History of Butler County Pennsylvania, 1895

Transcribed by: Donna Mohney. For an explanation and caution about this transcription, please read this page.

Surnames in this chapter are:
ADAMS, ADDERHOLD, AGNEW, ALBERT, ANCHOR, ANDERSON, ANGELL, ARMSTEAD, ARMSTRONG, ASHBACK, ATWELL, BADGER, BAILEY, BALFOUR, BANKS, BARCLAY, BARNES, BARNHART, BARR, BARTLEY, BARTON, BAUER, BELL, BEERS, BEERY, BEGGS, BELL, BENNETT, BERG, BLACK, BLAIR, BLANEY, BOEHM, BOLARD, BORLAND, BOULT, BOWERS, BOYD, BRACKENRIDGE, BRADNER, BRADY, BRANDON, BREDIN, BROWN, BRUCE, BUHL, BULGER, BURCHFIELD, BURK, BUTLER, BYERS, CAMPBELL, CANNON, CAREY, CARPENTER, CASEY, CHAMBERS, CHRISTIE, CHRISTY, CLARK, CLYMER, COLBERT, COLL, COLLINS, CONLEY, CONLY, CONNER, CONNERS, COOPER, CORBETT, CORNPLANTER, COWAN, COWDEN, CRITCHLOW, CROFT, CROLL, CROWLEY, CUMMINGS, CUNNINGHAM, DALE, DAUBENSPECK, DENNY, DODDS, DONNELLY, DOUGHERTY, DOUTHETT, DOWLER, DRAKE, DUFFY, ECOCK, EGBERT, EICHENLAUB, EICHOLZ, EITENMILLER, ELIASON, EMERY, ENGLISH, ERWIN, EURESCO, EVANS, FAIRVIEW, FANKER, FARREN, FINDLEY, FISHEL, FISHER, FLEEGER, FLETCHER, FORMAN, FORRESTER, FOSTER, FOX, FRAZIER, FREDERICK, FRONSINGER, GAHAGAN, GAILEY, GALLAGHER, GARVIN, GIBSON, GILL, GILLESPIE, GIVENS, GLENN, GOEHRING, GOLDEN, GRACE, GRAHAM, GRANT, GREENS, GREENLEE, GRIBBEN, GROHMAN, GUTHRIE, HAINES, HAMIL, HARRIS, HART, HARTMAN, HASLETT, HAWK, HAYS, HECK, HECKER, HECKERT, HEID, HEINER, HELMBOLD, HEMPHILL, HENDERSON, HENRY, HEWENS, HIGGINS, HILLIARD, HILLIARDS, HINDMAN, HINES, HOFFMAN, HOOKS, HOOVER, HORNE, HUSELTON, HUTCHISON, IRVIN, JACK, JAMISON, JENNINGS, JOHNSON, JOHNSTON, KARNS, KAYLOR, KEARNS, KELLY, KENNEDY, KIER, KINGSBURY, KINGSLEY, KLINGER, KLINGLER, KNAUFF, KONKLE, KRUG, LAMBING, LAPPE, LAUBE, LAUGHLIN, LEIDECKER, LEONARD, LIEBLER, LINCOLN, LIPPERT, LOGUE, LONITZ, LOWRY, LYON, MAHOOD, MARKEL, MARKHAM, MARSH, MARSHALL, MARTIN, MATTISON, MAYER, MCABOY, MCBRIDE, MCCALMONT, MCCANDLESS, MCCLEARY, MCCLELLAND, MCCLUNG, MCCLYMONDS, MCCOLLOUGH, MCCONNELL, MCCORMICK, MCCOY, MCCUE, MCDONALD, MCELEER, MCFARLAND, MCGARVEY, MCGEE, MCGRADY, MCJUNKIN, MCKEE, MCKEOWN, MCKINNEY, MCMARLIN, MCMILLEN, MCPHERSON, MCQUISTION, MEAD, MEALS, MERKEL, MEYLERT, MICHAEL, MILFORD, MILLER, MILLS, MITCHELL, MITIS, MONROE, MOREHEAD, MORGAN, MORRISON, MORSE, MOSES, MULLER, MURPHY, MUNTZ, MYERS, NEELEY, NEGLEY, NESBITT, NEVINS, NEWTON, NEYMAN, NIECE, NOW, O'BRIEN, O'DONNELL, OERTELL, OTT, OTTO, PARKER, PARSONS, PATTERSON, PEIFFER, PETERSON, PHILLIPS, PIERSOL, POLHEMUS, PONTIUS, POTTS, PRENTICE, PRESTON, PURVIANCE, RALSTON, REDICK, RED JACKET, REIBER, REIBOLD, RIDDLE, RIESENMAN, RIOTT, RIPPER, RITTER, RITZERT, ROBERTS, ROESSING, ROOT, ROTH, RUMBAUGH, SATTERFIELD, SAY, SCHEIDEMANTLE, SCHIEVER, SCHMICK, SCHRENIER, SCOTT, SEDWICK, SEMPLE, SHEAKLEY, SHEPARD, SHIRA, SHIVA, SHORTS, SHOWALTER, SHREVE, SIMCOX, SIMPSON, SINGERLY, SMITH, SPIDER, SPITHALER, STAGE, STEICHNER, STEIN, STEPHENSON, STEWART, STOREY, STOUGHTON, SULLIVAN, SUTTON, TACK, TAYLOR, TEBAY, TEMPLETON, TERRELL, THIELEMAN, THOMPSON, THORN, TIMBLIN, TROUTMAN, TRUMBULL, VANAUSDEL, VANDERGRIFT, VANDERLIN, VOGELEY, WAGNER, WALDRON, WALKER, WALLACE, WALTER, WARNER, WARREN, WATERS, WEBER, WELSH, WESTERMANN, WHANN, WHERRY, WHITE, WICK, WILLIAMS, WILLIAMSON, WILSON, WILT, WOLFE, WOODWARD, YATES, YEAGLE, YETTER, ZIEGLER, ZIMMERMAN

The discovery of petroleum within the present boundaries of the United States, dates back to 1627 or 1629, when the Franciscan, Pere Joseph de la Roche D'Allion, described la fontaine de bitume, at Cuba, in Allegheny county, New York. Almost a century later, Charlevoix wrote an account of an oil spring in the Allegheny valley, from particulars received of Captain Joncaire; while during the advance of Brodhead's division of General Sullivan's army against the Senecas in 1779, signs of oil were reported in many localities, as stated in Moore's diary of the Revolution. Nor were notices of the existence of oil wanting between the discovery of the Franciscan, and that of the soldier; for, in 1694, Eele Hancock and Portloch made "oyle" out of peculiar rock and obtained patents for their methods; while Lewis, in his Materia Medica, of 1761, states that oils were distilled from bituminous shale for medical purposes.

The existence of oil in the Butler-Armstrong-Venengo field is first officially noticed by the French officer, Contrecouer, in dispatches to Montcalm, about the year 1750. Let his reference thereto form the introduction to the story of the development of the Butler field:

I would desire to assure you that this is a most delightful land. Some of the most astonishing natural wonders have been discovered by our people. While descending the Allegheny, fifteen leagues below the mouth of the Conewango and three above the [p. 270] Venango (French creek) we were invited by the chief of the Senecas to attend a religious ceremony of his tribe. We landed, and drew up our canoes on a point where a small stream entered the river. The tribe appeared unusually solemn. We marched up the stream about a half league, where the company, a band it appeared, had arrived some days before us. Gigantic hills begirt us on every side. The scene was really sublime. The great chief then recited the conquests and heroism of their ancestors. The surface of the stream was covered with a thick scum, which, upon applying a torch at a given signal, burst into a complete conflagration. At the site of the flames, the Indians gave forth a triumphant shout that made the hills and valleys re-echo again. Here, then, is revived the ancient fire-worship of the East; here then, are the Children of the Sun.

On the west side of Oil creek, near Titusville, are many reminders of ancient oil operators. Hundreds of pits have been found there in the flats within an area of 500 acres. One would think at first sight, that the place was once a great tan-yard, the vats being about seven feet long by six deep, and four in width, the clay excavated, making a mound near each. The pits were clay bottomed, and were walled with logs, halved and closely fitted. Modern explorers learned that when these catch-basins were cleared of the debris which filled them, water entered, and on top of the water gathered a thin coat of oil. Who the operators were has not been ascertained. They were there beyond CORNPLANTER's knowledge of the location; FRAZIER never mentioned them, though he lived on the site of Franklin, and the French officers, in their reports, so far as searched, do not refer to them.

In the American Universal Geography, published at Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1789, by Jedediah MORSE, there is a description of Oil creek given and reference made to the oil found there in the following words:-

Oil creek, in Allegheny county, 100 miles above Pittsburg, issues from a remarkable spring, which boils like the waters of Hell Gate near New York. On the top of the water floats an oil similar to that called Barbadoes tar. Several gallons may be gathered in a day. It is found very serviceable in rheumatism, in restoring weakness in the stomach, and in curing bruises and sore breasts. When drank, the water of the spring operates as a gentle cathartic. It is gathered by the country people and the Indians, boiled, and brought to market in bottles, and is deemed a most valuable family medicine.

In 1806, Nat. CAREY found oil on Oil creek, on which he bestowed the title- "Seneca Oil," and sold on the reputation given to it by Red Jacket, a Seneca chief. Subsequently, General HAYS, of Franklin, shipped three barrels of this oil, by wagon, to Baltimore; but the consignment was so odd, the ignorant merchant had the oil emptied into the Chesapeake.

