USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 42
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The Pennsylvania Transportation Company continued to lose strength until the great rise in the price of oil, in August, 1876. It then began to show signs of distress. To make good its outstanding certificates, it bor- rowed money. It may be suspected, though perfect evidence to the effect be wanting, that the market, during the embarrassment of the Pennsylvania Transportation Company, was designedly worked in such a manner as to add to its troubles. At any rate, the company was obliged to succumb, and . in October following Mr. M. W. Quick was appointed by the Crawford County Circuit Court its receiver. Mr. Quick's management of the com- pany's affairs was excellent. He continued its pipe line business in the coun- ties of Crawford, Venango and Armstrong for the next four years, when, at the foreclosure of mortgages upon its property, he wound up its business and turned over a large fund for distribution among the creditors.
The Titusville Pipe Line was laid from Pithole to Titusville in 1866, by Brian Philpot, George J. Sherman and Henry E. Pickett. They soon afterward sold a one-half interest to the Empire Transportation Company, and the other half to another party, who in turn sold to the Empire com- pany, thus putting the latter into entire possession of the property. The new proprietors organized under the title of the "Titusville Pipe Company." Mr. Charles P. Hatch was superintendent of the company for several years. The line took oil from Pithole, West Pithole, Red Hot and Pleasantville, and delivered it at Titusville.
The New York Pipe Line was built in 1871 by Mr. Andrew B. How-
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land, of Titusville, for the Empire Transportation Company from Garland, Pennsylvania, a station on the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, thirteen miles from Corry, to the producing districts of Triumph and West Hickory. In 1872 this line and that of the Titusville Pipe Company came together at Colorado, and, as they were owned by the same company, they were united and operated under one management, Mr. Howland becoming General Super- intendent.
In 1877 the entire property was sold to the Standard Oil Company. Other lines in the section of the country west of the Allegheny River as far as Titusville, extending south so as to embrace Hickory and Shamburg, and still westward so as to include the Octave district south of Titusville, were absorbed also by the Standard at about the same time. All these lines were merged into one system, afterward called the Tidioute and Titusville Pipe Lines.
The Church Run Pipe connected the Church Run wells with Titusville. It was built in 1867 by A. A. Pierce, J. Foster Clark, F. W. Ames and A. R. Williams. The quality of Church Run oil was superior even to that pro- duced on Watson Flats, and it was therefore sought for by refiners. In 1879 production on Church Run became so light that the company took up its pipe and sold it.
The Valley Oil Line, Limited, was organized in 1887. J. W. Miller was President of the line, J. P. Thomas, Treasurer, and F. S. Tarbell, Sec- retary. It brought oil from Grand Valley and from Shamburg to the re- fining works of the International Oil Company at Titusville. The National Oil Company, at Titusville, also had a pipe line of its own for supplying itself with crude oil. These lines went respectively with the two refining establishments in the sale to the Standard in 1895.
The Producers and Refiners Company laid a four-inch line in 1892 from the McDonald district, through the Butler field, to Oil City and Titusville.
In 1893 the United States Pipe Linc Company laid a five-inch line from Oil City to Titusville, thence to Warren, thence to Bradford, and thence to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, a distance of two hundred and seventy miles. Through this line refined oil only was transported. But at Warren it was joined by a four-inch crude line, the pipes of both laid in the same ditch, the two running side by side the rest of the way. The contents of both lines have been gradually extended, though resisted at every step by railroads and rail-
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load influence, until now Hampton Junction, in New Jersey, has been reached, whence to the seaboard only forty-three miles remain.
Beginning at Wilkesbarre, the New Jersey Central Railroad has taken the oil from the advancing termini of the two lines and carried it the rest of the way to the seaboard. The carrying of refined oil through iron pipes a long distance was first tried by the United States Pipe Line Company, five years ago. Previous to this experiment it had generally been doubted that refined oil could be forced through iron pipes, without injury to the color of the oil. The test for the last five years proves that refined oil thus carried is improved, rather than injured, both in fire test and color. There ought never to have been a question as to the improvement of the fire test, by putting refined oil through iron pipes. But it might have been feared that the color of the oil would suffer from this mode of transportation. On the contrary, it is found that the color also is benefited. The traces of sul- phuric acid which remain in all oil treated by the ordinary process are re- duced to some extent by forcing the oil under high pressure into contact with the inside surface of the iron pipe. A part of the remaining acid attaches to the iron, forming the oxide. To this extent danger of color to the oil is removed. There is also a trace of alkali-very small, it is true-remain- ing in most refined oil heated in the ordinary way. After a part of the acid has gone into the oxide, the remainder is crowded, by pressing the oil through the pipe, into contact with the trace of alkali, thus neutralizing the remaining trace of acid, and by the general effects of this operation the acid is rendered less injurious to the color of the oil.
