Year: 1862

Origin of the Petroleum Rock Oil Business


The case of French and others u.s. Brewer, be
ing bill for preliminary injunction to restra
defendant from taking oil from tract of land a
the head of Oil Creek, upon which the Drake wei
(the first ever sunk is located, developes SOM
interesting facts connected with the origin of tn
oil trade of Pennsylvania. The case was brough
before Judge Gner, of the U. S. Circuit Court a
Philadelphia, who refused to grant the injunction
leaving the case still undecided. From histor,
Of the suit, as published in the Legal Intelhgen
Ger, we take the following:


g In the beginning of the present century
stream was discovered not far from Meadville, il
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, upon the surface
of which, as of the smaller rivulets running into it
a species of oil frequently flowed, and to such az
extent, in some places, that when candle wa'
applied to the surface, the oil would ignite ant
blaze in a lamhent fame on the creek itself The
people in the neighbor of the stream. which was
now called Oil Creek, we're aware of this pecvl
iarity of the water; but the population, therea
bouts, was sparse in those days, and no great dea
of mineralogica science was applied to the sub
ject. The schoolmaster called it a phenomenon,
and This was regarded by the learned as full and
lucid explanation of the matter.


"The Indians, it is said, had known this pecul-
arity of the stream, and applied the oil to surgi-
cal purposes in the cure of external injuries OF
Sores The early white settlers used it in the same
way, and also for domestic or farm purposes. 1t
flowed along with the waer-on its slrace-but
the descent of the water being rapid, and the
stream itself shallow, the only mode in which the
people could get the oil separated from the water
was ~ making little bitches or pits alongside Of
the creek, and drawing off a certain amount of the
water of the stream into :hem This being left
in a state of stagnaton the oil would soon collect
in a coagulated form on the surface when ne
women would go out and inserting blankets un-
der the water, raise them and secure the oil ; the
blankets being porous enough to let the water
flow through them, but sufficiently close to retain,
till they could empty it, the thicker substance CT
the oil.


Enough oil was obtained in this way to make
it worth while for the farmers and others in the
neighborhood occasionally to go through this
somewhat laborious process of getting it; but the
oil never became in those days a subject of much
value or Of any commerce. Sometime, however,
in the spring of 1858, person named Edwin L.
Drake residing at Titusve, town on the creek,
conceived that the oil must be mineral substance,
some way connected with coal formations; and
that it probably came from great depth below
the creek, and through some assures in the rocky
formation from coal strata on the adjoining lands
and, therefore, that it could be far better got by
boring on the lands themselves. His conjecture
proved to be right, and led the way to a branch
of industry which, in five years, has, in Western
Pennsylvania, become an immense one. covering
whole regions from Lake Erie TO the Ohio, with
operations in what is now called Petroleum. or


Rock OIL In the case above referred to-
which was bill in equity to restrain certain per-
sons from boring on some lands for this oil
Drake was examined as a witness, and his ac-
count may deserve perretuation. 1t was in these
words:


Ihat some time IN the lore part OF 1905, the
deponent entered upon the lands which are the
subject of this bill for the purpose of gathering
oil, and developing the same that he at great
expense during that and the following year, sunk,
by boring the first well that was known for OBJ
tanning oil in that region of the country. That
this method was wholly unknown previous there
to that in consequence of this, and the want Of
proper implements to operate with, and the ne
cessity of obtaining new patents for these, and es
pecally for iron pipe or driving to the rock, a
very great expense was incurred, amounting at
least to $4,000, in establishing the first well
that this proved successful in obtaining large guam
titles of OIL


A AFoRTY-SHooTER.-The forty-shooter, invent
cd hv Row Mr. Mooro Of Toma--a ,arfacf linn