Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 73

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1) > Part 73

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Digitized by Google

368

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

259 of said claim, thence by the same east- wardly to the southeast corner thereof, thence along the eastern boundary of the same north- wardly to the southwest corner of tract No. 258, thence by the southern boundary of the same eastwardly to the southeast corner there- of, thence along the eastern boundary of the same and the eastern boundary of tract No. 252 northwardly to the northeast corner of the last mentioned tract, thence by the western boundary of tracts Nos. 248 and 247, the west- ern boundary of a tract warranted in the name of James Brown, and the western boundary of a strip of unwarranted land settled by said Brown northwardly to the place of beginning." At August sessions, 1837, a part of Tionesta east of the Allegheny river was annexed to Cornplanter, and when President was formed became part of that township.

The officers chosen at the first township elec- tion were: James Cary, constable ; Henry Mc- Calmont, Andrew Howe, supervisors; Abra- ham Prather, A. G. Siverly, overseers of the poor ; F. G. Crary, Francis Mcclintock, audi- tors.

Early Industries .- The first mill in Corn- planter township was built by James Ricketts on Cherry run, and though a primitive affair proved a great public convenience, the nearest mill for the settlers hitherto having been that of the Holland Company on Oil creek in Craw- ford county, with an almost impassable wilder- ness between. As early as 1810 Gen. Samuel Hays had a mill at the mouth of Cherry run. One of the first sawmills on Oil creek was built by Francis McClintock, at Petroleum Cen- ter. The furnace at the site of Oil City was one of the most important in the county. About 1815 Abram C. Prather established a tannery near Plumer, one of the best equipped in the county, and continued the business until some time in the thirties. The location of some vats is still distinguishable. There was a small dis- tillery at Rynd Farm at an early date. As in other parts of the county, there are some ruins, and traces of these little early industries to be seen to-day-that is all. Oil brought better roads and more residents, and the manufactur- ing, centered at a comparatively few points, became adequate to the increased demands.

Population .- In 1850 the township had a population of 693; 1870, 9,863; 1880, 3,238; 1890, 2,457; 1900, 1,200; 1910, 1,415.

Plumer .- Henry McCalmont, who built the first house in this town, named the place in honor of Arnold Plumer, Congressman from the district including Venango county in 1837- 39 and 1841-43, and one of the most eminent

citizens. The structure mentioned, erected in 1843, was a commodious plank house long conducted as the "Plumer Hotel," used for such purposes until destroyed by fire in the spring of 1889. About the same time Plumer post office was established, succeeding Rynd post office as the mail distributing point for the region along the old Warren road. In recent years the mail has been supplied by rural free delivery service from Rouseville.

The first store was opened in 1851 by Henry and James Sutton, in the second building in the town, which they erected opposite the hotel, Henry McCalmont building the third and occu- pying it as a residence after he retired from the hotel business. The "Stone House Hotel," a prominent landmark and popular hostelry in its day, was put up by Thomas Turner, who came from New York, for a dwelling, and before the town received the impetus due to the oil ex- citement there were also a mill and blacksmith shop (the former built in 1856-57 by Wash- ington Campbell) and the residences of John Irwin, Washington Campbell, Mr. Free, Alex- ander Anderson, T. W. McCalmont, James Barnes, and possibly others. John S., George C. and Abram Prather were proprietors of the store.

By the time oil was discovered in the county Plumer was a village of considerable local im- portance, and although not near the territory first developed experienced a notable growth incidental thereto, the healthfulness and attractiveness of the location drawing many hither, a number of persons of means perceiv- ing its desirability as a place of residence. Alexander McCalmont sold lots in fee simple, and many substantial buildings were put up, including the "Bay State," "Plumer," "Nation- al" and "Spencer" hotels, as well as stores. residences, places of amusement, and other less desirable establishments. It is estimated that the town proper and Humboldt, its suburb, had an aggregate population of eight thousand before the "disintegrating exodus" began. The substantial nature of some local enterprises gave every indication of permanency, notably the Humboldt Oil Works, founded by Ludo- vici & Bruns, two Germans of some means, one or both of whom had some knowledge of chemistry which undoubtedly induced them to engage in refining, an industry then in the experimental stage. Nothing seems to have been spared in the construction and equipment of the plant, the mechanical apparatus having been brought from Eastern manufactories at great expense, and operations begun in an incredibly short period, entirely characteristic,