From 1810 to 1817, HECKER & MITIS, of Truscovitch, Austria, distilled petroleum, and as late as 1838, the oils of Starunia were claimed by the government as mineral products. In 1853 one SCHRENIER used it first for illuminating purposes, but TOCH, the Austrian, who built the refinery at Tarentum for PETERSON & DALE, was the first to teach the Austrians the method of refining. The offer of S. KIER of $1000 for the discovery of a lamp which would burn the obnoxious oil and the enterprise of NEVIN and MCKEOWN, in 1857, had much to do in making it an article of commerce; for ultimately, the oil from the IRWIN & PETERSON well was successfully used as an illuminator. In 1858, the J. M. WILLIAMS well in Canada was excavated, by pick and shovel, to oil sand, and the same year, T. W. NEVIN [p. 271] & Company drilled 400 feet at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Their failure kept the honor of being the pioneer producer for Colonel DRAKE, who in 1859 drilled the first oil well on Oil creek, in Venango county. WILLIAMS was the first man on this continent within the historic period to dig down to the petroleum, T. W. NEVINS was the first to drill expressly for it, and Colonel DRAKE the first to drill for it with success. John SMITH, who assisted his brother in drilling the DRAKE well on Oil creek, resides in Winfield township, Butler county, and has in his possession the temper screw used on that occasion.

The success of the Drake well and the extraordinary activity in the neighboring county of Venango, bred up a spirit of enterprise here; for if there were oil fountains in Venango, why not in Butler? On February 11, 1860, the Butler Oil Company was organized to drill for oil in the vicinity of Butler. The members of this organization, as well as the veteran editor of the Herald, kept the project very quiet, for they did not wish to sink their money in anything uncertain or to bring upon themselves the ridicule which would certainly follow their discovery of a dry hole. The oil spirit was not, however, confined to them. Every day an alarm of Butler oil was carried to the county seat and each gained some credence, until John O. JACK announced that there was oil on his farm in Centre township, That settled matters, so that no one cared to carry news of local discoveries to Butler, until August, 1860, when John GALLAGHER informed his friends that there was oil on his Clearfield township farm. His seriousness won some respect, as did the report of September 7 that oil was discovered on the Archibald MCMILLEN land, four miles southwest of Portersville, at a depth of eight feet below the creek level. By that time the developments on Oil creek had won the attention of the world, and Butler men had determined to pry into the sands and rocks far beneath their town.

On January 19, 1861, a meeting was held at ZIMMERMAN's hotel, Butler, to organize a company to develop the oil sand in the Butler neighborhood; William CAMPBELL presided, and J. G. MUNTZ acted as secretary. A committee to draft articles of association and one to select and secure the site for beginning work, were appointed. John H. NEGLEY, E. MCJUNKIN, R. C. MCABOY, Capt. Jacob WALTER and John BERG were members of the first, and Christian OTTO, John C. COLL, and Patton KEARNS of the second. On February 5, 1861, operations were begun on a lot near the brewery, southwest of the borough, by the Butler Pioneer Oil Company, and a depth of 800 feet reached without striking oil.

The following lease, one of the very first in this county, was made on that occasion:

Articles of agreement made this 25th day of January, A. D., 1861, between John NEGLEY of the first part and Christian OTTO, W. S. BOYD, Jacob WALTER, E. MCJUNKIN and J. G. MUNTZ, acting for and as board of managers of the Butler Pioneer Oil Company, as party of the second part. Said party of the first part agrees to let and lease to said party of the second part as aforesaid, a lot of ground partly in the borough of Butler and partly in Butler township, Butler county, Pennsylvania, and adjoining property of WALTER & GROHMAN on the south, the Connoquenessing creek on the west, other property of said NEGLEY on the north and Water street on the east, running on and along said Water street fifty feet and thence west in a parallel line with said WALTER & GROHMAN's lot to the Connoquenessing creek, said lease to be for the period of two years if neces-[p. 272] sary to said company, for the purpose of boring for oil, salt, etc., and in event of said company being successful in their enterprise and experiment, to sell and deed said lot to them on their securing to him, the said NEGLEY, his heirs or assigns, at least two shares of the stock of said company, free of all cost or charge-and, in case said company are unsuccessful, then said lot to revert and this lease to expire and be of no effect and the said parties of the second part to have the privilege of removing their fixtures, etc., as witness our hands and seals date above written.
John NEGLEY, C. OTTO, J. G. MUNTZ, W. S. BOYD, Jacob WALTER, and E. MCJUNKIN.

In 1863, H. Julius KLINGLER and John BERG shipped 1,000 barrels of crude oil to Pittsburg, thence to Philadelphia by rail and by clipper to Liverpool. This was one of the first shipments of American petroleum to Europe. The consignment was made to BOULT, ENGLISH & BRANDON, of Liverpool, who bought the oil by the ton.

The first oil well remembered by George H. GRAHAM, in the upper field, was that drilled on the Joseph MEALS' farm in Washington township, now the Dr. HOOVER farm. It was drilled by hand to a depth of about 300 feet, when a flow of artesian water was encountered, which put a stop to further operations. Within seventy-five feet of the old well is a producer, drilled about 1889 for Dr. HOOVER, of Butler, and not far away are the new wells of 1893-94 on the SHIRA, CLARK, BELL, MILLER and other farms.

The pioneer oil well in the Millerstown field was "put down" in 1861, by a number of residents, to a depth of 250 feet; but like the Butler companies, they were from 900 to 1100 feet short in their calculations and of course missed the object.

Under date, November 30, 1864, The American Citizen referred to the Butler oil field for the first time. The editor was pleased to learn that the oil business, which languished for a while, was revived. While not at liberty to mention names, he was assured that many of the pioneer oil operators of Butler "were in a fair way to get back the large sums expended in experimenting in this risky business."

The oil discoveries on Slippery Rock creek in January, 1865, where Dr. EGBERT, the oil operator of Franklin, leased thousands of acres, caused immense excitement. On February 2, the well on the Butler county line, near Harlansburg, was completed, and yielded a barrel of oil every thirty minutes. This led men to think that in Butler county the greatest oil field in the country was yet to be developed, and dreams of wealth, railroads and pipe lines took possession of the people. In March, the CAMPBELL well on Slippery Rock creek was a sort of mystery, some claiming it to be a 100 barrel producer, others a 200 barrel well. This was known as the "SMITH and COLLINS well." A heavy pro- [p. 273] ducer for the time, was struck on Muddy creek, and one by the CLARK Company near the village of Wurtemburg. In May, 1865, the well on the Robert GLENN farm, in Marion township, then owned by Robert VANDERLIN, was drilled; while a well was being put down at BUHL's mill in Forward township.

The officers of the Butler Oil Company, in August, 1865, were Jacob ZIEGLER, president; William CAMPBELL, vice-president; I. J. CUMMINGS, treasurer; L. Z. MITCHELL, secretary; John BERG, W. O. BRACKENRIDGE, Charles MCCANDLESS, John N. PURVIANCE and Milton HENRY, directors, and H. J. KLINGLER, superintendent. James BREDIN, Dr. Stephen BREDIN, John M. THOMPSON, Alexander LOWRY and James CAMPBELL were also stockholders. They leased 12,000 acres of land between Martinsburg and Millerstown, and, indeed, came to control the lands from Millerstown to Herman. Five wells were commenced by this company, but not one was driven to the Butler sand, and thus, in an ocean of oil, they found only disappointment. The company dissolved, a new one organized and a second failure was recorded for the Butler men. This did not deter them, for in later days the names of all these men are found identified with successful operations.

A well was drilled at West Sunbury immediately after the Civil war, and the Sunbury Oil Company made their first sale of oil at Pittsburgh in September, 1866, receiving $1,100 for the first product of their two well in Butler county.

C. D. ANGELL who, in 1867, was operating on the "Island Property," at Scrubgrass, cast his eyes over other fields. He found at Foster, northeast of Scrubgrass, the same conformation of soil and rock as on the "Island Property." In a southwestern direction, he found every indication of oil on a line extending to Harmony, through Bull Valley and Prospect, and in a western direction on a line between Raymilton and Slippery Rock.

In 1868 the Butler borough men re-entered the field, under the name of Jacob's Oil Company, so called in honor of Capt. Jacob ZIEGLER, who never for a moment lost faith in Butler county as an oil field. The members of this company were Herman J. BERG, William VOGELEY, James BREDIN, R. L. BLACK, William CAMPBELL, J. C. REDICK, A. M. NEYMAN, Mrs. Judge BREDIN, Rev. LAUGHLIN, L. Z. MITCHELL, Edward LYON, J. Q. A. KENNEDY, J. B. STOREY, Mrs. E. LYON, Milton HENRY, N. S. THOMPSON, I. J. CUMMINGS, Robert BLACK, Sr., and Jacob ZIEGLER. In February, 1869, oil responded to the drill in the Martinsburg well, but they did not observe a little sign like that, and went down 100 feet below the producing sand. Time solves everything, and, in this instance showed the superintendent that the pump was far below the sand. Gradually it was lifted until three barrels a day were produced, when the tools were removed and the well shot. A flow of sixty barrels rewarded the energy and industry of this company, gave to Butler county her first paying well and demonstrated the fact that she possessed oil fields worth cultivating. In 1872, Robert BLACK purchased the lease and well for $4,000, and it continued a small producer until 1880.

