Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 24

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

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PETROLIA, KARNS CITY AND FAIRVIEW. .

The Campbell farm became the front of operations in November, 1871, when a six- ty-five barrel well responded to the drill. This was followed by a well on the Walker farm adjoining Campbell, which became a noted producer, and was purchased in May, 1872, by B. B. Campbell and the Walker brothers. These wells were the beginning of the village of Argyle, which

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was one of the mushroom oil towns of Fairview Township. Within six years the R. D. Campbell and the A. L. Campbell farms were celebrated for at least a dozen of great wells that made fortunes for their owners as well as the farmers.

The "Maple Shade" well was completed on the Widow Hutchison farm in Parker Township south of Bear Creek early in the spring of 1872 by A. W. McCollough. It started off with 100 barrels a day and for a time was known as the largest pro- ducer south of the creek.

Other wells completed in 1872 were the Lambing well on the Shakely farm, the "Lib," "Walnut," the "Fannie," and the Collins No. 2 on the Milford farm, and the wells on the Jamison farm. The suc- cess of the "Maple Shade" well on the Hutchison farm led to an invasion of the territory around Martinsburg, and the suc- cess of the Columbia Oil Company on the Reddick farm, and the wells drilled on the Wilt farm, Campbell, Shepherd, the Mat- thew Cannon tract, the Martin farms, and others south of Martinsburg, pointed to an extension of the field.

A scramble for leases resulted in large profits to the land owners. James Say leased his 100 acre farm at $200 per acre, and one-eighth royalty, while other farm- ers were equally as fortunate. In April, 1872, the Lambing brothers struck a hun- dred-barrel well on the Gibson farm near Fairview, and the McPherson well on that farm proved a paying property. Around the village of Argyle land was sold from $500 to $1,000 per acre. The principal operators in this district were the Lambing brothers, B. B. and A. L. Campbell, J. B. Findley, C. D. Angell, Mckinney and Nes- bitt, and McPherson and Blaney.

During the year 1872 the scouts of the oil army were locating and drilling wells in advance of the Parker field. A well was drilled on the John Smith farm in Cherry Township, on the David Stewart and the Rumbaugh farms in Washington Town-

ship, on the J. H. Hindman farm in Clay Township, on the W. C. Campbell farm in Fairview Township, at Ralston's Mill in Concord Township, at Millerstown in Don- egal Township, at James Stephenson's Mill in Summit Township, and along Thorn Creek. The greatest advances were made in Fairview Township. The well on the W. C. Campbell farm produced a little oil and turned out to be the greatest gas well that had been struck in oildom up to that time. The "Fanny Jane" was struck in May, 1872, and in four months' time the town of Petrolia had sprung up with a population greater than that of the county seat. In the same month oil was found on the S. S. Jamison farm two miles north of Boydstown in Concord Township, and the town of Greece City sprung up like a mushroom in the night. This was the first oil discovered in the Connoquenessing Val- ley. The Bonny Brook well at Brinker's Mill in Summit Township, now East But- ler, was completed in June, 1872, but proved a disappointment to its owners. The McClymonds farm, now the site of Karns City, became famous as an oil cen- ter the same year.

In December, 1871, Cooper Brothers leased fifteen acres of land from Hugh P. McClymonds and fifteen acres from Sam- uel L. Riddle. The first well was located in the valley near the line between the two leases on the McClymonds land. In June, 1872, this well was producing 120 barrels a day. On the 29th of May, "Dunc" Kearns had leased for a bonus of $200 an acre and one-eighth royalty, the entire 214 acres of the McClymonds farm, the owner reserving the Cooper lease and fourteen acres around the farm buildings. On the first of June Mr. Kearns also leased on the same terms 204 acres of the Saml. L. Riddle farm, the owner reserving the Coo- per lease and ten acres about the farm buildings. At this time oil was selling at $4 a barrel, and there was a fierce compe- tition among the operators for the McCly-

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

monds farm. This was finally compro- mised on June 18, 1872, when McClymonds sold his farm for $60,000, reserving his farm buildings and the surface of four- teen acres. The purchasers were O. G. Emery, "Dunc" Kearns, William Thomp- son, William Parker, and John H. Haines. Soon after a town sprung up which was named Karns City in honor of "Dunc" Karns, who was at that time the largest individual operator in the Butler County field. He was also the promoter of the Parker and Karns City Railroad, and in- a letter published in 1894:

terested in a number of the pipe lines that were laid from the Butler County field to the Allegheny river. Within the year Fairview Township had three booming oil towns. They were Petrolia, Karns City, and Fairview.

GREECE CITY.

