The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1880-12-10

gativc and liniment. He called il Sen
eca Oil. from the fact that Red Jacket.
the seneca Chief. had impaired 10 the
whites the secret Of its powers. Its
fame rs a medicinal agent was purely
local. when Carey, with walls OF the
stun, plodded from hamlet 10 hamlet
and established a demand for il that
brought him no small profit. An at
tempt BY General Franklin 10 introduce
this great natural medicine 20 4
Southern market later on ended disas-
trously, the Baltimore merchant to
whom a wagon-load Of il wa consigned
dumping il into the Chesapeake BAY.
unable 10 endure the odor which it
sent forth. and unwilling 70 believe that
his Southern customers could accus-
tom themselves to the remedy. no mat
ter what the nature Of their ailments.
Northern patients. however. took more
kindly % il, but among them even it was
known more a a liniment than rs a
medicine.
For several years. until 1858. a firm
in this city. Twelfth Il Bissell. had re-
cciycd from Titusville. Pa. about a gal
Ion Of this oil a day. which. mixed with
other ingredients. they sold as the then
celebrated Mustang Liniment.r Their
supply of oil was gathered in the very
primitive method Of dipping blankets
in a spring permcated with the article
and wringing them into pans. This
spring was owned by the firm. and when
they were unable to meet their indebt-
edness 10 persons in New Haven,
Conn. the latter took the Titusvillc
property in payment. This was in
1858. Colonel Drake was then a con-
ductor on the New York Il New Haven
Railroad. whose shrewdness had already
attracted the attention of the owners Of
the newly-acquired properly. They
sent him to Pennsylvania To perfect
their title to it. He became satisfied
from his observation that Seneca Oil
was possessed OF more properties than
had ever been credited to il. and that a
fortune was in store for the man who
could secure it in any quantity. He
suggested the IDEA that the oil could be
obtained in paving quantities by sink
ing q well He was laughed at as a
lunatic bv the Pennsvlvanians- Re-
turning to New Haven he succeeded in
interesting some capitalists in the novel
theory. and in organizing the Seneca
Oil Company. of which he was appoint
ed manager. In the spring of 1859 he
commenced sinking a well on Watson's
flat. at a spot about a mile below Titus
vile. The move was considered
so ridiculous that ii was only
with the greatest difficulty that
he could hire assistance in the work.
He finally secured the services Of an old
salt-borer named William A. Smite and
his two sons. The boring Of the first
petroleum well was begun on the lst Of
July, 1859. When the three men quit
work ut shutdown on the 10Th OF August
they had drilled to a depth Of sixty-nine
feet six inches. The elder Smith was
first at the hole the following morning.
and TO his establishment il was filled
with oil. A barrel Of it was dipped out
in a few minutes, and the news of Col
onel Drake sanity ran like wild-fire up
OIL Greek Valley. The discovery was
flashed over the country, and then be-
gan the ever-memorable oil excitement,
which made and bcggared men before
! sub sided. To-day the oil region il
h~oney-combed with wells. the supply Of
ptAAoACum III tAttcu, lHt uciItlu- Iuu
farmers who own no oil stock are
skimming from the same creeks over
which old Nat Carey labored hundreds
of gallons Of the stuff which Is running
to waste.
Colonel Drake continued his opera
tons in petroleum until 1864, when,
broken in health and ruined in pocket.
although at one time he had amassed a
princely fortune. he abandoned the oil
fields. In 1878 the State granted him a
pension Of $500 a year. payable to his
wife in the event Of her surviving him.
He settled in New Bethlehem. where he
spent the last years Of his life. a con
tirmed invalid. His co-pioneer. Smith,
still lives in Butler County. Pa, desti-
tute. and with a large family on his
hands. A statue 10 Colonel brakes
memory is to be erected on the new Oil
Exchange now being built in Titusville.
N. u. Times.