The Petroleum Centre daily record. [volume] (Petroleum Center, Pa.) 1868-1873, 1872-05-31
History of Petroleum.

fetrOleum, etuOuSu kuoWn from timn in'
memmoria, was no. used as an article OF
commerce until 1859; when American en-
terprise successfully bored sn aitesia6 well
for the purpose of procuring oil from the
.ocky strata below. The earliest evidence
of the use Of petroleum is found 10 the ruins
Of Nineveh and Babylon. That used In
Babylon was btained from the springs or
IT, on the Euphrates, which at q later date,
attracted the attention OF Alexander. oil
Trajsn, and Of Julian. Herodolus 500
years be fore Christ, spoke of oil wells Of
Zanter; and Pint and DESCRIBES described
The oil of Argrigentum, which was used In
amps under the name OF ''Sicillian oil.'
In one Of the Ionian Islands there is spring
which has yielded petroleum more than
1000 years. The wells Of Armenia, on the
Banks of Z.ro, were formerly used for light.
ing the City OF Genoa. In Persia, near the
Caspian Sea ct Baker, numerous springs of
petroleum have been known from the earl
Jest times The springs of Rangoon, on the
Irawaddt, have been worked for ag's, and
the perpetual fires burned at Pagan springs
of petroleum, ignited OF the surface. The
American Indians collected petroleum,
which was sold for various purposes, under
the name OF Seneca oil. The old wells in
Pennsy ylvsnia are known from the trees now
growing upon the earth thrown out in max
ing them, or growing 10 the wells them
selves, to be from 500 to 1000 years old
Que of those At Titusvills, was found after
1t was cleared out to have been twenty sev.
en- feet deep and five or six feet in diane
ter. 10 1919 oil was accidently obtained 10
boring two salt wells on Muskingam River,
Ohio. In 1929 Q flowing we'll ives acci-
IDENTIFY obtained at Burkesville, Ky, and Tor
two or three weeks oil flowed over the sur
face of the Cnnbe rlsnd River, and becom-
ing ienited, caused some apprehension Of .
general confagrstion among the inhabi-'
tants OF the Villages lower down ;tbe river.
In 1886 from so to 100 barrels OF petroleum
were collected In the valley Of the Kanawa
aud sold for medicine.
The wells of Pennsylvania yielded In
1860 500, 900 barrels of petroleum; in 1861,
1000, 600 barrels, aud 10 1852, 5000, 900
barrels. This rapid development of petro-
leum changed at once oil the coal oil work
to petroleum retineries. 10 1854 the Penn
syIvania Rock oil Company had been form.
ed for tho purpose Of collecting oil at Oil
Creek, hut collecting the oil FROM the sur
face of ditchss with blankets and squeezing
It into tubs was found too expensive pros
cess to compete with the coal oil manufac-
tute. Iu lS58Col. G. l.. Drake, the super.
intsnde1t of the Company, begaa to bore
an artesian we'll for oil, much 10. the amuse
ment of bis friends and neighbors, who
considered the project most absurd. When,
however, on the 2Gth Of August, 1859, he
"struck oil" at a depth Of seventy-one feet
and obtained 400 gallons of oil day, which
sold for fifty cents gallon, there was
great excitement. Every one who could
leave his home rushed to the oil region, q
forest Of derrcks soon appeared in the val,
ley, and numerous wells were bored. Wells
were bored in West Virginia and Ohio,
&c. No mining enterprise lad ever otfer-
ed euch sudden fortunes. The Noble Well
yielded iu little more than year 500, 900
barrels Of oil, and the Sherman A5O, 900
barrels in two years. The poor farmers of
Oil Creek suddenly found themselves
wealthy: Single farms brought from $780,
600 to l,000,000 with roy atty on the wells
In addition. 4