The Tide-Water Pipe Company, Limited .- Because of the fact that this company, from the time of its first organization down to within the last three years, had its headquarters at Titusville, and also because its leading founders and managers for a long time had their homes here, it is proper to give in this work some account of the institution which was the pioneer in the business of transporting by pipe crude petroleum from the producing wells to the seaboard.
The company was organized at Titusville, Pennsylvania, on November 13, 1878. Its first officers were as follows: Managers, B. D. Benson, A. A. Sumner, R. E. Hopkins, H. L. Taylor and John H. Dilkes. Mr. Ben- son was chosen Chairman, Mr. Hopkins, Treasurer, and David McKelvy,
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Attorney. J. G. Benton was appointed General Superintendent, which po- sition he still occupies.
In the construction of the line, which was soon begun, the managers were confronted with great obstacles. At that time there were no statutes, which now exist, for the appraisal and condemnation of land for giving to an oil pipe company the right of way. This was obtained for the Tide- Water Line only by lease or purchase at great expense. The line, however, was completed as far east as Williamsport about May 1. 1879. the eastern terminus of the line for the next two years.
At the election for managers in January, 1880, F. B. Gowan, the Presi- dent of the Reading Railroad, and James R. Keene, of New York, were chosen to succeed Sumner and Dilkes in the Board of Managers. At this period close alliance was made with the Reading Railroad, and the line was extended sixty miles to Tamanend, thus materially reducing railroad charges.
Subsequently it was finished to the sea, at Bayonne, New Jersey, where the company had valuable property fronting on the deep water of the Kill Von Kull, and included in the port of New York, making the entire length of the main line two hundred and eighty-five miles.
Bayonne is still the eastern terminus of the pipe line. Here the com- pany has a large refinery, with a crude capacity of three hundred thousand barrels a month, which manufactures most of the products of petroleum, giving employment to over one thousand men.
The original plan was to construct a line with an annual capacity of two million barrels of crude ; but for a long time the output has been consider- ably in excess of three million barrels a year.
Until within the last three years the principal business of the company was conducted at Titusville. Since then Bradford has the principal offices.
Of those active and prominent in the early life of the company, and conspicuous in its service, many have passed away, among them Mr. B. D. Benson, who remained President of the company until his death in 1888; also Mr. Gowan, Mr. A. N. Perrin and Mr. Taylor. Out of that original Board of Managers, Major Hopkins alone survives. He is still a member of the board, and is still its leading spirit.
Upon the death of Mr. Benson, Mr. McKelvy was chosen as his suc- cessor, which position he held until 1893, when ill health required his with- drawal. He was succeeded by Mr. S. Q. Brown, who is the present Presi-
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dent of the company. Associated with him in the management are Major Hopkins, R. D. Benson, H. C. Fahnestock and J. H. Cuthbert,
THE REFINING INDUSTRY.
The first refinery in the oil region was built at Titusville on the James Parker farm, by Il'illiam H. Abbott, who came here from Newton Falls, Ohio, in 1860. He began the construction of the refinery on November 4, 1860, and finished it in January following. It had two stills, of twenty barrels each, and one of forty barrels capacity, eighty barrels in all. Mr. Abbott induced Mr. George M. Mowbray, a chemist of distinction in New York, to come to Titusville in 1862, and erect a refinery near the corner of Spring and Brown streets. Long rectangular vats were the tanks used for all kinds of oil.
The manufacture of illuminating oil from coal was in full blast of operation when Drake made his discovery. Samuel Downer had coal oil works near Boston, Massachusetts. The Portland Kerosene Company had a coal oil refinery at Portland, Maine. Mr. Downer was not slow in discov- ering that petroleum was likely to supplant coal oil, and so he built a petro- leum refinery. at Corry, Pennsylvania. The Portland Company converted its works into a petroleum refinery. In 1868 Mr. James A. Hooper came to Titusville and continued to act as a purchasing agent for the Portland Com- pany until his death, in the fall of 1872. During this time he built a house on North Perry Street and brought his family to reside here. After his death, his son, James M. Hooper, succeeded him in the agency.
