Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/petroleumindustr02blat ILLINOIS State Geological Survey BULLETIN NO. 2. THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS, BY W. S. BLATCHLEY. URBAN A: University of Illinois. 1906. SPRINGFIELD: Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers 1906 da STATE GEOLOGICAL COMMISSION. GovEENOR 0. S. Deneen, Chairman. Professor T. C. Chamberlin, Vice-Chairman. President Edmund J. James, Secretary. H. Foster Bain, Director. CONTENTS. Page. List of illustrations 7 Letter of transmittal 9 Introduction 11 Nature and use of petroleum 11 Definition of petroleum 11 Distribution of petroleum 11 Uses of petroleum 12 Historical 13 Gas and oil developments in Illinois to 1904 13 Clark County 13 Montgomery County 13 Crawford County 14 R andolph County 15 Illinois oil and gas fields on May 1st, 1906 15 Petroleum producing rocks in Illinois 16 Mansfield sandstone 16 Lower Coal Measures 17 Upper Coal Measures 19 General section 19 Surface deposits 20 Geologic Structure of the State (Stuart Weller) 21 Origin of oil and gas 23 General 23 Newberry theory of oil genesis 23 Hunt theory of oil genesis 23 Origin of natural gas 25 Mode of occurrence of Illinois petroleum 25 Distribution in rocks 25 Conditions of accumulation 26 Porous stratum 26 Impervious cover 27 Anticlinal structure 28 Pressure behind the oil 29 Accompanying salt water 29 Quantity of petroleum per acre 30 Pools not necessarily connected 31 Dry holes and condemned territory 31 Surface indications 32 Contents — Concluded. Systematic description of the oil and gas fields 33 Clark County 33 Geology 33 Oil wells 38 First wells of the present field 38 Westfield Township 39 Dolson Township 40 Parker Township 40 Casey Township 47 Martinsville Township 48 Johnson Township 50 Orange Township 52 Cumberland County 54 Geology.. 54 Oil wells 54 Union Township 54 Crooked Creek Township 60 Crawford County 60 Geology 60 Oil wells 63 Prairie Township 63 Lamotte Township 65 Robinson Township 67 Oblong Township 67 Lawrence County 72 Edgar County 72 Coles County 73 Jasper County 73 Clay County 73 Williamson County 73 Saline County, by F. F. Grout 78 Randolph County, by F. F. Grout 74 Montgomery County 75 Pike County Gas Field, by T. E. Savage 77 Introduction 77 Geology 77 Pleistocene 78 Coal Measures 78 Mississippian 78 Niagara 79 Deformation of strata 80 Description of the gas field 80 Occurrence of the gas 81 Development of the field 82 Description of the wells 83 Outlook for Pike County field 87 Production of petroleum in Southeastern Illinois 88 Choosing a locality for operating 88 Usual terms of a lease 88 Locating the wells 90 Drilling rig 90 Drilling the well 91 Shooting the well 91 Pumping the oil 93 Cost of a producing well 94 Cost of operating a lease 94 Marketing the oil 95 Output of the Casey field 95 Fake oil companies 96 Need of accurate levels 97 List of bench marks 98 Quality and properties of the Illinois petroleum, by F. F. Grout 100 Index 105 ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATES. Page. 1. Map showing oil and gas occurrences in Illinois with principal lines of deformation . . 22 2. Map showing oil and gas fields of southeastern Illinois 32 8. Map of the Clark county oil field 38 4. Map of the Crawford county oil field 64 5. (a) Standard drilling rig. (d) Drilling machine used in the northern part of the field. 90 6. (a) Jack used in pumping oil. (/^) Power station, tanks and pumping rods 94 FIGURES. 1. Sketch map showing location of oil and gas wells near Litchfield 75 2. Diagram showing depth of wells at Litchfield 76 3. Sketch showing location of gas wells near Pittsfield 81 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. State Geological Survey, University of Illinois, Urbana, June 20, 1906. To Governor 0. S. Deneen, and Members of the Geological Com- mission : GrENTLEMEN — I Submit herewith a report upon the petroleum in- dustry of southeastern Illinois, and respectfully recommend its publi- cation as a bulletin of the survey. The discovery in 1905 of deposits of oil and gas of commercial importance in the eastern portion of the State was in every way a fortunate circumstance. While these materials have been known to occur at various points in Illinois, and, as detailed in these pages, there had been some years ago developments of some local importance near Litchfield and Sparta, our State was commonly believed to be signally barren of these important fuels. The first successful wells in Clark county led to rapid wildcatting through Coles, Cumberland, Crawford and adjacent counties, and as one after another successful wells were brought in, explorations began in other parts of the State. As promptly as possible after the organization of the survey Mr. Arthur W. Lewis was detailed to make a preliminary study of the situation. In the course of the winter he made several visits to the principal fields, and collected such drill records and other data as cir- cumstances permitted. His notes have been used at a number of points in this report, as indicated by Professor Blatchley. Sickness forced Mr. Lewis to give up the work, but not before he has published at my request a preliminary account of the field in the Mining World of April 14th. This, it is believed, was the first description of the new fields published in a technical journal. It stimulated the already active development, and with the coming of spring and consequent improvement of the roads, drilling operations went forward rapidly. In the meantime arrangements have been made for Professor W. S. Blatchley of Indianapolis to report upon the field for the Survey. Professor Blatchley's familarity with the Indiana oil and gas fields and industry peculiarly fitted him for the task, and we are, I think, to be congratulated that he could spare time for the work. Professor Blatchley visited the eastern Illinois fields in April and May, and promptly wrote the accompanying report as a result of his work. The importance of having numerous level lines throughout 10 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. [bain. the area in order to properly correlate the various oil sands appeared so great that the report has been held in order to incorporate the results of surveys made by Mr. E. M. fScheflow and Mr. Loren Digby. Taking advantage of this delay notes have been collected on the other gas and oil fields of the State so far as time and circumstances permitted. The finished paper therefore includes, in addition to Pro- fessor Blatchley's report on the eastern Illinois fields, notes by Mr. Grout on the Saline and Randolph county developments, and by Mr. Savage upon the very encouraging gas field in Pike county. Scattered notes on other counties have been added, and Dr. Stuart Weller has discussed the present condition of our knowledge of the lines of deformation within the State. The importance of the latter topic lies in the circumstance that anticlinal areas furnish the most favorable regions for the accumulation of gas and oil if the other conditions be favorable. Analyses of oil from several points in the State have been made in the laboratory of applied chemistry at the University, under the direc- tion of Professor S. W. Parr, by Mr. P. P. Grout, assistant chemist of the Survey, and certain additional tests have been made by Mr. J. W. Gill. These are given in the body of the text. A careful analysis is also given of the salt water found with the petroleum near Oilfield. For this we are indebted to Dr. Edward Bartow, of the State Water Survey. No attempt has been made in the present bulletin to note the occur rence of natural gas as it occurs in the drift deposits of the State. Small pockets of such gas are known and in use at a number of points, but their importance will always be local. The present development is so rapid that before this is printed there will doubtless be many discoveries. No such report can ever be entirely complete, and it has seemed better that this should be issued as promptly as possible in measurably complete form rather than held for more details. The present report is essentially industrial in character. There has been neither time nor opportunity to work out the many interesting geological problems involved, and, indeed, many of them could not be solved at this time. It is hoped none the less that the report will be of service in the additonal development of the known oil fields of the State and in the discovery of new ones. There are many square miles of untested territory in Illinois, and while probably only a minor part of the area will prove productive, there is room for the discovery of many productive fields. There will un- doubtedly be important additional discoveries, though much drilling will inevitably end in disappointment. Respectfully submitted, H. Foster Bain, Director. Unless otherwise stated the data upon which this report is based were all collected prior to May 10, 1906. THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF SOUTHEAST- ERN ILLINOIS. By W. S. Bi.atchley. INTRODUCTION Nature and Use of Petroleum. Definition of petroleum. — Crude petroleum, or "rock oil", is a natural bitunien, composed mainly of the combustible elements, car- bon and hydrogen. In its most common form it is a brownish-black, ill-smelling liquid, with a specific gravity of about 0.86, When kindled it burns readily with a bright flame and without leaving a residue. When exposed to the atmosphere it gives up slowly its volatile gases and is, in time, reduced to a thick, semi-solid, asphal- tum-like mass. The name petroleum comes from two Latin words, ''petra'^ a rock, and ''oleum'''' oil, and in many localities it is known as "rock oil',, or simply "oil." Distribution of petroleum. — Petroleum is widely distributed throughout the countries of the world, and is found in the rocks of almost every geological formation, from those of the old Archean time up to the later members of the Tertiary. In some of the older countries, as India and Japan, it has been known to and used by man as a remedial agent for more than 2,000 years. For many centuries, however, it uses were few, its possibilities of furnishing valuable products by distillation not being known. With the advancement in the knowledge of chemistry came a better understanding of its com- ponent elements, and within the past quarter of a century it has come to be one of the great and necessary resources of modern industry. During the year 1904, the latest date for which statistics are avail- able, the United States produced 117,063,421 barrels of petroleum, which brought, delivered into pipe lines, $101,170,466. In the same year Russia produced 78,500,905 barrels. The United States thus not only stood first in the rank of petroleum producing countries, but produced more oil than all the rest of the world combined, amounting to 53.4 per cent of the total output. The oil from the different parts of the United States varies much in character and grade. That from Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and southeastern Ohio, known as "Pennsylvania Oill," is con- sidered best for making illuminating products, and brings the high- est price on the market. The "Lima Oil" from the Trenton rocks of northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana, ranks second in grade. 11 12 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Like Pennsylvania oil, it possessess a paraffine base, but contains a certain percentage of sulphur, not found in the former, and for that reason is more expensive to refine. The oils of eastern Illinois, Kan- sas, Colorado and Corsicana, Texas, have also a paraffine base, and rank about equal with the Lima oil in value. Most the petroleum produced in Louisiana, Texas and California has an asphaltum base, and consequently yields an illuminating oil of low value. It is used largely for fuel and brings a much lower price per barrel than the oils with a paraffine base. Uses of Petroleum. — The average person has but little knowledge of the many uses to which crude petroleum is put or of the variety of products made from it in the great refineries. The most important and best known of these products is, of course the illuminating oil known as kerosene, or "coal oil." This oil has become one of the greatest adjuncts of modern civilization; in fact, such a necessity of daily life that millions of inhabitants of this and other lands would find it difficult to do without. Besides kerosene, all gasoline, the de- mand for which has been largely increased in the past few years, and all the benzine and naptha of commerce come over as distillates from the crude petroleum. Among the solid products are vaseline, used so extensively as an external application, and paraffine, the candles of v^hich have almost wholly superseded the old tallow "dip". Much paraffine is also used in making matches ; as a preservative for eggs and various food stuffs ; in laundry work as an auxiliary to soap, and for many other purposes. Rhigolene, a volatile product of crude pe- troleum, is a valuable anesthetic, particularly for local applications to produce cold. Both petroleum products and crude petroleum are much used in the manufacture of artificial gas. In the making of "air gas", or car- buretted air, gasoline is needed, while for "oil gas" and carburetted water gas, crude petroleum is also often used, the liquid hydro-carbon of the oils being converted into permanent gas of high illuminating- power. The crude petroleum is also often used for the enriching of coal gas, i. e., for making it of higher illuminating power. Mineral oils from petroleum and the crude product itself are now almost wholly used for lubricating machinery, especially railway en- gines. As noted above, the poorer grades of crude petroleum, es- secially those of an asphaltum base, are extensively used as fuel. In the words of the superintendent of one of the leading refineries of the country: "Practically nothing is now allowed to go to waste. Our by-products are really more valuable than the refined oil itself. Ben- zine and gasoline, which were formerly not considered by us. are now very valuable commodities. The coke which results from the burn- ing of crude oil was formerly dumped into the river; now it is used in the manufacture of the carbons for electric lights, and we cannot get enough of it. The vapors arising from the oil are condensed and re- condensed, and are added to our list of by-products. In fact, nothing is premitted to get away which can, in any manner, shape or form, be utilized, and this is ascertained by our chemists and inventive men. "There is not a thing designed or invented that will aid us either BLATCHLEY] CLARK COUNTY. 13 in our manner of refining the oil, or in effecting a saving so that we can untilize what was formerly wasted, that we do not have in our re- fineries. The changes that have taken place in the last tenor fifteen years are simply wonderful. Take refined oil, for instance. Many of our people can easily recall when it was almost as yellow as saffron ; now it is as clear as crystal, and has been refined to such a degree that not a drop of it need be wasted. Our oils are used in soaps, perfumes, liniments, vaseline, and in so many different ways that I have neither the time nor the inclination to try to define their var- ied uses." Historical. oil developments in illinois to 1904. The search for natural gas and petroleum in Illinois dates back to about the middle of the Nineteenth century, one or two bores yield- ing marsh gas having been drilled near Champaign in 1853. Near Lowell, in LaSalle county, oil is reported to have been found a few years later. Clark county. — In the early "sixties", when the first oil excite- ment spread over the eastern United States, about a dozen bores were sunk eight miles north of Casey, Clark county, by parties from Chi- cago. The first of these was drilled on a farm then owned by T. R Young, in section 17, Parker township. Some of these wells were being drilled in 1865, and six were located on the Young, Robinson, Williams, Dr. Briscoe and John Briscoe farms in Parker township, between the towns of Oilfield and West- field, and one on Blue Island in Westfield township. These early wells were drilled with the holes full of water, as but little, if any casing was used. This water held back the oil, so that no good show- ing was obtained. As a result the drillers became discouraged and the attempt was abandoned. Enough oil was found in the vicinity to give the name Oilfield to the hamlet which sprang up during the ex- citement. This name, together with the stories of the older inhabi- tants, finally led to renewed drilling in 1904, which opened up the present lively "Casey Oil Field." The results have amply shown that it is not safe for any one to say with emphasis that neither gas nor oil will be found in any locality simply because a few shallow bores have proven barren. In Indiana and Illinois, where oil and gas occur in isolated pools and in several different rock formations, no man can say with certainty what the drill will reveal. Montgomef'y county — Oil was discovered many years ago while prospecting for coal, and for some years a small production was main- tained by skimming the oil off the water in a mine sump. At Litch- field, Montgomery county, about 105 miles west of Casey and 40 miles south of Springfield, about 1886 a number of wells were drilled for oil and gas. Both were found at a depth of 640 to 670 feet, "be- low the Lower Coal Measures, bordering on the Devonian." About two and a half miles south of Litchfield a large gas well was struck in 1882, the pressure of which was between 400 and 450 pounds to the square inch. This well was spoiled by salt water in 1884. The well was drilled dry and cased at 580 feet, with no salt water found in 14 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 the gas sand; but after drilling down 200 feet further a heavy vein of salt water was struck. This could not be successfully plugged off, and finally drenched out the gas, which was reached at 640 feet.* "The best gas was discovered at a depth of 666 feet. About seven miles of pipe were laid, ranging from three to eight inches in diame- ter, and the gas was supplied to about 500 stoves in Litchfield, being used chiefly for domestic purposes. "f In 1889 some of the wells began to yield oil, the yield being con- tinued until 1903. In Mineral Kesources of the United States for 1889, page 353, the following account of this oil production is given: "The oil is a lubricating one, dark, almost black in color, and of 22" B. specific gravity. The cold test is remarkable, the oil remain- ing fluid at 20° below zero, Fahrenheit. It is largely used by the factories in the neighborhood of Litchfield, and is sold to consumers at near-by points for lubricating purposes, bringing from 8 to 10 cents per gallon in bulk, according to quantity. In all there have been thirty wells bored in the neighborhood of Litchfield, chiefly for gas. The depth of these w^ells ranges from 640 to 670 feet. All save five were abandoned years ago. These five wells continue to produce the character of petroleum mentioned above. The average production of these wells is about four barrels per day. They are pumped by heads, and one man attends to them all. Natural gas from wells near by is used to some extent in furnishing fuel for pumping the wells. The supply of gas ts about equal to twelve tons of coal a year, and twelve tons additional are used in pumbing. The supply of natural gas is gradually diminishing." Between 1889 and 1903, when the production ceased, the total yield of oil from the Litchfield wells was as follows: Production of Petroleum at Litchfield, Illinois, from 1889 to 1903. Barrels. 500 360 360 200 250 200 1889 Barrels. 1,460 1897 1890 900 1898 1891 . . . 675 1899 1892 521 1900 1893 400 1901 1894 300 1902 1895 200 1896 250 Total 6.576 Crawford county — The Crawford County Oil, Gras & Coal Company was organized in the spring of 1900 for the purpose of developing the natural fuels of Crawford county. They started drilling in the south- east quarter of section 35, Robinson township, one and a half miles east of Eobinson, the county seat. At a depth of 820 feet, before the oil bearing rock was reached, some salt water was encountered. At about that depth the bore began to cave and was abandoned. In the spring of 1901 the rig was moved to the D. C. Jones farm, one and a half miles north of Robinson. Here a second bore was started in which a small supply of gas was found at 1,040 feet. This burned about eight feet above the casing. It was shut off and the *Mineral Resources U. S., 1885, p. 167. tMineral Resources U. S., 1886, p. 512. BLATCHLEY.J SPARTA GAS WELLS. 15 well drilled to a depth of 1,190 feet where a strong vein of salt water prevented further drilling. Three additional attempts in the years 1901, '02 and '03, resulted in a loss of tools in the wells at depths be- tween 900 and 1,000 feet. A sixth bore in the spring of 1904 resulted in a small supply of gas and oil, at depths ranging between 900 and 1,100 feet. The bore was continued down to 1,340 seet, and there abandoned. A record of the various strata passed through, will be given on a subsequent page. The company, after expending more than $10,000 without returns, finally gave up the search as useless ; though in less than eighteen months good productive oil wells were found within six miles of Robinson. Randolph county — Near Sparta, in Randolph county, natural gas was fou]id in June, 1888, and J. M. Nickles, writing in 1895, enumer- ated twenty-two wells which had been put down, of which the larger number produced some gas,(*) The developed gas territory covered less than two square miles. The output for the year, 1889, was esti- mated at 120,000,000 cubic feet. The gas was found at a depth of 850 feet. It occurred in the Chester formation underlying the Coal Measures. The production gradually decreased and eventually ceased altogether. ILLINOIS OIL AND GAS FIELD ON MAY 1, 1906. In 1905 and the early part of 1906 determined efforts were made to develop gas and oil at a number of points in the State. These efforts were most successful in southeastern Illinois, but in the southern and western parts of the State some encouraging results were obtained. The known occurrences of gas and oil, aside from gas pockets in the drift, is shown in plate 1, on which is also shown the known lines of deformation. In most of the localities either by reason of the small quantity as yet found or the absence of pipe lines, there was at the date mentioned no production. That portion of the State actually producing crude oil and natural gas in commercial quantities on May 1st, was mostly comprised in a strip of territory about forty miles in length and twelve miles wide, extending from Westfield, Clark county, a little east of south to below Oblong, Crawford coimty. The present report is mainly devoted to this area. The strip of territory mentioned comprises parts of three counties, viz.: Clark, Cumberland and Crawford, which lie on or near the eastern boundary line of the State, and a little south of its center. It comprises a part of each of the following civil townships : West- field, Parker, Casey and Johnson of Clark county; Union and Crooked Creek of Cumberland county, and Prairie, LaMotte and Oblong of Crawford county. The center of operations in Clark county is Casey, a thriving town of 1,800 population, situated on the Vandalia and C. H. & D. railways, thirty-five miles west of Terre Haute, Ind., and 133 miles east of St. Louis; while in Crawford county, Robinson, the county seat, located thirty-eight miles southwest of Terre Haute, on the Cairo division of the Big Four and the Illinois Central railways, * Rept, Board Worlds' Fair Commissioners, 1903, pp. 183-190. 36 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 is the operating center. The surface of the area producing oil is, in the northern and southern parts, mainly prairie with little deviation in level, while in the central part, along the streams, it is quite hilly or broken. Wherever bluffs or hills are found they are the results of erosion. But few outcrops of rock occur within the oil field, and they are limestones, sandstones or shales of the Carboniferous, exposed in gullies or along the streams where the water has eroded channels through the drift and boulder clay everywhere covering the oil terri- tory to a depth of from fifteen to 100 feet. But few of the roads of the oil territory have as yet been improved with either stone or gravel. As a result they are, from Dec. 1st to April 5th, almost impassable for the heavy hauling necessary to the proper development of an oil field. For that reason the work must be mainly done in the remaining seven and a half months of the year PETROLEUM PEODUCING ROCKS OF ILLINOIS. The rocks producing oil in southeastern Illinois belong to the Car- boniferous system, the district being within the Eastern Interior coal field. This coal field covers an area of 46,000 square miles in central and southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and northwestern Ken- tucky. It occupies an elliptical basin with a center in southeastern Illinois, toward which the different layers of rocks slope or dip from every direction. At the center of the basin there is an area of con- siderable extent within which the strata are nearly horizontal. This lies between the Wabash and Embarras rivers on the east, the Kas- kaskia river on the northeast and the Louisville and Nashville Rail- way on the south, The rocks of this basin in Illinois and Indiana are separated by geologists into three great groups or subdivisions, (1.) Upper or Bar- ren Coal Measures; (2.) Lower Coal Measures; (3.) Mansfield sand- stone. Mansfield sandstone — The basal or lowermost one of these groups in that of the Mansfield sandstone or Millstone grit; also 'known in geological literature as Conglomerate sandstone, Pottsville conglom- erate, etc. This is a bed of sandstone which, in eastern Illinois, ranges up to 110 feet in known thickness. It varies greatly in texture, color and thickness. In places the sandstone is a coarse conglomer- ate, from which it grades into coarse sandstone by the decrease in the number and size of the pebbles and the corresponding increase in the relative amount of sand. It is in places a massive sandstone, but elsewhere more or less laminated, and in many places shows cross- bedding. Locally it contains many nodular iron masses which are generally hollow. It is not rich in fossils, but sometimes contains fossil coal plants, and locally it contains small coal seams and beds of fireclay. The color varies from light gray through buff, yellow, yel- low-brown to red. It is more durable than either the under-lying or the over-lying rocks, and where exposed along its eastern outcrop in Indiana it forms bold cliffs along the water courses. The Mansfield sandstone markes a period of inflow of the sea. Pre- vious to its deposition, there had been withdrawal of the sea, and BLATCHLEY.] MANSFIELD SANDSTONE. 