Digitized by Google

369

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

however, of the speed with which all under- takings in the oil fields were accomplished. The management gave evidence of courage, initiative and good judgment in the early con- duct of its affairs, as early as 1862 construct- ing a pipe line from the Tarr Farm to its works, a departure from the ordinary method of getting oil from the wells to the refineries whose full value was not yet appreciated by the general run of people. A two-inch wrought iron pipe was used, but the success of the ex- periment demonstrated the feasibility of this means of transportation and to a large extent determined the future of the entire oil indus- try. The years immediately following were marked by apparent prosperity, and the busi- ness, like many others, was merged into a joint- stock company, capitalized at three million dol- lars, the original projectors retaining a one- third interest. The management, however, passed into the hands of representatives ap- pointed by the Eastern investors, whose lavish expenditures and general improvidence, com- bined with the circumstance that certain rail- road lines constructed to the oil country left the works at a disadvantage, made it necessary eventually to abandon them. Some of the ma- chinery was taken to other points. The large quantities of cut stone, used so liberally in the construction of the building, remained there until 1889, when part of it was removed to Oil City for the foundation walls of the build- ing erected by the National Transit Com- pany.

At one time there were also three other re- fineries in operation here, the Warren and Osceola, occupying adjoining locations north- west of the "Plumer Hotel" and both of about the same size and large capacity ; the third be- ing a smaller plant financed principally by local capital.

Meantime, Plumer had begun to decline in other respects, other cities absorbing the tide of population that was attracted to the oil regions in the latter part of the Civil war period, capital was going elsewhere, and the dis- advantages of its distance from the great thor- oughfares of travel were making themselves felt. The National Bank which had been es- tablished, owned principally by Prather Broth- ers and Thomas Duncan, was removed to Sharon, Mercer county, in 1868. The more substantial houses were torn down, the ma- terials being taken elsewhere for use, and the town has never since been more than a vil- lage, with a hundred to a hundred and fifty inhabitants. It has one store.

The old burial ground at Plumer is the 24

resting place of a number of local pioneers, in- cluding John McCalmont, born in County Ar- magh, Ireland, Jan. 1I, 1750, who died Aug. 3, 1832, in his eighty-third year ; William Shaw, who died Nov. 7, 1851, aged sixty-seven years, eleven months, nineteen days; Henry McCal- mont, who was born in Mifflin county, March 16, 1776, and died Feb. 5, 1855; Robert Mc- Fate, who died July 28, 1829, in the sixty- fourth year of his age; Moses Davidson, who died Feb. 4, 1858, in the sixty-fourth year of his age; Walter S. Russell, who died March 31, 1861, aged sixty-nine; Joel Sage, a native of Connecticut, who died Feb. 14, 1861, in his eighty-sixth year; James Cary, who died Nov. 29, 1862, aged sixty-seven years, ten months, twenty-one days; Francis Culbertson, who died Aug. 9, 1853, in the eighty-sixth year of his age; James Ricketts, who died March 6, 1856, aged eighty-nine years, nine months, eighteen days; William McCray, who died June 28, 1861, in his sixty-third year ; James B. Skinner, who died Aug. 27, 1860, aged sixty-seven years, eight months, two days.

Pithole City, so named for the creek on which it is situated, had its inception with the oil developments begun at this point in the autumn of 1864. The creek is said to have acquired its name from a remarkable chasm on the hill at its mouth, the first recorded mention of which is found in the "Western Pioneer," by Alfred Brunson, an itinerant Methodist preacher. In 1819, while preaching on a cir- cuit that included Dawson's in Allegheny town- ship, he lost his way while journeying from that place to Oil creek (Titusville), and wan- dering "to the left onto the brow of the hills or little mountains that overlook the Allegheny river, and was in the vicinity of a most singular natural well. This was said to be about six feet open at the top and on the highest ridge, but no bottom had then if ever since been found. A constant current of air came out of it and of such a nature as to putrefy fresh meat in a few minutes. This fact was discovered by a hunter suspending some game in it by a rope while he extended his hunt a short time. The cause of this bad air was not known."

