The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-11
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.


Natural Gas in Indiana.
To the Editor of the indianapolis journal:
Inasmuch as the people indifferent portions OF
the State are at present very much interested in
the subject of "natural gas and the probable
tiles of finding it, perhaps the statement OF
few facts might convey some information to
those desiring it. The first gas well was drilled
at Findlay, o., in 1884, and the last one was
finished on Jan. 20, 1886. Of thirteen wells,
eight furnish gas for heating and Illuminating
purposes Their depths are as follows: No. l,
East Findlay, 1,64S feet; No. 2, gas works, 1900
feet; No. g. Marvin, 1,155 feet; No. A, Adams,
1907 Feet No. S, Lima street. 1,2l5 feet; No. 6,
Barnd, Lips feet; No. Z, North Findlay, LII
feet; No. 8, Matthias, 1921 feet; No. 9, Putnam
street, 1,312 feet; No. 10, Kirk, LII feet;
No. IL. Aultman, /, LAP feet No. IL, Briggs 1.175
feet; No. Ii, Karg, /, LA feet The Karg well IS
the great WELL having thirty pounds open pres
sure in a six-inch pipe fiftyseven feet high. The
Adams well produces ten barrels of oil per day.
Previous to the sinking of the deep wells named
above, gas was frequently found in digging for
water The drift everything the Niagara lime
stone at this place varies from seven to twenty
two feet and in many places in the town when
ever this was penetrated gas would be en-
countered flowing from crevices in the underly-
ing rock. In other cases it would be met when
Carr was lighted with Gas from these surface or
shallow wells as early as 1872. The rock imme-
diatey underlying Findlay is the Niagara lime
stone, the upper Heidelberg outcropping about
one half mile west of the city. The thickness
of the strata penetrated by the
deep wells varies somewhat, though the
following is perhaps a fair average:
Drift. 22 feet Niagara limestone, 245 to Alt feet
Niagara shale (gray shale) so feet; Clinton (red
ROCKY, 40 feet; Hudson River group (eray shale),
40 feet; Utica shals (black, shale). a5o feet
Below this is the Trenton limestone. in which
the gas and oil are found"
Over large portion of eastern Indiana the
same strata would be found in drilling deep wells,
as were met with at Findlay, though the thick
ness of each and the depth at which they would
be found, would vary somewhat with the locality.
At Eaton, Delaware county, a well drilled some
years ago, only found about one hundred feet OF
Niagara limestone, while the black shale was
met with at depth of about six hundred feet.
Where strata, other than the Niagara are the
surface rock, the depth of wells would be in
creased. or diminished according as to whether
they are above or below this horizon. This, OF
course, presupposes that the formations named
above have a constant and uniform thick
ness over western Ohio and eastern Indiana,
which supposition may or may not be true The
thinness of the Niagara at Eaton is due to the
fact that the we'll was begun near the summit of
the Springfeld's bed, near the middle o. the
Niagara group The Trenton limestone proba
bly, underlies all of Indiana, but whether it is
everywhere reservoir of oil and gas is ques-
ton that only be determined by the drills
1t is possible that in places no limestone would
be found at its horizon, but shale instead. IL
limestone exists, who can tell whether it is suf
fciently porous to act as a reservoir A massive,
compact limestone could certainly not act in
that capacity. In the oil regions of Pennsyl
vania oil is found in the sandstones, known
locally as the oil sands of which there are three
IN the Venango oil district. Beneath them are
thousands of feet of bituminous shales, the
source largely of the oil and gas The failure
of single we'll to find gas would not de-
termne definitely that none could be found
at any locality. The last well drilled at Find
lay has the strongest flow. In the
oil regions of Pennsylvania hundreds of wells
have been put down that have never yielded any
that were flowing hundreds and even thousands
of barrels per day. The explosion of one or two
hundred pounds Of nitro glycerne in a dry we'll
has frequently turned a failure into success by
opening passage way from crevices and porous
portions adjacent to the well. Every well that
will be drilled in Indiana. for the present at
least will be an experiment, and in case of a
failure to find gas the torpedo ought certainly to
be tried before giving it up as failure The
drill may not strike any creviceS or porous
if it does. The belief or statement of anyone
that gas may be found at any locality cannot
possibly have any foundation other than mere
conjecture On the other hand no one can deny
same horizon as found at Findlay, over
portions of Indiana Although the Trenton
limestone had not previously been known a
reservoir OF gas and oil in Ohio and Indiana, vet
the developments at Findlay and Lima have
proven most positively that it is. 1t is very
probable that the Trenton limestone was de-
posted over Ohio and Indiana under essentially
the same conditions The same may be said,
also, of the formations which preceded and fol-
lowed it. Such being the that gas
is found in Ohio, we have at least
a reasonable presumption that il will be found at
the same horizon in this State. There are how
ever, SO many conditions necessary, that every
effort will, for time at least. be experiment.
Parties from Cincinnati nave, am told, leased
considerable ground along the Whitewater, be-
low Brookvile, and intend sinking number of
wells. They are of the opinion that the locality
is near the line connecting Findlay and some point
in Tennessee where gas has been found in large
quantities, and that the strata have been frac-
tured along thatline by the forces which produced
the Cincinnati arch. While Findlay is situated
nearly on the summit of the arch, near its
northern extremity, Brookville is located far to
the west of the axial line. 1t is true that gas
and oil are found, in many localities, under the
crowns of anticlinals, where they have accumu-
lated during long periods OF time, and il may be
possible that fractures may have been formed in
the strata during the upheaval of the Cincinnati
arch. Prof j. S. Newberry, geographical sur
yeyor Of Ohio, has shown that the northern ex-
tremity of this arch is composed Of at least two
well marked folds or anticlinals. The relation
existing if any, between these folds and the gas
fields of Lima and Findlay, remain to be deter
mined. Should future Investigations show any
such relation it would render the probabilities of
finding gas in eastern Indiana very doubtful.
At the present, however, we know nothing GER
tain regarding this matter, only possibility It
is probable that gas will be found to lie in basins
like the oil fields of Pennsylvania within which
most of the wells will prove productive, outside
of these basins many will prove failures. In the
Venango oil district, during the year 1879 there
were ATS wells drilled in the counties of Warren
Venango, Clarion and Butler. OF this number
122 were dry holes. In the Bradford, or North
district, there during the same year
2536 wells drilled to the Bradford oil-sane of
which number only seventy-six were dry holes.
The possibilities ofany district cannot positively
be known beforehand. Now, inasmuch as at
least strong probability that the entire lower
slurian, as we'll as upper silurian formations of