Economic papers on Kentucky geology : an indexed collection of thirteen short papers and reports on the geology and special occurrence of oil and gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, and fluorspar within the Commonwealth

Name: Economic papers on Kentucky geology : an indexed collection of thirteen short papers and reports on the geology and special occurrence of oil and gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, and fluorspar within the Commonwealth
Author: Jillson, Willard Rouse

Jillson, Willard Rouse

Economic papers on Kentucky geology : an indexed collection of thirteen short papers and reports on the geology and special occurrence of oil and gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, and fluorspar within the Commonwealth

Jillson, Willard Rouse · 1921 · Historical

This is a day of rapidly developing mineral resources. Discoveries of new applications of well known mineral products

Overview

Economic papers on Kentucky geology : an indexed collection of thirteen short papers and reports on the geology and special occurrence of oil and gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, and fluorspar within the Commonwealth is a 1921 historical mining reference by Jillson, Willard Rouse, preserved in the Mountain Man Mining research library. This is a day of rapidly developing mineral resources.

This 1921 document, Economic papers on Kentucky geology : an indexed collection of thirteen short papers and reports on the geology and special occurrence of oil and gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, and fluorspar within the Commonwealth, is preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library for research and reference. Original source: archive.org.

/Berkeley

Library

University Of V California

Earth

Sciences Usrary

Exchange

The

Kentucky Geological Survey

Willard Rouse Jillson

Director And State Geologist

Series Six Volume Two

Economic Papers on

Kentucky Geology

o o

S S

$8

d"w

o fti o!5

ifi 05 O O

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

An Indexed Collection of Thirteen Short Papers and Reports on the

Geology and Special Occurrence of Oil and Gas, Oil

Shale, Asphalt Rock, and Fluorspar Within

the Commonwealth

By

WlLLARD ROUSE JlLLSON

Director And State Geologist

Author of

THE OIL AND GAS RESOURCES OF KENTUCKY. CONTRIBUTIONS TO KENTUCKY GEOLOGY.

Etc.

Illustrated with 115 Photographs Maps and Diagrams

First Edition

The Kentucky Geological Survey

Frankfort, Ky.

Copyrighted 1921, By WILLARD ROUSE JILLSON

Earth

C/Ence

Library

The State Journal Company

Printer To The Commonwealth'

Frankfort, Kentucky

To My MOTHER

In Recognition of a Wise Guidance

Through My Youth

This Book is

Dedicated.

Author'S Preface

This is a day of rapidly developing mineral resources. Discoveries of new applications of well known mineral products, as well as the development of a great list of very valuable by-products from formerly waste materials, has led to intensive and detailed examination, and re-examination of the various mineral deposits in the rocks of the earth's crust. Approximate valuations of the quantity and quality of our mineral resources, always an item of interest, has now in the light of steadily increased demand along some lines, become one of vital concern. Conservationists of all types have now the attention of the general public as they disclose the practical limits of our industrial and domestic mineral resource necessities of oil, gas, coal, etc.

With a view of throwing more light on the geological occurrence, present day quantitative reserve and industrial development of several of the most important mineral resources of Kentucky, the papers and reports herewith presented have been written by the State Geologist based on personal field examinations in the performance of his official duties during the present year. All photographs, production curves, diagrams, etc., unless otherwise noted have been made by the writer personally, and this work has been done since the reorganization of the Kentucky Geological Survey in April, 1920. It is sincerely hoped that the informative material contained within these pages will be of material assistance to all who are interested in our mineral resource conservation and development. This book is issued by the Kentucky Geological Survey as Volume 2, of Series 6, in an edition of 2,000 cloth bound, and may be had upon request for 20 cents postage.

Director and State Geologist. Old State Capitol, Frankfort, Kentucky. March 1, 1921.

The rapid drilling up of the known oil pools of the United States, iiflp Mexico and Canada, and the great difficulty and infrequency with which new pools are brought in, has within the last year or two turned the eyes of capitalists generally to the possibilities of the commercial exploitation of oil shales in this and other states. The fact that crude oil, gases, and other useful materials could be secured by destructive and similar methods of distillation or retorting of certain bituminous shales has been well known for a great many years. Within the last few years an increasingly large number of private and public examinations

Seventy-Five Feet Of Oil Shale.

The black Chattanooga Shale is cut on the John Everman farm by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad about three miles west of Clay City, Powell County, Ky.

have been made on the oil shales of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio in the Eastern United States; and in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming in the Western United States.

It now appears as a result of these investigations that while the Western shales show a much higher oil content in gallons per

Geo.— 1

y PAPERS ON KENTUCKY GEOLOGY

ton (50 to 80 gallons per ton), the oil shales of the Eastern United States with a smaller oil content (varying from 8 to 30 gallons per ton), bid fair to compete on equal or even better terms of commercialization, due to their location in close proximity to the center of the consuming population of the United States.

In Kentucky three separate and easily recognizable bituminous shales or groups of shales are recognized. First of these proceeding downward in order of super-position is a group of shales found in the Pottsville (Pennsylvanian) at various horizons in the Eastern and the "Western Kentucky Coal Fields. These shales are generally thin, varying from one to five feet.

"ZT OUTI./NE M0f>

OUTCROP of THE

Kentucky

ay W.ft Ji/'son. Jto+eGeoJoytat WAC

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

and are not considered at present of commercial importance. Distillation records of representative samples are herewith appended.

The second, or next lower bituminous shale, is the Sunbury, which occurs toward the base of the Waverly (Mississippian). The Sunbury shale varies from four feet in Powell county to 16 1-4 feet in Rowan county. At Vanceburg, on the Ohio river, in Lewis county, it is 15 feet thick, and was worked for its oil or paraffin content a number of years ago. The Sunbury shale is considered in some locations, at least, to be a commercial possibility at the present time.

The third and lowest oil shale of present day commercial importance in this State is the Chattanooga or Ohio black shale (Upper Devonian). This shale varies from 20 to 45 feet in thickness, generally, along its outcrop which occurs as a narrow belt around the central Blue Grass section of this State, in the Cumberland river valley, and some adjacent minor watercourses. It outcrops in 33 counties in Kentucky and underlies the major portion of the State with the exception of the Blue Grass, from which it has been denuded, and perhaps "The Purchase," where, if it occurs, it would be found at great depths.

A Splendid Black Shale Outcrop.

The view is on the T. B. Ware farm in the cut of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad about three miles west of Clay City, Powell County, Ky.

4 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

It has been computed that the area of outcrop of the Devonian black shale in Kentucky is 1,018 square miles, or 651,520 acres. The area not workable due to too advanced exposure is placed at 254 square miles, or 162,560 acres. Allowing approximately 1,000 feet as the outside limit of stripping of cover from outcrop, a total of 953 square miles, or 609,920 acres, is found available for the purpose of industrial operation. The table listing these various areas in the form in which they were computed is given herewith :

Computed Areas Of Chattanooga Black Shale In Kentucky.

a

t

J Cd

iS

M °

Cd

§3

3 o

s

T—

'S

J.o

0

o3

rR

O r

Cd E

M

H O

a

;Pq°

Section

s

Cd

s

m

Cd

s

Cd

O

o1

Cj

o1

o

o1

O

Gq

Dq

m

Western1

Eastern2

Southern3

Totals

west and northwest of Stanford. 2Area east and northeast of Stanford. 3Area generally south and southwest of Stanford, including a part of the Cumberland River Valley and adjacent water sheds.

Destructive distillation tests have been carried forward on 19 samples of the Devonian black shale and two of the Pennsylvanian black shale, with the result that Taylor county shows the highest oil content of 27.75 gallons per short ton, and Rockcastle county the lowest, with 8 gallons per short ton. Other methods of distillation of the shale might increase the recoverable oil content of the shale in the sampled localities. Some private investigators report as high as 42 gallons to the ton, but this amount is not herewith authenticated for Devonian shale

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

First Kentucky Oil Shale Operation.

The Devon Shale Products Company has now under way the gradingpreparatory to the erection of their plant at about one mile west of Clay City, Powell County, Ky. This company has 424 acres that will average 80 feet in thickness on the Red River and % mile from the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

though it is a distinct possibility in the cannel-shales of the Pottsville. The table showing the tests is appended. Computations based on the area of commercially important outcrop as given above totals 953 square miles, or 609,920 acres. Using

Black Shale At Argyle.

The view shows a natural exposure of seventy-five feet of black Chattanooga Shale on the A. M. Morehead farm.

6 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

the average oil content of 16.08 gallons per ton, gives a possible recoverable quantity of oil of 12,308,217,065 barrels. Allowing a possible profit of $5.00 per barrel on the total operation, including mining and distillation of the shales, and the manufacture of the various by-products, the net value of the crude oil locked in the Devonian black shale amounts to $61,901,085,305. While the figures as given herewith are intended to be conservative, it is realized that they are in fact very large. In reviewing the possibilities of the commercialization of the Kentucky oil shales, it will be well if the inexperienced will recall that the tarry oil as first recovered from the shale is not salable to any crude oil pipe line. The production of shale oil actually entails complete refining of the first tarry distillate, and later includes the manufacture of a long list of by-product commodities on the ground. The ideal plant will, therefore, comprise mining, refining and manufacturing, and present a very complicated problem of mining, mechanical and chemical engineering, as well as a business organization.

Field Development Under Way.

While most of the work in Kentucky oil shales has been of the laboratory experimental type to date, there are now certain evidences of expansion into field operations. Of the number of companies incorporated in this State for oil shale development, the Devon Oil Shale Corporation, organized in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been the first to get work started toward construction of its plant. Their location is close to Clay City, in Powell county, and considerable prospecting of quarry sites as well as grading has already been accomplished, as views in this report testify. Eight miles east of Mt. Sterling, in Montgomery county, but close to the Bath county line, the Central Oil Shale Corporation of Pittsburg, with a capitalization of $2,500,000, has selected a site for a plant, erected retaining walls, and made ready for construction. A plant site is reported to have been selected for Irvine in Estill county, and another for McKinney, in Lincoln county, while in the vicinity of Shepherdsville, or Lebanon Junction, in Bullitt county, it is reported that field developments will be started this year.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

Tables covering distillation records, gravities, bitumen and silicate analyses, etc., are herewith appended.

Table No. I.

Oil Content Of The Devonian Black Shale Of Kentucky

Approx. Gas

Gal. Per Vol. Per

County Short Ton Short Ton

The samples are listed by counties in the order of increase of

their oil content. While the gas content is variable it increases generally with the oil.

"These samples from the Pottsville of Pennsylvanian of eastern and western Kentucky, not from the Devonian Black Shale.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Kentucky Geological. Survey

fRANKfORT, KY SEWC3 W

Graphic Representation Ry Counties

Of The D/Stilled Oil Content

Of The

DEVONIAN SLACK SHALE AND OTHER SHALES //v

Kentucky

Com Pi Led And Drawn By , Director And State S£Olog13T Hoy. I, J92O

A// o// vo/umes f/gurtx* in £a//on3 short ton of 2OOO /As

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

Table No. Ii. Specific Gravities Of Kentucky Oil Shales.

Samples of black shale in lumps taken from original samples as given in Table No. I. The sample numbers are identical though the numbers of the counties as given do not correspond due to differing arrangement.

Weight of

County Specific Gravity 1 Cu. Ft., Lbs.

Average, 21 samples 2.173

Maximum, Powell County 2,406

Minimum, Elliott, Fleming 1.966

November 30, 1920.

Alfred M. Peter.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Cliffs Of Oil Shale.

This fine Devonian outcrop is in one of the several cuts of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad about a mile north of ShepardsviUe in Bullitt County, Ky.

A Hill Of Kentucky Oil Shale.

The smooth, gently rounded slope is characteristic of the remnant knobs of black Chattanooga Shale (Devonian). This view is near Clay City in Powell County, but would answer well for the thousand other points on the ring-of Devonian outcrop around the central Blue Grass region.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

o

W ba

J

i— i O

Oj 03 fl

5 a

s

ere olu

Co

P

OO rH 00 CO O OS OS O

Os

oo

rH rH CO

rH OS

en

CM rH to OS

o

rH

&,3ffl

Jo

t- tO CO CO rH O Tj<

o

O W Co

oo co IA

rH

en

rH Irt O CO

o

ui "3 te

rH

N-Jj S

imsa

o

rH

"M

1

2 1 i MS OT E

to

rH

tO rH CO O CO CO OS rH O CO rH 00

O

§

Co

Ss

"g

rH

1°

Js

u

O

Os

in

o

Co

M

rH rH tO

o

CO -5 C g

S

cn"3

en

Ja

OS CM CO tO

in> t- to o

o

Co

O OS t- Irt O U5

S5

Q

rH tO OS

rH

r5

3UIUI8I,jJ

o

rH t-

o

O i

H1

2a

en

Co

CO OS rH

r-i CO OO to

o

to

o

oo 5

rH t-

rH

Co O Oo Oo

O

Co

Cm Os O Oo O U5

rH 0

Cm

rH Ifl OS CO

O

a

rH

Cm 2-*

—

rH C-

o

rH

M|§

en

co to os cq in CM os cq

N. 3

OO CM tO

o

rH O ltd C3

o

Cm

o

rH 00

s

jl

IT5 OS OO OO CO t- OO OS

o

Cm O Co

Cm

Os

o

rH O U5 rH

—

H4 c2

o

rH 00

o

a £

E

?

en

—

os

o

iH OS t- CO OO rt< t- OS rH 00 to' rH C*-

o o o

rH

to

j?

c- to os

Co

"ll

O

La .

o

Sim3T

oo

v S

o

rH 00

o

rH

rH S g

J.

S

"3 i j 1

Eh

oJ '

Z d

£ p

O

cfl

2

a0*

O

o o

w

d

s

Eh

" oo

o

§5

£ o

S

I!

-s

It

"Stf

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Table No. Iv.

Nitrogen content of some samples of the Devonian black shale in Kentucky.

Lh

County

Oq

d

fl

pj

f

o

&

o

in

b

rH

oS

o

t-5

§

rt

b

s

J

u

j2?

Lab. No. G

Nitrogen

Per cent N. in

total combustible

DISTILLATION RECORDS OF KENTUCKY OIL SHALES Herewith are presented the detailed distillation and locational records of twenty-one specimens of Kentucky oil shales. The retorting was done by C. S. Grouse for the Kentucky Geological Survey.

Oil Shale At Junction City.

Boyle County has some excellent Devonian Shale exposures, as this one on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad near the new Cumberland Grocery storehouse at Junction City demonstrates.

Oil Shales Op Kentucky 13

Bath County.

Distillation No. 1.

Location: About a half a mile from Salt Lick on the Caney Road. Sample taken on a hill at about twenty-five feet above a clay seam which lies near the bottom of the deposit.

Results: Oil, crude, 11.25 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, poor.

Dated, 10/13/20.

BOYLE COUNTY. Distillation No. 2.

Location: In the western edge of Junction City near the building of the Kraemer Oil Co. Taken from a quarry on the north side of the road.

Results: Oil, crude, 11 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, fair.

Dated, 10/25/20.

BULLITT COUNTY. Distillation No. 3.

Location: Just out of Shepherdsville on the Louisville-Shepherds ville road at the gap in the knobs where the road crosses the L. .& N. R. R. on a high bridge. Sample taken from the railroad cut at the above location.

Results: Oil, crude, 5 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/9/20.

A Bullttt County Shale Outcrop.

There is a very thick and workable deposit of black Chattanooga Shale just north of Shepardsville, as this view on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad shows.

14 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

CASEY COUNTY. Distillation No. 4.

Location: About a quarter mile west of the gap in the knobs on the Hustonville-Bradfordsville pike. Sample taken from a small road quarry to the right of the road on Mrs. Power's farm.

Results: Oil, crude, 18 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/11/20.

CLARK COUNTY. Distillation No. 5.

Location: About a half a mile east of Indian Fields on the Winchester-Clay City road.) Sample taken from an old road quarry situated just over the crest of a hill from a school house.

Results: Oil, crude, 11 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, fair.

Dated, 10/21/20.

ELLIOTT COUNTY. Distillation No. 6.

Location: From the first 100 feet of the Basal-Pottsville exposed in the branch at the head of Corn Hollow on the Charles LeMaster farm on the head waters of Big Sinking Creek.

Results: Oil, crude, 17.25 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, excellent.

Dated, 10/30/20.

This bituminous shale was collected from the Lower Pottsville formation on the head waters of Big Sinking Creek in Elliott County, Ky., by W. R. Jillson, Sept., 1920. It is not the Black or Chattanooga (Devonian) Shale.

ESTILL COUNTY. Distillation No. 7.

Location: About two miles from Irvine on the opposite side of the Kentucky River as the road goes to Richmond.

Results: Oil, crude, 22 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, excellent.

Da-ted, 9/— /1920.

FLEMING COUNTY. Distillation No. 8.

Location: Taken from near the top of the first mountain east of Ringo's Mill. Sample came from near the top of the deposit.

Results: Oil, crude, 21.5 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, excellent.

Dated, 10/29/20.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 15

Garrard County.

Distillation No. 9.

Location: From the bottom of Copper Creek which is the Rockcastle-Garrard County line. Sample from the spot where Copper Creek road crosses the creek.

Results: Oil, crude, 21 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, excellent.

Dated, 10/23/20.

JEFFERSON COUNTY. Distillation No. 10.

Location: About one mile south of Twin Oaks Park on the Ash Bottom road. Sample taken from freshly blasted material from a well being dug on the L. & N. R. R. property at about 100 ft. to the right of the road.

Results: Oil, crude, 15.5 -gal. per short ton shale. Gas, fair.

Dated, 9/28/20.

LEWIS COUNTY. Distillation No. 11.

Location: About a mile and a half from Vanceburg on the Maysville road. Sample taken from cut along road.

Results: Oil, crude, 10.25 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good for a short time.

Dated, 10/16/20.

The Conley-Crabtree Outcrop.

An excellent natural exposure of the black Chattanooga Shale occurs on this farm in a bed of the Red River about two miles east of Clay City and one-half mile from the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The shale deposit here is about seventy-five feet thick.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

LINCOLN COUNTY. Distillation No. 12.

Location: About one mile from Milidgeville on the Black pike. Sample taken from the ditch alongside the road.

Results: Oil, crude, 15.5 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/8/20.

MADISON COUNTY. Distillation No. 13.

Location: In Berea. Sample taken from blasted material from the cellar of the house of the president of Berea College, Dr. Frost.

Results: Oil, crude, 18.5 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 9/30/20.

MARION COUNTY. Distillation No. 14.

Location: About a half mile east of Lebanon on the Lebanon- Danville pike. Sample taken from a quarry in Ryder's cemetery.

Results: Oil, crude, 16 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/17/20.

Detail Of Kentucky Oil Shale.

This exposure of black Chattanooga Shale is found in one of the several quarries of the Devon Shale Products Co., near Clay City. The view is characteristic of the fresh shale surface.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 17

MONTGOMERY COUNTY. Distillation No. 15.

Location: About eight miles east of Mt. Sterling on the Old Town road. Sample taken from ditch alongside road near the farm of Mr. Cravens. Sample from near the bottom of the deposit.

Results: Oil, crude, 19 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 9/27/20.

NELSON COUNTY. Distillation No. 16.

Location: About one mile from Boston on the Boston-Bardstown road. Sample taken from a quarry on top of a hill.

Results: Oil, crude, 19 gal. per ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/7/20.

POWELL COUNTY. Distillation No. 17.

Location: About one mile east of Clay City. Sample taken from the property of the Devon Oil Shale Products Company.

Results: Oil, crude, 16.75 gal. per ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/12/20.

ROCKCASTLE COUNTY. Distillation No. 18.

Location: On Boone Highway at Gum Sulphur. Sample taken from cut along road on the south side of Gum Sulphur Creek.

Results: Oil, crude, 8 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, poor.

Dated, 9/29/20.

Rowan County.

Distillation No. 19.

Location: At the quarry of the Rowan County Freestone Company. Sample taken from just below the soapstone.

Results: Oil, crude, 12.5 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, good.

Dated, 10/22/20.

Taylor County.

Distillation No. 20.

Location: Outcrop in Robinson Creek near Mansville, Taylor County.

Results: Oil, crude, 27.75 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, excellent.

Dated, 10/30/20.

18 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

WEBSTER COUNTY. Distillation No. 21.

Location: From ,the farm of Harden Asher near Tilden.

Results: Oil, crude, 8.25 gal. per short ton shale. Gas, fair.

Dated, 11/1/20.

This bituminous shale was collected from the Pottsville formation in Webster County, Ky., by W. R. Jillson, Sept., 1920. It is not the Black or Chattanooga (Devonian) Shale.

Separate Analyses Of Kentucky Oil Shales.

ESTILL COUNTY. Analysis No. 1.

Laboratory No. 56357. — Devonian black shale from Estill County, Ky., brought March 21, 1919, by H. D. Kremer.* Sample, a V2 Ib. of clean shale without appearance of weathering but containing some pyrite.

Analysis of the air-dried sample. Pen cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.5

Volatile combustible matter 26.6

Salmon-colored ash y 68.5

Total combustible matter 31.0

Sulfur 4.86

Nitrogen 0.67

Per cent of N in the total combustible matter 2.16

March 21, 1919.

Analysis No. 2.

Laboratory No. 56358. — Crude oil distilled by H. D. Kremer from the Estill County black shale. He reports the yield at the rate of about 23 gallons per ton by laboratory test. Sample, a thin, brown oil having the characteristic shale-oil odor.

Specific gravity, 0.900 or 25.6° B.

Per cent Distillate below 150° C. (302° F.) by volume

Gasoline fraction 16.3

Distillate from 150° to 300° C. (302-572° F.)

Kerosene fraction 39.3

Brown liquid residue and loss, by difference 44.4

"These results were privately published by Mr. Kremer in a pamphlet, in 1919.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

A Boyle County Shale Outcrop.

This view is on the Jack Adams farm, three miles west of Junction City. This deposit of Devonian black shale is located on the Danville- Lebanon pike and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

Experiment II, using 250 grams of shale in the same apparatus and heating faster, gave:

Per cent I by weight

Tar 7.29

Water 2.00

Residue 85.80

Gas and loss - 4.91

Total 100.00

The residue was found to contain:

Per cent.

Volatile combustible matter 13.13

Fixed carbon 3.90

Ash 68.77

Calculated as per cent of the residue, this gives:

Per cent.

Volatile combustible matter 15.30

Fixed carbon 4.55

Ash . 80.15

20 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Experiment III, 250 gr. distilled in the same apparatus, raising the heat as rapidly as possible, gave:

Per cent by weight

Tar 8.15

Water 2.00

Residue 85.60

Gas and loss 4.25

A Powell County Shale Exposure.

The view is along-the Louisville and Nashville Railroad cut on the John Everman farm about three miles west of Clay City.

Inasmuch as the 'three experiments were made upon different portions of the same powdered sample, in the same apparatus, the only difference being in the rate of heating, it is evident that rapid heating gives a larger yield of tar than slow heating. Calculating on the basis of a ton these yields would correspond to 132.2 Ibs., 145.8 Ibs. and 163 Ibs. of tar per ton of shale, or 14.9 gallons, 16.4 gallons and 18.3 gallons per ton, respectively, assuming the specific gravity of the tar to be 0.9 (25.6° B.).

The tar obtained in these experiments was not fractionated. (Analyses and tests by A. M. Peter.) March 21, 1919.

Analysis No. 3.

Laboratory No. 56312. — Devonian black shale from Estill County brought February 13, 1919, by Prof. W. R. Jillson. Sample, a 3V2 Ib.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 21

piece of hard shale, showing some weathered surfaces and a plate of pyrite on one side. Ground half the lump for analysis, after breaking off the pyrite and weathered parts.

Analysis of the air-dried sample. Pen cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.69

Volatile combustible matter 26.56

Fixed carbon 2.77

Yellowish-brown ash 69.98

Total 100.00

Total combustible matter 29.33

Sulfur 1.87

Nitrogen 0.57

Per cent nitrogen in the total combustible

matter 1.94

Qualitative tests show that the shale contains some calcium carbonate, iron carbonate and traces of phosphate and zinc sulfid.

Three experiments were made by distilling the coarsely powdered shale in a small iron retort heated by a gas burner.

Experiment 1, using 200 grams of shale and heating slowly, gave:

Per cent by weight

Thick reddish-brown tar 6.61

Water 1.75

Black, pulverulent residue 88.00

Gas and loss, by difference 3.64

The reddish-brown tar becomes dark brown on exposure to the air. Its odor is like that of bone oil and it gives a good test for pyrrol (Analysis by A. M. Peter.) November 18, 1920.

HANCOCK COUNTY. Analysis No. 4.

Laboratory No. 17873.— -Black shale sent in October, 1907, by H. Y. Smith, Lewisport, Hancock County, Ky., to determine if it has any value as a fertilizer.

Analysis by digestion in hydrochloric acid (1.115 sp. gr.), gave:

Per cent.

Phosphorus, P 0.16

22 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

CASEY COUNTY. Analysis No. 5.

Laboratory No. 25767. — Black shale sent in January, 1910, by Jesse Lawhorn, Yosemite, Casey County, Ky., from his farm 4 miles south of that place.

Analysis of the air-dried sample. Peri cent.

Volatile combustible matter and moisture 13.10

Fixed carbon . 10.77

Dark gray ash 76.13

Total combustible matter . 23.87

Phosphorus 0.13

November 19, 1920.

LAUREL COUNTY. Analysis No. 6.

Laboratory No. 56319. — Cannel shale, Lee formation, Laurel County, Ky., collected by Prof. A. M. Miller. Sample brought by Prof. Miller, February 19, 1919.

Analysis of the air-dried sample. Pei\ cent.

Moisture at 105° C 1.24

Volatile combustible matter 34.88

Fixed carbon 44.44

Purple ash 19.44

Total combustible matter .: 79.32

A distillation of 175 grams in the same retort used for the Devonian shale gave:

Tar 14.4

Water 5.5

Gas and loss, by difference 9.3

The tar had a distinct odor of phenol (carbolic acid). The yield of tar is at the rate of 288 Ibs. to the ton of shale, or 32.4 gallons, assuming the specific gravity to be 0.9. (Analysis by A. M. Peter.) November 19, 1920.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 23

Morgan County.

Analysis No. 7.

Laboratory No. G-4039. — Black shale, labeled "Cannel slate (oil shale) from two-foot outcrop in creek on the farm of Dr. J. Gullett, one-half mile above Wrigley, Morgan County, Kentucky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, Dec. 13, 1920." Sample, a 4 Ib. piece of slate-black shale, weathered on two edges, with flat conchoidal fracture and containing some pyrite; considerable effloresced ferrous sulfate was visible on the more weathered surface. Broke off the weathered parts.

Analysis of the air-dried sample. Per, cent.

Moisture 1.29

Volatile combustible matter „ 37.90

Fixed carbon 30.40

Ash . . 30.41

Total 100.00

Total combustible 68.30

Sulfur 1.18

Phosphorus , 0.10

Nitrogen 0.75

Per cent nitrogen in total combustible 1.10

Color of sample, slate-black.*

Carbonate present

Specific gravity ..., 1.957

Weight per cubic foot 121.96

TAYLOR COUNTY. Analysis No. 8.

Laboratory No. G-4021. — Black shale, received November 24, 1920, from Prof. W. R. Jillson, labeled "near Mansville, Taylor County, 11-19-20." Sample, about % Ib. of "fuscous black" colored shale, from %" to dust.

"Ridgeway's Standards.

24 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Analysis.

Analysis of the air-dried sample. Per cent.

Moisture 1.10

Volatile combustible matter 18.38

Fixed cartoon 13.12

Total 100.00

Total combustible 31.50

Sulfur 1.44

Phosphorus 0.22

Nitrogen 0.63

Per cent nitrogen in total combustible 2.06

Color of sample, "fuscous black."*

Carbonate, a trace.

Specific gravity, 1.964.

Weight per cubic foot, 122.43 Ibs.

Analysis Of Sunbury Oil Shale.

In 1866, in the months of February, March, April and May, Dr. Robert Peter did considerable work on two lots of crude oil obtained by distillation from Devonian black shale at the "Lingula Shale Oil Works," Vanceburg, Lewis Co., Ky., sent by William F. Patterson.

The material is described as a "dark, nearly black, rather thin, tar-like oil" and the yield is noted as being "about 20 gallons to 2,000 Ibs." of shale.

One of the lots examined is described as having been produced by "the destructive distillation of Devonian black slate" and the other as having been produced "by the use of superheated steam." The specific gravity of the first is given as 0.935 (19.7° B.) and of the second as 0.933 (20.1° B.). The second lot is described as being a little lighter colored than the first; otherwise they seem to have been practically identical. No statement is made as to the yield by steam distillation.

The work seems to have been directed mainly toward purifying the distillates for the production off burning oil, lubricating oil and the more volatile products (gasoline). The result of a fractional distillation is recorded as follows:

*Ridgeway's Standards.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

Distilled Distilled Distilled Distilled Distilled Distilled

from from from from from from

240 to 245° 245, to 300° 300 to 400° 400 to 480° 480 to 560° 560 to 600°

F

Per cent.

Specific gravity. Specific gravity. Specific gravity. Specific gravity.

Pitchy residue and loss 29.7

This might be summarized as:

Per cent.

Gasoline fraction 3.6

Burning oil fraction , 38.5

Paraffin oil fraction 28.2

Pitchy residue and loss 29.7

Dr. Robt. Peter seems not to have identified any chemical products except pyrrol and phenol (carbolic acid) both of which were detected. November 19, 1920.

With a view to determining whether the silica contained in the residues from distillation of the shales would render them immediately suitable for use in the manufacture of Portland cement a number of silicate analyses have been made on the various shales. In the following tables the first gives results calculated from the original sample. In the other second the percentages have been secured by computation of the residue or ash remaining after the burn. The figures show that the residue is not suitable immediately for the making of Portland cement. It is possible, however, that this residue might be used in combination with a more silicious material so as to balance the ratio of the alumni and iron oxide to the silica properly. The ratio as it stands in the residues remaining after the burning is too low. Another way to state it is to say that the silica is deficient as compared to the alumina and iron. The tables follow.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Table No. V. Silicate Analyses Of Black Shales.

County Laboratory Number

Lincoln G-4004

ss

o

mo

W3 00

Jo

sS

Ho

-H t-

rH

02

H6

Webster G-4018

Moisture at 104° C.

Loss on burning

Silica SiO2

Alumina, A12O3

Ferric oxid, Fe2O3*

Calcium oxid, CaO

Magnesium oxid, MgO

Potassium oxid, K,O

Sodium oxid, Na2O

Titanium dioxid, TiO2

Phosphorus pentoxid, P2O5

Total

Table No. Vi.

Silicate Analyses, Calculated As Per Cent Of The Burned Shale.

County Laboratory Number

Lincoln G-4004

ss

2?

wo

Jo

Wo

'-*J O

Ho

Webster G-4018

Silica, SiO2

Alumina, A12O3

Ferric oxid, Fe2O3

Calcium oxid CaO

Magnesium oxid, MgO . .

Potassium oxid, K2O

Sodium oxid, Na2O

Titanium dioxid, TiO2

Phosphorus pentoxid, P2O5

Total

*The iron is in the ferrous condition in the shale.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

Table No. Vii.

Hypothetical Combinations In The Samples Of Black

Shale.

Assuming that the sulfur is from pyrite, the iron from this and ferrous carbonate, the alkalies and alumina from orthoclase and kaolinite, the phosphorus from tricalcium phosphate and the lime and magnesia from the carbonates.

County Laboratory Number

rt

z%

ss

o

m

"-*J O

M

3°

wo

Ho

®

Water at 105° C

Kaolinite A12SLO- 2H2O

Orthoclase, Al2Si6O16.. Pyrite FeS2

Ferrous carbonate, FeCO3 Calcium carbonate, CaCO3 Magnesium carbonate, MgCO3 Tricalcium phosphate, Ca3P2O8 Free silica SiOo

Titanium dioxid TiO2

Combustible matter, by difference

Total

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF On. SHALE

Although still an infant in its American development, the oil shale industry has forged ahead with marvelous strides, especially in the west in Colorado and Utah and adjoining states. In keeping with the field and laboratory advance, there has been a corresponding growth in the literature pertaining to oil shales, their location, geology, methods of retorting and refining. In a necessarily brief treatise such as is here presented on Kentucky, it is manifestly impossible to go into all the interesting and important details of the oil shale industry now set forth in the published literature. This information must remain for a later, more comprehensive, and separate treatment.

Believing, however, that there are many now interested in the advancement of the oil shale industry in Kentucky, to whom a good bibliography on the subject would be of much value,

28 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

the following list of titles, partially annotated, is herewith presented. Not claiming completeness as a virtue, it contains much, however, that should be of interest to prospective operators of Kentucky oil shale. The names of all publishers are given, so that those desiring may secure the information directly by correspondence. The publications here listed are, with a very few exceptions, either freely distributed or procurable for a small charge.

Baskerville, Charles.

The Scotch Oil Shales in discussion. Eng. & Mining Jour., July 24, 1909, p. 150. Historical sketch and present status of Scotch industry.

Redwood, Boverton.

A Treatise on Petroleum. 3v., 3d. ed., 1913. Lond., Griffin. V. 2. pp. 83-139, general information on oil shale, occurrence, devolpiment and history

Talbot, F. A.

The Oil Conquest of the World. 1914. Phila., Lippincott. 310 pp. P. 179-193. Oil from shales; a British industry. A good, popular history of the industry in Scotland.

Woodruff, E. G. and Day, D. T.

Oil Shale of Northeastern Colorado and Northeastern Utah. 1914. 21 pp. (U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 581-A.)

Winchester, Dean E.

Oil Shale in Northwestern Colorado and Adjacent Areas. 1916. 50 pp. (U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 641F.) Extensive tables of results of distillations of oil shale, chemical analyses of oil shale, (geology of the shale fields.

Ashley, George H.

Oil Resources of Black Shales of the Eastern United States. U. S. Geol. Survey. Bull. 641-L. pp. 311-324. 1917. Location of deposits, analytical tests. References to Kentucky. Future development.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 29

Adkinson, Henry M.

Colorado and Utah all Important Oil Shale. Railroad Red Book. Vol. No. 9. Sept., 1918, pp. 5, 6, 7, 9, 11. Discusses American shales and their development.

Bowen, C. F.

Phosphatic Oil Shales near Dell and Dillon, Montana. U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 661. Permian oil shales are found to contain phosphate.

Day, D. T.

Colorado Oil Shales to Save the World. 1918. (Min. Amer., Feb. 2, 1918, p. 7.) It costs $1.25 a ton to mine Scotch shales. Colorado shales can be worked at much less cost.

Egloff, Gustav, and Morrell, James C.

Suply of Oil Available from Shales. Oil and Gas Journal. Aug. 9, 1918. Also Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXV, No. 10 and No. 11, Oct. and Nov., 1918. In the future oil produced by drilling greatly decreasing will stimulate oil shale industry.

Gilbert, Chester G. and Pogue, Joseph E.

Development of Oil Shales— a chapter in Petroleum, a Resource Interpretation. Smithsonian Institution, U. S. Nat. Museum Bull. 102. Part 6. 1918. Discusses the ultimate supply of oil in shale reserve.

Hoskins, A. J.

Oil Shale Industry. 1918. (Min. & Sci. Pr., v. 116, p. 509-16.) In Scotland, 30 gals, of crude oil per ton of shale is the maximum amount extracted, and often only 10 to 15 gals, are obtained. In America an average 'grade of shale upon which to base activities should contain 42 gals., or one barrel, per ton.

Jensen, J.

Jensen Education OiShale Process. 1918. (Salt Lake Min. Rev., v. 20, pp. 23-26.) Describes a continuous process of oil extraction using mechanically fed educators.

Mitchell, Guy Elliott.

Billions of Barrels of Oil Locked up in Rocks. Nat. Geog. Mag., Feb., 1918. Presents a diminishing petroleum supply and the probabilities of oil shale utilization.

Morrell, J. C. and Egloff, G.

Destructive Distillation of Oil Shales. 1918. (Chem. & Met. Eng., v. 19, pp. 90-96.) Description of products, influence of sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen content, commercial possibilities.

30 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Morrell, J. C. and Egloff, G.

Economic Position of Oil Shales. 1918. (Met. & Chem. Eng., v. 18, pp. 601-7.) Economic distribution, methods of production and comparative yields. Many tables Oif yields and analyses. Discussion of above article on p. 112 of v. 19 of Chemi. & Met. Eng. under title: "Oil 'Shales, Alibertite, and Paper Shales."

Russell, William C.

Commercial Possibilities of the Oil Shale Industry in Colorado. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXV, No. 12, pp. 15-18. Dec., 1918. Historical, Scottish and Colorado shales and methods compared, geology, operating schedule, etc.

Silliman, B. J.

Where the Oil runs out of the Rocks. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXV, No. 18. Aug., 1918, pp. 5-8. Description of western oil shales.

Sundrelin, E. A.

A New Process Treatment of Oil Shale. Railroad Red Book. Vol. XXXV, No. 6, pp. 13-16. June, 1918. Discussess new methods of retorting.

Zeigler, Victor.

Oil Shales and their Utilization. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXV, No. 3, pp. 13-20. Mar., 1918. Discusses formation of oil shales, methods of retorting and refining and future commercialization.

Alderson, Victor C.

The Oil Shale Industry. Quarterly Colo. School of Mines, Vol. 14, No. 4, 15 pp. Oct., 1919. A new industry, conditions of development, historical sketch.

Bacon, Raymond F. and Hamor, Wm. A.

Problems on the Utilization of Fuels, Part I. Scientific American Supplement No. 2283, New York, Oct. 11, 1919. Problems on the Utilization of Fuels, Part II. Scientific American Supplement No. 2284, New York, Oct. 25, 1919.

Baskerville, Chas.

Value of American Oil-Shales. 1919. (A. I. M. E. Bull. 150, pp.

957-60.) Enormous resources now dormant in American oil-shales,

but their development requires large capital and best technical

skill.

Value of American Oil Shales. Oil, Paint & Drug Reporter, New

York, September 30, 1919.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 31

Bellis, Joseph.

Expert Information on Oil Shales. Oil & Gas Journal, Tulsa, Okla., July 25, 1919.

The Dawn of a New Industry. The Oil & Gas News, Kansas City, December 11, 1919.

Botkin, C. W.

The Composition of Oil Shale and Shale Oil. Quarterly Colo. School of Mines, Vol. 14, No. A, pp. 16-17, Oct., 1919. Analytical tests and results.

Bureau of Mines, Department of Interior.

Petroleum Investigations and Production of Helium. Bull. 178 C. Washington, June, 1919.

Bureau of Mines, State of Colorado.

The Oil Shales of Northwestern Colorado. Bulletin No. 8, Denver, August 1, 1919.

Chase, R. L.

The Oil Shale Industry in Colorado. Mining & Scientific Press, >San Francisco, January 18, 1919.

Clark, Frank R.

Oil & Gas in Utah. Engineering and Mining Journal, New York, October 25, 1919.

Colby, Lester B.

Mountains of Oil in the West. The Railroad Red Book, Denver, June, 1919, reprinted from "Petroleum Age," New York. Getting Your Gasoline. The Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia, December 20, 1919.

Condit, D. Dale.

Oil Shale in Western Montana, Southeastern Idaho and Adjacent Parts of Wyoming and Utah. 1919. 40 pp. (U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 711-B.) Gives geology of each area and yield of samples of shale taken from each. Two pages on distilling machinery and costs.

Cunningham, R. W.

Petroleum Refining. Scientific American Supplement No. 2885, New York, November 8, 1919.

Dean, E. W.

Gasoline as a Motor Fuel. Chemical Age, New York, December 25, 1919.

32 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Gavin, M. J., Hill, H. H., Perdew, W. E.

Notes on the Oil Shale Industry with Particular Reference to the Rocky Mountain District, with a Bibliography Compiled by M. J. Gavin. Bureau of Mines, Washinigton, May 1, 1919.

U. S. Bureau of Mdnes.

General Information on Oil Shales. U. S. Bureau of Mines. Mimeographed circular. Three letter pages, 1919. General discussion of conditions existing in the United States and comparison to Scottish industry.

Hager, Dorsey.

The Oil Shale Areas contained in the Search for New Oil Fields in the United States. Eng. and Mining Journ., Jan. 5, 1919. Forecasts the coming of shale mining for oil production similar to coal mining of today.

Hoskins, Arthur J.

Winning of Oil from Rocks. 1919. (Min. & Sci. Pr., v. 118, pp. 697-707.) Describes practice followed in oil-shale industry in Scotland, France and Germany. Tells what the author believes should be accomplished with similar shales in U. S.

Knight, Betty Y.

Shale Oil's Prospects as a Woman Sees Them. The Railroad Red Book, Denver, July, 1919.

McCoy, A. W.

Oil Accumulation. Journal of Geology, Chicago, Vol. 27, page 252. Oil Shales of Northwestern Colorado. 1919. 59 pp. (Bureau of Mines, State of Colorado. Bull. 8, 1919.) Commercial possibilities and precautions that must be taken in mining. Geological notes and bibliography.

Pearse, A. L.

Oil Shale. Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, January 25, 1919.

Present Status of Oil Shales. 1919. (Chem. & Met. Eng., v. 20, pp. 28-31.) Tells of activities in various western states. Discussion of above article, v. 20, pp. 204-5.

Prevost, C. A.

Commercial Treatment of Oil Shale. The Railroad Red Book, Denver, April, 1919.

