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interesting details of the boring of the first oil well in America: Aggravating delays followed. In artesian boring it is necessary to begin on the rock to drill. This had been previously done by digging a common well-hole and cribbing it up with timber. When the rock is within a few feet of the surface it is still the cheapest and easiest method, but in some localities to do so would be practically impossible. They started to dig a hole, but it so persistently caved in and filled with water when they got a few feet below the surface, that Drake determined to give it up and try an experiment that had suggested itself to his mind. This was the driving an iron tube through the quick-sands and clay to the rock. If this is exclusively his own invention, which is probable, it is a pity he did not procure a patent on it. The royalty would have afforded him at least a competency, though the driving pipe is not so much in use as formerly.

"The operators in the oil region have had the benefit of his invention without any return, unless indeed we except the good feeling which prompted them to send him a present of $4200, when they heard he was sick and in need.

"The pipe was successfully driven to the rock thirty-six feet, and about the middle of August the drill was started. The drillers averaged about three feet a day, making slight 'indications' all the way down.

"Saturday afternoon, August 28th, 1859, as Mr. Smith and his boys were about to quit for the day, the drill dropped into one of those crevices, common alike in oil and

salt borings, a distance of about six inches, making the total depth of the whole well 69 feet. They withdrew the tools, and all went home till Monday morning. On Sunday afternoon, however, 'Uncle Billy' went down to the well to reconnoitre, and peering in he could see a fluid within eight or ten feet of the surface. He plugged one end of a bit of tin rain-water spout and let it down with a string. He drew it up filled with petroleum.

ment.

"That night the news reached the village, and Drake, when he came down next morning bright and early, found the old man and his boys proudly guarding the spot, with several barrels of petroleum standing about. The pump was at once adjusted, and the well commenced producing at the rate of about twenty-five barrels a day. The news spread like lightning. The village was wild with exciteThe country people round about came pouring down to see the wonderful well. Mr. Watson jumped on a horse and hurried straightway to secure a lease of the spring on the McClintock farm near the mouth of the creek. Mr. Bissel, who had made arrangements to be informed of the result by telegraph, bought up all the Pennsylvania rock-oil stock it was possible to get hold of, soon securing most of that owned in New Haven, and four days afterwards was at the well."

This memorable strike ushered in the PETROLEUM ERA. The identity or similarity between the distilled products of coal and petroleum had already been established by the experiments of Professor Silliman. The great usefulness as an illuminator, and the commercial value of the former

product, were also settled factors in the calculation. It now only remained to develop this "bonanza."

As was to be expected the excitement throughout that section was intense, and the "oil fever" fairly set in. It has not yet run its course. Millions of money since that day have been expended in procuring the oil, and thousands have been enriched by these ventures; while, on the other hand, the greater number venturing on the sea of wild speculation have been hopelessly bankrupted. Every spot of ground, with or without "surface indications," within the oil belt before indicated, became in its turn the centre of a busy population, every one diligently engaged in some branch of industry directly connected with the all-absorbing thought of oil mining. Towns would spring up as if by magic. Large hotels were built to accommodate the rush of speculators in oil and oil lands. Capitalists, seeking investments, merchants and builders in great numbers thronged this new El Dorado. Wells were drilled in every spot which promised success. In a certain locality large paying wells would be opened. The oily treasure gushed forth from the rock in abundance. A town, a city immediately sprang up in the wilderness. Then a change would suddenly come over the scene, and, like a dissolving panorama, it would vanish from view. In a few months, or at most a year or two, the territory which had been held at fabulous prices became unsalable, and the period of decadence would set in, while fresh fields of discovery were sought for. The sudden emergence of a city from a complete wilderness, its temporary marvellous

development and prosperity, followed by its rapid decadence and complete abandonment, are perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in the history of Pithole City. In May, 1865, there were ten houses on the ground. A short time before, the United States Well" was completed and commenced to flow, as was estimated, at the rate of 650 barrels per day. The excitement spread throughout the oil region. In August of the same year the population had grown to 14,000, and the daily yield of that section was 5000 barrels of oil. At one time there were fifty hotels to accommodate the rush of strangers, speculators, and adventurers of all kinds; three of these were palatial in size and accommodations. Its streets were lined

with imposing structures, including banks, school-houses, churches, and places of amusement. Soon after the yield of oil began to decrease; signs of decadence began to be visible in the diminished tread of busy men in its streets. The collapse soon became final. The population moved away; the buildings were deserted; the miners sought more promising fields, and in about one year afterwards a destructive fire saved from a decay and destruction equally sure, but less rapid, about all what was left of the town. The history of Pithole City, with but little variation, is that of a score or more of other places within the oil region. At or about this time a visit to this wild section of Western Pennsylvania was full of interest, and to any one who could cheerfully put up with the rude accommodations the places offered, and with the still ruder manners of the wild adventurers who thronged there from

every point of the compass, the trip was one replete with a kind of romantic enjoyment, novel and strange. For miles around in every direction the tourist was never out of sight of the derrick, the puffing engine, the huge piles of barrels, and the enormous iron tanks filled with oil. Temporary tramways were stretched in every direction to facilitate the movement of the oil. Immense teams of horses or mules were employed in the transportation of the oil from the wells, either to the nearest railroad station or to the flat-boats on Oil Creek. The surface of the whole country was saturated with oil from the leakage of barrels, the overflow and enormous wastage from the wells before they could be got under control, and from the leakage and bursting of tanks. The peculiar odor of petroleum pervaded everything; the air for miles was thoroughly saturated with it; nothing else was thought of; nothing else was talked about. Land was sold at thousands of dollars per acre. Fortunes were, literally and without exaggeration, made and lost in a day. Oil companies with highsounding names were organized almost without number, absorbing millions of money; many companies were formed without the shadow of a basis for operations, and hundreds who were as covetous as they were ignorant were drawn in the mælstrom of speculative excitement and hopelessly ruined. No parallel in the history of speculations in this country can be found, excepting, perhaps, that which occurred during the "California gold fever" of 1849.

It would extend this chapter entirely beyond our prescribed limits were we to attempt to follow and to describe