The first well at Parker's Landing, known as Clarion Number 1, was pumped for the first time October 25, 1865, and yielded eighteen barrels a day down to 1869, when it became a twenty-five barrel producer. In July 1869, there were twenty-five producing wells in the Parker's Landing oil field, yield- [p. 274] ing 310 barrels daily. At the close of that month there were twenty-two wells rigging and eighteen wells drilling, so that the total in August was sixty-four. Before the close of August the old town of Lawrenceburg was invaded by the vanguard of the drillers, and many citizens of Butler went thither to share in the work and profits. Oil agreements were printed in the newspaper offices of Butler and everything pointed toward busy days. By the middle of November, 1869, there were 1,058 wells in the Parker and Lawrenceburg field. The first fire was reported November 21, when the Enterprise Well, above the Landing, was destroyed. It was the property of J. W. CHRISTY, John M. THOMPSON, Allen WILSON, W. K. POTTS and other Butler men. With the exception of the J. E. BROWN well at Parker City, 879 feet above ocean level, and the Sulphur Water well on Thorn creek, 942 feet above ocean level, the well mouths ranged from 1,086 feet at the "PARSONS" near Farrentown, to 1,490 feet above ocean level at the Columbia Number 3, on the REDICK farm.

The Valley well at Church run, on Fullerton PARKER's farm, was completed in January, 1870, for M. E. ADAMS, John SCOTT, John M. THOMPSON, George PURVIANCE, B. C. HUSELTON, and William MCCLUNG. The BARNES and TERRELL well near by and the new well on Bear creek, above its mouth, were completed also in January, 1870. Before the close of the month, a five-barrel well was struck at Martinsburg, and excitement existed on account of discoveries on Thorn creek. The BERG well, on the FARREN farm, owned by D. S. KARNS, Herman J. BERG, Dr. BREDIN, J. C. REDICK, Louis ROESSING, Martin RIESENMAN, John DOUGHERTY, Mrs. STEIN, and C. P. LIPPERT, and the Atlantic well in that neighborhood, owned by Patrick MCBRIDE and others, were reported in February, 1870.

The Thorn Creek Oil Company was organized February 2, 1870, with Harvey OSBORN, president; Francis LAUBE, secretary; E. A. HELMBOLD, superintendent; E. F. ADDERHOLD, treasures; J. M. DOWLER and H. T. MERKEL, auditors and R. M. DOUTHETT and James GRIBBEN, business managers. The "Maple Shade," near Risk village, 1, 319 feet above ocean level; the Isabell, on Thorn Creek; the "Walnut Shade," on the Fox farm, near Emlenton, and the "Church Run," on the Marshall farm, above the Valley well, came in in March, 1870. Then followed the "Golden Gate," owned by Butler men, and the "Shepherd," near Lawrenceburg; the "Wyona," on the FARREN farm, and the "Number 12," south of Bear Creek, the "Northwest," the "Cataract," the "Eclipse," and others.

In April, 1870, oil was discovered on the Aaron BERRY farm, in Middlesex township; the wells on the ANCHOR farm, near Fowler run, owned by James SUTTON and other Butler county men; the "MCCLELLAND," on the FARREN farm, owned by Dr. MCCLELLAND and the KARNS Brothers; the "Youghiogheny," near Lawrenceburg, and the SMITH and STEWART well on the FOWLER farm, came in early in April. The Glade Run and Cherry Valley Oil Company was organized that month. The "Dingbat," near the old furnace; the "Hoover," and the "California," on Bear creek; the 800 barrel well at Brady's Bend, drilled 1,264 feet; the "Rush," the "Washington" and the "Turk and Shira," came in during the first half of 1870. In July, the "CANNON" well, on Great Bear creek; the "Dingbat" and the "MCCLINTOCK," were promising properties. In August, the PARSONS Brothers struck oil near Farrentown, on the Martinsburg road, their "Maggie," "ARMSTEAD" [p. 275] and "PARSONS" becoming fine producers. The "Millbrook," on lease Number 7, CONLEY farm, was owned by Dr. GUTHRIE and William GILL, of Butler; the "Estella," on the LOGUE farm, was owned by Dr. COWDEN and Jacob ZIEGLER; while "Eudora, Number 2," on the BAILEY farm, was owned by Dr. COWDEN, S. H. BAILEY and NEWTON, of Portersville. The "Nancy ADAMS," on the John B. LEONARD farm, in Parker township, and the "MULLEN," or "Glory Hole," were twenty barrel producers in October, 1870.

The MCGEE & ATWELL well known as "Ida May," on the FARREN farm; the "Oak" on the ROBINSON farm, owned by General PURVIANCE, and the "Olive," on the same farm, came in October, 1870. In drilling the Cherry Valley well, in Venango township, down to 650 feet in November, 1870, the same sands were discovered to exist at Parker's Landing. The Wolf Creek Oil and Salt Testing Company, presided over by C. O. KINGSBURY, of Centreville, began operations late in 1870. The Thorn Creek Oil Company had drilled to 800 feet, striking a heavy flow of gas.

The Wolf Creek well Number 1, drilled in 1870, for a Centreville syndicate, was abandoned at a little over 800 feet, the tools being stuck, the fishing tackle lost, and the heavy flow of gas driving back the workers. On one occasion a column of water was raised 100 feet above the derrick; so that Number 1, though a financial disappointment, was at that time, a phenomena worth the expense.

In 1871, the same company drilled at a point in the hollow, near the creek, two miles northwest of Centreville. After the drill passed through six feet of ferriferous limestone, slate, shale and sand were encountered down to 425 feet, where a thirty-five feet bed of sandstone was stuck. At 885 feet, a red rock eighty feet thick, was penetrated, then a shallow sandstone, and next a 281 feet bed of slate, with a show of oil at 1,080 feet. Gray sandstone was found at 1,132 to 1,152 feet, then ninety feet of slate, eighty feet of red slate, and a 100 feet bed of black sleet, brings the record down to 1,422 feet of the 1,423 penetrated. Beyond a slight flow of gas, this venture was only productive of geological knowledge.

Some years prior to the opening of the Bald Ridge oil field, or as early as 1870, a well was drilled on the MULLER farm, near Zelionople, to a depth of 825 feet; but nothing further was done to develop this section until the eighties.

A man named WHANN made a second attempt to find oil at Millerstown in 1870, but, in the language of the Daily Sand Pump, "he got no farther than to have the rig partly built, when a two-inch plank, falling on the head of the contractor put a quietus on operations for two years."

The "Preston," the "Overly," the "Antwerp," and "Island King, Number 2," proved producers in January, 1871; in May, the Adam RITZERT well in Oakland township, drilled in 1866, showed the existence of oil and the discovery led many to predict that Butler county would yet prove an extensive oil field. Striking sandrock near Buffalo furnace, at a depth of 1,400 feet, and the drilling of new wells round Martinsburg, in August, 1871, showed that the time for predicting was past and that oil reservoirs existed in many places throughout the county.

In October, 1871, the "BORLAND" well on the Robert BLACK farm; the "Bennett" on the Stone House farm, in Parker township; BADGER & KARN's two wells [p. 276] at Stone House; the "HEINER" on the SAY farm; the "LAMBING" on the FLETCHER farm, and a new well on the MARTIN farm, marked the progress in the Martinsburg field. At that time the Thorn Creek well was down 1,345 feet, the last forty feet being in pebbly rock or stray sand.

The CAMPBELL farm became the front of operations in November, 1871, when a sixty-five barrel well responded to the drillers industry. Then the well on the adjoining WALKER farm, which in May, 1872, was purchased by B. B. CAMPBELL and WALKER Brothers, became noted as a producer. These wells were really the beginnings of the village of Argyle. Within six years the R. D. CAMPBELL farm and the A. L. CAMPBELL farm were celebrated for at least a dozen of great wells, with openings from 1,156 to 1,171 feet above ocean level.

Early in the spring of 1872, A. W. MCCULLOUGH completed the "Maple Shade," on the Widow HUTCHISON's farm in Parker township, just south of Bear creek. It started off at 100 barrels a day and for a time was known as the greatest producer south of the creek.

The "Lambing" well on the SHEAKLEY farm, the "Lib," the "Walnut," the "Fannie," the "Collins Number 2," and the "MILFORD," on the MILFORD farm, and the wells on the JAMISON farm were all producers in January, 1872. The Columbia Oil Company meeting success on the REDICK farm and others on the HUTCHISON farm, such as the "Maple Shade," already mentioned, north of North Washington, pointed to the extension of the field. In February the WILT farm, the CAMPBELL farm, the SHEPARD farm, the Matthew CANNON tract, the MARTIN farm, and the lands around Martinsburg were literally invaded by the oil men and soon covered with rigs. James SAY leased his 100 acres at $200 per acres and one-eighth royalty, while other farmers were equally fortunate in the possession of oil lands. In April the LAMBINGS struck a 100-barrel well on the William GIBSON farm near Fairview, and the MCPHERSON well, also on that farm, proved a paying property. Around the new oil town of Argyle, of which A. L. CAMPBELL may be called the father, land was sold from $500 to $1,000 per acre. The principal operators were the LAMBING Brothers, B. B. and A. L. CAMPBELL, J. B. FINDLEY, ANGELL, MCKINNEY & NESBITT, and MCPHERSON and BLANEY.

In Cherry township, on John SMITH's farm; in Washington township on the farms of David STEWART and RUMBAUGH; in Clay township, on the J. H. HINDMAN farm; in Fairview township, on W. C. CAMPBELL's farm; in Concord township, at Ralston's mill; in Donegal township, at Millerstown, and on the FORQUER farm; at Boydstown; in Summit township, at James STEPHENSON's mill, and along Thorn creek, wells were being drilled and the scouts of the oil army were locating lands. Fairview made great advances; in April the "Fannie Jane" was struck, and in May, the village of Petrolia sprung up. On May 31, 1872, oil was found in the S. S. JAMISON well, two miles north of Boydstown, the well extending down 1,085 feet to stray sand-rock. This was the first oil discovered on the Connoquenessing. In June, the "Bonny Brook," near the old BRINKER mill, was drilled and many wells in the West Sunbury neighborhood were commenced. The burning of 800 barrels of oil, in tank on Bear creek, was one of the first big oil firs in the Butler field.

