The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-09-05

retroleum in North.Carolina,
We publish, as a matter of intero..
the following letter from. W. C. Kerr
A. M, State Geologist, late Professo,,
Of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geoloev
at Davidson College. .
Messrs. A. G.. Bremizer, f. p .zons.
and Others of g The North CaroL;no
Petroleum and Mining Compan,"
Greensboro, ~ c.:
SIRs lin your letter asking INV
opinion Of the prospects and probabii.
tiles OF Petroleum operations in North
Carolina, you state that your procedure
will be much influenced by my answer
to your inquiries. Let me say in the
beginning therefore that there is vet
too much doubt and uncertainty enyel.
oping the geological theory ofthat sub
ject, to make itprudent to base an operc.
ton upon any scientific opinion, which in
the present state of our knowledge Of
the matter, can claim to be little more
than conjecture. The whole subject is
SO new and the facts have accumulated
SO rapidly and cover SO wide field
and SO many points remain still in OBJ.
security, thatit would be unsafe to ven
ture prediction that oil will or will not
be found in any given locality.
The only satisfactory method of set.
Ting the question Of its presence is to
make an experiment by boring. And
this is no very difficult or costly affair:
to such degree Of simplicity and Der.
| lection has the manufacture of the i'm.
plements for the purpose been brought
and SO much skill has been acquired
in the use of them. And I was glad to
find on visiting last week the ground
where your machinery has been erected
and the preparations nearly completed
for sinking the first well, that compa.
ny of citizens of North-Carolina have
the enterprise and public spirit to make
this exploration, which must inure to
the common benefit as well as that of
the immediate members of the company.
For you will decide satisfactorily and
finally, and in the only way in which it
can be decided, the question of the ex-
istence of petroleum in available GUAM
tity in North Carolina.
And whether you succeed in finding
oil or not, your experiment, besides it's
general scientific interest and the light
which it must throw upon several vexed
questions, will probably bring to view
new resources of coal and iron and I'M
probably also of lime, salt and gypsum,
whose presence in association with the
coal, there are good reasons for suspec-
ting.
In reference to the question of the
probability of your finding oil, it is
! proper to state, as / shall do briefly and
frankly, in answer to your inquiries,
what consider the fixed and ascertained
facts and principles bearing on that
point, emitting whatever is merely con-
jectural.
origin, being derived from the accumu-
lations of the remains of vegetables and
(chiefy of animals of former ages,
which lie buried deep in the rocks. Oil
may be expected therefore only where
these fossils abound. 1t is seldom found
| (if at ally in the rocks where it origina
ted, but at higher level. It is found
chiefly in sandstone which is never the
source of its production 1t does not
occur in metamorphic or altered $50 call
ed primary rocks.
The rocks of North arolina, except
the Deep and Dan River coal measures
land the mari region Of the coast are
Of this description and contain no fos-
sils; so that you have selected the only
localities in the State where there is any
probability of success because there
only the rocks are not metamorphic and
there sandstones abound, and since
these coal formations are of no great
thickness and the oil lies above the hori-
ION of its production, you may expect
to find it, if at all, at no great depth be
low the surface.
1t is important in fixing the location
of your wells in coal region to seek
indications of bituninous coal, the pres
ence of anthracite denoting degree of
metamorphism Tor alteration of the con-
stitution of the rocks) which implies
the absence of petroleum; and the chan
ces of success will be further increased
if you select point towards which the
rocks incline upwards from opposite di-
rections, an antielinal axis, in geological
phrase.
Believing that you have the energy
and perseverance to carry through your
laudable undertaking and hoping that
it may result probably to yourselves,
in the complete realization of your hopes,
and to the State by the development of
her stores of hidden wealth, let me as
sure you that no one will rejoice more
sincerely in your success than myself.
! Yours respectfully,
| w. G. KERR,
| State Geologist, N c.
| August, %, 1866.