USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 41
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Fisher P. Brown, an old resident of Titusville, in 1868 had three wells on the Brown and other farms, in the Pleasantville district. In 1872 he had on Triumph Hill three wells. In 1873 he had on the Noble farm, on the flats, near the Hunter wells, three wells. In 1891 he had five wells on the Hasson farm, near the English Settlement. In 1892 he had on the Kress
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farm, fourteen wells; on the Ziegenheim farm, seven wells; on the Williams, three wells. In 1894 he had on the Lowson farm one well, and one addi- tional well on the Williams in 1895. These last twenty-six wells are lo- cated in McCandless Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Frank S. Tarbell, who has lived in Titusville many years, may be classed as a pioneer operator. He came to the oil country in the fall of 1859. His operations first were in the vicinity of Rouseville. From 1860 to 1874 he manufactured wooden oil tanks upon an extensive scale. For the first five years after the beginning of the oil producing business, only wooden tanks, either for receiving oil at the wells or for storing it, were used. Iron hoops cost ten cents a pound. Tanks holding from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred barrels were erected at prices ranging from thirty to seventy-five cents a barrel, according to location. To deliver tank lumber from Rouseville at Pithole cost one dollar per thousand feet. Mr. Tarbell made tanks by ma- chinery and he kept them in quantity on hand, to meet especially sudden strikes of oil. Until 1865 there was neither an iron storage tank nor a pipe line; so that the wooden tank builders for several years had a harvest, and made money. After 1865 Mr. Tarbell operated variously on Oil Creek, on Cherry Run. at St. Petersburg. Clarion County, at Karns City and other places in Butler County. Then after the opening of the Bradford field he operated extensively in that locality for years. In 1885 he operated on the Drake district, owned by the Drake Petroleum Company, of Philadelphia, in Tract 149, Grand Valley. In 1889 he began operations near Neiltown, and con- tinued work there for a few years.
The Mckinney Brothers, prominent citizens of Titusville for many years, occupy a high place in the ranks of oil producers, both as to the length of time and extent of operations and the quantity of oil produced and sold. John L. Mckinney, the older brother, began producing in 1860, and he has since been continuously engaged in the business until the present time. James C. Mckinney, the other brother, joined him in the work in 1863, and since then the two have been associated in a close partnership, which has been con- stant until the present. To enumerate their operations, in anything like minute detail, would require much greater space than the limits of this work would permit. It is not necessary. It may be comprehensively stated that the Mckinney Brothers have been engaged in the production of oil in every field east of the Mississippi River. They have produced and sold as much oil
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as any other individual firm in the history of petroleum production. For sixteen years they were extensively interested with H. L. Taylor, John Sat- terfield, John Pitcairn, Jr., and T. S. McFarland in the producing business.
McKinney Brothers have been interested, as principals, in more than one hundred thousand acres of oil producing territory. They continued in individual operations until the years of 1888 and 1889, when they closed out in a sale of all their producing plants to the Standard Oil Company, with which they have since been associated in merged interests.
John L. Mckinney is the president of the Midland Division of the South Penn Oil Company, and J. C. Mckinney is its general manager, having the direction of nearly five thousand producing wells, extending from Allegany County, New York, to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
For further information the reader is referred to special biographies of the two brothers which appear elsewhere in this work.
OTHER PRODUCERS.
The foregoing account of operations by a few Titusville producers is furnished for the purpose of indicating, by the examples thus cited, the char- acter of the work done by a large class of Titusville citizens since the discovery of Drake in 1859. The names of some others, residents of Titusville, well known as operators in oil, will now be mentioned.
Frederick Crocker was one of the striking figures for a generation of the prominent producers, who have chased new fields of development with untiring perseverance. In the early years of production he invented a check valve, to facilitate the action of the well pump. The appliance was exten- sively used. Mr. Crocker produced a great deal of oil on Oil Creek. He was a pioneer in the Bradford field. He afterward operated in the lower counties, and died in February, 1895. His remains were brought to Titusville, and in- terred in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Jonathan Il'atson, one of the fathers of oil production, was a member of the noted firm, Brewer, Watson & Company, that, as previously mentioned, sold the Willard farm, containing the oil spring where Drake subsequently sunk his well. Immediately after Drake's discovery, Mr. Watson began oil development, and continued at the business nearly all the rest of his life. He amassed a large fortune, which came perhaps more from successful deals in
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oil territory than from his oil production. In later years he lost a great deal of money in sinking experimental wells.
