USA > New York > Allegany County > A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York > Part 17
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2. ALMA .- Turning northeast and southwest, this pool covers perhaps 30 lots in Alma. It is directly connected by light territory to the large pool No. 1. It is known to producers as the 106 or South Alma district. though
146
HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
this lot lies in its northern edge. The drilling varies in depth from 1,100 to 1,300 feet. From 15 to 30 feet of sand are found. It has been estimated that the pool now produces about 150 barrels of oil daily. Good gas territory has been developed to the southwest.
3. ALMA POST OFFICE .- The few small wells in this district are separated by a dry streak from the Alma pool proper. Only from 10 to 20 feet of sand is found at a depth of from 800 to 1,500 feet.
4. CLARKSVILLE AND NILE .- These pools have been described by Mr. D. A. Van Ingen as follows: "Clarksville and Nile pools are only about one- half a mile apart and can almost be considered as one, in spite of the dry streak between. The former covers 15 lots in the towns of Clarksville and Wirt, and the latter 6 lots in the northern part of Wirt. Clarksville was first drilled in 1883, while Nile dates one year earlier. The wells are from 1,000 to 1.500 feet deep, and yielded when first 'shot' from 5 to 25 barrels a day, but are now producing only about half a barrel. The oil sand is thicker in Clarksville than in Nile. Gas pressure is light."
5. ANDOVER .- The Mutual Gas Company of Andover, in its search for natural gas in 1889, discovered oil in paying quantities in this district, which lies in Greenwood, Steuben county, as well as in Andover. It is a better gas than oil field, though the pool is now producing 50 barrels of petroleum daily. The depth of wells varies from 800 to 1,300 feet.
6. WAUGH AND PORTER .- This district now covers seven lots in South Bolivar, and is particularly interesting because of the character of the oil and oil-bearing rock there found. The first well was the old Waugh and Porter, from which the pool and its characteristic sand is named. This was completed June 27, 1881, on lot 34. Gas was found from 1,300 to 1,318 feet deep; slate from 1,318 to 1,330; oil rock, mixed, 1,330 to 1,345; rich oil rock, 1,350 to 1,375. The oil-bearing rock and the oil discovered were of an entirely different nature than the sand and oil found in all other parts of the field, and known as the "Richburg." The rock was also discovered below where the "Richburg " should have been. This gave rise to much inter esting discussion and to a hope (entertained to this day) of finding in other parts of the field a sand similar to the Waugh and Porter, beneath the Rich-
burg. Scientific theorists, members of the U. S. Geological Survey, ardently combatted this conclusion, and proved to their own satisfaction that the "Waugh and Porter " was the same as the "Richburg " sand, which all agree is like the Bradford, Pa., sand. Practical experience, how- ever, has demonstrated differently. In the Transit Oil Company's No. 7, as well as in other wells on lot 26, two distinctly different oil sands have been found, averaging a distance of 185 feet apart. The upper one is the " Rich- burg" sand, producing the dark-green petroleum. The lower one is the Waugh and Porter, producing the characteristic amber oil, so transparent that print may be read through it. Colonel Rufus Scott has kindly furnished the following record of the Transit Oil Co.'s last well on lot 26, South Bolivar: "Top of the Richburg sand 1,307 feet from surface; bottom of Richburg
147
OIL AND GAS.
sand 1,318; gas from 1.426 to 1.475; top of Waugh and Porter sand 1,475, bottom of first strata 1.485, slate to 1,493, mixed sand and shell to 1,520; lower strata Waugh and Porter rich oil sand 1,520 to 1,537; well finished at 1,555. Completed Sept. 3, 1895, and produced naturally to Nov. 11, when it was torpedoed." The Transit Company have " shot " several wells in both the Richburg and Waugh and Porter sands. The Waugh and Porter sand bears a striking resemblance to the Ormsby, Pa., oil-bearing rock, which is like that of the Kane, Pa., region. It may be that the South Bolivar pool is a northeasterly outcrop of the Ormsby rock.
The hard, homogenous character of the Allegany, called also Richburg sand, gives rise to the remarkable longevity of production already noted. Thirty wells on the Reed farm in Bolivar have already produced $1,000,000 worth of oil and will no doubt continue to produce for ten years to come. Riley Allen has 8 wells at Allentown. drilled 12 years ago, that produced 2,000 barrels of oil last year. The old Waugh and Porter well, 14 years old, now the property of the Transit Oil Co., is a valuable producing well to-day.
