VOL. XXII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, SEPT. 17,1887.
NO. 38
NATURAL GAS.
The Discovery and Extent of tbe Oreat
Indiana Field.
Natural gas, as a material of practical
utility, is comparatively a recent discovery, though "burning springs are spoken
of by Pliny, a Roman naturalist who
lived in the lirst century of our era. The
Are fountains on the shores of the Caspian
sea, which excited the wonder and superstition of the ancients are now known to
be only leakages of natural gas. It is
stated that natural gas was used centuries
ago in China to produce furnace heat iu
working metals; but there is so much of
the fabulous in the history of that won-
A derful people that we hesitate to credit all
that is reported of them.
The earliest attempt to utilize natural
gas that we And, was in lighting the town
of Fredonia, in the northwestern corner
of the State of New York. This was about
the year 1822. Subsequently gas was frequently found in boring for brine in the
Kanhawa salt region, but it was not till
about 1850 that it was used as fuel for
evaporating the brine in the manufacture
of salt, and then   only to a limited extent.
About ten years ago, gas from the Mo-
nongehala gas Held was introduced into
I'ittshurg as a source of heat, lioth for domestic use and for manufacturing purposes. Its use spread rapidly, till it now
almost entirely supercedes the use of coal.
In 1885 an abundant flow of gas was obtained at a depth of 1,500 feet, at Findlay,
Ohio; since which date, that Held has been
pretty thoroughly explored, and a general
spirit of investigation has been awakened.
At various points in Pennsylvania, near
Port Huron in Michigan, and in the vicinity of Fort Scott in Kansas, promising gas
Aelds have been developed. From an
early day, at several places in Indiana, a
temporary flow of gas has been obtained
by persons in search of water. These
wells were generally shallow—seldom
more than 50 feet. These shallow reservoirs were soon exhausted and no practical use was made of the gas. In I860 a
boring in search of petroleum was made
in the vicinity of Francisville in Pulaski
county, and a flow of gas was obtained at
a depth of 620 feet. This continued to
burn, in a fair jet, from a small pipe, for
ten years, when it appeared to be exhausted ; but it has had several paroxysms of
burning since. A boring in search of coal
was made at Eaton in Dataware county in
1876 which struck a feeble flow of gas at~a
depth of 600 feet. No use was made of
these discoveries at the time, but after gas
began to be freely used in Pittsburg men
began to recall these gas flnds in Indiana
and when the great well at Findlay had"
been opened, these conjectures of what
might lie, began to assume a practical
form, and in the summer of 1886 a company was formed to sink the drill deeper
in the well at Eaton, abandoned ten years
before. At the depth of 890 feet gas made
its appearance, and at 32 feet lower the
drilling was suspended with a pressure of
gas estimated at 200 pounds to the square
inch. Nearly simultaneous with this, gas
was obtained at Portland in Jay county,
and in the intervening twelve months, to
the present time, copious discharges of
gas have been obtained at many points in
adjoining counties.
This now covers
A CONTINUOUS AREA
of about 4,000 square miles in which it
may be safe to predict gas almost anywhere; there having been but few failures
in this territory. Many wells, in territory
contiguous to this, have failed to And gas.
At several localities in the State gas has
been obtained in greater or less quantities
improbable. In the fleld aliove described,
tbe gas is found in the Trenton rock, the
upper member of the lower Silurian formation. It is a porous reck, the gas Ailing the interstices of tbe rock. It is retained by an overlying bed of clay shale
(Utica and Hudson river) from 500 to 700
feet thick, which is impervious to gas.
The wells generally range   from 850 to 1,-
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DAVIESS
fUr MAP
INDIANA
<**-.-* BY'O
THE INDIANA FARMER Co
INDIANAPOLIS
Tiik map nt Indiana by counties shows tlis extent of thc Indiana natural gus Held, the railroad system,
etc. The light, or tinted sections, show the gas districts. The largo section of continuous gas territory
lying northeast of Indianapolis, and including a part of the north half of this county, embraces about 4.1100
square miles. The other counties shown on the map nortli and south of till, territory, only partly surveyed
by gas wells, contain over 3,000 square miles. Including the latter we have over 7,000 square miles of gas
territory In th» state.
—notably at Greensburg in Decatur county, at Vernon in Jennings county, at Morristown in Shelby county, at Jefferson-
ville in Clarke county, at Roekhaven iu
Harrison county and at Lawrenceburg in
Dearborn county; but no other continuous field has yet been developed, but such
development in   the   future   is not at all
000 feet deep. At points further south,
the Hudson river shale becomes more
slaty and permits the gas to leak upward
till it is arrested by the Utica shale; hence
gas in that region is reached at a depth of
from 400 to 600 feet.
The  gas   is   colorless   and    frequently
without odor, but   in the Indiana   field it
contains sulphur enough   to give it a distinct odor.
Tlie flame from natural gas gives a pleasant mellow light, but seldom bright
enough for illuminating purposes, without the artificial addition of carbon, but it
gives more heat, in burning, than an equal
weight of any other known substance.
AS TO ITS PERMANENCY.
Many conjectures have been indulged
in as to the permanency of this gas supply, but in the absence of experience on
the subject, and with no knowledge of the
source of this gas or the mode of its production, our conclusion cannot rise above
conjecture. Thero appears to be some
connection lietween petroleum and natural
gas, but what that relation is, we have not
yet facts enough to form even a plausable
hypothesis.
Natural gas is not a product of any particular geological formation, for it has
lieen found all the way up the geological
scale, from the Cambrian formation to the
base of the glacial drift. In the great Indiana field it is obtained in the Trenton
rock, but south of Greensburg, from a
higher horizon.
The map of Indiana and geographical
table of the great eastern Indiana gas
field is based on the most reliable information obtained from our correspondents
and, at the date of going to press, we think
it is substantially correct, hut we will not
vouch for its correctness a day beyond
tbat time, such are the rapid developments
going on in tliis field. From present indications it ib altogether probable that an upper gas lield may yet be developed south
of Greensburg, embracing Dearborn, Ripley, Jennings, and counties soutli and
west of these. Another promising field
embraces Pulaski, Jasper and Newtou
counties; but the drill only, can solve
these problems. We are certain, however,
that the public, at present, does not apprehend the immense advantage of the
discoveries already made.
We subjoin a geographical table of the
gas wells at present in active operation in
eastern Indiana gas fields.
County.
Jay	
Randolph.
Wayne	
Blackford
Delaware.
Henry	
Hancock .
Hamilton.
Tipton	
Madison...
Grant	
Marlon	
Howard...
Wabaab..
Miami	
Shelby	
Portland	
Iiiinklrk	
Ked Key	
Camden	
Winchester	
Farmland	
Hagerstowu	
Hartford City	
Montpeller	
Muncie	
Katon	
Albany	
York town	
New Corners	
Spieeland	
Knight stow n	
Middletown	
GreenSeld	
Noblesville and vicinity
Arcadia	
Sheridan	
New Hi it i;ui	
Fishers station ivicin'y
Windfall	
Anderson	
Pendleton 	
Alexandria	
Sum mil villi-	
Frankton-	
El wood	
Marion. „ ...
Upland	
Swazee	
Jonesboro	
Fairmount.	
Mlllereville	
North Marlon Co. region
Kokomo	
l.arountain	
Xenia	
Morristown	
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