The MCCLYMONDS farm, now the site of Karns City, became famous as an [p. 277] oil field in 1872. In December, 1871, the COOPER Brothers leased fifteen acres of land from Hugh P. MCCLYMONDS and fifteen acres from Samuel L. RIDDLE. The first well was located in the valley near the west line of MCCLYMOND's farm, and was named the "Shasta." In June 1872, it was producing 120 barrels a day. On May 29, S. D. KARNS had leased for a bonus of $200 an acres and one-eighth oil royalty, the entire 214 acres of the MCCLYMONDS farm, the owner reserving the COOPER lease and fourteen acres surrounding his farm buildings. On June 1, Mr. KARNS also leased on the same terms, 204 acres from Samuel L. RIDDLE, who reserved the lease given to COOPER Brothers, and ten acres about his farm buildings. Oil was then selling at four dollars a barrel. The new strike attracted great attention, and a fierce contention arose among the operators for the possession of the MCCLYMONDS farm. This was finally compromised and on June 18, 1872, MCCLYMONDS sold his farm for $60,000, reserving his farm buildings and the surface of fourteen acres. The purchasers were O. G. EMERY, S. D. KARNS, William THOMPSON, William PARKER, and John H. HAINES. Soon afterwards, Karns City, named in honor of S. D. KARNS, sprang up, and became the seat and center of the enterprise and excitement. The fields around the new town, as well as around Petrolia, Fairview, Millerstown, and Boydstown, were filled with busy men.

The Morrison well, drilled on the farm of S. S. JAMISON, north of Boydstown, by his son-in-law, David MORRISON, came in on August 22, 1872, when a tremendous flow of oil and gas responded to the drill. Three hours later the rig caught fire and about 200 barrels of oil were consumed. By four o'clock in the evening a tank was in position and the estimated flow was about 700 barrels a day. This soon dropped to 300, then to 200, and by August 30, to 150 barrels. Greece City sprang up as if by magic, the surrounding country was soon dotted with derricks, and several gushers came in later. This was then believed to be a Third sand well, but later developments proved it to be the first Fourth sand well developed in Butler county. The Oilman's Journal of August 31, 1872, referred to the "large oil strike" near Boydstown. Clark WILSON, the editor, recognized the fact that the theories of "Uncle Jake" ZIEGLER concerning the Butler oil field were correct, and that the Morrison well should be regarded as the beginning of Butler county's new oil development.

On the TROUTMAN farm in Modoc City, a very fine well was struck, March 23, 1873, which also tapped the Fourth sand, though this fact was then unknown. So much has been said and written in regard to the discovery of this sand in the vicinity of Petrolia and Karns City, and so many conflicting claims made as to whom the honor is due, that we here give the opinion of Hon. A. L. CAMPBELL, of Petrolia. In a letter written us on the subject, he says:

"In the latter part of the summer of 1873, Foster HINDMAN, William BANKS, Charles C. STEWART and John H. GAILEY drilled a well on the SCOTTS heirs farm, near the corners of the MCELEER and J. B. CAMPBELL farms, west of Karns City, and when deep enough, as they thought, there was but little show of oil. TACK, MOREHEAD & Company had finished Number 1, MCELEER, near by where I was superintendent of the farm and part owner, and had kept a record of the stratas as the well progressed. Charles C. STEWART was around frequently when I took samples of the stratas, and he claimed that in their well they did not finish in the same sand as we had in MCELEER, Number 1, which showed [p. 278] for a fair producer. GAILEY & Company concluded they were down and dry, all agreeing to that opinion except Mr. STEWART, and on a proposition to drill deeper, Mr. GAILEY refused to pay any more expense. STEWART and BANKS came to my office in Argyle with their measurements and consulted my registry and the samples I had taken at Number 1, MCELREER. From the calculations and investigations made that day, it was decided their well was not deep enough. Drilling was begun again, and before oil was obtained all the others had sold their interests to STEWART. After drilling to some depth, sixty-nine feet, I think, oil was struck in what afterwards was called the Fourth sand. West of this well a short distance, we were drilling Number 2, MCELREER, and soon were finished in the Fourth sand. We then pulled out Number 1, MCELREER, and drilled her down. All three wells flowed largely. We paid $100 to each of our men to say nothing about Fourth sand, but it was not many days until Mr. JENNINGS and all others in the neighborhood began drilling their wells deeper. The man that first risked his money in the enterprise is entitled to the credit, and he was Charles C. STEWART, now of Brady township, Butler county, I believe."

Though there may be an honest difference of opinion as to whom credit is due for the discovery and first development of this sand, there is certainly no conflict as to the wonderful influence they had in stimulating the oil business. The Fourth sand fever raged through the district affected, and nearly every operator hurried on the work of deepening his old wells and drilling new ones. Around Petrolia, Karns City, Troutman, Modoc and Greece City, the excitement continued to grow, and perhaps there never were so many large wells struck in so short a period and limited an area. The autumn of 1873 and the year 1874 witnessed some surprising developments in the Fourth sand, and wells ranging from 100 to 4,000 barrels a day came in rapid succession.

In Parker township the "Long Range" well on the ANCHOR farm was struck August 16, 1872, and during the first week yielded forty barrels a day. TIMBLIN, WICK, & CONLEY, the owners, declared it to be the best well developed on that farm up to that period.

The first well in Washington township was a contemporary of the first at Greece City. Three months after striking sand, the owners thought of tubing it, when it yielded seven barrels a day. One hundred and fifty rods southwest of the old well another was drilled into a closer sand, which produced five barrels a day, or 1,400 barrels prior to its abandonment. On the David SHIRA farm, east of the RUMBAUGH farm, a four-barrel well was struck by James FRAZIER, James MONROE and other drillers. A. SCHEIDEMANTLE drilled a well on the Alfred SHIRA farm, and other parties one on the Alexander CLARK farm and one on the D. F. CAMPBELL farm. These were the pioneer developments in this township.

The EVANS well, 2,600 feet above BUHL's bridge in Forward township, where a small creek enters the Connoquenessing, was drilled early in the seventies to a depth of 626 feet; but, beyond the knowledge of the strata obtained, the expenditure of time and labor was profitless.

The WALLACE well on the GRANT farm, owned by J. A. SEDWICK, Thomas L. WALLACE, Robert MCCOY, B. SINGERLY, John HINES and Stephen CORBETT was drilled into the Third sand, before the thirty days suspension, when a flow of 100 barrels per day was recorded. In October, 1872, it produced 100 barrels per day.

The well on the DENNY lands in Winfield township was drilled in November, 1872, in the valley of Buffalo creek. David MORRISON and Curtis JAMISON, [p. 279] who were connected with the older well on the JAMISON farm, with Daniel DENNY and William STEWART, were the projectors and owners.

Several wells in the Millerstown neighborhood were being drilled in the fall of 1872. The PRESTON-MCKINNEY well, drilled to a depth of 1,600 feet, proved a dry one while the LINCOLN well on the MCCLYMONDS farm the CARPENTER Brothers' well, the BROWN & STOUGHTON well on the W. C. ADAMS farm, a new well on the BANKS farm and PRESTON & NESBITT's well on the SMITH farm, proved to be fair producers. Near Fairview, ANGELL & Company's second well yielded 125 barrels a day, and near it, on the WILSON farm, NESBITT's well proved profitable.

The Euresco Oil Company, composed of Dr. Findley, William Yates, Thomas McConnell, Sr., Dr. Taylor, E.S. Golden and others, began the development of the Peter Miller farm oil wells southeast of Petrolia, and of the McGarvey farm, one mile east of Petrolia, in December, 1872. A well on the Boyd farm, in Clearfield township was commenced, and one on the Stephen McCue farm, across the line in Armstrong county, was completed.

Before the close of 1872, the following named wells were recognized producers: The GRACE and BARTON on the Widow ERWIN's farm on Bear Creek, the ADAMS and PARKER on the John B. CAMPBELL farm, the John VANAUSDEL well on the James WILSON farm between Fairview and Petrolia, the STOUGHTON, BROWN, BRUCE, MCFARLAND and MCQUISTION wells on the ADAMS' farm, the Richard JENNING's well, the MCCLEARY well, the William MORGAN 300-barrel well on the W. A. WILSON farm, near Petrolia, the "Mary Ann" on the RIDDLE farm, the DOUGHERTY well near Petrolia, the "Monitor" on the FRONSINGER farm, the PRESTON well on the Widow SMITH's farm near Petrolia, the well of TEMPLETON & FOSTER on the JAMISON farm, that on the STOREY farm, one mile east of Buena Vista, and several others.

Early in January, 1873, a well at Bonny Brook was drilled to a depth of 1,040 feet, when a heavy flow of salt water was struck. On the J. B. CAMPBELL farm, near Petrolia, a 500 barrel gusher appeared to supplement the old MORRISON well, which, was then yielding 175 barrels. There were nine producing wells on the BLANEY farm, while on the ASHBACK farm, a number of drillers continued their labors on a new well. The GIVEN's well, on the SHEAKLEY farm, which for over a month was a marvelous producer, fell to six barrels in January. The JONES well on the Dixon BARCLAY farm, near Martinsburg, drilled over 1,400 feet, was non-productive; but dry wells were the exceptions in the field. The Spider well on the MCCLEARY farm, between Petrolia and Fairview, five rods from the older JENNINGS well, introduced itself in February, 1873, as a 150 barrel producer. The KARNS well, forty rods east of Karns City, was yielding 140 barrels per day in January and February, 1873, though experts had pronounced the venture to be too far east.

