Petroleum and Natural Gas in New York State

The occurrence of oil and gas-springs in the State of New York has been afact of historical record since 1627, when the existence of the Cuba oil-springwas first recorded. The utilization of natural gas at Fredonia in 1821 attracted the attention of the public to the possibility of obtaining anilluminating gas by digging and drilling into the rocks. No active search wasmade, however, for oil or gas by the drilling of wells until after thediscovery of commercial oil in Pennsylvania in 1859. In 1862 a well was drilled at Bradford, McKean County, Pennsylvania, but a fewmiles south of the New York state line, to the depth of 200 feet, in search ofthe oil-sand which had been found at Titusville, Oil City, and at other pointsin Western Pennsylvania. Immediately subsequent to this, other wells weredrilled in search of petroleum at a number of points in New York, Particularlyin the western part of the State. Some explorations have been made, in anunsystematic way, for oil ever since, explores being much encouraged in theirsearch by the development of the Allegany oil-district in 1879 and 1880.Immediately subsequent to the general utilization of natural gas inPennsylvania in 1882 and 1883, a new interest was taken in the drilling ofexploration wells, more particularly in search of gas. The principal object of this paper is to publish a record of the explorationswhich have been made up to date for oil and gas in the State. I have notmentioned every well which has been drilled, but only the more important oneswith which I am familiar. The record of these wells have a two-fold value, first, to the practical geologist and well-driller, to enable him to deduceconclusions as to the possibility of getting natural gas in special localities, and to aid in further explorations; and second, to the technical geologist, ingiving definite facts having a direct bearing upon the stratigraphy of thePaleozoic rocks throughout the State. AIME 016–74