17 erosion had cut numerous valleys to varying depths, while the land had been covered with the products of weathering. The incoming sea gathered up the fragments of rock waste and tilled the depressions of the former land area, thus forming a mantle of sand, gravel, clay and coal, which rests unconformably upon the underlying uneven surface. Under such conditions different deposits would be forming in different pans of the area at the same time. On the advancing shore line there would be in many places quite violent waves which would result in mixed deposits of sand and gravel, more or less in- clined to the horizontal in which the characteristic beach structure would show itself. Out from the beach in deeper water, deposits of tine sand and mud would be formed on which, as the water shallowed, swams and bogs that later became coal beds would form. At this time such vegetable deposits were quite limited in both vertical and areal extent in comparison with those formed in the next succeeding period. Recently some geologists have been inclined to assign the origin of more or less of the conglomerate and sandstone to the action of streams bearing sand and gravel from distant uplands and depositing them on the low ground of the basins in which the formation is found. JMot improbably the land streams and the sea co-ojjerated in the process. In southeastern Illinois the Mansfield sandstone lies from 800 to 1,100 feet below the surface, with many impervious shales above. Being often coarsely granular and therefore very porous, it furnishes a typical storage reservoir, wherein petroleum, salt water or other fluids may be retained. Lower Coal Measures — Above the Mansfield sandstone are the rocks of the lower or productive coal measures, which consist of al- ternating beds of shale, sandstone, clay and limestone, with oc- casional beds of compressed vegetation in the form of ccal. During the Carboniferous period, when the coal and its accompanying shales and sandstones were in process of formation, the area now comprised in the eastern interior coal field was a great basin or flat but little above the level of the sea, and surrounded on every side except the southwestern, by the higher lands of the older formations, By suc- cessive alterations of level, ranging through thousands of years, this basin became at times an arm of the southwestern sea, again a fresh water lake, and then for a period a vast swamp or marsh. When high enough to form a marsh, vegetation sprang up from the ooze and mud at the bottom and flourished for centuries — the newer growths springing from between the fallen masses of the older, as in the peat bogs of today, and so formed a mighty mass of carbona- ceous material. The marsh was at times covered by sheets of fresh water, into which rivers from the surrounding highlands flowed, bearing with them millions of tons of clayey sediment and sand, the remains of the older decayed rocks. This sediment was spread out over the mass of submerged vegetation, and by protecting it from complete decompos- ition and by compressing it, aided in its conversion into the hard, — 2 G S 18 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 mineral coal. The clayey sediment itself was in time hardened into vast beds of shale and the sand into sandstone. Where fresh water shells and other forms of lime secretions were sufficiently abundant, limestone was formed. At some times and in some places the sea covered the basin and brought in marine forms of life, forming marine limestones as well as marine shales and sanstones, but none of the limestones cover an extensive area or are of great thickness. After each submergence, with the resulting formation of shale, sandstone or limestone, an emergence followed. The floor of the basin was brought to the surface or so near the surface that the vege- tation for a new coal seam could spring up, and the processes detailed above were again undergone. The thickness and composition of the different beds of shale and sandstone were determined almost wholly by the character and source of those streams of water which flowed into the old basin in which the shales were formed. If the stream was a large one and flowed for a long time with sufficient velocity to carry sediment far out into the deeper part of the basin, the bed of shale or sandstone is thick, covers a large area, and is comparatively uniform throughout. On the other hand, if the stream was small a flowed slowly, the shale or sandstone bed is correspondingly thin, of small extent, and more apt to be varied in its composition. The kinds of rocks over which these ancient rivers flowed on their way to the basin determined the constitutents of the sediments they brought down, and therefore the character and composition of the shales and sandstones into which this sediment was afterward formed. It must also be remembered that most coal seams, as well as strata associated with them, are necessarily more local in their occurrence than are thicker strata of purely marine origin. Conditions are more uniform over the sea bottom than over a land area, especially a swamp area, such as that of the old basin of the carboniferous coal fields. As this area was subject to many periods of emergence and submer- gence during the accumulation of the carbonaceous deposits that form the coal beds, there would from necessity be many swamp, lake, sea and land areas. While it is possible that a vegetal swamp might have extended over the entire Indiana-Illinois coal field, it is much mxore probable that over such a large area so near sea-level, there would be portions of the area under water too deep for vegetation to grow, and other portions so far above the water that no vegetation might accumulate. Hence, the coal might form either in separated basins or in one large basin, with many barren spots, where the up- land areas and the deeper water areas were at the time. It should be kept in mind that many coal seams and their accompanying shales and sandstones cover only a few acres, or a few hundred acres, while others may extend over hundreds, or even thousands of square miles. Any one of the limestones or the sandstones of the Lower Coal Measures may, in certain restricted areas, be porous enough to serve as a reservoir for the storage of petroleum, and may be petroleum- bearing, provided the necessary conditions of accumulation and preservation of oil in commercial quantities be present. These con- ditions will be hereafter treated. BLATCHLEY.] GENERAL SECTION. 19 Upper or Barren Coal Measures — Above the rocks of the produc- tive Coal Measures, last described, are those of the barren Coal Measures, which include six or seven thin beds of coal alternating with shales, sandstones and limestones, as in the productive measures, These barren Coal Measures attain in Illinois a thickness of 700 feet. and any one of the sandstones and limestones present may be pro- ductive of petroleum, provided the conditions are favorable for the accumulation and preservation of oil. General section — The foregoing description of the Carboniferous rocks of southeastern Illinois, within which the petroleum of the Casey and Robinson fields occurs, may, perhaps, be the better under- stood by a study of the following detailed section of the Carboniferous rocks of the state, as given by A. H. Worthen, in the sixth volume of the Illinois Geological Survey, pages 2 to 5. In a preface to this section. Dr. Worthen stated that the "best exposures of the upper or barren coals and associated strata were found on the upper course of the Kaskaskia and its tributaries, and to the east and southeast, in- cluding the counties adjacent to the Wabash river, from Clark county on the north to the south line of White county, where the limestone separating the upper and lower Coal Measures is found out-cropping at New Haven on the lower Wabash." General Section of the Carboniferous Rocks of Illinois. Feet. Inches. 1 Sandstone and sandy shale, upper part gray, middle brown, with frag- ments of fossil plants 50 2 Bituminous shales and septaria 6 3 Dark clay shales 4 4 Dark, ash-brown shaly and nodular limestone 1 6 5 Blue and olive shales 5 6 Gray sandstones and sandy shales 26 7 Thin coal G 8 Fire clay 5 9 Buff sandstone 12 10 Clay shale with bands of f ossilif erous iron ore 35 11 Bituminous shales and pyritiferous limestone with clayey shales con- taining silicious wood 9 12 Gray, pyritiferous sandstone 30 to 40 13 Shales with fucoids 40 14 Gray limestone 4 to 8 15 Calcareous shale 1 6 16 Coal No. 16 1 to 3 17 Fireclay 1 to 3 18 Sandstone and shales 80 to 90 19 Bituminous shale 2 20 Coal No. 15, "Shelby coal" 1 to 3 21 Fireclay 2 to 5 22 Buff limestone i 23 Sandstone and shales ■ 15 to 50 24 Shales, partly calcaieous 10 to 15 25 Calcareo-bituminous shales, passing into shelly, bituminous limestone, fossils abundant 2 to 4 26 Coal No. 13, "Pana coal" 1 6 27 Fire clay and clay shale 3 to 5 28 Calcareous sandstone 2 to 5 29 Sandstone and sandy shale 50 30 Shaly limestone with fossils similar to those of the bed below 4 31 Hard, gray limestone 5 to 25 32 Shales 6 33 Coal No. 13 1 to 1 6 34 Bituminous and agrillaceous shales locally f ossilif erous 6 to 8 35 Sandstones and sandy shales 75 to 85 36 Dark, shaly limestone and calcareous shales , . 2 to 4 37 Coal No. 12 6in.to 1 6 38 Shales 10 39 Gray or buff limestone, partly shaly 5 to 20 40 Bituminous shale, locally f ossilif erous 2 to 4 20 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Carboniferous Rocks of Illinois — Concluded. Feet. Inches. 41 Coal No. 11 Ito 1 6 42 Sandy and clayey shales 35 to 40 43 Limy, bituminous shales 2 to 3 6 44 Coal No. 10 7 in. to 3 6 45 Fire clay 1 to 4 46 Sandy shales and brown sandstone 4 to 8 47 Band of cone in cone, replaced in White county, at Carmi, by a band of brown iron ore 2 48 Clayey shales with flattened iron stones 20 49 Dark, ash-gray or chocolate colored limy sandstones 2 to 5 50 Sandy shales and sandstone 30 to 60 51 Hard, brownish-g:ray limestone of Shoal Creek, Carlinville and New Haven, and the recognized boundary line between the upper and lower measures - 4 to 7 52 Greenish-drab and blue shales 4 to' 6 53 Bituminous shale 2 54 Blue shale with flattened concretions of iron. 8 to 10 55 CoalNo.9 6 in. to 2 .56 Fire clay 1 to 2 57 Sandy shales and sandstone 35 to 65 58 Limey, bituminous shale, passing locally into a clayey limestone abounding in fossils 2 to 3 59 CoalNo.8 Ito 2 60 Dark ash-gray fire clay 2 to 3 61 Nodular shale passing locally into hard, silicious limestone 3 to 4 62 Sandy shales and sandstone 40 to 75 63 Dark ash-gray silicious limestone Ito 7 64 Bituminous shale 1 to 3 65 Coal No. 7 2 to 9 66 Fireclay 2 to 3 67 Sandstone and sandy shale 30 to 50 68 Gray clayey limestone 3 69 Laminated bituminous shale 2 to 4 70 Coal No. 6 18 in. to 5 71 Fireclay Ito 3 72 Sandstones and shales 25 to 75 73 Hard, black shale, with concretions of limestone containing numerous fossils 1 to 5 74 CoalNo.5 4 to 7 75 Fireclay Ito 3 76 Sandstone and sandy shale 30 to 75 77 Bituminous shale and clayey limestone 2 to 4 78 CoalNo.4 2 to 4 79 Fire clay and clay shale 2 to 10 80 Sandstone and sandy shale 50to 75 81 Bituminous shale passing passing locally into dark blue limestone 3 to 6 82 Coal No. 3..... 2 to 4 83 Fireclay Ito 3 84 Hard, tough, si eel-gray limestone weathering to a rusty-brown color 18 in. to 3 85 Sandstone and silicious shale : 25 to 30 86 Blue clay shale filled with fossil plants 2 to 3 87 CoalNo.2 2 to 5 88 Light gray fire clay 2 to 3 89 Sandstone and silicious shales, about 50 feet in thickness, on the north- ern and western borders of the coal field, but in Gallatin county attaining a thickness of about 440 feet, with some thin seams of coal 50 to 140 90 Dark clayey limestone, sometimes highly silicious 3 to 8 91 Bituminous and silicious shales forming the roof of coal 3 to 8 92 Coal No. 1 18 in. to 5 93 Silicious shaly fire clay 2 to 3 94 Silicious shales with concretions of carbonate of iron to 70 95 Coarse sandstone or conglomerate forming the base of the Coal Meas- ures* 20 to 110 Surface deposits — Over the Carboniferous rocks of Illinois there is almost everywhere a bed of drift or glacial debris, ranging in thick- ness from five to 100 feet or more. This is a complex of clay, sand, gravel and boulders of foreign origin, sometimes bedded and some- times indiscriminately mixed. When drilling for oil an iron pipe, usually ten inches in diameter, is driven through this drift to the *In the southern portion of the State this sandstone is largely developed, with an average thickness of more than 100 feet, but in the northern portion it is seldom found attaining a thickness of more than 25 to 30 feet, and is often wanting altogether. It appears at several localities at Whiteside county, as outliers of considerable thickness, several miles beyond the present boundary of the coal field. WELLER.] LINES OF DEFORMATION. 21 first rock which will support it, which is most often a shale. This is done to prevent the caving of the loose material of the drift; the pipe being known as the "drive pipe." GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF THE STATE. (By Stuart Weller.) While in general the rocks of the State are flat lying or have an imperceptible dip, they are not absolutely horizontal. Taken as a whole the eastern interior coal field is a great shallow basin with slight dips toward the center from all sides. These dips can only be measured in feet per mile. There are, however, a few lines along which the dips are reversed, so that there are certain rather poorly defined arched areas. These have not yet been carefully worked out, but such as have been certainly recognized are indicated upon the accompanying map, (plate 1). At least six distinct lines of structural deformation of the strata may be clearly recognized within the State. This deformation is exhibited in the slight folding and faulting of the strata, but in no case have all the structural details been worked out. All of these lines have a northwest-southeast trend, although three are more clearly east and west than the others and most of them are within the southern half of the State. The northern-most of these lines extends into Illinois near Savanna but is best displayed in Jackson county, Iowa. The most important deformation line crosses the Illinois- Wisconsin boundary in Stephen- son county and continues with a direction of about twenty-three de- grees east of south, crossing the Rock river at Grand Detour and the Illinois between LaSalle and Utica. This line seems to be a simple low arch or anticlinal swell with the southwestern limb much the steeper. It brings small areas of the Lower Magnesian limestone and larger areas of the St. Peter sandstone to the surface in Ogle county and again in LaSalle county. This arch continues southeastwardly beyond the Illinois river, but the rock surface of this portion of the State is so deeply buried by drift that it is not easy to follow such a line of deformation. A well drilled at Tuscola,* however, to a depth of 792 feet, seems to show that the Coal Measure strata are absent at that point, a fact which would indicate the j)osition of the axis of the arch. To the southeast of Charleston the oil field now being devel- oped is probaby associated with the southward continuation of this LaSalle anticline, as it is called. How much the deformation amounts to here is uncertain, and its influence in localizing the oil is probably general only. The third line of deformation crosses the Mississipjoi river in southern Calhoun county with a direction of about ten degrees south of east. It crosses the Illinois river a few miles above its mouth, into Jersey county, but soon strikes the Mississippi again by reason 'Geol. Surv. Illinois, Vol. 8, p. 25. ZZ THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 of the southward bending of that stream, and following the course of the river is soon lost. It is not improbable that additional observa- tions will demonstrate the continuation of this line of deformation further to the eastward than is now recognized. Where this line crosses the Mississippi river from Missouri into Calhoun county, it is a fault having a throw of about 1,000 feet, the St. Peter sandstone of the Cap au Gres bluff being brought to the surface by the up- throw to the north, the strata on the southern side of the fault line being the Mississippian limestones. According to the reports of the former Geological Survey, this fault is rapidly transformed into an anticlinal fold to the eastward, the fault having entirely disappeared where the line crosses the Illinois river into Jersey county. A fourth line of deformation and perhaps the slightest of the five here recorded, is recognized in the Mississippi river bluffs of southern St. Clair county. It has a direction of twenty degrees east of south, but cannot be traced any considerable distance because of the deep mantle of drift present in that portion of the State away from the Mississippi river bluffs. The deformation is in the nature of a low arch, the northeastern limb having a very gentle dip and the south- western limb a steeper dip of from twenty degrees to thirty degrees. In the extreme southern portion of the State, two arches are recog- nized, which pass from the Mississippi river on the west to the Ohio river to the east. The first of these passes from near the mouth of Big Muddy river in a direction of about seven degrees south of east, crossing the Ohio somewhere in Hardin county. At the west Devon- ian and Silurian rocks are brought to the surface, while eastwardly the Mississippian limestones form the arch, with a small area of Devonian black shale in Hardin county. In Pope and Hardin coun- ties Bain* has recognized faults, more or less transverse to this arch, which were doubtless formed at the same time as the aiching. Much more extensive faulting of a similar sort has been mapped by Ulrichf in the adjoining area across the Ohio river in Kentucky. Similar faulting will doubtless be recognized further west along this axis with more detailed study of the region, which will more or less modify the stratigraphic interpretation of the older survey. The southern-most deformation axis which has been recognized passes from the vicinity of Thebes with a direction of about seven degrees south of east to Grand Chain on the Ohio river. At Thebes this arch brings the rocks of Trenton age to the surface, where they form a reef in the Mississippi river which at times is dangerous to commerce. Eastwardly this axis is buried beneath the Tertiary for- mations, but at Grand Chain, on the Ohio river, a similar reef to that in the Mississippi is recognized. In connection with coal mining a considerable number of small faults and folds have been encountered. These have not yet been traced in detail and need further study. Further work will doubtless bring to light other lines of deformation, as well as give us far more accurate knowledge of those here recognized. *BaiD, U. S. G. S., No. 255, pi. 2. tProf. Pap. U. S. G. S., No. 36, pi. 2, ILLINOIS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. BuIL No. 2 PI 1. Loni/itiidc 89°30"trf»t /io"» 8^"Green>r!/h 88 30' ILLINOIS 19C6 Jp DAVIESS — iifei \ I e.oJ/L^ 1 HARp^p~i^;::::.:__^^_;;j2;_y i jo X"'^/ \l[_ S^s;.f^§§^^^ ^^^ ^ Map sliowinf? oil and sas occurrences in Illinois with principal lines of deformation l!\- Stuart Weller. BLATCHLEY.] THEORY OF GENESIS. 23 ORIGIIN OF OIL AND GAS. GENERAL. Among geologists and scientists in general it is now commonly be- lieved that j)etroleum has been derived from the decomposition of animal or vegetable bodies, or both. Many laboratory experiments and facts observed in nature tend to confirm this belief. For example, when the body of an animal or plant is distilled in a closed retort, or undergoes decay in the absence of air, certain gaseous and liquid products are always derived. Again, oily water frequently exudes from peat mosses; and marsh gas, the chief constituent of natural gas, bubbles up from every stagnant pool which contains rotting vegetable or animal matter at its bottom. There is, therefore, no need of far- fetched chemical theories to explain what is more or less a matter of common experience. The Nev)herry Theory. — However, two distinct views prevail among geologists as to the manner in which the decomposition has been brought about. One of these views, first set forth by Prof. John 8. Newberry, former State Geologist of Ohio, probably accounts best for the oil found in the sandstone strata of southeastern Illinois. Prof. Newberry claimed that the great beds of bituminous shales, such as the Huron, Genesee and Utica shales, have been the chief sources of petroleum — that the animal and plant remains in those beds have undergone a kind of distillation or secondary decomposition, result- ing in petroleum, which, by hydrostatic pressure, has been carried to the rock strata in lohich it is now found. All shale beds are sedimentary in their origin, being composed of particles of clay (an inorganic material) which have been carried long- distances and redeposited in water. Now it is well known that clay has a particular affinity for oily matter! Oily substances floating in muddy water have been found to attach themselves to suspended par- ticles of clay and sink to the bottom and produce there a stratum rich in oil, which in time would be compressed by the newer overlying strata into shale. Much of the petroleum of the shale was doubtless thus derived from organic matter undergoing decomposition in other and remote strata. At the time that the theory of Dr. Newberry was published, the large deposits of oil in the Trenton limestone rocks of Ohio and Indiana were unknown. His theory was based largely upon the Pennsylva- nia fields, and seems more clearly than any other to explain the origin of the petroleum there found. The Pennsylvania oil, like that of southeastern Illinois, occurs in a series of sandstone strata which con- tain few, if any, organic remains, and could not, therefore, have fur- nished the original source of the oil. These sandstone strata lie in close relation to the bituminous and other shales and, from their porous nature have served as reservoirs in which the oil, oozing from the shale, has passed and accumulated in large quantities. The Hunt theory — The second theory was first promulgated by Dr. T. Sterry Himt about 1862 and better than any other, accounts for the oil in limestone rocks wherever found. Dr. Hunt asserted that petroleum has been formed from the remains of animals or plants in 24 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS, [bull. 2 the same rock strata now yielding the oil, the decompisition having taken place under such conditions that the organism passed directly into petroleum which has since remained in the rocks where it was formed. Among the proofs of his theory, Dr. Hunt stated that in some cases petroleum is found filling the cavities of large fossil shells (ortho- ceratites) in the Trenton limestone. "From some specimens nearly a pint of petroleum has been obtained." Again he cited the fact that a stratum of Niagara limestone near Chicago is so filled with petro- leum that blocks of it, used in building, were discolored by the exu- dations which, mingled with dirt, formed a tarry coating upon the exposed surfaces. The theory of Dr. Hunt was made known about 1862, long before oil was discovered in the limestone rocks of Ohio and Indiana. The facts gathered and observations made in the Trenton limestone field of these states have furnished much evidence in support of his theory; and it is now commonlj^ believed by scientists that the oil found in limestone has been produced in the rock by the direct decomposition of organisms originally inhabiting the water in which the rock was deposited. Moreover, it is believed that, for the most part, these organisms were animals, since the limestone oil possesses more sul- phur and nitrogen, it is of a darker color, higher specific gravity, and has a more rank and disagreeable oder than the "shale oil" |)roduced in Pennsylvania, wich probably owes its origin to the decomposition of plants in the manner set forth in the theory of Dr. Newberry, as given above. Animal life was undoubtedly abundant in the waters of the old basin in which the Carboniferous rocks of southeastern Ilinois were deposited. Fishes, mollusca and many lower forms, such as rhizo- pods, corals, etc., abounded. The presence of such swarms of animal life made necessary the existance of an abundance of plants, since the plant must ever preceed the animal and gather for the latter the energy, and form for the food, the living protoplasm, necessary to its existence. The aquatic plants were mostly algse, or seaweeds, while those on land, or growing in the shallow marshes were closely allied to the ferns, horsetails and ground pines of the present day. Myriads of spores and other remains of the land plants were undoubtedly washed down by the streams and deposited with the mud and silt in the old basins. Within these beds of sediment both plants and ani- mals found a grave, their bodies in vast numbers being burried beneath the slowly accumulating deposits of centuries. Once buried in such deposits, they did not decay, as do animals on land, because by the waters above and the ooze around them they were shut off from free oxygen, and the organic agents in decay. Gradually this ooze or fine sediment was by the agency of the sea water, cemented and consolidated into shales, sandstones and limestones. The remains of animals and of plants were thus effectually sealed within their rocky prisons, and the oil and gas derived from them were similarly retained. This oil and its more volatile portion, the natural gas, was not formed in a short time, but is the result of a slow BLATCHLEY.] GENESIS OF NATURAL GAS. 25 decomposition or destructive distillation carried on through thousands of centuries. Accumulating in the more porus portions of the sand- stones and limestones, it there remained until man came with his iron drill and furnished a vent through which it could rise. Then by com- bustion he caused it to yield up the stored energy, conserved since the sun's rays fell on the plants of the old Carboniferous age. Origin of natural gas — From what has been said it will be seen that both the natural gas and the oil of Southeastern Illinois had a common origin, viz. : the destructive distillation, carried on through thousands of years, of the remains of the plants and animals which had existed in the waters or about the margins of the old basin in which the Carboniferous rocks were laid down. As already noted, it is a well known fact that if wood, coal or the tissue of any animal be placed in an air tight retort and heated, a distillation will occur, and the object will be changed to gaseous, oily and solid matters. In the absence of heat and air a very long period of time will bring about the same results. By this is meant the process of "slow destructive distillation" above mentioned. The jjrimary product of such distilla- tion was probably a light oil, which, in the course of long time has, by volatilization, yeilded the gas, and has itself been condensed into the heavier petroleum. The gas being lighter and more volatile than the oil, gradually rose into the higher porous rocks of the region. If an open barrel be filled with crude petroleum from the Casey or Rob- inson field and exposed for a single summer to the air, more than half of its contents will pass away in the form of a vapor, and a sticky, tar like residue will remain. If by some means the escajDing vapor could be collected and analyzed it would be found in the main to have the same composition as natural gas; in fact, it would be natural gas, and would burn as freely as a sample of that valuable fuel collected in the ordinary way. In the deioths of the rock the evaporation of the oil has been extremely slow, and the amount has been limited both by the varying pressure of the overlying gas and the underlying water. There is little doubt, however, but that all the natural gas of the Illinois fields has been so derived. MODE OF OCCURRENCE OF ILLINOIS PETROLEUM. DISTRIBUTION IN ROCKS. The majority of people who have never seen an oil field imagine that both petroleum and natural gas occur in immense caverns or hollow spaces in the rocks beneath the surface of the earth. They believe that great lakes or underground cavities of liquid oil or highly compressed gas exist, and that when tapped with a drill, these yield in abundance the oil and gas of commerce. Such beliefs or imaginations are wholly wrong, for no large cavities or open spaces of any size occur in the rocks of oil or gas producing areas. All rocks are, however, porus ; even shale of the closest grain will hold some liquid in the minute and microscopic cavities which it, in com- mon with all rocks, contains. Now the oil and gas sands are simply very porus rocks which contain not one great cavity, but millions upon millions of small or microscopic cavities, so that oil, gas, water, 26 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTEY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 or all three together, it may be, occupy these numerous little spaces, and thus saturate the rock just as water does a piece of cloth or a sponge. Not only Trenton limestones, but most other limestones, as well as many shales, have in the past produced petroleum in greater or less quantities. Distributed in minute proportions through the substances of the rocks, petroleum easily escapes notice, but when intelligently looked for its presence is revealed, and, though the per- centage is small, the aggregate is often vast. If, for example, a stratum carries but one- tenth of one per cent of petroleum and is 500 feet in thickness, it contains more than 2,500,000 barrels to the square mile. Indeed, so common is the occurrence of petroleum in stratified rocks that, wherever a close grained shale occurs there is almost always a small accumulation of oil directly underneath it. The same thing is found where an impervious stratum of any other composition than shale occurs in the geological series. The larger the pores in an oil bearing rock are, and the greater the volume they occupy in pro- portion to the volume of the rock mass, the greater will be the con- tained oil or gas supply, and this proportion in fairly good producing sands usually varies between one-fifth and one-tenth ; that is, a cubic foot of rock would hold, say, six to twelve pints of oiL and of course would contain an equal volume of cavities for water or gas should either of these substances be present instead of oil. CONDITIONS OF ACCUMULATION. If petroleum has been thus generally formed throughout the Car- boniferous rocks of southeastern Illinois, why do not all parts of the area covered by those rocks yield it in somewhat equal amounts? Why is it that a bore that pierces the "sand" in one locality is a "dry hole," while another, but a short distance away, results in a "hun- dred-barrel" well? The answer to such questions lies in the fact that the formation of large accumulations of oil depends as much upon the presence of suitable strata to receive and retain them as upon an adequate source of supply. In the minutely diffused state in which the oil was originally formed it was wholly without value. Like all other forms of mineral wealth it had to be concentrated into reservoirs, the so-called "pools" of the oil»field, before it could be utilized by man. The thousands of bores put down for oil and gas in Indiana, Illinois and other States have proven that four conditions are necessary before an accumulation and preservation of oil in com- mercial quantities can take place. If any one of these conditions is absent, a dry hole or salt water well will invariably result. These necessary conditions are: 1. A porous stratum of rock to form a reservoir. 