______ 3
332 INDEX.

Page. 

Utah, northeastern __________ 144-146

gilsonite ______________ 190 

Green River formation (oil

shale), analysis-___ 161 

distillation __________ 152 

map _ In pocket, 

sections____ 183-186, in pocket, 

views____________ 144,146 

structure___________ 189-190

V.

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss_ 93-96 

Catahoula sandstone ___ 97,105-106

sections__________ 105,106 

Claiborne group_______ 97,98,116 

correlation __ _ 115-116 

Eutaw formation_________ 117

oil and gas ________ 116,117 

'faults______________ 111-112 

geology _____________ 97-112 

Jackson formation_____ 97, 98-101

sections, stratigraphic 100 

map _______ ____In pocket, 

oil and gas______ 93-94,112-120 

Ripley formation 117

oil and gas_ 116,117 

section, stratigraphic . 97 

Selma chalk ____________ 117 

structure_____________ 108-112 

Vicksburg limestone ___ 97,101-105

contour map _______In pocket.

sections, stratigraphic- 100-105 

Wilcox group __ 116

oil and gas _ _ 116 

Vicksburg limestone:

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss _ 97,

101-105

contour map ____ -In pocket.

sections__________ 100-105 

Vicksburg monocline, Miss _ 110-111 

oil______________:___ 114 

Virgelle, Mont.:

structure________ 82-83 

Virgelle sandstone member:

correlation ____________ 291 

Montana ____ 53, 54, 58-59, 289-291

map 64

W.

Wallace Creek dome, Wyo 261-262

Wall Creek sandstone (Wyo.)_ 238, 246, 270

oil ______________ 237, 246, 257

.Wamsley Creek anticline, Okla__ 37-38

Wasatch formation:

Utah _______________;_ 3 

Wyoming_________ ____ 238 

oil ______________ 237 

Watchorn & Fortuna Oil Co.'s (oil)

well, Okla___I 129,134 

Western States Oil Co.'s (oil) wells,

Wyo_________ 241,253

West Rosebud Creek, Mont.:

coal -______ _ 206

Page. West Virginia:

oil shale ____________ 318,319 

White, David:

work ______________ 143 

White Mountain, Wyo.:

Green River formation, section _________ 188-189 

White River, Colo.:

Green River formation, sections____ 172-173,178-179 

White River formation (Wyo.) 238,247 

oil-___________ 237-238, 247-248 

Wilcox group:

Vicksburg-Jackson area, Miss_ 116 

Willow Creek, Mont.:

antidine ____________ 300-301 

Wilson, W. B.:

work ____________.____ 143 

Winchester, D. E.:

Oil shale in northwestern Colorado, etc_______ 139-198 

work __________ 139-140, 319 

Wind River formation (Wyo.)__ 238,247 

oil __________________ 247 

Wolf (H. F.) (oil) well, Okla____ 137 

Woodruff, E. G.:

on Fort Union formation____ 203 

work _____ 139, 140, 142, 147, 166 

Wreford limestone:

Foraker quadrangle, Okla___ 21-22 

section ____________ 22 

Wyoming, See Wyoming, central; 

Wyoming, northwestern. 

Wyoming, central____________ 233-236

anticlines ___________ 248-279

map _____________ 278

Aspen shale, oil________ 237

Bear River formation, oil____ 237

Cambrian rocks, oil_______ 242

Chugwater formation ____ 243-244

oil _____________ 237,243

Cleverly sandstone, oil _ 237, 244

Cretaceous rocks, oil__ ___ 237-238

Dakota sandstone- 244, 245

oil _______________ 244

Embar formation_________ 243

oil _____________ 238,243

Frontier formation 246

oil _____________ 237,246

geology ____________ 242-248

Graneros shale, oil_ _ 237

Kimball sand, oil________- 237

map________________ 278

Morrison formation _ 244

oil _______________ 243

Mowry shale________ 245

oil ________ 237,238,245-246

Muddy sand, oil_______ 237

Niobrara formation, oil 237

oil and gas_____ 233-234,236-279

history ________ 239-242

oil-bearing rocks _____ 242-248

. Peay sand_____ 246

oil ______________ 237,246

sections, structural- 251,252,255-258,

263, 265-267, 271-274, 276
INDEX. 333

Wyoming, central Continued. Page. 

Shannon sandstone, oil__ 237 

Steele shale, oil_____ 237 

Sundance formation __ ____ 244

oil ______________ 243 

Teapot sandstone member. 246-247

oil _______________ 247 

analyses 161 

distillation ___________ 152,169 

Tensleep sandstone, oil 243 

Thermopolis shale, oil______ 237 

Torchlight sand_________ 240

oil _______-_____ 237,246 

Wall Creek sandstone___ 246, 270

oil __________ 237,246,257 

Wasatch formation, oil_____ 237 

water supply __ 235, 236 

White River formation - 247 

oil_____ __. 237-238, 247-248

Wyoming, central Continued. Page.

Wind River formation______ 247

oil _______________ *47

Wyoming, southwestern______ 146-147

Green River formation (oil

shale) ____ 152,161-162, 

168-169,191

map __ ____ _ _In pocket.

sections_____ 168-169,186-189

view______________ 146

structure _ _________ 191

Wyoming Central Association's (oil)

wells, Wyo______ 239, 260

Y.

Yazoo River, Miss. :

section, stratigraphic_____ 101-102 

Yellow Creek, Colo.:

section, structural________ .1.90
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