[7] Gesner also continued to pursue his passion for geology, reading the writings of notable geologists and developing a habit of picking up mineral specimens that caught his attention while making his rounds on horseback.
[7] The book expanded on an earlier geological study by Charles T. Jackson and displayed Gesner's ability to express complicated concepts in simple language.
[6] Although Gesner's geological studies were of high quality by the standards of the 1840s, he had no experience in mining and failed to make a realistic appraisal of the province's mineral reserves.
[10][8] During the first summer of his geological surveys, Gesner found a bituminous substance on the Petitcodiac River in Albert County, which he named albertite to differentiate it from coal or asphalt.
[14] While working on the family farm, Gesner also continued to practice medicine, write books, give public lectures and conduct experiments.
[11][14] He published notes for emigrants to New Brunswick, outlined the industrial resources of Nova Scotia, and built an electrical motor driven by a voltaic battery.
[3] In 1846, the government of Nova Scotia appointed Gesner Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the following year he submitted a report on the living conditions of the Miꞌkmaq population.
[6] Utilizing a sample of bitumen from Trinidad's Pitch Lake that he collected while shipping horses across the Atlantic, Gesner developed a method of extracting oils and gas from bituminous substances.
[11] Gesner found that the first product was not satisfactory as it had an offensive odour, the raw material was expensive to obtain, and his experiments suggested that one ton of Trinidad bitumen would produce only 42 gallons of oil.
[18] The pair planned to set up a company that would illuminate Halifax by using albertite from Albert County, New Brunswick, and bitumen from Trinidad's pitch lake.
[22] In early 1853, following the outcome of the trial, Gesner and his family moved to New York City, where he had earlier exhibited his kerosene and amassed significant publicity.
[28] According to an article in the New York Commercial Advertiser in August 1859, the plant cost $1.25 million to build, employed 200 men, used 30,000 tons of coal per year, and exported 5,000 gallons of kerosene per day.
[6][29] While the enterprise had not made Gesner extremely wealthy, he lived comfortably in Brooklyn, New York, where he was a prominent figure in the local church and community.
[31] One prominent rival manufacturer, Samuel Downer of Boston, Massachusetts, made an agreement in early 1859 to license the name and Gesner's refinement process.
[31][6] When James Young, a Scottish chemist, who had independently developed a process of distilling a petroleum fuel into a product he named "paraffin oil," became aware of the North American Kerosene Company's claims, he filed for patent infringement and won.
[31] The Newton Creek plant eventually passed into the hands of Charles Pratt and Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil, and continued to operate until May 1951.
[35][36] Gesner was humble about his contribution to the development of the petroleum industry, writing in A Practical Treatise on Coal that "The progress of discovery in this case, as in others, has been slow and gradual.
[40][39] In 1863, Gesner returned to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was offered the chair of Natural History at Dalhousie University, but he died on April 29, 1864, before he could take up the position.
[28] The monument reads "His treatise on the geology and mineralogy of Nova Scotia, 1836, was one of the earliest works dealing with those subjects in this province and about 1852 he was the American inventor of the process of kerosene oil.