Roeschlaub, H. M.

Possibilities of the Oil Shale Industry. Railroad Red Book. Vol. XXXVI. No. 12. Dec., 1919. pp. 903, 904, 905, 907, 909. Probaible extent of the business shown. American and foreign practices. Values of oil and by-products. Retorting and refining.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky

Simpson, Louis.

Oil Yielding Shales in the Province of New Brunswick. Bulletin Canadian Mining Institute, Ottawa, January, 1919. Present Status of Oil Shale. Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, New York, March 1, 1919.

The Importance of the Retort in the Economic Utilization of Oil Yielding Shales. Bulletin Canadian Institute of Mining Engineers, March, 1919.

The Importance of the Retort to the Exploitation of Colorado Shales. The Railroad Red Book, Denver, May, 1919. Oil Shales. Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, New York, August 15, 1919.

Oil Shale. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVI, No. 11, Nov., 1919, pp. 839, 840, 841, 843. Reprint from Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. States that a new method of retorting must be developed to handle oil shale in America.

Skerrett, Robert G.

A Vast Reserve of Oil. Munsey's Mlagazine, Feb., 1919. A popular and very readable article.

Makinlg Fuel from Oil and Powdered Coal. Illustrated World, Chicago, August, 1919.

Stalmann, Otto.

Notes on Oil Shale and Its Treatment for the Production of Crude Oil. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXVI, No. 3, pp. 281-288. Mar. 1, 1919. Scotch and American shales compared, a newly proposed method for retorting American shales.

The Distillation of Oil Shale and Refining of the Products. 1919. (Gas Engine, v. 21, p. 371-4.) Gives outline of the Stalmann- Wells process.

The Dawn of a New Industry. The Oil & Gas News, Kansas City, December 4, 1919.

White, David.

The Unmined Supply of Petroleum in the United States. Automotive Industries, New York, February 13, 1919. Also, National Petroleum News, February 12, 1919.

Williams, John C.

The Production of Shale Oil. Quarterly Colo. Sch. Mines. Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 17-40, Oct., 1919. Methods, apparatus, and costs discussed

Geo— 2

34 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The Production of Shale Oil, Part I. The Oil & Gas News, Kansas City, November 20, 1919.

The Production of Shale Oil, Part II. The Oil & Gas News, Kansas City, November 27, 1919.

Winchester, Dean E.

Oil Shale and Its Development in the United States. Railroad Red Book, Jan., 1919. Also separate reprint, pp. 20-26. Locations ol deposits, methods and machinery, products and by-products and costs.

Oil Shale of the Uinta Basin, Northwestern Utah, and Results of

Dry Distillation of Miscellaneous Shale Samples. 1919. (U. S.

Geol. Survey Bull. 691, pp. 27-55.)

Oil Shales. Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, June,

Oil Shales of America. Petroleum Times, London, Eng., July,

Oil Shale and Its Development in the United States. Chemical Age, New York, August, 1919.

The Oil Shales of Colorado and Utal Part I. Reprinted by permission from Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, June, 1919. The Railroad Red Book, Denver, September, 1919.

The Oil Shales of Colorado and Utah, Part II. Reprinted by permission from Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, July, 1919. The Railroad Red Book, Denver, October, 1919.

Wolf, H. J.

Commercial Possibilities of Oil Shale. Engineering and Mining Journal, New York, February 1, 1919.

Commercial Possibilities of Oil Shale. 1919. (Eng. & Min. Jnl., v. 107, pp. 217-19.) Compares methods used in Colorado and Utah fields with those used in Scotland.

Wright, C. W.

Oil Shale Deposits Must be Developed. Oil & Gas News, Kansas City, August 8, 1919.

Alderson, Victor C.

The Oil Shale of Colorado. 1920. (Pet. Times, v. 3, pp. 225-26.) Production Oif oil assured for 800 years. Tables and figures.

The Present Status of the American Oil Shale Industry. 1920. (Pet. Times, v. 3, 275-76.) Consider costs of production, practical development, financial aspect.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 35

The Shale Oil Industry. Mag., New York Petroleum Exchange, Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 10, 11, 12. Oct., 1920. Excerpted discussion of Scottish methods and adaptability to American shales.

The Oil Shale Industry in 1920. The Mining Congress Journal Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 65-66. A resume of the year's developments in the industry, with specific reference to Kentucky oil shales.

The Present Status o,f the Oil Shale Industry. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, Jan., 1920, pp. 19, 21, 23, 25, 29, 31. A resume and discussion of the development of the industry in America. The oil shale industry, 15 illustrations, 175 pp. Frederick A. Stokes Co. A complete presentation of the status of the shale oil industry in the western United States.

Bishop, James A.

The Distillation of Shale Oil. 1920. (Min. & Sci. Pr., v. 120, p. 371-75.) Constructive vs. Destructive Distillation. Chemical and physical properties. Three grades of distillates. Fractioning the three grades. Paraffins, olefins, and 'benzenes. Cracking the heavy oils. Viscosity retards distillation. Use of steam in distillation. The distill a contribution to success or failure. How Oil is Manufactured in Nature's Laboratory. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 11, Nov., 1920, pp. 979-984. Discusses natural formation of oil shales and present condition.

Carson, J. Harry.

Oil Shale Bibliography for 1919. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, Jan., 1920, pp. 33, 34, 35, 36. A complete list of all literature relating to the oil shale industry published in 1919.

Grouse, C. S.

The Oil Shales of Estill County, Ky. The Engineering and Mining Journal, Vol. 110, No. 1, pp. 24-27, July 23, 1920. Discusses average yield per ton based on laboratory methods which are described.

De Beque, G. Robert.

Oil Shale Development Depends Largely on Engineering Profession. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 11, Nov., 1920, pp. 971-975. Discusses scientific methods and costs.

Ells, S. C.

Notes on the Economic Aspect of a Canadian Oil-Shale Industry. 1920. (Off. Jnl., Can. Inst. of Chemi., v. 4, pp. 181-88.) Statistics and suggestions relating to development of an oil-shale industry in New Brunswick. Review of work done in Scotland. Bibliography.

36 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Franks, Arthur J.

Possibilities in the Utilization of Oil Shale Gases. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 5, May, 1920. Discusses adaptability in manufacture of alcohols, ethers, motor fuels, explosives, etc.

Gavin, Martin J.

The Destructive Distillation of Oil Shale. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 4, April, 1920, pp. 442-445. The principles of oil shale retorting are outlined.

George, Russell D.

Oil Shale Problems. Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 7, July, 1920, pp. 643-$53. Various methods and yields discussed.

Haanel, B. F.

Report on Test of New Brunswick Oil Shales in the Wallace Retort. Summary Report Mines Branch, Canadian Dept. of Mines. 1920. Describes the Wallace retort and the results of its use.

Low, Albert H.

Requirements of a Furnace or Apparatus for the Maximum Production of Oil from Shale. 1920. (Col. Sch. of Mines Mag., v. 10, pp. 25-29.) Discusses the fundamental principles involved in retorting oil shales in order to produce a refinable oil. OilnShale Leases. 1920. (U. S. General Land Office Circular, 671-2.)

Parsons, Floyd W.

Oil from Shale. Saturday Eveninlg Post, March 20, 1920. Also reprint Railroad Red Book, Vol. XXXVII, No. 4, April, 1920, pp. 435, 439, 440, 441. The amount of oil shale in the United States and the chances for its commercialization.

Russell, William C.

The Oil Shale Industry. Mag. New York Petroleum Exchange, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 14, 15, 19, August, 1920. Discusses commercial possibilities in the United States, recent developments, and outlook for production.

Simpson, Louis.

Recovery of Nitrogen Contained in Oil Shales. 1920. (Chem. & Met. Eng., v. 22, pp. 20-22.) Writer believes that future of oilshale industry is largely dependent on the construction of a single purpose retort that can be erected at low cost and which will recover the maximum quantity of oil.

Oil Shales Of Kentucky 37

Thomas, Kirby.

Development of the Oil-Shale Industry in the United States. 1920. (Commerce and Finance, June 30, 1920.) General article on present situation and possibilities.

Wuensch, C. Erb.

Diamond Drilling, the Ideal Method of Sampling Oil-Shale Deposits. 1920. (Col. Sch. of Mines Mag., v. 10, pp. 29-30.) Because of the inaccessibility and magnitude of Colorado shale deposits, it is impossible to sample them thoroughly. Suggests diamond drilling as the logical method of sampling. Oil-shale bibliography for 1919.

Fettke, Chas. R.

Oil from Pennsylvania Shales and Coals — Preliminary Report. Bureau of Topog. and Geological Survey of Pa., Jan. 1, 1921. Location, geology and adaptability of Pennsylvania oil shales to commerfcialization.

Jillson, Williard Rouse.

The Oil Shales of Kentucky. Read before Am. Ass'n Petroleum Geologists, Mar. 18, 1921. Pub. by same in Bull. 5.

A Preliminary Report on the Oil Shales of Kentucky. Ky. Geol. Survey, Series VI, Vol. II, Paper I. 1921.

Karrick, L. C.

A Convenient and Reliable Retort for Assaying Oil Shales for Oil Yield. U. S. B. of Mines. Mar. 1921.

Fettke, Chas. R.

Oil from Pennsylvania Shales and Coals. Preliminary Report. Bureau of Topog. and Geol. Surv. of Pa., 15 pp. Jan. 1, 1921.

Manuscript completed Mar. 1, 1921.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt— The Ideal Road

Surface.

Introduction.

The dawn of a new day for better roads in Kentucky is at hand. With the close of the World War and the return of national thought to the upbuilding of our country, there has come as a fundamentally important part of the program of reconstruction, the studied popular desire to do now a great work in national road building. This movement has developed its greatest momentum within the last year, though it really found its inception in the minds of a few progressive and far seeing individuals and statesmen a full decade ago.

Good roads were to be found at various and disconnected places throughout the northern and north-eastern states and to a very limited extent in Kentucky previous to 1900, but they had been established, for the most part, as a local convenience, and expressed little more than the progressiveness and civic pride of the immediate section in which they were located. The national conscience, so far as an intersecting system of good and passable roads was concerned, had not yet awakened. What a great contrast to today, when state after state in this great union takes up this difficult problem of interstate and intercounty seat roads as one of the most fundamental problems for its present and future development. Meetings of farmers, bankers, town and city councils, the voting of bond issues by municipalities, counties and states, running from a few hundred thousand dollars to ten and twenty millions of dollars are all straws of greater or lesser value before the wind of this forward-looking movement for good and better roads.

As would, of course, be natural, the impetus given by thousands of good road campaigns, local, county and state-wide, has resulted in a careful investigation of all old methods of durable road building. At the same time much thought and money have been expended to bring out and present before an interested

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Face Op Nolin River Quarry.

Close-up view of quarry now being-operated by the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co. on the Nolin River in Edmonson County, Ky.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt

public new methods and new materials for the construction of town, city and country roads. So it has come to pass that the engineering technique of road building as well as the quality, durability, cheapness, accessibility, and what not other virtues of every kind of scientifically constructed durable road, has been on trial, as it were, before a very critical audience. And this audience has been more than ordinarily critical, due to the fact that the decision with respect to the choice of the kind of road to be built has had, and is to have, a greater and more direct bearing on the pocketbook of each and every individual taxpayer.

During the growth of this nation-wide good roads movement. Kentucky, somewhat more fortunate than her sister states, has developed from her own resources a new, practical and economical kind of road, which is surfaced with asphaltic rock,

A Well, Known Asphalt Road.

The 18th Street Road (Dixie Highway) leading-out of Louisville to Camp Knox. Here may be found 7% miles of Kentucky Rock Asphalt laid on a macadam base. This road was constructed in 1915 and 1916 under State aid. During-the period of the war it carried an average of 4,200 vehicles per day, a large percentage of which was heavy army trucks. Topography of the Ohio River bottom.

42 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

a home product. Asphalt rock or "black rock," as it is more commonly called by the natives in those sections where it natur ally outcrops, is found in very fine quality and large quantities in the southern-central and the north-eastern parts of this Commonwealth. The use of Kentucky asphalt rock as an ideal road material has gone forward in the last few years so quietly and satisfactorily that few people will believe that it is today being used as a pavement and rendering excellent service throughout many states, and in this state, in the cities, and country vicinities of Louisville, Lexington, Hopkinsvilie, Louisa, Lawrenceburg, Bardstown, Elizabethtown, Covington, Middlesboro, Pineville, Harlan, Corbin, Barbourville, Bowling Green, Versailles, Frankfort and Winchester.

Location And Geology.

Kentucky asphalt rock, from which these roads have been constructed, and out of which countless new ones are now being

Western Kentucky Asphalt Field.

Sketch map showing-distribution of the Pottsville in Edmonson County. The largest commercial asphalt rock operations are located near the star on the Nolin River. Asphalt is found in all of the adjoining counties except Barren.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt

prepared, is found in its natural position as an asphaltic impregnated sand from five to forty feet in thickness on the eastern and south-eastern border of the western coal field in Hart, Grayson, Edmonson, Warren, Butler, Logan, Breckinridge, and other adjoining counties. Asphaltic sandstone has also been found in outcrop and examined by the writer on Soldier and Mocabee creeks near Soldier Station, on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad in Carter county. It may also exist a short distance to the west across the Rowan county line, which is close to Soldier.

The Soldier area is a small one, being estimated at less than three miles in diameter. Close to Soldier five to ten foot out-

The Banner Asphaltic Sandstones.

At this outcrop the bedded asphaltic sandstones have been prospected and the f rag-mental debris has been thrown up so as to hide the Vower exposures.

crops are found above drainage on the following farms: Mrs. J. P. Banner, J. D. Patton, L. S. Vincent, J. F. Gilbert, W. C. Underwood and S. M. Bradley, and others. In the section the bituminous sandstone is underlain by five to six feet of fire clay, which is widely operated, and overlain by fifteen to twenty feet of exposed soft, coarse grained sandstone.

On the J. D. Patton farm a fire clay entry 300 feet back from the main opening developed a large seepage of tarry or asphaltic oil from this sandstone. The leakage was caught by the use of powder kegs to the extent of several barrels, and was lo-

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

cally used as a lubricant, and for other domestic purposes. The finding of it is in conformity with the results of the several analyses of the Soldier asphaltic sands, and further affirms the great irregularity of the asphaltic impregnation. On the Mrs. J. P. Banner farm a rather considerable quarry was developed by Mr. J. G. Eyan, of Pittsburg, Pa., in 1917. It was never comercialized. Irregularity of asphaltic impregnation is here a notable characteristic. The quarry has been abandoned.

Asphalt impregnated sandstones in the cliffs of Big Paint creek gorge near Low Gap branch and at other points in the main gorge and its tributaries in Johnson and the adjacent por-

An Entrance To Paint Creek Gorge,

The view is in the upper part of the creek and shows the walls somewhat lower due to the dip to the west off from the top of the main uplift. Asphalt impregnated lenticles are of frequent occurrence in this portion of Johnson County.

tions of Morgan and Magoffin counties have been studied the writer. These bituminous sandstones are, however, of scientific interest only, since they are not thick enough nor so situated from a mining engineering standpoint as to be commercial. Like the north-eastern and western-central Kentucky outcrops,

Kentucky Rock Asphalt

they are interesting to the student of olenus accumulations in true silica sands, having been without doubt during the geologic past a productive oil sand.

Stratigraphically the asphalt rock of western-central Kentucky is found in what is known as the Chester sandstones of the Mississippian system, and again in the overlying Pottsville Conglomerate sandstones of the Pennsylvanian system. The north-eastern Kentucky asphaltic sands in Carter and Rowan counties are undoubtedly Pottsville. The Johnson and adjacent Morgan and Magoffin county asphaltic sands are Pottsville basal conglomerate sediments of the Pennsylvanian system.

From a commercial standpoint the best and most workable deposits of asphalt rock are those of the Pottsville group of western-central Kentucky. The largest and best deposits of this group are now being worked by the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co. This corporation, the largest of its kind in the State, operates a plant having a daily capacity of from five hundred to

PANORAMA~OF~ THE NOLIN RIVER OPERATION. The view shows the plant oif the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co., in incline railroad leading-to crushers and pulverizing-mill. The loading-dock at the Nolin River may be seen at the extreme lower right-hand corner. Topography of the Lower Pottsville.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

a thousand tons, on the Nolin river at Kyrock. This company and operation, which is the legal successor of the American Standard Asphalt Co., formerly of Russellville, Ky., is located in Edmonson county, about six miles from the confluence of the Nolin and the Green rivers. The rock occurs as a remnant, asphalt impregnated, true siliceaus sandstone close to the top of the ridges. It is in reality all that is left of an oil sand whose lighter and more volatile constituents have long since disappeared into the air through countless exposures. The existence of this and other widespread deposits of asphalt has long been known in this State. They may be found mentioned in some of the very early reports of the Kentucky Geological Survey. Their commercial importance, however, was not considered until a few years ago, and it now appears that Kentucky in this, as in many other cases, overlooked for many years one of her most valuable and important mineral resources.

Stripping The Overburden Of Soil.

View of the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co.'s quarry at Kyrock, Edmonson County. Quarrymen are removing over-burden with type a Universal Stripping Nozzle.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt

Methods Of Mining And Preparation.

The mining and preparation of Kentucky Rock Asphalt at Kyrock for use as a road surfacing material is a simple process, though one not easily effected. Its natural position as a remnant strata, close to the top of ridges, allows of two time-honored methods, which are worked in conjunction. One of these is the steam shovel, such as is used in the great iron ore pits of the north and the south ; and the other is the hydraulic pressure line, such as is used in the placer gold mines of California and Alaska. Where the cover of rock and soil is not more than six feet in thickness, the water pump with a pressure of one hundred and sixty pounds to the square inch, removes everything before it, including small vegetation. When the blanket of soil and bed rock is thicker, it is stripped by use of the steam shovel.

In either case, as soon as the asphaltic sandstone is exposed, it is removed by ordinary quarry methods, and conveyed by

General View Edmonson County Quarry.

The method of handling-the commercial rock asphalt and the low grade over-burden is well shown by the double tramway. The high position of these lower Nolin deposits on the hills allows of an almost, ideal mining operation.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

means of a little tramway and then by gravity to the crusher. The asphalt rock enters the crusher plant in cubes of from five to ten inches. After crushing to the size of an egg it is forwarded by a conveyor to the pulverizer, from which it comes immediately and continually like corn meal from the mill. At

Inside The Nolin River Asphalt Mill.

Pulverizers, Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co.'s plant. Each machine has capacity of 350 tons per ten hours.

this point samples are taken from each ton for analysis. The pulverizer feeds into one ton bucket conveyors which lead from the mill to the barges at the wharf on the Nolin river. The buckets are dumped automatically as they pass over the barges and then return to the mill. This mill is now producing between 500 and 600 tons of asphalt rock per day and will soon have a capacity, due to the installation of new machinery, of about 1,000 tons. As fast as they are loaded the barges are conveyed by tug down the Nolin and Green rivers, through the locks,

Kentucky Rock Asphalt

50 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

and up the Big Barren river to Bowling Green, where two huge hungry locomotive cranes relieve them of their load. The rock asphalt is here either put in storage, or loaded directly into cars on the railroad, for the road building public.

Rock Asphalt As A Road Surface.

Of all the road material used in the United States, asphalt is by far the most popular. The reasons for this popularity are many, but relative cheapness, noiselessness, appearance and ease of construction and repair are probably the outstanding virtues. The widespread use of imported asphalt as a road surfacing material has, however, been considerably restricted by its relatively high cost, which term includes original cost plus maintenance. Ordinary imported asphalt requires mixing with sand and other material in especially constructed machines, with a certain amount of heating, and it must be hot while being transferred The required subsurface is also very costly, and added to this work of repairing must always be carried out along lines parallel to the original expensive construction.

The "Kentucky Rock Asphalt" pavement, using the commercialized or trade name, eliminates all of these above enumerated drawbacks associated with the construction of the ordinary asphalt road. And in addition to a saving of time and trouble, the most important consideration is that a road built of Kentucky Rock Asphalt costs less than any of the other high class pavements.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt as a commercial product comes from the quarry thoroughly mixed in correct proportions. It is laid without heating in ordinary temperatures, by common labor, and no particular machinery is required except that used in making the ordinary limestone road. Repairs, when necessary, are just as simple, and inexpensive. Kentucky Rock Asphalt is laid on an ordinary base of hard sandstone, slag, limestone, granite, concrete or brick, and is leveled with rakes by common labor. An ordinary ten ton roller used in preparing the broken stone base may also be used for the surface. There are no extra materials to be added to the top of Kentucky Rock Asphalt, and as soon as it is rolled under ordinary temperatures it is ready for use.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt 51

Should a depression occur in the foundation, or should repairs have to be made following excavation of one kind or another, it is only necessary to restore the foundation to its proper height, cut a rectangle hole in the surface, and fill in with Kentucky Rock Asphalt. This should then be rolled, but if the opening has been very small, the traffic may be relied upon to compact it sufficiently.

The Soldier Asphalt-Rock Quarry.

This vein on the Widow Danner farm near Soldier shows the quarried as well as the natural outcrop. There is considerable overburden on the Danner and adjoining properties.

The Durable Roadway.

The reason for the durability of Kentucky Rock Asphalt roads is found in the nature and constituency of the material itself. The base is a true siliceous sand, which is very hard and very irregular. Each sand grain is coated by a film of freshly exposed bitumen (asphalt). This is the cementing, holding and water-proofing material. The amount of asphalt found in the Edmonson county deposits of Pennsylvanian age varies but slightly from one commercial sample to another, but is generally from about seven to eight per cent as is shown by the two analyses submitted herewith by Dr. A. M. Peter, State Chemist. The first of these is of the natural rock, and the second is of the pulverized material ready for use. It will be noticed that the

52 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

amount of sand is practically the same and that there is only a difference of fourteen one-hundredths of one per cent in the amount of bituminous matter or asphalt. This is very slight and may be explained by the larger amount of moisture in the pulverized as compared with the crude, unpulverized rock.

Edmonson County.

Two samples of bituminous sandstone received February 13, 1920, from W. R. Jillson, State Gologist, as follows: Analysis No. 1.

Laboratory No. G-3889, labeled "Average crude sample of Kentucky asphalt rock (Pottsville) collected by W. R. Jillson, January, 1920, from the quarries of the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co., on the Nolin River, six miles above mouth of Edmonson County, Ky." Sample consists of a 5 oz. piece of bituminous sandstone containing a few quartz pebbles. Analysis No. 2.

Laboratory No. G-3890, labeled "Pulverized Kentucky asphalt rock (Pottsville) collected by W. R. Jillson, January, 1920, from the mill the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Company on the Nolin River, six miles above mouth, in Edmonson County, Ky." The sample consisting of about a pound of the crushed rock.

Analysis.

No. 1 NOJ 2

G-3889 G-3890

Moisture at 104° C 0.16% 0.45%

Combustible matter 7.35% 7.05%

Sand 92.49% 92.50%

Total , 100.00% 100.00%

Bituminous matter soluble in carbon

disulfid 6.74% 6.85%

Alfred M. Peter, State Chemist, Lexington, Ky., Feb. 17, 1920.

EDMONSON COUNTY. Analysis No. 3.

Laboratory No. G-3968. — Bituminous sandstone (asphalt rock) from the quarries of the Kentucky Asphalt Rock Company on Nolin River in Edmonson County, Ky., brought by Prof. W. R. Jillson, August 24, 1920, the sample having been taken from the same lump from which No. G-3889 was taken.

The sample was about 6 ozs. of bituminous sandstone in several pieces, containing several quartz pebbles.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt 63

Analysis.

Per cent.

Moisture at 104° C 35

Combustible matter 8.00

White sand 91.65

Total 100.00

Bituminous matter extracted by carbon disulfid 8.15

The results show that practically all of the bituminous matter is soluble in carbon disulfid. The excess of the soluble material over the amount obtained by burning may have been caused by the difficulty in weighing two samples of exactly the same composition from material of this character. The residue left on extraction with carbon disulfid was apparently pure white sand.

Logan County.

Analysis No. 4.

Laboratory No. G-4036. — Asphalt rock, labeled "Sample of rock asphalt collected by D. J. Jones, Aug. 19, 1920, north of Russellville, Ky."

Sample, about a 3 Ib. lump weathered white on two sides.

Analysis.

Per cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.14

Volatile combustible matter 7.08

Sand . . 92.78

Total 100.00

Bituminous matter extracted by carbon disulfid 7.61

CARTER COUNTY. Analysis No. 5.

Laboratory No. G-4025. — Asphalt rock, labeled "Asphalt impregnated sandstone from quarry on farm of S. M. Bradley, on Mocabee Creek, near Soldier, Carter County, Kentucky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, Nov. 27, 1920."

Sample, a 3-lb. lump.

54 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Analysis.

Per cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.11

Volatile combustible matter 6.53

Sand . . 93.36

Total 100.00

Bituminous matter extracted by carbon disulfid 7.13

Analysis No. 6.

Laboratory No. G-4022. — Asphalt rock, labeled "Asphalt impregnated sandstone from fresh quarry face on farm of Mrs. J. P. Banner, Soldier Fork, near Soldier, Carter County, Kentucky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, Nov. 27, 1920."

Sample, 6 Ibs. in sack, 2" lumps to powder.

Analysis.

Per cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.07

Volatile combustible matter 3.52

Sand 96.41

Total 100.00

Bituminous matter extracted by carbon disulfid 3.55

Analysis No. 7.

Laboratory No. G-4024. — Asphalt rock, labeled "Asphalt impregnated sandstone taken from fresh quarry face on the farm of Mrs. J. P. Danner on Soldier Fork, near Soldier, Carter County, Ky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, 11-27-20."

Sample, 2% pounds, lump. Looks more weathered than the former.

Analysis.

Per cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.06

Volatile combustible matter 3.45

Sand . - 96.49

Total 100.00

Bituminous matter extracted by carbon disulfid 3.39

Kentucky Rock Asphalt 55

Analysis No. 8.

Laboratory No. G-4023. — Asphalt rock, labeled "Asphalt impregnated sandstone (weathered face of quarry) from farm of Mrs. J. P. Banner, Soldier Fork, near Soldier, Carter County, Ky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, Nov. 27, 1920."

Sample, about l1/ Ib. lump.

Analysis.

Per cent.

Moisture at 105° C 0.04

Volatile combustible matter 3.43

Sand .. 96.53

Total 100.00

Bituminous matter extracted by carbon disulfid 4.06

The above noted physical and chemical characteristics of Kentucky asphalt rock from the Nolin river-Pottsville deposits (Analyses Nos. 1, 2 and 3) are alone responsible for its notable wearing qualities. The low percentage of bitumen in the Carter county sample (analyses 5, 6, 7 and 8) account for its lack of present day commercialization. It is possible, however, that sands low and irregular in asphalt binder, like those of the Carter county section, might eventually be treated by adding small amounts of asphalt, and thus rendered competent and equal to the specifications. Cross sections of roadways made from the Edmonson county product, in hard use for many years, have been examined during a course of experiments, and it has been found that the wear, in most cases, has been almost imperceptible. The complete asphaltic coating of the hard sand grains successfully resists their removal by both wind and water.

Kentucky Rock Asphalt as a surfacing material in a small way has been used for many years. In Buffalo, New York, the first pavement of this material was laid in 1891, and this pavement is still in use, although thirty years have elapsed. In the State of Ohio in 1909, the Nelson Avenue experimental road was laid, composed of seventeen different types of pavements. Today the Kentucky Rock Asphalt section of this road, still in use, is in excellent condition, and has had no repairs. These

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

In The Paint Creek Gorge.

A wilderness of small timber coupled with precipitous walls of rock, bad roads and frequent high water make travelling-in the Paint, Creek Gorge of Johnson County difficult except during the dry periods of the year. Asphalt production in this gorge would have to be a mining proposition and as such the deposits are not regarded as commercial.

two instances afford a fair index to the possible term of life of roads built from Kentucky Rock Asphalt. A specimen taken from the Columbus experiment road and tested by the Pittsburg Testing Laboratories in 1919, showed that aften ten years' usage as a road surfacng material it still contained 7.42 per cent of bitumen. This test of the bitumen content of Kentucky Rock Asphalt, following ten years of exposure, showed the important asphalt binder to be present in the original necessary proportions, and established beyond a question the indestructible qualities of this material.

Rock Asphalt — The Road Of First Choice.

A study of the indisputable qualities of adaptability, convenience, cheapness, satisfaction, noiselessness, and life of roads constructed of Kentucky Asphalt Rock will invariably lead to

Kentucky Rock Asphalt 67

but one conclusion — first choice. The qualities and virtues of this material are almost without number, and the disadvantages, if any, are inconsequential. The day of better roads for Kentucky and for the nation is at hand. In every city, town and village in this great Commonwealth, men are coming together now to decide what materials shall be used, and in what way the new systems of public roads shall be built. At this important time Kentucky Kock Asphalt, the durable, cheap, and satisfactory road surfacing material, stands pre-eminently on its merits as a great Kentucky mineral resource sufficient in quantity to surface a million miles of new roads, and wholly adequate in quality and cost to please a hundred million exacting taxpayers.

Manuscript completed Feb. 20, 1921.

Hi.

Geological Problems In The Recovery Of Oil And Gas In Kentucky.*

Differ as we may as to the details or the best and most scientific method of procedure, all geologists are agreed that the greatest problems which now confront the oil and gas producer may be broadly divided into three classes :

(1) Ultimate source of petroliferous hydrocarbons.

(3) Most efficient methods of recovery.

The average producer passes over the first of these classes and gives his attention to the latter two, regarding the first as largely a theoretical matter in which even those petroleum, geologists who are the best qualified to speak, are not fully agreed. Yet it does not require the deepest appreciation of this subject to realize that bound up with the solution of the first group of problems, those associating themselves with the determination as to lithological genesis and geologic distribution, is the real key to the science of petroleum geology. When the problems of original source are conquered, many new indexes now but vaguely inferred will be available for use directly in the discovery of new petroleum fields. It will then be possible, and not until then, to divide the earth's minable surface completely and accurately into these three distinct kinds of areas: (1) Producing. (2) Probably productive. (3) Unproductive. Much has already been accomplished in the determination of these three kinds of areas, but it may not be too much to say that many of the fundamental considerations which should control the decision in this regard, have up to the present only been suggested.

What is true with respect to world-wide problems of the geology of oil and gas is also true in the same proportion to any

*Repub. from Bell. Am Ass'n of Petroleum Geologists, Vol. 4, No, 3, 1920, pp. 303-312.

60 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

restricted area ; a formulae devised for one should be applicable to the latter. Kentucky, as the southern tip of the great Appalachian oil and gas field, recognizes the generic problems of this field, to which must be added those of a character induced by the local differences in sedimentation. The geologic problems associated with oil and gas recovery in the Eastern Coal Field of Kentucky are essentially those of "West Virginia, with slight modifications, in the same proportion that West Virginia's problems are those of Pennsylvania. These problems have to do with the variance of structure, porosity, saturation, lensing, unconformity, faulting, sequence of sediments, lithology of sediments, depth of sediments, stage of regional metamorphism, devolatilization, degree of concentration, and adequate cover, and their respective combinations. In the consideration of any separate area in Kentucky, none of these factors may be disregarded, and while any of them failing would point toward the condemnation of any certain area, all of them taken together when inferred to be favorable may not, on the basis of past experience, be regarded as more than the separate earmarks of a productive locality.

Speaking in the sense of commercial values rather than in the terms of absolute occurrence, or non-occurrence, two large areas in Kentucky must be designated as barren of petroleum and natural gas. These are: (1) The central Blue Grass area, and (2) That section in western Kentucky between the Tennessee River on the south-west, and the Tradewater River on the north-east. A very large amount of drilling in the Blue Grass section has demonstrated the lack of commercial production in this large section. The absence of commercial petroleum and natural gas here may probably be attributed to the lack of an adequate cover of shale, the surface rocks being Ordovician limestones, which are considerably jointed, faulted and mineralized. The widespread occurrence of small pockets of gas, and occasional shows of oil throughout this area, give evidence of the fact that at one time prior to the denudation of the Devonian cover, much larger quantities of oil and gas were present. The barren strip in western Kentucky between the Tennessee and Tradewater rivers is what is known as the faulted fluorspar section of the state, one associated with ignious intrusion in deeper

Geological Problems In Oil And Gas 61

seated localities. The absence of commercial quantities of oil and gas in this section may be satisfactorily explained by the large amount of faulting with accompanying devolatilization, and rather high regional metamorphism.

One area alone in Kentucky stands as a unit of possible productivity of commercial quantities of oil and gas, with many important factory yet undetermined. This is the so-called Purchase area, lying between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. It is the area at the head of the old Mississippi Embayment, with surficial, unconsolidated sands, gravels, clays and marls of the Tertiary underlain by unconsolidated, and semi-consolidated Cretaceous and older sediments. This area is largely untested, and while the Cretaceous sediments, especially in the southwestern portion might be expected to produce, it is only fair to point out that the area of faulting and ignious activity, which is conspicuously evidenced in the Mississippian exposures, to the northeast in Kentucky, and the north in Illinois, may well extend under the greater part of this area, and render these and lower sediments wholly unproductive. It is also only right to note that this area is one which is associated as a unit with the causes of the New Madrid earthquake. The relationship of this seismic disturbance to the possible productivity of oil and gas, while it has not been definitely determined, may not be regarded as altogether favorable.

With the exception of the three areas above outlined, the entire State of Kentucky may be considered important territory for prospecting for commercial oil and gas. This possible productive and producing territory comprises about three-fourths of the area of the Commonwealth. It includes the eastern and western coal fields and the area lying between them in which Mississippian and Devonian sediments are found at the surface. To this will have to be included a small area along the Cumberland river in southern Kentucky, close to the Tennessee line, where Ordovician sediments have been but recently (geologically) exposed. Over this large area conditions were favorable to the accumulation in disseminated form of petroleum source material, animal and vegetable remains, during Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian and Pennsylvanian times. That there was a grouping of the animal and vegetable life and debris

62 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

during those periods, resulting in areas of varying richness, and that there were some areas like the top of the Cincinnati Anticline, which were land surfaces in Onondaga and Niagara times, and therefore barren, cannot be doubted.

The area as a whole; however, is one of continuous, or almost continuous, deposition from the early Ordovician to the latter Pennsylvanian, which fact in itself eliminates many of the problems of original source for the geologist working in this section. As a result of this almost unbroken sedimentation, oil is secured in Kentucky in commercial quantities from the Ordovician, the Silurian, the Devonian, the Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian sediments. This fact will come as a great surprise to many who have read in some books, which for the author's sake should have had some claim to authenticity, that Kentucky oil is principally Trenton oil. Nothing could be more fallacious. Trenton oil in Kentucky is inconsequential in value and in quantity, though present. About ninety-five per cent of the 9,226,473.39 barrels of oil produced in Kentucky in the year 1919 came from the Devonian limestone, immediately underlying the Devonian (Chattanooga) black shale.

With these generalizations, the problems of the oil geologist in Kentucky are hardly suggested, for each separate locality offers peculiarities special to that section, necessitating special consideration. These problems have relatively little bearing, as far as detail goes, with those of the other producing fields of the state. The present commercially productive sections of Kentucky are seven in number, as follows :

(1) The Allen, Barren, Warren fields in southern Kentucky, adjoining Tennessee line.

(2) The Wayne-McCreary fields in south-eastern Kentucky, adjoining Tennessee line.

(3) The Estill, Lee, Powell, Wolfe and Menifee fields, just south-east of the central blue grass area.

(6) The Floyd-Knott-Pike-Knox county fields.

Geological Problems In Oil And Gas 63

The Allen, Barren, Warren fields (Nos. 8, 9, and 10) produce chiefly from the Niagaran limestone of the Silurian, and the Onondaga or Corniferous limestone of the Devonian. The oil occurs in porous places in the limestone proper, no real siliceous sand being present. Structure is apparently an important consideration in such pools as the Gainesville and Moulder. Oil production occurs on the sides and tops of the anticlines and domes. But in southern Allen county, good production is quite as frequently found in the synclines as anticlines, and in this locality the Niagaran limestone is the chief producer. In southeastern Barren county good structures exist which are gassy on top or dry, and the oil seems to be almost synclinal. In northwestern Barren and in Warren county, the Fort Payne (Lower Mississippian) shows real sand lenses, which produce a high grade of "amber oil," and wjiile occasionally structure is important in this horizon, it is more generally a problem of feeling out the ramifications of a lens and then its radiating extensions.

The Wayne-McCreary field (No. 13) in its present development is a rather old one. It is, as a matter of fact, the seat of the first oil ever found in this state, which was discovered on the South Fork of the Cumberland river in 1819 at shallow depths in Mississippian rocks. Though not new, the Way ne-McC rear y field has been a consistent and steady producer of nigh grade green oil, and during the first quarter of 1920 contributed 43,936.07 barrels of crude. Production is secured from the Trenton and higher horizons of the Ordovician from what is known as the Upper and Lower Sunnybrook and Trenton sands. It is also recovered from the Waverly group of sands, shales and limestones in the lower part of the Mississippian. These sands are the "Stray," "Mt. Pisgah," "Beaver," "Otter," 'Cooper" and "Slickford." Well defined anticlines exist in the Wayne county section, but here again the oil is not found high on the structure, but rather well .down on the slope, or in the heads of the plunging synclines. As a matter of fact, few reliable conclusions have been reached with respect to petroleum accumulation in the Wayne county section, and while structure apparently is important, it is certainly not the main or only consideration. This is especially true of the irregular "oil sands" found in the Mississippian. Their producing life is remarkable

64 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

for its length, but their variability of production and lithology, even within offset distance is so remarkable as to cause the driller as well as the geologist the utmost confusion. These Mississ;p- pian sands are apparently connected, or semi-connected lenses, which were whipped up by off-shore currents during the period of deposition They apparently connect with each other vertically as well as laterally, though it may be reasonably inferred that the vertical connection is much more restricted than the other. The Wayne-McCreary fields lie in an off-shore position of the Mississippian seas in which the combination of mud-stone elastics so characteristic of the Waverly to the east and northeast is combined with the growing calcareous tendency of the Warsaw and Fort Payne of southern and western Kentucky. It must have been an ideal locality for the deposition of carbonaceus debris giving rise to an area rich as a petroleum source, but it presents in its irregular sedimentation many unsolved problems to the driller and geologist.

The Estill-Lee-Powell-Wolfe-Menifee section (Nos. 17-27 i of Kentucky is the greatest oil and gas producing section of the state. Production has been and still is principally secured from the Onondaga, or Corniferous limestone of the Devonian, directly underlying the Chattanooga black shale. This limestone is frequently called the "Irvine," "Ragland," "Menifee," "Campton" and "Cannel City" sand, but it is in reality sim ply a dolomitic limestone, oil being secured from porous interspaces in the limestone, not from any siliceous sand as might be inferred from the driller's description. The oil is green and of high gravity, and under relatively little pressure. While structure is present in this field, it apparently is not the principal factor. The oil is found concentrated in the porous places even where it is semi-synclinal, though it occurs in the higher positions as does the Menifee gas where porosity allows of it.

The production in this section has been so great (about 8,500,000 barrels in 1919, or ninety per cent of the entire production of the state) as to raise the very pertinent question as to its ultimate source. The question is more easily asked than answered, though the black (Chattanooga) shale has been ascribed as the mother rock by most geologists. The writer has

Geological Problems In Oil And Gas 65

never been in concurrence with this explanation for many irrefutable reasons, some of which were advanced as early as July, 1919*. It was then pointed out that the ultimate source of the oil and gas found in the Devonian limestone in this state was not the overlying black (Chattanooga) shale, and that none except very small quantities probably had ever been drawn down to the Onondaga limestone from it. Disregarding the theory of a separate bituminous shale as an essential source, it was, stated that the Onondaga limestone itself and the underlying Silurian and Ordovician limestones and shaly limestones were adequate and sufficient in carbonaceous material as a source. The soundness of this argument has recently been attested by the drilling into considerably deeper production in the continuous limestone and shaly limestone series in the heart of the Big Sinking Pool in Lee county,, which goes far towards establishing the writer's previously advanced theories concerning the connected relations of the various porous strata in the limestones of this section underlying the black (Devonian-Chattanooga) shale. In this particular section of Kentucky the principle of vertical or semi-vertical movement of the oil has been probably even more important than that of extensive lateral migration. In this section, and in fact all along this western edge of the eastern coal field, the principle of greatly reduced porosity in this magnesian Devonian limestone just before the outcrop is reached has operated frequently to retard the movement of the petroleum and natural gas from further migration toward the north-west and consequent natural dissipation.

The Lawrence county oil fields (No. 4) relatively small in geographic distribution, certainly not large in production, have nevertheless continued to command thoughtful consideration. The oil in this section is a high grade light amber to green, and is produced chiefly from the Berea and Wier sands of the lower Waverly in the Miesissippian. The general structure of Lawrence county is that of the head or tip of a deep synclinal trough plunging to the north-east into West Virginia. A number of the productive areas in Lawrence county occur well down in this trough, but newer fields are being developed high on the mono-

*New Oil and Gas Pools of Allen County. Mineral and Forest Resources of Kentucky, Series 5, Vol. 1, No. 2.

Geo.— 3

66 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

clinal fold to the south-west, which is a limb of the pronounced Paint Creek Uplift. The Berea and Wier oil of this section exhibits the characteristic of all of the Mississippian oils of Kentucky, lightness in gravity and color, and a relatively low proportion of sulphur. The producing horizons in this county in both instances are real true siliceous sands, both of which, as well as the overlying and underlying shales, may have been contributing sources of the now contained petroleum and natural gas.

