Page 46 of 105
28
since by the Seneca Indians for a small sura, ranch to the present regret of their leading men, for these lands are now worth many millions, ami have, been the most productive in oil of any in the country. In boring for salt near Tarentum, a town about thirty five miles above Pittsburg, oil was "struck" in 1845, which, when tested, proved to be similar in its chemical composition to other coal oils, which were then being manufactured quite ex tensively in many places from the bitumenous and cannel coal of the Western coal fields. Plowever, as its refining process was not then fully understood, its value was not appreciated. Twelve years later, Messrs. Bowditch and Drake of New Haven, began boring for oil at Titusville, on Oil Creek, high up the Alleghany, in the hilly region of Pennsylvania, where lands were held at little value. Their work progressed slowly and at intervals, so that it was not until August 1859, that oil was struck at the depth of seventy-one feet, which flowed out at the surface at the rate of 400 gallons daily. The oil excitement then began, and before the termination of le>6o, about 2,000 wells and borings were made, of which seventy-four of the largest gave daily 1,165 gallons, worth, at its -then market value, about ($10,000) ten thousand dollars. After this w"lls were-sunk deeper to the depth of six hundred or seven hundred feet, which gave an increased flow of oil, and in one instance one well gave the enormous amount of 3,000 barrels in a single day. To take care of these amounts not being practical or economical, con trivances were made to stop and regulate the flow of oil. in order to take advantage of the supply of casks, labor and the market. To guard against fire, great precautions were necessary, on which account it is not considered advisable to have a large quantity of oil in store, at the diggings, where so many people are habitual smokers of pipes and cigars; for, notwithstanding smoking is strictly forbidden in the vicinity of the petroleum, some terrible conflagrations have taken place in the oil region. The discovery of petroleum in such quantities soon suspended the operations which were being made in the manufacture of oil from cannel and bitumenous coal, of which there were about fifty-six; factories in the .United States, mostly in Ohio, Ken tucky and other States, abounding in cannel or bitumenous coal. The capital which was thus invested has been estimated at $4,000,000, employing between 2,000 and 3,000 men, women and children. This business, although then considered large, is but a small item compared with the'capital invested, and the amount of labor now engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the petroleum business. The oil wells in north-western Perm
