USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 31
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
important as he had a convoy of eight hundred wagons in charge Later in the same year the regiment took part in several raids for the destruction of the Weldon railroad. It broke camp at Hancock's station February 6, 1865, and was engaged in the final movements about Five Points and Din- widdie Court House. After Lee's surrender it returned to Petersburg, but was soon afterward led to the North Carolina border to the support of Sherman. After the close of hostilities it was stationed at Lynchburg for a time and at length mustered out of service at Richmond on the 7th of August, 1865.
Venango county was represented in two companies of this regiment, of which the rosters were as follows:
Company A .- Captains: Seth T. Kennedy, Joshua M. Carey, Robert W. McDowell.
First lieutenants: Robert H. Atkinson, Charles H. Knox, Irving W. Billings, Edmund Dunn.
Second lieutenants: William T. Kennedy, Brewer D. Polley, George D. Beecher.
Sergeants: Adolphus R. Baker, William Rossell, Daniel Stauffer, Lyman H. Lewis, James L. Smith, Simon F. Barr, George C. Menning, Samuel L. Brown, Cyrus C. Marsh, John W. Lewis, George W. Annie, Henry M. Gard- ner, Nicholas Dick, Marvin B. Lyman, Michael Ziester, William M. Frear, Austin Turck.
Corporals: Jacob F. Mauk, Robert Foster, David S. Barr, John W. Barr, W. H. H. Morton, John Stoops, William Ley, Thomas Bowel, John Colvin, J. D. Lancaster, Henry Holliday, Sylvester M. Benn, Cornelius Ryan, Maxwell E. Fulton, John Rossman, William N. Decker, William A. Wright, John Seamans, Whitney Briggs, Josiah M. Demand, Martin V. Townsend.
Buglers: Philip A. Carr, Samuel Shaffer, Edward S. Albee.
Blacksmiths: Benjamin Davis, Robert Enis, Judson A. Aumick, Henry Sumner.
Saddlers: Samuel G. Fulmer, Richard A. Charles.
Privates: Lewis Andrews, Thomas J. Archer, John Anderson, Alfred Anton, Harman L. Adams, Harvey A. Aumick, Silas W. Aumick, Joseph H. Brooks, James Brown, John Bundorf, Theron S. Burgess, Freeman Barkman, James Brewer, Alpheus Barnes, William Burns, Casper Buf- flapp, Jared A. Bennett, John Busher, Leander Buttermore, Russell Burt, James Burns, Charles Burns, Charles Baker, Thomas Baker, Thomas W. Barr, Marvin Bates, George Buck, James Briscoe, Ellis Bedford, Caleb Britton, Nelson E. Coates, John W. Chapins, George B. Craft, James L. Cook, Charles G. Campbell, Benjamin L. Cook, William W. Cook, Edward Claffrey, William Clark, Osborne Cooley, Henry Davis, Alonzo Day, Ben- jamin Dick, Jeremiah Duff, Ira E. Davis, Henry W. Decker, James P. Dymond, John Eutsey, Jacob Eutsey, Amos Edick, Andrew Eldercan,
Yours truly R.l. Phipho
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THE CIVIL WAR.