The Johnson-Magoffin oil and gas field (No. 5) located on the crest and sides of the Paint Creek Uplift on the Johnson- Magoffin county line, is perhaps the newest and one of the most interesting fields in Kentucky. In this locality, the " Potts - ville," "Big Injun," "Wier" and "Berea" sands, and the "Onondaga" limestone, are all petroliferous. Commercial production is secured, however, only from the Wier sand. This sand is a correlative of the Cuyahoga sandstone of the lower part of the Waverly (Mississippian). It is separated in this section by a shale body from the underlying Berea, which high on the major structure is commercially unimportant, though it is important at lower structural elevations in Johnson county. The reason for the lack of commercial production in the Berea (Mississippian) has not been satisfactorily explained, since it lies so close to the Lawrence county productive fields. Partial saturation of the Berea is perhaps the chief deficient factor. Struc ture is, however, a principal consideration in this Paint Creek field, the oil occurring on the sides of the pronounced Paint Creek dome, and the top being decidedly gassy. The Paint Creek dome lies as a faulted cap on the elongated north and south Paint Creek Uplift. It is a relatively large structure, the productive portions of which might have been accepted, as mapped on the surface Pottsville coals, to have been rather extensive. It was found, however, in the sequence of drilling operations in this section, that some inexplainable inequalities in the thickness of the various sediments penetrated were being encountered. Detailed consideration of this circumstance gave rise to the fact that the thickness between the top of the Big Lime, or Mountain limestone (Mississippian-St. Louis, St. Genevieve) and the "Wier sard (Mississippian) was greater at progressive distances east and west from the crest of the main structure, and to a lesser degree to the

Geological Problems In Oil And Gas 67

north and to the south. The result of this investigation developed the fact of the occurrence of two folds of different ages beneath this oil field, one toward the close of the Mississippian, and one at the time of the Appalachian revolution. The result of these investigations has been to show that the folding in the Wier sand is much sharper than was anticipated by the mapping of the surface coals. This discovery which was announced by the writer in December, 1919*, explains many of the previously unsolved problems connected with the location of producing wells on this structure.

The Floyd-Knott-Knox oil and gas fields, though disconnected geographically (Nos. 14, 28 and 29), present a unit problem in that production is secured from the ' Pottsville ' ' of the Pennsylvanian, and the "Maxon" of the Mauch Chunk. The position of these pools is geosynclinal, but minor structures have influenced to some degree the accumulation. In the Pottsville as well as in the Mauch Chunk, relatively small amounts of water are responsible for the low position of the oil in these sections. In Knox county, the oil is found along rather narrow belts on minor structures, and in Floyd and Knott in basin synclines at the head of a synclinal nose. The gas of Floyd county, however, is anticlinal, as might be expected. Since both of the productive sands in these fields are silicious (sometimes conglomerate) sandstones, the lasting qualities of these sands have been very great. Some of the wells in Floyd county Beaver Creek field have produced for over twenty years. oil is green, high gravity, and relatively low in sulphur. In this section, as in the Lawrence county section, the present producing oil sands may be regarded as at least a part of the original petroleum source as well as the underlying and overlying bituminous shales.

The Martin county gas field (No. 34) is considered separately since its producing horizons are distinct. They consist of a sand in the "Big" or Mountain limestone (Mississippian-St. Louis, St. Genevieve), and the "Big Injun" sand group of the Waverly (Mississippian). The field is now an old one, useful

Mississippian Island in the Mauch Chunk of Eastern Kentucky. Geol. Sec. A. A. A. St. Louis meeting, Dec., 1919.

first oil well in Floyd County was drilled in 1891 by L. H. Gormley of Prestonsburg, at the mouth of Salt Lick on Right Beaver Creek. It is still producing.

68 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

for little more than reservoiring purposes, but has been an important one during the past twenty years, having furnished a large part of the commercial supply of gas for the city of Louisville, and other West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio cities. The productive horizons are true sands. The sand inclusion of the "Big Lime" is relatively thin, but gives a rather high pressure gas, which suggests crevices or joint connection with the underlying "Big Injun" sand. Although a large amount of drilling has been done in this section and these sands have been penetrated at many points, relatively little oil has been found though one or two wells are reported to have flowed under a strong head for a short time. The production of oil in Martin county at present is insignificant, 13.05 barrels being the entire reported production for January, February and March, 1920. In considering the problem of the absence of commercial oil in this section of Kentucky, recourse may be had to a study of the coals and carbon ratios as an index to the amount of regional metaphorism and devolatilization thereby induced. The Martin county section will show a relatively high carbon ratio, as will the section to the south and farther southwest along the Pine mountain fault in Pike, Letcher, Harlan and Bell counties. Of all this section of excellent Pottsville and Mississippian sediments, no commercial quantities of oil or gas fields are known today, even after considerable drilling. Many shows of oil have been secured, and gas in semi-commercial quantities has been found, but a fixed carbon ranging from 64% to 66% giving a corresponding fuel ratio of from 1.8 to 2.00 based on coals sampled at some little distance from the lines of greatest disturbance, is apparently indicative of too great a regional alteration to allow the retention of oil, at least in commercial quantities.

The commercially important group of oil and gas pools now producing as indicated on the accompanying map are thirty-six in number, and are as follows: No. 1. Meade county (old) Gas Field; No. 2 Cloverport (old) Gas Field; No. 3. Hartford Oil Pool ; No. 4. Caneyville Oil Pool ; No. 5. Leitchfield Oil and Gas Field ; No. 6. Bear Creek Gas Field ; No. 7. Diamond Springs Gas Field; No. 8. Warren County Oil and Gas Fields; No. 9. Allen County Oil and Gas Fields; No. 10. Barren County Oil and Gas Fields; No. 11. Greensburg Gas

Geological Problems In Oil And Gas 69

Field; No. 12. Lincoln County Oil Pools; No. 13. Wayne County Oil Pools; No. 14. Knox County Oil and Gas Field; No. 15. Clay County Gas Field; No. 16. Island Creek Gas Field; No. 17. Station Camp Oil Pool; No. 18. Irvine Oil Pool ; No. 19. Big Sinking Oil Pool ; No. 20. Ross Creek Oil Pool; No. 21. Menifee County Gas Field; No. 22. Menifee County Oil Pool; No. 23. Ragland Oil Pool; No. 24. Campton Oil Pool; No 25. Still Water Oil Pool; No. 26. Breathitt County Gas Field; No. 27. Cannel City Oil and Gas Pool; No. 28. Knott County Oil Pool; No. 29. Beaver Creek Oil and Gas Fields; No. 30. Prestonsburg Oil and Gas Fields; No. 31. Burning Fork Gas Field ; No. 32. Paint Creek Oil and Gas Field ; No. 33. Laurel Creek Oil and Gas Fields ; No. 34. Martin County Gas Field; No. 35. Busseyville Oil Pool; No. 36. Fallsburg Oil Pool.

Any brief consideration of so large a geographic unit as the State of Kentucky must necessarily overlook many of the smaller, though none the less interesting, geologic problems which bear close relationship to the recovery of petroleum and natural gas. Important among these in Kentucky is the cause of the low gravity and asphaltic base of the Ragland or Bath county oils, and the Lincoln county oils. These pools, as is well known, are very shallow, and yet devolatilization alone may not be ascribed as the single cause since other pools in close proximity, producing from the same Devonian limestone, and at a similar depth, give high gravity, green oil. The Allen, Barren, Warren field exhibits in the most of the production secured from below the black or (Chattanooga) shale from either the Devonian or Silurian limestone, a relatively high percentage of sulphur. This is the same horizon that produces the sweet, green oil of the Estill-Lee-Powell-Wolfe-Menifee section, yet the reason for the difference is an unsolved problem. In Grayson, Ohio, McLean, Webster and Union counties along the Rough Creek anticline and fault, similar structural conditions are found to those in eastern Kentucky along the Irvine-Paint Creek fault. In fact these two lines of disturbance with the connecting link

70 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

of the deformation in Central Kentucky have been ascribed by Gardner* to a common source, yet this large belt in western Kentucky gives no promise, outside of small quantities of oil in Ohio and Grayson counties, and two small gas fields in Grayson, of any real comparison in productivity to the eastern Kentucky section.

Manuscript completed Sept. 10, 1920.

stratigraphic Disturbance Through the Ohio Valley, Running- From the Appalachian Plateau in Pennsylvania, to the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. James H. Gardner, Bulletin G. S. A., Vol. 26, pp. 477-483, Dec., 1915.

The Production Of Kentucky Crude Oil.

Crude oil, not less than the other necessary mineral resources of Kentucky, has shown during the past two years a development, and an increase in production little short of the mar-

GEOLOO/CAL SURVEY. FRANKFORT, KV. SERtES 3ZX

Curve

Of

Petroleum Produced Run And Sold

Av

Kentucky

Compiled And Drawn By D/Hsctok And State June /92O

of fate

U.S. G.S. Mi'nero/ A&aovrcea o/"tf.3. Tax recAtp+a, Ky. State Tax Comm tarn/on.

9.Zzs.473.39

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

velous. In January, 1918, the production of this state had risen above 200,000 barrels per month, and a steadily increasing monthly production bespoke something of the great increase which was to come. At the close of 1918, the production of Kentucky crude petroleum was 4,350,950 barrels, almost a quadruplication of the production of 1916, which was 1,144,750 barrels.

Kentucky Qeoloq1Cal Survey

Frankfort, Ky. Series Tzt

Curve Of The Crude Oil Produced, Run Sold

Kentucky

Prom Jan. 1913 To Mar. I92O Inclusive Com Pi Lsd And Drawn By

W.R.JILLSON, oinecrox ANO jr/tre qeoLoq/sT.

/

L /

Nb+e.: Tfrta curva /a bas&J on Jai +he. 3++a Tfx Commission,

/X

Tj

—

/

'

/

35Q,Ooo

/

Borrati

k$

Production Of Crude Oil

The peak of petroleum was, however, still to come, and when at the end of the year 1919 the total production of petroleum in this state was placed at 9,229,473, the production of 1918 had

KENTUCKY QEOLOqiCAL SURVEY fffANKFOPT, KY.

CURVE SHOWINQ VALUE OF CRUDE O/i. PRODUCED, RUUoSOLD

Kentucky

fffOM JAM t9f8 TO MA* t92O WCL VSfVS

/

Mote: Tfiia curva /a baaeof on co/npr'/ao' /rem the +sx ne car/its of fha Sfffre Tax Comm/aa'rorr, Frank fort, Ky.

Oq!

sr

j

r

E 3

/

h -1

A

/

y

/I

/

J

/

$

/

Jf

/

' '

/

m

/

$

r

f

/

r

/

f H'

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

been more than doubled. The peak production of 1919 was reached in June, when 9085948 barrels were produced, with a value of $2,335,486.00,

Kentucky Geological Survey Frankfort, Ky.

SERIES -zr

PEPRESENTATtON BY COUNTIES

Of The Crude Oil Produced Run .And Sold

In

Kentucky

Jan Fe3 And Mar. Is2O.

Compiled And Drawn 3Y W.R.J/Ll30N Director And State . J320.

ALL VOLUMES F/qURED IN &ARREL3

Production Of Crude Oil 75

The year 1920 has seen a great many fluctuations in the production curves of the separate leases, pools and counties. Depletion has recorded itself in several of the largest eastern Kentucky pools, as the production curves of this report, prepared from data generously supplied by the Cumberland Pipe Line Co., and other agencies, mutely testify. This alarming situation is an established fact despite a large increase in number of new wells drilled. Coming to the rescue of a somewhat desperate situation from the standpoint of total petroleum production for the entire state, the new pools of south-western Kentucky in Warren and Simpson counties, and eastern Kentucky in Johnson, Magoffir, Lawrence and Menifee counties, have served to hold off the day of greatly decreased production for the entire state. The total production of 1920, placed at 8,546,027.68 barrels, as compiled from the State Tax Commission records, shows a loss of 680,445.71 barrels as compared to the year 1919. The total value of crude oil produced and sold in Kentucky in the year 1920 was $33,525,210.33 which was an increase of $9,066,- 191.59 over the total value of the 1919 oil production.

Herewith are presented the figures in tabular and graphic form showing the production of crude oil in Kentucky to Jan. 1, 1921.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Number Of Barrels Of Oil Produced And Marketed In Kent

"9

oo : co co co TH t-

rH 1 CO TH 0 0 0

t-t-THcoccococoocoTH :co-

t-

co

Co*

Lo Os

os"

Th

Cd Oo

Th

t- OO OS Tfri O

Co Oo Cd O Oo Co Io Co Oo

Io

TH O CO rH

t-C CO CO COCDOO O TH TH iH CO rH CO TH

d

O Co

Io Os Os 0 Oo

COCOCOTtlOOTHCOOCOOOLOCOCO CDCOCOOSCDCOCOOSTH-OOOCO

Co Os

idir

Co

oo

Os

O "f TH CO CO

CO CO t- OO O iH CO TH CO

CDtTHt-OSCOt—OOCOCOOSTHOO

D-CD CO OSrHt~-<*'CO O iH CO TH CO TH TH TH

os

Co

S S c£ 0 § S W 5 0? 0

Co

T-H

Co

Os

Co

Co Co Lo~

Th Th

fosoot-coococoosoo

Osolo Oocoththcocd

r-Tco" co"os~

iH CO

OSrHCO-OOOOCO TH OO CO O -*±l TH rH

OO TH OO LO rH CO TH CO TH tH TH

ft

o

IO t- OS O OS

OO t- CO OS

coooocoot-coco

COr-IOSOSCOOTHOS

Co

oo t-

Lo"

Os

co~ oo

CO CO CO OO O OS TH LO O CO TH Tf TH CO O iH

t- 00 LO O TH CO CO 00 iH OS Tfl

Co"Th

rH TH

CDOOTH--rtlCOCOCO CD CO CO CO CD TH CO

OO rH OS Tt< CO TH iH CO iH TH

O

Co Oo Co Th Os Cd

Co Co Lo

Co

Th

co'

co" o t-

Co O Co Os Co

O TH CO LO OS OS CO LO -f TH CO OS

O CO rH O TH LO

Co Co

Th

Cd Th Th Co

O TH O CO TH CO CO iH TH

February

Co

Os Th Th O Io Co O Co

cf OO CO rfl O TH OS O

§

Co

oo LO"

Co

LO O IO iH O OO CO t- TH CO CO

Co O Co Co

Cd 00 Oo Co

Co 00 Lo Lo

OSTHOSCOTHt-COCO

o

Co Co Oo

Co Co

Th O

rf rH CO CO CD CO rH TH

January

g

00 t- OS OS OS OS

: co co co os

Os O Co Os

Os Co O Lo Os

I €36,327.88

o

Os

Th

Co O Co Oo 00 O

Th

oo

00 OS iH TH O CO CD iH CO O LO C- 00

Th Th

LO OS LO CO C- T-J" Tji" TJH r-T co" CO TH TH

County

&

!

Production Of Crude Oil

os"

OQ5rHCOO5

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

OOOOOOO lOOCOOOOOOOCO'efOOOrH ! CO

Co

to

to o

os"

Co

oo co"

OO CO CO CO O rH IO OS rH O CO rH rH CO CO

rHOOOOCOCCOJHt-OOO ICOOO rHC-COCOTHCOOlOCOCO It-OS

0 rH

COCO COCOCOlO-* IOCO COt- rH CO OtOOl tO rH rH I r-T

a

i-j

$

rH 00 OS 0

Co

CO rH

T-H" to

co"

o

-*i OS t- OO rH CO CO 00 CO t- rH IO O t- tO

Os Co Co

CO CO rH CO

Co

OSrHCOCOCO O-lOrHOOOS CO COtO rH t- rHlOlb r-T

f-

H

Os

to

oo-t-cooocotco to oo co co to to

Co

fr

CO t- CO O rH OO

t— rH CO Tt* Tj< rH

A

oo t-

CO OS CO O CO rH OS OS O OS

CO 00 CO CO OS OS rH OS

Co

o

Co

Os Co

eo"

o oo

CO CO t- CO OS

rH rH CO CO OS TH Tt< CO tO OO

Os Co Co Co Co Co O Co

tocoot-coocotto o os to o 10 o

o oo

Co

CO rH rH rH

OO O tO rH r-T

rfl IO IO OO CO IO rH

P

to to oo to Tti co to eo oo to t- oo

to co t- co

t-

co

Co

to"

rH CO

co"

t- to oo to co os

r*l C- CO CO Tt" O

eo os

Co Co

o co to

TjH OS CO OO

OO 00 OS tO

tO rH

to" Tin" Tl? Co" CO" t- rH IO CO -"t"

H

February

Os

tOCCO tOCOTjH CO

oocotot-ostocooo

to to

to

ee-

Co

OOlOrHCO tOOOS tO COCOt OS

t-

rH

CO 00 rH rH OO IO rH rH Tfi CO rH

CO CO CO CO CO OS rH OS rH CO

January

§

Os

cp os co : : o o co t-

OS Tf CO ! ! O O rH OS

CO O OO rH ! IO to rH rH rH ! rH

rH tO CO I 1 Tt< O CO CO t- 00 t- : I O t- rH rH

co to os : ; ts to t- co

Co Co 00 ! 0

o to os to : o

to

rH 6O-

T-Tto"rH" ! ItOOOr-Tco"

c5 j j eo

i ! i i i i

County

j ! j i j j

:

i i i i i i i i i i i i

i i i i i :

Production Of Crude Oil

Co C O5 O5

CQ os oo o

O O OO CO O CO Tt< OO iH L5 O i-CO

t- O iH O iH CO Ci Tj< CO iH iH t- O5 M

rH — 00 CO

Oo Co Co Lo Co

O Co O Co

CXI O3 t1— CXI O5 OS

Os O Co Co Co C5

IO rH

OCOOOOr-l

oT

Co

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

i-l OS T— I CO LO 00 t- rti

LOr- 5i—

t-OS COOSt-lT-IOOLOCqOT-iCO

rH Oq iH

Production Of Crude Oil

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

Oil Runs Of January, 1921.

In spite of the drop in the price of crude Kentucky oil runs for the month of January, 1921, totaling 744,278.99 barrels, show an increase over December, 1920, of 22,024.50 barrels. Warren, Johnson, Magoffin and Wayne Counties show increases. December runs from Warren were only 22,000 barrels, while those of January, 1921, were almost 60,000. Small decreases are shown in both Lee and Estill Counties in Eastern Kentucky.

Runs Of Kentucky By Counties For January, 1921.

County. Barrels.

Allen 56,980.56

Bath 1,488.28

Estill 77,384.09

Floyd 196.95

Jackson 329.96

Johnson 14,119.46

Knott 61.42

Lawrence 22,474.69

Lee 418,807.84

Lincoln 94.26

Magoffin 19,818.10

Menifee 7,786.31

Morgan 1,764.66

Powell 23,052.92

Simpson 680.06

Warren 59,906.66

Wayne 30,202.57

Whitley 137.69

Wolfe 8,443.61

Total barrels 743,598.93

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

pq

ga s

H O

5 o

g g

0 S

ffi

Production Of Crude Oil

oJ

sa

O O eg O O O

o o

rH O

o q

o o o

rH

O rH

cT

9-

OS t- OC

Oo Os Oo Os

Tl

Co 00

eg os

rH rH

Os

t- OS CO LO OS eg U3 0 10 eg

rH rH CO

CO CO IO Tj< O OO IO

IO LO Irt

LO rH Lffl OS

o

Co Os

t-

Co

co"

o

CO OO CO U5 rH OS OS OS OS

O rH CO OO CO -rJH O CO OS OS

CO CO rH rH 1O OO Cs| IO rH rH Csl

Lawrence

o o o

o o

O

o o

O OS t-

CO t- IO O CO CO

O Ia Oj Co Os O

LO CO IO CO Tf

Tfl 10 CO rH rH rH

CO rH

pq

CO O O OS O t- 00 OO rH CO OS

Ifi rH

Os

eg

Oo

o

Co

o co"

CQOt-t— OlOOOt~— CO OSCOOOrHCOC-OOCOrH

s

w

Irt O rH O

o o

o

rH

CO OS r-T

Co

eg

Os Co

cq os os

Co

eg

o

CO OS rH rH

rH

Co

t-

o

o5

r-T T-T rH~ i-T rH*

pq

o t-

5 ' t-> t-, & 5 no

Ilil 1

ty

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

S

§

Q

iH

S

o

OS CO O OS O O rH O

oo

Co

£ o

iiHr-IOiOt-COOOCOt-

Co Oo O

Pq

: rH T-I rH

Oo

o

M S

ss

i i ! i i i i i'co-

! CO rH

Co

£g

El u

.S

oS

" Q H

O §

o

g z

Pq

i i i i i i S i i rt

So Bg

si

i i ! i i i i ! i : co o

i in os

Co

Os

'

"eS

i i i i i i i i i ig

'o o

0 S

: i ! i ! : i i i

Co Co

o 5

Cq

Os

H

rH

o P3 p

i i I ! i j i 1 i

Q H

I I 1 i i f i

i ! i i ! i

j

pi, S

j

i S i i

o

I i i 1

! i i i i i i

Production Op Crude Oil

Pq

m

H

Eh £

m r;

§

O

2 fa

Tfi <?i i— lOOO

: 10 co : t- us

Th"

i i i i i

i i ! i !

i i i i

' K 1 !

i i & ! s g

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

5 m

n

P O

EH fe

§ H

J Eh

Ooc

H

O g

E

O

m

Eh

H

w

Production Of Crude Oil

pq

g o

p

H

S 5

J H

O g

O S

°

2 S

O Pj

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

O

§ tf

Q

w H

Pq

g § °

M Q

fel

H

g§

Mg IS

Eh J

gg

dg og

§S 2:3

O 2

H

pq

Pq

OS OS rH TJH CO CI rH rH LO U5 OO

rH C- rH OO OS CO

Production Of Crude Oil

m

fe H OS

M

w

sg

£ H

Sg

og

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

S

W H

Q £

P P

Eh O

£ O

O Eh

fe £ O

PH ffi

o u

I

M

oio

Coco

llfl-is Ifl i 1

Production Of Crude Oil

O

o

z

: : : : : : : : os o os : : : : : : : : rH rH t- o : : : : : : : : co o co -<f

o

rH rH

P

: LA LA co TJH

Os

Tt"

To

3J H

Warren

I LA OS rH

: os t- co Tt<

oo

Os

M

I CO rH rH

tH H

rH

5 g

O

Qj

rH OS

& p

Eh 0

£ o

H ,- Q

fe

cS

rH rH rH

t£

w

rH CO

Jc

rH

H

W

£

co co o : : o : : : :

rH CO

Co

§3

o rH o : : o :

Co Co

g§

o5

O5 rH rH : : rH : : : :

Co O

H

d w

O

rH

O Os

Os

05

O rH

S tf 0

Pq

t-J W

QtH

M

o

Hh

o

H

!

Eh

g

Ill'l&llllli

"o

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

m

°i N

H

' J

Sg

§3

O

acsg-gojooo

Production Of Crude Oil

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

u oQ

S

w o

Production Of Crude Oil

Geo.—- 4

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Op Crude Oil

PRODUCTION OP CRUDE PETROLEUM IN EASTERN KEN- TUCKY FIELDS. RUNS OF CUMBERLAND PIPE LINE CO.

Year

Month

Barrels

Toital per year

Average per day

Remarks

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

Aprl

May

Opening of

June

Cannel City

July

Pool.

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Year

Month

Barrels

Total per year

Average per day

Remarks

January

February

March

April

Beginning of

May

Irvine Cow

June

Creek Pool.

July

August

Fitchburg Dist.

September

October

November

December

January

"150,330

February

March

April

May

June

Ashley Pool,

July

Powell Co.

August

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

Lee Co. Field.

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Production Of Crude Oil

Year

Month

Barrels

Total per year

Average per day

Remarks

January

February

March

April

May

Ten months

June

daily average.

July

August

September

October

November

December

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Ssoh

1U9Jjo.L

5COCOCOT— *iOCOi5 5 00 CO S C- CO CO t-- Ul

i-H-lOO

i - r. rr r: j - -r> t?

co" in in ITS" co" co" co" t

,

g s a

Production Of Crude Oil

sSuudg HO

jii i !

Tt<'o'oo'oo"oro i

tr> eo ic o

Ssoh

oo

;*ir

ptre AVOO

't'lACO

03

)Or-t;o*O'Tr-'Mi.o occcpookAosQOCkAc : : 1 oo ift O rH so lA co oo O5 1-is kO O irt c5 oo o to :

OOOOOO OOOO O O Or-

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

Qo

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

O

ijX-2l.l

s

J J

£

K

J

W/

112 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

mtmm'im?,mmtm'mmm± ;

no

T-I rH r-l i

£ I :::?!: T"T7y3~T~: T O

Tj

T—i i 1—4 T-H rH T— I T— t T— T— t i— Tl— t T— t r-H T— I T— t T— ( T— ( CClr

b A

O

j

fin'

in O oo g T-I c

a

£X

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Production Of Crude Oil

Kentucky Crude Oil Prices

The recent tremendous slashing of the prices paid by the principal oil purchasing agencies for Kentucky crude has caused much interest in the fluctuations as a reflection of the industrial activity of the country. Herewith are presented the Somerset and Ragland prices from February 5, 1913, to February 26, 1921, a period of eight years. The lowest price is $.85, on August 20, 1913; the highest $4.50, on October 11, 1920.

Somer- Rag- Somer- Rag-

1913 set land 1916— Cont'd set land

February 5 $1.35

April 17 1.35

April 20 1.30

April 22 1.25

April 27 1.20

April 30 1.10

May 11 1.05

June 1 1.05

July 15 1.02

July 28 .j 1.00

August 8 95

August 12 90

August 17 87

August 20 85

January 4

March 15

March 20

April 3

August 13

August 17

August 24

September 13 ... September 27 ... September 27 ...

October 7

October 27

November 5

November 15 ... November 18 ...

December 3

December 17

December 30 ...

January 28 1.73

February 21 1.78

March 6 1.85

March 17 ..: 1.95

July 29 1.85

August 3 1.75

August 10 1.70

September 28 October 10

October 20 .+.

October 31 December 5

December 29

January 5

January 9

April 17

August 13

August 20

December 4

February 8

September 2 ..

November 7 ..

December 22

December 31

January 26 ... March 1 April 2

Somerset ...$3.25 ... 3.50

Ragland $1.75

Light Somerset

May 10

September 23 . October 11

January 8 January 21 ... January 31 ... February 4 ... February 11 . February 15 . February 21 . February 26 .

*Price effective at 11:35 a. m.

Manuscript completed Mar. 1, 1921.

The Value And Direction Of State Geological Surveys*

The fundamental importance of State Geological Surveys from a scientific as well as economic standpoint in the development of our mineral resources has in this day become widely recognized rather than doubted. The time was, however, when good people generally had little conception of the kind of activities or the value of State Geological investigations. This change in public opinion has been a very natural one in which the first stimulus was the sound application of the geological principles enunciated by the older geologists of this country. Co-ordinated with the awakening of the public interest there has been established in the United States a great body of geologic literature and thought, the potential value of which, in the exploitation of our natural resources, cannot be over estimated.

Any discussion of the value or organization of State Geological Surveys would be incomplete without some introductory statement concerning their historical development. Geological information has always been advanced either by individuals working separately, or in groups, and today geological literature may be divide! on this basis into two classes, of (1) that of the independent research student, and (2) that of the group of research workers who collaborate in the results of their observations and philosophies. The work of the individual in many cases is privately directed, and for many years the University teacher has been the foremost in this field of sporadic, uncorrelated investigations. The work of groups is generally allowable of more co-ordination, and frequently it is so organized and adapted as to take up in local and systematic sequence a large group of related problems. It is not only in the surveys of the States, but also in the federal Geological Survey, that the work of groups developing the feature of co-operation as between individual workers is most strongly developed. It is

*This paper presented at the University of Cincinnati, May 5, 1920.

118 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

also a fact that these reports, which are based on the investigation of groups generally, show the best and most reliable geological interpretations. This is not invariably the case, but is of such frequent occurrence as to cause geologists, generally, to value the co-operation of their fellows, both in the field and in the review of their manuscript.

Origin Of Geological Surveys.

During its infancy the now well established science of geology found its advance principally through the individual resources of private parties. When it became apparent that individuals were not going to be able to cary the work forward rapidly or thoroughly enough to meet the demand of the growth of this country, the aid of the general public was solicited ; and the early geologists, seeking such public aid, came to have an understanding of political mechanisms and valuations. In the United States the first Geological Survey was established in North Carolina in 1823, when the General Assembly of that state authorized its Board of Agriculture to pay the expenses attached to "Geological Excursions" for a certain number of years. Prof. Denison Olmstead, of the State University of North Carolina, was appointed to direct the work. In 1824, South Carolina, with Lardner Vanuxem as its State Geologist, began its work. In 1830 Edward Hitchcock undertook the work for Massachusetts. This was in reality the first real State Geological Survey, as the organization of the Carolinas were small and rather unimportant.

Dr. Gerard Troost began the state examinations for Tennessee in 1831, and in 1833 Jules T. Ducatel undertook the investigation in Maryland. As an assistant he had J. T. Alexander, who had the title of State Topographical Engineer, and has been credited with producing the first topographical maps in this country. In 1S35 the Virginia Geological Survey was inaugurated, and under the directorate of W. B. Rogers. In the same year, EL D. Rogers took charge of the New Jersey Survey, and J. G. Percival and Charles U. Sheppard, as Geologists in charge, began the work in Connecticut. In 1836, the year following, there was organized in the state of New York the Geo-

Value Of Geological Surveys 119

logical Survey of the same name, which was destined to be the peer of all others in the east. W. W. Mather, Lardjier Vanuxem Thomas A. Conrad, Ebenezer Emmons and James Hall divided the state up between them. They had the idea in mind, which was then commonly prevalent, that each would carry a certain area, which, when finished within a specified length of time, generally a year or two, would complete the Geological Survey of that commonwealth. The complete fallacy of this conception of State Geological work did not make itself apparent for many years, and as late as the latter part of the 19th century it was commonly believed by many that a single investigation of any given area would be sufficient for all time. In the same year the Pennsylvania Geological Survey secured the services of H. D. Rogers from the neighboring state of New Jersey, and Georgia started its work with John R. Getting as its State Geologist. These years were indeed a time of awakening in internal improvements throughout the eastern states, and so we are not surprised to find Maine, farthest removed to the north-east, undertaking its original work with Charles F. Jackson as director of its geological investigations.

The organization of State Geological Surveys then followed in rapid succession. Delaware, Ohio and Michigan in 1837; Kentucky, under W. W. Mather, in 1838 ; Rhode Island in 1839 ; New Hampshire in 1840; Vermont in 1845; Alabama in 1847; Mississippi in 1850; Illinois in 1851; Florida and Wisconsin in 1853 ; Iowa in 1855 ; Arkansas in 1857 ; Texas in 1858 ; California in 1860. Thus through the process of gradual and substantial growth there came to be established in practically all of the states of the Union important geological investigating bodies called Surveys, sustained by funds dedicated to the principle of assisting in the development of a scientific understanding of the earth's crust, and its mineral wealth.

The most celebrated geologists of this day were Hall, Hitchcock, Owen, Mathers, Vanuxem, Emmons, Conrad and the Rogers brothers. They were assisted in their labors by a larger group of younger men less conspicuous at that time, but who through sound training under the capable tutelage of these older men, have since become recognized geologists of national and international reputation.

120 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The U. S. Geological Survey.

Prior to the time of the Civil War, the United States Government had done very little to assist geological investigation. A few rapid reconnaissance surveys had been made of very wide areas, such as those undertaken and completed by David Dale Owen in the Upper Mississippi valley, in the present states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota, for the United States Land Office and the Treasury Department during the years of 1839 and 1851. The War Department enlisting the services of a number of distinguished geologists, including Newberry, Hall, Marcou, Blake and Conrad, in the years 1853 and 1855, made what has become known as the Pacific Railroad Surveys. Closely attending the resumption of peace time activities following the closure of the Civil War, forward looking governmental officials saw the necessity of securing broadly distributed, yet accurate information concerning the topography, resources and climatology of that great western country which we know as the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast belt.

In following out this idea, four exploring organizations were dispatched to the westward under the direction of the War Department. These were the King, Wheeler, Hayden and the Powell Surveys. They were very largely Geological Surveys and were executed with such diligence and dispatch that their value became at once self-apparent, and resulted in their combination of the year 1879, under the title of the United States Geological Survey. Clarence King was made the first director, and further investigations of the western country were immediately undertaken. As the years passed, the investigations of the United States Geological Survey became broadened so as to cover the older states to the east, as well as the newer states of the west, so that today its territorial scope is only limited by the boundaries of the Union. It is, as a matter of fact, (now conducting correlated investigations quite generally on some plan of co-operative finance in almost every state and territory.

Economic And Scientific Surveys.

A consideration of the economic importance of State Geological Surveys is worth while, since it is due to this feature

Value Of Geological Surveys 121

that they owe their first inception, early maintenance, and present-day firm establishment. It has been said that the principal office of a Geological Survey is to place geological information on maps so that it may be useful for other investigating parties, whether trained geologists or not. Such, however, is only a partial consideration of the work which a Survey may do. Many results obtained from field investigations are not readily applicable to any kind of map representation. Typical of these are scientific descriptions of fossils, and the practical descriptions of the openings and development of mines, and the gratuitous and freely given consulting advice of the State Geologist. Such things obviously would be lost were they not to be recorded in printed form in a systematic sequence. Such a collection of data and the allied observations and philosophies has come to be known as a geological report. It may be a broad and general outline covering a certain area, or it may be detailed and specific for the same area. In either case, it supplements and increases the value many fold of the geological map of the same area.

Investigations of the geology of any state naturally divide themselves into two groups : The purely scientific and the purely economic. All economic reports find their geologic basis on some scientific report, or reports, but the converse is not true. In the early development of the Geological Surveys of this country it was very common to issue reports which were either purely scientific or purely economic. Today, and indeed for the past two decades, it has come to be recognized practice to use all pertinent scientific data in preparing an economic report, sensing that each lends strength to the other. In the light of this full appreciation of the proper organization of geological investigations, the more recent and more valuable reports of all State Geological Surveys show some systematic combination of these two features.

The early reports prepared by the first geologists of this country were not ordinarily written so as to be useful to the layman Their descriptions, though accurate, were frequently tiresome and unreadable, and they tended to discourage the interest of the general public rather than to fascinate. Through the growth of a wide spread demand, there has been in these

122 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

latter years an evident and wholesome change for the better, with the result that now many geological reports, no less accurate than before, are written with more literary-commanding style. This new virtue has been steadfastly coupled with a consistent appreciation of the practical value of the report of the various mining and manufacturing industries of the country. As a result the office of every active State Geological Survey is in this day besieged with many thousands of communications requesting definite geological information concerning various areas within the state, and their industrial or mining development. So it has come to be a large part of the official routine of the up-to-date State Geological Survey to assist in the convervative exploitation of the natural and mineral resources of the Commonwealth it serves. Among the economic reports of this Appalachain region, those dealing with coal, petroleum, natural gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, fluorspar, lead, zinc, calcite, barite, phosphate, mica, glass sands, abrasives, the precious metals, iron and steel, are most important.

Geological Survey Organization.

The organization of any Geological Survey is a task that is individual. It is individual to the Commonwealth in which it is organized because of the pecularity of its own geology and mineral resources. It is also individual insofar as the knowledge of its director goes, for manifestly the direction of a Geological Survey can be no broader or better constructed than the geological understanding of its director will allow. A Geological Survey is individual since it is entirely dependent upon funds provided for its maintenance by the State Legislature. These due to political whimsicalities may be adequate or even large for a year or two and then practically nothing for a period of years to follow. The legislative mind may be largely influenced by the capabilities and personality of the State Geologist. The successful State Geologist should then be a man of fundamental and constructive training who has in mind the general geological problems of his state and the disposition and ability to secure the funds necessary to their solution.

Value Of Geological Surveys 123

Geological problems ripe for investigation will fall into the various classes referred to above and each will vie with the other for first consideration. Maintenance funds are always limited, whether they be large or small, and great perplexity always attends their equitable apportionment to the varying importance of each separate office detail or field investigation. It is now reogiiized that topographic maps of the scale of 1 to 62,500 should precede all detailed investigations, though the scale 1 to 125,000 may be satisfactorily used for reconnaisance purposes. In many states the absence of such topographic maps is a serious factor retarding the proper direction and effective organization of the field work. The geological friendship, acquaintance, and appreciation, if the terms may be so used, of the Director of any State Geological Survey are constantly being put to the test in making selections of the men best qualified to map or report on separate areas or mineral resource industries.

This a day of specialists. Specialists stand in the front rank in all professions, and not the least of these is geology. Practically every geologist, though he has a fine background of general geological training, will have picked out for himself by the time he reaches his 30th milestone, some field of specialization. . Many men who are specialists, however, combine with their line of principal endeavor some parallel investigation. The stratigrapher, for instance, will generally turn himself to oil investigations and the petrologist will interest himself in the mining of metals. In bringing new men into a state to investigate any separate field; all of these features of the geologist's training and adaptability must be considered if the best results are to be obtained.

Frequently localized areas of some special mineral resource overlap state boundaries, and a man who has received considerable training and education in working out the geology of an area in one state may be brought across the boundary into another with very great advantage in the saving of time, and in the essential understanding of the geology of the second area. This is obviously the thing to do when possible since the geologist thus secured is an experienced man to start the work. The greatest disadvantage in the selection of new field geologists is found in their universal lack of familiarity or acquaintance

124 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

with the type of topography and geology in the prospective field. And this is a handicap which every Geological Survey faces when it engages a young, or a new geologist. A university graduate is for this reason of very little importance to any Survey as a geologist during his first year. He is plainly of less value to those Surveys far removed from his place of training than he is to those close at hand. However, if the young university geologist has combined an engineering training in mapping, with his geological work, his services should be worth a premium as soon as he graduates.

It would be unfair to close any remark concerning the work on State Geological Surveys without some statement as to present economic conditions within the Surveys themselves. I mean by this the living conditions, which determine the esprit de corps of the survey groups. During the past few years very few, if any, state appropriations for purely geological investigations have been increased, and as a result it has been impossible to increase salaries in proportion with the increased living cost. Expenses for maintenance of all Surveys have doubled and trebled, and these have had to be met. The result has been that the work on those Surveys where the appropriation has not been elastic, has had to be cut down in area in order to allow for this greater cost. The growth of various economic industries, including oil, and coal mining, has on the other hand opened an increasingly large field for geological investigation and employment. Salaries and other general working conditions have been made very attractive in the corporate investigations, and many men have been drawn away from their work on State and Federal Geological Surveys to take up this sort of geological work. The result has been that a certain pauperage of geological talent has stalked unopposed into the professional ranks or state employed geologists, and the end is not yet in sight. What the State Geological Surveys of the future will be in personnel and effectiveness cannot now be foreseen, though it must be recognized that the tendency is toward the gradual impoverishment of their best geological talent and initiative.

Manuscript completed May 1, 1920.

River And Forest Trails In Western Kentucky.*

Summer is here and with it the out of doors privilege of the world. Down through the dawn-kissed meadows a riot of red clover is calling the bee. In yonder old-fashioned garden dew-studded morning glories like bits of blue sky lie sprinkled along the hedge flanked by rows of bell-faced hollyhocks, red, purple and white — a paradise for humming birds. Up from their nightly haunts by the river whole flocks of rollicking chattering grackle are winging their way under the clear morning sky to the open country beyond, saying as they go, "Come on! Come on!"

Where is the man who knows Kentucky as do these dusky feathered folk? What native son can tell the tale of fields of yellow grain, of mineral wealth, of natural beauty in Mountain, Blue Grass and Pennyrile one-half so well? None but he who has roamed with lightsome heart through the countless hills and valleys, who has left at dawn the new made friend, and found again ere nightfall another kindly and hospitable face.

He it is who has felt the strong pulse of Kentucky beat, when on the broad and level pike he has stopped to ask his way of ploughboy or of housewife. His was the joy when down some shady, half-forgotten lane he suddenly came upon groups of laughing, barefooted school children exhaling in their play the breath of a great tomorrow. His happiness has been the glint of the new moon in the river, the distant baying of hounds and flaring of torches in the 'possum hunt, and the quiet atmosphere of quaint little single street villages nestling among the obscure hills. These are the kind of things he has come to know and to love. Their charm is individual and quite apart from that of the larger towns with their glittering printed names, their tawdry crowds and other commonplace distinctions.

For he who would see for himself the natural wealth and beauty of his native state, there is an excellent route from Louisville along the south shore of the Ohio river into western-most Kentucky This trip takes one through Hardinsburg, Owens-

*Also Louisville Courier- Journal, Sunday Magr. Sec.. Augr. 22, 1920, Louisville, Ky.

126 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

boro, Henderson, Uniontown, Marion, Princeton, Eddyville, across the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, and into the ' Purchase" at Benton. Thence the route is south to Murray, northwest to Mayfield, south-west again to Fulton and Hickman on the Mississippi river. Here the road swings northward to Clinton, Bardwell, Wickliffe and back eastward to Paducah. During the summer this trip may be made in an inexpensive automobile in five days with good hotel accommodations and less inconveniences of travel than many might expect. The route is a good one for several reasons, the principal one of which is that few take it. For this reason the road is fairly clear of traffic, allowing one to see the open country and breathe those fresh and natural fragrances which are not to be found anywhere else in all the world.

