trade, and production fell off steadily for some time. But with the revival there is a brisker demand for building materials, and it is noticeable also that there is a more generous response to the request for statistics. The total number of men employed in the production of building materials last year was 4,611, the amount of wages paid for labor was $1,168,240, and the value of materials produced was $2,378,611. In these statistics cement is not included. This industry employed last year 305 men, with wage earnings of $128,134, while the value of the product of their labor was $376,318. The following table gives the value of the products of stone quarries and the amount of wages paid for labor for each year of the period 1891-8, exclusive of 1897: The number of workmen employed in brick and tile yards was 2,622, or nearly 800 more than in 1896. Separate statistics are given for pressed brick and terra cotta, and as will be seen by the following table for the eight years 1891-8 there is little sign of revival in the production of these materials. Two or three of the works had been closed down owing to lack of demand for pressed brick, but work has been resumed at one or two of these and it is likely that the output of this year will show an increase. Terra-cotta. 1893.. 21,634,000 217 373 80,686 1891 2,350,000 300,000 116,000 1.92. 2,600,000 350,000 120,000 1893. 2,700,000 364,000 122,000 1894.. 2,150,000 280,000 108,000 1895.. 2.090,000 280,000 104,000 1896.. 1,880,000 220,000 85,000 1898. 2,620,000 308,000 127,000 The number of workmen employed last year was 548, or 118 more than in 1896. The manufacture of sewer pipe last year gave employment to 77 men, whose aggregate Statistics of wages were $26,260, as compared Sewer Pipe. with 64 men and $19,600 for labor cent. The average rate of wages in natural rock cement works rose from $207 to $315 during the period and in Portland cement works from $303 to $451, while for both classes of works the aggregate of wages paid for labor grew from $44,878 in the first year to $128,134 in the last, being an increase of 185 per The product of all cement works has grown from 85,903 barrels in 1894, valued at $109.834, to 244 876 barrels in 1898, valued at $376,318, being an increase of 173 per cent. in quantity and of 243 per cent. in value. There has been a slight fall in values per barrel, the average of natu al rock being 88 cents in 1894 and 81 cen's in 1898, while the average of Portland in 1894 was $2 and in 1898 $1.96. The statistics of Portland cement for 1898, it should be stated, includes 18,400 barrels of Silica Portland, valued at $32,200 which accounts for the apparent fall in value per barrel of Portland. But although the production of cement in Ontario is steadily growing larger, there is no falling off in the quantity of Imports of Cement. imports for all Canada. The following statistics show for the five years 1-94-8 the values of imports entered for consumption from Great Britain, the United It will be noticed that the trade has undergone a marked change in this short period of four years, the imports from Great Britian having fallen off from 64 to 29 per cent. of the whole, while those from the United States have increased from 12 to 16 per cent. and from all other countries from 24 to 55 per cent. of the whole. Practically all imports: except those from Great Britain and the United States come from Belgium and Germany, the former having last year supplied. cement to the value of about $150,000 and the latter to the value of about $50,000. The amount of duty paid was $124,868.65. being $121,968.58 on Portland and $2,900.07 on all other kinds. The total quantity im ported last year, including what was not entered for consumption, was 1,153,640 cwt. of Portland and 11,713 cwt. of other kinds, statistics. In 1897 the total value of distilled products was $1,777,591, and in 1898 it was $1,970,534. In 1896 the value of Comparative distilled products was $832,187 more than the value of crude, being an appreciation by treatment of 74 per cent. In 1897 the appreciation was $710,463, or 67 per cent., and in 1898 it was $847,733, or 75 per cent. Last year it was supposed that the lower rate of appreciation in 1897 was a result of tariff changes, but this view is not supported by the statistics of 1898. The average rate of wages was lower last year than in either of the previous years, being $482.68 against $540.83 in 1897 and $541.33 in 1896; but no doubt this is a consequence of a closing down of three of the plants in the latter part of last year. The average number of workmen employed at the refineries was 546 and the amount paid for labor $263,516. In 1897 the number was 364 and the amount paid for wages $196,965.70. The proportion of refined products obtained from the crude is shown in the following table for the seven years 1892-98, and inof Products dicates in a general way the progress that has been made in the processes of distillation during that period : Percentages Refined. added to the producing territory. The southern part of the township of Plympton has also given good results, although in these two localities the oil deposit is not quite so uniform as in the old districts of Petrolia and Enniskillen. It was thought last suminer that the township of Brooke gave evidence of a good deposit, and quite a number of wells were drilled there; but the supply did not prove to be permanent and most of the wells have been abandoned. In the township of Zone, near Thamesville, the same experience was realized; several wells yielded liberally when first drilled, but the flow did not last. Bothwell is getting its producing limits as an oil field defined, and during the year its yield was little more than 6,000 barrels monthly. Euphemia and Dawn have, each a small field, the area of which is being expanded by exploration. In the old territory, which runs from the southern part of the township of Sarnia in a southeasterly direction through Enniskillen by way of Petrolia, wells may be struck at nearly every attempt. Small detached areas in this region not previously explored give good returns, one of the best being near Oil Springs. It takes time, experience and risk of loss to discover these treasures of Nature's storehouse, but it is not improbable that anywhere throughout the counties of Lambton, Kent and Essex a discovery of oil may be made. A new locality that has recently been attracting attention as an oil field is in the lake Erie. The record shows that the drift is composed of 130 feet of blue clay holding many boulders of granite and some limestone, followed by 52 feet of hardpan and gravel. The drilling was continued to a depth of 687 feet, being 505 feet in the rock. A bed of oil-bearing rock 10 feet in thickness was cut through at 332-342 feet, and a second one of the same thickness at 400-410 feet from the surface. From the first of these beds 500 barrels of oil was pumped, and after packing this source of yield the second bed gave one barrel per hour for a test of twenty hours. A small flow of gas was struck at 550 feet, and the rock from 650 to 687 feet yielded a greenish bitter water that flowed over the top of the casing. Cuttings from this well have been examined by Dr. Coleman, who has made the following report on them-the depth of samples being reckoned from the surface of the rock : 60 ft. Pale yellowish brown limestone, with a fragment or two of dolomite. 