William Everts, Gotleib Foss, James Fleming, John Fulton, Isaac P. Foster, George M. Forrer, Harry H. Faulkner, Homer B. Ferry, Mathew Flanagan, Henry Grimm, John L. Griffin, James Gibson, John K. Grim, Joseph Grim, Harry V. Greenlee, George Galbreath, C. Hendricks, S. Higgenbotham, Francis M. Hickson, S. Hendricks, T. E. Houser, William Houser, John H. Hubler, John Hurley, Charles B. Hickox, G. W. Hunter, Thomas C. Hodnot, Moses Irely, Benjamin F. Johnston, Henry Johnston, E. Johnston, William Kelley, J. Knickerbocker, Jacob Kessler, V. L. Keltz, John W. Kelley, Samuel Kieffer, David P. Kelley, Newton Kuhns, Joseph P. Love, George W. Lengel, David Levy, Robert Lytle, Lafayette Leeland, Joseph Laughrey, William S. Lane, Samuel Myers, William H. Maroney, W. H. Merkle, Michael Mease, Samuel Moore, Franklin Moore, Frederick Martin, John Martin, James May, Henry Munsloe, William Moore, William J. Miles, Lewis A. Mulnie, Francis Murry, Michael Madden, John McMannis, Joseph McMannis, L. J. McClintock, Charles Nelson, Frank W. Orcutt, Henry M. Osborne, Levi Paddock, H. C. Pinkerton, Charles Phillippi, S. S. Porter, Alfred N. Patterson, Jacob B. Plumley, John F. Phillips, Otis Phelps, William R. Pillow, E. Pickering, George W. Parks, Richard P. Page, Jacob Richter, George Reed, David Rader, William Robertson, Henry D. Reece, James H. Ramsey, Samuel Rhodabarger, Alonzo Randolph, Robert C. Riggin, Daniel Riser, J. S. Ramsey, Philip D. Reynolds, Thomas Reed, Richard J. Reese, Samuel W. Swartz, Alfred M. Saylor, Leonard D. Shaffer, John W. Stauffer, Cyrus S. Stauffer, Smith Stauffer, Robert Shields, Pat- rick Sullivan, Lewis C. Shartel, Dexter Spalding, William Sheets, George A. Shuler, Joseph L. Shrives, Christian Swartz, Jacob C. Smith, George Seighman, John Shoup, Samuel Shoup, Nelson Shufelt, Amzi Stauffer, Joseph B. Saylor, Thomas Sullivan, Ashbel Smith, U. C. Sheets, Thomas Sales, Charles H. Shippey, George Smith, Stephen Squire, Elijah S. Squire, John W. Steele, William N. Squire, John Shook, Ruben Smith, Timothy R. Stutton, H. W. Templin, George W. Townsend, Giles Townsend, Isaac Tiffany, Lyman H. Vaughn, George Winner, Milton Williams, Frank Welsh, H. E. Wadsworth, Nathan Wagoner, Robert Williams, Isaac Wimer, Joseph Wallace, W. H. Wier, W. M. Wood, Thomas S. Waters, W. W. Wills, John J. Wright, W. H. Wright, George W. Warner, Robert B. Wheeler, James H. Ward, William Zuver.
Company E .- Captains: Loronzo D. Rodgers, Augustus H. Rush, Daniel C. Swank, Enoch H. Moore.
First lieutenants: Lewis B. Brown, Russell R. Pealer, David W. Davis. Second lieutenant, I. F. Chamberlain.
Sergeants: William B. Harlan, Benjamin Jeffries, George D. Jacoby, Nelson Craig, George John, John S. Kelly, John L. Lee, John McClernan, Joseph F. Hicks, Henry W. Seibert, John B. Atwell, Morris O. Conner, Benjamin F. Carnahan, John M. Lane, Marshall Wasson.
17
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
Corporals: Adam Benner, John Morley, John Spence, Patrick Byron, William H. Bailey, Wesley Callahan, Daniel Kohler, Alfred Bowman, Rob- ert W. Davison, John W. Henderson, William C. Phipps, George W. Web- ber, Henry W. Bowman, Robert A. Thompson, Lyman H. Fowler, Samuel Chamberlin, Aaron Andreas, Daniel Wasson.
Buglers: George L. Patterson, Robert Tipping.
Blacksmiths: John S. Hoagland, William R. Hoover.
Farrier, John D. Cromer.
Saddlers: Richard Tobin, Wesley J. Cooper.