2. An impervious cover above the reservoir. 3. An arched or anticlinal structure of the rock in which the reser- voir is located. 4. A pressure behind the oil to force it into the reservoir. The porous stratum — The Coal Measure sandstones and limestones of southeastern Illinois vary exceedingly in texture and porosity. Some are cross grained, with large spaces between the grains; others very fine grained with exceedingly small pores. As already noted, BLATCHLEY.] CONDITIONS OF ACCUMULATION. 27 the conditions at the time of their deposition are very different from that when the Trenton limestone or any other strictly marine deposit was laid down. The area covered by any one highly porous stratum in the Carboniferous rocks is apt to be small and very irregular in outline. There are evidently many small areas containing porous reservoirs instead of one large one. These porous rocks or "oil sands" occur at different depths and vary much in composition. In Clark county, as we shall see, there are at least two, and probably three, "sands," one being a limestone or a magnesium-calcium carbonate, and another a quite pure sandstone or silica. For this reason the boundaries of the pools containing the oil bearing strata cannot be located except by more extensive wild-catting than is necessary in a more uniform and widely distributed formation such as that of the Trenton limestone of Indiana. Wherever the sandstones or limestones become close grained or merge into a shale, they cease to be oil bearing to a remunerative ex- tent. The change from an area containing porous rock into one almost lacking in pores is often abrupt. It is only the former which contains the oil, and there is not known method of determining where the porous rock occurs except by drilling. The impervious cover — In order to properly retain the accumulated petroleum the porous rock must be entirely covered with an impervi- ous stratum, i.e., one through which neither oil nor its volatile gas will pass or can be forced by the enormous pressure behind it. Such a cover is usually a tine grained shale, and wherever such a stratum covers a porous rock petroleum in greater or less quantities is usually found. In the main Indiana oil field the Trenton rock is covered by an average thickness of 250 feet of that dark brown, close grained de- posit known as the Utica shale, which possesses every quality of a typical impervious cover. In the southeastern Illinois field there are several strata of the Carboniferous shales above the oil bearing sands. These vary somewhat in color, texture and thickness, according to the particular layer of productive sand which they cover. In part of the Clark county field from 10 to 40 feet of a black bituminous shale, known as "slate;" which, when drilled, resembles a pasty coal, over- lies the oil bearing stratum, which is a limestone. In other portions of the field a lighter gray, but close grained shale is the cover. In general these shales do not contain free oil, though a certain small percentage could probably be obtained from them by distillation. If a shale or other impervious cover did not intervene between the por- ous reservoir and the surface, the oil would long since have volatilized and passed off as escaping natural gas, leaving behind a tarry, asphalt- like residue, which represents the solid portion. In many locatities in the United States sandstones or limestones occur which are highly impregnated with such an asphalt substance. These dejoosits are found close to the surface with no shale above them. Had a shale been present, the strata containing the tarry substance would be oil bearing. Thousands of dollars have been spent in drilling such localities in search of an oil which long since escaped in the form of 28 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 When the oil bearing stratum lies close to the surface, with only a thin shale above it, a heavy lubricating oil results. Such an oil, reg- istering 20.8 degrees Beaume, is found in Jasper county, Indiana, where it occurs in the Corniferous limestone at a depth of only 100 feet, beneath 45 to 55 feet of close-grained black shale. In south- eastern Illinois, the depth and the aggregate thickness of the layers of overlying shale are sufficient to have prevented any great volatili- zation of the oil, so that it has a specific gravity of .870 to .887 and registers 28 degrees to 31 degrees Beaume. The anticlinal structure — The surface of an oil bearing stratum is not level as many people suppose, but, like the surface of the earth, is a series of alternating arches and depressions or ridges and valleys. The arches or domes are like inverted troughs and vary much in width and area, as do also the depressions between them. Wherever gas and oil occur they will be found in a porous stratum in one of the arches or anticlines, as they are called. If a bore happens to be put down and strikes a depression or syncline between the arches, salt water will usually be found. If both gas and oil are present in a certain area, and the bore strikes the Sank or side of the arch, oil will result. If the bore strikes the crest or dome of the arch, gas will flow. The cause of this is simple, being due to the arrangement of the three fluids according to their relative weights. When the oil was first formed, it was pushed or carried hither and thither by the heavier salt water behind it. Much of it was carried away by the water and lost, but wherever one of the porous areas existed in the side or top of an anticline, the oil was carried into it and there re- mained. During the ages which have elapsed much of the oil was changed into a volatile gas, which rose into the higher porous portions of the anticlines or ridges of the sandstone or limestone strata. As this gas accumulated, it pressed back the remaining oil into the sides or flanks of the arch. The oil being lighter than the water, rested upon the latter and prevented it from rising into the higher porous por- tions of the stratum. When a bore is put down and strikes gas the latter will flow until the quantity which is stored in the porous area of the articline is exhausted, when the oil, if any be present on the flanks or lower portions of the porous stratum, will rise in the gas well. It may be that the oil has been carried by the salt water into the porous portions of another anticline, and that only salt water oc- curs beneath the gas. If this be true, the water will fill the porous reservoir as soon as the gas is exhausted. The anticlines vary much in size, their domes running from scores of miles down to a half mile or less in width. The gas in the higher part of each anticline is, therefore, often shut off from that in neigh- boring anticline by the intervening oil or water, or both. In the same way the oil in an anticline which contains oil only may be shut off from that in another anticline by the salt water filling all the porous portions of the syncline between. It often happens that a gas bore is put down which strikes the crest of a narrow anticline or BLATCHLEY.] OIL PRESSUEE. 29 raised portion of porous rock which has not before been pierced. As a result, the so-called rock pressure of the gas is at first high, but rapidly declines on account of the small size of the anticline. In the Illinois oil fields the production of a new well can usually be foretold by the depth at which the top of the saad or oil bearing rock is found. If it is from five to ten feet higher then the average in the nearby productive wells, the chances are that it will yield much gas and little oil. On the other hand, if the sand is struck 10 to 15 feet lower than the average, the bore has pierced a trough or syncline, and a salt water well or dry hole results. Sometimes, however, there are apparent exceptions. Of two wells in which the sand is found at the same depth, one will be a big producer and the other, but a short distance away, a "dry hole." The only explanation which can be given in such a case is that the latter has pierced a. close-grained or non-porous area of the formation, into which no fluid has found its way. The pressure behind the oil — Whenever the drill pierces a stratum of porous rock containing oil, the latter is pushed upward by the so- called "rock pressure" behind it. Sometimes this pressure is so great that when the oil stratum is reached the oil escapes in a fountain, rising high above the derrick, much of it being lost before the flow can be controlled. In most instances, even if the well proves to be one of small production, the oil is forced upward several hundred feet in the drill hole. As noted above, this rock pressure has, in the past, had much to do with the accumulation of oil in jjorous reservoirs. It is now almost universally admitted that the rock pressure in most oil fields is nothing more or less than water pressure, as in ar- tesian wells, the water entering the oil bearing stratum at some point where the latter outcrops and so forming a head or source. The porous rock contains a limited amount of oil, held in place by the over- laying shale. The salt water is below this oil, ever pressing it upward into the vent furnished by the drill hole. As the supply of oil is gradually lessened, the water rises to fill the pores, and the rock pressure is lowered. The pressure does not tell us anything about the volume or amount of oil stored in the rock; but the rate of diminution of pressure furnishes an excellent index of the rapidity with which that amount is being lessened. When the supply of oil is exhausted, as it naturally will be in time, there is no source from which it can be renewed The salt water will rise and occupy the space which formerly held the oil and it will come to stay. Accompanying salt ivater — The quantity of salt water in the oil- bearing strata of the Illinois fields is not as great as in those of Indiana and other states. It occurs, however, abundantly in the porus strata below those yielding oil and gas, and when once encountered in quantity in a bore, it is seldom or never that oil is found beneath it. It is usually thought that a much greater proportion of the oil can be secured from a productive stratum when a quantity of salt water is present. The wells penetrating it are usually longer lived, as the salt water seems to re- new the quantity of oil by bringing it in from quite a distance. 30 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Moreover, the water seems to keep the pores of the oil rock free from paraffine and other materials which have a tendency to clog them up, and a well producing four or five barrels of water a day in connection with the oil, is preferred by many operators to one that produces oil alone. In the Illinois field salt water is common, but not troublesome. A sample from the wells on the Charles Lee farm (northeast quarter section 8, Parker township, Clark county) was analysed at the labora- tory of the State Water Survey with the following result: Analysis of the Mineral Content of the Salt Water from the Oil Wells Near Westfield. LABORATORY NO. 14238. Ions. Parts per million. Potassium, K . ... 77 4 Sodium, Na .- - -- -. 8.315 Magnesium, Mg Calcium, Ca 285 2 291.6 Iron, Fe 26.6 Aluminium, Al ,6 Nitrate, NO3 5.3 Chlorine, CI . 13, 424 Sulphate, SO4 113.6 Hypothetical Combinations. Parts per million. Grains per gallon. Potassium Nitrate, KNO3 8.6 117.5 21,103.1 854.4 131.2 142.4 728,9 55.1 t.2 32.0 80.0 .50 Potassium Chloride, KCl ... 8 59 Sodium Chloride. NaCl 1,230.95 Magnesium Chloride, MgClj 49.83 Magnesium Carbonate, MgC03 • •• 7.65 Magnesium Sulphate , MgSO^ 8,30 Calcium Carbonate, CaCo^ 42.51 Ferrous Carbonate, FeCos 3.22 Aluminium Oxide, Al^Oa . .07 Silica, SiOo 1.87 Bases with Silica 3.50 Total ... 23.264.4 1,356.99 Quantity of petroleum to the acre. — If the amount of oil obtained from a productive sand be estimated at one gallon per cubic foot, and the sand is five feet in thickness, an acre (43,560 square feet) will yield about 5,000 barrels of forty-two gallons each. If the sand reser- voirs be exceptionally thick or of very great porosity, the production will be much greater. It is estimated that Spindle Top Hill, in Texas, produed over 25,000,000 of barrels from less than 200 acres. This, however, was a low grade oil with an asphalt base. Such oils are usually more abundant in limited areas than those of higher grade. BLATCHLEY.] EXTENT OF POOLS. 81 By the ordinary processes of drilling and pumping it is impossible to get all the oil from any sand, even if a well be put down on every five acres. One-fourth or more will probably remain in the rock, held there by capillary attraction, which neither the accompanying gas nor the attraction of gravity can overcome. Pools not necessarily connected.-^A fallacy which should not gain credence among would-be operators in the Illinois field is that oil fields or pools run in lines, and that one field is connected with all others, the oil flowing from one to the other through a continuous strip of porous rock. This may in part be true in the Pennsylvania and West Virginia oil regions, but it is wholly untrue in the Trenton limestone area of Ohio and Indiana, or in the Carboniferous rock area of southeastern Illinois. While all the so-called pools of the Illinois field will be found in the anticlines of the Carboniferous formation, they are not necessarily connected, nor do the anticlines run in straight lines. From what has been said about the origin of the Car- boniferous rocks of southeastern Illinois it will be seen that a pool may be of any shape, and may lie in any direction from any other pool. Its boundaries may be straight or sinuous ; its area one square mile or 1,000 square miles. It the conditions necessary for the stor- ing of petroleum, namely a porous reservoir, located in the fiank or dome of an anticline, with an impervious cover above it and a water pressure below it, have been present in the past the oil will very likely be found, whatever the shape, size or relative location as to other similar reservoirs. If any one of these conditions is lacking or has been lacking the bore is sure to be a dry hole. Inasmuch as the top of the oil bearing strata in the Illinois field is everywhere from 300 to 1,000 feet below the surface, it will be seen that the problem of locating in advance a paying well is a diflacult one. Dry holes and condemned territory — The distribution of the oil bearing strata in the Illinois fields is such that isolated bores which are dry or very small producers should not condemn a large territory. While the average operator is always in search of big wells, and is inclined to reject territory where wells come in for ten barrels or less, it should be remembered that small wells which are stayers or long time producers yield the larger profit. A dry hole within a reasonable distance of a fair or good producer should not, therefore, condemn a square mile or more of the area about it. From what could be learned of the areas already partly drilled in Clark county at least, a bore is a test for but one location; that is for an area of but a few acres about the well. Inside of known productive territory, as far as it has been defined by the drill, the number of dry holes is much fewer in the Casey field than in the average Trenton rock field of Indiana. Most of the dry holes which have, up to the present, been sunk, have been wildcat ventures in wholly virgin territory. It is probable that a number of them would have been productive had they been put down to greater depths, in- stead of stopping after penetrating what was supposed to be the Casey sand. c52. THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Experience has proven that the Illinois operator, like those in every other field, is taking chances with every bore he sinks. He has no way of knowing beforehand what the results will be. He may pierce the center of a reservoir and get a 300 barrel well ; he may strike near its outer rim and get a ten barrel well; he may miss it altogether and get a dry hole. One thing he can rely npon if he strikes a productive well, and that is, that he is drawing upon a stored i)roduct which is not now being formed in the rock from which it is drawn, and that, therefore, he must eventually exhaust the stock of oil from the im- mediate vicinity of his bore. Surface indications — In Illinois, as in Indiana, there are abso- lutely no surface indications which denote the presence of either gas or oil in paying quantities in the underlying rocks. Gas and oil are found in commercial quantities in th^, southeastern field only at depths ranging from 300 to 1,100 fe^t below the surface, and the conditions are such that no man can. with certainty, locate in advance a productive well in any port m of the field. In many places bubbles of gas may be noted as escaping from some pond, spring or stream; or a scum of oil be fqund floating upon the surface of some pool of water. To the average beholder these are thought to be '' surface indications " of a larger supply beneath. As noted above, however, there is always found between the formation containing the oil or gas in commercial quantities, and the surface, one or more close grained shales which are wholly impervious to both gas and oil; i. e., no particle of either of these fluids can find its way through them. In fact, such a shale is an absolute necessity to the presence of a commercial body of either gas or oil, or else both of these would long sisce have found their way upward into the atmosphere. The bubbles of gas, which may be seen escaping from the water are, in almost every instance, marsh gas, which is formed by decaying organic matter at the bottom of the water, or in some deposit of carbonaceous material near by. The oil has exuded in minute quantities from some shale, clay, limestone or sandstone, as all such rocks contain some oil. But a drop or two is necessary to form many square feet of film or scum over the sur- face of a spring or pool. In many instances the supposed oil on the surface of a spring is not oil, but a brownish yellow precipitate of iron oxide. Again, the oil producing rocks of Illinois follow no definite direc- tion, as in some other states. There is no northwest-southeast, or northeast-southwest axis or trend of 30, 45 or any other number of degrees which the intelligent operator can follow and sink a produc- tive bore ninety-five +imes out of a hundred. His operations in the State must always have an element of chance connected with them. If he keeps well within the bounds of productive territory his chances of failure are much fewer than if wild-catting on the outside of such limits. But on the best area known within the bounds of productive territory an occasional bore will come in dry. ILLINOIS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Bun. Xo. 2, PL 2. MANZ-CHICAGO Map showing Oil and Gas Fields of southeastern Illinois. Scale 8 miles to the inch. BLATCHLEY.] GEOLOGY OF CLAEK COUNTY. H3 One fallacy believed by a number of intelligent operators in the Casey field is that that field will be found to extend to the northeast- ward and connect up with the shallow developments in the Cornifer- ous rocks of Jasper county, Indiana, Anyone with the slightest knowledge of geology should know that this is impossible. The Corniferous rocks belong to the Dovonian age and were in existence millions of years before those of southeastern Illinois were formed. They dip strongly to the south westward and, if represented near Casey, are 1,700 or more feet below the surface. Neither is the Casey sand continuous with or synonymous with that found ]Droductive near Princeton, Indiana, the latter being a Huron sandstone of Lower Carboniferous age. The belief in some kind of a northeast or south- east line is probably largely responsible for the erroneous opinion that the Princeton, Casey and Jasper county fields will be found continuous. SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF THE OIL FIELDS. Claek County. GEOLOGY. This county lies on the eastern border of the State, between Edgar and Crawford counties, and is bordered on the west by Coles and Cumberland counties. It is 21 miles in length from north to south and 26 miles in greatest width, its area being 515 square miles. The western part of the county is either prairie or gently rolling, while the eastern portion is more broken, especially in the vicinity of the Wabash bluffs, where it becomes quite hilly, and is often broken into steep ridges along the courses of the small streams. The principal streams in the western part of the county are North Fork, which traverses the county from north to south, and empties in- to the Embarras river in the eastern part of Jasper county. Through- out nearly its whole course it runs through a broad, flat valley a^fford- ing no exposures of the underlying rocks. The bluffs on either side are composed of drift clays, and rise from 30 to 50 feet or more above the valley. At several points where wells have been sunk these clays and underlying quicksands are found to extend to an equal depth beneath the bed of the stream. In the eastern part of the county Big creek, and two or three of less note, after a general south- east course in this county, empty into the Wabash river. "The Quarternary system is represented in this county by the alJu- vial deposits of the river and creek valleys, the losses of the Wabash bluffs, the gravelly clays and hardjDan of the true drift, and the un- derlying stratified sands that are sometimes found immediately above the bed rock. The drift deposits proper vary in thickness from 20 to 75 feet or more, the upper portion being usually a yellow gravelly — 3 GS 64: THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 clay, with local beds or pockets of sands. The lower division is main- ly composed of a bluish-gray hardpan, exceedingly tough and hard to penetrate, usually impervious to water, and from 30 to 50 feet in thickness. This is underlain by a few feet of sand, from which an abundant supply of water can be had where it cannot be found at a higher level."* Three railways furnish fair means of transportation, viz.: The Vandalia Division of the Pennsylvania, running south of west across the full width near the center; the Danville and Cairo Division of the Big Four from north to south across the eastern third, and the Sidell and Olney Division of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, north and south near the western boundary. The elevation in feet above tide of the principal railway stations in the county are as fol- lows: Auburn, 619; Casey, 645; Dennison, 571; Farrington, 565; Marshall, 614; Marshall Junction, 613; Martinsville, 568 ; Martinsville Weather Bureau, 575. Although several hundred bores have been sunk in Clark county to the oil bearing strata or below, it was impossible to secure a record of any one of them which showed in detail the character of the strata passed through. The driller calls them shales, slates, sandstones, etc., but keeps no accurate record of their thickness or sequence. The operator keeps a careful record of the amount of iron pipe used in each bore, the distance to the top of the oil bearing rock or sand, its thickness and the total depth of the well. These are the only records in which he is interested and are, for the most part, the only ones which, are given in the pages which follow. They have a practical meaning to the operator if not to the geologist, and as this report is prepared mainly for the use of those who are trying to develop the field, it is hoped that it will be of sufficient value to justify their pub- lication. In his report on the geology of Clark county, Prof. A. H. Worthen gave a general section of the Coal Measure rocks of the county, as follows: General Section of the Coal Measures of Clark County. Thickness, Total Feet. Feet. 1 Sandstone, nowhere found well exposed 30 to 40 30 to 40 2 Quarry Creek and Martinsville limestone 20 to 30 50 to 70 3 Shales, lower part bituminous 10 to 15 60 to 85 4 Coal (No. 14?) 1 61 to 87 5 Shaly fire clay 2 to 3 63 to 89 6 vS.andstone and shale, some bands of iron carbonate 18 to 20 81 to 109 7 Bituminous shale 1 to 2 82 to 111 8 Coal(No.l4?) 1 83toll2 9 Clay shale and fire clay 4 to 6 87 to 118 10 Cinnamon-brown limestone 3 90 to 122 11 Coaldocal?) 90 to 122 12 Sandy shales passing into massive sandstone below 40 to 50 130 to 172 13 Dark shales with nodules of fossiliferous limestone 5 to 8 135 to 180 14 Hard black shale approaching cannel coal 1 to 3 136 to 183 15 Evenly bedded sandstone 20 to 25 156 to 208 16 Greenish sandy shales 20 to 40 186 to 248 17 Sandstone 8 to 10 194 to 258 18 Gray limestone 5 to 8 199 to 266 19 Shale enclosing a 6 to 10 inch coal (No. 12?) 7 to 8 206 to 274 *Worthen, 111. Geol. Survey, vol. 7, pp. 9, 10. BLATCHLEY.J OIL BEARING ROCK. 35 General Section of the Coal Measures of Clark County. — Concluded. Thickness, Total Feet. Feet. 20 Limestone, lower bed at Livingston 7 to 8 213 to 282 21 Argillaceous and sandy shales 30 to 35 243 to 317 22 Coal (No. 11?) 