USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 32
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in his admirable history is worthy of being recorded. This was the method of sinking a well that had been devised by the salt-well miners. The salt wells were generally of shallow depth, and hence this plan of drilling could be practiced to better advantage than in oil wells where the depth and pen- etration of the rock was greater. After selecting the site for the well a hole was dug to drill through as deep as possible, and this curbed with boards or plank or a bored log. Then a stout sapling or pole of necessary length, about forty feet, was taken from the woods, selected in regard to its elas- ticity. The larger end or butt of this was securely fastened in the ground. At a distance to secure best results was planted a firm post for a fulcrum over which it was secured with the smaller end coming directly over and some ten or twelve feet above the drill-hole. The boring tools were fast- ened to the pole and the power adjusted to its smaller extremity. This power was applied by the weight of two or more men bearing down on the pole. Again a small stage, four feet square, was hinged by one side to the derrick and the other side suspended to the pole. In this case two men stood upon the stage and brought down the pole by throwing their weight on the side attached to it, and permitted it to rise by throwing their weight on the side next to the derrick. In either case the spring of the pole brought up the drilling apparatus, and the downward motion of the pole gave the stroke.
Another mode is described as in vogue in the earlier stage of the busi- ness in which a chain was used. From its horrid din and associations this was called the "chain-gang " method. Another method in which human muscle was used was called the "kicking pony " or "jigging " system. An elastic ash pole ten or fifteen feet in length was arranged over the drill hole, working over a fulcrum, to which was attached stirrups in which two or three men each placed a foot, and by a kind of kicking process brought down the pole and produced the necessary motion to work the bit. The strokes by this method were rapid but it was only adapted to shallow wells. In either of the methods the labor was severe and exhausting. The steady tramp on a treadmill or ascending a ladder was mild recreation in compar- ison. Horse and water power were brought into use. But all the above described methods were only used in cases where the financial ability of the operator could not afford steam power.
The first engines brought to the oil country for drilling oil wells were portable ones from four to six horse-power, from the manufactory of A. N. - Wood & Company, Eaton, Madison county, New York. The stationary engine of greater power soon followed.
By the close of 1860 a number of wells had been drilled and the field of operations extended along the Allegheny from Tidioute to Franklin. Along the valley of Oil creek from Oil City to Titusville were a large num- ber of wells being drilled and producing. From the Barnsdall, Mead,
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
Rouse & Company's well, near Titusville, was sold between February 1st and June 1st, 1860, fifty-six thousand gallons of oil for sixteen thousand eight hundred dollars, the cost of drilling the well being about three thou- sand dollars. In April of the same year William Phillips sold fifty barrels of oil from his well on Oil creek to S. W. Kier, delivered at Pittsburgh for sixty cents a gallon. About the same time Graff & Company sold seventy- five barrels of oil in Pittsburgh for one thousand three hundred dollars In December, 1860, oil was quoted at the wells at two dollars and seventy-five cents per barrel. This low figure was due to the lack of transportation and manufacturing facilities that prevailed during the first year.
In only rare cases did individuals incur the total expense of drilling a well. The usual way was to form associations of any number of parties from half a dozen to fifty, each subscribing the amount of stock they elected; the expense of the venture was assessed pro rata, and the profits divided in the same manner. Though called companies these associations were not incorporated, but were mostly formed for the usual transaction of business. From best recollection chances of success in striking oil in pay- ing quantities were no greater in the beginning than in the succeeding years. The reason is obviously lack of both skill and facilities, and of the benefit that has been gained from the aggregation of the ventures of others.
