Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-07-01
Gas For Fuel, As a Factor in Our
Future Industrial Growth.
The Great Gas Wells OF Western
Pennsylvania, Ohio and
West Virginia.
Immense Stores of Natural Gas
Underlying the Nail City.


10 find a good flow of the same at about
LOO feet. 1t is possible that some
strong veins of gas may be found even
before that depth is reached, but the
great gas-bearing horizon Of Eastern
Ohio and Western Pennsylvania will
not be struck until depth of 800 or
1850 feet has been penetrated, and it is
with the hope Of preventing any dis
enlargement of deeper boring, if good
supply of gas be not found within
depth of / 100 feet, that this letter is
written.
The eight years of my connection
with the Pennsylvania geological sur
vey have necessarily taken me to all
the great gas wells of that State, and
made me familiar with
The Geological Horizons
at which they occur, and their position
with reference To associated beds, such
As the principal veins Of coal, lime
stone, &c.
All of the great natural gas wells OF
Western Pennsylvania have been struck
at practically the same geological hori-
known to biologists as the
SenangO OIL Sand Group.
This oil sand group usually contains
thirty-four well defined sands" and
the entire thickness of the series is
about 500 feet. The gas bearing menu
Der is known a the
Second Senanxo OIL Sand,
and its place is near the middle of the
s.. 4, Il h., -
and third Nenango Oil Sands.
From this second oil sand all of the
celebrated gas wells in Butler county
have been obtained, and the same may
5e said of Allegheny, Clarion, Arm
strong and Washington counties.
The famous wells at st. Joe, Eden
burg, Leechbure, and the one furnish
ing gas for the -Etna Iron Company at
Sharpshurgh, al, get their supply from
this second oil sand.
The McGugen and other wells in
Washington county, as we'll as the ones
Brilliant and weIIsburg,
tap the same great reser-
vOiT; the gas at Rochester,
Beaver Falls, East Liverpool and all
the other localities along the Ohio river
between Wheeling and Pittsburgh,
seems to come at the same horizon, SO
that 40 far IS Southwestern Pennsylva-
MIA, Eastern Ohio, or Nor .hern West
Virginia are concerned, the geOlOgist
has learned To look for good vein Of
gas at the horizon of the second oil sand
with as much ctrtainly ~ he expects
he'd of coal, clay, or other mineral at its
proper place i'm the series. of course,
at some localities the gas flow will be
Iar af, oil mat "a. a Il
i often thicker at some localities than |
at others, and precisely ~ the latter |
may thin away and locally disappear |
altogether, so some wells have been |
knowu to penetrate
The GaS- Bearing Rock.
aLd had little or none OF the gas.
These are risks that the explorer neces-
Sarl!y takes every day in boring for oil,
coal OF gas, but just ~ any number OF
''dTy holes or clusters does not dis |
courage the search for oil within the |
recognized oil region, so the same re-
suit a barren Well should not discOur- |
age the search for natural gas within |
the region where it can, on geological |
grounds, be reasonably supposed to eX- |
ist. From every point Of view Wheel |
ing's situation is favorable for the ex- |
recitation that immense stores OF natur- |
al gas mderlie it; frs, because large |
wells have been struck near it Wells !
burg and Washington county; and, |
second, the greatest gas'beartng horizon |
in the country the second oil sand I'M
qutStiOnably underlies Wheeling.
But have stated at the outset OF this
letter that the great gas horizon will
not be found in Wheeling at depth of
9nO feet. Where, then, naturally asks
the reader, will il be struck? And in
The same breath, how do you know:
To both of which questions we shall
now try to give a satisfactory answer.
The depth to this
Ga--Bearing Rock At wheeling
will be somewhere between 800 and
$50 feet, and very probably about the
mean, viz, !, 525 feet.
But this conclusion so easily reached
10y the geOlOgist, will require some ex-
PLANTATION before credence is given to 1t
by those unacquainted with geological
reasoning. The process Is briefly thus:
Beds or coal, clay, sandstone, &c, ana
rocks cor claiming gas and oil do not lie
in a horizontal position, but in our State
dip down either south and east, or north
and west as the case may be, rising of
course in the contrary directions. This
dip varies from few feet to the mile
up to several hundred, or even thOus-
ands il may be, when the rocks become
nearly vertical in mountain regions.
Now, along the Ohio valley the rocks
dip uniformly southwark from the eX-
treme end of the Panhandle for nearly
2OO miles, but so slowly lonly about
twenty feet to the mile) that they can
easily be followed. That this is true Is
shown by the fact that the
Pittsburgh Coal
which is 100 feet below the Ohio river
AT NIoundsyille, is 100 feet above the
same at Wheeling, 500 and odd above
il at Wellsburg, and nearly 1N feet
above the
at Steubenville. OF course any under
ground bed rises or sinks at the same
rate as do those which crop out above
he water level. For instance coal
rcd ia shafted for at Steubenvllle and
reached at an average depth of $50 feet.
AT welIsburg this same bed has sunk
To ga feet, and at Wheeling has been
found in the present boring at \ depth
OF 471 feet. OF course il follows that
the Gas rock has sunk at the same rate
in descending the river from Wellsburg.
At the latter town the great gas we'll
was struck at 1910 feet, and the Steu<
heny;lle shaft coal at pa, which would
mace tine gas horizon (l3lO-264l
fOIS feet below the coal in question, and
by adding this latter figure to the depth
al which the Steubenville shaft coal
WAS struck in the Wheeling well, viz:
aII feet, we get (l0l6 and 474) 1870 feet
for the probable depth at which great
flow of gas may possibly
BE struck NJ wheeling.
Owing to the variable nature of rock
tb,cknesses this estimate may vary
from twenty to thirty feet either way,
hut not more. 1t will of course be I'M
derstood that 8 large flow Of gas
AT this horizon cannot be absolutely
sssured until the drill settles the ques-
tion. All that the biologists can do in