6 in. to 1 243 to 318 23 Brown and gray sandstone 24 267 to .342 24 Shale, lower part bituminous 2.5 292 to 367 25 Coal, local 292 to 268 26 Whitefireclay 3 295 to 371 27 Green fire clay 3 298 to 373 28 Shale and sandstone 36 .3.34 to 410 29 Chocolate-brown impure limestone 3 to 4 337 to 414 30 Bituminous shale 3 to 6 340 to 420 31 CoalNo.lO 1 34lto421 32 Drab colored shales 30 to 40 371 to 461 33 Compact brownish-gray limestone* 4 to 5 ,375 to 466 34 Green, blue and red clay shales 10 to 12 385 to 478 35 Sandstone 12 to 15 397 to 493 36 Argillaceous and sandy shales 45 to 50 432 to 543 37 Bituminous shale 1 to 2 443 to .545 38 CoalNo.7 5 448 to 550 Of the above section Professor Worthen wrote: "All the rocks found in Clark county belong to the Coal Measures, and include all the beds from the limestone No. 38 that lies about 75 feet above coal No. 7, to the sandstonef No. 1 above the Quarry Creek limestone, and possibly coal No. 14 of the general section. These beds are all above the main workable coals, and although they include a total workable thickness of about 400 feet, and the horizon of five or six coal seams, yet none of them have been found in this county more than from 12 to 18 inches in thickness." With the three limestones Nos. 2, 18 and 20 of Professor Worthen's section we are especially interested, since No. 2 forms a level from which we can guage the approximate depth to the oil bearing strata of the county, ivhile No. 20 is the principal oil hearing rock of the Westfield-Casey pool, and No. 18. where sufficiently porus, yields part or all of the gas found in the bores. It will be noted that Professor Worthen does not give any drift or surface material above his rocks. This drift varies in thickness in the different parts of the field, but its thickness at any one point is closely guaged by the number of feet of drive pipe given in the well records. This drive pipe, which is the first and larger pijje put down, is usually ten, though sometimes eight inches in diameter, and it sel- dom penetrates more than two or three feet of the upper stratum of rock, and more often rests directly on it. It will also be noted that the distance from the top of No. 1 to the top of No. 20 of Professor Worthen's section is from 204 to 271 feet. If in the main Westfield- Casey pool the length of drive pipe be added to 270, the sum will, in most cases, be within a few feet of the distance to "top of sand," given in the well records. Moreover, as already noted, the stratum just above the oil sand in this field is a black, close grained, pasty shale, resembling coal. This is represented by No. 19 of the section, which gives: "Shale, enclosing *This limestone is about 75 to 80 feet above the coal in the shaft just across the river from Terre Haute, which is No. 7 of the Illinois section, and the intervening beds would give the continuation of the section if carried down to the horizon of this coal, but they do not come to the surface in Clark county. fThis sandstone is very likely a sandy shale in many places, as a number of the drillers report the first rock struck in the bores to be a ' 'slate" or Sand slate."— W. S. B. 36 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 a 6 to 10- inch coal, 7 to 8 feet in thickness," as occupying that hori- zon. The black shale and coal, when pounded up by the drill, moist- ened and bailed out, cannot be distinguished one from the other. By some of the drillers the mixture is called coal and by others black shale. Taking the above facts into consideration, there is no doubt in the writer's mind but that Professor Worthen's No. 20, or Lower Livingstone limestone, is the oil bearing rock of the Westfield-Casey pool. Of the three limestones — Nos. 2, 18 and 20, in Clark county. Pro- fessor Worthen wrote as follows: Of No. 2 he said: "The beds form- ing the upper part of the general section in this county are exposed on Quarry creek south of Casey, and one mile and a half east of Martinsville, on the upper course of Hurricane creek, and the Black- burn branch southeast of Parker prairie. At the quarry a mile and a half east of Martinsville, the limestone is heavy bedded, and has been extensively quarried for bridge abutments, culverts, etc., on the old National road. The bed is not fully exposed here, and seems to be somewhat thinner than at Quarry creek, where it probably attains its maximum thickness, but thins out both to the northeast and southwest from that point. "At Quarry creek, about a mile and a half south of Casey, on sec- tion 28 (10 N., 14 W.) this limestone appears in full force, and has been extensively quarried both for building stone and the manufac- ture of quicklime. It is here a mottled gray, compact limestone, partly in regular beds from six inches to two feet or more in thick- ness. At least 25 to 30 feet of limestone is exposed here, and as the overlying sandstone is not seen, its aggregate thickness may be even more than the above estimate. At its base the limestone becomes thin bedded and shaly, passing into a greenish, calcarious shale with thin plates and nodules of limestone, abounding in the characteristic fossils of this horizon. At one point on this creek a bed of green shale, aboat two feet in thickness, was found intercalated in the lime- stone."* Of Nos. 18 and 20, the Livingston limestones or gas and oil bearing strata, he wrote: "Near the center of section 4 (9 N., 12 W.) the following beds were found on Joe's Fork, above the site of the old Anderson mill: Section on Joe^s Fork.'f Feet. 12 Massive sandstone, the same seen on Hurricane creek .' 25 13 Dark shale with nodules of limestone 5 to 8 14 Blackshale 1 to 2 15 Sandy shale and evenly bedded sandstone 20 to 25 16 Greenish colored sandy shales 35 to 40 17 Hard concretionary sandsiones with softer beds below 8 to 10 18 Gray sparry limestone 5 19 Shale with 10 inch seam of coal 8 20 Brownish gray, hard brittle limestone 7 to 8 *Geol. Surv. of 111., Vol. 6, 1875, pp. 12-13. t I have numbered the strata to correspond with the numbers given the same strata in the county section. W. S. B. BLATCHLEY.] LIVINGSTON LIMESTONE. 87 "The above includes Nos. 12 to 20 of the county section. The lime- stones at the base of the above section are the equivalents of the Livingston limestones hereafter described, and they pass below the bed of the creek here about a mile above the old mill. The sandstone overlying the upper limestone here, when evenly bedded, is quarried for building stone and affords a very good and durable material of this kind for common use. At the mouth of Joe's Fork the lower limestone is partly below the creek bed, the upper four feet only being visible, and above it we find clay shale 2 feet, coal 10 inches, shale 5 to 6 feet, succeeded by the upper limestone which is here only three or four feet thick. The upper limestone at the outcrop here is thinly and unevenly bedded and weathers to a rusty brown color. The lower limestone is more heavily bedded, but splits to fragments on exposure to frost and moisture. It is of a mottled gray color when freshly broken, but weathers to a yellowish brown. "At the railroad bridge northwest of Livingston the following sec- tion may be seen: Section at Railroad Bridge Northwest of Livingston. Feet. Inches. 18 Gray sparry limestone 7 19 Blue shale 6 20 Gray limestone, heavy bedded 5 21 Sandstone and sandy shale 30 to 40 22 Thin coal (reported) 6 "The upper bed of limestone (No. 18 of the county section) is traversed by veins of calcite and brown ferruginous streaks that give the rock a mottled appearance when freshly broken. The upper layer of the lower bed is about thirty inches thick and is a tough, compact, gray rock that breaks with an even surface and has a slight- ly granular or semi-oolitic appearance. The lower part of this bed is a mottled gray fine grained limestone and breaks with a more or less conchoidal fracture. The fossils found in the limestone here were Athyris suhtilita, Productus costatus, P. nebrascensis, Pinna, per- acuta, Spirifer earner atus, S. plano-convexus and joints of Crinoidea. The upper division of this limestone thins out entirely about a mile above the bridge and passes into a green shale like that by which the limestones are separated. "The following section is seen about one mile above the railroad bridge in the creek bluffs and adjacent hill tops: Section One Mile Above the Railroad Bi'idge at Livingston. Feet. 14 Covered slope with tumbling masses of Quarry Creek limestone 20 15 Sandstone, upper part massive, with shaly beds below 40 to 50 16 Pebbly sandstone S to 10 17 Green clay shales, with a streak of coaly matter 21 18 Limestone, upper division of Livingston bed 3 to 19 Green shale 3 to 5 20 Limestone (partial exposure) 3 "The tumbling masses of limestone that are found in the hill tops hereaway no doubt belong to the Quarry Creek bed, which is found in partial oucrops not more than half a mile back from the creek and 38 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 from eighty to ninety feet above its level. The intervening sand- stones and shales which separate these limestones in the north-east- ern part of Clark county are much thinner than where they outcrop on Hurricane and Mill creeks, in the southern portion, indicating a general thinning out of the strata below the Quarry Creek bed to the northward. Sometimes I have been inclined to believe that this upper limestone was unconformable to the beds below and its disap- pearance beyond Parker Prairie to the southwest, where the apparent trend of its outcrop would naturally carry it, seems to strengthen this conclusion, but the outcrops of the underlying beds are so partial and widely separated that it is difficult to determine this point satisfac- torily. At any rate, the thickness of the beds between these lime- stones north of Livingston does not exceed seventy-five or eighty feet, while south of Martinsville they are from 125 to 150 feet apart, at least, showing that they thin out rapidly to the northward. The upper division of the Livingston limestone can be seen to thin out entirely about a mile north of the railroad bridge northwest of Liv- ingston, and the other division must also disappear before reaching Edgar county, as Professor Bradley failed to find it there, as will be seen in his report on that county. The Quarry Creek limestone is undoubtedly the same bed described by him as No. '6 of his Edgar county section; and if the Livingston beds extended into that county they would be found not more than sixty to seventy-five feet below his No. 3. Possibly this lower limestone may be represented there by his No, 11, which is described as a 'sandy argillaceous limestone, containing pebbles of black limestone and fragments of fossils,' as we have nothing in Clark county that can be correlated with that unless it is one or both divisions of the Livingston limestones. The dis- tance from his No. 3 down to coal No. 7 he makes from 185 to 250 feet, while in Clark county the distance from the limestone on Quarry Creek to this coal is from 350 to 400 feet."* OIL WELLS. First ivells of the present Casey oil field — In 1903, Col. L. D. Carter, of Oakland, 111., who was familiar with the early attempts to secure oil near Oilfield, Clark county, laid the facts concerning those attempts before Mr. J. J. Hoblitzell & Son, prominent oil operators of Pittsburgh, Pa., and finally induced them to test again, with modern methods of drilling, the territory about Oilfield, After leasing a large acreage, the first bore was drilled on the Young farm, near Oilfield. In April, 1904, it had reached a depth of 1,400 feet. Both oil and gas were found, but the oil was limited in quantity and was shut off, while gas from the bore has since been used in drilling many additional wells. A second well was soon located on the J . S. Phillips farm, in the northeast quarter of section 18, Parker township. It was completed and shot on Oct. 20, 1904, its initial production being thirty-five bar- rels of oil per day. From that day to the present the Casey field has been in active operation. Loc. Cit. pp. 15-17. ILLINOIS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY rhe Clark county oil li Bull. No. 2. PI. 3. T.fl2N.-= . Scale 2 miles to the inch. BLACHLY.] OIL WELLS. B9 Westfield township — This civil township corresponds to the lower half of congressional township 12 north, 14 west, comprising sections 19 to 36. The town of Westfield, in sections 29 and 30. is situated on a morainic ridge which rises fifty or more feet above the level plain to the south, on which most of the wells of the Parker township field are located. It is only along the north border of this plain, near the south line of the, township, in sections 32 and 33, that oil in com- mercial quantities has been found in the township. A bore on the White lease, in the southw^est quarter of section 20, developed a big flow of salt water in a limestone at a depth of 475 feet. Just above the regular oil bearing stratum, said to have been struck at 440 feet, there was a "white sand," 25 feet in thickness. Only a light show of oil was found. On the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 24, a dry hole was also drilled, the top of the sand* being found at 353 feet. A third dry hole was drilled in the town of Westfield, in the north- east quarter of the southeast quarter of section 30, in which a barren black sand was found at 509 feet. Still another dr}^ hole was drilled on the edge of the plain in the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 31, the sand being found at 340 feet. No record of the amount of drive pipe or thickness of drift of these four dry holes was obtainable, hence it is impossible to locate the stratum in which the drill stopped. A number of light producers have been drilled on the Endsley, Barlow and James farms along the south line of section 32. On the Barlow farm of twenty acres the No. 2 bore in the northeast corner had the following record: Feet. 8 - inch drive pipe 52 6J^-inch casing 215 4^s-inch casing .335 Top of sand 333 Total depth 396 The sand was penetrated 30 to 35 feet before striking oil, and the oil bearing sand continued to the bottom. Another bore on the Endsley farm developed gas at 321, oil at 331 to 337, and stopped in a shale at 392 feet, the cover of drift being about the same as in the preceding. Six or seven light wells which are farther east than any other pro- ducers in Westfield township, are located on the S. James lease, in the southwest quarter of section 33. A record of No. 4 showed: Feet, 8 -inch drive pipe 'l 6M-inch casing 308 Top of sand 32a Total depth 387 A black shale here overlies the sand. The above records show that the oil producing limestone dips to the west from this point, at the rate of about 15 feet to the mile. No drilling has been done in section 34. In the east half of the northwest quarter of section 35, a dry hole on the Cornwell lease found the top of sand at 378 feet; the elevation and thickness of drift * Unless otherwise mentioned, the term ' ' sand " in this field denotes the gray limestone producing oil in Westfield and Parker townships. 40 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 not being known. On the J. Bennett lease, near the center of sec- tion 36, the drift was 160 feet in thickness. At 258 feet a supply of gas sufficient to pipe several houses was developed. The oil bearing limestone found at 4-40 feet, was hard, non-porous and barren. The bore was continued to a depth of 540 feet, where a salt-water sand was encountered. No records of coal veins were obtained from any of the wells drilled in Westlield township. The dry holes mentioned as having been drilled in sections 20, 24, 35 and 36 have stopped farther developments in the northern and eastern parts of the township. As no surface levels were run, it is possible that only the upper limestone, No. 18, was reached in some of the bores. Dolson township. — This civil township lies east of Westfield and the north half of Parker townships, and embraces the south half of congressional township 12 north, 13 west, and the north half of 11 north, 13 west. No oil is being produced within its bounds, and as far as can be learned, but two bores have been drilled. One of these, a dry hole, on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of sec- tion 8, is said to have passed through a seven foot vein of coal just above the oil sand, the latter being struck at 508 feet. This "coal" was doubtless the black shale No. 19 of the section. Another dry hole was finished near the north line of the township, on the south- east quarter of the northeast quarter of section 21, in which the sand was struck at 400 feet. These records, taken by Mr. Lewis, count for lit tie, as neither the difference in elevation nor the thickness of the drift is known. One is by no means certain, therefore, that the "sand" belongs to the same stratum in both wells. A third bore was recorded by Mr. Lewis as having been sunk on the Burns lease, four miles east of the east line of section 24, Dolson township, to a depth of 1,500 teet. No other record was available. Parker townshi]). — This civil township, corresponding to congress- ional township 11 north, 14 west, contains the most productive devel- oped territory in the Casey oil field. During the month of April, 1906, 39 bores were completed within its bounds, all of which were productive. The total initial output was 1,265 barrels, an average of 32.5 barrells to the well, which is a most excellent record. All the oil in this township, except that from a few bores along its southern margin, is found in a grayish magnesian limestone. Under the glass, chunks of this stone shot from the well show numerous pores, and in some pieces cavities easily seen with the naked eye appear, which are lined with crystals of quartz and iron pyrites. The principal production is in the west half of the township, the eastern half showing only a few light wells and a number of dry holes. The surface of the western half is, for the most part, a level prairie, occupying a wide valley which Jies between the North Fork and the East Branch of Hurricane creek. The eastern half is more broken by the erosion of the tributaries of the North Fork. No drilling has been done in sections 1 and 2 as two dry holes were sunk on the Houghton lease, in the southwest quarter of section 3, which, with the one in section 36, Westfield township, were held to condemn the northeastern corner of Parker township. BLATCHLEY.] BRISCOE LEASE. 41 The eastern half of section 4 is undrilled with the exception of one bore on the Endsley lease, in the northeast quarter, which is a good producer. On the west half some light wells are located on the Lee farm and some better ones in the southwest quarter on the Fuller and Newlin leases. These wells started at 15 to 40 barrels each, but dropped down to three to live barrels in six months. In No. 10 on the Fuller lease, no sand whatever was found, but only "black mud" in its place, though the bore was located only 450 feet from a 75 bar- rel well. The operating company sold 80 acres of leases and nine producing wells to the Ohio Oil company in February, 1906, for $42,500. Section 5 has yielded much oil, severaJ of the best wells in the Casey field having been drilled within its bounds. One of the most productive leases has been that of the Gr. A. Fuller farm, in the southeast quarter, where it is said nine wells yielded 32 inches (80 barrels) a day for 18 months. The largest of these started at 180 barrels in October and was down to 25 barrels in February. The big- gest well in the history of the field was on the D. Lee farm just to the north, having started in September, 1905, at more than 300 bar- rels. Much oil was wasted before it could be shut off after shooting with J 00 quarts. A number of other good producers were drilled on the same farm. These rich strikes caused farmers in the immediate vicinity to ask very high prices for leases. M. L. Briscoe received $8,000 bonus, or $222.00 an acre and one-sixth royalty for the oil rights on 36 acres of his farm in the west half of the section; the entire farm of 100 acres being leased for $14,000 and one-sixth royalty. It is claimed that the operating expenses are so low, on account of the shallow depth of the wells, that even at these prices, the producers will make money, provided the output is anything like the wells on the Fuller and Lee farms. No. 3, on the south third of the Briscoe lease, had the following record : Feet. Drive pipe 42 Casingr ,308 Top of sand 310 Total depth 370 The pay sand was eight feet thick and the well was drilled 60 feet below the top in order to shoot with a large shot and give room to form a pocket below the sand in which the oil could accumulate. Nine wells were bored on the central 36 acres of the Briscoe lease by the Barnsdall Company. Six of these connected with the power and pumping on May 10th were said to be making 500 barrels a day. On April 20, 1906, three drills were operating on one 40-acre lease in the northwest corner of section 5. One, which was down to the top of sand, was drilled through 16 feet of sticky black bituminous shale (No. 19 of the county section). This shale is said to run 5 to 18 feet thick above the sand in this section. The operator, on being asked why so many drills were operating on so small a track said: "The pool is like a big bowl of soup, and the sooner we get our spoons in the more we will get. It will not last long and we want our share." 42 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTEY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. • [bull. 2 The northeast quarter and the south half of section 6 contains a number of fair wells, while the northwest quarter is undrilled. On the A. Biglow farm, in the south half. No. 5 well had the following record: Feet. Drive pipe 42 Casing 296 Top of sand 296 Total depth 352 One or two dry holes have been drilled on the northwest quarter of section 7, but the east half has yielded some good producers while the southwest quarter is light. The W. L. Briggs farm of 80 acres, with seven wells, was sold in February for $36,000. No, 13 bore on the Spelbring lease in the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter showed: Feet. 8 -inch drive pipe 30 6H-inch casing- Ifi5 4%-inch casing 305 Top of sand 305 Total depth 355 The oldest well on this lease started at twenty barrels in December 1904, and is still producing. In the northwest of section 8, No. 8 bore on the C feet to the bottom were alternate strata, 5 to 15 feet thick, of shale and sandstone. A dry hole on the northeast corner of section 20 developed a salt water sand at 700 feet and was abandoned at 735 feet. A bore on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 27 was also diy. An "oil sand" which contained no oil was here also struck at 700 feet and extended, still barren, to 748 feet, at which point the operator lost hope. A dry hole was also bored on the Johnson farm, in the southwest quarter of section 31 in the extreme southwestern corner of the town- ship. These bores show that Orange township contains some gas, but the oil outlook is not promising, * Data by Lewis. 54 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTEY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 CUMBEELAND CoUNTY. GEOLOGY. This county lies west of Clark and south of Coles counties, and comprises an area of 836 square miles. "The Embarras river traverses the county from north to south, and this rivpr and its tributaries, are the only streams of any note within its borders. The central portion of the county along the river and its affluents is well timbered, while the eastern and western portions are mainly prairie. "The surface deposits of this county comprise the alluvial bottoms of the Embarras and its tributaries, and a considerable thickness of gravelly clays and hardpan which increases in depth to the north- ward. In the southern portion of the county the drift deposits range from 20 to 40 feet in thickness, consisting mainly of brown or buff gravelly clays with numerous boulders; but to the northward this thickness is increased to 50 or 75 feet, the lower portion being a bluish-gray hardpan similar to that in Clark county. "All the rock formations of this county below the drift belong to the Upper Coal Measures, and include the beds intervening between the Quarry Creek limestone of Clark county and the No. 15 or Shel- byville coal of Shelby county, making an aggregate thickness of 200 to 250 feet. ]So workable coal outcrops in the county, and for deep mining a shaft would have to be carried down from 600 to 1,000 feet to reach the main coals of the lower measures." * The railway facilities of the county are good; the Vandalia Divis- ion of the Pennsylvania crossing its southeastern portion; the Illi- nois Central the central portion from north to south; while the T., St. L. & W. and the Illinois Central cut the northwestern corner. The elevation in feet above tide of the principal railway stations in the county are as follows: Greenup, 549; Jewett, 583; Neoga, 651; Toledo, 600; Vevay Park, 619; Woodbury' 584. Oil in commercial quantities has as yet been found only in Union township in the northeastern part of the county. A number of bores have been sunk in Crooked Creek township, just to the south of Union, but so far all have proven barren. These two townships alone will be considered in the present connection. OIL WELLS. Union township — This civil township lies just west of Barker and Casey townships, Clark county, and comprises parts of six congress- ional townships, viz: Townships 11 and 10 north, ranges 11, 10 and 9 east. Townships 10 and 9 north, range 11 east comprise but a single row of sections lying adjacent to the Clark county line. This is due to a correction line running north and south on this meridian. The oil producing area in Union township is known locally as the "Siggins Pool", as a large part of it was originally leased and the first w6lls sunk by a man of that name. He disposed of his holdings, about 600 acres of leases and six producing wells, to the Ohio Oil A. H. Worthen, in Vol. 6, III. Geo. Surv., pp. 98,103. BLATCHLEY] SIGGINS' POOL. 55 Company for 1185,000.00, the sale being made in February, 1906. The pool lies two to four miles northwest of Casey and forms an im- portant part of the present Casey oil field. The surface is for the most part level, though cut in places by the smaller tributaries of Range and Lost creeks. No accurate record of bores have been kept, and it is not, therefore, possible to refer the oil bearing stratum to any one member of the Upper Coal Measures. During the month of April, 1906, thirty-five Bores were drilled in the township, but three of which were dry. The total initial output of the thirty- two produc- ing wells was 1,721 barrels, an average of 53.8 barrels per well, which is far above the average initial output for the same number of wells in most fields. In the northern part of Union township, embraced within the con- gressional townships 11 north, 11, 10 and 9 east, there are no produc- iag wells. A dry hole was sunk on the N. Wood lease, in the southeast quarter of section 30 (11 N., 11 E.), and a second one on the Schuyler farm, in the northeast quarter of section 36 (11 N., 10 E.) In the southeast quarter of section 6 (10 N., 11 E.) a bore on the Stotts lease was also barren, as was one on the Reinbolt farm, in the northeast quarter of section 3 (10 N., 10 E.) In the latter bore a white salt water sand was struck at 300 feet, and " coal," five feet thick, at 420 feet. A second water sand was found at 560 feet, and continued to 604, when the hole was abandoned. The Yanaway farm of 320 acres in the south half of section 1 and the north half of section 12 (ION., 10 E.) was leased to the Jennings Bros., of Pittsburg, for $15,000. ( bonus and one-sixth royalty, though dry holes, above mentioned, had been drilled on three sides of it. The first bore on the lease started at twenty-five barrels. The same com- pany paid $6,000.00 bonus and one-sixth royalty for the Emrich lease of eighty acres in the northwest quarter of section 7, Casey township. The Siggins pool, as outlined by the drill up to May 10, covers an area 9f a little more than six square miles, extending from the middle of sections 7 and 18, Casey township, to the center of sections 11 and 14, Union township. It is thus about two miles wide from north to south by three miles in length. In this area the drift, while it has a comparatively level surface, varies much in thickness, a range of 40 to 160 feet, sometimes occurring on a forty-acre tract. The oil of the Siggins pool is found in a grayish or whitish sandstone, 25 to 60 feet in thickness, the top of which lies 320 to 410 feet below the surface. This sandstone rests upon a black shale, 10 to 18 feet thick, below which is sometimes found a blue shale and in other places a white salt-water sandstone. Above the producing sand there is in most places a close-grained blue shale, fifteen or more feet in thickness, which lias served as an impervious cover to retain the oil. In other places a limestone about five feet thick lies just above the sand. In a number of wells two veins of " coal " are reported, one, three feet thick, at 160 to 170 feet below the surface; the other five feet thick about 300 feet below, and usually 20 to 40 feet above the sand. Where 56 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 this so-called coal exists a blue shale usually fills the space between the coal and sand, though it is sometimes replaced in its lower part by lime. A number of good producing wells have been completed on the west half of section 7 and the north half of section 18 (10 N., 11 E.) One of these on the Kite lease, in the northwest quarter of section 18, had the following record: * Feet. Drive pipe 90 Casing 325 Gray shale 325-362 Top of sand 362 Total depth 427 This well was shot with 100 quarts and started at about eighty barrels. Four bores have been sunk on the Chrysler lease adjoining, in the northeast quarter of the section. The records of Nos. 1 and 4 foUovv^: • No. 1- feet. No. 4— feet. 95 320 419 450 500 518 90 Casing 338 Top of oil sand 389 Bottom of oil sand . . .. . . 