The oil firm of H. L. TAYLOR & Company, who began operations in Butler county in 1871, and owned 300 wells, among them "The Boss" of 1874, on the PARKER farm near Criswell, which yielded 2,000 barrels a day, sold their forty producers in the Petrolia, Karns City and Millerstown fields, for $100,000. The "Old Divener" of 1878, which yielded 1,400 barrels a day at the beginning, and 700 barrels a day for a long period, was the cause of the Millerstown stampede.

[p. 280] The Bonny Brook well in Summit township, owned by BERG & LAMBING, reached a depth of 1,500 feet in February, 1873, without striking oil.

The DONNELLY & BUTLER well on Thomas DONNELLY's farm, on Bear creek, in Parker township, was completed February 15, 1873, and yielded forty barrels per day, at first, increasing to seventy barrels and proving the leading well struck between the mouth of Bear creek and Martinsburg.

The wells on the MCGRADY and BOYD farms in Clearfield township were commenced in February, 1873.

The old RUMBAUGH well, two miles northwest of North Washington, was drilled in 1873, and in March of that year struck oil at 1,265 to 1,365 feet, in a loose pebbly sand. For weeks it produced seven barrels per diem; but the price did not warrant the expense of freighting the product to Parker, and the well was abandoned after it was probed to a depth of 1,690 feet. In 1876 or 1877, TRUMBULL & CROLL drilled west of the old well on the same farm, and found a four-barrel producer, the price then making a small well a valuable property. Drilling on the THOMPSON & HILLIARD farms and along the south branch of Slippery Rock creek, merely showed dry holes.

The SHREVE well on the Adam STEWART farm, Donegal township, was owned by A. W. MCCULLOUGH, A. L. CAMPBELL, Charles HEWENS, and KINGSLEY & SHREVE, the two last named being the contractors. It was the pioneer well in that section, and opened the famous "Millerstown District" in April, 1873. It yielded 130 barrels a day and was sold to CLARK & TIMBLIN for $20,000. To that date must be credited the beginning of development in this rich oil field. The enterprise of KINGSLEY & SHREVE was sharpened by the faith of Dr. J. MICHAEL in the field, and to him, in great measure, is due the honor of discovery. The well on the THORN farm, owned by MCFARLAND & Company, the "Roadside" well on the BARNHART farm, by PARKER, THOMPSON, & Company, and the "Forquer" by James M. Lambing, came in in May, 1873, while southward were the "Greens" on the Johnson tract, the "Gillespie" operated by J. Burchfield, the Hemphill tract wells by McKinney, Gailey & Company, the wells on the EGBERT lease and on the Widow HEMPHILL's farm, controlled by DUFFY, MCCANDLESS, STOUGHTON and others, all tended to change Millerstown from a wayside village into a bustling oil town.

The ZIEGLER-MEYLERT well at Greece City struck Third sand on June 7, 1873. The oil and gas, rushing forth, caught fire, the flames catching two industrious men-James WHERRY and James CROWLEY-who received burns which caused the death of one that evening and the other the next day.

The oil well at Butler, near the old distillery, was drilled in 1873, by HART and KONKLE, 1,750 feet, but the enterprising owners were unrewarded by the genii of the oil field. It proved the best gas well in the vicinity of Butler. Charles E. HART, who kept the record, refers to a blood-red slate rock or munch chunk shale, extending from the 1,550 to the 1,750 feet level, but Andrew W. MCCOLLOUGH states that the red shale was not over fifteen feet in depth. When this well was completed and found to be unproductive, the owners offered it to Colonel THOMPSON and others for the cost of the casing. They refused the offer and thus lost one of the largest gas producers in the Butler field.

[p. 281] The MEAD wells, numbered 1, 2, and 3, near St. Joe, on the NOW farm, were drilled n 1875, to an average depth of 1,565 feet. The opening of Number 1 was 1,294 feet; of Number 2, 1,385 feet, and of Number 3, 1,390 feet above ocean level. The BULGER well on the same farm, was opened at a point 1,368 feet above the ocean. At a depth of 345 feet ferriferous limestone was discovered, the First sand at 1,135 feet; the Second sand at 1,270 feet; a stray Third sand at 1,500 feet and the Third sand at 1,555 feet.

A well on the MCCLYMONDS farm finished December 4, 1875, for MATTISON and MCDONALD was opened at 1,244 feet above ocean level, and drilled to a depth of 1,490 feet, or forty feet into the Fourth sand. The Third sand was found at 1,390 feet; the second at 1,165, and the first at 750 feet. This well produced an amber-green colored oil at the rate of seventy-five barrels per day.

The three WOODWARD wells, also on the MCCLYMONDS farm, were drilled in 1875, for George G. STAGE, J. R. WOODWARD, and James SHEAKLEY. One of the wells yielded 1,900 barrels a day and the others were good producers.

FORD well Number 1, at old Carbon Centre, yielded 100 barrels per day, when first opened in 1875, but declined to twenty-five barrels, though the drill did not go below the Third sand.

The GIBSON and ECOCK well on the FRONSINGER farm opened about 1,382 feet above ocean level, struck a fifteen feet bed of limestone at a depth of 285 feet; mountain sand at 568 feet; first sand at 825 feet; second sand at 1,160 feet and oil sand rock at 1,402 feet, through which the drill penetrated sixteen feet, bringing the exploration to 1,418 feet, or thirty-six feet below ocean level. The record of this well, made by Edward CASEY, is one of the most minute and precise records of a boring ever made in the oil field.

The Columbia Oil Company's well on the REDICK farm, two miles northwest of Parker, in Allegheny township, was completed January 10, 1876, when the drill entered a pocket at 1,277 feet and dropped to 1,280. The elevations on this farm average 1,485 feet above the ocean, while the Third sand was found at a depth of 1,250 feet, extending twenty-seven feet from the soapstone to the slate bed, at 1,277 feet. The well yielded fifteen barrels per diem for some months, from the 1,259 feet level; but decreased to three and one-half barrels of green oil by August 1876.

The year 1876 witnessed a crude oil advance from $1.55 to four dollars per barrel; saw the market threatened by a new 125 barrel well at Greece City, and beheld the consolidation of oil-refining interests and activity in every part of the field. During the year ending December 31, 1877, there were 1,002 wells completed in the Butler-Armstrong oil field, while 171 dry holes were struck, the total production being 9,904 barrels a day.

The "Ghost" well on the Mrs. KAYLOR farm, drilled in 1878 by George H. GRAHAM and Samuel BANKS, near the east line of Fairview township, originated the Eastern Belt theory. The owners sold it at a good price; but the buyers made a poor bargain.

The PRENTICE well on the James HIGGIN's farm in Venango township, near the second coal bank, was drilled 1,600 feet, the drill passing through a thick

[p. 282] bed of limestone, which was found forty feet below the level of the coal bank. Oil was pumped, but not in sufficient quantity to pay expenses.

In the Six Points neighborhood many wells were drilled in 1877-78. In 1871, the pioneer well, on the CHAMBER's land, two miles east of Six Points, was drilled to sand, without obtaining oil. In the wells of 1878, a mountain sand, 200 feet deep, resting on a twenty-five feet loose-grained salt-water rock, was discovered, while the Third sand was fully 1,200 feet below the ferriferous limestone. The oil produced by the "fifty-foot" was lighter in color, but of a greater gravity, than that by the Third sand, which was decidedly green in color.

In July, 1880, REIBER & HUSELTON leased 780 acres in the Bald Ridge district, and steps were taken to drill a well at the intersection of the ANGELL "22 ½ degree line" on the Robert MCKEE farm, and the "Greece City line" near Bald Ridge Number 2. W. C. NEELEY contracted to drill the proposed well at one dollar per foot and hold one-fourth of the thirty-two fifty-dollar shares of stock. Owing to the scarcity of water the location was changed to a point on the SMITH farm, 1,100 feet south, and September 1, 1880, drilling commenced. Reaching a depth of 1,600 feet, NEELEY complained, and the stockholders agreed to allow him five dollars per foot. At 1,620 feet oil was struck; but the boring was continued to the depth of 1,750 feet and the work was finished as a six barrel well, March 8, 1881. In April 1881, the Bald Ridge Oil Company was incorporated, the stated capital being $16,000. In June, 1881, well Number 2, was commenced, and by October 1, reached 1,692 feet. After being shot, Number 2 became a sixteen-barrel well. In November, 1881, their Number 3 was drilled on the CROWE farm, in Forward township. On November 1, 1881, SIMCOX & MYERS began drilling on the HAMIL farm, -having already completed a well near Renfrew,- and on March 20, 1882, struck a 100 barrel producer. Up to December 19, 1883, forty-seven wells were drilled in this field, of which thirty-seven were producing 642 barrels a day. Early in 1882, the MCCALMONT farm of 1,100 acres was purchased by AGNEW & EGBERT for $104,000; the Forest Oil Company purchased a tract from SIMCOX & MYERS; A. SCHEIDEMANTLE completed a well on the WEBER farm in July, 1882; YEAGLE & CAMPBELL, on the SMITH farm in August, 1883, and P. SMITH finished a well about the same time.

The Bald Ridge Oil and Transportation Company was chartered May 24, 1881, the charter being signed by Governor HOYT and Secretary QUAY. The capital stock, $16,000, was divided into 320 shares of fifty dollars each, all of which were held by J. D. MCJUNKIN, John S. CAMPBELL, Ferd REIBER, S. H. PEIRSOL, W. D. BRANDON, W. H. HOFFMAN, W. H. RITTER, R. P. SCOTT, G. W. FLEEGER, John N. PATTERSON, D. A. HECK, H. A. KRUG, Jr., George KRUG, Henry BAUER, Philip BAUER, B. C. HUSELTON, M. REIBER, Sr., Harvey COLBERT, H. EITENMILLER, Jacob REIBER, J. A. HAWK, O. D. THOMPSON, Simon YETTER, H. L. WESTERMANN and W. C. NEELEY, the last named being the holder of fifty shares. In August, 1882, they sold their leases, wells and equipment to PHILLIPS Brothers for $160,000. After this sale the pipe line was extended south from Petrolia to the new field, and the homes of the farmers were invaded by speculators seeking leases of lands. About the same time, SIMCOX & MYERS sold a half interest [p. 283] in their Bald Ridge leases, for $75,000, to the Forest Oil Company and R. JENNINGS & Son.