The territory about the headwaters of this creek is fairly good farming country, but no part of its vallev is valuable for cultivation, be- ing scarcely tillable for several miles inland. That part of the country between the Warren road and the creek, near their intersection, is typical, yet some of the first settlements in the township were made thereabouts, the Al- lenders having been already mentioned among the pioneers. Within a few years of their ar-

Digitized by Google

370

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

rival Walter Holmden and his family came, locating on the west bank of the creek, which has a somewhat abrupt slope, with tolerably level surface above. Mr. Holmden, who moved here from Connecticut, was of English origin and a man of fervent piety, having been or- dained to the ministry of the Baptist Church. His life here was a continual struggle against the direst poverty, his incessant labors yielding him, beyond the barest necessities of life, only fifty acres of cleared land with small house and barn, though undreamed-of wealth was wait- ing to be tapped all about him. He died May 15, 1840, and is buried in the old cemetery at Pleasantville. His farm subsequently was leased by the United States Oil Company for a period of twenty years, and purchased in fee simple by Duncan & Prather.

The oil industry about Pithole creek, begun in the fall of 1864, was remarkable from its inception. The Frazier well on the Holmden farm, which began to flow Jan. 7, 1865, at the rate of six hundred and fifty barrels a day, continued flowing until the Ioth of the follow- ing November. The Twin wells, struck on the 17th and 19th of January, flowed eight hun- dred barrels a day. No. 77 was brought in by E. Deshler Aug. Ist ; the Grant well, No. 19, Aug. 2d, beginning at four hundred and fifty barrels and reaching twelve hundred; No. 37, by Robinson & Co, Aug. 4th ; No. 54, by Pool, Perry & Co., Aug. 28th, beginning at eight hun- dred barrels; No. 47, by the same company, Sept. 15th, four hundred barrels; all these, with others of lesser capacity, being included in the results of six months' operations on the Holmden farm. The daily production on July 24, 1865, amounted to thirty-five hundred bar- rels, and a hundred wells were in process of drilling.

Though twelve miles from Titusville, four from Plumer, and seven from Shafer Farm, remote from previously developed territory and reached only by rough country roads, Pit- hole sprang into prominence speedily, attract- ing hosts of adventurers who dreamed of ac- cumulating fortunes in the oil regions. Dun- can & Prather, above mentioned, first enter- tained the idea of laying out a town, which grew with a rapidity almost unbelievable. Al- though the United States well had steadily in- creased its production, there were only two buildings at the town site in the end of May. But the striking of the Grant well in the early part of June started a rush of capital and pop- ulation to the locality unprecedented in the his- tory of the Pennsylvania oil fields, and each new well increased the excitement. Building

lots were leased by the proprietors of the town at several hundred dollars per year, fifty dol- lars payable in advance, and the lessees had no difficulty in making transfers of their holdings at advances of hundreds and thousands of dol- lars. The lot subsequently occupied by the "Danforth House" was leased at $14,500. It is said that in July, 1865, Duncan & Prather had an estimated income of sixty thousand dol- lars from the city plat, and the negotiations for the purchase of their entire interests at that time illustrate the great appreciation of local property values. Henry E. Picket, George J. Sherman and Brian Philpot, all of Titusville, in the month mentioned, took an option for the purchase of the Holmden farm for $1,300,000. the first payment of $300,000 to be made within thirty days of the date of the contract, July 24th. The daily production on the farm of 200 acres was then nearly four thousand barrels, and extensive drilling operations were going on, the royalty to be one half, while the income on the Pithole town lots equaled a six-per-cent return on an investment of a million. Mr. Sherman went to New York to interest capital there, and planned to dispose of his option for $1,600,000. A purchasing committee was to visit Pithole to examine the property before the final transfers were made, but the discovery of the Ketchum forgeries on the day set for their departure affected some of the prospective buyers and spoiled the sale. Mr. Sherman tele- graphed H. H. Honore, of Chicago, who met him at Titusville several days later with a party of Chicago capitalists. They offered Chicago real estate valued at four hundred thousand dollars instead of the cash payment planned, and Duncan & Prather visited Chicago to in- vestigate the properties involved, which in- cluded a block adjoining the "Tremont House" valued at $175,000. The cash payment was insisted upon and eventually agreed to, Joshua A. Ellis (president of the Second National Bank of Chicago), J. G. LeMoyne, Messrs. Sherman and Honore leaving Chicago with the money early in September, 1865. They divided it among them at Titusville and set out for Pit- hole City on horseback, offering it at Duncan & Prather's banking office late in the after- noon of the day upon which the option ex- pired. It was refused on the ground that the contract was binding only until sunset of that day, and the legal complications which ensued were in litigation several years, the matter be- ing carried to the United States court.

