The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-01-03
he Ee,s and ln's''lssneer.
BEL AIR, MD. JAMS 1901
SEARCHING FOR OIL.
PERSEVERANCE, OF THE MAN WHO
SET TO WORK TO FIND 1T.

lutte Poverty.
idea, but he managed to use it to such
advantage that he added $4,000. 100000
10 the Industrial wealth of the United
States. lie was the man who drilled the
first oil well in Pennsylvania. A hand
some tomb in Woodlawn cemetery in Ii
tusville is the final resting place of the
remains of Colonel Drake.
The actual story of the first oil well
has never, in my opinion, been told.
Fragments of the truth have been CIV
en-, with additions of more or less roman
tic error aud there have been many sto-
RIGS published which have been entirely
false. / have endeavored in this article
to relate only facts which can be vouched
for, and in the task of digging them up
am indebted to J. A. Mather and NJ. n.
Allen OF Titusville for much valuable as
sistance.
One bright spring morning in the year
1857 a tall, dark bearded man wearing
the uniform Of a railway conductor ap-
peared at the Office OF Eveeth & Bssell
at New Haven and purchased 800 shares
of stock in a newly organized company
| having for its object the gathering and
sale of oil in western Pennsylvania.
Along the banks of Oil creek crude pc
troleum had been found. and the excite
mcnt was still high when the New Haven
capitalists organized their company.
Rock oil, or coal oil, as II Is sometimes
enormously called, was obtained from
natural springs or from broad trenches
dug in oil bearing soil. These trenches
were from four TO six feet deep and were
allowed to fill with oil and water that
oozed from the soil. The oil, being lighter
than the water, rose to the top and was
absorbed in wooden blankets especially
made for the purpose. practice borrow
ed from the Indians, who had long used
petroleum MS a l:nirlent. Another proc
ess was known as dipping" The oil and
water were dipped from trenches into
tubs, and when gravity had separated
the two liquids the oil was skinned Oh
OF else the water was drawn by means Of
vent in the bottom of the tub.
Mr. Drake believed that IL he could
pierce the rock stratum that lay below
the soil of the company's land oil would
gush forth. He was firmly convinced
that a subterranean lake Of oil existed
beneath the rockbed.
His conviction was based on study. Ge-
illogical formations had ever proved fas-
cinating to him, and he had spent much
of his spare time when q farmers helper
In pursuing this line of inquiry. He was
lacking in scientific training only.
Convincing the officers of the new oil
company that there was something" In
his plan of boring for oil. he went to the
district supplied with $1,000 for expert
ments.
He ordered q steam engine and after
much difficulty secured the services of an
experienced salt well driller. The arrival
OF the engine was long delayed, and after
waiting for several weeks the driller, be-
lieving that the colonel was a seer Of
visions. refused to have anything to do
with the enterprise. Thus the summer
wore away without any new develop
ments. The company lost faith in Drake
and his idea and refused to advance any
more money.
Titusville people had begun to believe
that Drake was a monomaniac. He
seemed to live on his one idea. Boys in
the street jeeced him and men tapped
their foreheads with their fingers as he
passed.
Early in the winter his money gave out,
and credit was refused him at the village
shops. He faced absolute poverty and
barely supported his family by doing odd
jobs. He kept a strong heart, however,
and his faith in the final outcome of his
project remained mistaken.
Early in the spring OF 1859 he succeed
ed in convincing two friends. r. D.
Fletcher and Peter Wilson of Titusville,
Of the soundness of his idea, and they
provided him with sufficient capital to re-
new his experiment.
He secured the services of William
Smith and his two sons of Tarentum,
who were practical salt well drillers.
They brought with them q complete out
fit of tools.
The soil along the banks of Oil creek
was porous and wafer soaked, and as fast
as the hole was made the soil crumbled.
and the well filled with mud. No prog
ress could be made. Although work was
at a stands,ill for a number of days.
brakes ingenuity soon showed itself. and
after many costly experiments he finally
hit upon plan to overcome the difficulty.
He secured cast iron pipes six inches in
diameter and endeavored to drive them
into the ground. The pipes, being too
light, were soon shattered by blows from
a battering ram which he devised. There
was another vexntious delay. and finally
a thicker piping was secured in lengths
of ten feet. These were readily driven
into the soft earth, one pipe on top OF an
other, until they came In contact with the
rock. Drake had solved the problem.
On Thursday. Aug. 25. the drill began
to pound through solid rock. and on the
following Saturday 1t found its way into
a crevice In the stratum. and the tools
were withdrawn. Indications on the bit
showed the presence of oil, but the well
was not 'gusher," as Drake expected.
Though disappointed, he waited a couple
of hours for the well to flow. 1t was only
sixty-nine feet deep. He intended to drill
deeper. Smith lived In a shanty not far
from the WE'LL aud early Sunday morn
ing he went on an errand TO the tool
house. near the derrick, when ne heheld a
sight that brought Joy to his heart The
long sought for amber fluid was bubblinG
over the piping of the well. saturating
the floor OF the derrick and soaking into
the ground. Crude petroleum was worth
over dollar a gallon at that time. and
Smith was wild over the waste.-John