Where lands for oil purposes were leased the royalty ranged from an eighth to one-quarter of all the oil produced free of cost to the land- owner. In favored localities one-half royalty and a bonus were given. During the different years this royalty not unfrequently amounted to five hundred to one thousand or even more a day to the landowner, giving them a wealth that made them fairly dizzy. In other cases farms that before the discovery of oil were only valued at a few dollars an acre sold for large sums. P. H. Siverly sold his farm in 1863 (now the site of Siverly) for one hundred thousand dollars; Phillips & Vanausdall, a farm, sold for seventy-five thousand; the Blood farm, less than five hundred acres, sold for five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In June of the same year the land interest (one-half the oil) in five acres on the Blood farm sold for two hundred and twenty thousand dollars; a working interest in the H. O. Filkins well on the Blood farm sold for one hundred thousand dollars, and Hoover & Plumer sold one-third interest in Hoover island, near Franklin, for one hundred thousand dollars. . These are only given to show how rapidly lands indicating oil production appreciated in value. The values given are not extreme, for many farms and interests were sold then, and have been in all the succeeding years, far larger sums. Per contra, some of the best producing lands of to-day cost the owners but slightly more than the value of good farming lands. During the reign of ten dollar oil Mr. Bishop, of New York, offered the Central Petroleum Company, of which he was a heavy stockholder, in addition to one-half royalty, a bonus of ten thousand
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THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
dollars each for ten one acre leases on their property, and this offer was not ₡ accepted. About the same time Graff, Hasson & Company sold to the Petroleum Farms Association three hundred and twenty acres from their tract of about twelve hundred acres, for the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But a few years previous Graff, Hasson & Company paid seven thousand for the entire twelve hundred acre tract. The purchase by the Petroleum Farms Association comprised Cottage Hill and that por- tion of Oil City now included in the First and Second wards. It is rea- sonable to suppose that the company have done proportionally as well as Graff, Hasson & Company, and both parties still have some valuable lands left.
During 1860 the attention of shippers was turned to providing facilities to get their oil to the markets in the eastern cities and to Pittsburgh. In the uncertain state of permanent production railroads were slow to give assurance of building branches into the oil country from their main lines, In the way of water transportation the Pittsburgh river men showed the greatest activity. A number of warehouses and oil yards soon occupied the river front in the Third ward, Oil City. Each of the warehouses trans- acted a regular warehouse and commission business, and each had a steam- boat landing. Both passenger and tow-boat steamers were employed, and kept busy during such stages of water as permitted, and through these a greater portion of the oil-well machinery and other supplies were obtained. The supplies for the upper portion of the valley of Oil creek were hauled by wagons from the nearest railroad points. Boats for both river and creek use were brought to Oil City and Franklin, and by the close of 1860 were in considerable number and capacity. The farmers of this and adjoining states also found ample employment for all the teams and wagons they could spare.
A number of small refineries were erected in 1860. The throng of peo- ple from all parts of the country was steady during that year, but of these more came to prospect than to locate permanently. The work of the drill was notably active. Lack of even the most ordinary accommodations was a serious drawback, but still greater was the difficulty of getting machinery to the places where it was needed to drill the wells. The wells drilled were shallow, most of them being in the first and second sand, at a depth of two hundred to three hundred feet, and were small producers. The daily pro- duction in June of this year, 1860, was estimated at two hundred barrels. By the close of the same this production was largely increased. In fact, the year was one of preparation. The real work of development commenced in the close of 1860 and spring of 1861. By that time the use of steam power had come into more general use.
The guides of the first operator were few and unreliable. Surface indi- cations, such as the appearance of oil on the streams or springs, was about
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
all he could judge from, and he located his well as near these as he could get. Some even built cribs in the streams, upon which their derricks were erected and wells drilled, but these proved no more successful than wells drilled on the stream banks. The safest plan was to locate in the neighbor- hood of a producing well, when such could be found. It was all "wild-cat- ting" in those days, and field operations averaged about the same as they do at present date. Best signs failed and the only reliable results were then as now furnished by the research of the miner's drill. Great prog- ress was being made in machinery and tools used in oil operations. En- gines and boilers of the class suited for the work were being made and sup- plied to the different points, and the development greatly advanced in every way. For fuel wood and coal were plenty, the last named being in general use. Board shanties on the leases accommodated owners and employes, and here they remained until success made their stay permanent or lack of it caused them to remove to another location.