A representative section of the rocks of the field is afforded by the fol- lowing accurate record of O. P. Taylor's Triangle Well, No. 1, lot 4, Scio:
1825
I. Clay, sand and gravel.
100 to
100=1725
2. Dark gray shale ..
30 to
130=1695
3. White sandstone and shale.
40 to
170=1655
4. Red shale and sandstone.
15 to
185-1640
5. Chocolate shale.
5 to
190 == 1635
6. Red sandstone and shale.
16 to
206=1619
7. Chocolate shale and sandstone.
4 to
210=1615
8. Gray sandstone containing water
8 to
218=1607
9. Gray sandstone.
12 to
230=1595
IO. Red sandstone
6 to
236=1589
II. Gray slate
30 to
266=1559
12. Gray shale.
14 to
280=1545
13. White shale and sandstone.
3 to
283= 1542
14. Gray shale
4 to
287= 1538
16. Dark gray sandstone.
7 to
298 == 1527
17. Gray slate.
30 to
328=1497
18. Light gray shale.
20 to
348 == 1477
19. Gray slate containing sand shales.
21 to
369 == 1456
20. Light gray slate ..
79 to
448= 1377
21. Gray shale, containing fragments of fossils.
4 to
452=1373
22. Soft gray slate.
31 to
483=1342
23. Argillaceous sandstone.
22 to
505-1320
24. Gray shale
30 to
535=1290
25. Gray shale containing fragments of fossils.
4 to
539=1286
26. Red shale.
I to
540= 1285
27. Gray slate.
52 to
592=1233
28. Gray shale containing fossil remains.
4 to
596 == 1229
29. Gray slate.
21 to
617=1208
30. Gray shale, containing fossil remains.
I to 618=1207
47 to 665=1160
32. Gray sandstone.
40 to
705=1120
33. Dark gray shale and slate.
So to
785=1040
34. Gray slate, containing fragments of fossils .. .
61 to
846= 979
35. Gray sandy shale, containing fragments of fossils.
9 to
855= 970
36. Gray shale.
120 to
975= 850
37. Gray sandstone containing oil and salt water.
20 to 995= 830
38. Gray shale
114 to 1109= 716
39. Soft gray sandstone, top of oil sand.
40. Harder gray sandstone.
17 to 1143= 682
41. Soft gray sandstone, bottom of oil sand.
10 to 1153= 672
42. Gray shale and slate.
24 to 1177= 648
Total depth of well
1177 feet.
15. Gray sandstone.
4 to
291=1534
Well mouth above ocean in feet.
17 to 1126= 699
31. Soft gray shale.
148
HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
The top of this well is 625 feet below the bottom of the Olean conglome- rate, making the distance between the top of the Allegany oil-sand in this well and the Olean conglomerate 1734 feet. The lower 525 feet of this inter- val of 625 feet is occupied by gray shale and slate and sandstone; above this occurs the sub-Olean conglomerate, which is the middle member of the Pocono sandstone, ranges from 30 to 40 feet thick, and occurs immediately below the gray shale representing the upper part of the Pocono sandstone, and the red shale representing the Mauch Chunk red shale. (An outcrop of the sub-Olean conglomerate may be seen facing the Genesee river a. mile and a half north of Wellsville; and another outcrop, also facing the Genesee, exists 6 miles south of Wellsville).
REFINING PETROLEUM .- The preparation of refined products from petroleum may be thus briefly described: The crude oil as it comes from the wells is subjected first to a process of distillation in large iron stills. The most volatile products of the oil pass off first in the form of vapor, which condenses by passing through coils of iron pipe surrounded by cold water; from these pipes are collected the naptha, benzine and other products. After these lighter products come from the still, the burning oil or kerosene next passes off; this illuminating oil is subsequently followed by the heavier lubricating oils containing paraffine; there remains in the iron still, finally, a small residuum composed principally of tar and coke. The special distillate known as kerosene, which is designed for illuminating oil, is then subjected to the action of sulphuric acid, which removes the odor and color which it possesses and also destroys the smell of the small amount of tar which it sometimes contains. The oil is then treated with caustic soda in order to neutralize the last traces of the acid; it is then frequently subjected to a higher temperature in order to expel a small percentage of benzine which it often contains, the removal of which makes the kerosene a safer illuminant. Thus prepared it is known as the kerosene oil of commerce. The details of the process of refining vary, not only on account of the composition of the crude oil which is treated, but also from the character of the special product which it is desired to manufacture. Although the ordinary kerosene oil of commerce is the principal product which is manufactured out of petroleum, yet the multitude of similar products which are used in the industrial arts require that the details of the general process of refining shall be modified to meet special wants of the consumer.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIELD .- No active search was made for oil until after Colonel Drake's discovery of it in paying quantites at Titusville, Pa., in 1859. In 1862 a well was drilled at Bradford, Pa., but a few miles south of the state line. Subsequently several wells were drilled in this state north of Bradford. Explorations were then made in an unsystematic way in this county. The first well of which we have any record was drilled at Independ- ence in 1865 by a stock company, and a slight showing of oil and gas was obtained in a thin sandstone about 300 feet above what afterwards proved to be the Allegany oil rock. The next well was drilled a year or two later by
149
OIL AND GAS.
