hence, this firm may be considered as having sold the first barrel of illuminating oil in the United States. The quantity of oil being limited and the consumption increasing, notwithstanding the defects of the oil, the price rose to two dollars per gallon before the development of the Oil creek region, this high price being at the same time an incentive to search for oil in other localities. It became now absolutely necessary to improve the quality of the oil so that the complaints regarding color, smell and incomplete combustion should no longer appear justified. The defect of the flame diminishing and becoming extinguished was, according to views prevailing at that time, attributed to a want of volatile substances. Hence it was endeavored to remove this defect by mixing the petroleum with other mobile oils. After many experiments a remedy was finally found in commercial distilled rosin oil, which when mixed with the petroleum not only kept the flame at the same height, but imparted to it greater intensity. The inventor patented this mixture for illuminating purposes. It consisted of 40 gallons carbon oil (petroleum) of 44° to 48° B. and 5 gallons rosin oil of 18° B., and had a high burning point which, at a time when almost all other illuminating agents of a similiar nature were a constant source of danger, was the most important factor for its introduction. The mixture was at first effected by taking the necessary quantity of petroleum from the barrel, adding the rosin oil, and stirring with a stick. The mixture effected in this manner was, however, incomplete, the heavier rosin oil sinking to the bottom with a change in the temperature, and hence the mode of mixing had to be changed. Tagliabue, who was engaged in the manufacture of apparatus for the oil trade, constructed an apparatus suitable for the uniform mixing of the two fluids; but the sale of the product did not increase, the disagreeable smell being always the principal impediment to its use, and a radical removal of this defect became necessary. For this purpose a wooden holder lined with zinc plates and having a capacity of about 20 barrels was procured and placed in the cellar of 191 Pearl Street, to which location the business

had been removed from Water Street in consequence of complaints of merchants in the neighborhood to whom the stench from the carbon oil business was intolerable. And, indeed, the complaints were well founded, because there was stored not only Oil creek oil, which diffused a terrible smell, but also Canadian petroleum from Enneskillen, which when being transported to New York could for several days be smelled through the entire length of the state. The petroleum to be purified was brought into the above-mentioned holder and a hot solution of caustic soda poured into it. The caustic soda solution was prepared in a "Mott kettle," an apparatus consisting of an iron stove with an open iron kettle on top. The addition of caustic soda solution was continued until no more precipitate formed, the mixing being managed by one workman by means of a pole. The precipitate formed was discharged through a cock. In this petroleum kettle we recognize the first agitator, and hence, the first attempt of refining petroleum. The success of this method was satisfactory in so far that the smell completely disappeared and the color became lighter; but the straw-yellow color of the refined petroleum changed in a short time to brown which gave rise to fresh complaints.

The most productive well, the oil of which contributed most to the development of the petroleum commerce, belonged to Irwin & Peterson and yielded daily from two to ten barrels ; according to calculations, the income derived from the well. amounted, in 1858, to about $10,000. In order to still further increase the production it was concluded to sink a shaft to the source of the well, it being supposed that about 350 to 400 feet below the surface of the earth a stream of oil would be found which, in order to gain the entire supply, would have to be pumped out and conducted into reservoirs. A steam engine. and all other necessary apparatus was procured, and a number of experienced miners were engaged to drive the shaft through the intervening strata and rocks. In carrying on the work they passed through a vein of coal 6 feet thick and a bed of excellent brick clay. At a depth of 200 feet, many difficulties were

encountered, which were chiefly caused by water. The necessity of constantly pumping out the water and the occurrence of fire damp rendered the prosecution of the work both expensive and dangerous. There being apparently no prospect of success, it was concluded under these circumstances to stop further work, and the entire tract was sold to the Tarentum Oil, Coal and Salt Co., which continued the work, and after boring through a stratum 6 inches thick, struck, August 29, 1859, salt water and petroleum. From this day dates the actual petroleum industry of the United States.