Marcus Brownson, one of the best known operators in production, left his mark in many fields. Most of his work was attended with excellent suc- cess. Some of his later ventures were less fortunate. But as a whole, his career as an oil producer may be regarded as a prosperous one.
.4. H. Bronson was for a time a dashing and powerful operator, and for a time was highly successful in the Shamburg field. But, with many others, he was hurt by the exceptionally low price of oil in 1873. From his reverses at that time he never fully recovered. He was ever brave and persevering, but fate frowned upon him.
Dr. G. Shamburg made a fortune in the field which took its name from him. He also suffered from low prices in 1873. In later years he collected in the Hickory district a large oil property, which, as previously mentioned, he sold to John J. Carter.
Frank WV. Andrews, W. WV. Thompson and D. H. Cady, from their achievements in producing oil at Pioneer and Shamburg, became oil princes.
Lyman Stewart, brother of Milton Stewart, also made a fortune in pro- ducing oil in the same fields. He, together with Andrews, invested a large amount of money in the early part of 1869 in the Yost manufacturing plant at Corry, Pennsylvania. Lyman Stewart sunk, in that investment, $300,- 000, and Frank W. Andrews, $500,000. Andrews operated afterward in McKean and Elk counties. Both he and Cady died several years ago. Stew- art moved to Los Angeles, California, and he has for several years past been engaged in producing oil in that state. W. W. Thompson is at present pro- ducing oil in West Virginia.
Emery Brothers were successful producers in the Pioneer and Sham- burg fields. In 1871 they participated in organizing the Octave Oil Con- pany, to the management of which David Emery gave his personal attention. Lewis Emery, Jr., in 1875 and '76 began the foundation of his subsequent extensive producing business in the Bradford field. He has since had large producing interests elsewhere. He has also been largely engaged in the refin- ing industry. He is at the head of the United States Pipe Line Company. To the protracted and persevering efforts of Lewis Emery, Jr., is mainly due the enactment of a free pipe law in Pennsylvania, against the opposition of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which in the Legislature of the State has for a
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long period been regarded as omnipotent. A special biography of David ' Emery appears elsewhere in this work.
A. N. Perrin, many years a resident of Titusville, was long an oil pro- ducer. His operations began in the sixties on Oil Creek. He was subse- quently engaged in the field of Armstrong and Butler counties, and after- ward in the Bradford district. He was an officer in the Tide Water Pipe Company.
John Satterfield was another operator. He was extensively engaged, especially in close connection with H. L. Taylor, in many fields. The Union Oil Company, whose operations were directed by Taylor & Satterfield, was an important factor, with its pipe lines, in the oil trade. But ultimately all the oil plants of the firm were absorbed by the Standard Oil Company. Both Taylor and Satterfield were once impressive figures in the oil trade. Both are now dead. But their memories survive.
H. B. Porter for years was a very active producer. His principal opera- tions were in McKean, Elk and Warren counties.
A. P. Bennett began the work of producing at Pithole in 1865. About the year 1877 he acquired producing interests in the Bradford field.
A. S. Ralston was a very successful producer at Tidioute over thirty years ago. Since then he has resided in Titusville. He brought his capital with him, and gave to the community a very fine business block. He has done a little producing from time to time in light territory, outlying from the town, and he owns territory in the vicinity upon which he is postponing operations until more remunerative prices for oil are realized.
W. B. Benedict, the present Mayor of Titusville, brought in the first well, in the Enterprise field, in the summer of 1865. Although the supply was small, the quality of the Enterprise oil was excellent-better even than Church Run oil-for refining purposes. Since 1865 Mr. Benedict has done not a little in oil producing. Mr. Benediet, when a young man, was badly burned at the oil explosion on the Buchanan farm in April, 1861, which killed Henry R. Rouse, the philanthropist of Warren County.
Charles H. Ley and John D. Ley have been fairly successful in oil pro- duction.
George P. Carr for several years past has done a good deal of successful work in producing in the lower fields.
John J. Sharpe has a record for good fortune in the producing business.
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S. S. Henne has acquired a fortune as a producer. He is said to possess excellent sagacity and judgment in discerning the indications of producing territory.
