It is convenient to note that all the petroleum found in the E. United States of America is contained in a belt parallel with, and considerably to the westward of, the Alleghany mountains. The Canadian oil regions are situated in the western part of the Dominion, in the counties of Lambton, Bothwell, and Kent, Ontario province. They extend from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, and from the St. Clair river eastward for about 70 miles. The most prominent points of produc tion are Petrolia (Lambton county), Oil Springs (Bothwell county), and Bothwell (Kent county). The petroleum is here found in a flint-bearing limestone, varying in construction, and largely composed of the marine shells and other fossils peculiar to the "corniferous " beds. The sp. gr. of the oil is 33°-43° B. (0.863-0•815 sp. gr.). The rock near Petrolia shows the following strata :—Yellow clay, 5-15 ft.; compact blue clay, 50-100 ft., resting on a thin crust of limestone, resembling stalagmite ; gravel, 2-8 ft. ; slate, 15 ft. ; corniferous limestone, 40 ft., giving surface wells ; slate, 30 ft. ; limestone, 40 ft. ; slate, 30 ft.; corniferous limestone 250 ft., where all the oil is found; hard blue sandstone, 4 ft. ; and finally a vein of salt water, seemingly inexhaustible, as it has been penetrated for 500 ft. in several places, without yielding a barrel of oil. The entire production of the Canadian oil regiou is about 2500 barrels a day.
The Ohio and W. Virginia oil regions are confined to two definite belts of anticlinal geological disturbance, one extending from Newport (Ohio) northward through Washington and Morgan counties, and southward about 40 miles into W. Virginia, through Ritchie, Wood, and Wirt counties, and embracing the productive points of Horseneck, Sandhill, Volcano, White Oak, and Burning Springs ; and another smaller belt lying a few miles farther west. The minimum width of the belt is about 2i miles. The special features of this region are that oil is found in crevices at a certain fluid level, without the slightest regard to the character of the rock in which the crevices exist. Where a natural crevice is not reached by the drill, a torpedo seldom fails to open connection with one. No surface-water is found iu the wells, and often no salt water. At Volcano, especially, the oil is pumped clear. It ranges in sp. gr. from 28° to 40° B. sp. gr.), and oils of all gravities are found, indiscriminately, even in wells side by side. A section of the strata in W. Virginia and Ohio is of no value as an indication of the oil level. The production of the whole region is about 500 barrels a day.
Kentucky and Tennessee have afforded enormous quantities of oil from surface wells. A well on Crocus Creek, Cumberland county (Kentucky), at 191 ft., gave 300 barrels a day for a time ; and those on Boyd's Creek, Barren county, those stretching from the Cumberland river through N.-W. Kentucky, and those in Overton county (Tennessee), indicate the probability of a large
production if thoroughly developed. But the presence of sulphur in the oil, the remoteness from large consuming centres, the cost of transport, and the competition of the Pennsylvanian wells, have conspired to check extended operations here.
In Massachusetts, some wells have been sunk near Lee.
The oil basin of Shoshone (Wyoming) covers an area of about 40 acres, within which, are many points whence gas and oil are continually issuing. The oil is intensely black, and no means of de colorizing it have yet been found. Ou distillation, it gives 47 per cent. of kerosene flashing at 65° (150° F.), 32 per cent. of neutral and lighter-coloured lubricating-oil, and 12 per cent. of dry coke. The sp. gr. is 20° B. flash-test, 144° (294° F.), and fire-test, 161° (322° F.). The Beaver basin is situated some 25 miles due east. The oil here is much lighter-coloured, varying from pale yellow to light-mahogany. It has proved to be a good lubricant, with uo unpleasant odour. It is said that millions of tons of hardened petroleum are lying about the surfaces of these basins.
The Pennsylvania oil-region proper comprises the districts of Tidioute, West Hickory, New London, Colorado, Enterprise, Titusville, Sharnburg, Pithole, Petroleum Centre, Story Farm, Rouseville, Oil City, Reno, Franklin, and East Sandy, besides the Lower oil-fields, and sundry outlying districts.
In Tidioute, the first wells were sunk upon the banks and islands of the river, and yielded quantities of oil at 100-150 ft. Subsequently the sand rock was found under the hills on each side, and the best wells were bored there. The rock brought to the surface in Warren county was an open, porous conglomerate of small pebbles and a cementing matter composed of alumina and silica, friable on exposure, and capable of holding much oil. A well on the island at Tidioute drilled to 1000 ft. showed no sand below 125 ft. The best wells at Tidioute and Triumph Hill have given 400 barrels a day, and the thickness of the sand bed is not fully known, as it has only been pierced for 50-60 ft. The wells on the hill-land of the Economy tract, opposite Tidioute, merit special examination ; their oil came from a region above the river level, a marked exception to all the experiences gained in the oil-region.
In the West Hickory oil area, a small quantity of heavy oil of 27° B. sp. gr.), not exceeding 12-15 barrels per well, was obtained at a depth of 400 ft. When this ceased, a 3rd sand of 55 ft. was found at 750 ft., and very large quantities of oil have been drawn from a well of 400 barrels maximum.