The Morrison well on the S. S. Jamison farm in Concord Township came in Au- gust 22, 1872, and started to flow at the rate of about 700 barrels a day. Within a few hours, however, the rig caught fire and about 200 barrels of oil were consumed be- fore the well was under control. The yield soon dropped to 300 barrels, then to 200, and in the latter part of August the well was producing only 150 barrels a day. This well was believed to be the third sand when it was first struck, but later development proved it to be the first fourth sand well developed in Butler County. Greece City sprung up as if by magic, and in the fall of 1872 the surrounding country was dot- ted with derricks and drilling wells and a number of gushers were brought in during the winter. The field proved freakish, however, and the wells soon became ex- hausted. The Oil Man's Journal of Au- gust 31, 1872, referring to the large strike at Greece City, recognized the fact that the theories of "Uncle Jake" Ziegler concern- ing the oil regions of Butler County were correct, and that the Morrison well should

be regarded as the beginning of Butler County's new oil development.

TROUTMAN FARM.

The beginning of the developments on the Troutman farm and Modoc city was in March, 1873, when a fourth sand well was tapped. In regard to the discovery. of the fourth sand, Hon. A. L. Campbell, who was one of the largest operators in the terri- tory, and who was a life-long resident of Petrolia, made the following statement in

" In the latter part of the summer of 1873 Foster Hindman, William Banks, Charles C. Stewart, and John H. Gailey drilled a well on the Scott heirs farmi near the corner of McEleer and J. B. Campbell farms west of Karns City, and when deep enough as they thought, there was but little show of oil. Tack, Morehead and Company had finished No. 1 McEleer nearby where I was superintendent of the farm and part owner, and had kept a record of the strata as the well progressed. Charles C. Stewart was around frequently when I took samples of the stratas, and he claimed that in their well they did not finish in the same sand as we had in McEleer No. 1, which showed for a fair producer. Gailey and Company concluded they were down and dry, all agreeing to that opinion except Mr. Stewart, and on a proposition to drill the well deeper Mr. Gailey refused to pay any more expense. Stewart and Banks came to my office at Argyle with their measurements and consulted my register and the samples I had taken at No. 1 McEleer. From the calculations and investiga- tious made that day it was decided their well was not deep enough. Drilling was begun again, and before oil was obtained all the others had sold their interests to Stewart. After drilling to some depth, sixty-nine feet I think, oil was struck in what afterwards was called the fourth sand. West of this well a short distance we were drilling No. 2 McEleer, and soon were finished in the fourth sand. We then pulled out No. 1 McEleer and drilled her down. We paid $100 to each of our men to say nothing about the fourth sand, but it was not many days until Mr. Jennings and all others in the neighborhood began drilling their wells deeper. The man that first risked his money in the enterprise is entitled to the credit, and he was Charles C. Stewart, now of Brady Township, Butler County, I believe."

Since the publication of the above, Mr. Stewart and Mr. Campbell have died. There may be honest differences of opin- ion as to whom credit is due for the discov- ery and first development of this sand, but there can be no conflict as to the wonder- ful influence they had in stimulating the oil business. The fourth sand fever raged

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throughout the entire district affected, and nearly every operator hurried on the work of deepening his old wells and drilling new ones. Around Petrolia, Karns City, Trout- man, Modoc and Greece City, the excite- ment continued to grow and there were perhaps never so many large wells struck in so short a period in a limited area in the history of the oil industry. During the autumn of 1873 and the year of 1874 wells ranging from 100 to 4,000 barrels a day were reported in quick succession.

The first well in Washington Township was developed contemporaneously with the first at Greece City. Three months after striking the sand the owners tubed it when it yielded seven barrels a day. One hun- dred and fifty rods southwest of the old well another well was drilled into a closer sand which produced five barrels per day for nearly two years. On the David Shira farm east of the Rumbaugh, James Frazier and James Monroe struck a four-barrel well. A. Sheidemantle drilled a well on the Alfred Shira farm and other parties drilled on the Alexander Clark and on the D. F. Campbell farms. These were the pioneer development in the oil fields of this township, which in later years pro- duced some of the largest wells in the Speechley district.

The forerunner of the oil developments in Forward Township was the Evans well which was drilled in 1872 about 2,600 feet above Buhl's bridge on Connoquenessing Creek. This well was drilled to a depth of 626 feet when it was abandoned. The well on the Denny lands in Winfield Town- ship was drilled in November, 1872, when a flow of gas was struck. David Morrison, Curtis Jamison, Daniel Denny and Will- iam Stewart were the projectors and own- ers of this well.