Every vista of Kentucky along this trail bordering the south shore of the Ohio river is new and delightful. From Louisville to West Point it leads through the Ohio bottoms over an excellent road built of Kentucky Bock Asphalt, a mineral product now being mined on a large scale in Edmonson county. Just before reaching "West Point one crosses on a new steel bridge the famous Salt river near its junction with the Ohio. After leaving the town the road runs close to the river for a little, then turns abruptly to the south, and one is offered his choice of two roads. He may elect the new cement U. S. Army road leading directly to Camp Knox, or the older Dripping Springs macadam road, now somewhat rough. Both climb up over Muldraugh's hill, which is the great escarpment of Mjssissippian limestone so well known to the residents of Louisville.

Once on the top, if he has taken the Dripping Springs road, he will proceed over an undulating table-land through Vine Grove to Camp Knox. Here besides the interests which attach to the camp, he will note the abundance of apple orchards and remember that Hardin county is celebrated for its fruit growing and dairying. At the edge of the government military reservation the trail turns abruptly to the west, and passing through Otter creek in Meade county and into upper Big Spring valley, the tourist finds himself well on the way to Hardinsburg. The road in western Meade and north-eastern Breckinridge county, in the vicinity of Bewleyville and Sinking creek, is a little rough

River And Forest Trails 127

but the country is beautiful. Broad farms well taken care of are on every side, for Breckinridge and Meade counties both produce large amounts of corn, hay and wheat.

From Hardinsburg westward the road improves a little. At the edge of Hancock county one leaves the lower lying Mississippian limestones and climbs up over the second great escarpment— that of the lower sandstones and conglomerates of the Pottsville formations. These rocks are the first of the Coal Measures to be seen. From now on until he nears Marion, in Crittenden county the traveler will be in the western Kentucky coal field. In the vicinity of Patesville and Pellville, the road winds down into the upper forks of Blackford creek, and one is reminded strongly cf some parts of eastern Kentucky by the little narrow valleys, and the small but well farmed bottom lands in them. In this section the roads are part of the time in the creeks, and the native homes are there, too, just a little removed above high* water.

The road from Knottsville into Owensboro is fairly good and one which wilt not easily be mistaken. Davies has much mineral and agricultural wealth. It has long been a producer of coal, its commercial production or 1918 amounting to 86,552 tons, valued at $191,554.00, which was considerably exceeded in 1919.

In this country there is some little prospecting going forward for oil and gas. It is rumored that crude oil has been discovered in at least one or two wells, which it is thought wi'l eventually lead to commercial production in those sections. In 1918 Davies county produced 3,200,000 bushels of corn and 300,000 bushels of wheat, and had much less waste land than any adjoining county.

Most of the good roads around about Owensboro are made from Ohio River gravels. One wonders, as he slips along between fields yellow with wheat and oats, or green with corn and clover on the road to Henderson, why it is that these same gravels are not used more extensively in this part of the State. The only fault which can be found with them is that they are smooth and therefore roll easily. These Ohio River gravels consist of rounded brown cherts, white quartzes, glacial granites, some coal, and sand.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

River And Forest Trails

It is with an exclamation of surprise that one suddenly finds himself at the main ferry crossing the Green River. This is the stream whose name in an older day meant much to the lovers of mint julips, and other similar concoctions. It is a quiet, peaceful, smooth flowing river, bordered on either side by luxuriant rows of great forest trees which give it an altogether pleasing appearance. It is particularly a cool and restful spot just at nightfall, when with the long shadows creeping farther and farther over its limpid surface one hears in the distance the sleepy cry of startled water-birds, and feels the cool, damp odors of the many inland swales and quiet reaches.

THE OHIO RIVER CONTRIBUTION TO GOOD ROADS. Ohio River gravel pile on Henderson wharf. This material is used with good results in many of the Kentucky counties adjoining-the Ohio River.

At Henderson one sees heavy loaded coal trains of the L. & N. Railroad going North, and recalls that this county is one of the rich counties of the Western Coal Field, its production in 1918 having amounted to 394,062 tons valued at $955,613.00. In agriculture Henderson county takes a high place, having pro-

Geo.— 5

130 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

duced in 1918, 3,500,000 bushels of corn and 240,000 bushels of wheat. Much fruit is grown here, and it is conceded to be the leading apple exporting county of the state. The road to Uniontown runs along the South shore of the Ohio on Quaternary bottom-lands which are largely planted to corn and tobacco. This bottom-land is very sandy, and suggests the presence during some by gone geological time of the Ohio River in closer proximity to the Pottsville escarpment, which in the form of low rounded hills now rapidly melting away, lies just south of the main road.

Uniontown is a quaint little place picturesquely situated on the banks of the Ohio near the mouth of Highland Creek, and just above Wabash Island where the Wabash River, coming down from the north, makes its debouchure into the Ohio. In the lower part of Uniontown one gets the idea of occasional high waters, for the houses are all built up four or five feet on stone or brick abumtents. At present there is much interest in Uniontown over the development of a new shaft which will go down 300 feet to the No. 9 coal. This famous western Kentucky coal seam has been cored and found to be six feet thick under the Uniontown area. No. 11 coal is now being operated at Uniontown, as well as in other parts of Union county.

The road to Morganfield is exceedingly good and continues so southward to Sturgis, the home of the West Kentucky Coal Company, one of the largest producers of Union county coal. Statistics show that in 1918 there was produced in Union county 992,973 tons of coal valued at $2,213,394.00, which is larger of course than Hancock, Davies and Henderson combined for several years. Union county is also a great hay and corn producer. Its hay acreage will yield the high average of two tons. In 1918 it produced between 50,000 and 75,000 tons of hay and about 250,000 bushels of corn.

But a few miles south of Sturgis one comes abruptly on to Tradewater River which is crossed by a ferry and with little difficulty during times of low water. The ferry man will tell you, however, that during flood times its muddy banks make it an exceedingly dangerous stream. From the Tradewater south to Marion Jie road is rough, and one will find this the most difficult though none the less picturesque portion of the

River And Forest Trails

h

B .

£2

O O

beg

—

o

si

1!

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

whole trip. Almost unconsciously one slides off the Pottsville sandstones of the coal measures onto the surface of the Mississippian limestone rocks which form the greater portion of Crittenden county. It is here that the road gets rough.

At Marion one will want to go west four or five miles and see some of the splendid fluorspar mines of that section. "While here, it is well to remember that Crittenden and Livingston

A New Union County Coal Mine.

At the time this picture was taken the shaft was down 60 feet and going 300 feet to No. 9 coal, which is 6 feet thick. The operation is that of the Union County Mining Co., and is located at Uniontown.

county, but especially Crittenden, is the chief fluorspar producing section of Kentucky. This area, together with the adjacent portion of Illinois, supplies four-fifths of the large fluorspar market of the United States. Fluorspar is the chief mineral of value of Crittenden county, though lead and zinc occur in lesser quantities associated with the spar.

Fluorspar as a mineral name does not mean much to the average person. If he is reminded, however, that it is essential to the manufacture of the enamel of kitchen and bath room

River And Forest Trails

supplies, that it is indispensable to the modern manufacture of aluminum, used in the making of glass, generally required as flux in the manufacture of iron and steel, and the base of hydrofluoric acid, which is used to etch glass, he will realize the importance of this glassy white mineral substance, and its value to Kentucky. At the Mary Belle mine west of Marion, or at Mexico, south of Marion, he will see great storage piles of fluorspar and

The Peaceful Tradewater.

A hand ferry on the Tradewater River on the road from Sturgris to Marion. In this view the farmer is driving: to Sturgis. Lack of adequate steel bridges over the lower waters of some of our western Kentucky rivers is a serious handicap to the full agricultural and mineral development of many sections.

will be told, if he takes the trouble to ask the question, that it is selling at between $30.00 and $50.00 a ton. The production of fluorspar in this field in 1918 was 87,604 tons, which was valued at $2,069,185.00.

The rougher and more broken country of Crittenden county gradually gives way to low rounded hills of Caldwell, in the vicinity of Princeton, where the tourist again sees many fine farming sections. Not the least of Caldwell county's industries is that of the preparation of ground limestone for agricultural

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

A Crittexden County Fluorspar Mill.

A very large percentage of western Kentucky "spar" has to be milled. This is the plant of the Kentucky Fluorspar Co., located at Marion.

purposes. As a rehabilitator for worn out soils, it scarcely has an equal, and thousands of tons are exported annually from a number of quarries. At Eddyville one sees for the first time the Cumberland river which is now being locked at a point almost directly in front of the Kentucky State Prison. If he has the time, it will pay the traveler to climb up on the top of the prison power plant overhanging the river bank and view, as with the birds, the unusual industry below. Here are the steaming little scows and tugs, the swinging devil fish arms of the great barge derricks, the dinky trains shunting backward and forward, and all in and around, the unceasing toil of hundreds of men who in sweat and dirt and with many a curse are shaping new structures of steel and stone to hold back the waters of this great river.

The best ferry in this section is at Kuttawa, a quiet little hamlet on the Illinois Central Railroad, just west of Eddyville. The town is blessed with tall rows of forest trees overhanging the little homes, and in between down the center of the main

River And Forest Trails

street a third row meets those on either side, giving a quiet and refreshing shade suggestive of the old south.

In "Between the Kivers," as the section is known from Kuttawa to the Birmingham ferry on the Cumberland, one will see a part of Kentucky which has remained largely unde-

A Marion Fluorspar Mill.

Plant of the Gugenheim Mining- Co., located at the edge of the city and operating- a low grade ore, from a view adjacent to the mill. Highly polished slickensided blocks of fluorspar taken from this property by the writer, indicate fault movement here under considerable pressure.

veloped during the last several decades. In this area are located the large forest preserves of the Hillman Land and Iron Company, approximating something like 55,000 acres. Within the boundaries of this great tract of timber there is to be found only an occasional native resident. Many of the houses in this section are old double log cabins with a single roof of hand made shingles. For those who are thirsty there is always a well or cistern of fine water on the porch between the cabin rooms. But watch out, for in the front yard just back of the white paling fence, is a trusty old bird dog dreaming of quail and

136 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

A Wealth Producer In The Purchase.

Black Burley tobacco six weeks old on the Dr. John Kirksey farm,

' near Sedalia, Graves County. During- 1918 and 1919 this "weed" grew with

much arrogance in many a west Kentucky door yard and widely displaced

the normal staples of corn, hay, etc. The declining-markets of 1919 and

1920 induced a large reduction in the acreage planted.

squirrels in the shade of a giant oak tree. Like the natives, he has a suspicious eye open for strangers, but will turn out to be a good fellow if rightly approached.

Little farming is carried on in this section, the soil being poor and the demand for agricultural products being very limited. The Hillman ferry at Birmingham is in itself worth the whole trip. Down the river is Seven Mile Island and the great white bluffs of Chester limestone known as the Star Lime Works. Up stream one sees One Mile Island with its tall forest trees which brings back memories of the beautiful channels of the St. Lawrence. All the way into Birmingham the conspicuous red sands, gravels and clays on each side tell one that he has left the more solid limestones and sandstones of the Paleozoic behind, and is now on the Quaternary sediments of the " Purchase" country.

The route from Birmingham to Benton leads through beau-

River And Forest Trails

tiful stretches of woodland over roads which are fairly good in dry weather. Log cabins with "stick an' mud" chimneys gradually give way to better homes as one approaches Benton, though in this whole section the log built building, especially the towering old log barns, are a pleasant rural characteristic.

On The Banks Of The Tennessee.

The view is down the Tennessee River at Hillman Ferry. Star Lime Bluff and Seven Mile Island may be seen in the distance. Topography of consolidated Mississippian limestone on the right and unconsolidated Quaternary sands and clays of the Purchase on the left.

There are still it is estimated about 20,000 acres of timber in Marshall county.

From Benton to Murray, the county seat of Galloway, the road is very good, local gravels being used largely for its improvement. Murray is a thriving town, with an excellent new court house as its center. The agriculture of the Purchase begins to improve as one approaches Mayfield in Graves county, around which town are grouped hundreds of fine farms producing bumper crops of corn, and heavy loads of fine black burley tobacco. Graves county from Mayfield south to Lynn-

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The Early Bird Gets The Worm.

And such is the reasoning-of the Graves County farmers who are here hauling black Burley tobacco to the Mayfield market over good gravel pikes.

ville has an excellent gravel pike, better than which there is none in the state. The road from Lynnville swings westward to Fulton, a thriving town on the Tennessee line,, thence over a broad and well graded pike, the Paducah to Memphis highway, to Hickman.

Here one sees for the first time from the bluffs of Lovers' Leap the broad expanse of the Mississippi river. It is indeed an inspiring sight. Below is the business townsite, the railroad yards, the wharfs, and in the distance the great plant of the Mengel Box Co., where hundreds of thousands of logs are annually consumed in a labyrinthine complex of whirring saws and gouging planes. Later all lacquered and glued and decorated beyond recognition, these scions of the forests of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the south, go forth into the world to fulfill their mission as cigar boxes, veneers, dashes for Ford cars, parts for aeroplanes and whatnot.

The road to Clinton in dry weather is made by way of

River And Forest Trails

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Moscow. Along the low lands of the Bayou De Chien, the farming is largely given over to the raising of corn and cotton. Fulton, the only county in Kentucky producing cotton, is particularly well adapted to its growth, since it is one of those out-

Logging On The Mississippi River.

Unloading-logs at the Mengel Box Co. wharf, Hickman. Here are made cig-ar boxes, dashes for Ford cars, airplane parts, etc. Between 800 and 1,000 men and women are employed in this large western Kentucky industry. Topography of the Mississippi flood alluviums.

lying sections of the Cotton Belt into which, as yet, the bollweevil has not penetrated.

In and about Arlington one will see large fields of luscious red tomatoes. Occasionally whole farms are given over in this part of Carlisle county to the raising of this vegetable, which is canned locally and also shipped to Paducah. In the vicinity of Bardwell, the low rounded hills of soft gravel loam produce excellent red clover, which may be seen stacked in abundance at every hand.

In dry summer weather the shortest road from Bardwell to Wickliffe leads directly down into the lower reaches of Mayfield creek, a stream of considerable size which has its head-

River And Forest Trails 141

waters away to the southeast in Galloway county. At the point where the road crosses Mayfield Creek the Mississippi river is but a few miles removed, and naturally one finds the road bad even under the most favorable weather conditions. In times

It'S Red Clover In Hickman County.

The soil in many parts of the Purchase is well adapted to clover growing-, and in Hickman County especially, large acreages of the wealth producing-red top crop may be seen. Topography of the Quaternary unconsolidated and semi-consolidated sands, gravels and clays.

of wet weather, this road will be impassable. For he who has the time Mayfield Creek offers an opportunity for a fine fishing party since it bears a wide reputation in these lower stretches as the favorite haunts of all disciples of Isaac Walton.

A good bit of the road between Mayfield creek and Wickliffe is over the washed out and abandoned right-of-way of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. This right-of-way was turned over to the county for road purposes by the railroad after the flood of 1912. The tracks and ties have been removed. So infrequent is the travel in this isolated section that the road is almost

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

WESTERN KENTUCKY FEATURES THE RED TOMATO. Many a field of love-apples (tomatoes) may be found in Carlisle County near Bardwell as this view shows.

overgrown with grass and moss. Closing in from either side so as to give a twilight even at mid-day, the low bending branches of the bordering forest trees have made this part of the road on the old right of way" little more than a trail.

At Wickliffe one should drive out on to the lowest flood plain of the Mississippi. Here if he is fortunate enough to have arrived toward sundown, he will find the most beautiful view in all western Kentucky. For as he looks up stream, he will see the "Father of Waters" coming down from the mountains and prairies of the northwest and meeting, and taking unto himself, his sturdy child, the Ohio. In between these two rivers stands the great Illinois peninsula on which the smokecapped city of Cairo is situated. As the great red ball of the sun drops down into molten waters, one gets something of the inspiration which must have filled the hearts of the great La- Salle and those of the old Catholic Fathers, Joliet and Marquette, when they first beheld this magnificent Mississippi in the wilderness of the new world.

River And Forest Trails

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

WAY DOWN SOUTH, IN THE LAND O' COTTON. Here are one thousand acres of young-cotton on the Kentucky shore of the Mississippi River. Hickman, the county seat of Fulton, may be seen in the distance on the bluffs of the river. Topography of the Mississippi River alluviums.

Shaking off the soliloquy inspired by this majestic panorama, one turns his eyes again to the east, and with an undulating but well graded gravel pike, he finds the thirty-eight miles through Ballard and McCracken counties to Paducah all too short. Excellent farms and prosperity are found on every side, and in Paducah, the metropolis of western Kentucky, he sees and feels the 'thrill once more of a fine modern and progressive city.

Manuscript completed Aug. 1, 1920.

The Ultimate Source Of Kentucky Crudes.

The present intensive search for new oil production in the Appalachian district to bolster up the steadily declining volumes of all the older pools, is leading all thoughtful petroleum geologists 'to a careful consideration of the newly advanced theories as well as the established principles which have to do with the accumulation of crude oil in the natural rock reservoirs. Pertinent to this study is an inquiry into the natural and stratigraphic position of the ultimate source, or motherrock of petroleum. This inquiry is indeed pertinent since it may not be fairly determined whether any "wild cat" area is to be listed as " probably productive," "possibly productive," or ' barren, ' ' until it is definitely known whether that area contains either at shallow or greater depth a "competent" petroleum producing mother-rock. In many fields where certain productive sands are known to exist at estimated or known depths, it may also be, and frequently is, a vital consideration as to whether deeper drilling might or might not find below these known "pays" new productive horizons. Since these are questions with which every petroleum geologist is materially concerned, it is quite worth while that they receive careful consideration.

In the state of Kentucky there are now known and readily identifiable ten separate productive sands or groups of sands. These are as follows: The "Beaver," "Horton," and "Pike" of Floyd and Knott counties; the "Wages," "Jones," and "Epperson" of Knox county, in the Pottsville (Lower Pennsylvanian). Underlying these is found the "Maxon" or "Maxton" sand of the Chester or Mauch Chunk in southeastern Kentucky (Upper Mississippian). In the same area immediately below the "Big Lime" (St. Genevieve-St. Louis) occurs the "Big Injun" group of productive sands in the upper part of the Waverly (Lower Mississipian). Underneath these is found the "Wier" sand of the Lower Waverly (Lower Missis-

146 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

sippian) productive in a rather restricted area surrounding Magoffin, Johnson and Floyd counties in eastern Kentucky.

Separated from the overlying "Wier" sand by a few feet of shale is found the well known "Berea" sand of the basal Waverly (Lower Mississippian) in northeastern Kentucky, productive chiefly in Lawrence and some parts of Johnson counties. Correlating with the Waverly in southern Kentucky from Wayne county on the east to Logan county on the west, and Grayson and Ohio counties on the northwest, there is found in the "Warsaw" and "Fort Payne" (Lower Mississippian) limestones a series of disconnected and uncorrelated porous horizons which have received the various names of "Beaver Sand," "Amber Oil Sand," "Shallow Sand," and "Major Sand."

The next underlying crude oil producing horizon is found in the Onondaga or Corniferous (Middle Devonian) limestone where the oil occurs in porous streaks of varying thicknesses not identifiable as a true siliceous sand. This horizon is productive in the Estill, Lee, Powell, Wolfe, Menefee section of eastern Kentucky; and to the southwest into the Allen-Barren- Warren region. It is the great producing horizon of Kentucky, and is justifiably accredited with 95 per cent, of the present production of the state. Underlying the Corniferous limestone, and separated from it only with great difficulty in the well record is the Niagara (Silurian) limestone which is productive of oil in sandy porous streaks in the Lee county section of eastern Kentucky, and the Allen and Warren county portions of southern Kentucky. Immediately underlying the Niagara limestone, is found a long series of alternating hard and soft, and shaly limestones inter-bedded with thin to mediumly thick shales and very occasional thin sands, which have come to be known by drillers everywhere as the Trenton (Ordovician) group. Various productive sands known as "Sunnybrook" in the Wayne county field, the "Deep sands" and "Trenton" sands in other fields, have been found by the driller. Productive oil sands in this Trenton group are the lowest, stratigraphiccally, that occur in Kentucky.

The probable sources of the various oils encountered in these several sands is not easily determined. Consequently

Source Of Kentucky Crudes 147

there are a number of opinions now current which have been received with varying degrees of certainty and approval among geologists. There can be no doubt but what the Pottsville sands (Pennsylvanian) productive in the Eastern coal field secured their petrleums chieflv from adjacent thick bituminous shales, since there is nothing in the section other than the oil-containing or adjacent sandstones and sandy conglomerates, to serve as the mother-rock. The oils found in this group are high grade green oils, low in sulphur, with a Baume gravity of from 32° to 39°. They will show a gasoline fraction of about 21.5 in all the pools where the drilling depths are below 700 feet. In pools as sli allow as 350 feet, the extreme porosity of these sands is well illustrated by the usual occurrence of black, stiff, devolatilized oils with a Baume gravity of from 18° to 22° and no trace of gasoline or lighter fractions.

Underlying the Pottsville, the Chester or Mauch Chunk (Upper Mississippian) shows in its contained "Maxon" sand a similar stratigraphical sequence of elastics except for the conglomerates, and as might be expected, the oils are similar in gravity and physical character to the overlying Pottsville oils. This fact caused them for many years to remain undifferentiated from the Pottsville production.* Their source is undeniably the adjoining red and green shales, and sands, since no other kinds of sedimentaries are found in the section. These contributing shales when examined on the outcrop, or in drill cuttings, are certainly not as bituminous as the shales of the Pottsville; yet the oil in many ways is similar. In that considerable section of red shales, red sandy shales and sandstones which underlie the very thick "Big Lime" (St. Genevieve-St. Louis-Mississippian) is found the production of the "Big Injun" group. This oil is reddish green in color, and shows the highest gravity (50.30°) and highest gasoline fraction (46.9) of any Kentucky crude oil. Oil production from the "Big Injun" horizon is extremely limited in this state, though gas production is rather common. There are not more than a half dozen wells in Lawrence and Johnson counties now producing

*The Status of the Mauch Chunk in Southeastern Kentucky as a Producer of Petroleum and Natural Gas, by W. R. Jillson. Ky. Goo. Sur., 1919.

148 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

oil from the "Big Injun" sand. Its physical source like that of the ' ' Maxon ' ' oil, much higher in the section, must necessarily be the adjoining red shales or "Red Rocks," and sandstones of the immediate section. The very high gravity and large percentage of volatile constituents of the "Big Injun" oil suggests that the lower "Wier" and "Berea" sands have probably contributed some of their lighter parts to the enrichment of this unusual Middle Waverly sand.

The oil production of the "Wier" sand developed within the last year in Johnson, Magoffin, Elliott, and Floyd counties is a green crude showing an average Baume gravity of 34.16°, and an average gasoline fraction of 12.78. The most remarkable thing concerning the "Wier" oils, as determined from an examination of six analyses, is the variability of the gasoline fraction. It ranges from 3.0 to 19.2. The Baume gravity is regular. Basal Mississippian bituminous shales, the only rock strata adjoining this sandstone, and very possibly the somewhat lower lying Chattanooga or Black Shale (Devonian), must be looked upon as the ultimate sources of the "Wier" oils.

The ' i Berea ' ' sand productive in Johnson, Elliott and Lawrence counties in eastern Kentucky shows in an examination of six analyses an average Baume gravity of 37.5°, and a gasoline fraction of 18.0. There is an element of some variability in the gravities of the "Berea" oils. In contrast, however, to the overlying "Wier" sand, the "Berea" shows a distinct tendency on the part of its gasoline fraction to remain close to 20. Sulphurs of all "Berea" oils have been found to be small, 25 per cent, or less, by weight.

A review of analyses of seven samples of oils taken from the "Beaver" or its equivalents (Lower Mississippian) in southern and western Kentucky shows an average Baume gravity of 37.74°, and an average gasoline fraction of 19.64. These oils are also found to be high in paraffin and low in sulphur. They vary in color from a light orange amber to a reddish or brownish green. In considering the source of the "Beaver" sand oils, one is lead to note the remarkable closeness in a comparison of the averages of the "Berea" oils and the "Beaver" oils in both gravity and the gasoline fraction. In the samples as given which were selected at random, though widely dis-

Source Of Kentucky Crudes 149

tributed over the productive fields, the Beaver sand average Baume gravity is superior to the Berea by only .24°, and only 1.64 in the gasoline fraction. The colors of the two oils are similar, both being amber to light green, low in sulphur, and high in paraffin.

Carrying the comparison further, the Beaver sand oils show higher paraffin and lower sulphur than the Berea sand oils. The fact that the " Beaver" sands are not true silicious sands, but limestones, as compared to the real silica Berea sand, may account for the slight difference in the chemical constituency and physical characteristics of these oils. But the difference in the oils is so very slight as to suggest for them a common source. Initial distillation points of 46°, 50°, 56° and 60° centigrade are so low in both of these oils as to strongly suggest a common source of the lighter distillates which both contain. Since it is quite unreasonable to credit the rather thin, bituminous shale lying between the " Berea" and "Wier" sand as the only source of the "Berea" and "Wier" oils in eastern Kentucky; and since this shale has no exact counterpart in western Kentucky, though the "Berea" and "Beaver" oi?s remain essentially similar, it is but logical to turn to the thin underlying "Sunbury" (Mississippian) and relatively thick Chattanooga (Devonian) black and richly bituminous shales as the principal mother-rock. Such a conception for all of the sands above dis cussed in the Waverly of eastern and southern Kentucky from the "Big Injun" to the "Berea" and the "Beaver," is thoroughly in keeping with the latest and best conceptions of the principles of oil accumulation, migration, and commercial segregation into pools according to the degrees of folding, water saturation, and porosity of the oil-bearing rock strata.

In the consideration of the next lower oil horizon, the Ononddga or Cornifervj .s (Devonian) limestone immediately underlying the Chattanooga (Devonian) black shale, arise all of those factors which would naturally attach themselves to the most important oil producing horizon of the state. The Onondaga limestone is underlain by a long series of thick and thin limestones and shales (Silurian and Ordovician). Being overlain by the richly bituminous Chattanooga shale, it was but natural that many geologists who have given but scanty thought to the

150 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

matter should assume the Chattanooga shale to be the petroleum source, or mother-rock. An examination of the analyses of eight specimens of crude oil from the Corniferous in almost as many counties in Kentucky shows an average Baume gravity of 35.7°, and an average gasoline fraction of 16.7, with the colors of the oils ranging from black to green, and the sulphurs ranging from slight to high. This and other examinations of the analyses of Corniferous oils exhibit a greater variability in the Baumes, gasoline fractions, burning oil fractions, the lubricating fractions, and the paraffin and asphaltic bases Sulphurs show a wide range from the sweet oils of the Lee county district to the sour oils of the nearby Lincoln county district and the somewhat distant Allen and Barren county district. The physical characteristics of the oils are also variable. The colors grading from light green with brownish green by transmitted light to black. Viscosities also show a wide range. Some of the instances of variation are due to devolatillization because of lack of adequate cover as in the Bath arid Lincoln county pools but in the main the differences of constituency are inherent in the oils themselves, and the explanation must be found elsewhere.

In assembling the necessary data to throw light on the probable ultimate source of the Devonian oil in Kentucky, it is found that the arguments group themselves into two classes:

(1) Positive, or favorable to lower sources than the Chattanooga black shale.

(2) Negative, or opposed to the Chattanooga black shale, as the source.

The positive arguments are as follows: (1) The occurrence of large centralized production in such pools as the Big Sinking in Lee county,, and the Gainesville in Allen county, when considered in connection with the characteristic of a porosity rapidly decreasing to essential tightness toward the edge, indicates a relatively small lateral movement of the contained petroleums within the oil horizon (Corniferous) Devonian limestone. (2) A very large amount of "wild cat" drilling in Kentucky to the Devonian and Silurian limestones underlying the Chattanooga black shale (Devonian) has demonstrated that these formations

Source Of Kentucky Crudes 151

are generally compact, solid and unpetroliferous at relatively short distances removed from the outcrop or some line of structural disturbance. In the drilling term they are "dry" and too "tight" to produce even a "rainbow" showing, much less commercial oil. This well known "tight" condition of the Corniferous (Devonian) limestone over its greater area precludes any conception of lateral migration of petroleums within it under the buoyancy of connate water, or the pressure of hydraulic streams. (3) Since lateral migration is evidently a small factor in the accumulation of the Corniferous oils, it would be necessary for Chattanooga black shale if regarded as the source to contribute very large amounts of petroleum within relatively small areas. This condition is a prerequisite, since it would be impossible for small amounts of petroleum moving downward from a small area under the Chattanooga shale to ever form a large pool. It is thoroughly impossible to conceive of the Chattanooga black shale making any such large contribution to any small area as is represented by the quantity of oil found in such pools as the Bing Sinking or the Gainesville. (4) Deeper productive sands, probably Ordovician, have now been discovered in the heart of the Big Sinking pool in Lee county. Since all limestones are jointed and issued to some extent it is only reasonable to assume that these lower Trenton (Ordovician) beds are directly connected in many places with the overlying Silurian and Devonian limestones and shales. (5) The remarkable similarity of the variation of "Corniferous," "Niagaran" and "Trenton" oils both in chemical analyses and physical characteristics indicates a common contributory source.

The negative arguments are as follows: (1) No oil has ever been found in Kentucky in the Chattanooga black shale or in contained sand or limestone lenses, which are known to occasionally occur in this stratigraphic unit from Floyd county in eastern Kentucky to Meade county in western Kentucky, and Allen county in southern Kentucky. (2) Gas alone has been found in the occasional porous lenticular inclusions of the Chattanooga shale. (3) The bituminous content of the Chattanooga black shale (Mi to % bbls. to the ton) does not now exist as free petroleum, but as kerogenitic matter requiring distmctive distilla-

152 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

tion for its liberation. (4) The Chattanooga black shale shows similar analyses over areas of large oil concentration, and over areas of known barrenness, thereby exhibiting no evidence of deterioration of its contained kerogens in the process of petroliferous enrichment of underlying formations such as the Corniferous, or Niagaran, or Trenton limestones, as the case may be. (5) The small amount of oil found in the Berea and Beaver sands above the Chattanooga shale with every favorable condition attending indicates the slight contribution of this black shale unit to the oil sands adjacent to it. (6) The varying analyses and character of the Berea and Beaver oils with the Corniferous oils points conclusively towards widely differing sources for each group of petroleums. Assuming the Chattanooga black shale to be the principal source or mother-rock for both of these oils, they should naturally be expected to show much similarity chemically and physically, since the Chattanooga black shale exhibits as one of its principal characteristics a dull black uniformity of color, bituminous content, lithological and fossiliferous characteristic. (7) At many points in the Allen and Simpson county fields, the Chattanooga black shale is directly underlain by a thin definite sandstone which is generally found to be slightly gassy, but has never been known to contain oil in commercial quantities. If the Chattanooga black shale were the mother-rock for the Corniferous or Niagran oil which is found in these above named sections in commercial quantities underlying this gas horizon, and separated from it by a pronounced and very hard capped limestone, what will explain the absence of oil in gas sand horizons just below the shale? (8) Commercial oil is found in the Corniferous limestone only in those sections where a hard and impenetrable cap rock exists above the porous oil horizon. If this cap rock is at the present dense enough to effectually stop the upward and outward migration of the oils in the Corniferous limestones, at what time was it soft enough to allow the downward migration through it of large quantities of petroleum from the overlying Chattanooga black shale, and yet never have retained within itself even a smaller portion of them? (9) The downward migration of Chattanooga black shale free petroleums could only be brought about through a conception of the

Source Of Kentucky Crudes 153

black shale as an essentially dry rock strata. It cannot be shown that the Chattanooga black shale with its charge of connate water was ever any drier, if as dry, as it is at present. The amount of moisture which it must always have contained could then have only acted to retard any capillary attraction of the more porous limestone or sandstone beneath it.

Underlying the Devonian limestone is found the Niagaran (Silurian) limestone which produces oil in Lee county, and in Allen and Warren county from sandy, porous streaks. The oil produced shows a Baume gravity of 32.75°, and a gasoline fraction which will vary from 9.3 to as high as 18.5. The color is green and the oil is rather high in sulphur in the Allen county field, though not noticeably so in other fields. These "pay" horizons in the Niagaran limestone are surrounded by thin green to gray calcareous shales, which though low in bituminous matter, must have served in part as the mother-rock. In the case of the Silurian limestone, however, as in the overlying Devonian limestone, a careful examination of all the evidence at hand points to a gradual petroliferous enrichment along vertical or semi-vertical porous channels or planes from original sources well down in the underlying Ordovician section.

The series of productive horizons which open in the Ordovician directly inferior to the above discussed Niagfmm limestones is not well defined in Kentucky, and consists principally of porous lenses or "strays" in the limestone proper. It is impossible to correlate these productive horizon over detached areas into any definite sand or groups of sands, but they have generally received the title of "Sunnybrook" for the upper horizons, and "Trenton" for the lower. The commercial pro- 'duction of this group of "sands" is confined principally to Barren, Monroe, Cumberland, Clinton, Wayne and Russell counties in southern Kentucky. It is suspected, however, that this long series of limestones between 1500 and 2500 feet thick has at one lime or another contained, perhaps, commercial production over a much larger area, since seepages are very common at numerous and widespread points throughout the central Bluegrass area where the rock comes to the surface in outcrop. A study of the analyses of this group of oils shows an average Baume gravity of 35.08°, and an average gasoline fraction of 9.72.

154 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Sulphurs are variable from low to high, and the color is generally an olive green.

The average gravity and average gasoline fraction, however, does not show the extreme variation which may be found in these Ordovician oils. The Baume gravity in separate analyses actually varies from 31.3° to 40.3°, and the gasoline fraction from 2.5 to 27.5. This feature of variability, it will be seen at once, is in strict accord with the facts as developed in connection with the Silurian oils and Devonian oils, and places these crudes which occur lower than the Chattanooga black shale in something of a companionship of probable source. Their points of similitude are many besides that of variability of analyses. They are all limestone oils, and are all surrounded by thin and meagerly bitusiinoas calareous shales. It is of course impossible to conceive of any oil which might be found in the Trenton rocks at several hundred feet below the Chattanooga black shale as having been derived from the Chattanooga black shale. Such oils must necessarily have been derived from adjacent and probably lower Ordovician beds.

The newest Trenton strike in Kentucky occurs in Clinton county near Beech Bottom where a productive Trenton horizon has been found at a depth of 1700 feet below surface, and approximately 1200 feet below the black shale. This oil (No. 34 of the analyses attached) shows a Baume gravity of 40.30° , and a gasoline fraction of 27.5, and is one of the lightest and most volatile oils of this state. The shallower production of the Trenton horizons in Cumberland and Barren counties shows the heaviest Trenton oils, and this is especially true where the Chattanooga black shale (Devonian) is not present above the limestone as a cover The inference clearly is that the Ordovician oils when protected by a good cover may be expected to be found as light and highly volatile crudes, but always with a large variation in their chemical analyses and physical characteristics This is what should naturally be expected since the "pay" horizons represent accumulations of petroleums from widely separated stratigraphical units, and therefore long and changing periods of geologic time. In accordance with the present understanding of life in the marine Ordovician oceans of the Appalachian region, it is only logical

Source Of Kentucky Crudes 155

to conceive the sources of these Ordovician oils to have been the adjacent calcareous shales and limestones themselves, the original petroleums being derived from the measureless mass of entombed organic matter which was principally animal in its origin.

An index list of some of the analyses of Kentucky oils uK-d in arriving at the above conclusions is herewith appended.

Index Analyses Of Kentucky Crudes.

Arrangement In Stratigraphic Sequence Of The Producing

Sands.

Pottsville (Lower Pennsylvanian) Sandstones.

"Beaver," "Horton," "Pike" (Floyd and Knott).

"Wages," "Jones," "Eppers'on" (Knox).

Gas County — Pool Lease Baume Fract. Sulphur

1. Magoffin, Short Fk J. Wright 22° trace

2. Knott, Beaver Ck , M. Amburgy 39° 21.5 0.12

Chester-Mauch Chunk (Upper Mississippian) Sandstones.

"Maxon" or "Maxton" Sand. (These oils not separated from Pot'tsvllUe oils.)

BIG INJUN (LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN) SANDSTONES. "Big Injun," "Squaw" and "Keener" Sands.

Gas County — Pool Lease Baume Fract. Color

3. Johnson, Toms Ck Tom Osborn* 52.3° 46.9 Reddishgreen

*(This sample contained a fractional admixture of Berea oil. Since this lower sand is also producing sightly in this well, no well producing from the Big Injun aHone is known in Kentucky.)

"Wier" Sand.

Gas

County— Pool Lease Baume Fract. Color

4. Magoffin, Paint Ck. Dome..M. Wheeler 36.8° 18. Green

5. Magoffin, Paint Ck. Dome..J. Blanton 31.1° Green

6. Jolmson, Paint Ck. Dome C. Meade 10.5 Green

7. Magoffin, Paint Ck. Dome..H. Conley 34.7° 18. Green

8. Magoffin, Paint Ck. Dome..B. L. Wheeler 34.7° 3. Green

9. Magoffn, Paint Ck. Dome..V. Daniels Green

Average 34.16° 12.78

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

BEREA (LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN) SANDSTONES. "Berea" Sand

County — Pool

Lease

Gas Baume Fract.

I. G. Rice 33.5'

D. Davis ,.. 35.3'

W D. Owens 38.7'

R. J. Peters .. .. 38.5 c

14. Lawrence, Yatesville M. Herd 40.7'

15. Lawrence, Fallsburg J. Colldnsworth 38.3° 20.8

Color Green Green Green Green Amber green Amber green

Average 37.5° 18.0!

*(The sulphurs of all above Berea oils was 25% or less by weight.)

WARSAW-FORT PAYNE (LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN) LIMESTONE. New Providence — "Beaver" Sand and equivalents.*

Gas

County — Pool

Lease

Baume Fract.

Color

V. Humbrecht

A. Covington

S Thomas

Green

J. Britt

R. W. Covington.. 33.9° 13.

Green

A. J. Roberts .

Green

Jordan

Average

all high in paraffin

and low in suHphur

Gas

County — Pool

Lease

Baume Fract.

Color

Oskamp

Green

Hunter

Green

Reeder

Green

H. Floyd

Black

H. Floyd

Black

Average 35.7° 18.41

Gas County — Pool Lease Baume Fract. Color

31. Warren, Wildcat J. B. Sumpter 31.9° 9.3 Green

32. Warren, Wildcat ..W. O'Neal 33.6° 14.5 Green

Source Of Kentucky Crudes

County — Pool Barren, Temple Hill

E.

Lease Duncan

Limestone.

Gas Baume Fract.

Clinton, Spring Ck J. W. Seldidge 40.3C

Cumberland, Od American. .C. E. Edens 33.8°

Cumberland, Old American.. G. W. Burchett 37. 6 ' Cumberland, Renox Ck ,.Ed. Baker 31.3C

Average 35.08'

Sulphur Color Green Green Green Green

Cumberland Pipe Line.

Including runs from Estill, Lee, Powell, Wolfe, Wayne and Floyd Counties.

Gas Sulphur

County Location Baume Fract. Color

38. Magoffin Ivyton 37.7° 20.0 Green

Manuscript completed Aug. 31, 1920.

Production Of Fluorspar In Western Kentucky.

The unprecedented development of the fluorspar industry in Western Kentucky during the latter part of the World War period (1917-1918) has focused the attention of the State generally on the mineral ard mining possibilities of this section. The

Beautiful As A Gem.

Amethystine crystaline fluorspar is rather common both in appearance and in occurrence in western Kentucky. But a slab of the size of this one— 18 inches across— which was taken from the Holly mine in Crittenden County, is as really beautiful as it is rare.

chief interest is principally included within the limits of Crittenden county, though commercial operations are also found in Caldwell and Livingston counties, and the fluorspar mineralized

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

section may be said to include not only the above named counties, but also Lyon, Trigg and Christian counties in Kentucky, as well as the adjoining counties of Pope and Hardin across the Ohio river in Illinois.

In the year 1920 there were thirty active and thirty inactive operations in Crittenden, Livingston, and adjoining counties. This development represents a decrease from the peak development which was reached in 1918 when these sixty operations and several others now abandoned were operating. The total tonnage of 1918 was 87,604, evaluated at $2,069,185,

Mountains Op Gravel Fluorspar.

Here is enough fluorspar to surface 100,000 bath tubs, 12,000 tons in storage at the Mary Belle mine near Marion, Crittenden County, Ky.

or an average price per ton of $23.62. The present conditions more nearly approximate the pre-war conditions of 1916-17, when there were fourteen operations in Crittenden, one in Caldwell, and one in Livingston.

Fluorspar from the Kentucky-Illinois district was first discussed by Henry Schoolcraft in 1819 in the American Journal of Science in 1st Series, Vol. 1, pages 52 and 53. The first oper-

Western Kentucky Fluorspar

I L L I N O I S

Livingston And Crittenden Counties.