Tadder & Co., with similar results. In 1878 two other wells were put down in Independence. The discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the Brad- ford district in 1874, and its active development, which commenced in the latter part of 1875, stimulated drilling in the entire surrounding region. In September, 1877, the Honeoye or Alma well, on lot No. 26, South Alma town- ship, familiarly known as the "old wildcat," because of the stuffed animal of that species that adorned the top of its derrick, was commenced by the Wellsville and Alma Oil Company. It was finished in November by the pioneer contractor and driller Ben Thomas, to whose activity and faith in the eventual discovery of "paying " oil in Allegany is due much credit. This well was drilled 1,800 feet deep, cost $4,000, and proved a failure. At a depth of 500 feet considerable gas was found, which ultimately took fire and burned the derrick. At 1,000 feet a small amount of oil was obtained. A " shot " failed to increase the yield, and the well was finally abandoned. This well demonstrated the existence of an oil-bearing rock, and encouraged the immediate drilling of another well, on lot 118, South Alma, known as "Pikeville No. 1," which was completed in November, 1878. This, like the Honeoye well, was drilled by Ben Thomas. It was located by James Thorn- ton, A. A. Howard, T. F. Fisher, Ed. Gale, and George Howard, all of Wells- ville. James Thornton paid for building the derrick and contracted the drill- ing with Thomas. Before the well was completed stock was sold in the venture by the organization of the " Bottom Dollar Oil Company." Mr. O. P. Taylor "bought in " at this time. The oil rock was struck at a depth of 1,028 feet. It consisted of two beds 18 feet thick, separated by 7 feet of slate. By proper pumping the well would have been good for from 3 to 5 barrels a day. This yield was not then considered enough to pay, and the well was abandoned. On three sides of this old location wells are now being pumped daily.
In January, 1879, O. P. Taylor completed the Wycoff well, northeast of "Pikeville No. 1." It was situated on the north middle of lot 36, Alma. It had a showing of oil sand, but no oil, and was thought to demonstrate that oil would be found between the Honeoye and Pikeville wells. The next ven- ture was Taylor's celebrated "Triangle No. 1," completed June 12, 1879, on the Crandall farm, lot No. 4, Scio. 27 feet of superior oil rock was found, and, after being shot, the well filled up in an hour with 700 feet of oil, and proved to be the first flowing well struck in the county. The Elmira Gazette of June 21, 1879, published this news item from Wellsville: "There is no disguising the fact that oil has been found here and that in paying quantities. " Triangle Well' is located four and a half miles southwest from Wellsville. It was put down and is owned by O. P. Taylor. The well was commenced April 17th. At 985 feet a small salt water vein was found. At 1,109 feet the oil-bearing sand was reached, and passed at 1,153 feet. The drill stopped at 1,177. Thursday, June 12th, the well was 'torpedoed ' with a twenty-quart shot of glycerine, when the oil was sent from thirty to fifty feet over the derrick; later with an eight-quart shot, when the hole filled with 800 feet of
150
HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
oil. Saturday came the flow, since which time there has flowed between eight and ten barrels per day. The well is certainly a 'gusher,' and as I stood in the derrick yesterday watching the flow it came with force enough to make things tremble. Sunday brought a crowd. The place was named ' Triangle City.' Four lager beer stands were started, and the population numbered several hundred. Of course Wellsville is excited, and every man sees a fortune 'staring him in the face.' The town is filling up with strangers. Letters, telegrams and inquiries are pouring in. Look out for a great big city at Wellsville !" An exhaustive and accurate record of the geologic strata through which this well was drilled may be found in this chapter under the heading "Geology of Petroleum."
