He came out here, and in May last commenced to bore for salt, or to find the source of the salt, which is so common along the banks of Oil Creek. Drake, well known on the New Haven Railroad. In 1858, the directors leased the grounds and springs to Mr. Perhaps you will recollect that in 1854 there was organized in the city of New York a company, under the name of the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, which, for some good reasons, passed into the hands of some New Haven capitalists, and was by them removed to New Haven. Sandusky Register (Sandusky, Ohio), 16 September 1859, page 2ĭiscovery of a Subterranean Fountain of Oil. The correspondent of the article below, who identifies himself as “Medicus,” was in California when that state’s gold rush began in 1849 – and reports the Pennsylvania oil discovery is causing just as much excitement. In 1872 Pennsylvania took pity on the man who almost single-handedly founded the state’s lucrative oil industry and granted him an annuity of $1,500, which he lived on the remaining eight years of his life. Lacking good business sense (including failing to patent his innovative drilling invention, the “Drake Well”), he went broke in 1863 and never recovered financially. There was lots of money to be made in Titusville, and Watson was soon followed by a host of oil millionaires.Įdwin L. Jonathan Watson, the man lucky enough to own the land where Drake was drilling, became history’s first oil millionaire. The town’s population swelled to 10,000, as eight oil refineries were built between 18 and oil industry support businesses mushroomed. Titusville was a sleepy little town of 250 residents when Drake made his discovery, but that all changed very quickly. Drake, to the right, and the Drake Well in the background, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where the first commercial well was drilled in 1859 to find oil.” Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Drake’s drill bit found oil at a depth of 69.5 feet. This became known as the “Drake Well” method, a system essentially still used today. The pipe prevented the deep hole from collapsing in on itself. He used a steam engine to power his drill, and his great innovation was to line the hole with cast iron pipe and drill through the pipe down below the bedrock. However, petroleum was sought in the 19 th century as a replacement for whale oil, used in lamps to light people’s homes.ĭrake was working for the newly-formed Seneca Oil Company when he made his discovery. Many people equate the petroleum industry with gasoline, and assume the industry – along with the automobile industry – were features of the 20 th century. Credit: Ohio Department for Natural Resources Wikimedia Commons. On 27 August 1859, Edwin Laurentine Drake (1819-1880) drilled that well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, beginning the Pennsylvania oil rush of the second half of the 19 th century. It may surprise some people, however, to learn that the oil drilling industry made big headlines way back in 1859 – when the first commercially successful oil well was drilled. News about oil drilling, the price of gasoline, and the petroleum industry in general often dominates today’s headlines.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |