Oil in the Pines

[Boyd]

I know this topic has come up before but can't find the thread. Anyway, while looking for something else I found this NJDEP dataset that shows the location of oil and gas wells drilled in New Jersey. Information on each well is pretty sparse, but there are some interesting locations (shown with blue dots on the map), for example:

You can't link to specific wells, but this is the map. Click on the dots to see the available data.

https://gisdata-njdep.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/oil-and-natural-gas-exploration-wells-drilled-in-new-jersey/explore?location=40.006174,-74.683800,9.79

 

[bobpbx]

I recall that topic, and I think I said then, as I do now, that is a horrible idea. If something ever happened for that stuff to get into the aquifers it would be a disaster!

 

[Teegate]

Once I was at one location and will stop by some of the others when in the area. I doubt there is any evidence left at any of the locations.

 

[manumuskin]

It looks like that well out by Menantico was a real thing then? I thought the property owner was pulling a gag. There is a dirt road I use every so often that passes right by it but it's on private property in very open woods behind someones house.. I don't even think we have the geology for oil and gas deposits????How deep would it be.From what I"ve read down this way we're setting on a couple hundred feet of sand.Don't know whats below that.

 

[Boyd]

How deep would it be.From what I"ve read down this way we're setting on a couple hundred feet of sand.Don't know whats below that.

Is this the one you mean Al? Just click on any point on that map to see the data. This one shows a depth of 705 feet.

 

[manumuskin]

Is this the one you mean Al? Just click on any point on that map to see the data. This one shows a depth of 705 feet.

View attachment 19448

Yep thats the one,Didnt notice the depth,thats in bedrock for sure so who knows? Might be oil in that?

 

[Spung-Man]

I was almost five when the drilling occurred near Milmay, but the stories lingered through my youth of the exploits. Everyone thought they would become rich and the area at the time was impoverished. The father of my best friend clipped several articles on the topic. One from the Vineland Times Journal (dated October 29, 1964), “Wells Spring Up Around Milmay Area,” was written by Thomas P. Flynn. It is subtitled “Drillers Hope to Strike Natural Gas Deep In Ground,” with the sites being “deep in the heart of Milmay.” Another by Corrine Olson of Estell Manor (dated October 31) is titled “Drillers Still Have Hope for Gas Storage Area.” She wrote for several papers, so I’m not sure which paper is excerpted here. Drillers reached a depth of 6000 feet. Both articles are well illustrated and provide detailed coverage. My favorite photo is of “four youngsters from Milmay School…inspect[ing] the mud as it gushes out of the drilling hole.” That two-room schoolhouse is my alma mater, albeit a decade later! I still stare at mud...

 

[Leewardian]

Oil speculation ran through Jackson in the early 1920s; I included an account from the Newark Call that outlined it in one of my Ocean County 100 years ago posts for Toms River Seaport Society, here - https://www.tomsriverseaport.org/news/this-week-in-ocean-county-1922-january-27th

I'd included other news stories about it in other posts, but since Ocean County Library switched over its online news archive to a different setup the search feature is almost entirely useless in finding anything for me to be able to quickly bring those links up. The main link is http://njcourier.theoceancountylibrary.org/

Erik (formerly HeathenClerk here, now Leewardian)