Privates: George D. Applegarth, John R. Atwell, Peter S. Ashelman, . William F. Andrews, Thomas Burns, John F. Brothers, John C. Baker, Eli Baney, Isaiah Barr, Alva Beemis, W. J. Black, R. A. Biddle, Patrick Camp- bell, Elijah Clifford, John L. Chambers, Cyrus R. Coulter, W. P. Crain, John G. Crain, Alfred T. Creveling, Jesse B. Coleman, John Campbell, F. W. Creveling, Andrew Crawford, G. Dannanhower, Isaiah Denvers, Joseph Depue, James F. Davison, James Duncan, Joel M. Dailey, George Derlin, George A. Dull, Matthias Daniels, Thomas J. Eakin, Henry Erwin, William W. Evland, A. W. Evland, Albert Fisher, Darius Fleming, John Furry, John Flowers, Gideon Fry, Joseph Fleckenstine, Edward George, Patrick Gilligan, David Grisinger, Joseph Gifford, W. O. Gibb, John Herring, William Hickey, Thomas Hainey, William Holland, William Hayes, Michael Harmon, Louis M. Haines, Michael Houser, Noah Higgins, George C. Hall, John F. Hoffman, William C. Hull, Jeremiah Horton, Daniel H. Hetler, Samuel A. Hoover, Samuel Irwin, John A. Jobson, Albert Jones, Thomas Jolly, James E. Jones, Jacob F. Knechel, Charles Kreamer, Charles Keyser, W. Kee, J. E. Kepler, John Keicher, Jonathan Knittle, Daniel King, P. P. Kimball, Silas R. Kissner, Enoch B. Karnes, W. B. Keene, George W. Love, Samuel Lee, Samuel Lewis, Simeon L. Lockarde, James B. Logue, Alex Lindsey, James Looney, Benjamin F. Looney, Elias G. Lemmons, George W. Matthews, Dallas Myers, Laurence Marks, John Mullen, Jonas Miller, William H. Matthews, Henry Mowrey, Thomas McGettigen, Charles McFadden, Frank McGovern, John McCammon, William McElhaney, Francis A. Osborn, Joseph G. Piatt, Porter Phipps, William Phifer, Robert C. Pol- lock, James L. Porter, William Pearson, George W. Peoples, Buress Rolls, Martin Richards, Isaiah Reaver, Joseph Ryan, W. D. Ryan, D. R. Reiden- auer, Crispin Roberts, William Rhodes, James Rusk, William Roberts, James H. Roberts, Adam Sampson, Abner Smith, Charles H. Stinger, Dan- iel R. Snyder. Henry Snider, Adam Sides, John A. Sanna, William H. Say, William Say, Lyman Stewart, John Shreffler, Daniel Smith, Amos Shoutz, Joseph G. Swank, Le Grant Spomberg, G. G. Scott, Riley Stainbrook, Philip Snider, John Staub, William Stringman, Patrick Tooley, John Taylor, Charles W. Vanover, Henry Vanhorn, Jr., Alvin Varner, Job Walford, George Williams, William Whartenby, Henry Whipple, Andrew Weitzer, Abram Witherup, George Warden, Hiram Witmoir, John H. Yaple.
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THE CIVIL WAR.
The foregoing regimental sketches and company rosters have been com- piled from Bates' History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, a voluminous work and recognized authority. The histories of the different regiments have necessarily been greatly abbreviated, but rosters have been given of all the companies in which Venango county was represented to any extent. There were also a number of other regiments to which the county contrib- uted, and while details on this subject might be multiplied, it is believed that the essential particulars regarding the part taken by the county have been given.
The Lamberton Guards was an organization formed in 1862 when Lee invaded Maryland and threatened Pennsylvania. The officers were William M. Epley, captain; - Pinkerton, first lieutenant; and James Adams, sec- ond lieutenant. They proceeded to Harrisburg, but returned after the battle of Antietam without experiencing any actual military service.
The activities of the people on behalf of the prosecution of the war were not limited to the contribution of troops. There were a number of Soldiers' Aid Societies throughout the county, and the contributions of money, hos- pital supplies, and other comforts and necessaries through these agencies represented in the aggregate a large expenditure of energy and effort. There was a Home Relief Association and a Soldiers' Aid Dime Society at Franklin; the Soldiers' Aid Society of Plum township was organized in the autumn of 1861 and a similar association in Sugar Creek was formed in September, 1862. August 11, 1862, a public meeting was held at the court house for the purpose of raising a bounty fund for volunteers from this county, James Bleakley presiding. After addresses by Arnold Plumer, Elisha W. Davis, and others, a committee was appointed to request from the county commissioners an appropriation of fifty dollars to each volunteer. Throughout the war the commissioners contributed regularly toward the support of the families of absent soldiers; and while organized assistance was thus rendered, public benefactions were augmented by many acts of private charity.