This field may be said to have been really opened in the summer or fall of 1881 by the SIMCOX & MYERS 100-barrel well and the SCHEIDEMANTLE 600-barrel well. A year later, the first was producing eighteen barrels and the second thirty barrels; the SCHMICK, ten barrels, and Number 6, of the Bald Ridge Oil Company, forty barrels. In December, 1882, the Forest Oil Company completed a sixty-barrel well; the new SCHEIDEMANTLE, on the WEBER farm, was down 1,125 feet; the Forest Oil Company's two new wells were down 1,300 feet each; the Bald Ridge Oil Company had struck a great flow of gas and salt water at a depth of 1,200 feet; Charles SULLIVAN's well was down 1,250 feet; while the PHILLIPS Brothers' well, on the WALLACE farm, northeast of Bald Ridge, was down 1,450.

In March, 1882, John JOHNSON, of Templeton, sold seventy acres at the junction of the Butler Branch and Pittsburg and Western railroads, for $6,000, the purchasers intending to establish a town at that point and drill for oil.

Early in the spring of 1882 the drillers on the STEWART farm, in Winfield township, struck the greatest gas vein discovered in the county down to that date. On the MAHOOD farm and on the W. BROWN farm, wells were drilled in the fall of 1882. The well on the WEBER farm, near Evans City, yielded over 2,000 barrels in the twelve days, ending August 9, 1882, and the field still continued to furnish surprises.

In December, 1883, a company leased 2,000 acres in Cranberry and Adams townships and adjoining counties, south of the Butler line, and, early in 1884, began drilling near the William THIELEMAN saw mill.

After the drilling and operation of the extensive oil belt, reaching from Parker's Landing to St. Joe, south of Millerstown ceased, operations for oil in this county were neglected in a large measure for McKean county, until 1881, when a small well was struck, about six miles southwest of Butler, in Penn township, in what became known as the Bald Ridge field. Thomas W. PHILLIPS, who had operated for and produced oil on an extensive scale in what was known as the Bullion field, in Venango county, as the pioneer of that field, and who did not join in the general exodus to the MCKEAN field, conceived the idea that oil in large quantity would be found near the Bald Ridge well, and, in 1881, began leasing on an extensive scale, southwest of Butler, on Connoquenessing and Thorn creeks. The first wells he drilled were not large, but the character of the wells and the rock in which they were found confirmed his theory that a rich deposit was near, and on August 16, 1884, he was rewarded by striking a well on the BARTLEY farm, which when fully completed, proved to be the largest well found down to that time. It began producing at forty barrels an hour. By deeper drilling it increased to 180 barrels per hour, and as its greatest day's production flowed fully four thousand barrels. This well made a great record as a prolific producer. The striking of this well created a great excitement and led to immediate and extensive operations in this field by Mr. PHILLIPS and others and the total production of the field soon reached 16,000 barrels per day. Special excursion trains were run from Pittsburg and other places to the well.

[p. 284] The SEMPLE, BOYD, and ARMSTRONG, Number 2, on the MARSHALL farm, the greatest gusher recorded in the country, down to 1884, was drilled through the sand, October 25, 1884; but owing to the quantity of salt water present, it made no show of oil. The owners did not expect much from this part of the field so that the flow of water was not disappointing to them. They refused an offer for the well from Mr. PHILLIPS and went right along with their work. When the well was shot, it began flowing at the rate of from 400 to 500 barrels per hour, and, for six hours, the want of faith on the part of the owners was punished by the loss of over 2,400 barrels, which flowed over the ground. It is said that, at one time during that day, it was flowing at least 500 barrels an hour, or 12,000 barrels a day, but there were only saved from the production 7,500 barrels. A safe estimate of one day's production of this great Thorn creek well is from 9,000 to 10,000 barrels. Its decrease was gradual but decided; so that when it fell to the 500-barrel a day level, the men who knew it in its imperial days, began to look upon it as a mere ordinary well scarce worth consideration.

The shooting of the SEMPLE, BOYD, & ARMSTRONG well Number 2, on October 27, 1884, near the brick school-house and the telegraph offices in the Thorn creek field, was a scene worthy of the days of the Irish Druids or of the eastern fire-worshipers. In TAYLOR's oil work for 1884, it is thus described:

When the shot took effect and the barren rock, as if smitten with the rod of Moses, poured forth its torrent of oil, it was such a magnificent and awful spectacle that no painter's brush or poet's pen could do it justice. Men familiar with the wonderful sights of the oil country were struck dumb with astonishment, as they gazed upon the mighty display of Nature's forces. There was no sudden reaction after the torpedo was exploded. A column of water rose eight or ten feet and then fell back again and some time elapsed before the force of the explosion emptied the hole and the burnt glycerine, mud and sand rushed up in the derrick in a black stream; the blackness gradually changed to yellow; then, with a mighty roar, the gas burst forth with a deafening noise; it was like the thunderbolt set free. For a moment the cloud of gas hid the derrick from sight and then, as this cleared away, a solid, golden column, a half foot in diameter, shot from the derrick floor eighty feet through the air till it broke in fragments on its crown pulley and fell in a shower of yellow rain for rods around. For over an hour that grand column of oil, rushing swifter than any torrent and straight as a mountain pine, united derrick, floor and top. In a few minutes the ground was covered several inches deep with petroleum; the branches of the oak trees were like huge yellow plumes, and a stream as large as a man's body rushed down the hill to the road, where it filled the space beneath the small bridge at that place and, continuing down the hill, spread out upon the flats where the JOHNSON well is. In two hours these flats were covered with a flood of oil, the hillside was as if a yellow freshet had passed over it, heavy clouds of gas almost obscuring the derrick, hung low in the woods, and still that mighty rush of oil continued. Some of those who witnessed it, estimated the well to be flowing 500 barrels per hour. Dams were built across the stream, that its production might be estimated; but the dams overflowed and were swept away before they could be completed. People living along Thorn creek packed their household goods and fled to the hillsides; the pump station, one and one-half miles down the creek, had to extinguish its fires that night on account of the gas and all fires around the district were put out. It was literally a flood of oil. It was estimated that the production was 10,000 barrels the first twenty-four hours. The foreman, endeavoring to get the tools into the well, was overcome by gas and fell under the bull-wheels; though rescued immediately and medical aid procured he remained unconscious for two hours. Several men volunteered to undertake the job of shutting in the largest well ever struck in the oil region; the packer for the oil-saver was tied on the [p. 285] bull-wheel shaft, the tools placed over the hole and run in, but the pressure of the solid stream of oil against it, prevented it going lower, even with the suspended weight of the two thousand pound tools. The addition of 1,000 pounds overcame the force, when the cap was fitted, the well closed, the casing connected and the tubing lines laid to the tanks.

The enterprise of the PHILLIPS Brothers in drilling six new wells on the BARTLEY farm and also on the DODDS farm, was noticeable in November, 1884. In the last week of October the Armstrong Number 2, on the MARSHALL farm, which began with a phenomenal production created a furore in oil circles. On November 10th, it was flowing at the rate of 102 barrels an hour, and produced 75,000 barrels within the three weeks ending November 9, 1884. The CHRISTIE Brothers had eight wells; while BOYD & SEMPLE, CONNOR & FISHEL, GREENLEE & Company, GIBSON & Company, FISHER Brothers, BOYD & Company, LAPPE & Company, and smaller operators were engaged in developing the field. By December 1, there were twenty-four wells completed, including three dry ones, on the WALLACE, MARSHALL, BARTLEY, DODDS, HENDERSON, BROWN and WEBER farms, while twenty-nine new wells were commenced on these farms, as well as on the PATTERSON, MCCANDLESS, MCCORMICK, KENNEDY, and adjoining lands. The FISHER Oil Company began operations on the MCJUNKIN farm; C. A. ELIASON on the LIEBLER farm; SHOWALTER & HARTMAN in rear of the Butler Fair grounds, and, in all directions, the Bald Ridge field was extended.

The well on the Williamson BARTLEY farm reached fourth sand, October 11, 1884, and began at forty barrels per hour. On the 13th the drill was answered by a 150-barrel flow, and on the 14th it was yielding 250 barrels an hour, or 6000 a day. Henderson W., C. G., and Thomas G. CHRISTIE were the owners, having leased twenty-eight or thirty acres adjoining the great oil lease of the PHILLIPS Brothers.

The great MCBRIDE well in the Bald Ridge field, was shot December 12, 1884, when a flow of 200 barrels an hour followed the torpedo. A flow of salt water, increasing in force until the stream reached far above the derrick, presaged the coming flow of petroleum, and the telegraph carried the tidings of a new gusher to the great oil markets of the country. Before the close of the month the Producers' Association purchased the leases of MCBRIDE & CAMPBELL, CHRISTIE Brothers and PHILLIPS & SIMPSON.

The "Grandmother," a mile west of Saxonburg, was drilled in 1884 to a depth of 1,768 feet for BOLARD, GREENLEE and SMITH. It became a great gusher and was the foundation of Golden City.