Charles S. Barrett was formerly engaged in oil production for many years.
C. F. Lake has made some money in producing in the lower country.
Dr. J. L. Dunn, though a practicing physician, has first and last done some work in boring for and lifting crude petroleum.
James Farel and Nelson Farcl, who thirty-five years ago, by operations on the Farel farm, including the celebrated Noble well, were made rich, have saved their wealth, and they are still producing oil.
James J. Donchue has operated in many fields. He is at present produc- ing in West Virginia.
James P. Crossley, who has long been engaged in producing oil, is at present at work in West Virginia. The third well struck, calling Drake's the first, which, as previously stated, began producing March 14, 1860, after not a very long life, was abandoned. In 1872 it was resuscitated, yielding a good production for about twenty years longer, until the great fire and flood in the early part of June, 1892. Mr. J. P. Crossley had charge of this prop- erty during the late period of its existence.
IV. J. Booth has had considerable experience in oil production.
E. O. Emerson has become wealthy in producing oil. He has operated in many fields. In late years Mr. Emerson has been largely engaged in fur- nishing natural gas to consumers in Pittsburg and Bradford, and perhaps in some other towns. J. N. Pew, a former resident of Titusville, has charge of Mr. Emerson's gas business.
The late William T. Neill, whose remains have rested in Woodlawn Cemetery twenty-five years, was one of the ten original stockholders of the "Tidioute and Warren Oil Company." That company was organized at Tidioute in 1860. Its capital stock of $10,000 .was divided into ten shares of $1,000 each. Twenty-five years ago the company had divided among the stockholders $1,200,000.
William H. Abbott, in the early development of petroleum, took an active part. As already stated, he helped to sink both the Barnsdall and the Crossley wells, the second and third wells drilled after the Drake, in the fall and winter following.
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William Barnsdall has been engaged in the producing business nearly ever since his first venture on the James Parker farm in the fall of 1859.
But his son, Theodore N. Barnsdall, a Titusville boy, has achieved re- markable results. The extent of his operations is probably greater than that of any other individual oil producer to-day.
One more name will close the list. Some Titusville producers entitled to recognition may have been accidentally overlooked. The number of such omissions is, however, certainly small. The task of collecting the information herein presented has not been a light one.
Charles Hyde, of whom more will be said in another part of this work, in the early sixties amassed great wealth in the production of oil. The Tidi- oute and Warren Oil Company, the tenth of whose stock he owned, as above stated, paid big dividends. But the fountain which discharged money into his vaults was the Hyde & Egbert farm. When Mr. Hyde, in the spring of 1866, moved into the mansion now occupied by his son, Louis K. Hyde, at the corner of Main and Franklin streets, he was a multi-millionaire, and good fortune has continued to accompany him.
ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.
Included in the oil history of Titusville some notice may be made of a late development in the vicinity. In 1890 an oil belt was opened in the Eng- lish Settlement, in Rome Township, a few miles northwest of Titusville. The belt begins on the Hummer farm, and runs directly north, with little varia- tion, three and one-half miles, with a width of three-fourths of a mile. Some drilling at the present time extends the belt northward. So far, at the present writing, one hundred and fifty wells have been drilled, of which over one hundred and twenty are still producing. The depth of the oil bearing rock below the surface of the ground in the valleys is six hundred feet, the thickness of the producing rock being from twenty-eight to thirty- two feet. All thic wells produce salt water with the oil. Sufficient gas is saved to furnish fuel for pumping purposes, when the wells are connected with pumping apparatus, and several wells are pumped by a single power. By means of this connected apparatus, each operator employs only one man for pumping all his wells, few or many.
Beginning at the south end of the field, Arthur Mandell & Co. have fif- teen wells on the Shaw and Hummer farms, drilled in 1891 and 1892. The
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depth of these wells is six hundred and fifty feet, the thickness of the produc- ing rock, thirty feet. The daily yield of these wells was at first from ten to forty barrels. Their production now is about three-fourths of a barrel each. One man pumps the whole by the combination process.
Moon & Hooker own twenty wells on the Harrison and Gibson farms, drilled in 1890 and 1891. The distance to the sand rock is six hundred and fifty feet, its thickness about thirty feet. The daily production .at the be- ginning was ten to twenty-five barrels. These wells are all pumped by one man with the combination system.