The Soldiers' Monument, erected immediately after the close of the war, expresses in enduring and appropriate form the appreciation of the county at large for the patriotic services and sacrifices of the citizens who fell "on the field of battle, in hospitals, and at home; who died of wounds received in battle, of sickness incurred in camp, of starvation in the hands of the enemy." The dedication occurred September 10, 1866; the survivors of the war from this county marched in a body to the park, and it is estimated that ten thousand people witnessed the ceremonies. Reverends S. J. M. Eaton, D.D., M. A. Tolman, and J. B. Lyon conducted the religious exer- cises; addresses were delivered by Doctor Eaton, Galusha A. Grow, and John S. McCalmont. The monument is situated in South park. It is inscribed with the names of four hundred soldiers, "Venango's contribu- tion to the death-roll of patriotism."
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
CHAPTER XX.
THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
THE DRAKE WELL-EARLY METHODS OF DRILLING AND TRANSPORTATION- THE THIRD SAND-FIRST FLOWING WELLS-RAILROADS AND PIPE LINES - HEAVY OR LUBRICATING OIL BELT-OIL TOWNS- PETROLEUM TRANSPORTATION - NITRO-GLYCERINE- NATURAL GAS-THE PRODUCER-PETROLEUM AND GAS FIELDS - STATISTICS.
T 10 give, in brief yet comprehensive form, leading features of the Penn- sylvania petroleum development from the drilling of the first well, to- gether with such incidents of the early years of the same as may be con- sidered of historic or general interest, is the object of these sketches.
With the questions involving the antiquity, chemistry, and geology of petroleum no extended comment is necessary. Earliest history establishes the first, practical demonstration the second, and supplemented by science the oil miner's drill proves the third over the large extent of territory now being operated, and this last will be a reliable guide in all the oil fields and years to come. As to the duration of the supply of both the oil and gas fields the present and the next few coming generations have no cause to worry. Wherever petroleum has existed, and this can be traced back at least three thousand years, it exists to-day in practically the same form. The fountain of Is, near Babylon, in Asia, described by Herodotus, that excited the wonder of Alexander the Great, and from which the bitumen that cemented the brick of the walls of the ancient Babylon was supplied, still exists and is a notable case. The oil springs on the shores of the Cas- pian sea, from which the present supply of Russia is obtained, have been known for centuries. It is reasonable to suppose from the evidence thus presented that American petroleum will show as great a comparative degree of longevity. But it is specially with the modern development of this wonderful product that our duty is concerned.
Earliest American history makes mention of the petroleum or rock oil found in the portion of Pennsylvania bordering on the Allegheny river, and it was known and made use of by the native Indians from their earliest tra- ditions. It served to mix their paint to make them hideous to their foes, as a panacea for their wounds, and a medicine for their ailments. The re-
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mains of timbered pits familiar to the Indians and early settlers, found in various localities along Oil creek valley, clearly indicated an oil develop- ment by a race whose traditions are lost.
The greasy globules floating upon the surface of the waters of the springs, pools, and streams of Oil creek valley, the Allegheny, and other streams in this section, was nature's unerring guide to the treasures stored in rocky caverns in long forgotten ages for the use of the human race. And for years the Indians and settlers gathered it, and used it as a medicine. The circumstances that led to the modern petroleum development by the drilling of Drake's artesian well in 1859 we shall briefly relate.
