The times., 1899-03-05
TAPPING 4 GREAT
OIL LAKE IN Ohio
Boom Days in the Once Sleepy
Town of SciO.
The Newest Petroleum Field and
How Ii Was Discovered.
ncorre.pondcnee to the New York SUM

Correspondence to the New York SUM-
Scio, Ohio, Feb. 1S.-A strip OF Buckeye
country three miles long and two miles
wide is attracting more attention from oil
operators today than any other region Of
the United States. Under it lies laae ci
petroleum, and the man who located the
field says 1t will prove to be sixteen miles
long and seven miles wide. If he hits the
truth as well as he did on his first prophe-
cy Harrison county will cut big figure
in the oil business in less than six months.
Although the field is less than two months
old. 1t will produce more than 10000 bar
rels of oil this month. OF the first fifty
wells drilled there were only two dry
holes, a thing never before recorded in
the history of any oil field. The two dry
wells were wildcats and far In advance Of
developments.
The wizard who has converted this staid
old farming and sheep-raising region into
an oil field is H. A. Snyder, and the like OF
his theory was never heard before. Snyder
worked in oil wells back in Pennsylvania
before the civil war and was for a time
connected with the Geological Survey of
ing formations hobby. 1t is we'll
known fact that one stratum of oil-bear
ing rock underlles another and that the
rock dips to the south and east and rises
TO the north and west. Thus the first
strata of oil rock in Pennsylvania, If they
extended over into Ohio, would lie close to
the surface. Snyder figured out the fall
of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers and the
elevation OF the railroads that run through
this county. One day lie found, after a
big storm, ledge of rock exposed on a
hillside Just north of Scio. 1t was similar
TO the Pennsylvania oil rock. but had the
appearance of having been through FIRE,
presumably the result OF volcanic action
He figured ii out that below would be
found other strata of oil rcck, in which
the oil was still stored. After months Of
calculation he decided that the productive
strata would be found at depth OF 200
| feet. When he explained his theory he
was pronounced daft That from surface
| indications any man would presume to tell
what was stored up 1000 feet down in
| the earth seemed unreasonable and Sny
| der and the peek of burned rock that he
| collected became standing joke. He pro
posed to prove his theory by drilling a
| well. He had no money. but he had per-
| severance, and after a long struggle he
succeeded IN selling enough shares at 30
| each to drill a test well He says that
most OF the people invested to get rid OF
| him.
The First Well.
The wei! was located in gully near
| where the burned rock cropped out, a
quarter of mile north of Scio. There
were thirty-five shareholders In the well,
and before the drill was started a big lot
of land was leased up for the company
and Snyder secured a pocketful OF leases
| for his private use. At a depth of 1lSs
feet the sand was tapped and the oil poured
out. There was no tankage and even then
some of the stockholders doubted that the
well would pay. That was last July. In
October another well was drilled near by