The uncertainties of the oil field were made clear in August 1885, when the once busy towns of Phillips City and McBride City fell into decay and Hooks City, in Parker township, began to boom. In the spring of that year, the HOOKS Brothers drilled a well on the KELLY farm. They did not find sand in the producing rock; but found oil in the boulder rock, which, on being torpedoed, became a 100-barrel well. By the beginning of August, 1885, there were fourteen wells at Hooks City, yielding 500 barrels. The depth to the sand was found to be 1,300 feet, and the cost of a well not more than $2,500. On the DAUBENSPECK, SMITH, R. H. CAMPBELL, and CANNON farms, prospectors were at work. [p. 286] At the close of September, 1885, the OTT farm, east of Millerstown, was the most active place, the WESTERMANN & Company's well being found to be a 100 barrel producer. On the O'BRIEN farm and the Joseph HARTMAN farm, drillers were busy and the Millerstown field was assuming the importance of earlier days. Owen BRADY began developments southeast of Millerstown about this time.

The shooting of the CONNORS & FISHEL well on the MANGEL farm, in the Thorn creek field took place May 17, 1885, but no oil answered the effort. The well was then cased to shut off the salt water, tubing and sucker rods were inserted, and for a few days salt water was pumped. On May 21, oil began to flow at intervals through the casing and shortly after a flow of sixty-five barrels per hour was recorded. It became a thousand-barrel well. The PHILLIPS Number 1, on the BARTLEY farm was yielding, 2,000 barrels a month.

In June, 1885, there were 147 producing wells in the Thorn Creek field, among them being the GREENLEE Number 2 and 4, 105 barrels a day; CONNORS & FISHEL, 120 barrels; MCBRIDE Number 3, 120 barrels; MURPHY Number 5, sixty barrels, MURPHY Number 4, ninety-five barrels; MARKHAM, ninety-two barrels; KELLY & Company's well, thirty-six barrels and MCBRIDE's Number 2, forty-five barrels. The Armstrong Number 1, was still yielding about 1,000 barrels per month, while near Whitestown, a well was drilled to a depth of 1,700 feet, without a show of oil. At the close of July, 1885, the decrease in production of the Thorn Creek field was noticeable, the total being 2,800 barrels a day.

The LEIDECKER well or "Midnight Mystery," reached its most guarded stage September 10, 1885, having been then closely housed for fully twenty-one days. Scouts could not learn whether this new well in the Winfield district was a gusher or dry-hole, but later found it was a small producer. A week later this mystery of Rough run, yielded thirty-five barrels in nineteen minutes, the oil being clear amber of a gravity of fifty-four degrees. Many tracts were leased in the new field and extraordinary prices paid for lands by the PHILLIPS, FISHERS, and other operators.

In November, 1885, a well was drilled in Middlesex township, for Dr. MCCANDLESS, Charles NEELEY, and others-following the example set on the MAHAN farm-which is today a small producer. The Pittsburg Producers' Company's well on the John BALFOUR farm, in Adams township, reached a depth of 1,450 feet, in November, 1885, when an amber oil began to flow. One of the owners forgetting the danger of fire, struck a match and caused an explosion of gas which inflicted severe burns on several visitors.

In 1885, the well on the William MAYER farm in Brady township, was drilled, for John PHILLIPS, to a depth of about 1,400 feet. It was a dry hole, but produced a small supply of gas.

Early in 1886, SIMCOX & MYERS leased a tract of 1,000 acres in Centre township and began drilling a well on the John BYER's farm.

The Extension Oil Company, composed of R. B. TAYLOR, O. K. WALDRON, Loyal S. MCJUNKIN, W. P. ROESSING, J. A. MCMARLIN and others, drilled a well on the W. J. WELSH farm, in Jefferson township, in May, 1886, and found oil to [p. 287] the extent of 100 barrels a day, for a short period, and afterward struck good producers on that farm and others.

Thomas W. PHILLIPS, thinking the belt from Thorn creek would extend nearly east and west, leased a large body of land embracing about fifteen thousand acres extending east to the Armstrong county line, drilled wells to test his theory and was rewarded, after the end of the Thorn creek extension was reached, by finding only small wells. Retaining this body of leases when the Thorn creek, field began to wane, he returned and sought for a southwest extension of this field, and, in August, 1886, struck a well on the CRITCHLOW farm which produced 125 barrels a day, and opened up the Glade Run field. This deposit increased in richness to the southwest, and in 1887 he struck a number of wells producing over 100 barrels per hour. His largest month's production in this field averaged about six thousand barrels per day, and his production that year from this and other fields reached 1,100,000 barrels, notwithstanding half of his production was "shut in" for the last two months of the year. The number of his wells in this field reached 125, and these wells with about 7,500 acres in leases he sold in June, 1890, and then turned his attention to the development of the large body of leases which he retained east of Thorn creek. In that year, in this field, he obtained some fairly paying wells and in January, 1891, struck a well on the FISHER farm, north of Jefferson Centre, which flowed 135 barrels per hour, and after obtaining a number of good wells to the north-east in July, 1892, something over a mile from the FISHER farm well, struck a well on the WOLFE farm, which started flowing at forty barrels an hour and by deeper drilling produced 125 barrels an hour. The following month, he drilled in a well on the BARR farm adjoining, which began flowing at fifty barrels an hour. In June, 1893, he struck a well on the EICHENLAUB farm, near Herman Station-a mile and a half northeast of the wells on the WOLFE and BARR farms,-which produced forty barrels an hour. In this field and in the MCCALMONT-where he owns a tract of 1,000 acres in fee-BROWNSDALE and other fields of this county, he has drilled, since the summer of 1890, and now owns and operates about 100 oil wells, having a very large production and also a number of gas wells.

The Glade Run field may be said to have been opened in 1886, as a southwestern extension of the Thorn Creek field, when the 125-barrel well on the CRITCHLOW farm was completed by Mr. PHILLIPS. Since the acquisition of the field by the Forest Oil Company, in 1890, it has shown its wonderful productiveness, and has become a veritable oil center. Great wells followed the CRITCHLOW, some of which are said to have produced over 100 barrels per hour. It was the most interesting of the new fields of Butler county, at the close of 1886. When the LAPPE well on the BOEHM farm, one-seventh of a mile west of the railroad tunnel, was completed, it was known that there existed at least fifty-seven feet of sand. The wells on the CRITCHLOW, SPITHALER, HEID, MARKEL, Widow CROFT and other farms followed, some of which produced 350 barrels a day.

The phenomena of the REIBOLD field in 1887, occurred on September 14, when the BOEHM well Number 6, was in the sand. About the middle of the afternoon the well yielded ten barrels an hour, when the drill was twenty-four feet in the sand, six barrels of which came from the Hundred Foot. At three o'clock, [p. 288] a flow of 120 barrels an hour was recorded, and at five minutes past three, four feet of screw had been "let out," when the force of the flow lifted the tools, the temper screw striking the beam. At forty minutes past three, the well was yielding 140 barrels an hour. This well is 600 feet west of Number 5, which was producing 85 barrels per hour when Number 6 was commenced. PEIFFER's Number 2, COAST & Company's Number 2, ROOT & JOHNSON's Number 4 and 5, and the PHILLIPS wells were producing then about 9,000 barrels a day, seven-ninths of which represented the yield of the PHILLIPS wells. On the BROWN farm, a mile and a half west of the SLATOR farm, seventy-two feet of sand marked the LEIDECKER well.

The dry hole on the RIOTT farm, near Herman, was drilled in 1886 to a depth of 2,641 feet.

The development of October, 1887, on the Henry LONITZ farm, one and one-half miles west of Saxonburg, was one of the immense surprises of the oil-field. The first well on the farm, completed September 1, 1887, for BOLARD, SMITH, & GREENLEE, yielded at most, sixty barrels per diem. GOLDEN & MCBRIDE's well, completed in October, 1887, which yielded 200 barrels, and then BOLARD, SMITH, & GREENLEE's gusher Number 2, with its 2,500 barrels a day, and a depth of 1,767 feet, came to electrify oil men. By November the 18th it resolved itself into a fifty-barrel well.

The Stage development on the Nancy ADAMS farm, in 1887, was the first extension of the Hundred Foot field up Glade run and the first demonstration of how to handle water wells. The first, known as the great water well, is now being controlled.

The mystery of ALBERT and MORRISON, on H. D. THOMPSON's farm in Centre township, won much attention in June, 1887, when it was learned that, on striking sand, the hole filled up to a depth of about 600 feet with oil. It was a hope well for Centre township.

The principal developments in Butler county in 1892 were confined to Jefferson, Cranberry, Lancaster and Penn townships, the Brownsdale field being opened in the last named township, while the PHILLIPS well, hereafter mentioned, created new hopes. The discovery of oil in this field led many leaseholders to examine their leases, and as nearly the whole field was covered by agreements, it followed that claims had to be introduced into the courts for settlement. In January, 1893, the field yielded 753 barrels every twenty-four hours, the wells being the JOHNSTON, Numbers 1, 2 and 3; Susan ANDERSON, Numbers 1, 2 and 3; Mrs. BLAIR, Numbers 1 and 2; Marsh, Number 1; the CRITCHLOW and the WARNER; HECKERT, S. THOMPSON, William THOMPSON, Numbers 1 and 2; COWAN and Mary COWAN; the BEERS & MCKEE well on the COWAN farm, and other wells, were promising producers.

The SUTTON well, on the HEMPHILL farm at Zelienople, completed in November, 1891, was yielding twenty-five barrels a day. It was considered the index to an extension of that pool. The NIECE well on the CUNNINGHAM farm was a 400-barrel producer.

HENSHAW & Co.'s BARCLAY well, a half mile southwest of the RIPPER farm [p. 289] pool, was yielding forty barrels in November, 1891, being then considered the largest well ever struck in the Muddy Creek field.