To quote Dr. S. J. M. Eaton: "The value of oil lands was reckoned by millions ; small inter- ests in single wells brought hundreds of thou-

Digitized by Google

371

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

sands of dollars. New York, Boston, Phila- delphia, Chicago, and numberless other lesser centers measured purses in the insane strife for territory. Money circulated like waste pa- per and for weeks the scene recalled the wildest fictions of the South Sea bubble or Law's Mis- sissippi scheme. * * * The close of the war had left the country flooded with an in- flated currency, besides throwing many thou- sands of energetic men upon their own re- sources and hundreds of these flocked to the latest Eldorado, which presented manifold in- ducements alike to the venturesome spirit, the active speculator, the unscrupulous stock job- ber, the needy laborer, the reckless adventurer, and the dishonest trickster."

The growth of Pithole City was phenom- enally rapid. Stores and hotels matured in a day. Some enterprising individual hauled a wagonload of groceries from Titusville, a coun- ter was made of boards nailed to convenient trees, and it is said that a single day's transac- tions brought a profit of seven hundred dol- lars. The first hotel was only a rough frame building, but meal tickets sold easily for a dol- lar, though there was apparently no limit to the number sold and the supply of provisions on hand was insufficient. Windows as well as doorways were used to enter the dining room, and only the fortunate were comfortably seated at table. One of the early numbers of the Daily Record, for September, 1865, contains the advertisements of a number of hotels, the "United States," "Buckley House," "Sherman House," "Tremont," "Northeast," "St. James," "American," "Eckert," "Seneca," "Lincoln," "Pomeroy" and others, and indicates the lack of adequate accommodations in this comment : "A rapid influx of strangers crowded at night- fall every tenement; beds, sofas, and even chairs were luxuries for the few; the many were obliged to seek the shaving pile or hay- cock and sometimes even content themselves with the most susceptible side of a pine board. These days have passed away. It is quite a month since most if not all could provide them- selves with the luxury of a bed. It is true that Jew and Gentile were and in many cases still are mingled promiscuously in 'field-beds' made up in rows along the floors of attic rooms and upper chambers. It is still true that most of the hotel tables are so crowded that it is a priv- ilege to get comfortable seats at the first table."

The Record also has an interesting editorial paragraph on the historic mud which prevailed : "Pithole still has its evils, and among these are the changing weather of our mountain climate and the mud-not ordinary mud which consol-

idates into hard clay during a few hours sun- shine, but mud-thick, consistent, deep and widespread; mud which flies easy and sticks hard; a cold, clammy mixture which adheres to everything it touches with the tenacity of mor- tar; slippery as hypocritical smoothness itself, it lubricates the clay beneath and lays pitfalls at every step, and woe betide the unwary pe- destrian who falls in its midst."

The newspaper just quoted, the Daily Rec- ord, was the pioneer successful daily of Ve- nango county, and its first issue appeared on Monday, Sept. 25, 1865, a five-column quarto for which subscribers paid thirty cents a week. The publishers were Morton, Spare & Com- pany, the editor Lee M. Morton. The town also had two banking houses, those of Prather, Wadsworth & Company and H. R. Kemp. The post office was opened July 27, 1865, with S. S. Hill as postmaster, and it is said that the first mail dispatched contained a thousand letters, the fourth more than four thousand; when the place was at the height of its prosperity the office ranked third in the State in volume of business. The waterworks were designed in September, 1865, and constructed at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars.

On Nov. 30, 1865, Pithole City was incor- porated as a borough, the following officers being chosen at the first election, held Dec. IIth : Alexander J. Keenan, burgess ; Leonard H. Church, Lee M. Morton, J. T. Chalfant, F. P. Confer and D. Gardner, council. In view of conditions, it may be easily understood that there was great need for municipal organiza- tion, but it is only fair to those who adminis- tered public affairs to state that the town, with all its heterogeneous and inharmonious ele- ments, was comparatively free from the numer- ous acts of violence which usually occur in such a community.

The earliest improvement in general travel- ing facilities to and from the town was the con- struction of plank roads to Titusville and Mil- ler Farm in the summer of 1865. Except for the pipe line to the Humboldt works above noted, until the autumn of that year all ship- ments of oil were made by wagon to Titusville or Miller Farm for railroad transshipment, or to the mouth of the creek for transportation by boat. Then a pipe line was constructed to Miller Farm by Mr. Van Syckle of Titusville and another to Oleopolis by T. C. Bates. The Pennsylvania Tubing & Transportation Com- pany was organized in the summer of 1865 by Rochester. N. Y., men, among whom were Col. James Brackett and N. T. Hilton. This company constructed a six-inch line, six miles

