The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-09-19
By CmAKLEs ~ nNIMEs-


! purposes, a study of fhu carl, ms
tory OF petroleum becomes Intense
ly interesting.
II those OF ue who 1.-Two iu the CEN
ter of tho OF activities of the world
only realize thai We yuiuv the first
| fruits of an industry which has
! brought more prorross to lnc human
Trace during Tho past years ,har any
other industry has done since history
began, We will unite 10 make the
Drake Memorial day here "a crowning
success.
It Is generally believed that the
b. Drake well furnished the first crude
oil that was found iu this country
this is an erroneous belief. The
early history Of 1927 which IS found
In the rtuorf of % French missionary
D. tho drilling OF the Drake well In
1859 is very frasrantary and uusatis-
factory yet the drilling ut the oil
springs in Sew York. Pennsylvania
and Ohio is mentioned tn moro than
thirty missionary and army Officers
reports, journals, books, etc, pub
lishcd nj various times from the wear
1927 and following In 17S3 Gen
( Ural BENJAMIN Lincoln. in a letter
/ ~ Rev Joseph Willard, president
Of the University Of Cambridge, SAYS;
: In the northern parts OF PcnnsNl-
Nania there IS creek called OIL
creek. which cmptor itself into the
! Allegheny river, issuing from a
spring. on tho top of which floats
an oil similar 20 what is called
! Barharocs tar, and from which may
he collected by one man several gal
IONS I'm dav Tho troops I'm march
tng that way. halted at the spring,
collected tho oil and hathcd their
,oints with II This gave them great
Irell,f. AMI freed them immediatclN
from tho rheumatic complaints with
which many Of them were affected,
The troops drank freely Of the
watcrs--,hey operated AS gentle
purge"
The first Gazcttcor OF the United
states which was published In 1893,
referring to Allegheny county "a
saws. In this countyNis oil creek
! # flows from a spring much cclc-
byatcd for bitumcn, resembling Bar
badocs tar. and IS known by~~jhe
name OF Seneca oil. II is found In
lruch plenty that a man may gamer
pcvcral gallons in a dav. II Is said
D To be a sovereign remedy for various
con,plnints Pittsburgh contains a
postofficr and about 200 dwellings.
/ Around the oil springs OF western
. PENNSYLVANIA and southwestern ONO,
we're found many holes or pits dug In
! he ground witch were called 'pl'
Iholcs" These were generally about
six fcet wide. eight feet long ana
son. cwhere as much as two.ve feet
in depth. Somc OF these were
curhed WITH stones and logs TO pre-
wont tho walls Of dirt from cavinr
ut Is evident that these holes were dug
for he purposc Of collecting oil from
oil snpns Tho origin Of these pits
as first discovered Is unknown but
hv some writers. they are attributed
! TO the French who occupied ihis
territory prior 20 the French and In,
diar war II X generally conceded
however that their origin tx WNS,
terry and that they We're coustructei
long before there were any white Se'-
Elements in tris section The rea-
son for this diversity OF opinion -
that some Of these were crihbed WIN
lora from which the bark had been
removed and which had boon cut ap-
narontIv with n sharp instrument
and over whicA trees werC found
growing ne early rs iSi5 which
were eighteen inches In diameter.
yscd Bv Indians.
The Seneca Indi11s occupied thi'
section of the country and thoV
made free use Of this oil for modi-
. cinol und other purposes. u ~ re-
norted that IN the celebration or
como Of their religious ritcs they
would burn this oil after collecting
! same I'm quantities. II was firsl
known as Seneca oil.
This oil WIS collected I'm the fol-
,oyln, manner, A pit would be-
dug near an oil spring this would
Nl with water an1 oil, he oil would
collect on the surface ~ tho water,
-, blanket or \ flannel shirt was
/ thrn dropped over the oil which soon
/ became saturated and It was thon
vvrt,np into n tub Cr barrel ana
tho operation repeated.
| The first shipment ~ oil was 10
pittsburgh about 70 miles lom th1
/ oil sprinCs There were 'wo or
these springs locatcd about four or
4 five hundred fcct apart near the SIG
! Of the Drake well. A Mr.. Cary col
I.cctod two F-gnllon kegs nf OIL put
Z one I'm each ord ot n sack, ond thlH
thrown across the shoulders Of his
horse he carried on horseback 10
] Pittsburgh and traded ihom tor gro
ccrics. This was approNim.tcly IN
the vcnr 1900.
/ In tho wear 1902 ono General sam
lucl Javs was lhe first man TO get q
/ corner or the oil market ana bnuRh'
/ the entire production for The wear
which amounted 10 1G barr oIs. rms
oil brought him about 81 per sa'-
| ION
From tho time Of tho discovery
~ oil and gas there seemed 10 be
Ian inuuivc feeling rrcVailnG
among the settlers that this was
resource Of nature that should De
/ come "A servant 90 mankind