459 Shale to 472 Total depth 472 In both wells the " shell " or cap of the producing sand was a hard, impure nodular limestone, containing crystals of iron pyrites. This cap ran 3 to 5 feet in thickness and lay just below twenty or more feet of a close-grained blue-gray clay shale. The top of "the produc- ing sand in No. 4 below the cap was a micaceous sandstone, rather fine grained, and light gr^y in hue. The sand gradually became coarser, darker and more porous, up to 434 feet, where the best oil was found. The grains were here more rounded or less angular than above and below this point. At 439 to 444 feet it was still quite pro- ductive, but was much finer and lighter in hue. At 459 feet it be- came coarser and darker again, and at 464 feet had merged into a dark bituminous shale. In No. 1 well this dark shale, struck at 450 feet, was twelve feet thick and was followed by a blue shale in which the drill stopped at 518 feet. The casing in most of the wells in the Siggins pool is set on the streak or cap of lime or " shells " just above the pay. When shot with 100 quarts No. 1, Chrysler made 117 barrels in eleven hours, and the four wells on the same lease averaged eighty barrels initial output. When the productive rock was struck it showed oil immediately. A bluish gray shale was the first rock encountered below the drift. Blatchley ] DUNN LEASE. 57 Three or four good wells have been conipleted on the Lame lease of eighty acres in the southwest quarter of section 7 (10 N., 11 E.) The records of Nos. 1, 2 and 3 show: No. 1. No. 2. (feet) (feet) 60 65 288 306 314 32o 340 349 382 407 No. 3. (feet) Drive pipe Casing Top of sand... First oil Bottom of sand 68 323 323 340 407 No. 2 was 600 feet east of No. 1, and No. 3 the same distance east of No. 2. It is said that a soft, bluish shale lies immediately above the oil sand and merges gradually into it. Section 12 (10 N., 10 E.) is also a rich producing area. Two bores on the Dunn lease on the northeast quarter had the following record: No. 1. (feet) No. 2. (feet) Drift .. . . .. 140 180 330 338 376 412 156 212 Coal and black shale .... 331 3.36 First oil 374 Total depth 405 The first rock struck was a shale, 140 to 156 feet below the surface. In these wells the limestone at 180 and 212 feet was evidently the Quarry creek limestone No. 2 of the Clark county section. From the top of this stone to the top of the sand was 158 feet. As the oil occurs in a sandstone immediately below a " coal," it is perhaps No. 15 of the Clark county section, which there lies beneath a hard, black shale approaching cannel " coal," 168 feet below the top of the Quarry creek limestone. * On the Haworth lease in the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 11, were eight producing wells on April 20, which were taking 240 to 270 barrels per day. The records of No. 5 and No.'^8, 1,400 feet west were as follows: No. 5. (feet) No. 8. (feet) Drive pipe .... 164 330 345 376 384 143 Casing 330 Top of sand ... 340 Best pay 380 Total depth 433 h |In well No. 1, on the same lease, the drift was 13B feet thick, and the top of the oil sand 315 feet deep; so that the sand runs pretty uniformly in this region about 180 to 185 feet below the top of the first rock struck in the bore, which would bring it near No. 15 of the Clark county section. 58 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTEY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 The pay sand in No. 1 bore is said to have run continuous from 337 feet, where the first oil was struck, to 395 feet, a distance of 58 feet. In No. 8 the bore was still in sand at 433 feet, but it was harder than where struck at 360, a distance of 73 feet. Nos. 15, 16 and 17 of the county section aggregate 58 to 75 feet. These might all be called sand by the driller. The best wells on the Haworth lease would, it is claimed, make eighty barrels per day when pumped separately. Samples of the oil producing rock from the Haworth lease show a fine grained white sandstone, tinged brown with oil, and with occa- sional glistening scales of mica intermingled. An analysis by F. F. Grout showed its composition to be: Percent.. Calcium carbonate (CaCOs) 2.98 Magnesium carbonate (MgCOs) 2.00 Alumina and iron oxide (Al203+Fe203'j 3.17 Insoluble or silica (SiOs) 89.08 On the lease just west of the Haworth, in the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 12, there is said to be 84 feet of oil sand "resting on coal." When they strike this coal in this region they quit drilling, as below it salt water is usually found. This "coal" is probably, like all others in the region at that horizon, a black shale. Only the east half of section 11 has been drilled. Here the top of the sand occurs at 363 feet, while the oil is found at 409 to 415 feet, and the wells start from 15 to 40 barrels each. There is no production west of this point. To the south, in section 14, a well which had but a very little show of oil was drilled on the Lancet farm, its record being: Feet. Drive pipe : 152 Casing 509 Top of sand 509 Total depth 551 This was the most westerly well in the Siggins Pool on May 10th. One or two good producers have since been finished on the Lacey farm to the east. In section 13 the best wells have been sunk on the Queen farm, in the southwest quarter. Here in No. 1 bore the drift was 100 feef thick and the top of the sand 330 feet below the surface. The sand was 67 feet in thickness and below it was a carbonaceous shale, ac- cording to notes by Mr. Lewis. In No. 2 it was 50 feet through drift to a soft slate rock; to top of sand 292 feet. Total depth 384 feet, or 92 feet in sand. On the Carpenter farm, in the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the top of sand was 330 feet down, and it was 64 feet thick. The majority of the wells in this section are only fair producers. A dry hole was sunk on the northeast quarter of section 23, in which no sand whatever was found until a depth of 630 feet was reached, when a salt water sand was encountered. "Coal" six feet thick was found at a depth of 420 feet. Several gas wells and one or more dry holes have been bored on section 24. One or two fair oil wells have also been drilled on the north half of the northeast quarter of the section; the 80 acres having BLATCHLEY.] UNION CENTER WELLS. 59 been leased to the Ohio Oil Company for $7,000 bonus and one- sixth royalty. A bore on the S. Rooks farm, in the south half of the north- east quarter had the following record: Feet. Drive pipe 85 Casing 340 Top of sand 517 Total depth 536 This was quite a gas producer, the output from this and neighbor- ing wells being used as fuel for drilling and pumping many of the bores in the Siggins Pool. The Ohio Oil Company charged $30.00 per well for fuel sufficient for drilling. The contracting driller pays for his own fuel and receives $1.00 per foot for his work. Another gas well, 540 feet in depth, on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of the section, struck gas sand at 515 feet and a second layer at 525 feet, a thin layer of shale intervening. An oil well which started at about four barrels was drilled on the Miller farm in the south half of the southeast quarter of section 24, the producing sand being found at 490 feet. Another bore on the southwest quarter developed one layer of "sand" at 342, and the second or "gas sand" at 525 feet, but both were barren. Two small oil wells were later bored on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter. In section 19 (10 N., HE.) a small well has been sunk on the Gosset farm, in the north half of the southwest quarter. The top of sand was struck at 455 feet, and oil encountered seven feet lower. The oil sand went out at 470 feet, but the well was drilled to 492 feet, the underlying black shale being nine feet in thickness. The above covers all the producing territory in Union township to May 10th. Several dry holes have, however, been drilled. One of these in the southeast quarter of section 16 had a record as follows: Feet. Top of sand 320 Bottom of sand : 370 "Coal" 444 Pebble sand , 4.50 Total depth 721 Another dry hole is located on the southeast quarter of section 9, one-half mile south of Union Center. It showed: Feet. 1 Drive pipe 100 2 Limestone shell at 220 3 Top of sand 390 4 Bottom of sand 420 5 Limestone shell 620 6 Total depth 670 The "shells," Nos. 2 and 5, are usually found just above the pro- ducing sand. Only a little rotten sand was found below No. 5 shell at 620 feet, while only one screw (5 feet) of the productive sand found at 390 feet, was soft and loose enough to have held oil. A dry hole in the southeast quarter of section 30 (10 N., 10 E.), three miles northeast of Greenup, had a record as follows : Feet. Drive pipe 80 Casing 420 White water sand ,320 Second sand 44.5 Bottom sand TjOO Salt water sand 574 Bottom of water sand 580 Total depth 607 Bottom in shale. 60 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 The usual producing sand, struck at 445 feet, contained neither gas, oil nor salt water. Crooked Creek toivnship. — This township lies south of Union and west of Casey and Johnson townships, of Clark county. All bores sunk in it to May first were barren. In one of them, on the Tute- wiler farm, in the southeast quarter of section 32, (10 N., 10 E.) sandstone was reported to extend from 140 to 420 feet below the sur- face. An "oil sand," which was barren, was struck at 555 feet and extended to 575 feet, the bottom of the bore. Another bore on the Thomas lease, in the north half of section 14, showed: Feet. Drive pipe 3*^ Casing 28'^ Top of sand 380 Bottom of bore 63* Fifteen feet of barren sand were found. A third bore near Hazel Dell, on the southwest quarter of section 30 (9 N., 11 E.) was drilled in 835 feet and stopped in sandstone, its partial record being : Feet. Drive pipe 93 Casing 247 Gas at 475 Saltwater 700 Others were drilled on the southeast quarter of section 21, 764 feet in depth, and near Hidalgo on the southeast quarter of section 33 (U N., 10 E.), 755 feet deep, but no other records were obtainable. A well which produced a large supply of excellent mineral water was drilled in section 8, Greenup township, near the town of Greenup. A dry hole on the Dorsey farm, in the west half of section 7 (9 N., 10 E.), two miles southeast of Greeup, was finished May 5th, its record showing: Feet. Drive pipe 52 Limestone ^l^ Fresh water sand 345 Casing 460 Casey "sand"— shells only 464 Salt water sand.. 515 Black shale 530 Limestone 540 Salt water sand 650 Total depth 684 CEAWFOED COUNTY. GEOLOGY. This county lies adjoining the Indiana line, south of Clark, east of Jasper and north of Lawrence and Richland counties. The surface of its area of 438 square miles is. for the most part, prairie or gently rolling upland. In the southern portion, in which the majority of the producing oil wells are located, it is more or less broken by the erosion of the streams tributary to the Embarras river, which runs diagonally across the southwestern corner of the county. Other water courses are the North Fork, traversing its western border from BLATCHLEY.] CEAWFORD COUNTY. 61 north to south; Crooked creek, also in the southwest part; and Brushy Fork, Lamotte creek, Sugar creek, and some other small streams in the eastern portion of the county. "The surface deposits of the county consist of buff or drab marly clays belonging to the loess, which are found capping the bluff's of the Wabash and attaining a thickness of ten to twenty feet or more and from twenty to forty feet of brown gravelly clays and hard pan, the latter resting upon the bed rock or separated from it by a thin bed of stratified sand or gravel. If these beds were found in a verti- cal section they would show the following order of succession: Feet. Buff and drab marly clays or sands 10 to 20 Brown and yellow gravelly clays 15 to 20 Bluish gray hardpan 10 to 25 Sand or gravel 3 Generally these superficial deposits are thin in this county, and at most places the bed rock will be found within fifteen or twenty feet of the surface. "The exposed stratified rocks of Crawford county, like those of Clark and Cumberland, all belong to the Upper Coal Measures, the lowest beds appearing in the bluffs of the Wabash river and the highest along the western borders of the county, and include the horizon of coals Nos. 11, 12 and 13 of the Illinois section."* The following combined section of an exposure in the bluffs just below Palestine Landing with that of a shaft sunk 123| feet deep in search of coal at that landing, give a fair knowledge of a portion of the Upper CoalMeasure strata in the eastern part of the county: Section of Bluff Exposure and Coal Shaft at Palestine Landing. Feet. Inches. 1 Covered slope of loess and drift 15 to 20 2 Shelly brown limestone with fossils 2 .3 Bituminous shale and thin coal No. 12 1 to 2 4 Sandy shales and sandstone 45 to 50 5 Bituminous shale with numerous fossils 2 to 3 6 Coal No. 11 1 7 Hard, dark gray bituminous limestone 2 to 3 8 Shale 21 8 9 Coal No. 10 2 to 3 6 10 Fireclay 3 11 Hard limestone 3 6 12 Sandstone 21 13 Brown shale 6 6 14 Limestone with fossils 6 15 Gray sandy shale 2 16 Limestone 8 17 Clay shale 1 4 18 Limestone 6 19 Sandstone and shale 38 6 20 Black shale 2 21 Coal No. 9 6 22 Fire clay, not passed through Total : 186 2 "The shaft was sunk to reach a coal seam reported, in a boring pre- viously made, to be four feet thick and at a depth of 123 feet. The bore was made about a mile and a half northwest of the shaft, and commenced fifteen feet below a thin coal which outcrops in the hill *See p. 19 62 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 above. The bore was made for oil during the oil fever in 1865, and the shaft mentioned was sunk to the horizon of a coal seam reported four feet thick in the bore, but on reaching it in the shaft it proved to be two feet of bituminous shale and six inches of coal. "Robinson is located on a sandstone deposit overlying all the rocks found in the bluffs at Palestine Landing, indicating a decided dip of the strata to the westward. When the demand for coal shall be such as to justify deep mining, the lower coals in this county may be reached at a depth of 400 to 600 feet. Their nearest approach to the surface is along the valley of the Wabash river and the depth would be increased to the westward by the dip of the strata and the eleva- tion of the surface."* The following detailed record of one of the bores for oil or gas made on the D. 0. Jones farm, one and one half miles north of Rob- inson,t was furnished me by C. S. Jones of that town. Record of Bore on D. C. Jones Farm, Southwest Quarter of Section 22 {T.7 N.,E. 12 W.) Feet. Feet. 1 Soil 2 2 Clay and sand 8 10 ,3 Sandstone 12 22 4 Shale ("soapstone") 42 64 5 Coal and black shale 2 66 6 Underclay ( "gray shale") 4 70 7 Limestone 15 70 8 Shale 25 110 9 Water, sand 10 120 10 ■ Gray shale 18 138 11 Dark shale (slate) 37 175 12 Light shale 15 190 13 Reddish shale 10 200 14 Light shale 8 208 15 Dark shale 12 220 16 Light sand rock 8 228 17 White shale ("clay" ( 17 245 18 Darkshale 16 261 19 Light shale 14 275 20 Sandstone ("rock sand") 40 315 21 Brown shale 30 .345 22 Black shale 5 25o 23 Lightshale 20 .370 24 Brownshale 25 395 25 Darkslate 7 402 26 Darklime 6 408 27 LightShale 22 430 28 Hardlimerock 7 437 29 Dark hrown shale 10 447 30 Lightshale 43 490 31 Darkshale 42 532 32 Coal 4 538 33 Fire-clay ("lightshale") 8 544 34 Lime rock 5 549 35 Shale 8 .557 36 Sandstone 18 575 37 Coal 2 577 38 Fire-clay ("rock") 5 282 39 "Slate" 10 592 40 Shale 8 600 41 Sandstone 27 627 42 Shale 8 635 43 Hardrock 4 639 44 Coal 2 641 45 Fire-clay 15 656 46 Sandstone 10 666 47 Shale 44 710 48 Sandstone 30 740 49 Brownshale 10 750 50 Grayshale 40 790 *A. H. Worthen in 111. Geol. Surv., Vol. vi. pp. 23, et. seq. tSee p. 14. BLATCHLEY.J CEAWFORD COUNTY WELLS. 63 Record of hove — Concluded. Feet. Feet. 51 Blackshale 40 830 52 Water sand (salt water) 40 870 53 Darkshale 35 905 54 Shale 55 960 55 Sandy shale (first gas) 10 970 56 Shale 30 1,000 57 Sand rock, white to brown 35 1,0.35 58 Shale 10 1,045 59 Sandstone 72 1,117 60 Dark shale with 16 in. vein of coal 7 1,124 61 Sandstone and sandy shale 40 1,164 62 Brown sand 10 1,174 63 Sandstone (second g-as) 12 1,186 64 Sandstone 22 1,208 65 Shale 17 1.225 86 Limestone and shells 65 1,290 67 Limestone, hard, dark gray, crystaline 40 1,330 But little water was in the hole down to 1100 feet, but at that depth a heavy vein of salt water was struck in stratum No. 60, and another at 1170 feet in No. 68. Stratum No. 58 is said to be .the oil bearing stratum of the Athey and other wells north of Robinson. When dis- colored by oil the sand is brown; otherwise white. Shale No. 57, ly- ing between the first gas and first oil bearing strata, varies in thick- ness. In the Athey well it is said to have been replaced by nine inches of iron pyrites. The gas from stratum No. 64 came up through a bore nearly full of salt water, and burned eight to ten feet high for several hours. OIL WELLS. Prairie Township — This township lies in the northern part of the county and comprises parts of congressional townships 7 and 8 north, ranges 12 and IB west. It has been recently formed by taking two and a half sections off of the east side of Licking township and three sections off of the west side of Hutsonville township as shown on the old maps. A number of bores have been sunk within its bounds, some of which are yielding oil, others furnish gas, while several were barren. The first drilling was done on the W. F. Athey farm, in the west half of section 17, (8 n., 12 w.) in the summer of 1905. A partial record of the bore shows : Feet. 1 Lime rock 130 2 Red shale 480 3 Saltwater 922 4 Top of gas sand 953 5 Good supply of gas 9.55 6 Second gas 970 7 Oil at 976 8 Total depth 978 A large amount of gas was developed which has since been piped to the town of Annapolis, two miles to the northwest. The well has not been shot, and the yield of oil is, therefore, slight. Four other bores were soon put down on the east half of section 18, two of which yield gas and oil, one oil alone, while one, sunk to a depth of 1402 feet on the Emily Athey farm, in the northwest quarter of the section, is practically dry. A record of its bore from the top of the oil sand on, shows as follows: 64 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OP EASTERN ILLINOIS.. Tbuli.. Topofoilsand Feel Bottom of oil sand 9t .shale 9j Sandstone ' .' 9j Saltwater in sand...! '.'. 9£ "Slate" lot Sandstone los Salt water in sand...'.'!.'!!! 104| Slate J05! Coal. 5 feet thick!!!!! ! 106 Sandstone no Slate !;"" Ill Sandstone tH gi^^te-- !!!!!!!!!!!!:!!!!!!!'! 125 Sandstone 137' Limestone; 138- Total depth 139j rp, ,. "o; Ihe limestone at 1898 feet is probably one of the Huron limestones which underlie the Mansfield sandstone of the Coal MeSures ir ^feenn^h'T- ^here are three beds of these limestones fi?: c 60 feet m thickness, and two beds of alternating sandstone It is iri one of the latter that the oil occurs near Princeton, IndLna But b small amount of oil was produced in the sand. The vein of coal at No 6 nf7l?.' P^°''^bly black shale in part, and corresponds to th f 1 ■ ^"^ "^T**® 7®" ''^''*'''°' ^""nd at 1124 feet. The presence of coal m these two deep bores, at a point below the oil p^oducW stratum probably shows that the latter belongs to the Coal Measure! or Carboniferous formation, and probably lies near the base of the Coal Measures just above the Mansfield sandstone or "conglomerate ^u^^f'l^?^f^f''°^^li'^S^^^^^sontheeiist half of the section yield o^SsSrSSaX' "'^" ''"^'"'- ^^^'^^'■^ '« nopipeline,\he of ?he Tt^r LV*"' ^f "^ ''«'?" «"^1^ °n section 20, one mile southeast l^.lf %T"i ^T®""', Three of these on the Cox farm, on the west ™ o d te ''Th°"' '^^^! fl°r'^ "'^*."''"'' ""''""^ P™Pi-g' -*-« tanks Oh^n 0?fp' ^^^"^ leas?' .in the southeast quarter of the section, the S No 1 show^^''''^ ' ^^° '^^^ producers. The records 10-inch drive pipe Feet. 8-inch casting- 6J^-inch casting . Top of sand Total depth 21 603 847 970 1,004 The oil is found in a light brown sandstone. No. 1, when shot and ficall baTOn""^' ^''''^^''^'^ ^"^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^s- ^o. 2 was prac- A good gas well has been drilled on the C. M. Hill lease, in the hw/'lt"^''^'^^^^^^ jnstsonthof the wells aboVe men tioned. Its record shows: 10-inch drive pipe...... Feet. 8-inch casting ' ' 28 6J^-inch casting ."* 450 Top of productive sand " ." 940 Gas ""' 947 Show of oil ....'■.". ' 957 Total depth. ".' 947 1,020 ILLINOIS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The Crawford county oil fie! Bull. No. 2, PI. 4. R. 12 W. Tio R. I I W. ferritory Gaswelis Dry holes 1 Scale 2 miles to the inch. BLATCHLEY.] CEAWJ^'OED COUNTY WELLS. 65 The well was not shot. When packed it is said to have registered 280 pounds rock pressure. Bore No. 2 on the same lease was finished May 12, and is a good oil producer, yielding over 100 barrels the first day. Two miles further southeast, in the northwest quarter of section 33, three bores on the H. M. Hill farm have each developed small oil producers. In No. 1 the top of the sand was struck at 1,011 feet and continued to 1,040. This well had a fair showing, but the casing was damaged in shooting, so that its real output cannot be gauged.. No. 2, 600 feet south, found the top of pay sand at 1,000 feet and the bottom at 1,020 feet. It will yield 10 or 15 barrels per day when put to pumping. The tirst bore sunk in that part of Prairie township formerly be- longing to Licking, was on the Stanfield lease, in the southeast quarter of section 10, (8 N., 13 W.) m June, 1905. It struck a salt water sand at 820 feet, and was abandoned at 840 feet without having reached the productive sand afterward found in the bores to the east and south. A bore on the Umstott lease in the northwest quarter of the south- east quarter of section 12, one mile northeast of Annapolis, was also barren, the sand being found at 925 feet and extending to 975 feet, at which point a strong vein of salt water was developed. A dry hole on the Barrett lease, in the southwest quarter of section 22, just across the line in the Licking township, was sunk to a depth of 1,000 feet; while a light gas well was bored one mile east on the Joseph farm, in the southwest of 23; the top of sand showing at 800 feet. Three miles farther south a bore on the R. Kenire farm, northwest quarter of section 2, (7 N., 13 W.) had the following record: Feet. 1 Top of rock 16 2 10-inch drive pipe 85 3 8-inch casing 570 4 6M inch casing 850 5 Top of sand 900 6 First oil 906 7 Bottom of pay '. 918 8 Black shale..... 918-965 9 White sandstone 965-995 10 Total depth 1, 003 The bottom of the well was in black shale. Salt water was struck in quantity at 970 feet. The upper sand was shot with 20 quarts and a four- barrel well resulted. The rig was moved 1,000 feet northwest, into the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 3, where the top of sand was found at 914 feet, the pay streak running to 937 feet, where drilling stopped. The well was shot with 40 quarts, and shows up for a 20 barrel pro- ducer. A well of about the same capacity has also been completed on the A. Cain lease just to the north. Lamotte township — This township lies south of Hutsonville and east of Robinson townships and embraces parts of congressional townships 6 and 7 north, 11 west. There is no oil produced within its bounds, but a number of bores have been sunk, whose records may be of interest to future operators. — 5 G S 66 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 The first drilling was done by the Palestine Development Company in the spring of 1904. This company put down a core drill in search of coal to a depth of 940 feet on the Patton farm, one and a half miles southeast of the town of Palestine. At 9B0 feet oil was struck in a close grained, light brown, micaceous sandstone. It was accompanied by salt water which filled up and flowed out of the hole. A Standard rig was erected and a hole bored 100 feet to the north. In this oil was struck at about the same depth. The well was shot with eighty quarts, collapsing the casing and allowing the hole to fill up with salt water, after which it was abandoned. A third bore, 250 feet south, resulted in a five barrel well. In September, 1905, a bore was sunk on the John Richie farm, in the southwest quarter of section 25, one and a half miles northeast of Palestine, its record showing: Feet. 10 inch drive pipe 103 8 inch casing 415 6 y^ inch casing: 880 Top of oil sand 896 Through oil sand 959 Total depth 1050 Only a showing of oil was found, but a vein of salt water which flowed 100 barrels an hour over the top of the casing was developed. On the Trimble lease, in the northwest quarter of section 18 (7 N., 11 W.) a bore was sunk in which the supposed productive sand of Hutsonville township was struck at 1020 feet, but proved barren. Salt water in abundance was found at 1961 feet and the well was abandoned. A bore on the Goodwin lease, in the section 11 (7 N., 11 W,), four miles east of Trimble, was also dry, its partial record showing:* Feet. Gas in white lime 505 Top of oil sand 936 Total depth 998 A large gas producer was drilled on the James Richie farm, two miles south of Palestine, in the northeast quarter of section 11 (6 N., 11 E.), a record of which shows: Feet. 1 10 inch drive pipe 44 2 8 inch ca-^ing- 505 3 6M inch casing 840 4 Gas sand 485 5 Top of "oil sand" 936 6 Total depth 998 The gas found in No. 4 threw sand and rock over the top of the der- rick for thirty- two days. There was but a showing of oil in the lower sand, and salt water was struck just before reaching the bottom. As the operating company was in search of oil, not gas, the well was plugged and abandoned. On the Dickinson lease, three quarters of a mile southwest, on the northeast quarter of section 14, another bore was sunk in which the top of the ''oil sand" was found at 946 feet. It was barren of oil, but developed salt water in quantity, and the well was abandoned at 1027 feet. No signs of gas was found at the level where it had been de- veloped in the Richie well. * Data by Lewis. BLATCHLEY.] CRAWFORD COUNTY WELLS. 