Public attention was first directed to the utilization of petroleum as an illuminator as early as the years 1849 and 1850 by Mr. Samuel W. Kier, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who in the latter year built a small refinery, and commenced to convert it into an illuminator. The supply of crude oil was obtained from the salt well fields of Mr. Kier and others at Tarentum, Alle- gheny county, a short distance from Pittsburgh, on the Allegheny river, where it had been previously found. The manufacture was limited owing to the scant supply. There being no oil wells as yet drilled, the oil was pumped out of the salt wells at the usual depth from which salt water was obtained. The discovery of so important a use created an active demand, and led to efforts to increase the supply of the crude article. Pits were sunk in various localities, and the oil taken from these at stated seasons. The lamp for burning the new illuminant is stated to have been invented in Austria, and this was secured by Mr. Kier and manufactured by him at Pittsburgh.
The best authorities agree in awarding the honor of being the originator of the present petroleum development to George H. Bissell. In 1853 Mr. Bissell, then a resident of New Orleans, his health being impaired, took up. his residence in the North. In the summer of that year he visited Hanover, New Hampshire, the seat of Dartmouth College, where he had graduated in 1845. While there Professor Dixie Crosby, of Dartmouth College, showed to Mr. Bissell a bottle of crude petroleum, which he stated had been gath- ered on the lands of his nephew, Doctor B. F. Brewer, on Oil creek, near Ti- tusville, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bissell became interested in the (to him) new mineral product, and conceived the idea that it could be utilized. Being ac- quainted with Doctor Brewer he wrote to him, requesting all the information possible. He afterward sent a young man to the locality where the oil had been obtained to make a personal investigation. The report being favor- able, he interested a Mr. Eveleth, whom he had known in New Orleans, with him, and in 1854 they visited Titusville.
While there they obtained from Brewer, Watson & Company, all their lands on Oil creek considered fit for oil purposes, on a lease for ninety-nine years, free of royalty, for the sum of five thousand dollars; this being the first pur- chase of land for oil development made in Venango county, or in fact, in the
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
United States, that any mention is made of. They hired a man named Angier to trench the lands and pump the surface oil and water into vats. The pumping apparatus was attached to the working-gear of a saw mill near by. Being placed in the vats, such water as had been gathered with it settled to the bottom and was drawn off, leaving the oil in its pure state. The first three barrels of oil obtained by this method was sent on to New Haven, Connecticut, and Professor B. Silliman, Jr. employed to make an analysis of the same. In the fall of 1855 Bissell & Eveleth published the elaborate report made by Professor Silliman, and gave it a wide circulation. The report attracted the favorable attention of capitalists in New Haven, which led to the purchase from Bissell & Eveleth of their lands and the placing of the same in an incorporation known as the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, of which Professor B. Silliman, Jr., was elected president, Bissell & Eveleth retaining one-third of the capital stock.
The work of trenching and gathering the oil went on with indifferent success until 1857. Then some members of the company agreed to sink an artesian well, and pay to the rest of the stockholders a royalty of twelve cents a gallon on all oil obtained for the term of forty-five years. The offer was accepted, and E. L. Drake, a conductor on the New Haven rail- road, was employed to come out to Pennsylvania and take charge of the work. Mr. Drake owned one forty-eighth part of the stock of the company.
On arriving at the field of his subsequent labors Mr. Drake, who was a gentleman of intelligence and varied experience, lost no time in informing himself of the details. To do this he made several trips to the salt region of Tarentum, where he became conversant with the mode of sinking the salt wells. Through S. W. Kier he procured the services of William Smith, a blacksmith and an experienced driller of salt wells, and his two sons.
The first appliances and methods were crude, and caused delay and ex- pense. Drake first thought to dig the well and curb it to the rock. After the labor of months this was found impracticable. It then occurred to him to drive iron pipe from the surface to the rock and then drill through this until the oil was reached. Heavy cast-iron pipe was finally obtained and successfully driven to a depth of thirty-six feet, where the rock was reached. The small engine used to drive the pipe was then used for drilling through the rock. The drive-pipe was ready for the drill about the middle of August, 1859, and on Saturday, the 28th day of the same month, and over a year from the time of commencement, a vein of oil was struck at the depth of sixty-nine and one-half feet, in the first sandrock, this being the depth of the entire well. On the Monday following a pump was rigged and placed in the well, and for a short time it produced at the rate of twenty barrels per day. By March, 1860, this production had decreased to four barrels per day.
