The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-03-30
NATURAL-GAS SUPPLY.
A Scientist Discusses Its Area, Origin and
Value to the Country.

/ tHlue TO UNe country
The officers of the Indiana Geologi-
cal Survey have recently brought to-
gether the facts concerning the distrib-
| ution of natural gas in that State. 1t
appears that the area in WHICH profit
| able amount of gas may be looked for
is 165 miles long by 60 miles wide. At
present it contains 3S1 profitable wells.
From these wells 600,000,000 cubic feet
of gas flow each day, or an average of
1900, 600 feet per well
The present state of our knowledge
concerning gas wells makes it seem
certain that the area of country they
occupy is many times as great as that
from which any considerable quanti-
ties of petroleum can be obtained. At
present the districts known to contain
natural gas in sufficient quantities to
have any economic value within the
United States probably exceed 10000
square miles, and it is likely that
further inquiry will develop numerous
fields as yet unknown. A great many
of the wells bored for petroleum in the
which went on twenty or thirty years
ago. developed large quantities OF nat
ulal gas. The value OF the substance,
was at that time not appreciated.
These wells gradually became closed
by various accidents or wasted their
contents in the atmosphere. The value
of natural gas in the economics of this
country is now but little, if any, below
that of petroleum, and the probability
is that within few years it may eX-
ceed that substance in value. 1t is a
matter of great interest to determine
not only the areas occupied by this
valuable resource, but the circumstance
of its formation. There can be little
doubt that it represents the decompo-
sition of organic matter, the fossils of
old rocks, and that it is generally gen.
Grated at the same time us petroleum,
being only lighter form of the same
varied series of hydrocarbons. The
facts appear to indicate that under GER
tain circumstances gas may be pro-
duced in large quantities with little or
no oil, while at other times the oils
may abound and the gas be small in
quantity.
1t is curious to note that the preserv-
alton of these gases, as well as OF the
associated petroleum products IN the
Mississippi valley. is due to the fact
that the rocks of this region have been
but little affected by mountain-building
disturbances. If the strata now con-
tanning these hydrocarbons had
been folded and riven, as is the
case in mountain-built countries,
the gas would have escaped and
driven before it to the surface the oil
as we'll, and so these resources would
have disappeared from under earth
and become decomposed in the atmos-
phere. In this and many other ways
we perceive the close connection which
exists between the structure of the
earth and its uses for men. 1t seems
not improbable that the resources of
natural gas will in a few years give
American manufacturers an opportuni-
ty to extend the markets for their prod
ucts through parts of the world to
which they could not have gained ac-
cess but for the economic advantage
which this subterranean resource af-
fords them. OF old, mans dependence
was rather upon the surface of the
earth than upon the neither realm. Now
the mineral stores begin to affect the
destinies of peoples even more than
the geographic features or the charac-
ter of the soil.-Prof. N. S. Shaler, in
Pittsburgh Dispatch.