Chapter 7
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119
of lumber. However, thenorth central part of
our state was the least settled and had the
greatest supply of wood. So lumber camps
were built andhundreds ofmenweremoved
to this area. After treeswere cut down, horses
dragged the logs to the nearest streams.
Then, they were floated downstream to
towns. Williamsport became the largest
lumbering city in theUnited States. By 1860,
Pennsylvania was the greatest lumber-
producing state in our country.
Meanwhile, in the 1840s, another small
development began by accident.
Samuel
Kier
began to bottle “rock oil” that oozed
from the ground.He sold it as amedicine to
cure many ills. Can you imagine drinking
that stuff?
A scientist discovered that this rock oil
couldbe
refined
, ormade into, agood fuel
for lamps. By 1850, Samuel Kier built the
nation’s first
oil refinery
in Pittsburgh. He
used the refinery to producewhat we know
as
kerosene
.
In 1859, another discovery in Pennsyl-
vania was to have a huge impact upon the
world. Scientists knew about the supply of
oil
in the northwest part of our state.
However, nooneknewof aneasyway toget
it out of the ground. Aman by the name of
EdwinDrake
was hired and sent by anoil
company to dig an oil well at Oil Creek,
near Titusville.
His first attempt to drill a hole was not
successful. Water filled the hole. Drake
came up with an idea of driving a hollow
iron pipe into the ground. Then, he put a
drill down inside the pipe.With thehelpof
a steam engine and driller, they drilled a
hole 69 feet into the ground. On Saturday,
they quit for the weekend. However, on
Sunday, oil was found floating on the
surface of the well. Drake became the first
person to drill an oil well. With this
discovery, he began the oil industry.
When the well began producing 400
barrels a day, Drake and hismen ran out of
barrels for storing the oil. In those days, if
an oil well began producing oil, people had
no way to shut them off! In one year, the
population of Titusville grew from 300 to
several thousand. By 1870, 5,000 oil towers
were built in the area. Other places were
started just because of the oil. One of these
towns, called Pithole City, grew to 10,000
people. When oil ran out, Pithole City
became a ghost town! Pennsylvania led the
nation in oil production until 1890.
EdwinDrake’s first oil well near Titusville, PA.