111 ft. Pale gray and also white fragments, limestone with some shaly matter. 130 ft. Shaly limestone, yellowish brown. 140-145 ft. Grayish white limestone. 162 ft. Brownish gray, somewhat porous dolomitic limestone, with some sandy particles. 165 ft. Brown limestone with a little sand. 175 ft. Brownish gray limestone. 346 ft Limestone with some shaly matter, yellowish brown with white particles. 362 ft. Dolomite, grayish white, with what appear to be portions of fossils. 452 ft. Dolomite, bluish gray and alsɔ white fragments. 501 ft. Dolomite with gypsum, bluish white. No. 2 well was drilled on lot 15 in the ninth concession, about 1000 feet north of No. 1. It was put down to a depth of 410 feet, and gave a little showing of gas but no oil. No. 3 was located on the southern part of lot 14 in the tenth, where the surface is about 60 feet below the level of No. 1. The thickness of drift was 140 feet, and the well was drilled to 347 feet. A small show of oil was obtained at 135 to 140 feet in the rock, and about 10 feet of fair cuttings at the bottom. It was pumped ten hours, and then plugged and abandoned. A company known as the Elginfield Company was then organized to continue operations, Elginfield Company and No. 4 well was commenced 300 feet southeast of No. 1, on the same level. The drift had a depth of 190 feet and the rock formations were the same as in No. 1. The oil deposit on the surface of the rock gave two barrels per day. At 410 feet a great flow of salt water was struck and the well was abandoned. No. 5 was located on lot 15 in the tenth, 200 feet northwest from No. 1. The drift was 179 feet, and from the bottom of it 500 barrels of oil was pumped. Cuttings of oil rock were obtained from the depths of 150 and 205 feet in the rock, but they were dry. This well was drilled to 415 feet. No. 6 was bored on lot 13 in the eleventh concession, about 30 feet from the west line of the lot. Here the thickness of the drift was found to be 287 feet, consisting of 130 feet clay, 157 feet gravel and sand. Gas was found in the upper bed of gravel, underneath the clay. After drilling through 30 feet of shale and 155 feet of limestone a small flow of oil was struck, which yielded one barrel per day. No. 7 is on the same lot as No. 6, about 500 feet east of it and on the same level. The drift is 260 feet deep, and at 140 feet yielded a strong flow of gas in the gravel. The next eight wells of the Company, all bored last year, are on lot 14 in th tenth concession. Upon the level the drift has a uniform thickness of 205 feet, but some of the wells are located on the side of a hill and there the depth of drift is not so great. Oil was struck in each of the wells at 150 to 160 feet in the rock, the oil cuttings measuring 16 feet, and the average yield of oil is two barrels per day. On the west side of the same lot two wells were drilled during the latter part of the year, on the same general level. The depth of drift was 240 feet, and of limestone to oil-bearing rock 155 feet. The thickness of the oil bed was found to be 20 feet, and while the wells started at 15 to 20 barrels per day they have declined to four barrels. Henry Hollingshead & Son of Dutton are operating on the west side of lot 15 in the tenth concession, and on the west Hollingshead half of 13 in the same concession. They began boring in September, 1898, in a gully about 40 feet below the level of the ground on the first named lot. and Sou. No. 1 well was drilled through 131 feet of drift, composed of 80 to 90 feet of clay, and the rest sand and gravel, and then through 160 feet of limestone. Oil was struck at 152 feet in the limestone and the well started at three barrels per 12 hours. In No. 2, which is 400 feet northwest of No. 1, the depth of drift was 129 feet. Oil cuttings were got at 160 feet in the rock, about one foot in thickness. The drilling was continued to a depth of 358 feet, when salt water was struck which flowed to the surface the full capacity of the pipe. This was shut off with difficulty and a pump was put in, but the yield of oil was only one barrel per 12 hours. No. 3 well is 300 feet northwest of No. 2, in the same gully. The drift was 129 feet, and oil was struck at 160 feet in the rock. The drill was continued for 20 feet through alternate bands of oil-rock and dry limestone, when the hole was shot and brackish water broke in under strong pressure. The well has been plugged to the surface. No. 4 is on the west . side of lot 13 in the tenth, about 300 feet from the west line and just south of the Talbot road. The surface has a depth of 270 feet, and the drill has gone 178 feet into the limestone. At 161 feet in the rock oil cuttings began to show and they continued for 17 feet. This well was finished on 27 January of the present year, and it has yielded five barrels per 12 hours. Production At the end of January six wells on the Smith farm and two on the Backus farm were worked by the Elginfield company of the Field, and were yielding 12 barrels per day of 10 hours. All the pumps were driven by one engine with 25 h.p. boiler, and power was also supplied to two pumps of the Hollingshead wells. The total quantity of crude shipped to Petrolia refineries in 1898 was 28 carloads, averaging 105 barrels per car, and selling at $1.40 per barrel. Teaming from the wells to Dutton station costs 15 cents and freight from Dutton to Petrolia six cents per barrel. The cost of drilling a well with casing and pump complete ranges from $600 to $700 for a well of 430 to 450 feet deep, and the time occupied is about 250 hours. The natural gas statistics differ but slightly |