Download - Fredonia story
Fredonia and the establishment of the natural gas industry
Historical supplement to Feb 26, 2013 Workshop by Johnson Energy Club, Cornell University
http://johnson.campusgroups.com/energy/education/
Eileen and Gary Lash, Dept. of Geosciences, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063
…William Hart’s well ... ~1850
…northeast bank of Canadaway Creek...
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
Fredonia Censor – reporting on the drilling as it is taking place at the end of August 1825…
375 million years
Laurentia
Gondwana (Africa)
Dunkirk basin
1. subtropical climate
…becoming a hydrocarbon source rock…
you are here
…Devonian – extremely warm period of Earth’s history…
1. abnormally warm climate (layered ocean);
warm water layer floating over cooler water
cooler (denser) water
2. prevents oxygen from reaching the bottom (cooler) water;
O2 O2 O2
3. the bottom water is quickly depleted of oxygen as a consequence of the abundant organic remains of plankton sinking through the water;
oxygen-depleted water
O2
…Devonian – extremely warm period of Earth’s history…
1. abnormally warm climate (layered ocean);
warm water layer floating over cooler water
2. prevents oxygen from reaching the bottom (cooler) water;
O2 O2 O2
3. the bottom water is quickly depleted of oxygen as a consequence of the abundant organic remains of plankton sinking through the water;
oxygen-depleted water
O2
a warm climate favors the preservation of organic remains
375 million years
Laurentia
Gondwana (Africa)
Dunkirk basin
2. plate tectonics
…becoming a hydrocarbon source rock…
you are here
Laurentia
burial and thermal maturation of the organic-rich shale
Gondwana (Africa)
300 million years
…William Hart’s well ... ~1850
…northeast bank of Canadaway Creek...
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
…back to Fredonia…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
Phase II … mid to late 1850s …
Preston Barmore … born 1831 …
-1835 report of the New York State Geological Survey described abundant natural gas seeps about one mile north of Hart’s gas well location;
Hart’s 1825 well
Risley buildings
gas seeps
-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;
Hart’s 1825 well
Barmore’s gas well site
kicking down the 1857 gas well…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
1858 … 122-foot deep well – poor producer
fractured the shale with 8 pounds of gunpowder at a depth of 122 feet…
…where was the gas coming from … deep or shallow source? …
fractured again at 80 feet…
…the first recorded fracture stimulation of a well…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
lead pipe used to conduct gas from the Risely wells to the gasometer…
courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY
Fredonia Trinity Episcopal Church, Fredonia , NY
first metered use of natural gas; December 1858
$4.00/1,000 cubic feet
…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…
Summary
…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...