From the beginning the belief was general among operators of the ex- istence of larger veins of oil at greater depths, arguing upon the gen- eral nature or practice of artesian wells that if greater depths were pene- trated the force obtained would be sufficient to force the oil to the surface and the slow and expensive process of pumping could be dispensed with. Few doubted the main supply of oil was held in a third sand rock, and when this was reached the fountain would be tapped.
The result was not only successful, but disastrous to prices as well. A number of flowing wells were struck on the Clapp farm and at other points · along the creek, and on the Allegheny river, in the third sand at a depth of four hundred to five hundred feet. In May, 1861, the number of producing wells was one hundred and thirty-five, with a daily production of one thousand, two hundred and eighty-eight barrels. One flowing well on the Clapp farm, the Cornplanter, filled a one hundred barrel tank and a pond twenty-five square rods in extent in its first sixteen hours. In July, large sales of oil were made at tanks on Oil creek at ten cents per gallon. In Au gust the Titusville Gazette placed the number of wells in Oil creek valley at eight hundred, seven of these flowing, and an eight hundred barrel well was struck by R. R. Bradley in the third sand at a depth of five hundred feet. In September came the big strikes of the Phillips No. 2, on the Tarr farm, its first day's production being four thousand barrels; the Empire well, flow- ing two thousand five hundred barrels, the Buckeye well, eight hundred barrels. Other flowing wells were struck, and by October the flood of oil was so great that it could not be taken care of and thousands of barrels flowed into the creek and river. It was feared that at this rate the supply would soon become exhausted unless some means could be devised to pre- vent the waste. In December the Woodford well, on the Tarr farm, came in with a daily production of three thousand barrels, and the Elephant, No.
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THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
1, with eight hundred. The total production of 1859 is given at eighty-two thousand barrels; 1860, five hundred thousand, and 1861, two million one hundred and thirteen thousand six hundred barrels. This shows conclu- sively the progress of the development.
The first mode of storing the oil was in circular wooden tanks, built of jointed staves of pine planks, tightly caulked with oakum. These ranged in capacity from fifty to fifteen hundred barrels. Tank building became a leading and profitable industry and continued until displaced by the iron tanks of the present date. Barrels were used for shipment. The supply of these throughout the country became exhausted early in the development. To meet the demand barrel factories were established on the upper waters of the Allegheny and they were made into rafts and floated down the river to Oil City, from whence they were sent to all parts of the oil fields. A look through the piles of barrels in the different yards gave a fair exhibition of every class of package or cask used in every part of the country, even to those that had been in use on whaling vessels. The price of oil barrels ranged from three dollars fifty cents to four dollars and sales of these were made at four dollars fifty cents each.
The growth of Oil City, Franklin, and Titusville in 1861 was marked. Every class of business house was being established, as well as blacksmith and machine shops. The valley of Oil creek from Oil City to Titusville began to assume the appearance of an almost continuous town of clusters of shanties and derricks. The towns of McClintockville, Rouseville, Tarr Farm, and Petroleum Center began to come into existence, and from this time on their growth was rapid. The drones in this busy time of indus- try were few and their stay brief. All were engaged earnestly in the race for wealth, and from this aggregate of energy came the grand results of the years that succeeded.
The class of men constituting the pioneers of the oil country are deserv- ing of more than a passing notice. They came from the commercial cities, the towns, and the hamlets of the country. Among them were civil and mining engineers of both old as well as new world experience, mechanics, and business men of all classes. A high tone of business integrity was characteristic. A verbal agreement was as binding as a bond, and daily transactions of many thousands of dollars were made involving nothing more than the making of a mere memorandum. Through these and suc- ceeding years each community was noted-for its maintenance of law and order. In 1865 thieves made their appearance from other places, but they soon found the oil country an unsafe place for their business and had but a brief stay.