67 Bohinson township — This township lies east of LaMotte and south of Hutsonyille and Prairie townships, and embraces most of congres- sional township 7 north 12 west, and the north half of 6 north 12 west. A brief account of the first bores sunk near the town of Robinson has already been given.* Oil in commercial quantities has as yet been found only in the southwestern portion of the township. A gas well which supplies in part the town of Robinson with fuel is located on the Price farm, near the northeast corner of sectson 7 (7 N., 12 W.) In it the gas pro- ducing sand was found at 1011 feet, the total depth being 1080 feet. The capacity of the well is about 2,000,000 cubic feet per day. It was bored in August, 1905 and gas was first piped to Robinson in January, 1906. About 200 meters are in use, the charge being 20 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. In the southwest part of the township several bores have been sunk for oil since developments began in the Oblong township field to the southwest. The first of these was on the Walters lease, in the south- west quarter of section 36, three and a half miles west of Robinson. In it the top of the pay sand was struck at 902 and the first oil found at 904 feet. The well filled up and made several flows. At the time visited it had just been put to pumping and produced twenty-five barrels in twenty hours. A bore on the Wm. Weirich lease, in the northwest quarter of sec- tion 24, resulted in a twenty barrel well. A bore on the north half of section 29, Montgomery township, Crawford county, five miles east and four miles south of Robinson, developed a big supply of gas at 870 feet, and another at 910 feet. At 920 feet quite a spray of oil was blown out by the escaping gas, but not sufficient to justify pumping. A dry hole was bored on the southwest quarter of section 5, near the station of Flatrock, and three miles south of the gas well above mentioned. Ohlong township. — This township, lying south of Prairie and west of Robinson townships, is the principal oil producing center of Craw- ford county. The first bore within its bounds came in as a good pro- ducer on Feb. 2, 1906, and since that date the work of the drill has been unceasing. The oil is found in a coarse grained, whitish sand- stone at depths ranging from 885 to 920 feet below the surface. A 10- inch drive pipe is used in the Oblong field to shut off gravel, sand and fresh water of the drift. It rests on the first rock, either shale or sandstone. An 8-inch casing shuts off all fresh water found in the layers of sandstone or limestone. A 6^-inch casing is used to shut off' salt water and caves in the shale above the oil sand. It usually reaches to within 50 or 75 feet of the oil sand and in some wells to its top. During the year 1905, Anchor and Seybert, a Pennsylvania firm of operators, had secured leases on 20,000 acres of territory in southern Crawford county. In order to have some test wells put down for as little expense as possible, they granted the Minnetonka Oil Company the first half of each lease, for testing the field. This company sub- * See p. 14 68 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 granted to Hughes and Finley 2,800 acres, provided they would sink two test wells, one on the Shire lease, in the northwest quarter of sec- tion 15 (6 N., 13 W.), six miles southwest of Robinson; the other on the A. M. Brown lease, in the northeast quarter of section 25 (7 N., 14 W.), one and a half miles north of Oblong. The Shire well was the first one drilled, its record showing: Feet. 10-inch drive pipe 26 8-inch casing 487 614- inch casing: 800 Gas sand 830 Top of oil sand 885 Total depth 896 The oil began to flow as soon as the producing sand had been pierced two feet, and the well filled seven 250 barrel tanks by April 20th, without shooting; or pumping. A large amount of gas was also produced at 830 to 850 feet, the output being estimated at 1,000,000 or more cubic feet per day. This and gas from the No. 1 Birch well to the east, operated by the same company, is sold for drilling purposes in the field, a charge of $5.00 for each twenty-four hours' drilling being made. This strike, like all others of importance in a new field, created much excitement among the oil fraternity. Scores of operators and lease brokers flocked to the field, and leases which had gone begging at one-eigth royalty a month before were soon commanding $30.00 to $40.00 an acre bonus, and one-sixth royalty. Some difiiculty was experienced in drilling the Brown well in sec- tion 25, and it was not completed until about April 20, though oil sand was reached in March. Its record showed: Feet. 10-inch drive pipe 1 19 8-inch casing 520 6V4-inch casing 910 Top of sand 1,004 Total depth 1 , 014 The well was first reported to have filled up and run over with oil, and this only added to the demand for leases. When finally finished and put to pumping it was only a three or four barrel producer. Although the roads were in very bad condition, within less than a fortnight after the strike in the Shire well, a dozen rigs were build- ing, and by April 1 the wells began to come in. As usual, some were dry, or nearly so, but the majority ranked from fair to good producers. As the depth to oil is over twice as great as in the Casey field, the time and money necessary to complete a well is correspondingly great. Instead of machines, as in the Casey field. Standard rigs are used, which adds much to the cost. A bore on the York farm, in the southwest quarter of section 33, about half way between the stations of Oblong and Stoy, came in as a small producer on April 11th. A partial record of the strata passed through and the iron used is as follows: BLATCHLEY.] CRAWFORD COUNTY WELLS. 69 Feet. 1 Soil, clay and gravel 130 2 10-inch drive pipe 135 3 Water sand 300 4 Water sand 360 5 8-inch casing 400 6 Coal 420 to 425 7 Shale gas 600 8 Coal 670 to 676 9 Grayslate 77.^ 10 Slate and shale 800 11 Brown sandstone 819 12 Oil and gas sand 816 to 835 13 Brown sandstone 855 14 Brown shale 864 15 Black slate 882 16 Gray sandstone 898 17 Black slate 926 18 614-inch casting 930 19 Oil and sand at 9-32 20 Salt water 945 21 Total depth 952 The upper sand, No. 12, made about two barrels of oil and quite a quantity of gas, but this was cased off. The well was not shot, and started to pumping 15 to 20 barrels of oil and as much or more salt water per day. A bore on the Cornell lease, near the station of Stoy, near the northeast corner of section 3 (6 N., 13 W.), showed as follows: Feet. 10-inch drive pipe 89 8-inch casing 328 614-inch casing 750 First gas 865 First oil (showing only) 900 Second oil (showing only) 945 Total depth 1,008 [3 1-Drilling was stopped when a big flow of salt water was encountered. The usual producing oil sand, found at 945 feet, was only seven feet thick. On the A. Boa lease, one-half mile east of Stoy, a fair producing oil well, with a big supply of gas, was completed about May 10. A light producer was also drilled on the Dennis lease in the southwest corner of the same township. In section 11, to the south, the only drilling that has been done is in the southwest corner on the Newlin lease, where a good well was finished about May 5, its record showing: Feet. Drive pipe 41 8-inch casing 369 Coal— 4 foot vein 465 614-inch casing 829 Top of sand 885 First oil 890 Bottom of pay sand 913 Total depth 942 The well, when shot, started to flow and yielded 100 barrels ihe first 24 hours. It is located less than one-half mile northeast of the Shire well. In section 10, to the west, three bores were sunk previous to May 10. One of these, on the J. H. Lackey farm, in the southwest quar- ter, had the following record: 70 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Feet. 10-inch drive pipe 55-3^ 8-in-.h casing 436 Coal, 6 feet thick 460 6M-inch casingr 837 Limestone shell, 2 feet thick 862 Black slate up to 900 Top of oil sand 921 Gas 924 Oil 932 Bottom of oil sand 960 Samples of drillings from the producing rock show it to be a white coarse grained sandstone, with an occasional small piece of iron pyrites intermingled. The well filled up in 86 hours, and when shut in made several flows. About 15 feet of good pay sand was present. A bore on the William Lackey lease in the northeast quarter was light, as was also one on the Imboden farm in the southwest quarter. The record of the latter shows: Feet. Drive pipe 79 8-inch casing 408 6V4-inch casing 809 Top of oil sand 847 Bottom of oil sand 868 Total depth 951 No wells had been completed in the sections west of the Imboden up to May 10, but to the south and southwest there were a number. Of these the farthest southwest was on the Baldwin lease in the south- west quarter of section 17 (6 N., 13 W). Here the record showed: Feet. Drive pipe 96 8-inch casing 390 6M-inch casing 843 Top of sand 900 Oil to 914 Bottom of sand 925 The sand was overlain with a black, bituminous shale, and the well is said to be good for about forty barrels per day. On section 16, to the east, a bore on the Mitchell lease, northeast corner, came in as a fair producer, the top of sand being found at 842 feet, and the best oil pay at about 888 feet. A shale lies between the gas pay and the oil pay in this part of the field. Section 15 has proven the best in the Oblong field. A bore on the Riker farm in the northeast corner shows for a good well, while just to the east on the Walker lease is also a good one. In the northeast- ern corner is the Shire, the pioneer of the field. In No. 1 Walker, the top of sand was struck at 901 feet, and was 15 feet thick. The well flowed, without shooting, 90 to 105 barrels a day until two tanks were filled, and was then shut in. A good producer has also been com- pleted on the Mann lease in the southwest quarter, but No, 1 Wake- field, just east, was dry at 1,040 feet. The Birch farm in the northwest quarter of 14, one-eighth of a mile east of the Shire wells, has yielded two good producers, No. 2, one of the best in Crawford county, starting at 200 barrels. ' The record of No. 1 showed: Feet. 10-inch drive pipe 81 8-inch casing 450 6J4-inch casing S'iO Gas sand 865 vShale 873-890 Top of oil sand 890 BLATCHLEY.] CRAWFORD COUNTY WELLS. 71 The top of oil sand was only penetrated a few feet when the well began flowing 23 to 30 barrels a day. It filled two tanks and was then slmt in until pipe lines were available. A vein of coal "nine feet thick" was reported at 640 feet in the bore. No. 2, which was completed May 12, spouted every 25 minutes after shooting, each time throwing oil higher than the derrick. A dam was thrown up to retain the oil which soon filled the tanks and overflowed. The well was finally shut off to await additional tankage. A gas sand was found in the Birch wells, as well as in the Shire and Walker wells, about 20 feet above the oil sand, with shale inter- vening. The J. H. Taylor well, one-half mile south, was light, yielding but ten to fifteen barrels per day after shooting. Its record showed: Feet. 10-inch drive pipe 49 8-inch casing 424 6V4-inch casing- 843 First oil showing- 889 Top of oil sand 902 Oil at 912 Bottom of hole...., 970 Drillings of the producing rock from this well appear to have come from a sandy shale rather than a sandstone proper. Numerous par- ticles of iron pyrites, which appears to be a constituent of the pro- ducing rock in this field, were present. To the southeast one-half mile, a bore on the Chas. Martin lease came in as a fair producer, its record being: Feet. Drive pipe 85 8-inch casing 402 6M-incli casing 833 Top of oil sand 872 Shale ; 889-894 Oil sand 894-920 This well also flowed natural from 40 to 60 barrels per day. This completes the records of wells finished in Oblong township to May 10. The results show that oil in quantity undoubtedly exists in south Oblong and southwestern Robinson townships in one of the Lower Coal Measure sandstones, at a depth of 870 to 940 feet below the surface. The difference in depth is due to the dip of the oil bear- ing rock, or the difference in surface elevations of the wells, or both. Until the wells are put to pumping regularly, no one can say what the production will be, nor can any one at this time intelligently prophesy to the size of the future field or its length of life. It is not yet a field but a prospect, though a good one. In the months of May and June development work in Oblong town- ship made rapid progres, On June 11th the following additional borings had been completed: Abbott and Newland— (S. W., S. W., Sec. 11.) Top sand 885-910 feet; shale 910-915; oil sand 915-942, bottom; shot with 80 quarts; flowing 40 barrels. J. W. Imboden— (N. W., S. W., Sec 10 ) Top sand 847-865; lower sand absent, bottom 55I ; shot with 60 quarts ; flowing 10 bar- rels Baldwin— (N. E., S. W., Sec. 11.) Oil 903-918; shale 10 feet; oil sand to bottom, 930 feet; not shot; flows 60 barrels. 72 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 J. W. Demin— (S. W., S. W., Sec. 2.) Top sand, 883; pay 888-900; bottom 956; shot with 80 quarts; pumped 25 barrels first day, then abont eight barrels ; not being pumped. W. J. Stephenson— (N. W., N. E., Sec. 2.) Gas, about 5,000,00 cu. feet, at 920-937; bottom of hole, 992 feet. Lawrence County. Many leases have been taken over a strip ten miles wide, extending from Oblong, forty miles to the southeast through Lawrence and Wabash counties, but up to the first of may no wells had been com- pleted, though a number were reported drilling. On the Captain Lewis farm, five miles north of Bridgeport, Lawrence county, gas was struck at 600 feet, and the bore is being drilled deeper for oil. On the 10th of June wells were reported from the following points in Lawrence county: Lewis well— (S. W., S. W., Sec. 20, Petty township.) Oil at 885 feet; not shot; said to be pumping 15 barrels. Josiah Pepple— (S. W., S. W., Sec. 23, Petty township.) Now drilling. S. Mathias— (N. E.. N. E., Sec. 10, Christian township,) Now drilling. Lathrop farm — (S. W., Sec. 20, Petty township.) Feet. 10 inch casing 20 8V4 inch casing 60 6M inch casing- 675 Salt sand 590-660 Oil sand 805-820 Second oil sand 867-880 The hole was stopped in sand. Coal was found at 360-365 and at 540-546 feet. The first seemed to be of good quality. The second bed was poor, Edgar County. In this county, which lies north of Clark and next to the Indiana line, a number of bores have been sunk, but the resulting wells have, for the most part, proven barren. On section 9, Grandview township, four miles north and eight miles east of Westfield, a bore showed the following partial record: Feet. Top of rock 80 Top of first sand 380 Bottom of first sand 405 Top of second sand 425 Gas at 427 Total de pth 435 The well was capped in and the volume of gas which it would sup- ply is not known. About one mile southeast of Barton, a small oil producer has been drilled, the top of the pay sand being found at 360 feet. As there is no other production in the neighborhood, the well has never been thoroughly tested. BLATCHLEY.] SOUTHEEN ILLINOIS OIL WELLS. 78 A bore on the J. E. Pinnell farm, one-half mile south of the station of Kansas, passed through three veins of coal in going down 410 feet. No oil or gas was found. Coles County. This county lies west of Edgar and Clark and north of Cumberland counties. Several bores in Hutton township, west and north of the Casey field have proved barren. One of these, in section 5, found the "tojj of sand" at 818 feet. In another in the southwest quarter of section 17, (12 N., 10 E.), the sand was struck at 485 feet. A third in the northeast quarter of section 22, was bored to a depth of 605 feet before striking sand, at which point a big flow of salt water was developed. Near Hanley Ford, section 10, (T. 11 N.. R. 9 E.) a little oil is said to have been found, as also near Oakland and Trilla. On June 29 it was re]3orted that a considerable number of pumping wells had been developed in this county. Jasper County. In this county, which lies west of Crawford, and south of Cumber- land counties, several barren or salt vfells have been drilled. One of these, on the Joseph Harris farm, section 2, Hunt City townshijj, developed " oil sand " at 900 feet, and a heavy vein of salt water at 1,200 feet. Another test well on the southeast corner of the S. S. Leggett farm, section 4, Willow Hill township, two miles east of Willow Hill, found no sand to the depth of 1196 feet. Clay County. Nearlola in section 25 (T. 5 N., R. ^ E.) a well was put down in 1905 on the farm, of E. W. Morgan. Oil was found at a depth of 252 feet, and a small sample examined for the survey by J. W. Gill, showed a specific gravity of .8741, corresponding to 80.1 deg. Baume. Further drilling is in progress to determine the extent of the field. Williamson County. A dry hole was bored near Bainbridge in the central western part of this county, a record of which shows : Feet. 10 inch drive pipe 5.3 8% inch casing" 265 6% inch casing =. 745 Saltwater sand 1,030 Total depth 1,082 No indications of either oil or gas were encountered. Saline County. [By F. F. Grout,] It is reported that throughout much of the county small amounts of oil are occasionally found in prospecting for coal. In a few places the oil has been skimmed off the water and proven to be com- bustible. Recently Mr. J. H. Wallen, of Chicago, while drilling on the John Small farm (N. W. of N. W. Sec. 25, T. 8 S., R. 5^ E.) 74 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 noticed that the drillings were quite saturated with oil and collected as much as a bushel of the oil sand. A little gas also occurred. The oil sand was found at a depth of 444 feet; lower than the Harrisburg coal. From the quantity of drillings collected the producing sand must be of fairly good thickness. Options are now being taken on land from Galatia to the northwest corner of Saline county, and careful prospecting is to be expected. Gas has been found in several wells, notably in section 1, Eldorado township, on the farm of Willard Overton, where two horizons pro- duced gas, one at 219 feet, and one near the coal at 600 feet. The gas pressure was as high as 60 pounds per square inch, and brought out considerable salt water as it came. This well still produces. In the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of Sec. 22, T. 8 S., R. 6B, on the land of Mr, Burkhart, is a gas well with much the same history as the last described. Gas was found in the rock at a depth of 410 to 415 feet. The Harrisburg coal was 5 or 6 feet lower. A good gas well also occurs on the land of John Heffman, near New Hope. Indications of oil were good in a well on the farm of PuUy Bros, near Stone Fort. Oil oozes from the side of a bluff at this point. The rocks which outcrop here are probably the same as those 500 or 600 feet deep in the northern part of the county. Randolph County. [By F.F. Grout.J As already stated, gas was sound at Sparta some time since, and was for several years quite extensively used. For a time, as the supply of the existing wells gave out, new ones were drilled, but a number of dry holes being struck, efforts to enlarge the field gradu- ally ceased. In connection with the recent development of oil fields in the eastern part of the State, attention has been again attracted to Randolph county and considerable prospecting is now being carried on. When the field was visited in June two holes had been drilled, each of which showed some oil. From these a few barrels of oil have been bailed, but no pumps have been set up and the wells have not been shot. One well was sunk on the farm of Mr. Preston at the eastern edge of town. (Sec. 4, T. 5 S., R. 5 W.) Oil was struck at 875 feet in a sandy formation 5 feet thick, with an overlying clay or shale. Below there were 10 feet of shale and 15 feet more of oil bearing rock. The other well was drilled in the northeastern corner of Sparta. Oil was struck at about the same horizon. The shale separating the two parts of the oil producing rock was only three feet thick, and the whole thickness of oil bearing rock is so great that it is thought that the well on Mr. Preston's farm did not go completely through it. Drilling is now being carried on one mile and three miles south of town. Companies are being organized to develop other parts of the field. The oil bearing rock is sandy in part and apparently a porous lime- stone in part. A little salt water enters the wells with the oil. Oil and water now fill the holes about half way up. A sample from the Pres- ton well was analyzed and the results are given on a later page (p. 103). BLATCHLEY.] LITCHFIELD OIL WELLS. 75 Montgomery County. According to Mr. David Davis, of Litchfield, oil was first found about forty years ago in prospecting for coal in the bottom of the mines. The drill hole was carried down and got into salt water, which threatened to flood the mine. The well was plugged, and later an oil well was drilled near by. Oil from this well leaked into the old workings of the mine, and was for years skimmed off the water and sold. About 1886 a number of wells were drilled in this territory, and both oil and gas was found. In all something like $150,000 was ex- pended in prospecting, with a net result that an area, approximately, one mile long and a quarter of a mile wide was developed. In this area several wells were put down as shown upon the accompanying map, (fig. 1), and from them oil was produced up to two years ago TOWN 8 RANGE 5 WEST FIG. 1. SKETCH MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF OIL AND GAS WELLS NEAR LITCHFIELD, ILL. Two of these wells are still in condition, but have not been pumped recently, owing to the low price of the oil. For some time this sold at L2| cents a gallon, and it was very largely used as a lubricationg oil throughout this portion of the State. Competition eventually forced the price down to 6 cents, at which xorice it became impossible to pump at a profit. The wells still available for production are 76 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTEY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 numbers 4 and 13, on the accompanying map. This year some new prospecting has been carried on. New wells, as indicated, were put down: in both cases very near the old wells and within the already known limits of the productive territory. These wells are now capped over and the drilling rig has been moved to another territory. A considerable amount of high pressure gas was found in connec- tion with the oil, and was used for some years for lighting the town. It was wasted, as is usual in gas regions, and for several years now it has been necessary to manufacture gas to supply the local demand. The oil is found not far below the coal, which is mined in this terri- tory, and which is supposed to be the number 2 seam of the Illinois Coal Measures. The different borings with their altitude and the depth and thickness of the gas and oil sand are shown in figure 2, 40' .WELL NO. 5 BENCH MAR'C FOR GAS Sand. — L- L- N0^1_4__4' 30' -NPj-I? 7' NO. 9 10' No, 10 18' - — — -- — NO. 13 24' 10' NO. 3 29' — — — - — NO. 2 31' NC NO. 1 34' o' ^ S. 6 & 11 37' \.T. BENCH i MARK d 6 d o i d i o d i ^ d d z z i d z _ N 0. J- 4J'__ 5 -— — o g — — • NO. 7 - Same as No. 5 10' NO. 15 ■' " •• u g o — i i ^ 1 20' en O o o i 2 — ^2 1 I 5 1 5 30' s z ! i ^ z 4 - I 1 " i 5 40'g ? 1 s o 50' ^ "o 6 1 59^ 659'6 Gas 1 i -.^8'saltw''a 653'-, s Iia_668'' J _ 664' 669' Oil 673 5 1 FIG. 2. DIAGRAM SHOWING DEPTH AND ELEVATION OF WELLS AT LITCHFIELD, ILL. Recently drilling has been begun at other points within the county, notably near Walshville. It is reported that evidence of considerable SAVAGE.] PITTSFIELD GAS WELLS. 77 deformation has been fonnd, though public information is not suf- ficient to determine the course of the lines of disturbance. The oil found at Litchfield is a natural, lubricating oil, and has a specific gravity of .9236, corresponding to 21. 6" B, as determined by J. W. Gill on samples collected in June, but which had been standing for some time. A partial analysis is given on a later page (page 10b.) Pike County Gas Field. (By T. E. Savage.) INTRODUCTION. Pike county is located on the western border of the State between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The topography of the county is quite broken, the present forms having been largely developed through stream erosion. The surface relief is about 450 feet. Like that of most areas adjacent to large rivers, the surface over the uplands is much dissected, so that interstream areas of level prairie are neither numerous nor of large extent. The elevations above sea level of the following railway stations are taken from Gannett's Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States: On the west, along the flood plain of the Mississippi, are Seehorn, 479 feet; New Canton, 468; Kockport, 471; Pike, 455. Across the north side of the county are Hull, 467; Kinderhook, 480; Barry, 672; Baylis, 871; New Salem, 780; Pittsfield, 760; Griggsville, 687. Along the south side are Quincy Junction, 465; Nebo, 488; Strout, 690; Pearl, 447. The Wabash and the Chicago & Alton railways furnish good trans- portation facilities in an east and west direction, while the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad connects with points to the north and south. GEOLOGY. The geological formations exposed in Pike county belong to four different systems. Quaternary or Pleistocene, Coal Measures or Penn- sylvanian, Lower Carboniferous or Mississippian, and Silurian. The relations of the different strata, and the character, distribution and thickness of the respective formations described below, were obtained from the report of A. H. Worthen* and from a study of the rocks of the central and northwestern portions of the county. *Worthen: Geological Survey of Illinois, Vol. 4, pp. 24-42, 1870. 78 THE PETROI-EUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Geological Formations. FORMATIONS. Thickness- feet. Pleistocene Deposits. (Loess and Drift.) 00-100 Coal Measures (Pennsylvanian) . , 20-60 St. Louis limestone 00- 30 Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) Keokuk group 100-125 Burlington limestone 150-200 Kinderhook group 100-120 Niagara limestone 00-50 Pleistocene — The Pleistocene deposits consist of glacial drift and beds of alluvium, loess and sand, none of which particularly concern the object of the present report. Coed Measures — Strata belonging to the Coal Measures outcrop over but a limited area in the central and northern portions of the county. They underlie the surficial materials over the whole of town- ship 4 south, range 4 west, and a portion only of the four surrounding townships. The materials consist of shales and shaiy sandstones with a narrow seam of coal in the lower part. The entire thickness of the formation in Pike county does not exceed sixty feet. A single seam of coal sixteen to twenty- four inches in thickness, with occasional local thickenings, was worked several years ago at a number of points, in townships 4 south, ranges 111, 4 and 5 west, and further south in the township of Pittsfield. In the western portion of the area the Coal Measure strata rest unconformably upon the Burlington limestone. Towards the north and east they are spread upon the eroded surface of the Keokuk beds. Mississippian — Of the Mississippian rocks in Pike county there are represented strata belonging to the St. Louis, Keokuk, Burling- ton and Kinderhook groups. The St. Louis limestones are exposed over a small area in the extreme northeast portion of the county. The beds here consist of brown, magnesian limestone and shale. They range from twenty to thirty feet in thickness. The Keokuk beds are present over a considerable area in the northern and northeastern portions of the county where they are fre- quently found immediately beneath the Coal Measures; the St. Louis strata, which should properly intervene, having been removed by denudation prior to the deposition of the Coal Measure materials. The Keokuk beds consist of light gray and bluish-gray limestones, which in places are crinoidal. Towards the base there is present con- siderable chert. The upper division of the group consists of thin- bedded limestones, beds of calcareo-argillaceous shales, which contain numerous geodes. SAV/.GE.] GEOLOGY OF PIKE COUNTY. 