After unremitting labor for over a year, beset with obstacles that not
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THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
unfrequently caused him to despair of success, Drake had persevered, and reached an accomplishment surpassing his wildest dreams. He established the fact of the existence of reservoirs of oil beneath the surface of the earth in amount sufficient for all practical uses, and such an achievement was fitting recompense for all the weary toil he had gone through. His name and fame will last as long as the product itself. In this connection it can be stated that the Drake well was afterward drilled deeper and continued to produce oil for many years. It is not creditable to those who have realized so largely from Drake's discovery that the site of this oil well, the first ever drilled, remains unmarked by a suitable monument, and that Drake himself died in comparative poverty.
DRAKE'S PIONEER OIL WELL.
The following extracts are taken from a letter kindly furnished the writer by William H. Abbott, one of the first oil operators and best known residents of Titusville:
"Drake at first tried to dig to the rock and curb his well, but after a time gave up the plan. He then procured heavy iron pipe and after a vast amount of hard work and expense succeeded in reaching the rock at a depth of sixty-nine and one-half feet. To Drake belongs the credit of being the
first to use iron drive-pipe. * * * * They employed a small engine
. and boiler in drilling and pumping this well. Myself and many others used the spring-pole, with three stirrups and three men for our motive power in drilling wells during the entire year of 1860. * * * We used pole- tools, and a small bit, the size as well as I can remember being three and three-quarter inches, and the poles were similar to the sucker-rods after- ward used, the joints being about ten feet long. * * * I had the op- portunity of buying some of the first carbon oil refined by S. W. Kier, and
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
paid one dollar and twenty-five cents per gallon for the oil, and one dollar and fifty cents for the barrel. This was truly a great luxury, being superior to sperm oil at two dollars per gallon. I was at this time doing business in northern Ohio."
The birth of this greatest of modern mineral developments was ushered in amid the mutterings of the civil strife that was so soon to convulse the country. But the class who had flocked to California a few years previous were still numerous and gave no heed to the discouraging premonitions. The oil first obtained from the Drake well sold at one dollar per gallon, and during September, October, November, and December, of the year 1859, the ruling figure was twenty dollars per barrel.
So promising a mine of wealth had never before been presented, and the oil fever soon pervaded all classes of people. No wonder they made all speed for the locality that held forth such inducements. Wells multiplied fast on the flats surrounding the Drake well, and developments were com- menced at various points from Oil City along the valley of Oil creek, at Franklin, and along the Allegheny river. The obstacles presented in the new field only seemed to increase the energy of the operators. Lands were bought and leased in every direction, and singly and in groups the early derricks became visible on the beaten tracks and in out-of-the-way places.
The territory at first considered available for oil purposes was frequently located in the most rugged and inaccessible localities. The country was hilly and generally heavily timbered. The cleared lands or farms upon which the residents managed to subsist were few and far between, the only town of importance in Venango county being Franklin, the county seat. Lumbering was the principal industry, the few iron furnaces that had been in operation having suspended. The only means of transportation for heavy articles was the Allegheny river, and by means of wagons from the nearest railroads points, Garland and Union, some thirty miles distant from the Drake well or Titusville.
The drilling of the wells was a new and novel experience to even the most practical. No previous mining development afforded any reliable guide for the new operations. New methods and machinery had to be devised, tested, and then put in practice. The resources of the new oil country afforded but inadequate relief. Wood, coal, and oil were in abun- dance, but machinery and supplies of all kinds needed were only to be had from distant commercial and manufacturing centers. These had to be hauled in wagons over mud roads that were nearly impassable a great por- tion of the year for the class of freight needed.
From this may be conjectured some of the inconveniences of drilling a well a few hundred feet deep. In the absence of machinery and lack of funds to pay for better, all kinds of primitive methods were adopted. The most common was that of the spring-pole, a description of which by Eaton
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THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
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