who first successfully used a steam engine to remove oil from beneath earths surface
American settlers had little use for oil. In the 1840s, Americans began using kerosene to light lamps after the Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner discovered how to distill the fuel from oil or coal. It wasnât until 1859, however, when Edwin L. Drakesuccessfully used a steam engine to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania, that removing oil from beneath the earthâs surface became practical. This breakthrough started an oil boom that spread to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and, later, Texas. Petroleum-reï¬ning industries arose in Cleveland and Pittsburgh as entrepreneurs rushed to transform the oil into kerosene. Gasoline, a byproduct of the reï¬ning process, originally was thrown away.