Sketch map showing the location of the western Kentucky Fluorspar field and its rail and river connections. The position of the adjoining: counties whether fluorspar producers or not is indicated.

ations were those of a company headed by Andrew Jackson in 1835 at the Columbia Mines in Crittenden county. David Dale Owen in 1854 in Series 1, Vol. 1, pages 87 and 89 of the Kentucky Geological Survey Reports, was the first to call attention to the .need for development of the veins of Crittenden and Livingston. In 1874 a number of shafts had been operated, chief of which were the Columbia, Memphis, Larue, Holly, etc., in Crittenden; the Royal, Henry Woods, Robt. Woods, Tisdale, Donake, etc., in Livingston county, and the Marble Mines in Caldwell.

Statistics of production from 1896 to and including June, the first half of the year 1920, are presented herewith. The

Geo.— 6

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Fine Gravel Fluorspar.

Much of the gravel fluorspar produced by the mines of western Kentucky crumbles soon after it is exposed to the air, and in some instances, as in the case of this sample taken from 300-foot level of the Mary Belle mine, it becomes as fine as coarse sugar or salt. The photo is reduced to one-half its natural size.

production in 1896 was 1500 short tons, valued at $8,250. In 1903 this had risen to 30,835 tons, valued at $153,960. There followed then a depression culminating in 1908, when only 6,323 tons were produced. From this on there had been a gradual rise in production o£ fluorspar in Kentucky to 1918, when the peak tonnage of 87,604 was reached. The tonnage

Western Kentucky Fluorspar

An Excellent Fluorspar Vein.

The view is at the quarry face at the end of the north entry, on the lowest or 300-foot level in the Mary Belle Mine in Crittenden County. The actual width of the vein may be noted by comparison with the lengrth of the writer's arm which though extended lacks a foot or more of touching" the opposite wall rock. Thousands of gallons of crystal-clear, cold water pour into this entry daily through numerous ceiling fissures requiring-the constant operation of large steam pumps.

164 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

for the first half of the year 1920 was 19,915 tons, valued at $493,880. The tot J tonnage for 1920 is estimated at 25,000 short tons, which is at once indicative of a slumped market due to the reaction of the national steel industry.

Fluorspar produced in the Western Kentuck field must be 85 per cent pure to be of commercial grade. Ores as low as 40 per cent pure are profitably worked, however, during periods of strong market by milling, and are then sold as gravel fluorspar. Recent estimates of production show that about 75 per cent, f the total output of this field is gravel or milled spar. The percentage of the lump spar is small. That of acid fluorspar is almost inconsiderable as compared to the other grades, yet at $50 and $75 a ton (prices of 1920) it finds a higher, stronger, and more steady market than the gravel and lump grades, which sold during the year for from $20 to $42 per ton, F. 0. B. Marion, Ky.

Herewith are presented statistics covering the production of fluorspar of Western Kentucky. There is appended a list of operators in the field.

Gravel Fluorspar.

This sample of gravel fluorspar is representative of the best grade product and was taken from the large storage yards at Mexico, Crittenden County, Kentucky, by the writer. It is reproduced in its actual size.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The Production Of Fluorspar In Kentucky From 1896 To 1920 Inclusive.

Year

Short Ton

Value

Or Price Per Ton

*The figures given for 1920 cover the first six months of the year only, e. g., Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May and June, 1920.

Western Kentucky Fluorspar

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Western Kentucky Fluorspar

dliuSfy&l'l

££s48£i3<<aO3P

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

FLUORPAR SHIPMENTS FROM CRITTENDEN COUNTY IN TONS AND HUNDREDTHS— Continued.

ani/BA

O O O CO O rH N OO 00 CO W rH -44 OS rH rH US OO rH 00 CO

OO t-;

Os Oo M Oo

Co

t-

rH~

Us

t- CO

CO tr- CO t-

Js

Os

t-

O CO US O t-

Co Co Th O Os

rH US 00 rH OO OS

Th

'o 'j

paransa

§o us us o us

t- CO CO t- CO CO t- CO US 00 00

Us

o

Oo Co Os

CO CO 05 t- 00 iH

suoj, drank PUB pAB.io TOoj,

oo Tt< us os cq us

Co* Os* Os* Co Co Co Us Os Oo M Us

Co

us

rH

oT

rH

co :

o

'm

B

o"

rH

oT

O

H ft

O

" !

Mexico

3 j

t-

drank

CO OO t>- CO OS 00 CO M t-;

TH US TH iH iH

M

t- US US t- Irt

TH rH CO rH rH

Marion

CO t- W CO t-

CO CO rH O OS

drank

o iS'o i o o

o us : co co

—

rH CO O TH US O

™

QlM

Western Kentucky Fluorspar

SCRIC3 PRODUCTION CURVE 3HOYYIMG TOTAL TONNAGC Of MINCD AND SOLD

Kentucky

i t I l"il I i'i"' i t"f II I I l-i i f t I I

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

List Of Active Fluorspar Mines.

1. Aluminum Ore Company, Mexico, Kentucky — Haffaw Mines.

2. American Fluorspar Company, Wheeling, West Va., and Salem, Ky. — Hudson Mine, Spar and Zinc.

3. Central Spar Mining Company, Marion, Kentucky — Gill.

4. Davis Mining Company, Hopkinsville, Ky. — Matthews Mine.

5. Denny, O. S., Marion, Kentucky — Mine near Mexico, Kentucky.

6. Dixie Mining Co., Marion, Ky. — Corn Mine.

7. Eagle Fluorspar Co., Salem, Ky. — Hearne.

8. Eclipse Mining Co., Louisville, Ky. — Commodore Mine ('lease expired).

9. Fairview Fluorspar and Lead Co., Marion, Ky. — Franklin Mine.

10. Frazer, Jim, Princeton, Kentucky — Mine 6 miles north of Princeton.

11. 'Guggenheim Mining Co., Marion, Kentucky — Lucille Mine.

12. Haynes, C.W., Marion, Kentucky — Butler Mine.

13. Holly Ore and Mining Co., Marion Ky. — Holly Mine.

14. 'Kentucky Fluorspar Company, Marion Ky. — Brown Mine, Susie Beeler Mines, Yandell Mine, Pogue Mine, Mary Belle Mine.

15. iMarion-Nashville Fluorspar Company, Marion, Ky. — Cox.

An Up-To-Date Fluorspar Operation.

This is an excellent panorama of the Aluminum Ore Co.'s mill, shaft, derricks and power house at Mexico, Crittenden County, Ky.

Western Kentucky Fluorspar 173

16. Mitchell, W. P., Marion, Ky.— Macer.

17. Myers & Cryder, Mexico, Ky.— Nancy Hanks

18. National Fluorspar Co., Union City, Tenn. — Mitchell Mine.

19. Pope Bros., Louisville, Ky. — Babb Mine, Livingston County.

20. Rawn, E. V., Hopkinsville, Ky.— Marble Mine.

21. Reed, A. H., Marion, Ky. — Big Four Mine, Macer, Fred Brown, Deer Creek Springs.

22. Royal Mining Co., New Orleans, La— Spar, Zinc.

23. Southern Mineral Company, Mexico, Ky. — Pogue Mine, Paris Mine, Rider Farm.

The Mexico Storage Yard.

Literally thousands and thousands of tons of fluorspar were heaped in this yard in June, 1920, by the Southern Mineral Co., Kentucky Fluorspar Co., the West Kentucky Fluorspar Co., and the Keystone Fluorspar Co., awaiting cars for railroad shipment.

24. Standard Spar Mining Co. of North America, Chicago, 111., and Marion, Ky. — Eaton Mine, Keystone Mine.

25. Striblinig, E. G., Marion, Kentucky — Hardin or Red Fox Mine.

26. United Mining Company, Canton, Ohio, and Lola, Ky. — Bonanza Mine.

27. U. S. Fluorspar Co., Marion, Ky.— K. K. Mine.

28. West Kentucky Ore Co., Marion, Ky. — Tabb Mine, Larue Mine.

29. White Fluorspar Company, Marion, Kentucky — Glendale Mine.

30. Zinc Spar Mining Co., Marion, Ky. — Ebbie Hodge Mine.

List Of Inactive Fluorspar Mines.

1. Aluminum Ore Company, Mexico, Kentucky — Memphis and Klondike M;ine.

2. Clay Lick Fluorspar Company, Marion, Ky. — Davenport.

3. Clay Lick Fluorspar Company, Marion, Ky.— Redd.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

4. Commodore Fluorspar Company, Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

5. Commodore Mining Company, Louisville, Kentucky — Commodore Mine, leased to Haynes & Clark.

6. Crittenden County Lead, Zinc and Fluorspar Company, Marion, Ky. — Butler Mine, leased to C. W. Haynes.

Pitted Lump Fluorspar.

This sample sh-ows in much detail the pits which are developed in sortie grades of fluorspar by the leaching-out of the included carbonate of lime. Photo four-fifths natural size.

7. Croission Cave Mining Co., Marion, Ky. — Crosson Mine

8. Denny, O. S., Marion, Ky. — Eva Tanguay Mine.

9. Farris Fluorspar Co.— HPaducah, Ky. — Porter Mine.

10. Farris Coimpany, Paducaih, Ky.

11. Farris & Shemwell, Paducah, Ky. — Bateman Mine.

12. Frazer, Jim, Princeton, Kentucky.

13. Haynes & Clark, Marion, Ky. — Commodore and Eclipse Mines.

14. Hill, D. B., Hopkinsville, Ky.— Edwards Mine.

15. K. K. Mining Company, Marion, Ky.— Property leased to U. S. Fluorspar Co.

16. Ken-See 'Mining Company, & O. K. Oil Co., affiliated companies.

17. Kentucky Fluorspar Co. — Ada Florence Mine, Beard Mine, Corn Mine, Susie Beeler Mine, Wheatcroft Mine.

18. LaGrange Mining Company, Marion, Ky. — Ebbie Hodige Mine.

19. Mineral Ridge Mining Company, Paiducali, Ky.

20. Myers & Crider, M.exico, Ky. — John Hodge Mine.

21. National Fluorspar Company, Union City, Tenn. — Johnson Mine.

Western Kentucky Fluorspar 175

22. North American Lead & Fluorspar Corporation, Smithland, Ky. — Klondike Mine and Royal Mine.

23. Pasco Mining Co., Marion, Ky.

24. PheLps & Hazelip, Paducah, Ky. — John Hodge Mine, leased to Myers & Crider.

25. Pope Mining Company, Louisville, Ky. — Pope Mine.

26. Pope Mining Company, Louisville, Ky. — Watson Mine.

27. Reed, A. H., Marion, Ky. — Deer Creek Mine.

28. Roberts Fluorspar Co., Marion, Ky. — Tabor & Ashforidge Mines.

29. Tennessee Mining Co., Nashville, Tenn. — Ben Belt Mine.

30. White Fluorspar Company, Marion, Ky. — Reiter Mine.

List Of Fluorspar Companies Out Of Existence.

1. Ben Mac Mining Co., Marion, Ky.*

2. Dixie Mining Co., Marion, Ky.*

3. Federal Spar Co., Marion, Ky.*

4. Standard Spar & Chemical Co., Marion, Ky.*

5. Rosiclaire Lead & Fluorspar Co., Rosiclaire, 111. — Pigmy Mine at Mexico, Ky., abandoned.

6. Southern Fluorspar Co. — Absorbed by Kentucky Fluorspar Co.

7. Senator Mining Co., Princeton, Ky.

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ACID FLUORSPAR CONSUMERS PUR- CHASING IN THE WESTERN KENTUCKY FIELD IN 1920.

1. General Chemical Co., Pittsburg, Pa.

2. John C. Wiarda, Brooklyn, N. Y.

3. Aluminum Ore Co., East St. Louis, 111.

4. E. J. Lavine, Philadelphia, Pa.

5. Matthew Eddy, Chicago, 111.

6. National Enameling Co., Cleveland, O.

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL STEEL INDUSTRIES PURCHASING FLUORSPAR IN 1920 FOR PURPOSES OF FLUX.

1. United States S'teel Corp., Pittsburg, Pa.

2. Illinois Steel Corp., Chicago, 111.

3. Bethlehem Steel Corp., Bethlehem, Pa.

Manuscript completed Dec. 31, 1920.

Geology Of Oil And Gas In Grayson County.

Location.

Grayson county lies west of the Dixie Highway, in the west-central part of Kentucky, fifty miles or more west of south from Louisville, and a few miles northwest from Mammoth Cave. It is fifteen to twenty miles south of the Ohio river, from which it is separated by Ohio, Breckinridge, and Hardin counties. It is bounded on the east by Hardin and Hart counties, on the south by Edmonson and Butler counties, and on the west by Butler and Ohio counties. Grayson county, the 54th in order of organization, was formed by legislative enact-

SKETCH MAP OF GRAYSON AND ADJOINING COUNTIES. The hachured areas are Pottsville or Coal Measures of Pennsylvanian age. The white areas are the underlying Mississippian sandstones and limestones. Black areas indicate oil and dotted ones gas.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

xnent in 1810 from territory contributed by Ohio and Hardin counties.* It was named for a Colonel William Grayson of Virginia.

Field Work And Literature.

The date upon which this paper is based was secured by the writer personally in the field during a week's reconnoissance made partly in August, 1919, and partly in October, 1920. A number of widely separated wells were visited, and as much attention was given to stratigraphic and structural examinations as the limited time would permit. The writer was very greatly assisted in securing locatiojnal and recorded data

The Ed. Wallace No. 1 Well.

This well is located one mile southwest of Leitchfield, on the Blowtown Pike. It is the property of the Kentucky Oil & Refining- Co., and was drilled to a depth of 2,034 feet, January, 1918. The Major Sand was not recognized. Only shows of oil were secured.

concerning old drilled wells by many residents of the county, chief among who have been Mr. John E. Stone and Mr. W. B. Liles of Leitchfield. The Atlantic Oil Producing Co. has also given several records of wells it has drilled.

"Twelfth Biennial Report of the Bureau af Agriculture of Ky., 1897.

Grayson County Oil And Gas 179

Qm

There is practically no detailed geologic literature of a

distinctly oil and gas character relative to Grayson county. One geologic report* in touching the subject has condemned the entire county in a few casual words. Another more recent oil and gas book** considering Grayson county in its broader features only, regards-commercial oil and gas as a distinct possibility. The old reports*** while making note of the presence of oil see pages in this part of Kentucky, omit any reference to oil and gas as a mineral resource of importance.

Drainage And Area.

Rough river and one of its tributaries, Meeting Creek, form the northern boundary of the county. Nolin river forms part of the eastern boundary. The southern part of the county through several streams drains directly into Green river, which flows through Edmonson county on the south. Grayson county contains 295,845 acres or about 460 square miles.

Culture.

Leitchfield, the (county seat, a town of 1077 inhabitants, according to the 1920 census, is on the Illinois Central R. R., just east of the center of the county. It was named after Major David Leitch, who donated the town-site property. The railway extends in a northeast-southwest direction through the middle of the county. The roads of Grayson county radiate generally from Leitchfield, and are passable with an automobile, though rocky, during the dry weather. They are almost impassable during periods of prolonged wet weather.

Topography.

The surface of Grayson county is essentially that of a moderately uplifted plain or plateau. A few isolated knobs stand out as land marks, with maximum elevations of about 800 feet. Beneath these the ramifying ridge levels of the county spread

*J. O. Bryant, Ky. Geol. Survey, Series IV, Vol. II, Part I, pp. 212 and 218.

R. Jillson, Dept. Geol. & For. of Ky., Series V, Bull. I, pp. 137, 138, 324.

Dale Owen, Kentucky Geol. Survey, Series I, Vol. I.

Second Ann. Report Ky. State Tax Com., 1919.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

out, in some localities broad and gently sloping, and in others narrow and steep, with scarcely enough room for the desirable ridge road. Some of the valleys are broad and shallow, exhibiting commonly in the northern part of the county many "sink holes" which are attended by imperfect drainage. In the extreme northern and extreme southern portions of Gray-

BLOWING THE W. S. PROCTOR NO. 1 GASSER. This well produces about 1,000,000 cubic feet of wet natural gas and artesian water. It is located one mile south of Leitchfield, Grayson County, Ky., and is owned by the League Oil & Gas Co.

son the streams have chiseled out for themselves canyons upwards of 100 feet in depth, which although they impede transportation in these sections, add much to their scenic beauty. A general difference of relief of between 150 and 200 feet exists throughout the county. The exact elevations in feet above sea level of the following points, located on the Illinois Central R. R., have been established: Leitchfield, 635; Big Clifty, 682; Caneyville, 399 ; Spring Lick, 387 ; and Falls of Rough, 423.

, Stratigraphy.

An eastern prong of the western coal basin of Kentucky extends with its rocks of Pennsylvanian age through the

Grayson County Oil And Gas

southern and south central part of the county. The northern part of the ' county exhibits almost entirely Mississippian or Lower Carboniferous strata. Several of the south flowing streams have cut their valleys through the Coal Measures CPennsylvanian) into the underlying Mississippian, so that in the middle of the county one can go from the north to the south boundary of the county on Mississippian rocks by following the larger valleys. The total thickness of the Mississippian series in Grayson county is about 1350 feet, being 1329 feet in the Hazelwood well at Meredith post office, 1366 feet in the McGrew well at Anneta post office in southern Grayson, and 1355 feet in the Duncan well in western Grayson near the Ohio county line.

The Pennsylvanian Series consists of beds of sandstone, shale and clay, with here and there thin coal seams, all being included in the Lower Pottsville group. The thickness of the Pottsville varies with the amount of erosion, and ranges from thin remnants of a few feet up to about 400 feet. The Mississippian Series consists of numerous beds of limestone, sepa-

Dick'S Tobacco Barn.

One of the natural curiosities of central Grayson County and dependent upon its geology is this magnificent cave at Pine Knob.

182 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

rated by beds of sandstone and shales. In general this series can be subdivided into formational units that can "be correlated with the subdivision of the series that has been made in Indiana and Illinois to the north and northwest.

The upper half or so of the series, consisting of an alternating succession of predominately limestone and of sandstone formations are undoubtedly the continuation southward of the Huron-Chester-Kaskaskia beds of Indiana and Illinois. They are characterized by a great abundance of fossils including many genera and species of Bryozoa and many species of Pentremites and the genus Archimedes of the Bryozoa are the most distinctive fossils of the Chester group. Below the Chester group the St. Louis limestone, which is included in the Mitchell limestone of Indiana, outcrops in the county. The rocks below the St. Louis, including the Warsaw (Harrodsburg) and the still lower shales of the Osage ("Knobstone") group of Indiana, including the Rosewood shale and Kenwood sandstone (Keokuk) and the New Providence shale (Burlington), as well as the New Albany black shale, do not outcrop in the county, although all, with the possible exception of the Kenwood sandstone, underlie the outcropping formations. The Black (New Albany) has been penetrated in a number of places by the drill in the deeper borings.

Structure.

The most marked disturbance of the rocks in this region is an anticlinal uplift having a general east and west trend through the county. This structure, which has a figured height of from 150 to 350 feet, is faulted in the eastern part of the county, but is apparently intact for some distances in the western part. It is known as the Rough Creek or Rough River uplift and occurs near the areal contact of the Pennsylvanian or Mississippian series. On the north side of this uplift there are local folds and faults. Others* also occur on the south side, but principally at some distance from the main structure. The town of Leitchfield is located on the crest of this anticlinal uplift.

*Ky. Geol. Survey, Series IV, Vol. II, Part I, pp. 155-170.

Grayson County Oil And Gas 183

One of the most pronounced faults observed in the area is one on Pine Knob Creek about one and a half miles north of Pine Knob post office where mining operations for zinc ore were carried on some years ago. This fault has a northeastsouthwest trend, probably continuous with a fault on Short Creek about two miles south of Short Creek po&t office.

There is an anticlinal fold with some faulting along the axis, extending from a short distance north of Caneyville to about two miles south of Caneyville. A very distinct double doming anticline is also to be seen at Meredith and Afnnetta post offices, about seven miles southeast of Leitchfield. Other folds and faults occurring in small figure are found at various points in the county.

Oil And Gas Development.

Between thirty-five and forty wells have been drilled in Grayson county, in exploration for oil and gas. Elsewhere in this paper will be found all the information now available concerning thirty-two of these wells, including the deep R. O. Meredith test at Leitchfield now 2030 feet drilling. Four new locations within Grayson county are reported for spring of 1921 drilling.

Qne of the very early oil and gas wells, if indeed not the first, to be drilled in Grayson county was the "Old Leitchfield" well, which was drilled about 1890 near the county seat from which it took its name. It produced, according to the reports of various inhabitants of Leitchfield, between five and ten thousand cubic feet of gas, and was subsequently abandoned. The second test of Grayson county came about 1905-6, when W. B. Cosby drilled into small production near Millerstown on the Hart county line. Small amounts of tarry volatilized oil may still be taken from this old well.

Several gas and artesian water wells, have been' drilled near Lsitchfield. The best gas well, known as the Xerxes Hunter No. 1, located at the northwest corporate limits of the town, is now capped. About 100,000 cubic feet of gas from this well is being used daily in Leitchfield. This Hunter well is reported to have had an initial flow of approximately four million cubic feet, but according to last measurements was pro-

184 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Drilling On The Proctor-White Tract.

This well is about one mile south of Leitchfleld. The drilling-was done by the League Oil & Gas Co.

ducing about 2,500,000 cubic feet daily. Of the everal other wells in the immediate vicinity, one at least, the "W. S. Proctor, is a commercial gasser producing large quantities of artesian salt water, and the rest are uncommercial gassers or dry holes. About five million cubic feet of gas is now capped i,n Grayson

Grayson County Oil And Gas

county, and except the small amount used at Leitchfield, none is being commercialized.

On the Win. F. Major farm, some eight miles west of Leitchfield, three test wells were drilled in to small oil production by Carl Dresser in 1918. He followed these with one on the Muffitt farm, which was also a small oil producer Another was drilled about miles further north by Richards, et al. It showed very small oil and was abandoned.

A well drilled on the C. Hazelwood farm at Meredith post office on the top of the Meredith Dome, about seven miles southeast of Leitchfield, is reported to produce 2,000,000 cubic feet of gas. Another drilled on the James E. McGrew farm at Anneta, two miles further south on the Anneta Dome, showed oil just above the Black Shale (Devonian), and again at some distance below it, but was subsequently abandoned. A well on the Cook farm, six miles west of Leitchfield, is reported a dry hole. The same report is given of two wells on the Young farm o;n Short Creek, one three miles and one four and a half miles northwest of the Cook well.

A Picturesque Brookside.

The natural beauty of the Pine Knob section of Grayson County is enhanced by a small stream that winds its way through rugged sylvan glades to join the Rough River at the north.

186 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

A well was drilled south of Caneyville some considerable distance down flank on the south of the Kough Creek anticline, and was unproductive at about 900 feet deep. A complete log or report on this well has not proven available, and its total depth is not known.

A well drilled in the summer of 1918 in Hardin county, about six miles northwest of Big Clifty, is said to have struck oil, but nothing is known about its quantity or quality. In 1919, a well started on a low dome near Big Clifty, near the north boundary of the county, showed oil, but was completed as a dry hole and abandoned.

Besides these above noted wells, a number of other salt water or dry holes (uincommercial) have been drilled recently in Grayson county, on which data is not available. Prospective operators in this field are advised to thoroughly scout and accurately locate these wells on their county and structural maps before purchase of property in Grayson is entered into. This scout work is regarded at this period of the development of the oil and gas of the county as of great importance. It is especially important for the south side of the large Kough Creek uplift. While this structure uindrilled now offers immense possibilities because of its size, as a completely tested and commercially unimportant structure it certainly would not be worth any oil operator's consideration beyond this absolute determination.

A small productive oil pool has been opened near Hartford in Ohio county, just west of Grayson, from which oil has been shipped in limited quantities for several years. The oil producing "sand" of this Ohio county pool is found below the Black Shale (Devonian).

Asphalt.

Asphalt and asphaltic sandstone occur in considerable quantities in several places in Grayson county. They also are found in Edmqnson county on the south, and in Breckinridge county to the north. The asphalt deposits have been worked to some extent in years past in the southern part of Grayson

Grayson County Oil And Gas 187

county, and the northern part of Edmonson county.* Large operations are now established at Kyrock on the Nolin river in Edmonson county.** Still other asphaltic deposits have been worked at Tar Hill, a few miles west of Big Clifty, in the northern part of Grayson county.

Oil And Gas Sands.

In the development of any new or partially explored oil and gas field a fundamental problem of intense interest to all operators and geologists is the accurate establishment of the sequence of possibly productive "sands." The term "sands" is here used in the broad sense employed by the driller — an oil or gas producing strata — irrespective of its lithological constitution as a shale, limestone, or true sandstone. The accurate determination of the sequence of "sands" is of first importance, since without it is quite impossible to say whether any except a very deep well has tested any given locality.

The amount of development which has been carried forward to this date in the Grayson section has lead to the recognition of three certainly petroliferous horizons. The lowermost of these is undoubtedly Upper Ordovician, the middle one is quite certainly Silurian, and the upper "sand" is middle Lower Mississippian. Though occasionally petroliferous, asphaltic, and gassy, the sandstones of the Pemisylvania,n System, stratigraphically the highest in the county, are not included in this enumeration, since their proximity to the surface renders them uncommercial. The commercial "sands" of the Grayson district in rising order of sedimentation are hereinbelow discussed in detail. Brief interlineations have also been added concerning other possibly productive horizons.

Ordovician: The R. 0. Meredith No. 1 (2030 feet) at Leitchfield, and the Duncan No. 1 (2152 feet) in western Grayson county, have both found a deep thin sandy limestone in the upper Ordvician that is assuredly petroliferous and gassy, and also a container of salt water. The very considerable dis-

*See Ky. Geol. Survey, Series IV, Vol. II, Part I, p. 189 Paper No. II, Ky. Rock Asphalt— The Ideal Road Surface, pp. 39-

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

tance between the Duncan and the Meredith wells, and their absolute accordance not only in this sand but also in the Chattanooga or Ohio black (Devonian) shale and other higher horizons, is significant. This deep Ordovician "sand" in the

The R. O. Meredith Well.

It is being-drilled one mile southeast of the Leitchfleld Court House by the Cinoky Oil Company. On Mar. 1, 1921 this well had reached a depth of 2,030 feet.

Duncan well was six feet thick and was found at a depth of 425 feet below the base of the Devonian black shale. In the Meredith well it was three feet thick and was found 434 feet below the black shale. So far as is known, no other wells in Grayson have pierced this sand, the deep Hazelwood and Dunn wells having finished above it several hundred feet.

Silurian: An oil and gas horizon of some considerable importance for all wells located 011 definite structures is that which has been recognized by the C. Hazelwood No. 1 (1910 feet) at Meredith post office, and the John T. Dunn No. 1 (1508 feet) at Leitchfield. This "sand" is reported as a sandy limestone, grayish brown in color, 15 feet thick in the Hazelwood and 10 feet deep in the Dunn well. In the Hazelwood well the top of it occurs 107 feet below the base of the Black (Devonian) shale, and in the Dunn well it is found 215 feet below

Grayson County Oil And Gas 189

the base of the same shale formation. The record of the Hazelwood well reports the last 70 feet, a gray white limestone, and to have contained oil and salt water. The 30 feet of sand reported at 1740 feet in the Duncan well (western Grayson county) is found at 185 feet below the base of the Black shale (Devonian), aid though non-petroliferous, is evidently the same horizon.

Mississippian : Passing the Devonian limestone, which lies immediately below the Black shale, and is quite petroliferous in Ohio county to the west and exceedingly so in many another county in Kentucky, as unproductive, due to the fact that in all the wells drilled in this section it is either absolutely dry or gives only a tiace, the next and the most important oil horizon in Grayson county is found in the Mississippian series above the Black Shale (Devonian). Practically all of the wells drilled to the Black Shae show a ten to fifteen foot sandy, cherty or flinty limestone directly above and lying upon the Black Shale. In some wells, as the R. 0. Meredith (2030 feet) at Leitchfield, and the James E. McGrew (2185 feet) at Anneta, from twenty to thirty feet of sandy limestone is found containing some oil and

Entrance To Big Mouth Cave.

The caves of Pine Knob have long-been the mecca of the curious. Situated on the top of the Rough Creek uplift, they also have interest for the structural geologist and oil operator.

190 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

gas at points ranging from 30 to 100 feet above the top of the Black Shale. While not markedly petroliferous in such wells as have already been drilled, this "sand" will bear close watching, and should on good structural locations always be drilled through, as its stratigraphic position close above the Black Shale (Devonian) gives it immense petroleum producing potentialities.

The oil sand of principal interest at this period in the development of the county, due to its apparent near commercialization, is that which is known as the "Major sand," so named because of the successful exploration of it by Carl K. Dresser on the "Wm. F. Major farm about six miles west of Leitchfield. On the Major farm where it was first drilled to considerable oil production, it occurs about 400 feet below the surface. At Leitchfield it is about 800 feet deep, at Meredith post office 1150 feet, and in the western part of Grayson county near the Duncan well it is about 850 feet deep. The Major sand is definitely recognizable in the Duncan, Hazelwood, Muffit, Major, R. 0. Meredith, Mary L. Hill, and probably a few other wells where the records have been carefully kept. It is a sandy limestone, somewhat porous, from fifteen to fifty-five feet in thickness. It occurs in the lower Mississippian series about from 400 to 500 feet above the Black Shale (Devonian), and from 400 to 600 feet below the well known and easily recognizable Big Clifty sandstone of the upper Mississippian. Excepting along the very top of the Rough Creek anticline, where it has in some places been eroded, the Big Clifty sandstone, 50 to 60 feet thick, forms the best drilling marker from which to calculate the probable depth to the Major sand.

Analyses And Well Logs.

Herewith are appended two oil analyses and a number of revised well logs of Grayson county.

Analysis No. 1.

Laboratory No. G-3855. — Petroleum, labeled "Green oil from the Major wells, west of Lietchfield, Grayson County, Ky., Carl Dresser, operator. Collected by W. R. Jillson, August 26, 1919, from open tank, oil had been in storage some 'time. Oil horizon a Waverly 'stray sand.' "

Grayson County Oil And Gas

Sample, a rather thin, slightly greenish oil, dark brown by transmitted light.

Specific gravity at 60° F., 0.8785, equivalent to 29.4° Baume. Distilled below 150° and 300° C. (302°

Distilled bet. 150° and 300° C.

Tarry residue 59.0%

Total 99.9%

Analysis by A. M. Peter, Chief Chemist. Lexington, Ky., Sept. 4, 1919.

Analysis No. 2.

Laboratory No. G-3854. — Petroleum, labeled "Green oil from S. R. Moffitt well, west of Leitchfield, Grayson County, Ky., Carl Dresser, lessee. Collected by W. R. Jillson, August 26, 1919. Oil horizon a Waverly 'stray sand.' " Sample, a thick, slightly greenish oil, very dark brown by transmitted light. Oil had been in storage some time.

Specific gravity at 60° F., 0.870, equivalent to 30.9° Baume.

Distilled below 150° C. (302° F) , 3.8% (Gasoline fraction)

Distilled bet. 150° and 300° C.

Heavy, tarry residue 61.5%

99.8% Began to distill at 116° C. (241° F.)

Analysis by A. M. Peter, Chief Chemist. Lexington, Ky., September 4, 1919.

Both of the above samples — ithe best that could be secured at the time — were taken from open tanks and had been standing for some time. Reasonably the oil in the tanks had volatilized considerably. Fresh samples from the Major sand may therefore be expected with confidence to show a much lighter character, higher Baume gravity, and increased gasoline fraction. Grayson county oils from this sand are probably of Somerset grade.

GRAYSON COUNTY WELL RECORDS. Log No. 1.

Ed. F. Wallace, No. 1, lessor. Kentucky Oil and Refining Co., lessee. Location — Near Leitchfield, Kentucky. Begun October 10, 1917.

192 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Completed January 4, 1918. Elevation 592 feet. Reported production, dry?

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Clay, soil .. 10 10

Limestone 18 28

Blue marl or clay . 22 50

Limestone 40 90

Sand, courthouse 20 110

Limestone, Kaskaskia 55 165

-Sand, Big Clifty, first water 190 55 220

Shale and limestone shells 9 229

Blue shale or marl 10 239

Limestone, blue 9 248

Blue shale or marl 13 261

Limestone brown :„ 16 277

Blue shale 1 278

Sandy limestone, somewhat whitish 6 284

Blue shale 1 285

Limestone 190 475

Limestone, brownish 28 503

Limestone, gray 32 535

Limestone, nearly white 19 554

Limestone, brown sulphur water at 580 46 600

Limestone, brownish gray sandy 32 632

Limestone, light brown , 18 650

Limestone, dark brown 50 700

Limestone, dark gray for last 5 feet 45 745

Limestone, dark gray 55 800

Limestone, gray with white specks 27 827

Limestone, black or dark brown 40 867

Limestone, brown a few white specks 18 885

Limestone, dark gray top 15 ft. brawn 140 1025

Limestone, gray, soft ., 55 1080

Limestone, gray, soft 15 1095

Limestone, gray, sandy, few white specks 5 1100

Limestone, brown, hard 40 1140

Limestone, gray, rather hard 13 1153

Limestone, brownish. 107 1260

Limestone, sandy specks 36 1296

Devonian System.

Limestone, very dark 14 1470

Grayson County Oil And Gas 193

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, gray white flakes 4 1474

Limestone, dark, soft 5 1479

Limestone, gray light flakes 52 1531

Limestone, dark soft (place lst Ohio oil) 9 1540 Limestone, gray medium, some white

flakes 6 1546

Limestone, light gray, some white flakes 43 1589

Limestone, light gray harder 15 1604

Limestone (white, little gas 1609) 17 1621

Limestone, darker, browner, softer 16 1637

Place for second Ohio sand.

Limestone, brownish gray white flakes 13 1650

Limestone, dark, rather hard, sandy 32 1682

Limestone, dark pitted spots 4 1686

Limestone, lighter 14 1700

Limestone, light, softer mottled 16 1716

Limestone, light, harder 14 1730

Limestone, lighter, softer 50 1780

Limestone, little pocket gas 60 1840

Limestone, little harder 10 1850

Limestone, sulphur, salt water 15 1865

Limestone, light, last 5 ft. very hard 30 1895

Limestone, light, hard 5 1900

Limestone, very dark, soft 15 1915

Limestone, gray 22 1937

Limestone, light brown 28 1965

Limestone, gray 47 2012

Limestone, light brown, sandy 22 2034

Total depth 2034

Cased November 1, 1917, at 800 feet.

One foot of lime pyrites in Devonian Shale at 1424.

James H. Hancock, driller.

Note: The places as indicated for the 1st and 2nd Ohio oil sands are notes of the driller. The Devonian, Silurian and Ordovician sediments are not differentiated in the lower record of this well.

Log No. 2.

Xerxes Hunter No. 1.

Kentucky Oil and Refining Co., lessee.

Location — Southern limit of Leitchfiield.

Started May 14, 1917.

Finished August 22, 1917.

Elevation 618 feet.

Production, 2,500,000 cu. ft. gas.

Geo.— 7

194 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Mississippian System.

Shale, sand and clay 32 32

Shale or marl 28 100

Clay, blue 20 155

Limestone (St. Louis or St. Genevieve).. 20 215

Clay or mud ,- 10 225

Limestone 37 262

Clay or mud 13 275

Limestone, gray, sulp'hur water at 459

and 540 295 570

Limestone, light brown, more water 45 615

Limestone, gray soft, for 10 feet...H 75 690

Limestone, dark brown, hard 75 765

Limestone, dark, more sulphur 50 815

Limestone, black, cased at 840, trace gas

at 900 136 951

Limestone, black 9 960

Limestone, sandy nearly black, 2,000,000

cu. ft. gas 4 964

Drillers Note: According to this log shale or marl for 28 feet seems to have taken the place of the Leitchfield sandstone which lies between the Kaskaskia and Lime No. 2 of the Chester, although at the quarry about 250 feet north of the well, Lime No. 2 lies above said Leitchfield Flag, with perhaps a clay parting between them. We find this Leitchfield Flag, or sand No. 2 (Courthouse sand) between said two limestones, in the Allen-Wallace well, about 1,000 feet southwest of this well.

Last casing was set at 840 feet. Longfellow and Barton drilled in. Morrison, chief driller.

Note: This is a very condensed record of this well, many of the screws sampled separately being taken as one strata. This well all in the Mississippian. The gas sand may be regarded as the Major but it is actually about 125 feet below the place where the Major sand should be.

Grayson County Oil And Gas 195

Log No. 3.

Mary L. Hill, No. 1, lessor. Grayson Oil & Gas Co., lessee. Location — Near Leitchfield. Begun May 4, 1917. Finished July 19, 1917. Elevation, 665 feet. Production, oil show.

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Soil and clay 12 12

Sand No. 2 18 30

Limestone, Kaskaskia 50 80

Sand, Big Clifty 80 160

Shale, water 12 172

Limestone, St. Louis, gas at 320 188 360

Limestone, dark brown, top of blue lick.. 20 480

Limestone, sandy gray 15 495

Limestone, brown, blue lick water 505 50 545

Limestone, sandy gray 15 560

Limestone, gray u 184 744

Limestone, white and brown mixed 16 760

Limestone, dark gray 4 766

Limestone, dark gray, show of oil (Major

Limestone, dark gray 6 819

Limestone, black , „ 56 875

Limestone, dark, gray, sandy, little gas.. 22 897

Limestone, dark gray 48 945

Limestone, black, mixed with shale 255 1200

Limestone, black, mixed with shale 13 1213

Devonian System.

Limestone, gray and white mixed 15 1365

Limestone, white and brown mixed 66 1431

Limestone, dark brown, little gas (1st

Limestone, dark brown 12 1445

Limestone, gray and white 36 1481

Limestone, light gray ., 29 1510

196 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth Sandy limestone, oil, gray (2nd Ohio

Limestone, hard, light gray 18 1542

Limestone, white 15 1557

imestone, brown 5 1562

imestone, white 6 1568

Limestone, brownish gray ,. 22 1594

Limestone, brownish gray, hard gritty 3 1597

Sandy limestone, brownish gray 6 1603

Sandy limestone, grayer 5 1608

Limestone, gray, shelly 10 1618

Limestone, dark gray, hard 15 1633

Limestone, dark, hard 20 1653

Limestone, gritty, hard 7 1660

Shot at 1522 feet on July 9, 1917. Longfellow, Morrison & Gettings, Drillers.

This well probably finis'hed in the Ordovician. The Devonian- Silurian and SilurianOrdovician contacts were not noted.

Log No. 4.

Carl Hazelwood, No. 1, lessor.

Kentucky Oil & Refining Co., lessee.

Location — 6-7 miles southeast of Leitchfield at Meredith P. O.

Well drilled in 1917.

Elevation estimated at 755 feet above sea level.

Production, 200,000 cu. ft. gas — oil traces.

Pennsylvanian System.

Soil and clay 10 10

Shale, gray, soft 28 38

Sand, gray 5 43

Shale, black, soft 32 75

Shale, black 25 105

Sand rock 5 110

Shale, black - 40 150

Coal 1 151

Shale, black 5 156

Sand, gray , 10 166

Shale -, - 2 193

Sand, gray , 13 206

Shale, gray 63 269

Grayson County Oil And Gas 197

Strata Thickness DeptK MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Limestone, brown, hard 10 279

Shale or marl, gray, red and blue 27 306

Limestone, gray, hard 10 316

Shale, gray 4 320

Limestone, gray, Kaskaskia 46 366

Sand, light gray 46 412

Limestone, gray to dark gray, Kaskaskia 33 445

Shale, dark : : :..: 5 450

Limestone, gray, hard 92 602.

Shale, white , 3 605

Limestone, brown and gray, sandy 223 828

Limestone, white, fine grained, sandy 37 865

Limestone, cased at 908, little gas 940 13ft 995

Shale,, brown 10 1005.

Limestone, brown and white 140 1145

oil, large gas 15 1160

Limestone, gray, hard , ,. „ 35 1195

Shale, gray 12 1207

Limestone and shale mixed and sandy

limestone 38 1245

Shale, dark, medium soft 20 1265

Limestone, dark gray and black, hard

sandy :: .V 155 142.0

Limestone and shale, some flinty rock

last 13 feet 176 159.8

Devonian System.

Limestone, black, gray and brown 107 1825

Limestone, grayish brown, sandy (small

Limestone, graywhite, oil and salt water 70 1910

Total depth , 1910

Authority— Crary, Chief Driller. Log No. 5.

Charles Stinson, No. 1, lessor.

C. H. Dooley, lessee.

Location — Near Leitchfield.

Started January 18, 1917.

Finished April 26, 1917.

Elevation 600 feet.

Production, small oil.

198 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Soil and clay 12 12

Limestone, hard 12 24

Crevice, no cutting 14 38

Limestone, dark, gritty 12 50

Limestone, dark, soft 5 55

Limestone, gritty, soft 5 60

Limestone, dark, gritty, 'hard 10 70

Limestone, gritty, hard 3 73

Limestone, dark - 12 85

Limestone, gray, hard 15 100

Limestone, light, soft 5 105

Limestone, light brown, hard 10 115

Limestone, yellow, hard 12 127

Limestone, white, hard 3 130

Limestone, dark, hard 10 140

Limestone, yellow, hard 10 150

Limestone, gray, soft, gritty 10 160

Limestone, gray, hard 5 165

Limestone, fire clay 2 167

Limestone, gray, hard, gritty 21 188

Limestone, dark, hard 15 230

Shale, gray 5 235

Limestone, dark, hard ; 5 240

Limestone, gray -. 5 245

Shale, gray and slick 40 285

Shale and limestone, gray, soft 10 295

Shale and limestone, black 20 315

Limestone, black, blue lick 18 333

Limestone, dark, hard 31 364

Limestone, dark, soft, casing at 368 21 385

Limestone, dark, gritty, water 10 395

Limestone, gray, soft, recased at 410 15 410

Limestone, dark gray 10 420

Limestone, gray, hard 20 440

Limestone, dark, hard , 20 460

Limestone, dark, shaly limestone 40 500

Limestone, gray, medium hard 45 545

Limestone, dark, hard 55 600

'Limestone, dark, brownish, hard 25 625

Limestone, dark, soft 20 645

Limestone, dark, hard 15 660

Limestone, gray, soft 140 800

Limestone, dark, shelly 35 835

Grayson County Oil And Gas 199

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, dark, shelly, hard 5 840

Limestone, gritty, sandy gray, hard 7 847

Limestone, dark, soft 48 895

Devonian System.