During the fall and winter of 1861-62 the production decreased and prices became better. The spring of 1862 opened with good promise, though prices ruled very low at the beginning. In March oil was sold at the wells
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
at forty to fifty cents per barrel. In December of same year ruling prices at wells, five dollars and fifty cents to six dollars; at Oil City, barrels in- cluded, ten dollars per barrel. Freights ruled high. Cost of sending one barrel of oil to New York, seven dollars and fifty cents; by steamboat from Oil City to Pittsburgh, two dollars per barrel; hauling from Oil creek to Meadville, two dollars and twenty-five cents per barrel.
Congress about this time proposed to levy a war tax of ten cents per gal- lon on refined and five cents per gallon on crude oil. To this producers objected, suggesting that refined only be taxed, with a drawback on all ex- ported to foreign countries.
The Oil City Register of June 1, 1862, published the following table in relation to the oil business on Oil creek:
No. of wells flowing. 75
formerly flowed and pumped. 62
46
66 commenced. 358
Total 495
Amount of oil shipped to date. 1,000,000 bbls
on hand to date 92,450
Present daily production 5.717
Average value of oil at $1 per bbl. $1,092,450
Average cost of wells at $1,000 each 495,000
Machinery, buildings, etc., from $500 to $7,000 each . .. 500,000
Total number of refineries. 25
On the 9th of December, 1862, some three hundred and fifty boats loaded with oil at Oil City, containing about sixty thousand barrels of oil, were wrecked by an ice gorge from Oil creek coming against them. Thirty thousand barrels of oil and one hundred and fifty boats were lost, footing up a total loss of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. During the year destructive fires occurred among the fleets of oil boats along the river front at Oil City, entailing a loss estimated at seventy-five thousand to one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars. One of the burning boats floated down and destroyed the Franklin bridge, valued at seventy-five thousand dollars.
The notable events of the year with those stated were a large extension of the field, a production too large to be handled with advantage, and a vast amount of experience for those who chose to profit by it.
An important event of 1863 was the completion of the Franklin branch of the Atlantic and Great Western railway from Meadville to Franklin. This was completed in successive stages to Oil City, reaching that point in the fall or early part of the winter of 1864-65.
In this connection it is due to mention the fact that closely following the striking of the Drake well was the commencement of developments at Frank- lin. James Evans, a blacksmith, assisted by his two sons, drilled a well in the vicinity of Twelfth and Otter streets in Franklin early in 1860, and at
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THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
the depth of seventy-two feet struck a vein of oil. Upon being pumped a daily production of fifteen barrels was obtained. Other operations were had in the vicinity of the place, and a number of producing wells resulted. Hoover's island, the Hoover, Alexander Cochran, and other farms in the locality were afterward tested, and evidence given of a productive field on all sides of the town. . The result of the research thus begun was the devel- opment in what is known as the old Franklin district of a vein of heavy oil, which has since been utilized as the best lubricating oil known. In the crude state it has a natural cold test of twenty degrees below zero, with a specific gravity of thirty-one degrees. This district is narrow in extent, and the wells though small have proved of wonderful longevity. The value of this oil is from three to four dollars per barrel at present time. In the whole district there are now eleven hundred wells being pumped, with a monthly production of five thousand barrels.
The Franklin branch of the Atlantic and Great Western railroad was the first railroad to make its way into the oil country. About the same time the Oil Creek road was completed to Titusville, afterward extended to Petro- leum Center, and there connected with the Farmers' railroad built from Oil City. Next in order was the Allegheny River railroad, completed in 1865 from Oil City to Oleopolis, with a branch from thence to Pithole. Various other lines were projected, but these were the only ones built. The Alle- gheny Valley railroad from Kittaning to Oil City was completed in 1867, and the Jamestown and Franklin railway, operated by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, was completed to Oil City a few years later.
