Omaha daily bee., 1897-02-21

efforts of James NJ. Townsend, a New Haven,
Conn, investor in the stock Of the original
company, there was a reorganization in
the name of the Seneca Oil company. The
land of the Pennsylvania company was sub
leased on a royalty to the new organization.
The latter sought to develop the property by
means of trenches and other crude methods,
but was unsuccessful. At this j%uncture Mr..
Bissell happened to notice in the window
of a New York drug store a circular de-
scriptiye of a bottled preparation called
"Kier's Petroleum" which came from salt
wells at Tarentum, Pa, and had been put
up by S. NJ. Kier, a Pittsburg reflner. The
circular set forth that the fluid was found
at a depth of several hundred feet in sink
ing the salt wells. 1t had been encountered
but, as it's real value was not then recoG-
nized, it was considered a nuisance to be
gotten rid Of in the best available way with
out spelling the salt wells, Just as the strik-
ing of salt water subsequently in the dill
ing of oil wells became a similar annoy
ance.
OIL AT LAST.
This incident suggested to Mr.. Bissell the
idea of drilling into the rock for oil. The
other stockholders were favorably impressed
with the suggestion, and on May l, 1858. the
company sent to Titusville, to take charge
of its work, Colonel Edwin l.. Drake, who
had been a railroad conductor at New Haven,
Conn, and was a small investor in the oil
stocks. His salary was to be $1,000 a year,
and the company had provided him with
1000 with which to go ahead with the work
of sinking a well. The little village afforded
but few of the necessary equipments for the
work, and the nearest railroad station, Erie,
Pa, was forty miles away.
Presently his funds were exhausted, and
the company, losing faith In the enterprise,
and becoming Indifferent, failed to advance
him more money. 1t was then that Colonel
Ilrn kp'g tTnmhlng hogan The 6TllIpTg he had
engaged failed to appear. This was due
in part to the report spread over the regions
that Drake was crazy in believing that oil
would be found by drilling into the rock.
But his faith on this point was unshaken,
after his study of the salt wells and other
Investigations. Ridicule, coupled with i'm
putations of insanity, only served to intensity
his determination to demonstrate that the
theory was correct. During that summer
and the succeeding fall, winter and spring his
experience was like that OF many another
experience before and since, of moneyless
custodians OF an idea, derided at the time,
but destined subsequently to become famous.
1t was not until the middle of June, 1859,
that he was able to proceed with the we'll.
He was enabled to do so then, not through
any aid rendered by the company, but
through the sympathetic personal assistance
of X. ID. Fletcher and Peter Wilson of Titus
vile, who provided him with local credit
and Endorsed at a Meadville bank about
NM ihllN III ~ IapNA OA
which he raised the necessary funds to go
ahead with the we'll. Uncle Billy Smith
and his two sons, d~rillers from the Tarentum
salt well regions, came on to take charge
Of that part Of the work, which was done at
that time by old sprlng-pole process. On
Saturday, August 2S, 1859, the drill at the
3hallow depth Of sixty-nine and one
half feet, about thirty-hye feet in
he rock, dropped into a creyice as
the days work was being finished, and the
tools nara RplIaH M until Monday mnTn-
ing. The following day. Sunday, the senior
d%riller. Uncle Billy" took a stroll down to
the well and saw what Seemed to be oil
within a few feet Of the top. He dipped an
improvised bailer Into the we'll and 1t came
up filled with petroleum. Thus was the first
oil we'll conceived and completed. AS has
been indicated. 1t was not the first ~artesian
well In which oil was found, but it was the
first we'll sunk for oil.
BOON DAYS.
The period in which the high tide mark
was reached in the regions. in the volume