Several wells were drilled in the vicinity of Millerstown in the fall of 1872. The Preston Mckinney well drilled to a depth of 1,600 feet was dry, while the Lincoln well on the MeClymonds farm, the Carpen-

ter brothers' well and the Brown and Stoughten well on the W. C. Adams farm, a well on the Banks farm, and Preston and Nesbit's well on the Smith farm, were small producers.

Dr. Findley, Wm. Yeates, Thomas Con- nell, Sr., Dr. Taylor and E. S. Golden and others, composing the Euresco Oil Com- pany, began oil developments on the Peter Miller farm southeast of Petrolia and on the McGarvey farm in December, 1872. Be- fore the close of the year a well was drilled on the Boyd farm in Clearfield Township and one on the Stephen McCue farm across the line in Armstrong County. Before the close of the year a well had been completed on the Storey farm one mile east of Buena Vista, and other wells had been completed on the Jamison farm and in Fairview Township.

In January, 1873, a well was drilled at Bonny Brook in Summit Township to a depth of 1,040 feet, when a heavy flow of salt water was struck. Interest in the Petrolia field was stimulated by a 500-bar- rel gusher on the J. B. Campbell farm, and on the Blaney farm near Argyle there were nine producing wells. The Spider well be- tween Petrolia and Fairview was drilled in February, 1873, and produced. 150 barrels, and the Karns well forty rods east of Karns City came in at 140 barrels.

H. L. Taylor & Company who began op- eration in Butler County in 1871 and owned 300 wells, among them being the "Boss," which produced 2,000 barrels a day, sold their forty producers in the Pe- trolia, Millerstown and Karns City fields in 1874 for $100,000.

The old Divener well of 1873 which yielded 1,400 barrels a day at the beginning and 700 barrels for a long period was the cause of the Millerstown stampede.

In February, 1873, Berg and Lambing drilled a well on Bonny Brook in Summit Township to, a depth of 1,500 feet without striking oil. The same year the old Rum- baugh well two miles northwest of North

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

Washington, was drilled in March, and oil was found at 1,265 to 1,365 feet. This well produced seven barrels a day for a long time but the expense of freighting the prod- uct to Parker ate up all of the profits, and the well was abandoned after it had been drilled to a depth of 1,690 feet. In 1876 or 1877 Trumbull and Croll drilled a well west of the old Rumbaugh well on the same farm, and got a four barrel producer, which was a profitable investment at that time. Other wells were drilled along the south branch of the Slippery Rock Creek but without results.

MILLERSTOWN FIELD.

The famous Millerstown district, in Don- egal Township, was opened in April, 1873, when A. W. McCollough, A. L. Campbell, and Charles Hewens drilled the Shreve well on the Adam Stewart farm. The con -. tractors of this well were Kingsley and Shreve, and it was for one of the drillers that the well was named. The Shreve well was a good example of how fortunes are sometimes missed in the oil country. The work of grading for the foundations for the derrick was commenced in the winter time, and the first location was near a spring on a hillside. Someone familiar with the local conditions suggested to the owners of the well that they had chosen a bad location to drill in the winter time, as the spring from which they expected to get water for their boilers always froze up and went dry. Acting on this suggestion the location was changed to lower ground along the bank of the run where there was plenty of water close to the well. This well came in for eighty-five barrels, and of course the owners felt well repaid for their trouble. The following summer other par- ties secured a lease and drilled on the first location made for the Shreve well, and to the utter amazement of everybody in the district the well came in for 1,200 barrels per day. Like the famous Col. Sellers, the

owners of the Shreve well had a million in sight and didn't know it.

The Shreve well was the pioneer of that district and to it must be credited the be- ginning of the Millerstown field. This well was followed by the McFarland & Com- pany well on the Thorn farm, Parker, Thompson & Company on the Barnhart, and James M. Lambing on the Forquer farm. South of the village were the Green wells on the Johnson tract, the Gillespie wells operated by J. Birchfield, the Hemp- hill tract operated by Mckinney, Gailey & Company, and the Egbert lease on the Widow Hemphill farm controlled by Duffy, McCandless, Stoughton and others. All these wells tended to change Millerstown from a wayside village into a bustling oil town, and inside of a year it had a popu- lation of four or five thousand people.

The same year Hart and Konkle drilled a well near the old distillery on the Mc- Candless farm about half a mile northwest of Butler. It proved to be a heavy gas well, but had no oil. The owners of this well offered to sell it to Col. Thompson and others of Butler for the price of the casing, but the offer was refused.