The term "coal oil" is still sometimes used in speaking of refined petroleum. "Coal Oil Johnny" perhaps never saw a drop of coal oil. Coal oil and petroleum are widely dissimilar.
Henry Hinkley, about the spring of 1862, came to Titusville and built a refinery on the James Parker farm, not far from the Abbott works. He was joined by his brother, C. G. Hinkley, and the two, Hinkley Brothers, carried on their works for nearly ten years afterward. They established at Syracuse, New York, a jobbing business in refined oil, of which C. G. Hinkley had special charge. This branch of their trade continued several years.
George C. Bartlett about the same time engaged in refining oil, and for a considerable period continued in the business at Titusville.
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A Dr. Bryce, in the early sixties, built a refinery on Spring Hill, on prop- erty now owned by E. O. Emerson, east of Schwartz's brewery. At about the same period A. K. Murray and a Mr. Camp each had a refinery on Ham- mond Run, a little out of town on the East Cherrytree Road.
In 1868 a Mr. Bennett operated a refinery on Trout Run, and at the same time a Mr. Bulkley operated the Spring Hill refinery.
A Mr. Curtis had a refinery also at the same time on Monroe Street, opposite the Gibbs, Wheeler & Russell Iron Works.
B. E. Moreland built a refinery on the south side of Oil Creek about the winter of 1868-9.
Jackson & Cluley had a refinery in 1868, on the north side of the creek, on the west side of Perry Street, and opposite that of Moreland.
Some years afterward Jackson Brothers, R. M. and John, had a refinery lower down, on the north side of the creek, on Washington Street.
Until 1869 only small stills had been used at Titusville refineries. But in August, 1868, Samuel l'an Syckel, who had operated a refinery in New Jersey, near New York, broke ground for a refinery for George S. Stewart and Milton Stewart-Stewart & Stewart-on the north side of Oil Creek, between Perry and Washington streets, where are now the Pennsylvania Paraffine Works. Mr. Van Syckel ereeted in the new works a one thousand barrel still, and one two hundred barrel still. This was the beginning of large stills in the oil country, and the idea of large stills may have originated in the fertile brain of Samuel Van Syckel. The works began to run about January 20, 1869. The large still was first charged with crude oil costing $3.50 a barrel. But within the next two months Stewart & Stewart bought crude oil for their works at all points from $3.50 to $6.75 a barrel, and for one small lot of superior oil, Church Run produet, they paid $7.00 a barrel. They sold a large amount of refined, delivered in bulk into car tanks at the works, for twenty-four cents a gallon, and in barrels, the package included, for thirty and one-half cents. The highest price which they got for refined oil was thirty-one and one-half cents a gallon in barrels. The bull movement in oil in the winter of 1868-9 was started by F. W. Devoe, of New York. A range of high prices for oil continued for about three years afterward.
Joseph A. Scott in 1869 bought the oil refinery on Trout Run, and operated it several years. He had previously been engaged in producing oil on Watson Flats.
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In the fall of 1869 H. B. Porter and John D. Archbold, at that time members of the firm William H. Abbott & Company, bought an interest in B. E. Moreland's refinery, forming a co-partnership under the name of Porter, Moreland & Company. This was the foundation of the Acme Oil Company. The company increased the capacity of its works to large proportions. The institution was absorbed by the Standard Oil Company in 1875.
In the fall of 1869, Henry Hinkley and M. N. Allen, under the firm name of Hinkley & Allen, built a refinery on the north bank of Oil Creek, a little west of Monroe Street. In the early part of 1872 Hinkley sold his interest to his partner, who continued to operate the refinery until the spring of 1875, when he sold it to Joseph Seep and Daniel O'Day.
Pickering, Chambers & Company, in 1869-70, built a refinery on the south side of Oil Creek, immediately west of the Porter, Moreland & Com- pany's works, and operated it for several years, until it was absorbed by the Standard Oil Company.
In 1870 George B. Easterly and James H. Davis broke ground for a refinery on the north bank of Oil Creek, immediately west of the Hinkley & Allen works. This refinery also went to the Standard in 1875.