Limestone and shale mixed 7 1043

Limestone, white and some shale 5 1053

Limestone, nearly white, hard 4 1057

Limestone, gray, hard 8 1065

Limestone, gray, shaly „ 5 1070

Limestone, gray, soft 5 1075

Limestone, gray with white flakes 10 1085

Limestone, dark, with flakes 5 1090

Limestone, dark, hard 7 1097

Limestone, somewhat lighter, sandy 4 1101

Limestone, dark, brownish, hard 3 1104

Limestone, light gray, hard 12 1116

Limestone, darker, soft, shale (1st oil) 5 1121

Limestone, brownish, medium hard 3 1124

Limestone, gray, hard 13 1137

Limestone, brown, hard 6 114$

Limestone, lighter, medium hard „... 7 1150

Limestone, dark brown, hard 8 1158

Limestone, gray, hard 5 1163

Limestone, gray, medium hard 8 1171

Limestone, gray, very hard 5 1176

Limestone, nearly white, very hard 34 1210

Limestone, dark brownish, hard 1? 1250

Total depth 1250

Authority— A. H. Morrison, Driller.

The Devonian-Silurian contact is not noted. Well probably finished in Silurian.

Log No. 6.

James E. McGrew, No. 1, lessor. Kentucky Oil & Refining Co., lessee. Location — Anneta Post Office Started December 30, 1916. Finished April 25, 1917. Elevation 750 feet, estimated. Production, oil show. Abandoned.

£09 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

n§trata Thickness Depth PENJSFSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Soil and clay ,.,..,...,. . „ ; 8 8

Band rock '. 3 11

Shale, gray ..-„ 5 16

Shale, blue 70 87

Sand, trace of asphalt "40 127

Shale, blue : 28 155

Shale, light gray 17 172

Shale, blue .. ... 18 190

Mississippian System.

Shale, white 5 205

Marl, red and blue 8 213

Shale, white ..„ - 7 220

Shale, blue 30 250

Limestone shells : 5 255

Shale, blue 48 303

Limestone, white 8 311

Shale, blue 15 326

Limestone, gray, very hard 32 358

Shale 10 368

Gand 45 413

limestone, hard",' Kas'kaskia 35 448

S&ale - 8 456

hale, blue, soft 12 510

Limestone, gray, moderately hard 5 515

Shale, gray, hard 5 520

Limestone, white, hard ... 10 530

Shale, white, hard - 4 534

Shale, tough, hard, white 10 584

Limestone, varying color and hardness 156 740

'Limestone, gray, sandy, Blue Lick at 830 150 890

Limestone, white, soft, no grit 25 915

Limestone, hard, flinty, gritty, cased at

Limestone, brown and white, 'soft... 60 982

Limestone, dark gray, mixed w'hite 18 1000

Limestone, brown and white 40 1040

Limestone, dark gray, hard 30 1070

Limestone, dark, brown, hard 65 1135

Limestone, black .'.l..'. 9 1144

Grayson County Oil And Gas 201

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, brown and gray shales 23 1167

Limestone, gray 35 1202

Limestone and shale mixed 70 1272

Shale, sandy, dark 3 1275

Shale, sandy, light gray : 15 1290

Limestone, gray, very hard, small gas

Limestone, black, hard , 45 1400

Limestone, gray, soft, shelly 10 1410

Limestone, gray and mixed with sand 5 1415

Limestone, white, sandy (Beaver "sand") 70 1485 Shale, dove color, soft with hard shells of

gray limestone ,. . 35 1620 -

Sand, gray and lime, show of oil at 1523,

gas at 1531 19 1539

Shale, green and soft 17 1556

Devonian System.

Limestone, dark, hard, gray 25 1691

Limestone, white and gray mixed 10 1701

Limestone, dark brown 15 1716

Limestone, gray 5 1721

Limestone, light gray, oil trace, very

hard 34 1755

Limestone, brown, very hard 15 1770

Limestone, gray, soft, white flaked :... . 25 179

Limestone, white, hard 35 1830

Limestone, gray, oil trace, little salt

water .! 5 1835

Limestone, White 25 1860

Sand, gray, show of oil, stopped on hard

shell, strong flow of salt water 5 1865

Sand, hard, white 10 1875

Limestone, gray, mixed with shale 25 1900

Limestone, brown, moderately shaft, 1100

feet of water in well 10 1910

Limestone, brown 15 192£>

Limestone, gray, very hard .. :... 5 1930

Limestone, dark gray 5 1935

Limestone, white, hard 15 1950

Limestone, gray and white ; 35 ' 1985

Limestone, gray shale and lime mixed :... 5 1990 Limestone, dark gray, changing to lightgray 30 2020

202 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Limestone, blue gray

Thickness

Depth

Limestone, light brown

Shale, light gray

Limestone, gray

Shale, blue gray

Limestone and gray shale in thin bed- Total depth ..

15

The Devonian-Silurian contact and the Silurian-Ordovician contact is not noted. The well finished in the Ordovician. This is one of the very few wells in Grayson County showing a trace of oil in the Devonian limestone. Since the well was located on the top of

the Anneta Dome and did not produce from the Corniferous or its

correlative there would seem to be little hope for this "sand" in other wells less favorably located.

Log No. 7.

John T. Dunn, No. 1, lessor. C. H Dooley, lessee. Location— Leitchfield. Started February 8, 1918. Finished April 29, 1918. Production, small oil.

Mississippian System.

Clay 39 39

Limestone 4 43

Shale or marl, 14" conductor to 42 ft 30 73

Cave, no cuttings 5 136

Limestone, St. Louis, St. Genevieve 29 165

Shale 20 185

Sand 15 200

Limestone, St. Louis 50 250

Shale, slick 8 258

Limestone, gray 70 328

Limestone 52 380

Shale 4 384

Limestone, gray, cased 8" at 386 31 415

Limestone, brown 50 465

Limestone, gray, brown flakes 12 477

Limestone, brown 10 487

Limestone, brown, sulphur water 5 492

Limestone, gray, soft 5 497

Grayson County Oil And Gas 203

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, brown some, hard 13 610

Limestone, brown, hard 15 525

Limestone, gray, soft 5 530

Limestone, brownish, soft and hard 20 550

Limestone, gray, softer and medium 10 560

Limestone, dark brown, harder H 571

Limestone, dark gray, white specks, soft 7 578

Limestone, brown, hard - 5 583

Limestone, gray, softer, sulphur at 585.. 4 587

Limestone, brown 18 605

Limestone, very dark, oily, coffee grounds 5 610

Limestone, dark gray, cased 6" at 616 17 627

Limestone, brown and gray 55 682

Limestone, dark gray, white specks 23 705

Limestone, dark black, sulphur water 3 708

Limestone, dark gray, white specks 4 712

Limestone, sandy, oily 41 753

Limestone, softer, cased at 758 5 758

Limestone, dark gray, some chert and

hard streaks 370 1128

Devonian System.

Shale, black, Chattanooga or Ohio 137 1280

Limestone, gray, last screw sandy 38 1318

Limestone, gray 15 1333

Limestone, dark brownish gray 6 1339

Limestone, gray 13 1352

Limestone, dark gray, soft flakes 14 1374

Limestone, gritty, light specks 94 1468

Limestone, gray, nearly white 5 1473

Limestone, shade darker 6 1479

Limestone, gray, shade lighter 16 1495

Limestone, sandy, oil sand, little oil 10 1505

Limestone, nearly white 3 1508

Total depth 1508

Water at 165 and 10" casing to 158 feet. Authority — James Hancock, Driller.

The Devonian-Silurian contact is not noted. This well probably finished in the Silurian.

204 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Emma J. Tucker, No. 1, lessor.

Brady Oil & Gas Company,. Emporium, Pa., lessee.

Location — 2 miles northeast of Leitchfield.

Started August 17, 1918...

Production, dry. Abandoned.

Strata Thickness Depth

Mississippian System.

Soil, clay, etc 14 14

Unrecorded 6 90

Limestone, gray :.: 10 100

Limestone, brown .: : 5 105

Unrecorded ..J£ 3 108

Limestone, gray .. 36 144

Limestone, brown, sandy 35 179

Limestone, gray : 10 189

Limestone, broVnish 117 306

Shale or shaly ... 4 310

'Limes'tone, gray, brown 74 384

Mud .: 2 386

'Limestone, gray, brownish 31 417

Unrecorded 41 458

Limestone, light brown 24 482

Limestone, gray, brownish 110 592

Limestone, dark, 'brown 8 ,600

Samples missing; cases last time , 151 751

Limestone, light gray, hard 14 ...„,, nif. 765

Limestone, light gray, medium 35 ... 800

Limestone, light gray, hard 26 ,826

Limestone, light dark, soft... !... 10 836

Limestone, light dark, hard 14 850

Limestone, gray, hard 20 870

Limestone, dark, medium 14 884

Limestone, dark, hard 91 975

Limestone, dark, medium hard .. 35 1010

Limestone, dark, medium soft 55 1065

Linjtestone, dark, medium hard ,...„ 122 1187

Limestone, brown sandy, oil 10 1197

Linjestone, brown sandy, oil 8 1205

Limestone, shelly !! 4 1209

Limestone, black : : 29 1238

Limestone, gray, white specks G 1244

Limesnje.light ,grayK brown ,„ 56 1300

Limestone, black, sandy t 8 : 1308

Grayson County Oil And Gas 205

Strata Thickness Depth DEVONIAN SYSTEM.

Limestone, shaly, dark 10 1430

Limestone, gray with white specks 15 1445

Limestone, dark 45 1490

Limestone, brownish gray 82 1572

Silurian System.

Limestone, bluish 52 1624

Total depth ' 1624

Authority — James Ross, Driller.

Log No. 9.

— Duncan, No. 1, lessor. Snowden Brothers, lessees. Location — 20 miles west of Leitchfield.

Mississippian System.

Soil, sandy, yellow, soft : 30 30

Shale, dark, gray, soft 55 85

Limestone, gray, hard - 10 95

Limestone, white, softer 30 125

Shale, dark gray, very soft 35 160

Sandy shells, light gray 5 165

Soft shale, gray 73 238

Shale, gray 10 248

Limestone, brown, hard 20 268

Shale, limestone, light gray 15 283

Shale, brown 7 300

Limestone, white 60 360

Shale, gray 5 365

Shale, brown H 15 380

Shale, dark gray 8 423

Limestone, dark 8 431

Shale, dark 10 441

Shale and shells, gray 24 465

Limestone, white, close 15 480

Sand, brown, coarse 5 485

Shale, gray '. 5 490

Limestone, light gray 130 620

Limestone, light brown 5 625

206 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, light gray 30 655

Limestone, light brown 20 770

Limestone, brown, very hard 15 785

Sandy limestone, gray, very hard 20 805

Limestone, brown 15 847

Limestone and shale, dark gray 13 860

Limestone, gray and brown, sandy, soft

Limestone, gray, hard 165 1080

Limestone, black 25 1105

Limestone, gray, hard 15 1120

Limestone and shale, dark, soft 5 1125

Limestone, dark, hard 80 1205

Limestone, white and black mixed 20 1225

Limestone, white, sandy ,. 15 1240

Limestone, gray 35 1275

Limestone, brown and white 45 1320

Shale and limestone, gray, soft 35 1355

Devonian System.

Limestone, brown 40 1595

Limestone, brown, very hard 40 1635

Limes'tone, dark brown, Softer 35 1670

Limestone, red brown 25 1695

Limestone, changing to lighter 30 1725

Limestone, gray, very hard 15 1740

Sand, white, very hard 30 1770

Limestone, light brown, hard 45 1815

Limestone, light brown, sandy 85 1900

Limestone, white, hard 60 1960

Limestone, dark gray 20 1980

Limestone, yellowish gray, soft (trace of

Limestone, gray, hard 30 2016

Limestone, white 50 2066

Limestone, white, soft 5 2071

Limestone, gray, hard 80 2151

Limestone, white and soft, bottom, salt

water 1 2152

Total depth 2152

The bases of the Devonian and Silurian are undifferentiated. This well probably finished in the Ordovician.

Grayson County Oil And Gas

Log. No. 10.

Muffett, No. 1, lessor.

Atlantic Oil Producing Co., lessee.

Location — About 6 miles west of Leitchfield.

Strated July 29, 1918.

Finished April — , 1919.

Production, 5 barrels of oil.

Strata MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Thickness Depth .N SYSTEM.

Red Clay 30 30

Limestone, white , 100 130

Limestone, soft, water 5 150

Limestone, white, hard 40 190

Limestone, black 125 315

Limestone, black, hard 17 362

Limestone, grayishjwhite, sandy (water

Limes'tone, black, hard 27 412

Limestone, gray 15 427

Break in sand, limestone, gray, and s'hale 1 524

Limestone, gray, coarse 12 536

Limestone, gray, fine 4 540

Shale, blue 15 590

Limestone and shells 10 600

Total depth 600

Authority — Claude E. Stanley, Manager.

Log No. 11.

R. O. Meredith, lessor, No. 1. Cin. & Ky. Oil and Gas Co., lessee. Location — Near Leitchfield, Ky. Started July, 1920. Stlil drilling February 10, 1921. Elevation, about 630 feet.

208 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Clay 12 12

Limestone, white, hard 27 39

Shale, gray 36 75

Sana, little water 5 80

Limestone, white, hard 32 112

Shale and mud 23 135

Sand, Big Clifty 50 185

Limestone, gray, gritty 65 450

Limestone, white, hard 60 510

Limestone, brown, hard 160 670

Blue Lick formation , 103 773

Limestone, brown, hard 18 791

Limestone, gray, gritty, hard 5 826

Limeston, brown, sandy 6 832

Limestone, brown 5 837

Limestone, dark gray 40 877

Limestone, gray 25 902

Limestone, dark gray 12 914

Limestone, light gray 12 926

Limestone, gray, gritty 28 954

Limestone, black, hard 20 974

Limestone, gray 7 981

Limestone, black, hard 11 992

Limestone, black, soft 152 1144

Limestone, dark gray ..,- 7 1151

Limestone, black, soft 79 1230

Sand, white.. £ Oil sand? 7 1237

Sand, light... ! 15 1252

Shale and white limestone 6 1258

Limestone, black 18 1270

Sand, white 10 1280

Devonian System.

Shale, brown .". , 160 1440

Limestone, brown 25 1465

Limestone, brown and gray I™ 9 1474

Limestone, gray, h'ard, gritty 6 1480

Grayson County Oil And Gas

Strata

Thickness

Silurian System.*

Limestone, black and white 7

Limestone, white, hard, gritty 13

Limestone, brown, sandy 4

Limestone, gray, gritty, hard 9

Limestone, brown ,. 5

Limestone, dark gray, hard 23

Limestone, black 9

Limestone, gray 20

Limestone, dark gray, hard 30

Limestone, black and gray 12

Limestone, gray and brown, sandy 15

Limestone, white 11

Ordovician System.

Limestone, brown and gray 40

Limestone, brown, hard 12

Limestone, brown and gray, gritty 5

Limestone, white and brown 22

Limestone, brown and gray, gritty 18

Limestone, gray 6

Limestone, white , 35

Limestone, gray, hard 21

Limes'tone, blue 8

Limestone, white 53

Limestone, white, little black sulphur

water 7

Limestone, white, large salt water, oil

and gas show 3

Limestone, white 85

Limestone, blue, soft 17

Depth

Note: Suspended for casing, Oct. 8, 1920. January 18, 1921, and again February 9, 1921.

Machine broke down

*The actual thickness of the Silurian series in Grayson County is unknown, as the rocks of this division do not come to the surface in outcrop. A thickness of about 200 feet is assigned, however, based on nearest outcrop. This may be more or less. — W. R. J.

210 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Log No. 12.

Wm. F. Majors, No. 1, lessor. Carl K. Dresser, lessee. Location — 8 miles west of Leitchfield. Started drilling June 21, 1917.

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Soil, red 10 10

Limestone, gray 10 20

Limestone, white 10 30

Limestone, yellow 15 45

Limestone, gray 15 60

Limestone, sandy, water 20 80

Limestone, blue 15 100

Limestone, sandy, water 90 190

Limestone, black 60 250

Limestone, gray 100 350

Limestone, sandy 10 360

Limestone, gray 50 435

Limestone, brown 65 500

Limestone, white 10 510

Sand 10 520

Limestone, gray 20 540

Total depth 540

Authority: Mr. Stanley, Field Mgr.

Log No. 13.

Wm. F. Majors, No. 2, lessor.

Carl K. Dresser, lessee.

Location — 8 miles west of Leitchfield.

Mississippian System.

Clay 50 50

Limestone, blue 70 120

Limestone, gray ...; 20 140

Limestone, dark 70 210

Limestone, gray 80 290

Limestone, shaly : 15 305

Limestone, dark 15 320

Limestone, gray 10 330

Limestone, black 10 340

Grayson County Oil And Gas 211

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, gray 10 350

Sand 20 370

Limestone, black and gray 100 470

Limestone, light gray 22 537

Sand 7 544

Limestone, sandy 36 580

Limestone, gray 55 635

Shale, black 125 760

Limestone? 87 847

Total depth 847

Shot at 508 and 520 on December 6th, 1920. Authority: Mr. Stanley, Field Mgr.

Log No. 14.

Wm. F. Majors, No. 4.

Location — 8 miles west of Leitchfield.

Mississippian System.

Soil, red, soft 18 18

Clay, red, soft 8 26

Limestone, gray, hard 12 36

Shale, gray, soft 4 42

Limestone, hard 18 60

Limestone, gray, very hard 35 107

Shale, black, soft 6 113

Limestone, black, hard 60 173

Limestone, gray, sandy, hard 26 199

Limestone, black, hard 30 229

Shale, gray, soft 6 235

Limestone, dark, very hard 15 250

Limestone, dark, hard 30 280

Limestone, white, hard 20 300

Shale, black, soft 4 304

Limestone, gray, sandy 20 324

Limestone, dark, sandy 22 346

Limestone, gray, sandy 18 364

Limestone, black, hard, shelly 40 404

Limestone, gray, hard 6 410

Limestone, black, hard 20 430

Shale, dark, soft 6 436

Limestone, black, hard 28 464

212 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, black, shelly, hard 20 484

Limestone, brown, so-ft 25 509

Limestone, gray, hard 7 518

Shale, gray, soft 3 519

Limestone, 'gray, very hard 6 525

Limestone and sand, gray and hard 5 530

Shale, soft, sandy 5 535

Limestone, white, sandy, hard 8 543

Shale, gray, soft 12 555

Shale, gray, sandy 11 566

Shale and limestone shells 30 596

Shale, black, soft 4 600

Limestone, gray, hard 12 612

Shale, brown 20 632

Limestone shell, hard, some water 3 635

Shale, brown, soft 86 721

Limestone, gray, hard 12 733

Limestone, hard, sandy 20 753

Limestone, gray, hard 5 758

Total depth 758

Authority: Atlantic Oil Producing Co.

Log No. 15.

W. M. Ferry, No. 1, lessor. Location— 10 miles N. W. of Leitchfield. Begun May, 1919. Reported production, dry?

Mississippian System.

Sandstone, Big Clifty 18 28

Limestone, white 237 265

Limestone, gray 30 295

Limestone, yellow, sandy 8 303

Limestone, white 32 335

Limestone, sandy, water 5 340

Limestone, gray 40 380

Limestone, brown, sandy 25 405

Limestone, brown, sandy 20 425

Limestone, gray 15 440

Shale, black 8 448

Limestone, gray 7 455

Limestone, brown, sandy 6 461

Limestone, gray, sandy 64 525

Grayson County Oil And Gas 213

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, gray, sandy 80 605

Limestone, gray, sandy water 45 650

Limestone, gray 20 670

Limestone, gray, sandy 30 700

Limestone, brown 85 785

Limestone, gray, sandy 30 815

Limestone, gray, sandy 43 858

Limestone, some gray sand, mostly lime, 5 873

Oil show 20 893

Limestone, sandy 13 906

Limestone, gray 12 918

Limestone, white, sandy 12 930

Limestone, gray, mixed with shale 27 957

Limestone, black, or asphalt and shale

mixed 30 987

Shale black .-. 55 1042

Limestone, black, or asphalt and shale

mixed 26 1068

Devonian System.

Limestone, gray 6 1174

Limestone, black 8 1182

Limestone, gray 5 1187

Limestone, gray, darker 5 1192

Limestone, dark gray, sandy, 1st Ohio

sand 5 1197

Limestone, dark gray, sandy, 1st Ohio

sand 5 1202

Limestone, dark gray 5 1207

Limestone, gray 15 1222

Limestone, gray,, sandy. '5 1227

Limestone, gray, sandy 10 1237

Limestone, gray, sandy, darker 23 1260

Limestone, gray, sandy, darker 10 1270

Shale, black 6 1276

Limestone, dark 6 1282

Limestone, dark 11 1293

Limestone, dark 7 1300

Limestone, gray 24 1324

Shale, black 6 1330

Limestone, gray 18 1348

Limestone, gray, sandy, very strong,

smell oil ... 5 1353

214 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, light gray 10 1383

Limestone, gray 5 1368

Limestone, white 10 1378

Total depth 1378

Top of sand. %y2 in. casing 448. Bottom of sand. Gi/i in. casing 665-1171.

Note: The Devonian and Silurian sediments are not differentiated

in this well. The drilling probably stopped in the Silurian.

Log No. 16.

Dink Oiler, No. 1, lessor. Millicken Estate, lessee. Location— 6 miles N. W. Leitchfield.

Mississippian System.

Soil 20 20

Limestone, blue, sandy 5 25

Limestone, black 5 30

Limestone, gray 40 70

Shale, blue 12 82

Sand, light brown 4 86

S'hale, blue 5 91

Sandstone, Big Clifty 49 140

Shale, blue 8 148

Limestone, blue 8 156

Shale, blue 12 168

Limestone, blue 30 198

Limestone, gray, sandy 17 215

Limestone, light blue, sandy 20 235

Limestone, gray 20 255

Limestone, slate colored 5 260

Limestone, blue 10 270

Limestone, gray 15 285

Limestone, black or flint 5 290

Limestone, gray 15 305

Limestone, yellow 75 380

Limestone, gray 10 390

Limestone, brown 10 400

Limestone, light brown 5 500

Grayson County Oil And Gas 215

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, gray 20 520

Limestone, 'brown 18 538

Limestone, brown, sandy 15 553

Limestone, gray 11 564

Limestone, brown 6 570

Limestone, blue, sandy 30 600

Limestone, brown 10 610

Limestone, light brown 50 660

Limestone, dark, almost black 30 690

Limestone, dark and shell 5 695

Limestone, dark 15 710

Limestone, gray and shell 25 735

Limestone, dark, fire clay in stone well.. 80 815

Limestone, blue 30 845

Limestone, dark 20 865

Limestone, brown and shell 35 900

Limestone, dark 90 990

Limestone, 'gray, sandy 8 998

Shale, black 18 1016

Limestone, dark blue, and gray shell 6 1022

Limestone or shale, dark 388 1410

Shale, sandy 13 1423

Devonian System.

Shale, black 77 1500

Sand, gray 32 1532

Limestone, gray 153 168'5

Limestone, gray, sandy 35 1720

Limestone, brown 5 1725

Limestone, blue 5 1730

Limestone, gray 17 1747

Total depth 1803

Note: The Devonian and Silurian contact is not distinguishable. This well probably finished in the Silurian.

Log No. 17.

Sam Walker, No. 1, lessor. Drilled by C. K. Dresser.

216 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Clay, blue, sandy 10 30

Sandstone, Big Ciifty, soft and yellow 56 86

Limestone, white, water on top 7 93

Clay, blue 9 102

Limestone, white 80 182

Limestone, white, very hard 3 185

Clay, sandy 5 190

Limestone, white 80 270

Limestone, light brown 35 305

Limestone, light brown, sandy 10 315

Limestone, blue, flinty 7 322

Limestone, cream colored or very light

brown 23 345

Limestone, white, sandy 13 358

Limestone, cream colored or very light

.brown .: : 67 425

Limestone, gray, sandy, sulphur water 36 461

Limestone, light brown, sandy 30 491

Sand, light gray 24 515

Sand, light brown 30 54'5

Limestone, blue 35 580

Limestone, gray, dark :. 10 590

Limestone, brown, sandy 12 602

Limestone, gray 38 640

Limestone, dark, shaly 15 655

Limestone, 'blue 90 745

Limestone, dark, sandy, gas smell 20 765

Limestone, dark blue, sandy 40 805

Limestone, dark, shaly 40 845

Shale, dark, sandy 71 916

Limestone, dark, shaly 129 1045

Limestone, Black Lick 185 1230

Shale, blue '. 18 1248

Limestone, Blue Lick 50 1298

Limestone, blue, sandy 32 1330

Devonian System.

Sand, gray 8 1421

Limestone, light brawn, sandy 5 1426

Limestone, dark brown, sandy 5 1431

Limestone, gray, sandy ..30 1461

Limestone blue 71 1532

Grayson County Oil And Gas 217

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, gray, sandy, gas smell 11 1543

Limestone, blue, shelly 22 1565

Limestone, gray, sandy 13 1578

Limestone light brown, shelly 14 1592

Limestone, gray, sandy 5 1597

Limestone, white, sandy 5 1602

Limestone, gray, sandy, darker 11 1613

Limestone, blue 6 1619

Total depth , 1619

Reduced hole from 10 in. to 8 in., 489. 6% in. casing, 513.

Well plugged January 28, 1919, from 1300 to 250, and from 600 to

Note: The Devonian and Silurian Systems are not differentiated. The well finished in the Silurian.

Log No. 18.

Enos Cundiff, No. 1, lessor. Drilled by C. K. Dresser.

Missis Sippian System.

Limestone, white, flinty 60 75

Limestone, white, sandy 15 90

Clay, blue, sandy 20 110

Limestone, white, sandy, water 15 125

Limestone, white : 75 200

Limestone, creamy colored like lava 45 245

Limestone, blue, flinty 5 250

Sand, dark brown -— - 5 255

Limestone, cream colored 80 335

Sand, gray, oolitic, water 35 370

Limestone, light brown, sandy 35 405

Sand, light, iron gray 30 435

Sand, light brown 20 455

Limestone, blue 35 490

Sand, gray 10 500

Sand, dark gray, oil show 10 510

Sand, gray 35 545

Limestone, dark, shaly 10 555

Limestone, blue, with showing of flint 15 570

Limestone, blue 62 632

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Limestone, sandy, dark* gas show 23 6'55

Limestone, dark blue, sandy 60 715

Shale, black 43 758

Sand, dark gray 6 764

Shale, black 6 770

Sand, dark gray 24 794

Shale, black 161 955

Limestone, Blue Lick, shows flint 161 1116

Sand, iron gray, gas show 1128 25 1141

Limestone, Blue Lick, shows flint 44 185

Shale, blue 15 1200

Devonian System.

Shale, black 80 1280

Sand, iron gray, oil show 42 1322

Shale, blue 42 1364

Limestone, blue, shelly 10 1374

Limestone, gray, sandy 18 1392

Limestone, blue, shelly 30 1422

Limestone, brownish gray, sandy 53 1475

Limestone, white, sandy 26 1501

Limestone, or shale, blue 10 1511

Limestone, brown, sandy 15 1526

Limestone, blue, sandy, shaly 24 1550

Shale, dark iron gray, sandy 12 1562

Limestone, blue, shaly 46 1608

Sand, iron gray 10 1618

Shale, dark sandy 16 1634

Shale dark, and gray shells 70 1704y2

Total depth 1704V2

Well plugged at 1200 feet by bridging hole and filling with stone. Then a plug and dirt to 1150, and then bridged at 620 and filled with

stone, then a plug and dirt with stone on top to 570.

September 22, 1918. Contractor: J. W. Reigel.

Note: Devonian-Silurian and Silurian-Ordovician contacts are not defined. The well probably finished a few feet in the Ordovician.

Grayson County Oil And Gas 219

Log No. 19.

O. L. Ferry, No. 1, lessor.

Strata Thickness Depth

Mississippian System.

Clay, blue, soft 25 25

Limestone, blue, hard 15 40

Shale, blue, hard 20 60

Limestone, hard 20 80

Limestone, white 15 , 95

Limestone, gray, soft, oil show 10 105

Shale, blue, hard 5 110

Limestone, white, hard 15 125

Limestone, gray, hard w 15 140

Limestone, gray, hard 30 170

Shale, limey, soft 50 220

Shale, blue, soft 8 228

Limestone, gray, soft 12 240

Shale, blue, soft 14 254

Limestone, gray, hard , 14 268

Shale, brown, soft-black 15 283

Unrecorded 37 320

Limestone, brown, soft 60 380

Limestone, brown, soft 10 390

Limestone, white, hard 78 46S

Limestone, white, soft 17 485

Limestone, white, soft 10 495

Limestone, white, soft 30 525

Total depth 525

e1 in. casing, 521 feet.

Note: This well did not enter the Devonian sediments.

Log No. 20.

Melvin Young, No. 1, lessor.

Soft, gritty lime impreganted for 65 feet, some gas in

Black shale 1380-1580

Top of Corniferous 1580

Bottom of Corniferous 1665

Top of second Ohio sand 1760

Bottom of second Ohio sand 1785

Casing record:

Authority: R. R. Reynolds.

Note: A partial record only. Mississippian, Devonian and Silurian sediments were successively penetrated by this well.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Log No. 21.

C. S. Brown, No. 1, lessor. 12 mi. S. W. of Leitchfield Good said with black oil and gas (gas still comes up

Gritty lime, show of .oil and gas (Major sand?) 740- 780

Black shale 1625-1850

Top of sand 1930

Drilled in 68 feet — 4 screws in sand, hole filled up 600 feet sulphur water, show of oil and gas. Total depth, 1998. Casing record:

Authority: Note:

R. R. Reynolds.

A partial record only. Mississippian, Devonian and Silurian sediments were successively penetrated by this well.

Grayson County, Kentucky Wells— December 1, 1918

From Base of Big- Clifty Sand to:

a

rf

S

'c

5.

o

w

r

1"*

cS

w

8!

o

h

Co

B

O

o

Q

ft

m

g 2

Ih

S

O

h

°M

Q

o

O2

T3

fir-,

oT3

'c'c

o

£2

£c

n

o

§

ft

Om

8§

"o

W

pqw

go

O

E

W

H

Co

E-i

?

'I 3301 4201 find

6nO

Tucker "X" New Oil 1113 Plus 84=1197 from top of well.

Grayson County Oil And Gas

§

r,-. 2

2i=!

O Oq

o§

s

andoned,

andoned

andoned,

cu

.a

"E

.

'o

"o

'o

-4

d

T3

'o

S o

Th

iH

r-l

Q eq OQ QQ O M OQ P

£ is £ -1

O O O '

-d -d -d 2

a

H H

H

iHrHrHO t-f-OOCOOOOOOOOO

O 2

s §

2 o d o

K

e

§

I °

o &

o -1-1

d o o £ £

W

:

jd oj

±f 03 O

*as

Cu

J

i i i i

:

Odd

:

?

o c : u c

Q o: Q.

n

O

n'

W

-

i i i i ! i i i

;

i : i : i i i :

p

;

e

'1

JS k 9 ±t 2 5 5 c

p

!

R

d

Iq

Q

"S d d

rt <rf 03

Iii!!!

sss

o

a s a

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Abandoned.

doned.

Cd

'£

'o

&

Co

3?

O S 7-3

s

To

"E

4J

d

d o

d'

.S

d'

o

Q

?H

O tn PH i— i f-i

o

J

!

Q Q

Qopoq

rH rH CO CO

ri

o

O

d

o

d d „

J

00

Q

Lessees

odd

Ph' Ph' Ph'

6 d d

o o o

d C5

Q

*d, ° a 1

11 Refining 11 Refining der Syndica nrvo/Vv .

Reporte

Oil & Gas rir.hfmnr

Coffman ..

"d d "d

r&

c3 OS d

j

o

&

d

W ffi 0

Cq

d

O

1 rt

tij

E

H

f-i 02

3

fi S o

'C

a!

Ph Cd

If

co

Co

, Emma Charles Ferryt

,, P . ee o "o i

.S T3

H W

la

o

IO CD t-

rH CN

Co

Grayson County Oil And Gas

Petroliferous Sources.

The original source of the petroleum and natural gas found in the rocks underlying Grayson county is not a problem of easy determination at the present time, due to the relatively small amount of drilling that has gone forward and the real paucity of definite information concerning the petroliferous horizons. There appears to be, however, but one possible source for the oil and gases that occur in the Ordovician and Silurian strata. This source rock must be the thin shales and the thicker and more numerous shaley limestones, probably of close stratigraphic sequence to the "sands." The Devonian limestone lying immediately beneath the Black Shale (Devonian) has been reported dry in its entire thickness in all wells drilled to date. This fact effectually closes the argument of many, at least as

Pine Knob.

Of striking" topographic appearance, with its caves, large and small, this erosional outlier affords much of interest to man, and protection to both beast and bird.

far as this portion of Kentucky is concerned, who advance a so-called theory of downward migration of the oil and gas from the superimposed Black Shale.

The oil and gas occurring in the sandy limestones found at short distances above the Black Shale (Devonian) in some wells

224 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

may very rightly be ascribed to the Black Shale. The same, however, probably does not hold true for the oil and gas found in the " Major sand" which occurs generally between 400 and 500 feet above the shale. The ultimate source or mother rock of the petroleum and natural gas of this "sand'' i? undoubtedly the rather extensive series of limestones and shaley and dirty limestones directly underlying. Operators and geologists who may come to consider the problem of the possible quantities of oil recoverable from the "sands" of the Grayson district, will do well to seriously evaluate the petroleum producing possibilities of an almost entirely limestone and shaley limestone section, such as surrounds these known "sands."

Recapitulation.

A brief resume of the geologic conditions attending the development of oil and gas in Grayson county up to the present, lead to the following summary conclusions: (1) Petroleum, natural gas and asphalt occur within the county limits. (2) Natural gas and asphalt rock have been demonstrated to occur in commercial quantities. (3) Petroleum while definitely proven in only upwards of 3 to 5 barrel wells undoubtedly occurs in large and very commercial and valuable quantities. (4) Definite plunging and doming anticlinal structures frequently faulted are recognized at various places in Grayson county. (5) The largest of these is the Rough Creek (anticlinal) Uplift, which is at some places, notably Leitchfield, faulted just to the north of and parallel to its major axis. (6) Structures of secondary importance from a standpoint of size are exemplified by the Meredith and Annetta domes. (7) Premising porous conditions in the established "sands" of this region, petroleum and natural gas occur in strict accordance with the conceptions of anticlinal accumulation. (8) Three petroliferous "sands" are recognized, the first and lowest in the upper Ordovician, the second in the Silurian, and the third in the middle Lower Mississippian. (9) The last sand enumerated is the shallowest, but has been called the "Major sand," and is at this date nearest commercial development. (10) All drilling if unproductive of oil or gas in paying quantities either

Grayson County Oil And Gas 225

immediately above or below the Black Shale (Devonian) should be continued to a depth of 150 to 300 feet below the Black Shale to thoroughly test the Silurian "sand" and the overlying Devonian limestone.

Summary.

Natural gas occurs in very large quantities in Grayson county. It is commercialized only in a small way at Leitchfield. Up to the time of this writing crude oil has been found in but small quantities. It is doubtful if there is today a really commercial oil well in Grayson county, but the prospect for securing commercial wells appears good. Much is still to be learned concerning the petroliferous "sands" of this section. Whether oil pools of sufficient size to pay for operation occur in this region is yet to be determined. Some drilling now under way or proposed may develop such a pool. If production is not encountered, the question will remain unsettled until all the favorable structural localities have been tested.

There have been enough wells drilled in Grayson county to test the entire county had they been wisely located. But unfortunately these wells have been drilled by a number of different companies working independently and frequently at cross purposes with each other. Some of these companies have had only small and scattered areas leased. In such instances drilling was done on the leased areas regardless of favorable or unfavorable structural conditions for oil. It will, therefore, require most test holes to prove the county area than would have been required had the wells been located by one company, or by the different companies co-operating along the best lines and with pooled information.

Manuscript completed Mar. 20, 1921.

Geo.— 8

Amauch Chunk Island In The Mississip- Pian Seas Of Eastern Kentucky.*

In the Eastern Kentucky coal field on the divide between the Licking river and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy river, there exists an elongated structurally elevated area of between

Heart Of The Hills.

Lower hills and broader valleys are found west of the Paint Creek uplift. A typical view in the hills of Morgan County about five miles east of West Liberty, the county seat. Lower Pottsville topography.

700 and 1000 square miles. This large structural high has been variously called the "Conglomerate Uplift"** and the Paint

*Presented before the Geological Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dec. -Jan., 1919, St. Louis, Mo.

R. Crandall. Geology of Elliott County (2 maps). Ky. Geol. Survey, Series II. 1887. pp. 18, 19.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Creek Uplift,*** and is so located as to overlap parts of Magoffin, Morgan, Elliott, Lawrence, Johnson and Floyd counties. It has a north and south major axis, and has been partially mapped structurally by the Kentucky Geological Survey on the Fire Clay (Pottsville) coal.

The normal dip of the surface Pottsville strata of this region is slightly south of east. The Paint Creek Uplift, culminating in two closed structural highs, the Paint Creek Dome and the Laurel Creek Dome, shows a maximum closed reversal

Why The Road Is In The Creek Bed.

All of the drainage in the vicinity of the Paint Creek uplift has the rejuvinated characteristic. The view is at the juncture of Sandlick and Big- Paint Creeks. Sandlick which is the tributary has just cut down through a thick Pottsville layer.

of about 250 feet to the west. A considerable amount of oil and gas prospecting drilling on this structure during the past two years has resulted in defining two large and important oil and gas fields, one on each dome, commercial production being secured principally from the Wier sand which correlates with the

B. Hoeing-. Coals of Upper Big Sandy Valley, etc. Ky. Geol. Survey, Series VI, 1913, Vol. I, Part I. pp. 97, 98.

A Mauch Chunk Island

Cuyahoga sandstone in the Waverly group toward the base of the Mississippian System. The best commercial oil production has been secured at hitherto unaccountably high structural positions and along relatively narrow belts.

Summary results of drilling on the flanks of the Paint Creek Uplift show the interval between the Fire Clay coal of the Pottsville and the top of the Big Lime (St. Genevieve-St. Louis) of the Mississippian to rapidly increase from major axial high points. This increase in interval is most pronounced to the east, showing from 150 to 185 feet. It is less to the west, being from 90 to 100 feet. To the north and south the differences are established by a few wells, but are shown to be still more gradual.

A Rugged Wilderness.

The primeval characteristic of Paint Creek has not yet been lost in that section of Morgan County through which it passes as this view near Sand Lick proves. Basal Pottsville topography.

Drilling along the major axis near the points of maximum structural height shows the interval to be from 25 to 35 feet decreased from the normal. A study of the thickness of the Mauch Chunk shows it to be thickening to the east from west normally, but to be very irregular in thickness within a short distance on the crest of the uplift.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

A Pottsville Waterfall.

The small branches all along-the main Paint Creek George have made relatively little progress in degrading their channels. Abrasive action alone is effective on the great conglomeratic masses, since it does not contain any material soluble in running1 water. Many of these falls are from 80 to 100 feet high.

A Mauch Chunk Island

A resultant conception of the subsurface structural conditions at a depth of from 300 to 700 feet establishes the Mississippian strata about the Paint Creek Uplift at very much higher angles of dip than the surface coals. Such conditions indicate plainly primary and secondary folding of the Mississippian rocks, an idea not altogether new, though heretofore vaguely stated.* The Mauch Chunk sediments normally thickening to the east, but found thinly distributed over the top of the Uplift, place the time of the primary folding as the later part of he Mauch Chunk and perhaps a part of the very earliest Pottsville. The irregularity of the thickness of the Mauch Chunk on the crest of the Uplift indicates either strong marine off shore

The Plateau-Forming Pottsville.

Wider valleys and some little plateau land are found in the section where Sand Lick empties into Big Paint Creek, Johnson County. Characteristic basal Pottsville topography.

currents or possibly a small amount of sub-areal erosion and insular conditions. The thickening of the lowest Pottsville sediments on all sides of the Paint Creek Uplift establishes the end of the first period of folding as principally pre-Pottsville.

*J. B. Hoeing. Coals of Upper Big Sandy Valley, etc. Survey, Series IV. 1913. Vol. I, Part I, p.

To.

Ky. Geol.

