Excerpt from Preliminary Report Upon Petroleum and Inflamable Gas, 1887 The original edition of the Preliminary Report on Oil and Gas in Ohio, by Edward Orton, State Geologist, consisting of twenty-five hundred copies, was published by order of the legislature of Ohio in June, 1886, and was distributed by the members of the Legislature. No copies were placed on sale. The recent interest in natural gas and petroleum awakened in this and adjoining States by the experience of Pittsburgh, and also by the astonishing developments at Findlay and Lima, has led to an eager and general demand for information upon these subjects, and all available sources of knowledge are brought into requisition. The inquiry for this Preliminary Report has been wide-spread and it still continues. In view of this demand, it was suggested to the proper committees of the Legislature, at its late session, that it might be well to reprint the Report and thus meet this continued demand, but inasmuch as Volume VI was about to be ordered it seemed to the committees unnecessary to anticipate it further. There was, however, considerable delay in providing for the publication of Volume VI. It was presented to the Legislature on the first day of February, but the necessary legislation pertaining to its publication was not consummated until the middle of March. While every effort will be made to expedite its issue, it is plain that a number of months must elapse before the volume will be ready for distribution. But the demand for information on geological points involved in present explorations is constantly increasing, and therefore .the author has decided to fill the gap, as far as demands are made upon him, by the reprint of this Preliminary Report, and thus to put the information that it contains within the reach of those who desire it. The Report is educational in aim and character, and it undertakes to set forth sound and conservative geological answers to many of the questions that the people of this and adjoining States are so earnestly asking at the present time. It is obviously desirable that this popular demand for the teachings of science on the important practical interests involved should be met as fully and promptly as possible. The present volume contains, as its name implies, an exact reprint of the Preliminary Report of 1886. The past year has been fruitful in additions to our knowledge of the geology of the State. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.