In 1869-70 Bennett. Warner & Company built a large refinery southeast of the town, and operated it until they sold the works to the Standard in 1875.
In 1872 the Octave Oil Company purchased from Stewart & Stewart the Van Syckel refinery, and operated it until its sale to the Standard in 1875.
The Acme Oil Company then embraced the Porter, Moreland & Com- pany's works, the Bennett, Warner & Company, the Pickering & Chambers, the Octave, the Easterly and the Allen refineries, all owned by the Standard Oil Company. The Acme continued to refine oil in Titusville until the early eighties. The great oil fire which occurred in the summer of 1880 wrought a fearful destruction to the Acme's property, and the former active opera- tions of the company at Titusville were never, except in a limited measure, restored. The company built an extensive refining plant at Olean, New York, and turned its back upon Titusville forever.
In the fall of 1872 Richard H. Lee bought what was left of the old Hinkley refinery, after a destructive fire in the previous summer. He at once rebuilt the works and operated them until 1876, when he leased them
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to the Acme Oil Company for three years. During the three years the works lay idle. In 1879 Mr. Lee was one of the incorporators of the Atlas Refining Company, at Buffalo, New York, and was elected its Vice-Presi- dent. At the same time he sold his Titusville refinery to the Atlas Com- pany. The major part of the stock of the Atlas Company was held by N. W. Kalbfleisch, who, in 1882, sold a controlling interest to the Standard Oil Company, and eventually Mr. Lee's interest also went to the Standard.
Rice & Robinson .- On the first day of October, 1874, Reuben L. Rice and Joseph C. Robinson, of Titusville, entered into a co-partnership for dealing in petroleum. They first started a jobbing trade in refined oil, and continued in this business until 1881, when their occupation had grown to such large proportions that they erected a refinery of their own. Their works were located on the west side of Monroe Street, and on the north side of the main track of the W. N. Y. & P. R. R., occupying a large space of ground. The name of the firm was Rice & Robinson. Not long after they had begun to refine oil in their own works, they sold a third interest of their plant to J. W. Witherop, who became an active partner in the concern. The name of the new firm was Rice, Robinson & Witherop. They then in- creased the capacity of their works and gained a large trade. They had agencies for selling their products, at Buffalo, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts. At the latter place they loaded from their own wharf vessels for foreign export. On November 1. 1889, the other two partners bought Witherop's interest in the plant. In December, 1890, they sold a third interest in the works to Robert Foggan, the new firm taking the name of Rice, Robinson & Foggan. In May. 1894, Foggan bought the entire interests of Rice and Robinson, and he has since had possession of the plant, but has not done much in operating it. Frank Tackey has recently come into possession of the works.
The International Oil Works .- This refining plant was built in 1885 by James P. Thomas, who afterward associated with him in the ownership and operation H. P. Berwald and Henry Grenner. The works occupied a large part of the block on the northeast corner of Monroe and Mechanic streets, covering the ground occupied formerly by the Gibbs & Sterrett Manufacturing Company. It had a capacity of refining twenty-five thou- sand barrels of crude oil a month. Connected with and a part of the re- finery was the Valley Oil Line, which piped oil from Grand Valley and Sham-
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burg and Pleasantville to the works. The works, with its pipe lines, were sold to a New Jersey company in 1895.
National Oil Company .- The National Oil Company was formed in 1886. It was organized to produce oil, pipe oil, refine oil, ship oil by rail or water, and sell to the trade or direct to consumers, both crude and refined oil. It built a refinery in 1886 on what was once the Parker flats, south of Central Avenue and east of Petroleum Street. The refinery had a capac- ity for refining about one thousand barrels of crude oil a day. The company also had a production of about one thousand barrels daily, at Grand Valley and Pleasantville. It owned and operated its own pipe lines, for bring- ing oil from the wells to the refinery. It shipped its products on its own tank cars to St. Paul, Minnesota. Troy, New York, Providence, Rhode Island, and other towns in different parts of the country, where it had re- spectively agencies for supplying the trade. In 1893 the refining part of the National Oil Company was consolidated with the Western Refinery. The new association was known as the Union Refining Company. In the spring of 1895 the plant of the Union Refining Company was sold to the Atlantic Refining Company, of Philadelphia. The National Oil Refining Com- pany, however. has continued its crude producing business in several parts of the country. It has a large number of wells which yield at the present time from ten thousand to twelve thousand barrels a month. John Fertig and W. C. Warner are at the head of the company.
