By William “Skip” Deegans
The stampede in 2008 to lease land in Greenbrier County for natural gas reserves was not the first time there has been petroleum fever here. Early in 1909, while opening a seam of coal near Horrock at the west end of the Droop Mountain Tunnel, a workman struck a stream of water and noticed it had a greasy appearance. He dammed up the water and saw oil floating on top. A test well was planned. More oil was found seeping out of slate between Robin’s Ford and Spring Creek.
The Greenbrier Independent reported “the whole countryside has been leased.” More oil was found on McMillion’s farm in the Spring Creek area, options were secured, and a test well was expected. On Kincaid’s Run, Pennsylvania’s Grove City Lumber Company began drilling a test well. In Pocahontas County near Greenbank and Arbovale, what was thought to be a volcano turned out to be burning gas. Oil and gas leases were bought for $2 an acre with a test well planned in April.
One can understand the oil fever in 1909 as the Philadelphia Gas Company drilled the largest producing well in West Virginia in Marion County that year. It produced 3,300 barrels in 12 hours. While other oil and gas wells have been drilled in Greenbrier County, none have resulted in any marketable production.
Perhaps the best guidance may be found in the 1939 West Virginia Geological Survey of Greenbrier County: “…Greenbrier County is considerably farther east than any commercial oil or gas pool thus far discovered. While this fact does not necessarily condemn the territory, it does suggest that the search for gas in the county should be left to those that can afford to lose.”
Sources: Greenbrier Independent, Independent-Herald, West Virginia Geological Survey.