The Zeigler and Mylert well at Greece City was struck in the third sand on June 7, 1873, and immediately began to flow oil and gas. The gas caught fire from the boilers and the flames caught two work- men-James Wherry and James Crowley --- who received fatal burns.

The Meade wells on the Neu farm in the southwest corner of Donegal Township, were drilled in 1875 to an average depth of 1,565 feet. The Bulger well on the same farm was drilled the same year and reached the third sand at 1,555 feet. The extension of the Millerstown field south and the striking of these wells gave rise to the booming oil town of St. Joe. Plum- mer, three miles west of Millerstown; Dan- ville, a mile from St. Joe, and Greer, a postoffice named for North Oakland Sta-

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tion on the Narrow Gauge railroad, were oil towns that developed from the Millers- town field.

A well drilled on the McClymonds farm December 4, 1875, for Mattison and Mc- Donald struck the third sand at 1,390 feet and produced an amber green colored oil at the rate of seventy-five barrels per day. This well was opened 1,244 feet above ocean level. The fourth sand was found in this well at 1,490 feet, or 246 feet below ( ?) ocean level.

The three Woodward wells on the Mc- Clymonds farm were drilled in 1875 for George G. Stage, J. R. Woodward and James Shakeley. One of these wells yielded 1,900 barrels a day at the start, and the others were good producers. The Carbon Center field, south of St. Joe, was developed in 1875, when the Forcht No. 1 came in at 100 barrels a day.

The Gibson and Ecock well on the Fron- singer farm was opened about 1,382 feet above ocean level and struck a fifteen foot bed of limestone at a depth of 285 feet. The mountain sand was reached at 568 feet, the first sand at 825 feet, the second sand at 1,160 feet, and oil sand rock at 1,402 feet. The drill penetrated the oil sand rock sixteen feet, bringing the explo- ration to 1,418 feet, or 36 feet below ocean level.

Two miles northwest of Parker in Al- legheny Township the Columbia Oil Com- pany completed a well on the Reddick farm January 10, 1876. At 1,277 feet the drill struck a pocket and dropped to 1,280 feet. The elevation of this farm is 1,485 feet above the ocean, while the third sand was found at a depth of 1,250 feet, extend- ing twenty feet from the soap-stone to the slate beds beneath. This well yielded fif- teen barrels per day for some months, but decreased to three and one-half barrels in August, 1876.

The centennial year witnessed a crude oil advance from $1.55 a barrel to $4. It also witnessed the market threatened by

the striking of a 125 barrel well near Greece City, and beheld the consolidation of oil-refining interests and pipe lines and activity in every part of the field. During the year 1877 there were 1,002 wells drilled in the Butler-Armstrong field, while 171 dry holes were struck, the total production being 9,904 barrels per day.

The Eastern Belt theory was developed in 1878 by the completion of a well on the Mrs. Kaylor farm near the east line of Fairview Township, by George H. Graham and Samuel Banks. This well was known as the "Ghost," and while its owners sold it for a good price the buyers made a poor bargain. The Eastern Belt theory gave rise to the oil town of Kaylor City, which is just over the line in Armstrong County.

Venango Township came in for an ex- ploration in 1878 by the drilling of the Prentice well on the James Higgins farm near the second coal bank. This well was drilled to a depth of 1,600 feet and pumped a small quantity of oil, but not sufficient to pay expenses. Forty feet below the level of the coal bank a thick bed of lime- stone was struck in this well.

The pioneer well in the Six Points neighborhood in Allegheny Township was drilled on the Chambers land two miles east of the village in 1871. No oil was ob- tained in this well. In 1877-78 a number of wells were drilled to the third sand, which was reached at a depth of 1,200 feet below the ferriferous limestone. A moun- tain sand two hundred feet deep resting on twenty-five feet of loose grain salt- water rock was discovered in these wells. The oil produced by the fifty-foot was lighter in color but of a greater gravity than that produced by the third sand.

THE BALD RIDGE DISTRICT.

After the drilling and operation of the extensive oil belt reaching from Parker's Landing to St. Joe south of Millerstown ceased, Butler County was practically neg- lected by the oil scouts who had all moved

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to the Bradford field. The Bald Ridge dis- triet southwest of Butler had its inception in July, 1880, when Reiber and Huselton of Butler leased 780 acres in Penn and Forward Townships, and started to drill a well at the intersection of the Angel twenty-two and a half degree line on the Robert McKee farm and the Greece City line near Bald Ridge, now Renfrew. W. C. Neely contracted to drill the proposed well at $1.00 per foot and bokl one-fourth of the $3,250 of stock. Owing to the scarcity of water the location was changed to a point on the Smith farm 1,100 feet south and drilling was commenced Sep- tember 1. 1880. Oil was struck at 1,620 feet, but the drilling was continued to the depth of 1,750 feet, and the work was fin- ished at a six-barrel well March 8, 1881.