American Oil Works .- This refinery was built in the fall of 1885 by William Teege, Frank Tackey and others. It is situated on the flats, on Brown Street, near the D. A. V. & P. R. R. It has done a good business ever since it started, thirteen years ago. It is now owned by T. B. Westgate and the heirs of William Teege, and it is managed by T. B. Westgate and IV. E. Teege.
The Titusville Oil Works, built several years ago by outside parties, is situated on the Parker flats, in the eastern part of the town. It is now owned and operated by Frank Tackey, who seems to have an excellent trade.
The Oil Creek Oil Works .- In the fall of 1882 and winter following Anthony Nelson built this refinery. It is situated a short distance west of the old Easterly refinery. The plant has been owned and operated for the last six years by a New York company, whose President is Alfred Heyn.
Climax Oil Wl'orks .- This plant, situated on East Main Street and
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Parker Flats, is owned and operated by James H. Caldwell, who makes a specialty of both gasoline and machinery oils, especially the former. It also does a general oil refining business. Mr. Caldwell ships in his own tank cars gasoline of the lightest possible character, as well as refined oil, to all parts of the United States.
Pennsylvania Paraffine Works .- This establishment is owned by parties living abroad. It is located on the ground of the old Stewart refinery. It manufactures especially paraffine products. Mr. E. J. Lesser is the Man- ager of the works.
John Schwartz owned and operated a refinery on the north bank of Oil Creek, near the foot of South Kerr Street. It was destroyed by the great fire and flood which visited Titusville in the early part of June, 1892. All that was combustible about the works was burned. The iron tanks and stills were rent to pieces by explosions, and the terrible current of the flood gashed a deep cut into the earth on the north side of the works, making a new channel of the creek, and forming an island of the ground on which the re- finery had stood.
The Western Refinery, which is referred to in the account of the Na- tional Oil Company refinery, was located near the latter plant. When the two works were united, Mr. George Stevens was one of the principal owners of the Western. Joseph McDonell was at one time one of the proprietors of the Western.
COMMENTS.
In conclusion, the writer thinks it proper to call attention to a few im- portant facts, some of which have already been referred to in the preceding pages, to-wit :
A citizen of Titusville, Edwin L. Drake, was the practical inventor of the only successful mode of producing petroleum in quantity.
Another Titusville man, Samuel Van Syckel, was the practical inventor of the method of transporting oil, by hydraulic pressure, through iron pipes, an invention of infinite utility in the petroleum industry.
Another Titusville man, E. A. L. Roberts, was the practical inventor of a process for largely increasing production, by exploding torpedoes in oil wells.
Still another Titusville man, George M. Mowbray, a chemist, contrib- uted his scientific skill to the refining of petroleum for use as an illuminant.
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The processes adopted by him have since been universally employed. Mr. Mowbray also made an improvement in the production of nitro-glycerine and in the modes for its use. He furnished the dynamite, and superintended its explosion, in blasting the rocks, in the construction of the Hoosac Tun- nel, one of the remarkable achievements of the century.
CHAPTER VI. TITUSVILLE-CONTINUED.
BY M. N. ALLEN.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
A MONG the early practicing members of the legal profession established in Titusville the names of J. H. Baker, B. S. McAllister, Clark Ewing and Gurdon S. Berry will be remembered. All these four lawyers died years ago. Ewing was a partner of F. B. Guthrie from 1864 to the fall of 1869. when he died. Guthrie continued to practice law in Titusville, having as- sociated with him Julius Byles in 1888, when he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he is still engaged in the practice of law. The firm of Guthrie & Ewing and that of Guthrie & Byles, extended over a period of nearly a quarter of a century. Samuel Minor practiced law in Titusville for about twenty years. He also moved to Los Angeles, California, where he died two or three years since. Roger Sherman began the practice of law in Titusville about the year 1870, in partnership with M. C. Beebe, of Pleasantville, under the firm name of Sherman & Beebe. The legal part- nership did not last many years. Mr. Beebe continued to reside at Pleasant- ville, with a law office there, until his death several years ago. Mr. Sherman practiced law in Titusville until his death, in September, 1897, for a period of more than twenty-seven years. L. W. Wilcox practiced law in Titusville many years.
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