Digitized by Google

372

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

long, from Pithole to Oleopolis, a shipping point by rail and river, nine miles above Oil City. At this point the company had storage tanks and a refinery, the Solar Oil Works, with 171 barrels daily capacity. This company made its first delivery of oil through the line Dec. 12, 1865. In the following May Messrs. Brackett, Hilton and others bought in all the stock of the Pennsylvania Tubing & Transportation Com- pany and organized the Rochester & Oleopolis Oil Company, of which N. T. Hilton was treas- urer and general manager. Two years later the supply of oil was too large to handle by boat and rail from Oleopolis, so the R. & O. Oil Company built a two-inch line to Oil City. This company built other lines as well, to va- rious fields throughout the county.

On Feb. 7, 1866, the Oil City & Pithole rail- road was opened as far as the Sumner & Pratt purchase, and at the same time grading was in progress through the Holmden farm to the Sat- terlee well on the Morey farm. The first through train from Pithole City to Oil City over this road was run Friday, March 10, 1866, and the Reno, Oil Creek & Pithole railroad was constructed within a mile of the city in the spring of the following year.

Though a fire department was organized at the "Scott House" Sept. 20, 1865, it does not seem to have been very effective, for in the course of its brief existence Pithole City was visited by a number of destructive fires. On Feb. 8, 1866, the "Tremont House" was de- stroyed with adjoining property, the loss being estimated at $16,500. A fire in the suburb of Balltown on the 17th of the same month did twenty thousand dollars' worth of damage. On May 1, 1866, twenty-one buildings burned rep- resented a loss of thirty thousand dollars. An- other fire in Balltown, on the 24th of that month, destroyed twenty-eight buildings valued at twenty-five thousand dollars. Sixteen build- ings on First and Second streets were burned June 13th; well No. 43, of the United States Petroleum Company, took fire Aug. 2d, and the flames spread so rapidly that before they could be checked twenty-seven wells and rigs and thirteen thousand barrels of oil, worth $135,- 000, had been consumed.

In spite of the lack of transportation facili- ties and other disadvantages, as well as fre- quent fires, Pithole City increased rapidly. Its greatest population is not exactly known, the number of inhabitants at the height of its im- portance, including the suburbs of Balltown, Prather City and Babylon, having been vari- ously estimated at from thirteen to sixteen thousand. With the decline of the influences

that had called it into existence the place went down with as marvelous rapidity as it had sprung up. Wells did not always continue to produce at the rate at which they began. Many were disappointments as to output. New cen- ters which promised the quick returns for which adventure was seeking drew by their apparently superior attractions. In 1868 the newspaper was removed to Petroleum Center. The railroad was abandoned. The more costly buildings were rebuilt at other points. The first notable exodus left a good-sized village, made up of operatives at the wells and others, but as the production decreased steadily they too moved elsewhere, and in November, 1876, but six votes were polled in the borough, and the charter was annulled upon petition to the court of Quarter Sessions in August of the follow- ing year. The handful of residents at this point now receive their mail by rural delivery from Pleasantville.

During the year 1866 two churches were ded- icated at Pithole, the Catholic Church on Jan. 2Ist by Bishop Young, the Methodist Episco- pal Church on May 27th, by Bishop Simpson. The first church bell heard in the town was rung in the belfry of the M. E. Church on March 24th. This building, erected mainly through the efforts of Rev. D. S. Steadman, is now the only church structure remaining. There was also a Presbyterian Church, of which no history is available, and possibly others. A delightful drive from Oil City at any time of the year is that which has for its objective the old church at Pithole. In autumn, the exhilarating air, the sweet smell of woods things; the bright red and brown of the oaks, the yellow-leaved beeches and flaming bushes at the roadside, are enjoyed. Great cushions of moss spread themselves out as a border and are decorated in fanciful forms by the fresh and beautiful ground pine which weaves itself in and out among them. In the springtime, little wild flowers of blue are seen in patches, and fragrant arbutus, flower loved by poets and children-which really includes us all-invites the swiftest car to go slowly. Sounds are heard by the listening ear, from the deep woods. They notify the world that the gay towhee is looking about. The thrilling organ tones of the veery float out. While from the hills oppo- site come the voice of the meadow lark and the fine song of the field sparrow, beginning al- ways with a bar in a minor key like one of Beethoven's sonatas-these speak to the senses of all that music suggests and never quite re- veals. Up hill and down the road goes, sud- denly curving round at the foot of the hill.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 73

Author: Babcock, Charles A. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: