1. Fredonia and the establishment of the natural
gas industry
Eileen and Gary Lash, Dept. of Geosciences, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063
Historical supplement to Feb 26, 2013 Workshop by Johnson Energy Club, Cornell University
http://johnson.campusgroups.com/energy/education/

2. first commercial gas well … drilled by William Hart … Phase I…

3. courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

5. …William Hart’s well ... ~1850
…northeast bank of
Canadaway Creek...
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

6. courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

7. gas was used for illumination…
Lester house…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

8. …but when was it drilled?…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

9. Fredonia Censor – reporting on the drilling as
it is taking place at the end of August 1825…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

10. … summer 1925 …
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

11. courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

12. …how did Hart know where to drill?...

13. …lighting the creek...

14. Source of the gas?
Dunkirk Shale – first natural gas source rock…

15. Why here?
…Devonian black shale …~375 million years old…

16. …becoming a hydrocarbon source rock…
Laurentia
you are here
Dunkirk basin
1. subtropical climate
375 million years
Gondwana
(Africa)

17. RCO2 = paleo CO2/present CO2
RCO2 modern atmosphere = 1
McGhee, 1996

18. …Devonian – extremely warm period of Earth’s history…
1. abnormally warm climate (layered ocean);
2. prevents oxygen from reaching the bottom (cooler) water;
3. the bottom water is quickly depleted of oxygen as a
consequence of the abundant organic remains of plankton
sinking through the water;
O2
O2
O2
O2
warm water layer floating over cooler water
oxygen-depleted water
cooler (denser) water

19. organic remains – marine algae

21. …Devonian – extremely warm period of Earth’s history…
1. abnormally warm climate (layered ocean);
2. prevents oxygen from reaching the bottom (cooler) water;
3. the bottom water is quickly depleted of oxygen as a
consequence of the abundant organic remains of plankton
sinking through the water;
O2
O2
O2
O2
warm water layer floating over cooler water
oxygen-depleted water
a warm climate favors the preservation of organic remains

22. …becoming a hydrocarbon source rock…
Laurentia
you are here
Dunkirk basin
2. plate tectonics
375 million years
Gondwana
(Africa)

23. …burial related heat…
…transformation of
organic remains to
oil and natural gas…
oil window

24. …heat transforms organic remains to liquid…
…microfracture…
algae

25. …continued burial…
oil window
gas window

26. burial and thermal
maturation of the
organic-rich shale
Laurentia
Gondwana
(Africa)
300 million years

27. …William Hart’s well ... ~1850
…northeast bank of
Canadaway Creek...
…back to Fredonia…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

28. Phase II … mid to late 1850s …
Preston Barmore
… born 1831 …
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

29. …Fredonia Academy (forerunner of SUNY Fredonia)…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

32. …1841 …

33. …Barmore realized that gas “issues” from cracks in the
shale…

35. …natural methane seep…

39. -1835 report of the New York State Geological Survey described
abundant natural gas seeps about one mile north of Hart’s gas
well location;
gas seeps
Risley buildings
Hart’s 1825 well

40. -in 1857, Barmore, with the backing of Elias Forbes, purchased a small
parcel of land on the east side of Canadaway Creek on which to drill
gas wells;
Barmore’s gas well site
Hart’s 1825 well

41. kicking down the 1857 gas well…
1858 … 122-foot deep well – poor producer
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

42. …Barmore realized the importance of fractures …

43. fractured the shale with 8 pounds of gunpowder at a depth of 122 feet…
…the first recorded fracture stimulation of a well…
…where was the gas coming from … deep or shallow source? …
fractured again at 80 feet…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

44. Barmore’s gasometer … pre-January 1964
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

45. Barmore’s gasometer … post-January 1964
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

46. lead pipe used to conduct gas from the
Risely wells to the gasometer…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

47. Fredonia Trinity Episcopal
Church, Fredonia , NY
first metered use of natural
gas; December 1858
$4.00/1,000 cubic feet

48. Summary
…upstream and downstream side
started in Fredonia…

49. Summary
…upstream and downstream side
started in Fredonia…
…Preston Barmore – SUNY Fredonia –
first petroleum engineer and FSU
connection to the establishment of
the natural gas industry in the United
States…
…interested in the science behind natural gas
occurrences…

50. …natural gas exploration continued (and continues) in western
New York…
Truman White, in his historical recounting of Erie County, New York,
wrote in 1898;
"Natural gas was discovered on the Monroe Kelley farm in April, 1888, and
afterwards on the Kerr, Elmer White, and Fry farms. The gas is piped
to Buffalo and also to Springville."
… the Monroe Kelly, Elmer White, Kerr, and Fry farms are located a short
distance east and north of the hamlet of Collins, NY...