Carene Harrison has on his farm nine wells, drilled in 1893 and 1894, all average wells, and still producing.
R. Corson has ten wells on the Dunlop farm, drilled in 1890, '91 and '92. Their average depth is six hundred and fifty feet. The first well produced one hundred barrels a day for some time. Its production now is about the same as that of the other nine-one-half to three-fourths of a barrel daily. These ten wells are all pumped by one man.
Rendall & Stewart own three wells on the R. E. Rendall farm, drilled in 1892. They are all producing.
U. C. Welton owns twenty-three wells, located on the Dunlop, the Ren- dall, the Dalzell & Co., and the Nesbit farms, drilled in 1890, '91 and '92, except two on the Nesbit farm, which were sunk in 1895. Eighteen of the wells are pumped all by one man.
William Foreman owns three wells on the Harrison farm, drilled in 1891, all now producing.
T. Rigby has four wells on his own farm. They are all yielding about one-half a barrel each day.
J. J. Sloan has six wells on the Harrison farm, drilled in 1891-92. One well started at fifty barrels a day, pumping that amount several months. The wells now average about one-half a barrel daily, each.
Harrison Brothers have eight wells on the Harrison farm, drilled in 1891 and '92.
T. N. Barnsdall owns five wells on the Hasson farms, drilled in 1891. The wells are still pumping. E. O. Emerson owns wells on the Hicks and Selden farm, drilled in 1891 and '92.
Mr. Morris has six wells on his own farm. The Spartanburg Oil Com- pany owns four wells. drilled in 1897.
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OTHER SMALL DISTRICTS.
Small wells have been found in late years in the southeastern part of Oil Creek Township, extending into South West Township, Warren County, within a few miles of Titusville. There is still some production in the Octave district. It may be stated that there has never been heavy production at any point in the immediate vicinity of Titusville. The Church Run field, which was opened in 1865, produced considerable oil for several years. There are still a few small wells in that section. There was opened a small pool of oil near Enterprise in 1865. It is not unlikely that small veins of oil will still be discovered, for a long time to come, perhaps in the neighborhood of Titusville ; but only light production should be expected.
PIPE LINES.
In 1864 a pipe line between the Sherman well on the Foster farm to Miller Farm, a station on the Oil Creek Railroad, a few miles south of Titus- ville, was laid, for the purpose of pumping oil from the well to the station, for shipment thence by rail to market. Cast iron pipe was used, the connect- ing joints of which were packed with lead. The experiment failed from the want of ordinary mechanical skill in properly packing the joint so that, on trial, the pipe leaked badly, and the undertaking was abandoned. It is now known that oil can be successfully forced through cast iron pipes, the same as water, by high pressure, without leaking. But the expense of using cast iron pipes in an ordinary oil line, running over rocks, through ravines, on the bed of streams in deep water and over mountains, would be greatly in excess of that in the use of wrought iron pipes. It was doubtless fortunate for the oil trade that the experiment referred to resulted in failure. Otherwise a large amount of money upon lines of greater lengtli, upon rougher ground than that between the Sherman well and the Miller farm, might have been wasted, before the discovery of a less expensive and by far more convenient pipe.
Mr. Samuel Van Syckel understood the advantages of the wrought iron pipe for an oil line. And accordingly in the summer of 1865 he laid a two- inch line of wrought iron pipe from Pithiole to Miller farm, a distance of about six miles, and forced oil through it by pump pressure at the rate of sixty barrels an hour, or more, successfully proving the practicability of trans- porting oil long distances through pipes by hydraulic pressure. It has since been demonstrated that oil can be transported hundreds of miles through an
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iron pipe of a diameter from three to ten inches, more economically and with greater safety than by rail.
To Mr. Van Syckel must be given the credit of inventing the mode of oil transportation in quantity over a long distance through iron pipes by hydraulic pressure. It is not necessary to say that he first conceived the idea of the process. It is not certain that any distinguished inventor was the first to think of the particular mechanical contrivance, with which his name is known to the public as its author. The identical idea, more or less distinct, at different periods perhaps, may have disturbed the brain of several individ- uals. The real inventor of some advantage in mechanics is the one who has first put into successful execution, to a practical result, his original mental conceptions upon the subject. Samuel Van Syckel did all this. His in- vention has conferred infinite benefit upon mankind.