79 The Burlington limestone immediately underlies the drift over more than one-half the upland surface in the county. Worthen describes the distribution of this limestone as follows: "Commencing on the western side of the north line of the county it forms a belt from five to ten miles in width, the western border of which is defined by the river bluffs, and extending thence to the southern line of the county lying west of Pittsfield, and from that point northward to Griggsville Landing, and south to the Calhoun county line, underlying all the highlands in that portion of the county south of Pittsfield, except a very limited area in the vicinity of Pleas- ant Hill, where the Niagara forms the surface rock." Over the gas field area, in Pittsfield and Derry townshij^s, outcrops of the Burlington limestone expose a thickness of only fifteen to twenty feet of the lower layers, overlying the Kinderhook shales. For some miles southwest of this area, along the channel of Dutch creek, the strata dips nearly with the fall of the stream, so that the depth of the Kinderhook shale that appears above the water level remains almost constant. The Burlington beds increase in thickness in the banks of this creek, until in the vicinity of the old Packer quarry, ten miles southwest of Pittsfield, they form cliffs fifty to seventy feet in height. This rock is a rather coarse-grained, gray limestone, with intercalations of buff or brown layers. It is largely composed of shells of brachipods and fragments of joints and plates of crinoids, which swarmed in countless myriads in that old Carboniferous sea. In the upper part there are present large quantities of chert in the form of lens-shaped nodular masses, which are often segregated along the planes of bedding so as to form distinct bands. In many places over the north-central portion of the county the undisturbed lower layers of the Burlington beds are succeeded by a bed of chert frag- ments three to ten or more feet in thickness, the interstices of which are filled with gray shale. These fragments carry Burlington fossils and are irregular in shape and size, varying from a few inches to two or three feet in diameter. They lie at all angles with respect to one another, and appear to have been concentrated along this zone through the action of weathering and erosion prior to the deposition of the protecting mantle of Coal Measure strata or Pleistocene materials. The Kinderhook group consists principally of shales, with some sandstones and arenaceous shales, and one or two narrow zones of calcareous material in the upper part. The beds are well exposed beneath the Burlington limestone in the vicinty of Kinderhook. They outcrop almost continuously in the scarp that bounds the Mississippi river along the west side of the county. They appear in the banks of the tributaries of the Mississippi for some miles back from its channel. They are also exposed in the lower portion of the bluff that borders the Illinois river from the town of Bedford south to Calhoun county. The Kinderhook beds have a maximum thickness in the county of about 1(30 feet. In the most of the natural exposures they are over- laid and protected by the more obdurate ledges of Burlington lime- stone. Niagara limestone — The Niagara limestone which belongs to the Silurian system outcrops only over a limited area in the southwest OU THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 portion of the county. According to Worthen* it appears at the base of the bluffs between Rockport and the Pike-Calhoun county line. It may be seen for some distance up the channel of Six Mile creek. It is the prevailing rock at Pheasant Hill where a thickness of thirty feet is exposed. Two miles north of Pleasant Hill it out- crops to a height of six feet, and is overlaid by Kinderhook shales. About two miles below Atlas there are fifteen feet of Niagara lime- stone underlying beds of Kinderhook age. Where the rock first appears the upper portion is a rather thin bedded, rough, gray limestone becoming more massive below. On. Six Mile creek it is partly a regular bedded, buff or brown dolomite and presents the usual characters of the formation in other localities. The maximum thickness of the Niagara in the county does not exceed fifty feet. DEFORMATION OF STRATA, A line of deformation passes across the southern section of Calhoun county. t When it intersects the Mississippi scarp at the Cap-au-Gr6s bluff there is a fault which involves almost the entire series of Pale- ozoic strata. To the north of this fault line there is an up-throw of the beds to the extent of 1,000 feet, bringing the St. Peter sandstone in juxtaposition to the rocks of the Mississippian series. On the south of the fault line the strata have been but slightly dislocated and dip gently towards the northeast. In the eastern portion of the county the fault has changed to an anticlinal fold which, to the northward, becomes lost in the valley of the Mississippi. It is probable that this disturbance affected the strata for some distance toward the north, in Pike county. Worthen describes another axis which probably changed the level of the Mississippian limestones over nearly the whole extent of Pike county and resulted in the subsequent denundation of the strata.§ It occurs in the vicinity of Six Mile creek, and its effects are most apparent in the northwest quarter of section 7, township 7 south, range 4 west. At this place the Niagara limestone rises abruptly from beneath the surface of the bottom lands at the foot of the bluff's and dipping north 20 degrees west, at an angle of 7 degrees, rises so as to form a perpendicular cliff from forty to fifty feet in height within a distance of scarcely 100 yards. The presence of an arch in the strata underlying the gas producing area will be shown under the description of individual wells. DESCRIPTION OF THE GAS FIELD. So far as at present exploited, the gas field of Pike county em- braces ah area about seven miles in length and four miles in width. It extends in a northwest- southeast direction across the central and northwestern portions of Pittsfield township and the northeast * Worthen: Geol. Surv, of 111., Vol. 4, p. 26. tWorthen, A. H., Geol. Surv. of 111., vol. 4, p. 2. See also Weller, p. 21 of the present report. §Worthen, A. H., Geol. Surv. of 111., vol. 4, p. 25. Savage] PIKE COUNTY GAS WELLS. 81 quarter of Derry, with one well further north in section 36 of town- ship 4 south, range 5 west. The location of the borings is shown on the accompaning map. The wells are numbered later in the order in which they were drilled and on the map dry holes are distinguished from productive wells by a diffierent symbol. It will be noticed that a line drawn across the field from the center of the north side of 36 D m Trod uc/ng g a bale. s vtfc a. 1 '■■■ J D e s + 3- a / ■ a 8- J' O }Q // /a. /5 '7 B IS- /f 75 a.+ ff ■ 1 40 ■ n as D A«- 30 ay ar a a-7 £^ a.5- < if 3a. 55 .5^ 3J- J6 Fig. 3-SKETCH SHOWING LOCATION OF GAS WELLS NEAR P1TTSFIELD,1LL. section 1 of Derry township to the northeast corner of section 36 of Pittsfield will practically separate the area of productive wells from the non-productive portion of the field. The wells are all shallow, the gas being reached at a depth of 75 to 350 feet, depending largely upon the inequalities of the surface. There is evidence, too, that the beds dip strongly towards the east, along the east side of the area. An inclination of the strata towards the west is also shown along Dutch creek, beyond the western border of the field. Occurrence of the Gas— The origin of natural gas and the con- ditions of its accumulation have been discussed in the preceding pages. In the Pike county field the gas occurs along an arch or anti- — 6 GS 82 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 cline of strata, the eastern limb of which is closly determined by the line separating the productive from the dry wells. The porns stratum forming the reservoir is a bed of yellowish brown, more or less vesi- cular magnesian limestone which probably belongs to the Niagara. The thick bed of Kinderhook shales, that immediately overlies the Niagara limestone in this region, provides the impervious cover to the reservoir. The pressure of gas has not been measured in any of the wells over this field, but the supply furnished by an average well is many times more than is required for use in a single house. In the stronger wells when the drills penetrated the gas rock the outflow of gas was sufficiently strong so throw out the water and mud from the bottom and, in one case, a fragment of rock two inches in diameter was carried to the top of the hole. None of the wells have been shot. The gas has no unpleasant odor and it burns without smoke, giv- ing a strong, bright flame. Analysis of Pitts field Gas. Percent. Carbon Dioxide, (COo) .81 Oxygen, (Oo) 3.46 Marsh Gas, (CH4) 73.81 Nitrogen, (N) 21.92 Total 100.00 A slight showing of oil was reported from a few of the wells. Some of the samples of comminuted gas rock that were examined had a distinct odor of oil. A fragment of this rock at the home of Jerry Mink showed the discoloration as well as odor due to the presence of oil. Development of the field. — Gas was first found in Pike county nearly twenty years ago, on the farm of Mr. Jacob Irick. The drill- ing was made for water, but a good pressure of gas was struck at a depth of 186 feet The well was cased and the gas piped to the house to which it has since that time furnished an abundant supply for fuel and light. Soon after this a second well was attempted for water on the same farm. At a depth of 168 feet gas was again encountered. This well was near a barn and the hole was filled for fear of damage by fire. During the next fifteen years no effort was made to discover or utilize gas, although it was found in drilling a number of water wells over the area. In 1905 a well was put down on the farm of William Irick in which a strong flow of gas was found. Mr. Irick recognized its value and at once piped the gas over his premises. Gradually the neighbors came to realize the advantages of using gas, and one after another put down wells in the hopes of obtaining supplies for their homes. Some weeks ago the gas rights on a tract of a few hundred acres of land in the northwest portion of Pittsfield township was leased for a nominal sum, but no effort has been made to exploit the field in a commercial way, or to determine the limits of the gas bearing strata. Down to the present time the development of the field has been wholly by the owners of the land for local uses. Two drillers have SAVAGE] PIKE COUNTY GAS WELLS. 83 been employed pretty constantly for the past few months. Up to June 9, 1906, thirty wells have been put down in this field, all but six of which furnish a supply of gas. Description of wells. — Well No. 1 was drilled for water nearly twenty years ago on the farm of Jacob Irick. It is located in the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1 of Derry township, on land now owned by Albert Gray. The well is 186 feet deep, and it has furnished abundance of gas to the premises since that time. No. 2 was put down for water a short time after No. 1, on the same farm. Gas was struck at a depth of 168 feet, but it was never uti- lized. The well was not cased and later the hole was filled. Less than two years ago a well was put down on land of Andrew Trick in the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 6 in Pittsfield township. The drilling was discontinued at a depth of 760 feet. Gas was encountered, but no effort was made to utilize it. Well No. 4 was drilled by Jerry Mink at his home near the north- west corner of section 6, Pittsfield township. The work was aband- oned at a depth of 460 feet, no gas having been found. No. 5 is a good well, located one mile west of No. 3, in the north- west quarter of the southwest quarter of section 1 in Derry township; on land owned by William Irick. The depth is 203 feet. Abund- ance of gas for local use was found. Well No. 6 was put down for Albert Troy on a hill only a short distance east of well No. 1. A good pressure of gas was struck at a depth of 312 feet. Inasmuch as the first well furnished abundance of gas, No. 6 was cased and plugged. Up to this time the gas wells were confined to section 1 of Derry township and section 6 of Pittsfield. During the year 1905 well No. 7 was drilled for Mr. John Reed, in the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 7 of Pittsfield township. Abundance of gas for use in the home was found at a depth of 150 feet. Well No. 8 was put down a short distance southeast of No. 7, on the farm of Mary McSorley. This ranks among the strongest wells in the county. It is also one of the shallowest, being only 76 feet in depth. This was on low land near a branch of Kiser creek, which ac- counts for the shallow depth. Number 9 is located about one mile southwest of the last, on bot- tom land owned by Jesse Irick. It was drilled near the middle of the south half of section 12, Derry township. An abundance of gas for local use was found at a depth of 115 feet. The log of this well was furnished by the driller, Mr. George Mink, as follows : Feet. 1 Gray silt 3 2 Yellow clay 12 3 Blue soapstone -20 4 Brown soapstone 10 5 Brown shale 60 6 Limestone 4 7 Cave in limestone filled with gas causing a gusher 6 Nos. 1 and 2 above belong to the Pleistocene deposits. Nos. 3 to 5 inclusive represent the Kinderhook shales ; limestones 6 and 7 prob- 84 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 ably are the Niagara, as tlie Devonian strata do not appear in Pike county. In one other well a cavity four feet in depth was reported, but such caverns are not generally found. Well No. 10 was put down for I. N. Winans, near the middle of section 10, Pittsfield township. The depth was 242 feet. There is a strong pressure of gas which is utilized on the premises. No. 11 is located near the middle of the west half of section 12 of Derry, about one-half mile southwest of well No. 9. This is on the farm of Clel. Harshman. The well is 155 feet in depth and furnishes an abundance of gas for the home. Well No. 12 was drilled about one mile north of No. 2, on land be- longing to Jacob Irick. The following record of the well was fur- nished by the driller, Mr. Mink: Feet. 1 Soil 3 2 Yellow clay 14 3 Gravel 8 4 Sand contain ing water 23 5 Dark soapstone 4 6 Coal 1 7 Gray fire clay 6 8 Flint and clay 48 9 Blue limestone, ; . . 8 10 White limestone 41 11 Blue soapstone 103 12 Brown shale 52 13 Light gray shale 7 14 Whitish limestone 27 15 Gas rock, (yellowish-brown limestone) 27 Total depth 372 In this section Nos. 1 to 4 are surface materials; 8, 9 and 10 represent the Burlington limestone; 11, 12 and 13 are Kinderhook shale; and 14 and 15 are Niagara limestone. Number 13 is a dry well on the farm of Noah Harshman, near the middle of the north half of section 6, Pittsfield township. Work was discontinued at a depth of 690 feet. Well No. 14 was put down during the early part of 1906 on land of John McSorley. It is one mile south of No. 13. A good supply of gas was found at a depth of 185 feet. Number 15 is on the farm of Mrs. Maggie O'Connell, near the mid- dle of the southeast quarter of section 7, Pittsfield township. Gas was struck at 164 feet. Well No. 16 is a short distance north and across the wagon road from No. 14, on land of Thomas Austin. The well is 219 feet deep. It furnishes sufficient gas for use on this farm, but the well is not so strong as the average. Number 17 supplies abundance of gas to the premises of F. P. Wackerman and W. S. Lloyd. It was drilled on land of the former near the southeast corner of section 18 of Pittsfield township. The depth is 273. Well No. 18 is on the farm of Mary J. Smith, near the northwest corner of section 20, a short distance southeast of No. 17. An ample supply of gas was struck at a depth of 231 feet. Mr. Mink furnished a log of this well as follows: SAVAGE.] PIKE COUNTY GAS WELLS. 85 Feet. 1 Soil 3 2 Brown clay 12 3 Blue clay 1 4 Sand and clay 8 5 Sand and gravel, with water 14 6 Flint and sand rock mixed 7 7 Blue soapstone 102 8 Brown shale 58 9 Limestone 14 10 Gas rock (brown magnesian limestone) ; i --M; i -r i.,-:i,„^A^ Of the above numbers 1 to 6 inclusive, belong to the Pleistocene; 6 probably represents the residual materials of the Burlington lime- stone mingled with sand of the Kinderhook; 7 and 8 are Kinderhook beds; 9 and 10 represent the Niagara limestone. Number 19 is considered one of the strongest gas wells in the field. It is 167 feet in depth, and is located near the southeast corner of section 16, Pittsfield township, on land owned by Mrs. J. H. Helm. Number 20 is a dry well put down in the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 9 of Pittsfield, on the farm of Benjamin West. The depth is 501 feet. Well Number 21 is near the middle of the south half of section 8, at the home of Capt. Davis. Gas was struck at 276 feet. The pres- sure is below the average, but supply is sufficient for farm use. Number 22 is a good well, less than one- half mile southwest of Number 19. It is on the farm of John Dorcey, in the notthwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 21. Gas was struck A^^ril 9, 1906, at a depth of 185 feet. Number 23 was drilled for Messrs. Higgins and Strauss, in the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 17 of Pittsfield. An abundance of gas was found at 251 feet. The well was completed April 19, 1906. Number 24 is on the farm of Joseph Haney, across the road, east of the Davis well. The driller, G. M. Mink, reports that the gas rock in Number 14 was found at an elevation fifty feet lower than in the Davis well, which is located 600 feet further west. This would indi- cate an eastward dip of the strata of fifty feet in a distance of 200 yards. The drilling was discontinued at a depth of 313 feet. No gas was found. Number 25 is a strong well on land of Michael Nash, one-fourth of a mile east of the center of section 7. Gas was struck on April 26th, at a depth of 123 feet. Well number 26 is 3^3 feet deep. It is on the farm of Charles L. Wilsey two and one- half miles west of Pittsfield and about one-fourth mile east of the southwest corner section 22. A strong pressure of gas was found on May 7th. Following is a section of the well fur- nished by the owner, Mr. Wilsey: Feet. 1 Soil 1 2 Yellow clay 17 3 Gravel and clay 1 4 Sand and clay, with water ,36 5 Joint clay 27 6 Black slate 10 7 Gray shale 6 8 Flint rock and gray shale 12 9 Flint rock and blue clay 15 10 Blue sand rock 3 11 Blue soapstone 100 86 THE PETEOLEUM INDUSTEY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 12 Brown shale 57 13 Blue soapstone 5 14 Limestone 25 15 Gas rock 18 Numbers 1 to 5 inclusive probably represent deposits of the Pleis- tocene; 6 and 7 are the Coal Measures; 8 and 9 are remnants of the Burlington limestone; 10 to IB inclusive are Kinderhook beds; and 14 and 15 belong to the Niagara. Well number 27 ranks among the best. It is on the farm of W. R. Wills, in the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 20, in Pittsfield township. Gas was struck on May 15th at a depth of 220 feet. Mr. Wills furnished the following approximate section of the well: Feet. 1 Clay 23 2 Blue soapstone 90 3 Brown soapstone 13 4 Brown shale 65 5 Limestone (cap rock) 14 6 Gas rock (brown limestone) 14 Number 28 is a good well. It is located about three-fourths of a mile southeast of Number 27, on the farm of A. V. Wills. It was completed on May 14th at a depth of 293 feet. Number 29 was put down in the city of Pittsfield for C. H. Doss and Co, The depth was 352 feet. No gas was found. The record of the well kept by the driller, Mr. Clark, is given below: Feet. Inches 1 Soil 2 2 Clay 41 3 Sand and gravel 13 4 Rotten limestone 19 6 5 Fireclay 2 6 6 White limestone 34 7 Light soapstone 76 8 Dark slate 8 9 Soapstone 21 10 Brown shale 58 11 Soapstone 10 12 Hard limestone 14 13 Soft limestone 2 14 Hard limestone 14 15 Gas rock (full of water) 27 16 Hard limestone 2 17 Light soapstone 8 6 In the above, numbers 1, 2 and 3 belong to the Pleistocene; 4, 5 and 6 probably represent the Burlington limestone, much softened and decayed in the upper part; 7 to 11 inclusive are members of the Kind- erhook, and 12 to 16 inclusive are Niagara limestones. The soap- stone or shale, number 17, probably represents the Maquoketa or Cincinnati shale. Professor Worthen reports a thickness of but a little more than fifty feet for the Niagara further southward in Cal- houn county. The cap rock or limestone immediately overlying the gas rock, is usually eighteen to thirty feet in thickness, and Mr. G. M. Mink re- ports that in the two wells in which the drill penetrated the entire depth of the gas rock its thickness was respectively thirty- seven and twenty-eight feet. This would indicate a thickness of about sixty feet for the Niagara at those points. Worthen, A. H.; Geol. Surv. of 111. Vol. 4, p. 7. SAVAGE.] PIKE COUNTY GAS WELLS. 87 The city of Pittsfield is in a valley above which the uplands rise on the west more than 125 feet. The surface where the Pittsfield well, No. 29, was drilled is more than 100 feet lower than the curb of Mr. Chas. L. Wilsey's well, two and one-half miles due west of Pittsfield. From a comparison of the sections of these two wells it will be seen that the top of the Niagara limestone was reached in the Pittsfield well only five and one- half feet nearer the surface than in the well of Mr. Wilsey. This would indicate an eastward dipping of the strata between these points of at least 100 feet. This fact, to- gether with the dip of the beds between the Davis and the Haney wells above described, would determine the eastern slope of the anti- cline, the west side of which is in part seen in the dipping of the beds down the channel of Dutch creek. Number 30 was the last well put down for gas in this area to June 9, ] 906. It is on the farm of Mr. Eiley Wilsey, in the southeast half of the northeast ^ of section 27 of Pittsfield township. At the time of the writer's visit on June 6th the drill was down 200 feet. It has since been reported that gas was struck on June 7th, but complete data on the well was not obtained. On June 7th the drilling was begun on a second well in the city of Pittsfield, in the hope of obtaining a supply of gas for the town. The drillers report the succession of strata penetrated in the differ- ent wells as quite constant and the thickness of the respective beds as fairly uniform over this field. Outlook for the Pike County Field — The pressure of gas in the wells of this district is not sufiiciently strong to warrant the expecta- tion of any great development of the field in a commercial way. However, the supply from an average drilling is ample for use in one or two, or even a number, of the farm houses adjacent to the well. An abundant and constant source of excellent light and fuel, with no expense after the small outlay of putting down a well, is a very for- tunate and happy circumstance to the farmers in this field. The fact that well number 1 has furnished gas for more than eighteen years with no signs of weakening lends assurance as to the durable nature of the supply when utilized in this way. There seems no reason why other wells should not be put down further to the northwest and to the southeast of the producing area with a good expectation of finding gas. It seems probable that, in case gas is not found in wells at Pitts- field, an abundant supply could be obtained by putting down a few wells in the productive area a short distance west of town, connecting them with pipes, and pumping the gas into the city under pressure. Some years ago gas is reported to have been found in a water well on the farm of Captain B B. Hopkins, in Griggsville township. There is a possibility that a parallel anticline may lie to the east of the known gas bearing arch and that another gas field may be found to the east of Pittsfield. This can be determined only by the putting down of a few wells over that area. Since, as is well known, gas and oil are frequently and closely associated, the presence of the gas here gives strong probability of the finding of petroleum. B8 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 PKODUCTION OF PETROLEUM IN SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS. The raising of petroleum from the porous stratum or reservoir in the depths of the rocks, where it has lain for thousands of years, to storage tanks upon the surface of the earth, where it can be utilized by man, is termed the Production. The evolution of the processes involved in the present advanced methods of production from the primitive ones used by the first oil producers in the United States has been a wonderful one, and would prove a story of surpassing interest to the practical operator of today. The different steps necessary to the successful development of a good oil property are many, and the tyro who enters the held against operators who had spent a lifetime in mastering the details of pro- ducing oil at a minimum cost often finds himself handicapped before he has completed his first well. Choosing a locality for operating — The first step necessary in the production of oil is the choosing of the locality in which the opera- tions will be carried on. In this step it will be found that the old operator, who has watched the growth of a field from the beginning, is usually v\^ise enough to locate his future wells within the limits of the known productive territory, provided he can procure the neces- sary leases. The beginner more often betakes himself to "promising" territory just outside the limits and puts down a "wild-cat" bore. Any one who makes a special study of the oil business will soon note that the Standard Oil Company and other large operators do little "wild-catting," but profit by the experience of the small operators who do it, "'Wild- catting" must, however, be done by somebody, as there is no known method of fixing the limits of a field except by test bores put down by speculative individuals. Usual terms of a, lease — After deciding on a piece of territory it must either be bought outright or leased from the owner for a term of years. In most cases it is leased, usually for a period of five years or as much longer as production continues. If the adjoining territory is untested, the farmer usually receives from one-eighth to one-sixth royalty on the future production, with a stipulation that drilling is to "begin within one or two years, or that a stated rental per acre shall be paid until the first well is drilled. The landowner retains all rights over the surface of the land with the exception of the portion neces- sarily occupied by the derricks, power houses and storage tanks. Of a farm of 80 acres not more than five need necessarily be kept from cultivation, even though it contain, in time, its full quota of wells. If a good well has been put down on adjoining territory, the farmer in the Illinois field often receives a bonus of from $30 to $100 an acre, or even more, in addition to the royalty and rental. In many instances the supposed rich strike in time proves of little value. The lease expires without being drilled and the farmer is ahead a sum equal to the bonus advanced. If, on the area leased, some good wells are developed, the lease, like the franchise of a street railway, becomes the most valuable part BLATCHLEY.] OIL LEASES. 