Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-08-07
OIL centennial
Edwin |. Drake Drilled First
Oil Well Near TituSViIle
in 1859.
How Enormous Has Been Its Growth
Is Seen From the Production OF
1,1S6, ,0OO, 900 Gallons in This
Country i'm 1907.

Country in 1907.
Meadville, Pa, August 5.-The
semi-centennial of the founding ol
the great oil industry of the United
States by Edwin L. Drake, who drilled
the first oil we'll near Titusville in
1859 was celebrated today by the oil
men uf thi, county, in connection
with the annual picnic and outing OF
the Western Pennsylvania Pipe Line
Assoc'a ion at Conneaut Lake. Weeks
ago the managers of theOuting had
sent invitations to hundreds of oil
men throh out the country and q
large number of them came to attend
the celebration. Among them were
many of the leading oil men of Ohio:
.ndian4, Kentucky, Illinois and Okla
holna, who had gained their first
Knowledge of the oil business in and
around fhe Titusville oil basin
Edwin L. Drake, although justly
famous as the founder of the oil in
dustry in this country, was not the
discoverer of oil. From time imme-
mortal the Indians had obtained oil
for medicinal purposes from the val
ley Of Oil Creek, near Titusville
where the oil in many places rose to
the surface or exuded from the porous
rock. Even before the time of the
Indians the mysterious mound-build-
ers knew of the existence of oil and
it is known that they dug deep wells
to collect the oil, which they proba
bly, used for no other than medicinal
purposes.
The early settlers of Pennsylvania
found oil in many places in the Oil
Greek valley and it's vicinity and used
<crude and primitive methods to col
1ect oil from springs and wells, to sell
it as liniment, put up in bottles and
labeled Harlem OIL "Rock Oil"
Seneca Oil,' etc. The oil which was
found only in small quantities was
worth eighty cents a gallon where 1t
was found and 81 a gallon in the East
where it was sold in drug stores.
In 1854 a lawyer from Maine, by the
name of Eveleth, and man named
Bissell, who had been a school teach :
er in New Orleans, passed through
the Oil Creek region on their way
north. They became interested in the
oil and took samples with them to
New Haven. They submitted these
samples to Professor Benjamin Silli-
man to test the oil for it's value as
lubricant and for Illuminating pur-
poses, in place of sperm oil. The re-
port which he submitted in the fol
lowing year was so favorable that
Eveleth and Bissell and several 9TH
ers formed. under the laws of New
York, a joint stock company, called
<'The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Compa
ny" which company purchased in fee
simple all the land on Oil Greek, upon
The company also leased for ninety
nine years all the lands, which We're
supposed to contain oil.
In 1856 the company sublet the land
to parties in New York who were to
develop the property and pay a roy
Oil produced, to the company. Dur
ing the hard times of 1857 the New
York contractors became financially
involved and unable to carry out the
contract Taking advantage of Il
slight flaw in the deed they surren-
dered the land to the Pennsylvania
Rock Oil Company. James M. Town
send, one of the stockholders, who
lived in New Haven, conceived the
idea of examining the property, anu
If it was found as reported, to assume
the leases surrendered by the New
York parties.
Mr.. Townsend engaged Edwin L.
Drake, formerly conductor on the
New York and New Haven Railroad
who had been compelled to give ull
his position on account of bad health.
to go to Pennsylvania to investigate
the situation Drake sent a favorablg
report and Towsend organized new
company with salary of $1,000 a
year and established himself on Oh
Greek. The first crude attempts tx
gather the oil were not very success
full, and at last, upon brakes advice.
it was decided to bore for oil
The work was begun in 1859 an
progressed but slowly. After $4,000.
had been expended on boring withou
result, the company decided to aban
don the work, but just then oil wa:
struck and it rose in the bore hole t.
within five feet of the surface. 1t hse
to be pumped from the well and th'
supply seemed inexhaustible. Th.
company was in a fair degree to be
come rich, when the works were de
stroyed by an explosion of gas in TIL
wen. which ignited the oil. In tn