In building his pipe line, Van Syckel had borrowed money from the First National Bank of Titusville, and to secure the debt he had hypothe- cated his interest in the line. Failing to make payment he was obliged to surrender his interest to the bank. The bank assigned the interest to Jona- than Watson, who immediately turned the property over to William H. Abbott, the real purchaser, who thenceforward for a considerable period of time operated the line alone, and thence laid the foundation of what after- ward became the Pennsylvania Transportation Company.
In 1866 Henry Harley finished the pipe line from Benninghoff Run to Shaffer Farm, then a station on the Oil Creek Railroad, about six miles south of Titusville. After Mr. Abbott had purchased the Van Syckel line, he entered into partnership with Harley, under the firm name of Abbott & Harley, the firm owning and operating together the lines which each had held individually. The outcome of the partnership was the Pennsylvania Transportation Company, with a large capital. Among its shareholders were Jay Gould and Thomas A. Scott.
It piped oil from the producing districts of Triumph, Hickory, Pleasant- ville, Red Hot, Shamburg, Benninghoff and Pioneer, and delivered it at Miller Farm and Titusville. It received a blow from the effects of which it never afterward recovered, in the change of management of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad in 1871 and of the Erie in 1872. At the time Gould acquired an interest in the Pennsylvania Transportation pipe line Fisk and Gould controlled both the Erie and the Atlantic & Great Western roads.
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They were at the head of the Erie, when that road, by a lease, had posses- sion of the Atlantic & Great Western. In 1870 a railroad was built from Titusville to Union City, a station on the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. Fisk and Gould were the principal owners of this new road, which had been built for the purpose of making it a feeder, especially in oil freights, of the Atlantic & Great Western and the Erie roads. The object was to give busi- ness to the Pennsylvania Transportation Company from the wells to Titus- ville, and the railroads from Titusville to New York, making a continuous line from the oil wells to the seaboard. If this connection had remained undisturbed for several years afterward, the business of the Pennsylvania ' Transportation Company would probably have been highly prosperous. But in the summer of 1871 Mr. James McHenry, then a resident of London, came to this country, clothed with power from the leading English share- holders and bondholders of the Erie and Atlantic & Great Western roads, to terminate the lease which the former held of the latter, and he did put an end to the lease. He made General George B. McClellan, the distin- guished commander of the Army of the Potomac, in the late Civil War, President of the Atlantic & Great Western, and General Harry F. Sweetser, for many years a resident of Titusville, its General Manager. This change was very disastrous to the interests of the Pennsylvania Transportation Company. Almost immediately afterward Gould sold the road connecting Titusville and Union City to the Oil Creek Railroad. These changes were highly injurious to the business of Titusville. The direct connection by the broad gauge roads with New York in the East, and with Cincinnati and St. Louis in the West, under one management from Cincinnati to New York, was of incalculable advantage to a town situated as Titusville then was. It brought to Titusville the United States Express Company, and gave to the inhab- itants the benefits of competition in the prices of local express transporta- tion. The subsequent loss of this competition has proved a serious loss to the citizens of the place. But the misfortune first felt came from the harm done to the pipe company, upon whose prosperity depended, in no small measure, the prosperity of the community. To cripple this industry was to hurt Titusville financially. The outlet of the pipe line was obstructed by breaking its continuous line to the place of market. The Oil Creek road was then under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which also had the Philadelphia & Erie among its leased lines. Henceforward the Union &
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Titusville road became the feeder of the Pennsylvania Trunk Railroad. The Pennsylvania Transportation line, soon after the close of the lease of the Atlantic & Great Western to the Erie, was still more crippled by the ousting of Gould from the control of the Erie, by another move of McHenry. When this was consummated, the once powerful Pennsylvania Transportation Company, in all whose previous work was seen the active energy of William H. Abbott, was forced to deliver the oil which it piped to its competitors. All Mr. Abbott's extensive enterprises were bound up in Titusville, and when the pipe line was badly hurt by the loss of its connection with friendly inter- ests, Titusville suffered. And it is the justice of history to say that the splendid prosperity which the town had enjoyed since the founding of the Pennsylvania Transportation Company began its decline soon after the Erie Railroad lost its lease of the Atlantic & Great Western.
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