About the time when interest in the introduction of Irwin & Peterson's oil was at its height and the oil brought a high price, Peterson associated himself with Dale of Allegheny for the purpose of building a refinery upon ground belonging to Peterson, not far from a well yielding salt-water and petroleum. They were joined by Dr. Koch, a German chemist, and erected a very simple structure, which they fitted up with a plant for the distillation and storing of petroleum. The most suitable location for the refinery was a hill at the foot of which was a swamp. The latter was utilized for setting up the reservoirs, which were constructed by driving, in a circle of about 30 feet in diameter, staves closely together into the ground and intimately joining the projecting portions by means of iron hoops. The distilling apparatus itself consisted of two wrought iron retorts, each holding ten barrels. These retorts were connected by means of a conduit with the above mentioned reservoirs, and from them the distillate was pumped for further treatment into peculiar movable holders, which were perhaps the first and last apparatus constructed in this manner. Exactly egg-shaped, of cast iron, about 8 inches thick, each of them weighed several thousand pounds. In order to effect a mixture of their contents, these holders, which were large enough to hold the distillate in the retorts, were set in rapid motion by means of stout iron bars secured in ears on the exterior. Besides these purifying apparatuses, there were others which served for filtering. They consisted of boxes with perforated bottoms which were

filled with animal charcoal and placed above the reservoirs. The petroleum thus purified was brought into barrels and stored in pits, to prevent leakage and consequent loss.

In 1857, a company of New Haven stockholders organized under the name of "The Seneca Oil Company." They leased the property of the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company on Oil creek, and engaged E. L. Drake to go out to Titusville and drill an artesian well for oil. Drake arrived in Titusville about May 1, 1858. He commenced operations by attempting to sink a shaft in one of the old timbered pits, previously mentioned, but water and quicksands continually thwarted him, and he finally resorted to the expedient of driving an iron pipe from the surface to the solid rock. On account of the men he had engaged for drilling securing another job, the work was suspended until the following season, when Mr. William Smith and his two sons were engaged, they having had large experience on salt-wells. These men arrived at Titusville about the middle of June, bringing with them all the necessary tools for drilling. After many vexatious delays, they were fairly under way by the middle of August and had drilled 33 feet, when on the 28th of August, 1859, the drill struck a crevice, into which it fell six inches. The following day being Sunday, Smith visited the well in the afternoon and found the drill-hole full to within a few feet of the top, and on fishing up a small quantity in a tin cup, it was found to be petroleum. Such is the story of the first petroleum well.'

oute.

After Drake's success, wells were drilled in the valley of Oil creek from Titusville to Oil City, on French creek from Union City to Meadville and Franklin, and on the Allegheny at TidiThe production increased far more rapidly than the demand, and the market becoming soon glutted, the price of the oil fell to almost nothing. But the exhaustion of some of the wells led to better prices, and to cover the daily increasing demand, new wells were drilled. During this feverish activity in Pennsylvania, wells were drilled in Ohio and West Virginia.

1S. F. Peckham, Report on Petroleum.

Operations in the latter state were interrupted during the war, but were resumed in 1864. In 1865, operations were successfully undertaken at White Oak, which resulted in developing the most extensive and best known West Virginia territory. From 1860 to 1865, wels were successfully drilled on Cow run and at other localities in Washington county, Ohio. From 1870 to 1880 the region between Tidioute and Oil creek has constantly become of less importance, on account of the production decreasing to a considerable extent. Other wells, however, were discovered in accordance with C. D. Angell's “belttheory." Wells had been put down near the junction of the Clarion and Allegheny rivers as early as 1863 and 1864, but very little notice had been taken of them at the time; and it was not until 1868 that a successful well on the hill above Parker's Landing attracted attention and led to the development of what is called the "lower country," lying in Butler, Armstrong and Clarion counties. In studying the relative positions of the most productive wells, Mr. Angell had observed in the "upper country," that a narrow belt extending across from Scrubgrass, on the Allegheny river, to Petroleum Center, on Oil creek, included many of the best wells in that region. In the "lower country," he projected a similar belt, lying in a direction nearly parallel with the first, and extending from St. Petersburg, in Clarion county, through Parker's Landing, to Bear creek, in Butler county. Subsequent developments confirmed the correctness of Angell's belt theory. The results have shown that the oil rock lies in belts or in long and narrow areas, having a general northeast and southwest extension, often not more than 30 rods in width, but several miles in length; that the sand-rock is thickest and most productive along the axis of the belt, thinning out towards its borders, the upper surface being level and the under surface curved upward from the center; that the present configuration of the surface has no relation to the form, extent, or direction of the "belt." These facts established, and their successful application abundantly demonstrated by the remarkable success attending Angell's