232 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

With the initiation of the uniform and widespread subsidence of the early Pennsylvanian, this Mauch Chunk island after a brief and probably low topographic appearance sank, and Pottsville sediments, sands, muds and coals were laid down first unconformably then later horizontally across it. Subsequently during the time of the Appalachian overthrusts, this old structurally weakened section gave way again under increased and more complicated stresses and strains, resulting in the bringing about of the present faulted and folded structure of the Pottsville as mapped.

The Mississippian strata underlying and already somewhat bowed upward, received at this time their secondary folding. Aside from the purely scientific value attached to the establishment of the older folding of the Mississippian rocks of this part of Kentucky, there is genuine interest in having practically and satisfactorily explained through the secondary folding and consequently increased dip of the Mississippian rocks, the essential cause for the general restriction of the best local oil and gas fields to abnormally high and narrow structural positions.

Manuscript completed Dec. 20, 1919.

THE SANDY HOOK ANTICLINE— A NEWLY DIS- COVERED OIL AND GAS STRUCTURE IN ELLIOTT COUNTY, KY.

Introduction.

That oil and gas structure of a distinctly anticlinal figure existed in south-eastern Elliott county has long been known. This recognized folding* with its generally north and south axis had always been identified in the writer's mind with the well

Scct-Je: I hch

W/K.3"

Sketch Map Of Elliott County, Ky.

known Paint Creek Uplift to the south, being regarded in fact as a northward tailing out of that principal fold of Floyd, Johnson, Magoifin, Morgan and Lawrence counties. While these fundamental structural conceptions had become rather

*Crandall, A. R. ; Report on the Geology of Elliott County. Ky. Gebl. Survey, Series II. John R. Proctor, Dir. 1887.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

firmly established, in the course of numerous field examinations of this section of Eastern Kentucky, the possibility of a more or less general duplication in southern Elliott county of the primary structural and oil and gas producing conditions as known and mapped in the Johnson-Morgan-Magoffin field, where the Irvine-Paint Creek fault (northeast-southwest) is paralleled by distinctly anticlinal and doming folds, was not suspected.

Yet in the course of a general field reconnoissance of southern Elliott county early in December, 1920, sufficient structural observations and discoveries were made to lead to this belief. This fuller conception of the deformational conditions existing in southern Elliott county was completely substantiated by a detailed field examination made by the writer

The Little Sandy Fault.

The view is to the west at the mouth of the Middle Fork gorge. The steeply southward dipping-plane of displacement is readily seen.

Topography altered by fault.

The Sandy Hook Anticline 235

alone covering the period from December 15, 1920, to January 1, 1921, all of which time, including Christmas Day, was spent in the field under somewhat adverse climatic conditions. The work was done on horseback and on foot, it being impossible during this period of the year to use either buggy or cheap automobile, though during the dry seasons and by making use of the ridge roads, these conveyances are used in the southern and western part of Elliott county with much success. As a result of these investigations, the Sandy Hook Anticline with

Crest Op The Sandy Hook Anticline.

The view is eastward from the entrance to Sheriff Green's farm on Ruin Creek. The massive Pottsville Conglomerate is well shown on the right. On the left the upper portion has been eroded.

a generally northeast and southwest major axis, and the nearly parallel Little Sandy fault, both of which had been noted in their larger aspects by the writer earlier in the month, were farther outlined as presented in this paper and its accompanying maps.

Location Op County And Structure.

Elliott county is located just within the northwestern border of the Eastern Coal Field in the northeastern part of Kentucky. It is bounded on the north by Carter county, on the east by Lawrence county, on the south by Morgan county, and on the west by Rowan county. In the order of county formation, Elliott is the one hundred and fourteenth, having been

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The Reversal On Middle Fork.

The view is eastward toward the Hunter farm. The waters of Middle Fork are rather indistinctly outlined in the immediate foreground.

established in 1869 from parts of Carter, Lawrence and Morgan counties. It was named in honor of Judge John M. Elliott, who later, at the time of his assassination on the steps of the old Capitol Hotel in Frankfort in April, 1879, was a Justice of the Court of Appeals. Saindy Hook, formerly known as Martinsburg, a town of about 300 inhabitants, is the county seat.

The Sandy Hook anticline is located in the southwestern quadrant of Elliott county, south of the waters of Laurel Creek and west of the waters of Newcombe Creek. Its major axial

The Little Sandy Fault Scarp.

The view is from the Little Sandy-Middle Fork divide just north of Sandy Hook to the north. The cliffs in the mid-distance are the upthrow or north side of the Little Sandy fault. Basal Pottsville topography.

The Sandy Hook Anticline

crest extends generally at an angle of N 45 E from near the Ridge post office oin South Ruin Creek through the juncture of North and South Ruin Creeks across the Little Sandy River and Middle Fork into the divide between Middle Fork and Newcombe Creeks about midway between the roads from Newfoundland and Sandy Hook to Newcombe Creek.

The Little Sandy fault extends in a generally parallel northeast-southwest undulating line crossing North Ruin Creek above Big Stone post office, the Litte Sandy river about a mile south of its juncture with Laurel Creek, Middle Fork about a mile south of its juncture with the Little Sandy river, Newcombe Creek just north of the mouth of Rocky Branch, and extends on to the northeast, intersecting in prolongation the triangle between Ison Creek and the Little Fork in the vicinity of the Dikes. On the east side of Newcombe Creek the Little Sandy fault crosses almost at right angles the Newcombe Creek anticline, which has a generally north and south major axis.

Drainage And Topography.

The principal drainage of Elliott county is the headwaters of the Little Sandy river and its tributaries, which are as follows: Little Fork (east), Newcombe and Middle Fork (south-central), and Laurel, Big and Little Caney (west), and

Where A Fault Turned A River.

In the foreground the Little Sandy River is flowing-from right to left in an almost south-north direction. At the extreme left it is seen turned by the Little Sandy Fault upthrow block to a west-east direction for some little distance before it passes the break into the canyon country beyond. This panorama shows the low part of the north flank of the Sandy Hook Anticline on the Little Sandy River.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Gimblet and Big Sinking (north). There is a relatively small portion of the extreme headwaters of Big Caney and Laurel Creeks that lies west of the Rowan-Elliott county line in Rowan county, and further to the south a somewhat compensatory portion of the extreme headwaters of Devil's Fork, known as Fulton's Fork, a tributary of the North Fork of Licking river, lies east of the Morgan-Elliott county line in Elliott county. The waters of the Big Sandy, formerly known as the Chatterawha, bound Elliott county on the east, the Licking on the south and west, and Tygarts Creek on the northwest. An arbitrary northwest-southeast line across the waters of the Litte Sandy

The Middle Fork Canyon.

At all points north of the Little Sandy fault the major streams have incised themselves into box-canyons in the resistant Pottsville Conglomerate.

river is the principal northern boundary of the county. The area of Elliott county acceding to the latest computation is 127,362 acres,* or nearly 200 square miles.

Physiographically Elliott county lies on the northwestern edge of the Cumberland Plateau. With its dendritic streams and insoluble sediments it is an area of considerable rugged-

*Second Ann. Kept. Ky. State Tax Comm., 1919.

The Sandy Hook Anticline 239

ness. Along broad lines it may be divided into two parts on a basis of its characteristic relief. The section east of the Little Sandy river and south of Sandy Hook is a unit with narrow valleys and steep, rather high knife-like ridges which are more or less timbered in second growth and culls. The relief in this section is about 300 feet, and the roads are mostly in the creek bottoms.

The remaining or northwestern portion of Elliott county is largely a deforested region of broad rolling to hilly upland plateau superimposed upon the thick and massive Pottsville Conglomerate. This latter erosion-resisting formation is dissected by several eastward flowing streams, Laurel, Gimblet, the Caneys and Big Sinking being the principal ones. These creeks have their immediate courses in veritable box canyons 150 to 200 feet deep. The maximum relief of this section is about 500 feet, and the roads are principally on the ridges. The maximum relief of the county is a reported ridge elevation of 1500 feet located on the Elliott-Morgan divide. The minimum elevation is found at low water on the Little Sandy river where it crosses the Carter-county line. This elevation is undetermined, due to a lack of a near enough bench mark for barometric leveling. It is probably, however, about 550 feet above sea level.

Drainage Modification.

It is of some interest to students of physiography to note( in passing that there exists on the crest of the Sandy Hook an-" ticline an excellent example of stream piracy. This drainage modification is almost diagramatic in its simplicity. It concerns the headwaters of the Open Fork of the Little Sandy river, and the Middle Fork of the same major stream. The abandoned channel or ''low pass" is located about a mile north of Sandy Hook, and is now occupied by the low gap road that leaves the Sandy Hook-Newfoundland road just north of the John Van Sant farm, and leads to Middle Fork. This road to Middle Fork follows a low swampy branch which in turn occupies a rather large valley or pass in which it is out of adjustment. This low gap is of course the former channel of the

240 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

A Deserted Cabin.

There are many of these in Elliott County. What with the passin/r of the once wonderful broad leaf forests, the absence of commercial coal over large areas, and the lack of a railroad to furnish a market for home produce, there is not much to hold the poor native son to the soil.

Open Fork, and was principally cut by that stream when it was tributary to Middle Fork.

The immediate cause of the modification is found in the intersection of two sharp meanders of Open Fork and the united Ruin Creeks at a point just north of Sandy Hook. The intei locking of these two meanders occurred, fortunately for the structural geologist, on the crest of the Sandy Hook anticline. But why the channel of the Ruin Creek should have been lower at that time than that of the Open Fork, with its apparently larger drainage basin, is not easy to explain. Until sufficient time is available to work out the detail of this unique piracy, it may be well to leave it with the suggestion that in this case, as in many another in Eastern Kentucky, a fateful complex of structural and lithologic factors have combined to set aside during the still lapse of late Cenozoic time the original physiographic preference of the stream.

Stratigraphy.

The rocks above drainage involved in the Sandy Hook anticline may be referred to the two great Carboniferous groups, the Mississippian System and the overlying Pennsylvanian System. The Mississippian is barely included, its sole repre-

The Sandy Hook Anticline

tentative being about a one to twenty foot strip about five hundred feet long of the Chester limestone (Big Lime of drillers) which shows on the Little Sandy river just above the ford, on the upthrow side of the Little Sandy fault. It was brought to the surface here by the lowering of the drainage platform of the Little Sandy river operating in conjunction with the deformational forces which raised the strata forming the anticline prior to its faulting. The dip in the Chester limestone at this place is 3 degrees S. 75 E. It is possible that where the bed of the Little Sandy Creek crosses the major axial line of the anticline that the Chester limestone might be exposed* in a very limited outcrop, but at the time that this examination was made the waters of the Little Sandy were insecurely frozen

Snow, ice and high water are certain obstructions in the deep and narrow gorges of Elliott County. Much of the data presented in this report was secured under climatic and physical conditions similar to those here suggested.

and too high to allow an inspection of this detail in the bed of the river's gorge.

*This locality was examined by the writer in April, 1921, and about 100 square feet of limestone was found in the bed and covered by the waters of the Little Sandy River.

242 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

North of the area occupied by the Sandy Hook anticline in the bed and the lower walls of Laurel Creek the Chester limestone is exposed in thicknesses ranging from a trace to 35 feet all the way from the headwaters to within a few rods of its juncture with the Little Sandy river. It is also to be seen in much prominence as one progresses northward and northwestward toward the Rowan and Carter county lines in the gorges of Big and Little Caney, Gimblet and Big Sinking Creeks.

Just above the Chester limestone there occurs in outcrops on tfre head of Laurel Creek and in well logs on the head of Middle Fork a thin shale (20-25 feet) which is quite generally regarded as the uppermost Chester. Where it is pinkish or greenish there is little doubt but that the Chester is the proper classification, but where it is found to be of a drab to slate black color it is without a doubt a replacement sediment and belongs to the overlying Pottsville, the basal division of the Pennsylvanian System. In Elliott county both classifications of this shale occur, but they have never been seen together, either one or the other being absent. Furthermore, it is suspected that

Seaward Bound.

Most of the Pottsville Conglomerate starts on its journey back to the sea as sand grains or white smooth quartz pebbles. Occasionally as in this instance on lower Craney Creek remnant ridge blocks, the size of a house loosened by the frost crash down hundreds of feet into the narrow creek valley below.

The Sandy Hook Anticline

this shale may not show on the northern part of the Sandy Hook anticline, as it is not seen in outcrop at the fault or just to the north in the lower part of Laurel Creek.

Overlying this disputable shale there is found a rather thick series of alternating massive sandstones, shales, and thin coals. The sandstones commonly in their lower occurrences and occasionally in thin lenticular phases higher up, exhibit a very marked conglomeratic characteristic, being made up largely of smooth white rounded to elongate quartz pebbles, varying from the size of a pearl to that of a dove's egg. It is from this lithological facies that this division takes its name, the Pottsville Conglomerate. As measured from the top of the Chester limestone on the fault scarp on the Little Sandy river this formation alone measures 185 feet, the shale being regarded as out of the section. There appears to be very little if any thickness of transitional bed between the Chester limestone and the conglomeratic sandstone at this point. The conglomerate sandstone thins to the northwest, and thickens very rapidly to the southeast, where it is found divided in well logs into several distinct massive sandstone members.

Snowfall, Accentuating Structure.

Detailed field investigations are generally rendered difficult and unpleasant by snow and ice. But great reversals of structure like this north flank of the Sandy Hook Anticline in the gorge of the Little Sandy River are quite as frequently made more conspicuous by the subtle hand of Winter.

244 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Above the conglomeratic or basal phase of the Pottsville there occurs on the Sandy Hook Anticline on the axial crest in the drainage divide between the Little Sandy river and Middle Fork 340 feet of alternating sandstone, shales, and thin coals. Taken together with the conglomerate, this gives a total thickness for the Pottsville on this structure all of which may be seen above drainage of about 525 feet.

Beginning with the thin shale above the Chester limestone which has been discussed above, and extending downward, the following generalized Mississippian sequence is found as interpreted from the logs of the nearest and most accurately recorded wells which are located to the southeast of the Sandy Hook Anticline. Big Lime 150 to 160 feet, Big Injun sands and shales 360 to 370 feet, Wier sand 35 to 40 feet, Sunbury shale 18 to 24 feet, Berea 85 to 100 feet. Blue shale 18-20 feet.

NORTH FLANK OF THE SANDY HOOK ANTICLINE. The view is to the east in the canyon of the Little Sandy River about two and one-half miles north of Sandy Hook. The angle of reversal is not as great here as it Is close to the fault.

Beneath this occurs the following sequence of Devonian rocks. Black Chattanooga shale (sometimes in part brown) 300 to 350 feet, white shale 30 to 60 feet, Onondaga Limestone 25 to 50 feet. Underlying the Onondaga limestone which is the basal member of the Devonian in Kentucky, occur the Silurian and Ordovician sequences of alternating thin and thick limestones, and shaley limestones, the general thicknesses of which are here omitted since they are not regarded as offering any promise of commercial oil production on this structure.

The Sandy Hook Anticline

GENERALIZED GEOLOGICAL SECTION FOR DRILLING ON THE SANDY HOOK ANTICLINE.

Thick-

Age

Strata in Sequence

ness in

Notes

Feet

Pennsylvania System.

Pottsville

Alternating sandstone shale and coals

All above drainage.

Conglomeratic phase including thin shales and sands

Above and below drainage, depending upon structure.

Mississippian System.

Chester- St. Louis

Big Lime

Generally below drainage.

Waverly

Big Injun sandstone and shale

All below drainage.

Sun'bury shale

Blue shale

Devonian System.

Upper and Middle Devonian

Chattanoolga black shale

All below drainage.

Onondaga Limestone

Silurian and Ordovician Systems.

246 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

"Wells drilled on the Sandy Hook Anticline where the drill starts in the top of the Pottsville Conglomerate should pierce the top of the Wier sand at a depth of 750 feet. Wells that are started in the creek bottoms below the top of the Conglomerate will be correspondingly shallower, and it should be pos-

The Little Sandy Fault.

The rives is to the west at the mouth of the Middle Fork canyon near the Hunter farm. The slipping-plane is well shown dipping-steeply to the left or south, Parallel to it and in the face of the Conglomerate may be seen the lines of incipient fracture.

sible to find a few locations along the crest of this anticline where the drilling depths to the Wier sand would not exceed 550 feet. All flank and hillside wells will however be considerably deeper, depending upon distance removed from the crest of the structure and the added height of the topographic elevation.

The average well located at random, however, should not find the drilling depth to the top of the Wier sand greater than 900 feet unless it is located exceptionally high topographically and low structurally. Herewith are appended revised well logs of oil and gas wells drilled slightly to the east and southeast of the Sandy Hook Anticline. It is regrettable that there is such a divergence in the methods and accuracy with which well records are kept in newly developing areas such as Elliott

The Sandy Hook Anticline 247

county. Much has been left out of these logs that would have well served the purpose of further drilling in Elliott county. Acknowledging their inaccuracies, these records are presented, since they represent the best information of its kind concerning the subsurface stratigraphy as it is found by the drilling bit and recognized by the driller himself.

REVISED RECORDS OF WELLS DRILLED FOR OIL AND GAS IN ELLIOTT COUNTY, KY.

Log No. 11.

J. C. Hunter, No. 1, lessor.

Ohio Oil Co,, lessee.

Location: % mile N. W. of Sandy Hook.

Started Match 12, 1921.

Finished.

Production: Oil — not measured.

Cased at 276 — top of lime.

Strata Thickness Depth

Pennsylvanian System.

Soil 15 15

Shale, black 15 260

MiISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM.

Shale, blue 264 600

Shale, sandy, dark blue gray , 140 740

Sand, light, gas smell

Sand, light, hard u

Sand and shale, blue gray-- Sand, darker

Sand, dark

Sand, gray, white, and oil

Sand, gray and dark shale, oil

Oil

Wier

>Sand 12 800

Shale, gray and sand, oil,

iron pyrites in sand -J J 3 806

(Drilling stopped to fish for bailer, Apr. 14, 1921.) Note: This is the log of the first or discovery well drilled on the Sandy Hook Anticline. The location was made by the writer. Though incomplete at this date it has been inserted since it is the most accurate log of any well yet drilled in Elliott county. It proves the petroliferous nature of the Wier Sand, at least, as the Sandy Hook Anticline.

248 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Log No. 1.

Britt Gibson, lessor, No. 1.

Bourbon Oil Co., et al., lessee.

Located on Middle Fork of Little Sandy River, near Roscoe P. O.

Bar. Alt., 690. ft.

Production, five bbls. oil.

Baume gravity, 33.7 degrees.

Pennsylvanian System.

Strata Thickness Depth

Soil 22 22

Blue shale , 14 36

Black shale 12 48

Shale 97 180

Sand 5 185

Shale 75 260

Shale , 48 355

M-Ississippian System

Shale and shells 16 538

Shale colored lime, gritty 47 585

Shale gray to white 250 835

Sand, shaly H 37 872

Blue shale .. 23 1053

Devonian System.

Shale, white 62 1457

Limestone, soft 49 1512

Lime 1 8 1520

Total depth 1520

The Sandy Hook Anticline

m #:

The Britt Gibson Well.

This well located on the head of Middle Fork was drilled in to oil in the Wier and Berea Sands. It would probably have been of commercial importance had it been correctly shot. Oil now stands within 25 feet of the casing head.

Log No. 2.

H. H. Evans, leaser, No. 1.

Ohio Fuel, Oil & Gas Company, lessee.

Sarah District.

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Subsoil 6 6

Shale 4 10

Coal 2 12

Shale . 38 50

250 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Sand full water 10 60

Shale 40 100

Broken sand and shale 50 150

Broken salt sand 150 300

Broken white salt sand .,. 150 450

Shale H 18 468

Maxon sand 10 478

Mississippian System

Little lime 20 498

Shells and shale 194 860

Shells and shale 49 918

Sand 5 923

Shale u 5 1100

Blue shale 20 1200

Devonian System.

Rfown shale, cinnamon brown 100 1300

Blue shale 15 1315

Black shale and cinnamon brown 305 1620

White shale 87 1707

Total depth 1778

Show oil bottom big lime.

Hole full of water 923.

Berea hard and coarse.

White eand 1765-1778.

Thru Corniferous dry.

Log No. 3.

Ferret Dials, No. 1, lessor.

Rice Oil Company, 27 William Street, N. Y. City, lessee.

Locaition — On Newcombe Creek near Isonville.

Casinlg head elevation, 675 feet.

Completed on December 27, 1917.

Production, 1,000,000 cu. ft. gas estimated.

The Sandy Hook Anticline 251

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Soil 25 25

Sand 30 170

Shale, hard 10 180

Sand 20 200

Shale, hard 40 240

MilSSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM

Sand, good 15 405

Lime, white 40 670

Sand, dark (gas, 50,000 at 715 ft.) (Wier) 80 750

Shells and shale, hard , 29 894

Devonian System.

Black shale 276 1170

Shale, light colored 77 1247

Lime, gritty ("Irvine sand") 35 1282

Silurian System.

Total depth 1400

Gas 338-380, 50,000 cu. ft.

Casing record:

3Q ft. 10 in.

Authority: L. Beckner.

Log No. 4.

Prichard No. 1.

Bounbon Oil & Dev. Co.

Well located on head of Newteomfoe Creek.

Casinlg head elevation, 880.

252 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Pennsylvanian System.

Shale and sand 95 95

Coal 5 100

Shale 10 110

Sandstone 65 175

Shale 45 220

Sand 20 240

Shale ,. 5 245

Sand 15 260

Shale 3 263

Sand 7 270

Shale 45 315

Sand, blue at tap, settling 160 475

Dark isand 15 490

Shale 40 630

Mississippian System

Shale— shells 15 890

Sandy white shale 66 956

Shale . 5 985

Total depth 1016

Hole cased down 672 ft. with Sy± in. casing.

15 ft. of 10 in. casing also used.

Pay sand entirely through Wier.

Note: The drillers thought this well finished in the Berea Grit,

but it finished at 1016 above the Berea in the Wier. W. R. J.

Log No. 5.

Fuliton No. 1.

Ohio Cities Gas Co.

Head of Little Pork of Little Sandy River.

Casing head elevation, 784.

Drilled, spring of 1918.

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Soil 10 10

Quticksand - 5 15

The Sandy Hook Anticline 253

Strata Thickness Depth

Coal 1 21

Soft dark shale 11 32

Hard dark shale 13 45

Coal 1 46

Sand and shale 3 138

Coal 2 197

Siand, dark, soft „ 20 265

Sand, light, hard 30 305

Sand, light, soft 21 326

Sand, hard „ 4 330

Sand, light 90 420

Shale, dark and soft 3 423

Sand, light, hard 32 455

Sand, dark, hard 10 465

Sand, dark, hard 9 474

Sand 14 488

M1Ssissippian System

Sand 28 682

Shale, light 30 712

Sand 33 745

Sand and shells 85 830

Lime 15 845

Shale and sand 21 866

Lime 42 908

Sand salt water 12 920

Sand and shale, water 16 936

Shale 7 978

Total depth 1040

16 ft. of wooden conductor. Casing 20 ft. of 10 in. 474 ft. of 8V± in.

Note: This well finished in the Wier sand, although the drillers supposed 'they finished in Berea Grit salt water. — W. R. J.

254 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Log No. 6.

Fulton, No. 2.

Ohio Cities Gas Co.

Head of the Laurel Branch of Little Fork of Sandy River.

Casing head elevation, 848 feet.

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Loose sand 2 2

Sand, light, soft 7 9

Coal 1 10

Sand, light, hard 20 30

Shale, light soft , 8 38

Sand, dark, hard 23 61

Shale, light, soft 9 70

Sand, light, hard 25 95

Coal 1 96

Shale, dark, soft 12 108

Sand, dark, hard 6 114

Shale, dark, soft 26 140

Sand, dark, hard 8 178

Shale and shells 68 268

Sand 32 300

Coal 3 303

Shale, light ., 27 330

Sand, light 125 455

Shale, dark . 11 466

MiISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM

Big Lime 128 594

Sand, light brown, hard 201 795

Shale, light 35 830

Bastard lime 20 850

Shale, light 57 907

Sand - 50 957

Sand, mixed with brown shale 11 968

Sand, hard, Berea? 17 1047

Shale 18 1065

The Sandy Hook Anticline

Strata Thickness Depth DEVONIAN SYSTEM.

Shale, brown „ 100 1325

Shale, white 10 1335

Shale, brown, soft 250 1585

Shale, gray, soft 91 1676

Limestone, "Irvine Sand" 3 1679

Limestone "Sand," brown, hard 9 1688

Total depth 1688

Irvine sand dry, Berea Grit, salt water. Well completed October 9, 1918.

Log No. 7.

Dials, No. 1.

Well drilled on Left Fork of NeWcoimibe Creek, Isonville.

Casing head elevation, 670 feet.

mile above

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Quicksand 25 25

Shale 115 140

Sand 30 170

Shale 10 180

Sand 20 200

Shale 40 240

Mjssissippian System

Sand 15 405

Shale 225 630

Lime 40 670

Shale 20 770

Shale 29 894

Devonian System.

Brown shale 336 1230

White clay 110 1340

Limestone "Irvine sand" u 37 1377

Gritty lime 123 1500

Total depth 1500

256 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

First pay gas. ...1347

Pay gas 1366

Depth of well, 1500 ft.

Casinlg 30 ft. 10 in. 180 ft. 8& in. 560 ft. 6% in.

Well drilled in the spring of 1918.

Log No. 8.

Gillum, No. 1.

Badger Oil Co.

Well drilled 1-5 mile above the forks of Rocky Branch, a branch of Newcomibe Creek, and near Burke P. O.

Casing head elevation, 768 feet.

Strata Thickness, Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Soil 5 5

'Sand 215 220

Shale 7 227

Coal 3 230

Shale 14 244

MJSSISiSIPPIAN SYSTEM

Shale 100 500

Sihale, white 165 665

Shale 5 700

Sand 27 727

Shale 3 730

iSand, small gas 734 Wier 9 739

Shale j sand " 7 746

Sand, white, hard Jcorrel- 5 751

Sand, gray ative 5 756

Shale J 37 feet 11 767

Shale 60 890

Shale and sand 25 915

Devonian System.

Shale, brown 380 1295

Shale, white 47 1342

Limestone "Irvine sand" 50 1392

Total depth 1392

Both Berea and Irvine very hard and dry. 340 ft. 6!/4 in. casing.

The Sandy Hook Anticline 257

Log No. 9.

Solomon Lewis, No. 1. Buck Fork of Middle Fork. Drilled 'by Bourbon Oil Co.

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Soil 3 3

Sandy shale 101 104

Sand 3V2 107

Coal 3% 111

Shale 9 120

Sand (slight showing of oil with water).. 4 124

Blue shale 176 300

Water sand 16 316

Sand , 29 345

White sand 85 430

Mississippian System

ft. in lime, showing of oil in break).. 113 600

Shale 3 728

Sand 29 757

Sand, blue and gray 146 923

Shale, blue 27 950

Sand, dark gray 22 972

Sand (tight) "Pay" j 52 feet 6 1024

Shale, black— Sun'bury 20 1044

depth 1135

Best pay 1044-1058.

Hardens 1058-1064.

Drilled to 1135 ft. No further break

Soft 1120-1135.

Showed better at bottom.

Geo.— 9

258 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Log No. 10.

Ves Peters, No. 1, lessor.

Location — Left Fork of Newcombe Creek, % mile above Isonville.

Partial record.

Strata Thickness Depth PENNSYLVANIAN SYSTEM.

Soil 19 19

Shale 156 175

Sand 125 300

Shale 10 310

Sand 20 330

Shale 38 368

Mississippian System

Shale 207 715

Limestone? 68 783

Sand Wier? 50 833

Casing 10 ft. 10 in. Casing 165 ft. 8*4 in. Casing 543 ft. 6*4 in.

This well is reported to have been drilled through the Devonian limestone.

Structure.

The Sandy Hook Anticline is in its fundamental conception a simple anticlinal fold showing a slight tendency toward doming along its major axial crest in the vicinity of the juncture of Ruin Creoks. and the Little Sandy river slightly southwestward toward the Ridge post office. The anticline is faulted (Little Sandy fault) low on its northern flank along a line more or less parallel with the major axial crest of the structure. Evidence of this fact is readily seen in the angle of dip of the rock strata adjacent to each other on the up-throw (north) and down-throw (south) sides of the plane of displacement. This angle on Middle Fork is 8 degrees in both cases. On the Little Sandy river it is 9 degrees on both sides in the same respective positions.

Acceptance of this contention premises the following structural sequence: (1) Initiation of great crestal pressures

The Sandy Hook Anticline

from the south and southeast probably during the emergence of the Pottsville sediments and later. (2) Lateral compacting of the sediments, development of countless generally east-west minor folds, and the erection of a few great folds of which the Pine Mountain Anticline, the Irvine-Paintsville Anticline, and the Sandy Hook Anticline were the largest, (3) Release of southeast pressures due probably to overthrusting of the Pine Mountain Fault. (4) Consequent normal faulting of the large folds to the north, including the Sandy Hook Anticline.

The Open Fork Reversal.

The beds shown are near the top of the Pottsville Conglomerate and they are dipping-to the northeast at about 6 degrees. Note the icicles extending-into the water.

On the face of the Litt-e Sandy fault on Middle Fork the plane of displacement is inclined to the south at an angle of GO degrees. The amount of displacement here is about 160 feet. On the Little Sandy, the fault plane dip is slightly steeper, being 55 degrees from the vertical. The throw on the Little Sandy river is between 190 and 200 feet, it being impossible to accurately determine the distance as the top of th.3 conglomerate is unexposed on the down-throw side. The dip of the fault plane on Newcombe Creek is S 10 E, and the angle is 50

260 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

degrees from the vertical. The strike of the fault at this point is N 80 E. If this line is followed along its prolongation it will intercept the diked area on Ison and Hamilton Creeks which are northeast flowing tributaries of the Little Fork in the eastern part of the county.

When followed to the westward from the Little Sandy river, the fault which there apparently has nearly an east and west strike bends strongly to the southwest, and may be seen

The Little Sandy Fault.

The view is to the east and is taken on the Little Sandy River just above the mouth of Laurel Creek. The angle of the fault plane 55 degrees to 60 degrees to the south can well be seen in this picture. Topography altered by fault.

as small escarpments and displacements at several points until it finally crosses North Euin Creek about a mile west of Big Stone post office and is lost in the divide between the North and South Ruin Creeks.

The Sandy Hook Anticline is approximately eight miles long when measured on its major axis, and four miles wide when followed across its minor axis. Its highest point of structural elevation is near and just west of the juncture of Little Sandy river and North and South Ruin Creeks where the ton of the conglomerate is 825 feet above sea level. The datum of all elevations in this report is 752 feet above sea level

The Sandy Hook Anticline

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

on the northwest corner of the Elliott county court house yard at Sandy Hook. At the fault on Little Sandy river the top of the Pottsville has bowed down to the north within two miles so that it is covered by the surface of the water which is 600 feet above sea level. The difference of these elevations gives a

The Mountain Mansion.

This four room double porch homestead on the headwaters of Middle Fork is typical of the best in architecture and living-conditions in eastern Kentucky. It can be found as a type slightly modified on every creek of size in this part of the State.

known reversal of at least 225 feet, and this might be slightly increased by very accurate and precise transit levels.

On the northern or reversal flank the dips close to the fault at all points observed are uniformly steep, but these rapidly become less as the structure is ascended until a point is reached approaching the crest. Here the dips again increase slightly until the top is reached. The south dank is much the same as the north, especially near the crest, but farther down the influence of the normal southeast dip begins to show itself and the flank tails off at a much lower angle.

The Sandy Hook Anticline 263

Oil And Gas Possibilities.

The Sandy Hook Anticline is undrilled, and all statements concerning its productive possibilities must be based upon parallel conditions found elsewhere. Such parallel conditions are fortunately easily referred to in the development of the Johnson-Magoffin oil and gas field on the Paint Creek Dome which is located on an air line twenty miles to the south of the crest of the Sandy Hook Anticline.

If the Irvine-Paint Creek fault and the Little Sandy fault be compared, it will be found that they are essentially parallel northeast southwest normal faults, with plane of displacement dipping to the south, the only difference being that the Little Sandy fault with a throw of about 200 feet is greater than the one to the south. If the Rockhouse Anticline in Magoffiii county and the Paintsville Anticline in Johnson county be taken together and compared with the Sandy Hook Anticline, - the structure will again be seen to be very similar, the only differ-

The Sol Lewis Well.

This oil well— a small producer— located on the head of Middle Fork was ruined by the shot and has been practically abandoned.

ence being that the Paint Creeek Dome is crossed by the Irvine- Paint Creek fault high on its northern or reversal flank, while the Sandy Hook Anticline is broken way down on its reversal side near the syncline. This situation gives a possibly pro-

264 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

ductive north flank to the Sandy Hook Anticline south of its fault which the Paint Creek Dome has not been shown to possess just south of its fault.

The Paint Creek structure, however, is greatly compensated for this loss by the southward prolongation of its structural-high along the generally north-south Paint Creek Uplift, giving its present largest productive oil field. This structural characteristic is altogether absent from the Sandy Hook Anticline. It is found, however, farther to the east in Elliott county on and east of Newcombe Creek, as a reference to the map herein included shows.

A comparisaii of the general stratigraphy and possibly productive sands of the Johnson-Magoffin field and this prospective field in Elliott county on the Sandy Hook Anticline shows a very similar sequence. The largest productive sand in Magoffin county is the Wier of the lower Mississippian System. The Berea is also a producer, though smaller and somewhat deeper. In Elliott county both of these sands are found in similar or greater thicknesses and are productive.

The nearest Wier sand producing oil well to the Sandy Hook Anticline is the Britt Gibson No. 1, located four miles southeast of Sandy Hook post office on the head of Middle Fork, near Roscoe. This well was drilled into production in 1919 by the Bourbon Oil Co., et al., and it is claimed was spoiled through improper methods of shooting and casing. However this may be, and although the well has since been allowed to stand open and school children have nearly filled it with all kinds of rubbish, the writer by some little effort was able on December 12, 1920, to take from it a sample of green oil which was then within fifty feet of the top of the casing. An analysis of this oil is herewith appended, as is an analysis of a sample taken on December 13 from the Gail Peters No. 1, located on the Left Fork of Newcombe Creek.

This Peters well which was then flowing naturally under a very small head of gas with the pump jack up, is reported to have pumped and flowed thirty barrels within part of a day. Siince it, however, has never been given a full ten day test, to the writer's knowledge, it is impossible to say exactly what its production will settle to, but it is estimated at from ten to

The Sandy Hook Anticline

The Gail Peters No. 1.

This well is probably the best oiler now drilled in Elliott County. Though rigged with a pump-jack, if let open, it will flow natural with a slight gas head.

fifteen barrels. The No. 2 well on the Peters lease is about the same, or possibly not quite so large. Both of these wells and a number of other oil and gas wells on Newcombe Creek are located on the west side of the Newcombe Creek Anticline. The Britt Gibson well is located on the east side of the small Middle Fork Anticline or Dome. Neither of these named structures are as large as the Sandy Hook Anticline, yet they produce oil and gas from both the Wier and Berea, and in commercial quantities. The lithologic nature of ithe Wier and Berea oil sands on the Sandy Hook Anticline remains to be learned as a result of the first prospecting. If the Wier sand is fairly thick — upwards of sixty feet — and soft or loose commercial oil in fair sized wells may be reasonably expected. If the sand is hard and tight less favorable results will probably be realized. The same applies to the Berea sand.

266 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

PETROLEUM ANALYSES. Analysis No. 1.

Laboratory No. G-4037. — Petroleum, labeled "Crude oil from the Britt Gibson No. 1, WieMBerea. Located near Roscoe P. O., on Middle Fork, Little Sandy River, Ellioft County, Ky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, December 11, 1920." Received from W. R. Jillson December 17, 1920 Sample, rather thick, dark brown oil.

Specific gravity 0.855, equivalent to 33.7° B.

DistilMe below 150° C. (302° F.) 15.0% (Gasoline fraction)

Distillate 150 to 300° C. (302-572° F.).. 34.0% (Burning oil fraction) Thick, brown tar 51.0%

Total 100.0%

Began to distill at 46° C. (115° F.) Sulphur 0.20 per cent. Analysis by A. M. Peter, Chief Chemist. Jan. 21, 1921.

Analysis No. 2.

Laboratory No. G-4038.— Petroleum, labeled "Crude oil from the Gail Peters No. 1, Wier-Berea. Located south of Isonville P. O., on Newcombe Creek, Elliott Counjty, Ky. Collected by W. R. Jillson, 12-12-20." Received from W. R. Jillson, December 17, 1920. Sample, a rather thick, dark brown oil.

Specific gravity 0.8555, equivalent to 33.6° B.

Distillate below 150° C. (302° F.) 15.4% (Gasoline fraction)

Distillate 150 to 300° C. (302-572° F.).. 31.2% (Burning oil fraction) Thick, brown tar 53.4%

Total 100.0%

Analysis by A. M. Peter, Chief Chemist. Jan. 21, 1921.

Summary Considerations.

(1) The Sandy Hook Anticline as outlined by twentyfive foot contours on the accompanying map is an established fact. (2) It is the largest well known and untested structure in Eastern Kentucky. Drilling depths at from 600 to 850 feet will be from 200 to 500 feet shallower than any other field located on a similar structure in this part of the state. (4)

The Sandy Hook Anticline 267

Commercial oil and gas production is found in the Wier and Berea sands within four and five miles of this structure. (5) The Cumberland Pipeline at the Martha terminal is within twelve miles in an air line from Sandy Hook post office. (6) The Wier and the Berea oil sands as known in Johnson, Magoffin, Lawrence and Elliott counties are true silica sands, thick and long-lived. (7) Fairly good ridge roads are to be

The Gail Peters Lease.

At the present time this farm on the left fork of Newcombe Creek is the best oil producing lease in Elliott County. Topography of the Lower Pottsville.

found in the vicinity of Sandy Hook, adequate in dry weather for hauling heavy portable rigs and casing. (8) Sandy Hook is reached by mail-hack or horseback from either Morehead or Olive Hill, the distance being about 25 miles. The nearest railroad connection is Wrigley in Morgan county on the North Fork Kailroad, which makes connections with the Chesapeake and Ohio Kailroad at Morehead. The distance from Wrigley to Sandy Hook is ten miles, and may be made either by mailhack or horseback.

Annotated Bibliography.

The literature pertaining to the oil and gas geology of Elliott county is fragmentary and scattered. The principal

268 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

examinations have been made by the Kentucky Geological Survey. Reports and maps covering sporadic work have been published and are here listed chronologically. So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, there is not to be found anywhere in this body of literature any certain or specific reference to those structural features of Elliott county here presented and described as the Sandy Hook Anticline and the Little Sandy Fault. Excepting a small area of about ten square miles near Stephens Post office on the Little Fork, which is included in the Kenova quadrangle, Elliott county is unmapped topographically. No portion of this small topographically mapped area touches the Sandy Hook anticline.

Lesley, Joseph P., Jr.

Topolgraphical and Geological Report of the Western Margin of

the Eastern Coal Field. Ky. Geol. Survey, Series I, Vol. IV, 1861,

pp. 457-463.

Descriptive of head waters of Little Sandy, Laurel, Gimblet, etc., then Carter County, now Elliott County.

Moore, P. N.

Report on the Iron Ores of Greenup, Boyd, and Carter Counties.

Ky. Geol. Survey, Series II, Vol. I, pp. 1-78.

References to northeastern Elliott County, now Carter County.

Crandall, A. R.

Report on the Geology of Greenup, Carter and Boyd Counties, and a part of Lawrence County. Ky. Geol. Survey, Series II, Vol. II, pp. 1-77. 31 full page sectional plates, 1 diagram. References to northeastern Elliott County on the Little Sandy

River, then Carter County. Gives geologic sections.

Diller, J. S.

Notes on the Peridotite of Elliott County, Kentucky. 6 pp. Reprint from Am. Jour. So., Aug., 1886, published again with the report on the Geology of Elliott County by A. R. Crandall. Location of peridotite dikes. Petrographic classification of peridotites

and description. Two hypotheses of occurrences advanced.

9 analyses of peridotites and other nearly rocks presented. (C. f.

The Sandy Hook Anticline

Diller, J. S.

The Genesis of the Diamond. 3 pp. Reprinted for "Science,"

Oct. 29, 1886.

Chiefly remarks concerning the theory advanced by Prof. Carrill Lewis that diamonds occur along lines of contact metamorphism as in the case of the Elliott County, Kentucky, dikes. The idea is scouted, but it is suggested that it might be worth while to make careful examination where the geologic conditions warrant it. (C. f. Louisville Pub. Lib.)

Crandall, A. R.

Report on the Geology of Elliott County. Stereotyped for the Survey by John D. Wood, Public Printer and Binder. 16 pp. 3 full page sections, 4 illus. 2 geological maps. A, small, scale 4 miles equals 1 in. Colored of Johnson, Lawrence, Boyd, Elliott, Carter and part of Morgan Counties showing conglomerate-uplift (Paint Creek Uplift) and Ellidtt County dikes. B, large, of Elliott County, scale 2 miles equals 1 inch. Geographic location, general geology, topography, drainage of

the Little Sandy River tributary to the Ohio. Forests, hard and

soft wood broadleafs. Discusses occurrence of the peridotite dikes

and association with old abandoned furnace.) Coals and iron ores

located, discussed, and measured generally.

No reference to the Sandy Hook Anticline or the Little Sandy

Fault or the oil and gas producing possibilities of Elliott County.

Crandall, A. R.

