Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-01-06
THE ORIGINAL OIL MAN.
Death Of Col. Drake. Who Snni. the
First Oil Well
From the New York Times.

The death of Col f. l.. Drake, the
first man to sink well in Pcnnsylvan-
ia in search of oil, and the'pioneer in
the petroleum business Of that state, il
announced rs having occurred III New
Bethlehem, Pa, on Monday last. Like
the majority of the early operators in
oil, he made u fortune, lost it, and in
his declining years found himself in
poverty. Unlike many of the same
class, however, he was not reduced to
abieCt want, for the State Of Pennsyl-
vania. recognizing the benefits which
she had derived from his ingenuity and
enterprise, granted him pension,
which has been The support of himself
and family now for several years.
1t was by the mcrest accident that
Col, brakes attention was first directed
80 the value Of petroleum, in 1858.
Half century before that date old Nat
Carey had pcddled the peculiar oil
which was skinned in small quantities
from the waters Of Oil Creek, and had
paraded its virtues rs 4 purgatiye and
liniment. lie called il Seneca oil, from
the fact that Red Jacket the Seneca
chief, had impaired to the whites the
secret of its powers. Its fame rs n
medicinal agent was purely local. when
Carey, with Walls Of the staff, ploddcd
from hamlet to hamlet and established
demand fer it that brought him no
small profit. An attempt by Gen.
Franklin to Introduce this great natu-
raj medicine TO southern market lat
err on ended disastrously, the Baltimore
merchant to whom n wagon load Of 1t
was consigned dumping II into the
! Chesapeake bay, unable TO endure the
odor which it sent forth, and unwilling
| to believe that his southern customers
could accustOm themselves to the rem
edy, no matter what the nature Of their
ailments Northern patients, however,
took more kindly to it, but among them
even it was known more IS a iiniment
than as a medicine.
For several years, until 1858, a firm
in this city Twelfth d Bissell, had re-
ceived from Titusyille, Pa, about gal
lon of this oil n day, which, mixed with
other ingredients, they sold rs the then
celebrated Mustang Liniment," Their
supply Of oil was gathered in the very
primitive method Of dipping blankets
in a spring permeated With the article
and wringng them into pans. This
spring was owned by the firm, and
when they were unable to meet their
Indebtedness to persons in New Haven,
Conn, the latter took the Titusvllle
property in payment. This was IN
1883. Col. Drake was then a conductor
on the New York and New Haven rail
road. whose shrewduess had already
attracted the attention Of the owners Of
the newly acquired property 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 it, and that
fortune was in store for the man
who could secure it in any quantity.
lie suggested the idea that the oil
could be obtained in paying quantities
| by sinking well. He was laughed
at rs a lunatic by the Pennsylyanians.
Returning to New Haven he succeeded
in interesting some capitalist ~ the
novel theory, and in organizing the
Seneca OIL company, Of which he was
appointed manager In the spring OF