In April, 1881, the Bald Ridge Oil Com- pany was incorporated, the stated capita! being $16,000. No. 2 well was commenced in June, 1881, and completed the 1st of October. After being shot it made sixteen barrels. No. 3 was drilled on the Crowe farm in Forward Township in November, 1881, and the same month Simcox and Myers began drilling a well on the Hamill farm. This well was completed March 20. 1882, and came in for 100 barrels. Up to December 19, 1883, forty-seven wells were drilled in this field of which thirty-seven were producing 642 barrels a day.

Early in 1882 the MeCalmont farm at McCalmont station north of Renfrew was purchased by Agnew and Egbert for $104,- 000. This farm contained 1,110 acres and proved to be one of the most valuable tracts in the Bald Ridge district. The For- rest Oil Company purchased a tract from Simcox and Myers, A. Sheidemantle com- pleted a well on the Webber farm in 1882. and Yeagle and Campbell completed a well on the Smith farm in August, 1883.

The Bald Ridge Oil and Transportation Company was chartered May 24, 1881, the charter being signed by Governor Hoyt and Secretary Clay. The capital stock,

$16,000, was divided into 320 shares of $50 each, all of which were held by J. D. Mc- Junkin, Jobn S. Campbell, Ferd Reiber, S. II. Fearsol, W. D. Brandon, W. H. Hoff- man, W. H. Ritter, R. P. Scott, G. W. Flee- ger, John N. Patterson, D. A. Heck, H. A. Krug, Jr., George Krug. Henry Bauer, Philip Bauer, and B. C. Huselton, M. Rei- ber. Sr., Harvey Colbert, Henry Eitenmil- ler, Simon Yetter, Jacob Reiber, and J. A. Hawk, O. D. Thompson, H. L. Westermann, and W. C. Neely. In August, 1882, the company sold their leases and equipment to Phillips Brothers for $160,000. After this sale a pipe line was extended south of Petrolia to the new field, and the coun- try from Reibold Station to Butler was invaded by speculators seeking leases of land. About the time that the Bald Ridge Oil & Transportation Company made their sale to Phillips Brothers another sale was made in which Simcox and Myers disposed of a half interest in their Bald Ridge leases for $75,000 to the Forrest Oil Company and Richard Jennings & Son. This field may be said to have been really opened in the fall of 1881 by the Simcox and Myers 100-barrel well and the Sheidemantle 600- barrel well. Previous to that time the well that had been drilled were southwest of the town of Renfrew. The Phillips Broth- ers also secured the Wallace farm and be- gan drilling on it in December, 1882, and developed one of the most valuable farms in the district outside of the MeCalmont tract.

In March, 1882, John Johnson of Tem- pleton, sold seventy acres of land at the junction of the Butler Branch of the Pitts- burg & Western Railroad at Butler for $6,- 000, the purchasers intending to establish a town at that point and drill for oil. The enterprise proved to be a failure.

Early in the spring of 1882 the drillers on the Stewart farm in Winfield Township struck the greatest gas vein discovered in the county down to that time, and in the fall of 1882 wells were completed on the

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W. Brown farm and the Mahood farms in the Bald Ridge district. The well on the Webber farm near Evans City yielded over 2,000 barrels in twelve days ending August 9, 1882, and was the opening of a new dis- trict.

In December, 1883, the company leased 2,000 acres in Cranberry and Adams Town- ships adjoining Allegheny County, and early in 1884 began drilling near the Will- iam Thielman saw-mill.

THORN CREEK.

The Thorn Creek field owes its develop- ment to the foresight of Thomas W. Phil- lips, who had operated extensively in what is known as the Bullion field in Venango County and afterwards in the Troutman . district. When the general exodus began to the Mckean County oil fields, Mr. Phil- lips did not join the throng, but remained in Butler County. He conceived the idea that oil in large quantities would be found near the Bald Ridge wells and in 1881 be- gan leasing on an extensive scale southwest of Butler on Connoquenessing and Thorn Creek. The first wells drilled were small, but the character of the rock in which they were found confirmed the theory that a rich deposit was near and on August 16, 1884, he was rewarded by striking a well on the Williamson Bartley farm which. proved to be the largest well found down to that time. It began producing at the rate of forty barrels an hour and was in- creased by deeper drilling to 180 barrels per hour. Its greatest day's production was fully 4,000 barrels, and was equal to any of the wells struck in the northern fields of the county.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 24

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526