In the fall of 1879 the Longabaugh "dry hole " was completed, 400 rods north of "Triangle No. 1." The Brimmer Brook well, put down about the same time, by James Thornton, Hiram Coats, O. P. Taylor and A. S. Brown, was also a "duster." These failures stopped further drilling toward the north In the winter of 1879-80 Mr. Taylor completed a well on the Williams lot 200 rods east of "Triangle No. 1." It was considered a failure. Early in 1880 the well known "Shoff " well south of Pikeville was completed by the veteran Ben. Thomas, and proved a good producer. Taylor's "Triangle No. 2," on lot 4, Scio, was 800 feet south of No. 1, and 320 feet west of a line from Shoff to No. 1. It showed a good depth of oil rock and proved to be a ten. barrel well. Mr. Taylor, who up to this time had experienced the greatest of difficulty in obtaining financial aid, now easily obtained the funds neces- sary to drill "Triangle No. 3." This he located 2,500 feet south of No. 1. It was finished July 4, 1880, and produced 301 barrels the first month. That Allegany had a rich field was now no longer doubted by the Bradford oil men, who had been making all sorts of fun of the bold "wildcatters." Oil scouts and producers literally poured into Wellsville; which was then the oil country's base of supplies.
The discovery, however, of the extension of the field to the south by the completion of the old "Richburg gusher " in 1881, made oil towns of Rich- burg and Bolivar. This well was drilled by Riley Allen, O. P. Taylor, Crandall Lester, A. B. Cottrell and several others. It was located on the Reading farm, lot 33, Wirt, and was completed April 28, 1881. At a depth of 1,280 feet 20 feet of sand was found, and the well produced 80 barrels the first day. It was the key to the field. In a few weeks Taylor became a rich man, but lost the most of his means in speculations on the market. Before his death however he had again amassed considerable property.
In January, 1881, before the Richburg strike, the McBride well came in on lot 18, Alma. Sixty feet of superior sand was found, and surrounding property sold immediately for from $100 to $200 an acre. Leases were taken at one-quarter royalty. The Duke and Norton wells on lots 22 and 23, Alma, completed about this time, were good producers. The develop- ment of the Campbell well on lot 16 and other wells in Bolivar was followed by the rapid drilling of hundreds of holes over Alma, Bolivar, Wirt and Scio.
151
OIL AND GAS.
Many ventures were dry, but the heart of the field was soon found and a feverish excitement ensued. Thousands of dollars were made and lost in a day. A year before the Standard Oil Company had definitely decided it prof- itable to pipe-line the Allegany field, a careful estimate placed the crude oil already produecd at 10,000 barrels. Much of this had gone to waste, but at least 6,000 barrels was in storage in wooden tanks. At this time there was a decided vividness about the oil country life. The element of uncertainty attending the production of oil led to the keenest competition imaginable. This gave rise to the occupation of "oil scouting." and in this vocation was the ceaseless energy, sharp competition, nervous haste, acute perception, and bold daring execution of the whole industry typified. During these palmy days of scouting, when every important well was made a mystery, there were many exciting adventures encountered by the scouts in their midnight work. Guards were sometimes lonely in the still watches of the night and amused themselves by firing their rifles, muskets or revolvers in a promiscu- ous manner, not calculated to encourage scouts prowling in the vicinity.
In the summer of 1880 a settlement, near the then famous Triangle wells, began to rapidly build up and was named Triangle City. The Wells- ville Reporter of March 17, 1881, had the following relative to changing the name of this lively oil town:
"Triangle City is no more, The soft greasy, good-natured name of Petrolia has been sub- stituted for the merry, jingling musical name of Triangle. 'Triangle City,' though yet young, was famous. It had already worn metropolitan airs and made positive record. The rousing cheer, the turkey raffles, the duel, the battle of the soiled doves, these and many other incidents, rich and rare, must be laid in one common grave. They formed the sharp points in the angles of . Triangle ' history, and 'Triangle ' is dead. All this trouble comes of the necessity of a post office, and that there is already a 'Triangle ' in the state. Goodbye, 'Triangle;' Welcome Petrolia."
Allentown, in Alma, built up more rapidly and substantially than Pe- trolia. For five years it was a typical oil town, rough and ready. Its natur- ally beautiful situation in a fine farming country, and the staying qualities of the oil production bringing wealth to its citizens, will leave a nice com- munity at Allentown after the oil is gone.
Richburg typifies all the " ups and downs of oildom." Its rise and fall have been thus well described by an Allegany county journalist in The Buffalo Express :
"On April 26, 1881, Richburg was a quiet little village of perhaps 150 people, and was connected with the outside world by a stage line. Within a few months it was one of the liveliest oil towns in the country, and boasted of a population of nearly 8,000, recruited from the four points of the compass. Stores, hotels, machine shops, saloons, bagnios, dance-houses and gambling dens sprung up as if by magic. For several weeks after the tide set in, sleeping apartments indoors could not be secured at any price, and many a night several hundred of Richburg's floating population slept on benches under the maple trees in the village park, in many cases on the bare ground.
