The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1902-01-11
OIL INDUSTRIES BIRTH.
3. l. DRAKE DRILLED The f'Hs
WELL m PENNSYLVANIA.

WELL m PENNSYLVANIA.
a Man Of One Idea Wwo Added Two Biz
lion Dollars TO the Industrial Wealth o.
the United sratss-Histovy Of His Early
Struggles.
| The beginning of the oil industry IN
the United States forms the subject OF
, an article in the industrial number OF
Success John McGraw, Jr., the author:
| who is a resident of Titusville, Penn,
where the first we'll was sunk by Colonel
Edward L. Drake, tells its history. The
following is condensed version:
| Edward L. Drake was man OF one
idea. but he managed to use it to such
advantage that he added two billion dol
lars to the industrial wealth OF the
United States. He was the man who
drilled the first oil we'll in Pennsylvania.
The Standard Oil Company, in reoogni-
ton of this service to mankind in gen.
eral. and to that corporation in particu-
| lar. has recently erected handsome
tomb in Woodlawn Cemetery, in Titus
Vile, as final resting place for the r.
mains of Colonel Drake.
One bright spring morning in the year
1857, a tall, dark-bearded man, wearing
the uniform of a railway conductor, ap-
yeared at the Office of Eveleth and Bis
sell, at New Haven. and purchased five
| hundred shares of stock in the newly
organized company having for its object
the gathering and sale of oil in western
PENNSYLVANIA. Along the banks of Oh.
Creek, crude petroleum had been found,
and the excitement was still high when
the New Haven capitalists organized
their company.
Mr.. Drake believed that, if he couli
pierce the rock stratum that lay below
the soil of the company's land, oil would
push forth. He was firmly convinced
that a subterranean lake of oil existed
beneath the rock-bed.
His conviction was based on study
, Geological formations had ever proved
. fascinating to him, and he had spen;
! much of his spare time, when farmer
. helper, in pursuing this line OF inquiry
. He was lacking in scientific training
only
i Convincing the officers of the new OF
company that there was something II
his plan Of boring for oil, he went to th'
district supplied with one thousand dol
lars for experiments.
4, He ordered a steam engine, and, aftei
much difficulty, secured the services O
an experienced salt well driller. he ar
8 rival of the engine was long delayed
and. after waiting for several weeks, tn
:, driller, believing that the colonel was
seer of visions, refused to have any
!, thing to do with the enterprise. Thu
4 the summer wore away without any new
: developments. The company lost falt!
4 in Drake and his idea, and refused t
: advance any more money.
Titusville people had begun to believ
. that Drake was a monomaniac. I'll
4 seemed to live on his one idea.
Early in the winter his money CAV
6 out. and credit was refused him at tn
- village shops. He faced absolute pov
!. erty, and barely supported his fanil
. by doing odd jobs. He kept stron
heart, however, and his faith in the fina
J. outcome of his project remained uil
l. shaken.
e Early in the spring of 1852 he sue
= ceeded in convincing two friends, K. |
g Fletcher and Peter Wilson, OF Titusvill'
% of the soundness of his idea, and the
C provided him with sufficient capital .
r renew his experiment.
p He secured the services of Williaf
Il Smith and his two sons, of Tarentun
IS who were practical salt-well driller
" They brought with them complete out
f. fit of tools.
re The soil along the banks of Oil Cree
II was porous and water-soaked, and, .
e fast as the hole was made, the so
ID crumbled and the we'll filled with mu'
re No progress could be made. Althoug
N work was at standstill for numbe
lie of days, brakes ingenuity soon shove
ID itself, and, after many costly exper
e. ments, he finally hit upon plan
i'd overcome the difficulty. He secured ca
n iron pipes, six inches in diameter, an
A. endeavored to drive them into tt
re ground. The pipes, being too light. wei
III soon shattered by blows from Bate
e. ingram which he devised. There W;
If another vexatious delay, and, finally,
De | thicker piping was secured in length
re of ten feet. These were readily drive
- into the soft earth, one pipe on top of al
TT other until they came in contact vii
of the rock. Drake had solved the pro-
ly lem. Crude petroleum was worth f'
re dollars a gallon at that time.