The Noble & Delamater well, Farrel farm, Oil creek, was struck in January, 1863, and started off with a production of three thousand barrels per day. The Caldwell well, on the same tract, was struck about the same time, and interfered with the Noble & Delamater. It was bought by these parties for one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars and plugged. To date of August 3, 1863, Noble & Delamater sold from their well one hun- dred and eighteen thousand barrels of oil for the sum of three hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars. The well continued a good producer for about twenty-two months, and the sum realized from the sale of the oil by its own- ers was variously estimated at from three to four million dollars. This was doubtless the best paying well struck in the oil country. It is no wonder that such successes in operating, the high prices that ranged from time to time in the oil country, and the demonstration so satisfactorily made of its inexhaustible supply, should excite the wildest cupidity of man through- out the country.
Among other things the petroleum development evolved at an early date was a type of the " Colonel Sellers " stripe, whose equal has never be- fore or since been surpassed. He looked over the petroleum field, saw there "was millions in it," and at once proceeded to realize. To use the current
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
phrase of to-day: "There was no flies on him." A few hundred or a few thousand dollars sufficed to get an option for sixty days or more on a farm, oil wells, or leases. Price with him was no object, especially if he could get the owner to take a part of the purchase money in the shape of stock. The time given was used to good advantage. The names of leading men in the cities or towns where the company was formed were obtained, a charter of incorporation was had from the state department under the provisions of the general mining and manufacturing law of this or other states, a stock com- pany was formed, a flaming prospectus and certificates of stock made by the bank-note companies in the best style of the art, were issued, and both placed where they would be read and disposed of to the best advantage, and the thing was accomplished. They argued that the general public were the only suckers who bit at a bare hook. In this respect their judgment was correct. The public bit voraciously at this gilded bait. The "Colonel " and his few partners always went in on the "ground floor." "Wind" was their principal investment. It only required a short time to sell enough of the stock to pay the purchase money and to provide a fund to prosecute the work of development, and this was designated the "working interest." It was rightly named, for it kept the stockholders busy working to pay their assessments for weary months or years afterward. As a general thing the only profit realized from the sale of the stock was by the long-headed crowd on the "ground floor." They always managed to keep the control and large blocks of stock in their own hands; it cost them little or nothing, and its sale at any price was so much clear gain. There were different grades of this " Colonel Sellers" tribe, but the result in the end was the same- the stockholder was the man who didn't realize to any material extent upon his investment. There were many honorable exceptions among the oil stock companies formed, at the time spoken of, and these, under capable manage- ment, were generally successful.
The craze for oil stock companies that commenced in 1862 swept over the country like a wave. Their number soon became legion. In this state alone the writer could enumerate at one time over six hundred. Their alleged capital stocks, ranging from twenty-five thousand to ten million dollars, footed up nearly a billion of money. New York came scarcely second in number, while the town or country cross-roads not represented by an oil company with high sounding titles and an array of leading local bankers, doctors, ministers, and business men, was considered "too dead too skin."
The first duty of the management of the new company was to appoint a superintendent to take charge of the work and make as favorable reports as possible of the progress to the stockholders. Armed with this authority and the fund, or a portion of it devoted for the purpose, this gentleman hastened to Oil City, and from thence to the possessions of his company.
Inmitchell
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THE PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT.
He contracted for the building of the derrick, bought an engine, boiler and the other necessary implements, employed the drillers, and set to work to realize the fond hopes of the stockholders. If he met with success the duration of his term and salary was prolonged, for any rise in the price of the stock caused the knowing ones to sell and those otherwise to hold on to their stock and be willing to be bled while there was a smell of oil or gas. The end was sure to come. Some fine morning the working-beam of the well was still, the drilling tools or sucker-rods hung idly in the well, the derrick was deserted and "Ichabod" written plainly enough on the engine house and office. The iron safe, for this was considered indispensable by every well regulated superintendent, and the well machinery were the only visible assets left, except the superintendent, who had packed his grip at the proper time and hied him away to other fields.
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