152
HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
One old oil man remembers paying a dollar for the privilege of sleeping on a billiard table over night, and another paid half as much for the privilege of sleeping in a bar-room chair. At this time Richburg boasted of two banks, and a morning and evening newspaper. The Oil Echo, a morning paper edited by P. C. Boyle, now editor of the Oil City Derrick, was printed on a three-revolution Hoe press and possessed a valuable news franchise. The first month's freight receipts when the Allegany Central railroad was com- pleted as far as Richburg, amounted to $12,000, and a box-car served as a depot for some time. The Bradford, Eldred & Cuba railroad* built a spur from Bolivar up the valley to Richburg and ran trains both ways every half hour. For a long time the spur averaged 700 passengers daily. Rent for building lots quickly jumped up and $500 a year rent for a 20-foot front lot on Main street was not regarded as extortionate. In fact, the lot owner could name his own price. Everybody was 'oil crazy.' Oil wells were drilled in village gardens and in door-yards. Even the church people became afflicted with the popular craze. One of the leading ministers speculated in oil on week days and preached powerful sermons on Sunday, and no one chided him. A well was finally drilled on a parsonage lot, and oil was struck, but the venture was not a profitable one and the trustees decided that it was not best to invest church funds in that kind of a gamble. Richburg had a fine system of water works, an electric fire-alarm system, an elegant brick church, a fine opera house, and at one time a street-car line was strongly talked of. Liquor was sold at 100 different places, and prostitutes occupied over 40 buildings. In one instance the village gristmill was purchased and converted into a bagnio. The finest attractions were nightly seen at the opera house and money flowed like water. But the boom was not to last forever. In May, 1882, the news of the big gusher at Cherry Grove carried the floating population away with a rush and few of them ever returned. This was the beginning of the end of Richburg's greatness. Bolivar, a little hamlet a mile further down the valley, began to boom in earnest early in 1882, and gradually superseded Richburg as the metropolis of the Allegany field. Fires swept away some of Richburg's noted buildings, and many others were torn down and moved to adjacent villages. Fine buildings that cost thousands of dollars went for a mere song. To-day Richburg is deso- late and almost deserted, and in a few years it will appear very much as it did before the oil boom came. The population at present is less than 400. An elegant church and a fine academy building are the only noted relics of its former greatness. The opera house in which operatic stars once shone so brightly is now used as a cheese factory, and the railroads have given way to a stage line."
In 1882 Bolivar was booming. It however had a more solid foundation
* The Bradford, Eldred and Cuba railroad company built a narrow gauge system through the oil regions in 1882. The road extended from Wellsville, through Petrolia and Allentown to Bolivar and thence to Eldred where it connected with the Bradford, Bordell and Kinzua railroad. A branch connected Cuba with Bolivar. The road was used just ten years and in 1892 the iron was taken up.
153
OIL AND GAS.
than Richburg, and is to-day a prosperous community. In the days of the "gushers " 5,000 people called Bolivar their temporary home. In January, 1882, it had no bank. Within four months an institution, established by Olean capitalists, had deposits exceeding $250,000. Like Richburg the town had its " decidedly tough " element.
There are hundreds of wells in this oil field whose name and fame were once on every tongue. It will be sufficient in this sketch to say that after the first dozen wells already mentioned were completed that the large pool was developed within a very short time. The Boyle well, struck in June, 1881, in Bolivar, started off at 200 barrels a day. In 1882 the field produced 6,519,000 barrels of petroleum. Two wells on the Reed and Garthwait farms in Bolivar started off at 400 barrels each a day. These were the largest producers ever drilled in the field. They are both still being pumped. From the summer of 1882 the field's production steadily declined. Its first big " set back " was the striking of the Cherry Grove, Pa., gusher in May, 1882, which dropped the market to 49 cents a barrel. Many Allegany producers "went to the wall." The Cherry Grove wells, however, lasted but a short time, and within a year the market went back to $1. The follow- ing tables of daily average pipe line runs, yearly runs and number of wells completed each year up to 1889 will be found decidedly interesting:
DAILY AVERAGE RUNS ALLEGANY FIELD.
1882.
1883.
1884.
1885.
1886.
1887.
1888.
1889.
January
7,222
14, 106
11,018
7.442
6,235
4.920
2,620
3,254
February.
9,512
13,154
12,025
7,696
6,36 I
4,949
3.413
2.830
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