Notes on the Elliott County Dikes, Eastern Kentucky. 3 pp., published with the report on Geology of Elliott County by same author. Location of the trap dike in Elliott County on Critche's Creek

of the Little Fork of the Little Sandy River. Extent, general geology

of occurrence and possible structural relations are advanced. (C. f.

Phalen, William Clifton.

Economic Geology of the Kenova Quadrangle. (Kentucky, Ohio and West Va.) U. S. G. S. Bull. 349. (Book and folio form with topographic, structural, areal, and economic geologic maps, scale 1-125,000.)

270 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

An exceptionally good discussion of the general and economic geology of the area just to the east of Elliott County and including about ten square miles of Elliott County on the waters of Little Fork near Stephens postoffice.

Jillson, W. R.

The Oil and Gas Resources of Kentucky. 650 pp., 100 illustrations. Dept. of Geol. and Forestry of Kentucky, Series V, Vol. I., also second edition, 1920. Reference as follows: Elliott county. Natural gas in 42; Waverly

Sands 83, described oil and gas and structure 131, well logs 261, 262.

Separate structural map of Newcombe Creek Anticline included in

separate packet accompanying.

Miller, A. M.

The Geology of Kentucky. 392 pp., 114 illustrations. Dept. of

Geol. and Forestry of Kentucky, Series V, Bull. II.

Reference as follows: Elliott County, peridotite dikes, 6, 233,

244, 245; diamond structure, 244; coal, 259, 267; minerals, 343, 348,

350, 351. Reference is made to the Newcombe Creek Anticline, pp.

Jillson, W. R.

Contributions to Kentucky Geoloigy. 280 pp. Sixty-five illustrations. Dept. of Geol. and Forestry of Kentucky, Series V, Vol. IV. Reference as follows: Elliott County Gas Fields, 31; well logs,

Manuscript completed Feb. 1, 1921.

The Campbellsville Anticline In Taylor

County.

The occurrence of relatively large amounts of gas within a somewhat restricted area in western Taylor county, Ky., has for several years suggested the possibility of the occurrence in that vicinity of a definite structural fold of such size as to warrant careful investigation. The paucity of definite geologic information of an oil and gas character with respect to this area made necessary a careful reconnoissance of the section which was carried on by the writer personally, October 31, November 1 and 2, 1920. Stratigraphic observations were made at Merrimac, a point several miles east of Campbellsville,

Larue

Green And Taylor Counties.

Sketch map showing geography of Green and Taylor and adjoiningcounties. The Campbellsville Anticline lies just east of the Green-Taylor line.

to determine the nature of the Devonian limestone and the underlying Ordovician limestone. These studies were necessary to throw light on the lithology and contact conditions as ex-

272 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

isting between the Chattanooga black (Devonian) shale and the Hamilton or Onondaga (Devonian) limestone. Aid in the more accurate breaking up of the well logs of the Campbellsville area was also secured through this observation of outcrop In carrying out the field investigation a rectangular area of about eighty sqr.are miles was covered. This block extends to the north as far as Maxton, west as far as Highland school house (thereby overlapping the Green county line from one to two miles), and south as far as the Miller farm near Atchley Mill. The eastern limit is Campbellsville. The work was almost entirely of a subsurface nature, elevations being established by use of duplicate and checked aneroid barometers. This survey is tied into a datum of 804.1 feet above sea level as given by the Engineering Department of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in their profile for elevation of the tracks over bridge No. 13 adjacent to the Campbellsville station. The result of plotting of the sub-surface elevations of the base of the Chattanooga black shale (Devonian) was the outlining of a distinct fold located in central western Taylor county. The major axis of this fold runs slightly east of north and lies about five miles west of Campbellsville.

Location And Stratigraphy.

Taylor county is located in the central part of Kentucky. It is bounded on the north by Larue and Marion counties, on the east by Casey county, on the south by Adair county and on the west by Green county. Its county seat is Campbellsville, a town of 3,000 people, served by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The principal drainage of Taylor county is that of the Green river which crosses the southern nipple of the county. Robinson Creek in the east and the three forks of Pitman Creek in the west are the chief lines of tributary drainage. Taylor county has very few good roads, the best being miserably kept toll roads, and the worst tortuous dirt county or farm roads which in wet weather are almost impassable.

The rocks exposed at the surface on the Campbellsville anticline are the limestones and cherty limestones and calcar-

The Campbellsv1Lle Anticline

eous shales of the Warsaw and Fort Payne formations, basal divisions of the Mississippian System. At a very few places, principally in the vicinity of the Hall and Campbell wells, the remnants of the St. Louis limestone are found capping the Lower Mississippian rocks. At these points drilling would naturally be a little deeper than at other points, structure be-

The J. H. Hill Gasser.

This well is located about a mile southwest of Saloma post office. It is one of the large gas reserves of Taylor County for it has never been connected to the line.

ing discounted. The thickness of the exposed and unexposed Mississippian strata varies from 290 to 365 feet.

Underlying the Mississippian series is the Chattanooga black shale (Devonian) and the Hamilton or Onondaga limestone, both belonging to the Devonian System. The latter is the "cap rock" of drillers, and ranges between 3 and 4 feet in thickness. Directly underlying this occurs the uppermost Ordovician strata composed of greenish to pink shales and limey shales, and intercalated limestones which vary from thin to massive. The Ordovician sediments in the Campbellsville- West area are at least 2500 feet thick and probably over 3000,

274 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

their actual thickness being impossible to determine because of the lack of deep wells in this immediate vicinity. A deep dry test was drilled on the Leonard farm between Mansville and Merrimac to a depth of 2800 feet it is reported in 1917. Located in the north-eastern part of the county where the Mississippian cover is thin, this deep well should have finished close to the bottom of the Ordovician, if indeed it did not enter the Cambrian. The record of this interesting well has not been available for study and plotting of the sedimentary sequence.

It will be noted that in this stratigraphic enumeration the Silurian has been omitted. A line joining its eastern-most points of thinning and disappearance in Marion county to the north, and Allen county to the southwest, would pass considerably to the west of the area examined. Furthermore, the Silurian as such cannot be definitely recognized in the well logs as they are given by tlje driller. But it is still possible that it does extend as far east as a portion of this area, though it is not probable, nor material if it does.

Structural Geology.

The normal dip of the rock strata in the vicinity of Campbellsville is about south 80 degrees west, or nearly due west. Any considerable changes from this normal dip would probably if projected far enough produce either a terrace, or an anticlinal fold. Certain changes of dip, with pronounced reversals, might produce that special kind of anticline known as a dome. Criteria establishing changes in the subsurface dip at various points, therefore, became a principal object of the investigation.

In working this area, all the available records of wells in the vicinity of the large gas area were secured. Following this, barometric elevations were placed on the casing head of each well using the above referred to datum of 804.1 feet above sea level. Deductions were made for all thicknesses above the base of the Chattanooga black shale (Devonian). The model structure produced is thereby pictured on the top of the underlying Devonian limestone or "cap rock," and the concep-

The Campbellsville Anticline

KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SERIES zr

Sketch Nap Of The

Campbellsville Gas Field Taylor County, Ky

BY W.ff. J1LLSQN, STATE GEOLOGIST.

N

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

tion is as if all of the rocks above this strata were removed and no drainage lines were established on the area involved at all. The actual result of these investigations and detailed work is the definite recognition of a pronounced anticlinal fold with major axis running about north 80 east and situated about five miles west of Campbellsville. A reversal dip to the east of at least 17 feet is worked out and established. More extensive data extending farther to the east, could it be secured, might easily increase this reversal. This very desirable data will not be obtainable until a few wells are drilled a mile or so west of Campbellsville.

One Source Of Campbellsville Fuel.

The view shows the J. R. Bailey No. 1, gasser, tubed and closed into the Campbellsville gas line. This well is reported to have an open flow of 2,500,000 cubic feet daily. It is located slightly southeast of the Wayne well and about five miles west of Campbellsville, Taylor County.

The Camjpbeduswlle Anticline 277

The Campbellsville anticline in its presently revealed form (which may be somewhat modified by further data resultant from additional drilling) is in its high points a north and south series of three domes. One of these domes lies in the vicinity and just south of Saloma, another near Sulphur Well, and a third is located to the south, near Green river. This last or southern dome cannot be thoroughly substantiated at present due to the insufficiency of the data secured on the White and Buchanan wells. However, there is much indirect evidence that leads to this summary conclusion.

The closure to the north on the northernmost dome near Saloma is probably small as noted by surface dips, insufficient drilling making a more accurate determination impossible. The change to the normal southwest dip is observable in proceeding north before the Marion county line is reached. On the middle and probably most perfect dome there is a rapid fall to the west of at least 100 feet in the three miles from the Bailey to the Turner well. In passing it may be well to note that one of these domes, possibly the middle one, may represent a cross fold with a southwestward prolongation of Linney's Kentucky Anticlinal which starts in Madison and Garrard counties as parallel nearly east and west faults and extends southwestward through Lincoln and Casey into Taylor as an unbroken fold.

Records Of Drilled Wells.

Up to the present time about twenty oil and gas wells have been drilled in Taylor county, and about fifty in Green county. Of this number about twenty have been drilled within the area under consideration, including a few wells drilled just to the west of the Green-Taylor line in Green county. Tabulated data on most of the wells located within the area being considered are given herewith.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

6

-M ft 10 O 10 O

l>- O CO CO O O O

CO CO LO IO O O O Tf Tt LO IO CO OO CM

f n

ep oduc

O5 Co O O

Co Co Co

IO IO IO IO C- rH

Co

Io

CO CO CM Ttl t-

Ft.

P O

P Ph

O H

o o o o o o o

O O O O O O

of o" o" o o" o" o"

P cq" n" r-T P

Q Cq

p p p p

5 a a

CO T-l CJ

as £ .a a 5 g

I *'S I 3 I

Co

Oop

o o o

Co

II w. 2 2 2 .§

Cd Cd Cd

O O O

co co

Hs Hj

H Eh*

f£*

a o

a

The Campbellsville Anticline

A

"S

o

U5 Os

Ia

o

Ci

Os Os

Co

H

Q

CO Csl

Co

a

Cm

g

d

O

—

Os

-M

LO Tf

Os

iM

O

Cl

o

Co

"ft

Q

p

T— 1

M oq

eo

Os

o

§

p 1

o3

'o

Lo

Bp

rj-J

"eS

K

d

rt

O

T3 a; o

w

—

a3

Ob

ti

O

j

S

O

o

Co

rt

a

d

Jd

o"

Co

o" o" o"

CO r-T r-f

0

o

§

o"

&

O

%

o

'3

a

o

0

a

rH

S

H

P O

Location

S. Whitewooc

W. Bluffboor

N

J-. O

Oq

C/3

w

o

"a;

of individual

S5

W

a

S

Th

rH rH rH

- Co

o

J2

S

O

0 O 0

0 Q 0

J

o

a

ft o

S

Cq Eq 03

O

o

O O O

o

tn

aT

'3

M

'

'O

oj

o

Sn

S

o

Ph

P4 tf PH

j?

fl

c a o

%

o

Lt

bfl

f_,

O

o o o

Co

ea

?

O

o"

,

rH

p

Pi

-M

s

iH rH

Co

g

Buchanai aney Penick ..

a

f.

!

r

a E

p

o;

o

"S

g

u

& be

£

.

a

J,

Co

tf ° °

a

W is

+ U.

' t

' H

280 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

LOGS OF OIL AND GAS WELLS DRILLED ON AND ADJACENT TO THE CAMPBELLSVILLE ANTICLINE IN TAYLOR

COUNTY, KY. Log No. 1.

J. W. Wayne, No. 1.

mile N. W. of Sulphur Well P. O.

Strata Thickness Depth MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM

Soil .. 5 5

Lime gray 15 20

Blue shale 7 27

Lime gray 113 140

Flint rock 15 155

Gray lime 46 201

Blue shale 7 297

Devonian System.

Black shale 50 347

Lime hard 1 370

Total depth 370

Reported production, 2l/z mil. cu. ft. gas.

Casing head 790 ft. A. T.

Base of black shale 443 ft. A. T.

Log No. 2.

J. H. Hill, No. 1.

One mile S. W. of Saloma P. O.

Mississippian System

Soil 10 10

Brown lime and shale 173 185

Lime and green shale 15 200

Lime and brown s'hale v 100 300

Green shale 30 339

Devonian System

Black shale 70 400

Whiite lime 10 410

The Campbellsville Anticline 281

Strata Thickness Depth

Brown lime 50 470

Green shale 15 485

Lime and shale 15 500

White lime 20 520

White lime 5 540

Total depth 540

Reported production, 2 million cu. ft. gas.

Tests: 1/26 gal. gas to 1000 ft.

Casing head 864 ft. A. T.

Log No. 3.

Annie Campbell, No. 1.

2 miles S. W. of Saloma P. O.

Mississippian System

Soil 7 7

Brown lime 11 18

Lime and shale 52 70

White lime 5 85

Gray lime 55 140

Brown lime and flint 107 247

Brown lime 285 532

Lime and shale 25 585

Red fire clay 35 620

Red fire clay , 65 685

White lime 25 710

Sandy lime 15 745

Brown lime 30 775

Total depth 775

Reported production, 500,000 cu. ft. gas.

Casing head 904 ft. A. T.

Log No. 4.

C. M. Hill, No. 3.

% mile S. W. Saloma P. O.

282 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Mississippian System

Soil 20 20

Brown lime and sand 180 200

Brown lime and shale 45 245

White isoapstone 25 270

Green shale 80 350

Devonian System

Black shale 52 402

Brown lime 5 407

Brown lime and flint 16 430

Total depth 430

Reported production, dry Casing head 884 ft. A. T. Base of 'black shale 482 ft. A. T.

Log No. 5.

W. L. Hall, No. 4.

1 mile N E. of Saloma P. O.

Mississippian System.

Soil 20 20

Black lime and shale 50 70

White lime and flint 10 80

Brown lime and flint 5 85

Lime and flint 20 105

Gray lime 5 110

Lime and shale 20 130

Gray sand 5 135

Black shale 15 150

Gray lime 5 155

Black lime and shale 20 175

Gray and white lime 25 200

Gray lime 25 225

Brown lime and shale ... 100 365

Devonian System.

Black shale 10 375

Black shale 35 410

Gray lime .. 8 418

The Campbellsville Anticline

Strata Thickness Depth

Sand (neither oil nor 'gas) 12 430

Brown and gray lime 7 437

Total depth 437

Reported production, dry.

Casing head 954 ft. A. T.

Log No 6.

J. R. Bailey, No. 1.

Just south of Sulphur Well P. O.

Mississippian System.

Soil 3 3

Lime, gray 140 143

Blue shale 2 145

Lime, white 2 147

Gray lime 84 231

Devonian System.

Black shale 52 343

Blue and pink shale 55 431

Lime, gray 2 433

Shaly sand 5 442

Total depth 442

Reported production, 2% mil. cu. ft. gas.

Casing head 790 ft. A. T.

Base of black shale 447 ft. A. T.

Log No. 7.

W. A. Russell, No. 1.

% mile S. E. of Sulphur Well P. O.

Mississippian System.

Blue shale 5 170

Lime 40 210

Gray shale .. 10 220

284 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Strata Thickness Depth

Devonian System.

Black shale 40 260

Lime, soft , 10 270

Pay gas 30 300

Blue and red shale 50 350

Brown sand 44 394

Total depth r..., 394

Reported production, 500,000 cu. It. gas.

Casinlg head 690 flt. A. T.

Base of black shale 430 ft: A. T.

Log No. 8. i ,

Record of J. W. Cloyd, No. 1. , (

Location, 2% miles S. W. of Began drilling September 1, 1920.

Mississippian System.

Sandy clay 3 3

Hard brown lime 100 103

Gray lime 25 128

Soft brown lime 132 260

Devonian System.

Black shale 32 322

Brown shale, dark 11 333

White lime 2% 336

Ordovioian System.

Soft blue shale 27% 363%

Brown lime 33% 405

Pale yellow sand 10 415

White lime 3 418

Broken lime ,. 22 440

Brown lime 57 497

Total depth 497

Reported production, salt water.

F. L. Parrott, Contractor.

Walter Hobson, Finn Lftrell, Drillers.

The Campbellsville Anticline

Oil And Gas Summary.

Of these twenty wells about ten, or half, are of commercial importance as gassers, varying in size according to report from 100,000 cubic feet to 2,500,000 cubic feet per day open flow when first drilled in. "While the volume of many of these wells is large, the rock pressure of all of them as reported is uniformly low, ranging between 38 to 40 pounds, and with an average of about 39 pounds. In all this drilling, there. is not a single commercial oil well, and none of these wells according to reports gave any indication of being drilled in close proximity to oil territory.

A High Structure Gasser.

The J. W. Wayne No. 1, gasser, producing- a reported 2,500,000 cubic feet daily open flow when flush, was drilled close to the crest of the Campbellsville Anticline. It is connected to the city's main gas pipe line.

286 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The situation is therefore somewhat peculiar. The writer does not find any reasonable explanation for this large amount of gas and apparent absence of oil, unless it be due to the fact that there is an insufficient amount of water. A lack of water in the "pay sand" (really a limestone) would of course make it impossible for the oil to occupy a subjacent position to the gas of either medium or large volume. And the lack of water generally to fill the syncline, especially on the down-dip side, seems to be established somewhat by the very low rock pressure of this field. It is difficult to conceive or to name a gas field with normal or ideal water conditions existing where a rock pressure of from four to ten times that of this field would not be found in practically any well.

If this theory of insufficient water were to be accepted, it would only be reasonable to expect that some oil would be encountered on the up-dip or east side of the structure, yet the few wells which have been drilled in here, although they do not completely test out this prospective section, give no promise of an area of oil accumulation. Further prospecting of the area between Campbellsville and the gassy or high structural area to the west is therefore recommended. It is quite possible that this region which is undrilled may hold the key to the successful oil development of this anticline and Taylor county.

Paint Creek— Pirate.

Modifications of the drainage lines of many of the minor streams in the hill or "Mountain" section of Eastern Kentucky are not uncommon. The careful observer riding up and down the creeks of this portion of the State will not fail to note, and find much interest in, the occasional "low pass" or "wind gap" left here and there in the uniformly steep ridges like a great topographic blaze to mark the former pathway of a watercourse. Yet in a section of such intricate dendritic drainage as that of the eastern part of this State, it must not be assumed that the simple occurrence of the essential low pass or "wind gap" is in itself sufficient criteria to establish stream piracy. Quite the contrary is the actual case. Coupled with -the lowered divide there are many other hydrogeological factors that necessarily enter into each specific case and operate to completely substantiate and prove the actual occurrence of the modification. Where such factors are lacking or fail to nicely adjust themselves to reasonable explanation, the hypothesis of diversion is, of course, untenable.

While engaged in various geological field excursions into Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin and Morgan counties in Eastern Kentucky during the past few years, the writer has become much interested in unraveling the factors involved in several very evident instances of stream piracy.* The individual problems thus encountered have not, however, always lent themselves to simple solution. In some cases there have been overlapping piracies. In the one presently to be described on the headwaters of Paint Creek, in Johnson, Morgan and Magoifin counties, complex structural influences as well as double capture have operated hand in hand with a varying lithology to quite effectually mask for a time the orderly sequence and evaluation of the causal factors.

"Jillson, W. R., Migration of the Headwaters Divide of Rijrht Middle Creek, Floyd County, Kentucky. Pub. in Contributions to Kentucky Geolosy, Dept. of Geol. & Forestry of Ky., Series V, Bull. IV, pp. 65-70. 1920. Also Am. Jour. Sc., Vol. XLVII, pp. 60-64, Jan., 1919.

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

The direction of flow of the principal drainage of the Cumberland plateau of eastern Kentucky is to the north or northwest. This is true of the Big Sandy, the Licking, and the Kentucky rivers and their main tributaries. The gradually increasing elevation of this plateau region from the Ohio river debouchures of these streams to their headwaters in the Cumberland Mountains to the southeast indicates clearly that this north or northwest direction of flow may be satisfactorily explained by the great crustal uplifting of this broad region in post Paleozoic times.

Speculative conceptions of the geologic periods of broad regional emergence and peneplaination of this plateau area, however, may be disregarded in this discussion, because of the relatively small unit of drainage of the Big Sandy and the Licking river under consideration. It will be well to understand, nevertheless, that the latest faulting and folding of this part of Kentucky, now mappable on Pottsville Coals and the top of the Pottsville Conglomerate, has certainly had its modifying effect on the drainage courses major and minor. Instances of extensive meanderings are plainly visible in this region

Paint Creek Gorge On Big Paint Creek.

The view is near Manila post office, Johnson County, and shows the Irvine-Paint Creek fault in the distance. The cliffs exposed in the foreground are on the upthrow side.

Geo.— 10

290 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

on the up or impounded sides of practically all large and small streams crossed transversely by large anticlines of faults.

On the Johnson-Morgan county line in eastern Kentucky there occurs in the gorge-cut main channel of Big Paint Creek at its juncture with Little Paint Creek a very unusual drainage figure for a section that is typically dendritic. The Open Fork of Big Creek flowing down from the northwest, meets Little Paint Creek owing to the northwest. The Open Fork is about ten miles long in an air line, and Little Paint Creek is about fourteen miles long i nthe same measurement. The creeks unite, and turning slightly to the east from the mouth of Little Paint Creek continue on to the southeast as Big Paint Creek, which joins the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy river just east of Paintsville. The angle of juncture of Little Paint Creek with Big Paint Creek is 35° against the current of the larger stream, and is therefore contrary to normal dendritic drainage.

A glance at the outline map accompanying this paper will serve to throw light on the correct placements of these several streams. A detailed examination of the Paintsville (1-62,500) and Salyersville (1-125,000) Kentucky U. S. G. S. topographic sheets from which this map was produced will serve to further clarify the exact situation. It will be noted that the drainage basins of Little Paint Creek and the Open Fork when taken together are in reality a unit and easily conceivable to have been in not too remote geologic time an integral part of the drainage of the Elk Fork of the Licking river. Paint Creek is seen to have been at that time a rather short wedge-shaped minor drainage basin naturally resultant to the very sharp turn to the northeast of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy river near the Paint Creek debouchure.

Data obtained in the field and from a study of the maps of the region operating to substantiate these summary conclusions of drainage modifications in the channel of Big and Little Paint Creeks, the Open Fork of Paint Creek, and the Elk Fork of the Licking river, are as follows:

(1) Little Paint Creek empties into Big Paint Creek at an angle of 35° against the current of the major stream in a section of typically dendritic drainage, thus establishing an abnormal condition.

Paint Creek—Pirate 291

(2) The small branches tributary to Big Paint Creek attain their most minute and right angled figure between the Elna and Fuget post offices, Johnson county, where they are scarcely over a mile long. The evident constriction of the Big Paint drainage basin in this locality indicates that the headwaters of Big Paint Creek formerly existed alcmg some irregular line within this area.

(3) The present occurrence of a "near piracy" in the low pass to be found in Low Gap Branch from Big Paint Creek to Little Paint Creek is a striking suggestion of the method of operation of this drainage modification. It is also an instance of how close the Low Gap Branch head-ward erosion came to Creek. The importance of this confirmatory evidence is greatly being the factor of real capture and later the bed of Big Paint intensified by the field examination.

(4) .Low water at the mouth of Elk Fork and the Licking River in Morgan County is about 790 feet above tide. Low water at the mouth of Big Paint Creek and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River in Johnson County is about 590 feet. This gives a difference of elevation of 200 feet between the mouths of these two minor competing streams. It is altogether reasonable that this present difference of drainage levels has been rather consistently maintained through the life history of these streams, since the Licking river at the mouth of the Elk Fork is approaching its headwaters, while the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy river is more than half way down its course at the mouth of Big Paint Creek. This 200 feet of difference of drainage in the two minor streams has during the most recent period of erosion given the principal stimulus to the headward cutting of the headwaters of Big Paint Creek.

(5) At the head of the Open Fork of Big Paint Creek occurs a low gap or pass over into Fannin's Fork of Elk Fork. This gap with an elevation of 950 feet above tide is the lowest in the whole country side. The ridge elevations in this vicinity are from 1200 to 1300 feet, while the actual drainage a quarter of a mile from the gap on either creek is about 880 feet above tide. Erosive agents are now rapidly at work on the Open Fork (Big Sandy drainage) from the gap to the lower reaches of Big Paint Creek. The hills of the Open Fork are high, and the valley narrow with very little bottom. On the Fannin Fork

Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

Sylvan Solitude.

There are many quiet and secluded reaches in the gorge of Big- Paint Creek where fine fishing-holes may be found, or good squirrel hunting enjoyed. Pirate though she is. Paint Creek, especially in her upper reaches, is one of the most enjoyable companions for the nature lover who may be blessed with "a day off!"

Paint Creek— Pirate 293

side (Licking drainage) the erosion is much slower, the stream small as compared to its valley, which is broad and flat, giving every indication of lack of present adjustment. The drainage of the Open Fork is evidently reversed since practically all of the branches come into the main channel at an acute angle against the current. The Open Fork-Fannin Fork gap is without doubt the point of present modification, and indicates again the usual method of migration of the drainage divide in this part of the Cumberland Plateau.

(6) The drainage courses of Little Paint, the Open Fork, and Big Paint Creek all show evidences of more or less modification and adjustment to the structure as mapped on the Pottsville. The Little Paint Creek or headwaters portion of the Old Elk Fork lies on the east side of the major axis of the Paint Creek uplift. The Open Fork or middle segment of the Old Elk Fork lies on the west of the same structural high. Big Paint Creek, north of the Irvine-Paint Creek Fault, lies in a pronounced syncline between the Paint Creek and Laurel Creek domes of the principal uplift. The result of the folding and faulting of the Pottsville sediments of the Paint Creek uplift was: (1) to arrest with the Paint Creek dome the erosion on the headwaters of Little Paint Creek; (2) to stop erosion near the Little Paint-Open Fork juncture on both creeks due to its developing synclinal position; (3) and at the same time due to the general regional uplift and its fortunate synclinal channel to assist Big Paint Creek in its headward erosion and ultimate piracy of the waters of Little Paint Creek and a portion of Open Fork just west of Elna. The completion of the Open Fork capture from this point on was simply a matter of sufficient time for headwaters migration to the present position of the Fannin Gap.

(7) The present headwaters of Little Paint Creek is the Green Rock Fork just north of Riceville in southern Johnson county. There is much unquestionable evidence to be found in the Riceville section, however, indicating that Long's Creek and the Narrows, now tributaries of Jenny Creek (left fork Paint Creek), were in the recent past the actual heads of the Elk Fork-Little Paint Creek tributary of the Licking river. There is evidence here of the rather unusual instance of a

294 Economic Papers On Kentucky Geology

double capture effected by competing forks of Big Paint Creek, on an adjoining tributary, Little Paint Creek, then the Old Elk Fork of the Licking river.

(8) In the further and recent capture by the Narrows Fork (Jenny Creek) of the small Pound Branch just west of the Johnson-Magoffin county line there is instanced without doubt a case of quadruple piracy, that is, one in which four separate stream captures are involved. This is indeed a very rare occurrence, and the first that has come to the writer's attention. To fully appreciate the situation one must understand the drainage history of the Burning Fork of the Licking River and Middle Creek, a Big Sandy river tributary. It has been shown* that the Ivyton drainage of Middle Creek was captured from the Burning Fork. This Ivytoin drainage at that time included the Pound Branch, as all field criteria indicate. The Middle Creek capture was the first, the diversion of the Riceville drainage to Jenny Creek involved the second and third piracies, and the final capture by the Narrows Fork, a Jenny Creek-Paint Creek tributary, of Pound Branch, at that time a Middle Creek headwaters tributary, brings in the fourth separate capture in sequence that is involved in this case.

Summarily, there is humor in this series of drainage complications. Big Paint Creek is seen in the role of a real pirate, stealing from her less aggressive neighbor, the Old Elk Fork, something like 100 square miles. The first large piracy was to the south (Little Paint Creek), and then later slowly but surely to the north (Open Fork). In her thieving caprices, however, Paint Creek has shown a certain lack of efficiency. It may be that with her pirating hands behind her back, she did not let the right one know what the left was doing. Or perhaps those westward-reaching arms stole for the love of stealing. At any rate when Jenny Creek captured the headwaters of the Old Elk Fork near Riceville, it simply rediverted the drainage on about five square miles of the headwaters of the Old Elk Fork, which had already been captured just west of Elna post office by the Right Fork or Big Paint Creek. As a result of this double piracy, the waters now falling in the vicinity of Rice-

0p. Cit.

Paint Creek— Pirate 295

ville find their way down Jenny Creek into Big Paint Creek, and thence to the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy Kiver. Such waters, however, though twice captured, do not increase the size of the main Paint Creek over the increment obtained in the original — Elna — capture.

Manuscript completed Mar. 1, 1921.

Finis

Index

Alphabetical Arrangement Of Subject Matter And

Authors.

A.

Adams, Jack 19

Adkinson, Henry M 29

Alderson, Victor C 30, 34

Alexander, J. T 118

Allen County Oil Field 63

American Standard Asphalt Co 46

Analyses of Kentucky Crudes 156, 157

Annetta Dome 185, 224

Asher, Harden 18

Ashley, Geo. H 28

Ashley Production Curve 102

Asphalt Rock Analyses , 53J55

Atlantic Oil Producing Co 178

B.

Bacon, Raymond P 30

Barren County Oil Field 63

Baskerville, Chas 28, 30

Bath County Oil Shale 13

Bellis, Joseph 31

Berea 156

Bibliography of Oil Shales 28-37

Big Injun 156

Bishop, James A 35

Botkin, C. W 31

Boverton, Redwood 28

Bowen, C. F 29

Boyle County, Oil Shale 13

Bradley, S. M , 43, 63

Bryant, J. 0 179

Bullitt County, Oil Shale 14

Bureau of Mines, Dept. of Interior 31

Bureau of Mines, State of Colorado 31

Campbellsville Anticline 271

Campbellsville Anticline, Well Logs 280-284

Campbellsville Anticline, Well Records 277,278

Page

Campton-Stillwater Oil Production Curve 95

Carson, J. Harry 35

Casey County, Oil Shale 14, 22

Central Oil Shale Corporation 6

Chase, R. L 30

Chester-Mauch Chunk 156

Clark County, Oil Shale 14

Clark, Frank R 31

Coal Measures . 127

Colby, Lester B :... 31

Computed Areas of Black Shale 4

Condit, D. Dale 31

Conglomerate Uplift 227

Conrad, Thos. A 119

Cosby, W. B .- 183

Cotting, John R 119

CowcreekFitchburg Oil Production Curve 99

Crandall, A. R 227, 233, 268, 269

Cravens, M 17

Crittenden County Fluorspar Production 132

Grouse, C. S 1. 35

Crude Oil Prices 115

Crude Oil Production 71, 82

Crude Oil Production Curves 71-74

Crude Oil Production, by Barrels :. 76-79

Cumberland Pipe Line Co '. ...: 75

Cumberland Pipe Line Co. Runs, by Districts 106, 107

Cumberland Pipe Line Co. Runs, by Months 103-105

Cumberland Pipe Line Co. Runs 157

Cunningham, R. W 31

Cuyahoga 156

D.

Danner, Mrs. J. P ,. 43, 44, 54, 55

Day, D. T 28, 29

Dean, E. W - - - 31

De Beque, G. Robert 35

Devon Oil Shale Corporation 6

Devon Oil Shale Products Co 5, 17

Diller, J. S - 268, 269

Dresser, Carl 185

Ducatel, Jules T '.. 118

Dunn, John T. ...„„.„„ : ,...„ " ' .„ 188

Index. 299

E- Page

Eastern Coal Field 60

Eastern Kentucky Oil Production Curve 112

Eastern Kentucky Oil Production, by Pools 113

Egloff, Gustav 29, 30

Elliott County, Generalized Geologic Section 245

Elliott County, Oil Shale 14

Elliott County, Revised Well Records 248-258

Ells, S. C , 35

Emmons, Ebenezer 119

Estill County, Oil Shale 14

Estill-Lee-Powell-Wolfe-Menifee Oil and Gas Section 64

Everman, John 1, 20

F.

Fettke, Chas. R 37

Fleming County, Oil Shale 14

Floyd-Knott-Knox Oil and Gas Fields 67

Fluorspar 132

Fluorspar, Prices 133, 134

Fluorspar in Western Kentucky 159

Fluorspar in Livingston and Crittenden County (sketch map) 161

Fluorspar Production 166

Fluorspar Production Curve 167

Fluorspar Production Curve 168

Fluorspar Shipments 169, 170

Fluorspar Production Curve for Kentucky 171

Fluorspar, Active Mines 172, 173

Fluorspar, Inactive Mines 173-175

Fluorspar Companies Out of Existence 175

Fluorspar, Principal Consumers 175

Fluorspar, Principal Purchasers .'. 175

Franks, Arthur J 36

Frost, Dr 16

Fulton County, Cotton Producing 140

G.

Gainesville Pool 63

Garrard County, Oil Shale -- 15

Gavin, M. J 32, 36

Geological Problems in the Recovery of Oil and Gas 59

Geological Surveys, Economic and Scientific 120

Geological Surveys, King, Wheeler, Hayden and Powell Surveys : 120

Geological Surveys, Organization 122

Geological Surveys, Origin 118

Geological Surveys, United States 120

Geological Surveys, Value and Direction 117

Pag-e

George, Russell D 36

Gilbert, Chester G 29

Gilbert, J. F 43

Grayson County, Oil and Gas 177

Grayson County, Sketch Map 177

Grayson County, Field Work 178

Grayson County, Drainage and Area 179

Grayson County, Culture 179

Grayson County, Topography 179

Grayson County, Stratigraphy 180

Grayson County, Structure 182

Grayson County, Oil and Gas Development 183

Grayson County, Asphalt 186

Grayson County, Oil and Gas Sands 187

Grayson County, Oil Analyses ., 190, 191

Grayson County, Well Logs 191-220

Green County, Records of Drilled Wells 279

Gugenheim Mining Co 135

Gullett, Dr. J 23

H.

Haanel, B. F 36

Hager, Dorsey 32

Hall, James 119

Hamor, Wm. A 30

Hancock County, Oil Shale 21

Hazelwood, C 185, 188, 196

Hill, H. H 32

Hill, Mary L 195

Hillman Land and Iron Co 135

Hitchcock, Edward 118, 119

Hoeing, J. B 228, 231

Hoskins, A. J 29, 32

Hunter, Xerxes 183, 193

Indian Refining Company Runs 69

Irvine-Paintsville Anticline 259

J.

Jackson, Andrew 161

Jefferson County, Oil Shale 15

Jensen, J 29

Jillson, Willard Rouse 37, 179, 270, 287

JohnsonMagoffin Oil and Gas Field 66

Jones, D. J 5a

Index. 301

K- Page

Karrick, L. C 37

Kentucky Oil & Refining Co 178, 191, 196

Kentucky Crudes, Analyses 156, 157

Kentucky Crudes, Ultimate Source 145

Kentucky Rock Asphalt 39

Kentucky Rock Asphalt, Mining and Preparation 47

Kentucky Rock Asphalt, Durability 51

Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co 40, 45, 52

King, Clarence 120

Kirksey, Dr. John 136

Knight, Betty Y 32

Kraemer Oil Co : 13

Kremer, H. D 18

Laurel County, Oil Shale 22

Laurel Creek Dome 228

Lawhorn, Jesse 22

Lawrence County Oil Fields 65

Lawrence County Production Curve Ill

League Oil and Gas Co 180, 184

Lee County Oil Production Curve 100

Leitchfield, Major David 179

Le Master, Chas 14

Lesley, Joseph P., Jr 268

Lewis County, Oil Shale 15

Liles, W. B 178

Lincoln County, Oil Shale 15

Lingula Shale Oil Works 24

Livingston County Fluorspar 132

Low, Albert H 36

M.

Madison County, Oil Shale 16

Major, Wm. F 185

Major Sand 190

Marion County, Oil Shale 16

Martha Oil Production Curve 109

Martin County Gas Field 67

Mather, W. W 119

Mauch Chunk Island 227

McCoy, A. W 32

McGrew, James E. 185, 199

Mengel Box Co 138, 140

Menifee County Oil Production Curve 96

Meredith Dome 185, 224

Meredith, R. O. . 187, 189

Pag-e

Middle Fork Anitcline 265

Miller, A. M 22, 270

Mitchell, Guy Elliott 29

Montgomery County, Oil Shale 17

Moore, P. N. 268

Morehead, A. M 5

Morgan County Oil Production Curve 108

Morgan County, Oil Shale 23

Morrell, James C 29, 30

Moulder Oil Pool 63

N.

Nelson County, Oil Shale 17

Niagara Formation 157

O.

Oil and Gas, Commercial Areas of 62

Oil and Gas Pools and Pipe Lines (sketch map) 81

Oil Production for 1918 84-88

Oil Production for 1919 89-94

Oil Runs for January, 1921 83

Oil Shales of Kentucky 1

Oil Shales, Proximate Analyses 11

Oil Shales, Distillation Records 12-18

Oil Shales, Separate Analyses , 18-24

Oil Shales, S anbury, Analysis 24

Olmstead, Prof. Denison 118

Onondaga Limestone 146, 149

Onondaga-Oorniferous 157

Owen, David D 119, 161, 179

P.

Paint Creek Dome 66, 228

Paint Creek— Pirate 287

Paint Creek Uplift 66, 227, 228, 231

Parsons, Floyd W 36

Patterson, Wm. F 24

Patton, J. D 43

Pearse, A. L 32

Percival, J. G 118

Perdew, W. E 32

Petroleum Analyses, Elliott County 26-6

Petroliferous Sources 223

Phalen, William Clifton 269

Pine Mountain Anticline 259

Pogue, Joseph E 29

Pottsville 2, 5, 45, 67, 132, 147, 156

Pottsville Coals .. 288

Index. 303

Page

Pottsville Conglomerate 239, 243, 288

Powell County, Oil Shale 17

Powers, Mrs 14

Prevost, C. A 32

Proctor, W. S 180, 184

Producing Sands 156

Productive Oil and Gas Pools 68

Proximate Analyses of Oil Shales 11

Purchase Area 61

Q.

R.

Ragland Production Curve 97

River and Forest Trails, Western Kentucky 125

Rock Asphalt as a Road Surface 50

Rock Asphalt, Road of First Choice 56

Rockcastle County, Oil Shale 17

Roeschlaub, H. M 32

Rogers, H. D 118, 119

Rogers, W. B 118

Ross Creek Oil Production Curve 101

Rowan County Freestone Co 17

Rowan County, Oil Shale 17

Russell, Wm. C 30, 36

Ryan, J. G 44

S.

Sand, Major 190

Sandy Hook Anticline 233

Sandy Hook Anticline, Structure 258

Sandy Hook Anticline and Little Sandy Fault (sketch map) 261

Sandy Hook Anticline, Oil and Gas Possibilities 263

Sandstone, Analysis 62

Schoolcraft, Henry 160

Shale, Computed Areas 4

Shale, Oil Content 7

Shale, Silicate Analysis 26

Shale, Specific Gravities 9

Sheppard, Chas. U 118

Silliman, B. J 30

Simpson, Louis 33, 36

Skerrett, Robert G 33

Smith, H. Y 21

Stalmann, Otto 35

Stinson, Chas 198

Stone, John E. . 178

Page

Sunbury Shale 3

Sunbury Oil Shale, Analysis 24

Sunderlin, E. A 30

Surveys, Economic and Scientific 120

Surveys, King, Wheeler, Hayden and Powell Surveys 120

Surveys, U. S. Geological 120

T.

Talibott, F. A 28

Taylor County, Oil Shale 17, 23

Taylor County, Records of Drilled Wells 277, 278

Thomas, Kirby 37

Torrent and Lee County Oil Production Curve 100

Trenton Limestone 154, 157

Troost, Dr. Gerard 118

U.

Ultimate Source of Kentucky Crudes 146

Underwood, W. C. 43

United States Bureau of Mines 32

Vanuxen, Lardner 118, 119

Vincent, L. S 43

W.

Wagersville Oil Production Curve 98

Wallace, Ed 178

Ware, T. B 3

Warren County Oil Field 63

Payne 157

Wayne County Production Curve 110

Wayne-McCreary Oil Field 63

Webster County, Oil Shale 18

Western Kentucky Asphalt Field 42

Western Kentucky River and Forest Trails 125

White, David 33

Williams, John C 33

Winchester, Dean E 28, 34

Wolf, H. J 34

Woodruff, E. G 28

Wright, C. W 34

Wuensch, C. Erb 37

y. z

Zeigler, Victor 30

Return Earth Sciences Library

TO— 230 Earth Sciences Bldg. 642-2997

Loan Period 1 7 Days

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS Books needed for class reserve are subject to immediate recall

Due As Stamped Below

D£C'101Q87

University Of California, Berkeley Form No. Dd8 Berkeley, Ca 94720

U.C.Berkeley Libraries

I I

C033fl06133

Economic papers on Kentucky geology : an indexed collection of thirteen short papers and reports on the geology and special occurrence of oil and gas, oil shale, asphalt rock, and fluorspar within the Commonwealth

Overview

Contents

Introduction.

Production Op Crude Oil

Production Op Crude Oil

Index Analyses Of Kentucky Crudes.

Production Of Fluorspar In Western Kentucky.

Geology Of Oil And Gas In Grayson County.

, Stratigraphy.

Structure.

Summary.

Introduction.

Stratigraphy.

Structure.

Summary Considerations.

Index