89 of the so-called "oil-property"; and with the wells already in opera- tion is often sold for large amounts. Even though no wells are drilled on a leased farm, the lease often changes ownership a number of times before it expires. The following is a form of lease in common use in the Illinois field: This Agkeement, Made this day of A. D. 190 . . WITNESSETH, That Lessors In consideration of One dollar in hand duly paid by John Doe, of Lima, O. , lessee, do hereby g-rant, demise, and let unto the lessee all the oil and gas in and under the following- described tract of land; also the said tract of land for the purpose of operating thereon for said oil and g-as with the right to use water, oil and gas therefrom, except water from wells now on said premises and all rights convenient for such operations; also the right at any time to remove a part or all of the property, machinerj'^ or fixtures placed thereon by lessee. Said land being situated in the of County of State of described as follows: Containing acres more or less hereby releasing and waiving all rights under and by virtue of the homestead exemption laws of this State. To have and to hold unto the lessee for the term of five years from the date hereof, and as much longer thereafter as oil and gas are found in paying quantities thereon. The lessee shall deliver into tanks or pipe lines to the lessor's credit, the one eighth part of all the oil produced, and saved from the premises; and shall pay at the rate of One hundred dollars per year for each gas well during the time gas is sold or marketed therefrom. The lessors may have gas free of cost from any gas well on said premises for use in the dwelling house thereon at their own risk so long as the lessee continues to operate such well, the lessors making connections for gas at such point or place as may be designated by the lessee. No wells are to be drilled within two hundred feet of the dwelling house now on the premises without the lessors consent; whenever the lessors shall request it the lessee shall bury all oil and gas lines which are laid over till- able ground and shall pay all damage to growing crops caused by burying or removing said pipe lines. It is provided, that this lease shall become null and void if a well is not completed on the premises within two years from the date hereof, unavoidable delay excepted, unless the lessees thereafter pay at the rate of 25 cents per acre per year (payable quarterly) until a well is completed, which payments maybe made direct to the lessor, .or deposited to their credit in the All the provisions hereof shall extend to the heirs, successors, and assigns of the respective parties hereunto, upon the payment of One dollar, at any time, by the lessee his successors or assigns, to the lessors their heirs or assigns; said lessees his successors or assigns shall have the right to surrender this lease for cancellation; after which all payments and liabilities thereafter to accrue under and by virtue of its terms shall cease and determine, and this lease becomes absolutely null and void. Witness the following signatures and seals: Witness. — (seal) (seal) (seal) (seal) 90 THE PETKOLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTEEN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 State of Illinois. ) County of ) * J, in and for said County in the State aforesaid, do hereby certify that personally known to me to be the same person. . . .whose name subscribed to the f oreg-oing- instrument, appeared before me this day in person, and acknowledged that . . .he. . . signed, sealed and delivered the said instru- ment as . free and voluntary act, for the uses and purposes therein set forth, including the release and the waiver of the right of homestead. Given under my hand Seal, this day of A. D. 190. . Locating the wells — Aster securing a lease, the operator must choose the site for his first well. It is usually the custom to drill at some point about 200 feet from the property line in order to first obtain the oil which might otherwise be raised by operators of adjoin- ing leases. Various circumstances, such as the dip of the oil bearing rock, variations in the surface level of the tract leased, the location of a permanent power house, etc., are to be considered in determining the site of the well. If wells are down on adjoining leases, the pro- duction of the first well, as compared with that of the older ones, can be used to gauge the location of future bores. If a well holds up to 10 or 15 barrels a day for three months or more the chances are that it is close to or connected with a large area of porous rock, and that better wells may be located somewhere in the immediate vicinity. The wells are usually put down 400 to 600 feet apart ; that distance, in the language of the oil field, being termed a "location." An unwritten law exists among operators that the lessee of a tract of land shall immediately put down wells when producing wells are drilled on adjoining territories. This is done to offset and protect property lines and prevent the oil underlying one tract from being drained off through another. As to the amount of acreage to be assigned to an oil well, opinion varies greatly. On the larger leases ten acres are often given to the well. On the smaller leases one to every five acres is often drilled. One common and very good method of locating the wells on an 80 acre lease is to have them 200 feet back from the outside line and 460 feet apart. This leaves a distance of 920 feet clear in the center, on which the power house can be erected. By this method 14 wells can be placed on each 80 acre tract, and have the center to draw on. Drilling rig — Having selected a site for his first well, the operator next contracts for the drilling. If this be done with a drilling ma- chine, as is the custom in the shallow territory of the Casey field, he does not have to build a rig and the process is much simplified. In that field the machines in use are principally the "Star" and a Parkersburg, W. Va. machine. The, entire drilling outfit, machine, engine, boiler and tools, costs about $2,200. A number of contracting drillers, some of them owning a half dozen or more outfits, soon flock to a new field which promises much work. Oftentimes the operators ILLINOIS GEOGOGICAL SURVEY. Bull. No. 2., PL 5. A. STANDARD DRILLING RIG. B. DRILLING MACHINE USED IN NORTHERN PART OF THE FIELD. BLATCHLEY. DRILLING RIGS. 91 own their own machines and do their own drilling. The price for drilling in the Casey field in May, 1906, was $1.00 per foot. The operator furnishes all drive pipe, casing, tubing, etc. The contractor pulls and resets the casing for shooting, cleans out the well and puts in tubing and rods for pumping. If his fuel and water is furnished, he received but 90 cents per foot. If a standard rig is used in dril- ling, as is the custom in the deeper territory of the Crawford county field, the operator must first contract for it and have it erected before the drilling begins. This rig consists of four strong uprights held in position by ties and braces and resting on strong wooden sills, which are preferred as a foundation to masonry. The derrick is used as a support for the sheave called the crown pulley, which must rest at a sufiicient height to swing the heavy drilling tools free from the ground. The average height of the derrick is 72 feet, and it forms the most conspicuous object which characterizes an oil field. With the derrick are included under the term "rig" all the wood- work and its necessary iron fittings so put together that when boiler and engine are in place drilling can at once begin. The bull wheel and shaft on which the cable supporting the drilling tools is wound; the walking beam to give vertical motion to the tools, and the band wheels for transmitting power from the engines to the movable parts are, next to the derrick, the most important parts of the rig. The construction of the rig is usually undertaken by a contractor known as a "rig builder", for a certain specified sum. In the Craw- ford county field in 1906 the price paid for the rig complete was $525. After the well is completed the rig is, in most cases, left standing, though small operators often take it down and use it for another well. A considerable saving of outlay for lumber and rig irons is thus ef- fected, but if the well stops flowing or needs cleaning out, a new rig, usually smaller and less expensive, must be built. Drilling the well — The drilling crew consists of four men, two drillers and two tool dressers, who work in pairs, 12 hours each. It is the duty of the driller to stay close to the mouth of the bore and attend to the drilling proper, turning the cable and the temper screw when necessary and controlling the machinery by cords and lever when changing the tools and sand pumping. The tool dresser is the helper to each driller. He fires the boiler, attends to the engine and machinery and dresses or sharpens the bits as each in turn becomes worn. The wages paid to drillers in the Illinois field in 1906 were $5.00 and the tool dressers $4.00 each per day. The contractor is respons- ible for accidents and failure to complete a well. The time necessary to put down a bore in the Casey field was four to five days. The shooting, tubing and connecting with power requires about two days longer. The operator connects the well with the power as soon as it is tubed by the driller. In the Crawford county field from 12 to 14 days are required for drilling. Shooting the Well. — As soon as the porous stratum is passed through, if there is a fair showing of oil the well is torpedoed or "shot" in order to open up fissures in the porous rock and form a cavity 92 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 therein into which the oil may flow. In the Illinois field it is now the custom to drill to the bottom of the oil bearing rock, and then, if possible, gauge the shooting so that the rock will be shattered from the bottom of the drill hole to the top of, but not far above, the porous stratum. This prevents the explosion affecting the shale or other for- mation overlying the oil bearing stratum and so filling up the cavity with loose debris and rendering the well worthless. Nitro-glycerine is the explosive used, and the amount depends largely upon the texture of the porous rock or so-called "sand." If it is hard and close pored, more explosive is necessary than where coarse and friable. In the latter case a large shot shatters too great a quantity and causes too much trouble in cleaning out after the shooting. An average shot in the Casey field is 85 quarts, though some operators persist in drilling- deep and using 120 to 150 quarts in all wells. "The bigger the shot the better the well" is the motto of some of the operators in the Sig- gins pool. The shooting is done by a contractor who follows it as a vocation. He is usually an agent of the company who manufactures the explo- sive, and often works on the percentage system, receiving from the company a stipulated sum per quart for the explosive sold. The nitro-glycerine is hauled overland from the factory in square tin cans holding eight to ten quarts each, and stored in quantity in buildings erected in some out of the way place at various points in the oil field. When a well is ready to be shot, the agent who does the shooting transports, in a light buckboard buggy, padded and fitted for the purpose, a number of these cans to the well. There the glycerine is poured into cylindrical tin cans, called "shells," about five inches in diameter and long enough to hold 20 quarts of the explosive. The average shell is five feet, five inches in length. Each shell is conical at the lower end, and slightly concave at the upper. As soon as the first shell is filled, it is lowered into the bore. When it reaches the bottom the lowering line, by a special device, becomes detached and is drawn up. The second shell is then filled, and, when lowered its conical end fits into the cavity at the top of the first. In this manner, each of the shells, after being lowered, rests in close connection with the one preceding. The last or top shell is fitted in a special manner with a waterproof percussion cap so arranged that it can be readily set off with an electric spark, communicated to it by a wire which is con- nected with a hand battery. It is the custom in the Illinois field to remove the casing section by section after the nitro-glycerine has been placed in the bore and then reset it as soon as the shooting is over. The removal takes but an hour or two, and danger of collapsing or breaking the casing is there- by obviated. When the nitro-glycerine is exploded, a person 100 yards away will, after an interval of BO to 50 seconds, experience a slight jarring of the earth, accompanied by a muffled report somewhat louder than a pistol shot. A minute or so thereafter a roaring sound is heard and a solid column of oil and water is seen issuing from the mouth of the bore. This rises higher and higher until it finally reaches far above the der- rick and there breaks into spray. Klown up with it are many frag- BLATCHLEY.] SALT WATER. 98 ments of stone and the remains of the tin canisters, shattered into a thousand particles. Pieces of porous rock blown up from a depth of a thousand feet often weigh six to eight pounds. The flow of oil resulting from the explosion usually soon subsides and, as soon as possible after resetting the casing, tubing two to two and a half inches in diameter and reaching to the bottom of the bore, is put in and connected with a tank which has been erected near by. These tanks are cylindrical, are constructed of wooden staves, and are usually gauged to hold 250 barrels each. In such a tank each inch in depth equals two and a half barrels of oil; therefore, in oil field vernacular, a yield of "ten inches a day" means twenty-five barrels. The cost of such tanks in the Casey field in 1906 was $95.00 and in the Crawford county field, $100.00. Pumping the oil — After tubing the well and connecting it with the tank, the necessary pumping apparatus must be attached. If a num- ber of wells are to be drilled a power house is located near the center of the lease and a small gas or steam engine placed therein. Each well is supplied with a jack and balance weight, to which the necessary pumping or sucker rods which ply up and down inside the tubing are attached. When a number of wells are pumped by one engine the power is transmitted to the pumping jack of each by means of steel pull rods or wire ropes jprovided with suitable angle knees to change the direction of the pull. In the Casey field where the surface is level the rods run about two feet above the ground and rest in notches cut in the top of short posts or props. Where the surface is broken or uneven the rods are suspended above the ground by ropes attached to poles or posts which are set in a row between the power house and well. The engine in the power house runs an oscillating pull-wheel which gives horizontal movement to the rods radiating from it to the different wells. The pull-wheel draws the rods in one direction, and on the return the weight of the sucker rod, hanging from the jack, draws them back. In this way wells have been pumped one mile from the power house, and often as many as twenty wells, and sometimes as many as forty, are pumx3ed by a single engine. More than twenty- five or thirty are, however, too many, for if the power should happen to break down all the wells are stopped. Again, a pumper (the man in charge of the engines and wells) cannot look after more than that number and do it right. The fuel used for pumping is usually gas, the wells on the lease often furnishing enough ; though in many in- stances it is piped in from a distance. The material pumped is run first into a salt water barrel to settle out the water. The oil is drawn off from this into storage tanks. But little trouble is experienced with salt water in the Casey field, provided sufficient care is taken in drilling to stop before the water- bearing stratum is reached. In the Casey- Westfield pool, this lies some distance below the oil bearing limestone; while in the Siggins pool it is usually just below the eight to fifteen feet of black shale which immediately underlies the productive sandstone. On account of the scarcity of fresh water to operate the engines and for use in drilling, the salt water from the producing rock is used on a number of the leases. This is usually pumped in small quantity with the oil 94 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. into a barrel tank. From this the oil flows into the near by storage tank, while the water is allowed to escape from the lower part of the barrel tank, into ditches and drains, or into pipes which lead to a storage reservoir. Cost of producing well in the Illinois field — The average cost of the first well on a lease in the Olark and Crawford county fields in the spring of 1906 was about as follows : Clark. Crawford. $ 525 $400 1,000 70 80 250 700 100 120 150 200 500 500 190 200 100 100 100 100 Rig Drilling; Drive pipe Casting- Shooting Tubing and pumping outfit Power house and power Two tanks Belting and lead lines Incidentals Totals $1, 860 $3, 525 The incidentals include the cost of necessary teaming and the ex- penses (livery hire, board, etc.) of the operator or field manager while overseeing the work. The second and succeeding wells on the lease will each cost, in the Casey field, about $800 less, and in the Crawford county field, $1,400 less, as the rigs, where used, tanks, power house and power can be used for future wells, though there will be a loss of of $125 in tearing down and rebuilding the derrick, and the number of tanks will soon have to be increased. The cost of the lead lines and surface rods on a lease will increase proportionately to the num- ber of producing wells. After a tank has been filled with oil the latter must be steamed to reduce the impurites of sediment to a minimum. This is done by connecting pipes from the engine with the bottom of the tank and forcing steam through the oil. From three to four hours is usually necessary to steam a 250 barrel tank. The process of "production" is then complete and the oil is ready for the market. Cost of operating a lease — The cost of operating an oil lease in the Illinois field after the production has been established need not be more than $100 per month, the salary of the pumper being |()0 and the cost of fuel about $40. A dozen or even 20 wells can, however, be operated almost as cheaply as one after they have been connected with the power. An extra pumper may have to be employed, but otherwise no additional expense is entailed. Where the plant has been established, it will pay to pump as low as three or four wells, even if the yield is only four barrels each per day, provided the price of oil is as high as it was on May 10, viz., 81 cents per barrel. The estimate of expense and income from three four-barrel wells or four three-barrel wells, after deducting the royalty of one-sixth, is as follows : ILLINOIS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Bull. No. 2,, PI. 5. A. JACK USED IN PUMPING OIL B. POWER STATION TANKS AND PUMPING RODS. BLATCHLEY.J PIPE LINES. 95 Income per month— 300 barrels of oil at 81 cents $243 00 Salary of pumper $60 00 Cost of fuel 40 00 100 CO Net income $143 00 With six two-barrel wells on the lease, the income would be the same. From what has been written, it will be seen that the cost of drilling and operating a lease in the Casey, Illinois, field is lower than else- where in the eastern United States for the following reasons: (a) The wells are very shallow, the producing rock in most instances being struck at less than 400 feet, (b) It is seldom that more than 100 feet of drive pipe and B20 feet of casing are necessary, (c) On account of a comparatively level surface a large number of wells can be connected to and pumped with one power, (d) Gas for fuel or for running gas engines is available in many parts of the field, and if not present, coal is as cheap as in any other locality, (e) Transportation facilities are good, a system of pipe lines permeating all parts of the main pools. In the Crawford county field the expenses are higher, running about the same as in the main Indiana Trenton rock field. Marketing the oil — In the Casey field, where the well is inside of productive territory and promises a fair output, but little difiiculty is experienced in getting a pipe line of the Standard Oil Company of Illinois laid to it. This company has loading racks at Oilfield, between Casey and Westfield, on the C. H. & D, Railway, and is erecting nine 35,000 barrel steel tanks one half mile north of Casey. Four of these were completed and filled with oil on May 10, and the remaining five were to be finished as quickly as possible. From these tanks a six inch line extends to the loading rack at Oilfield, near the center of the Casey- Westfield pool, and a four inch line to the Siggins pool. When a tank is full or nearly so, the pumper notifies a ganger of the Standard company, who comes and measures its contents. A '•donkey pump" is then connected with the tank and the oil pumped therefrom into the pipes running to the large storage tanks ; about one and a half hours being necessary to empty a field tank. After deducting 2 per cent for sediment, leakage, etc., certificates are mailed to both the producer and the party owning the land, stating the number of barrels to their credit in the lines of the Standard com- pany, together with the market price of the same. These certificates can be cashed at the various banks in the oil field, or are payable over the counters of the company at Casey. Output of the Casey field-^As the loading rack at Oilfield was not erected until June, 1905, the output prior to that time was stored in tanks. On a number of the smaller leases, especially these in areas outside of the two main producing pools, the field tanks have not yet been connected with the loading station or large storage tanks and the wells are idle on that account. The following table shows the output up to May 1, 1906: 96 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [bull. 2 Crude Oil Produced in Casey Fields Clark County, Illinois, and Sold to Standard Oil Company. Month. Barrels 42 gals. June, 1905 , 5,489.46 July, 1905 9,207.58 August, 1905 15,092.39 September, 1905 19,591.52 October, 1905 26,443.52 November, 1905 34,765.56 December, 1905 45,912.49 Total, 1905 156.502.52 January, 1906 55,680.09 Fe i ruary, 1906 65, 208 83 March, 1906 19, 352 .31 April, 1906 102, 861 .42 Total to May, 1906 243,102.65 Grand total 399, 605 17 The small production in March was due to the bad weather inter- fering with the operations of the railways. It was made up by the extra heavy deliveries in April. These figures are published through the courtesy of J. N. McDonald, Auditor, Manufacturing Department, Standard Oil Company, who also advises that the shipments for the first ten days in May indicate an average monthly production per well of about 395 barrels. In the Crawford county fields no arrangements for piping^ or ship- ping the oil had been made up to May 10. It was said, however, that a loading rack would soon be installed at Stoy, a station on the Illi- nois Central Railway, five miles east of Robinson. Fake oil companies. — For some reason, not well understood, the promoter of the fake oil company has not yet begun operations in Illi- nois. Usually a number of such companies are organized when a good strike is made in any region. Their available assets consist of little more than a superb allowance of gall, leases on a few hundred acres of supposed oil territory and a hundred or two dollars invested in prospectuses and stock certificates. Sometimes even the leases are lacking. The company does not expect to make money by producing oil, but by selling stock, and the number of those who pay out their hard earned cash for a piece of engraved paper is usually large. Not one out of a hundred of such stock-selling companies ever pay back even a small percentage of the amount invested. Such companies reaped a harvest of millions of dollars during the Beaumont, Texas, oil excitement of 1902-'04. The highway robber who takes the money of his victim at the point of a gun is an honest man in comparison with some of these barefaced scoundrels who fleece victims of high and low degree with the glittering advertising sheets and stock cer- tificates of their mushroom oil companies. The bona fide oil operator usually has no stock to sell. If he does, he forms a company among his chosen friends and induces them to invest. The money so invested is spent for drilling and supplies. It may be lost, as the venture often results in dry holes^ but it is lost legitimately in an honest search for oil. Therefore, I would say to the reader, do not invest money in the stock of any oil company unless BLATCHLEY.] LEVEL LINES. 97 you are well acquainted with the promoters and know them to be honest men who are experienced oil operators. However, if the speculative tendency is too strong to be withstood, either go into the field personally, or send someone in whom you have implicit confi- dence, and investigate the holdings of the company whose stock you are thinking of buying. By so doing you will lessen the profits, as well as the number, of such fake companies as we have mentioned. The oil business is a big enough gamble within itself — that is, the risks of losing in the legitimate companies are great enough — -without taking a thousand-to-one shot in the stock certificates of those get- rich-quick concerns whose members do not know a drive pipe from a derrick. Need of accurate surface levels. — In order to develop any oil pro- ducing area and reduce the number of dry holes to a minimum, the trend, width and dip of the anticlines and synclines in the top of the oil producing stratum should be ascertained by an accurate determi- nation of the surface levels between a number of wells. Where a bore for petroleum has resulted in a good producing well, the level of the surface of the oil bearing rock above or below tide should be care- fully ascertained. This can be done only by running a transit level from the nearest point where the surface is known, usually on a rail- way to the site of the bore. By substracting the surface level of the bore from the depth at which the oil bearing stratum is first struck, the surface of the latter in terms of sea level will be obtained, pro- vided it is below tide. Where the oil bearing rock occurs above tide, the depth of it will be less than the sea level elevation of the bore and should be subtracted accordingly. The location of the first half-dozen or so wells in any area a mile or two square must of necessity be a matter of guess work, but if the surface level of the top of the sand in each bore, productive or dry, be carefully ascertained, the trend of the anticline and the approximate limits of the field or pool can soon be determined. Too much guess work is carried on concerning the surface level of the spot on which the well is located. In a broken country it is difiicult for any man to guess approximately the relative levels of two points a quarter of a mile apart, and the new level should always be ascertained with instruments. The surface level of the bore has nothing to do with the absolute height or surface level of the productive sand, or the absence or presence of the petroleum, but it has a great deal to do with the accurate determination of the surface level of the sand, and therefore with the location of future wells. For these reasons lines of level have been recently run through the Clarke county field for the Survey by Mr. E. M. Scheflow, assisted by Mr. Loren Digby. Bench marks, consisting of a small brass tag, were put up at frequent intervals and stamped with the elevation above sea level. The loca- tion and elevation of these marks is given in the list below. —7 GS 98 THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY OF EASTERN ILLINOIS. [BULL. 2 LIST OF BENCH MARKS. By E. M. Scheflow. From Charleston to Westfield. o <^ n < -t Sa