Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-02-16
pErao1Eum or nooK OIL.
Beginning of The Oil Enterprise
TheF1rst Company Started i'm NeWH
observation-disclosures the World.

of The Oil Enterprise |
TheFirst Company Started i'm NewHa- |
Observation-Disclosures the World.
In an obituary notice of g. H Bissell, of |
New York, in the 81 Venango Spectator"
we find an allusion to an enterprise in which |
some of our citizens were engaged some thir-
ty years ago, and in which notice, after
speaking of Mr.. Bissells character, etc., the
article says:
The Pennsylvania Rock Oil company was
organized in New Haven, Conn. It was the
first petroleum company in the United States.
Eveleth & Bissell owned or controlled the
most of the stock In the spring of 1855
Professor Silliman, of Yale college, was en-
p1oyed by Eveleth 6 Bissell to make a thor
ough analysis of the oil. Professor Silliman's
report, published in the autumn of 1855, at
once called public attention to the CONNER
cial value of petroleum and led to the reor-
ganization of the company formed in 1884.
There was a want of harmony between the
New York and New Haven stockholders.
Messrs. Eveleth & Bissel1 then went to New
York and opened law Office.
One of the largest stockholders of the COM
pany was Mr.. James M. Townsend, of New
Haven. Mr.. T. organized a new company,
based upon the land bought and leased, and
deriving its powers from the old company.
In December, 1857, a man whom Mr.. Town
send had known as conductor on the New
Haven railroad, came to Mr.. Townsend look
ing very i'll. He had suffered with a fever of
malarial type and had been compelled to
leave the road. To this man Mr.. Townsend
proposed mission to the wilds of Oil Greek,
to see if anything could be made out of the
land and leases of the Rock Oil company. He
was promised salary of thousand dollars
year and was furnished with thousand
dollars of working capital to commence ope-
ratiOOs This man was r. T, Drake who
was henceforth to bear the title of Colonel,
designation furnished by the Yankee
shrewdness of Townsend.
On the goth of August, 1859, after many
struggles and impediments, the then village
of Titusville was electrified by the jewellers
along tho creek rushing into the town scream
ing to every one they met, sEThe Yankee has
struck oil p That strike was the real begin
ming of the oil business, an industry that has
added millions upon millions to the worlds
wealth, made millionaires of paupers, and
paupers of milllonaires, and extended its
ramifications to every quarter of the GLOBE
In subsequent issue of the Spectator we
End the following:
THE FIRST OIL WELL.
''In 1857 Capt. G. H. Townsend, then in
command of an ocean steamer, plying be-
tween New York and Havre, took q small
bottle of crude petroleum with him-proba
bly, the first ever taken to Europe-and had
it analysed by eminent French chemist.
The report of the chemist was: eff that oil
can be gathered in quantity enough, its illu-
ninating and lubricating qualities are such
that for those purposes it will revolutionize
the world Hon. James NJ Townsend,
brother of Capt. G. II. Townsend, was the
man who sent Drake to Titusville, not with
a free commission, but under special direc-
ton to do what he did do-bore for OIL If
Drake had failed the loss of the adventure
would have been the loss of Mr. Townsend.
He was responsible-the furnisher of the
means to carry on the work undertaken by
Drake, who was in fact his foreman. 1t is
more than right that Mr.. T. should have
at least a full share of the honor of a pioneer
in developing the great product which has
''revolutionized the world.' If General
Grant captured Vicksburg, Mr.. Townsend
county.
At the time wheA the Seneca Oil company
through their agent, E. S. Drake, "struck
oil' there great excitement and an arti-
Gle describing the same appeared in the JOUR-
NAL AND COURIER on the 25th of October,
1859, of which the following is part:
CROCK OIL"
''We announced month or two ago that
E. S. Drake, formerly of this city, had dis
covered in Pennsylvania spring of rock oil
or petroleum which yielded SO abundantly as
to promise handsome fortune. Mr. Drake
is the agent of the Seneca Oil company, Or
ganized in this city about two years ago, and
which leased OF company previously exist
ing here lands near Titusville, Crawford coun-
ty, Pa, which was known to have these
springs upon them. The company proceeded
to bore for oil and after some discourage
ments, at last, at the bottom of a seventy
foot shaft, struck spring which forced the
oil up to within five feet of the surface.
With common pump this vein yielded five
hundred gallons Of oil day, and with a
force pump the yield is from 900 to 1 200
gallons, which brings in its raw state 80
cents a gallon on the ground or a dollar gal
Ion in the eastern market. The oil is used
for illuminating and 1ubricating purposes
and has given the highest satisfaction. x ~
Having seen Mr.. Townsend as to the above
he said that while at his suggestion the Sene-
ca Oil company was formed to take the lease
from the Pennsylvania Rock Oil company, he
recommended employing Mr. Drake as agent
to develop the same under instructions from
the company, and that in the main the arti-
cles copied are true; still he did not wish to
take the entire credit of the development or
enterprise. The company which developed
this enterprise was the Seneca Oil company,
of New Haven, Conn, who appointed and
hired Mr. Drake as their agent to go to Penn
sylvania in 1857 to develop their oil lands,
but that it was two years before the compa-
ny 'sstruck oil' or it was produced in any
great quantity. Before a market was OBJ
tanned for the oil it was stored in large tanks.
At that time it was not known that it was
necessary to Cube the well' to carry off the
'gas,' ,; and one night the engineer went into
the s'tank house" with a lantern, the gas be-
ing brought in contact with the flame, an ex-
plosion was the result Oil, buildings,
everything was burned except the hole in the
ground. This being in the fall of the year
and being so far from supplies necessary to
rebuild, it was spring before the company
were able to produce oil, and by that time
the oil wells had multiplied and the produc-
ton so much greater than the decrease that
the oil went from one dollar gallon to one
dollar barrel, and for time the company
ceased developing. This is the beginning of
the great enterprise which has developed the
great product which has 'trevolutionized the
world"