The production of the Harmony and Zelienople fields January 20, 1892, was no less than 5,000 barrels a day, with twenty-one strings of tools running and eight new rigs. The O'DONNELL well, five miles southwest of Zelienople; BEGGS' Number 1, on the KNAUFF farm; CUNNINGHAM's, on the Island; PATTERSON's Number 1, on the HORNE farm; MCKINNEY Oil Company's Number 1, on the FANKER farm, and other less pretentious wells, testified to the fact that Butler county could supply new pools at the will of the operators. In what is specifically known as the Harmony field, GOLDEN & Company's Number 3, on the SCHIEVER farm, finished in November, 1891, was making 400 barrels a day early in January, 1892, while their Number 2 showed a record of 250 barrels. The Evans City Oil Company and KENNEDY & Company's wells, on the EICHHOLZ farm, were also fair producers.

In 1893, the GARVIN district, south of Evans City, showed that the enterprise of the driller was not sleeping. In Adams township, on the R. J. CONLY farm, a well, which was abandoned in 1890, was cleaned out for BURK & Company in September, 1893. GIBSON and GAHAGAN's well on the Robert ANDERSON farm, was drilled through the "Hundred-foot" to a lower sand in September, 1893, but without success in either the Third or Fourth sand. A dry hole was found on the WAGNER farm in the Brownsdale field, about the same time; while the wells of T. W. PHILLIPS and the MCCALMONT wells proved to be fair producers. In Washington township, new wells were drilled on the Alexander BELL, R. O. SHIVA, George MEALS and Samuel SHIRA farms. A show of 100 barrels was made by the BELL Brothers' well from ten feet of stray sand. The Forest Oil Company worked an extension of the old Petersville "Hundred-foot" field and engaged also in new enterprises at Mars station. The well of 1892, on the REIBER farm and the RIEBER & BRADNER on the KNAUFF lands, northwest of the THOMPSON farm, were fair producers.

In October, 1893, the Grocer's Oil Company, STEWART & Company, and Matthew BOWERS had fair prospects on the SANDERSON and the CLYMER lands, east of Greece City; while Charles HASLETT drilled on the Jacob SCHIEVER farm, a mile south of Whitestown, with a hope of finding the northern outlet of the "Hundred-foot" field, without success. In the vicinity of Hendersonville, on the E. GOEHRING farm, P. C. FREDERICK struck a fair producer. On the BYERS farm, east of Millerstown, and on the PONTIUS farm, new wells were completed.

The TEBAY well, near North Washington, two miles in advance of developments and in a line with the old field of Byrom Centre, was completed in December and proved a paying one. PURVIANCE & Company's well on the SHORTS farm in Connoquenessing, a half mile from the first well drilled some years ago by the Bald Ridge Company; the new wells on the EICHENLAUB and OERTELL farms at Herman, drilled by the PHILLIPS Company; with the ventures in Concord township and on the William POLHEMUS farm, in Centre township, form strong evidences of the recuperative powers of the Butler field and of the spirit of enterprise which rules her oil men.

The Brownsdale field in the Hundred Foot district is one of the best pro- [p. 290] ducing territories of later years. It takes its name from the hamlet of Brownsdale in Penn township. Many of the leading oil operators in the county were interested in this field, the wells of which continue to maintain a good average production. Its development southeastward and the successful outcome of REIBER & BRADNER's venture in Middlesex township in 1893-94, in what is locally called the Cooperstown field, brought this territory into wide prominence. After a long and continuous effort, under very discouraging conditions, this firm developed a large field on their lease in that township for which it is said they were offered in September, 1894, the sum of $250,000, which they refused. This fact illustrates the bonanza that sometimes falls to the lucky operator and is one of the accidents of the producing business. Scores of operators flocked into this territory and by October, 1894, the quiet village of Cooperstown exhibited the boom and activity of oil towns of bygone years. Operations spread into Adams township, where some fine wells were developed and the most sanguine expectations of operators more than realized.

The well completed January 7, 1894, on the Widow BROWN farm in the Brownsdale field, reached a depth of 2,750 feet, only to prove a dry hole. At 2,675 feet the SPEECHLEY sand of the Venango group, was struck, with a show of oil and gas. A red sand was also explored for the first time in this field.

The deepest producer in the county is the MCJUNKIN-BRANDON well, drilled in January, 1894, on the CAMPBELL heirs farm, in the Brownsdale field, to a depth of 2,005 feet. The drill was in the Fourth sand at that depth and the well was producing about 120 barrels a day. It proved a revelation in the Pennsylvania field.

The FISHER Oil Company's well, Number 8, on the EICHENLAUB farm, the STEICHNER northward, on the LEECH farm, and the FISHER Oil Company's Number 3, on the John SMITH farm, all creations of March, 1894, point out possibilities undreamed of even in 1893. This old company has been a long time in the field, but still finds wells worthy of its enterprise.

The production of crude petroleum in Pennsylvania, including 7,055,000 barrels in the Allegany county (New York) field, from the beginning of the industry down to December 31, 1882, was 216,083,000 barrels of forty-two gallons each. Of this the Butler-Armstrong field gave 84,000 barrels down to the close of 1869 and 39,934,000 barrels down to the close of 1882. The production of this field in 1865 was 1,000 barrels; in 1866, 5,000; in 1867, 8,000; in 1868, 25,000; in 1869, 45,000; in 1870, 900,000; in 1871, 1,100,000; in 1872, 1,700,000; in 1873, 4,400,000; in 1874, 5,200,000; in 1875, 4,650,000; in 1876, 4,700,000; in 1877, 5,500,000; in 1878, 4,500,000; in 1879, 2,800,000; in 1880, 1,700,000; in 1881, 1,400,000 and in 1882, 1,300,000 barrels. The returns of production, given in the Tenth Census, show the total, down to December 31, 1880, at 37,342,978 barrels. The average production of the county, from the beginning of 1883 to the close of 1894, has been 10,000 barrels a day, or about 3,600,000 barrels a year.

The average price of pipe line certificates from 1865 to 1892 is given as follows: In 1865, $6.59; 1866, $3.74; 1867, $2.41; 1868, $3.62; 1869, $5.63; 1870, $3.84; 1871, $4.47; 1872, $3.95; 1873, $1.73; 1874, $1.18; 1875, $1.25; 1876, [p. 291] $2.51; 1877, $2.39; 1878, $1.16; 1879, 88 cents; 1880, 94 1/8 cents; 1881, 85 1/4 cents; 1882, 78 5/8 cents; 1883, $1.06 3/4; 1884, 83 3/4 cents; 1885, 88 1/2 cents; 1886, 71 1/4 cents; 1887, 96 5/8 cents; 1888, 87 cents; 1889, 94 cents; 1890, 86 1/2 cents; 1891, 96 3/4 cents, and 1892, 55 cents. The price of oil in 1893 ranged from 58 cents to 80 cents; while in 1894 it reached a higher point than at any time for four years, with bright prospects for a still further advance.

The Union Pipe Line Company extended their branch from Parker to the Stone House farm in the "Seventies," and thence to Argyle in the fall of 1871, and subsequently to each of the fields in this county. It was afterward known as the "Empire Line."

The Fairview Pipe Line Company was organized in 1872, with Messrs. SATTERFIELD, VANDERGRIFT, TAYLOR and FORMAN, members. A line was built to East Brady and before it merged into the United Pipe Lines Association, built other lines.

The Butler Pipe Line was completed early in January, 1873, from Greece City to the tanks near Parker, and inaugurated by William PARKER. The time for the first run of oil from the wells above Boydstown to the receiving tanks was five hours and thirty-five minutes.

The ALLEN & MCCONNELL Pipe Line, from the GRANT farm to Parker, was completed in February, 1873.

The United Pipe Lines Association, first known as the Fairview Pipe Line, was organized by J. J. VANDERGRIFT and George V. FORMAN and incorporated April 29, 1874. Into it were subsequently merged the Antwerp, Oil City, Clarion, Union or Empire, Conduit, Karns, Grant, Pennsylvania, Relief, the Clarion and McKean Branch of the American Transfer, the Prentiss, the Olean, the Union Oil at Clarendon, the McCalmont, and others.

The first trunk line was placed in 1875 from Carbon Centre, in Butler County, to Brilliant, near Pittsburg, a four-inch pipe being used. The line from Bear creek, in this county, to the first pumping station at HILLIARDS-a six-inch pipe, and that from HILLIARDS to Cleveland-a five inch pipe-making 110.79 miles, followed the construction of the Carbon Centre line. The McKean and Philadelphia, 234.88 miles, with Baltimore branch, 65.80 miles; the Olean and Buffalo, 56 miles; the Olean and New York, 762.01 miles; the Rexford and Bayonne, New Jersey, 283.75 miles; the Morgantown, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, 364.29 miles; the Mellon from Greggs to Linwood, 267 miles, and the United States Pipe Line from Titusville to Athens, 360 miles, constituted the National Transit Company until the new name was adopted.

In the fall of 1885, the National Transit Company offered ten cents per barrel above the market price for Butler county oil. This liberality on the part of the Transit Company was credited to the fact that the Pittsburg Pipe Line Company was taking away the immense product of the Thorn Creek and Bald Ridge fields. From 1873 to 1878, when the Standard people had stern competitors, producers received good prices; but so soon as competition was removed, the price fell.

The United States Pipe Line Company, or Producers' Line, organized in 1892, began the transportation of petroleum through pipes early in 1893. This [p.  292] company was the first to prove the fallacy of the idea that refined oil lost its color when sent through iron pipes in hot weather. Since July, 1893, the company has transported millions of gallons through their iron lines to the seaboard with satisfactory results.

The Producers' and Refiners' Pipe Line Company, organized in 1892, following the organization of the Producers' Oil Company, constructed new lines into the Butler fields in 1892 and 1893, and entered into actual competition with the National Transit Company.

Ike MCBRIDE and Sheriff HOFFMAN, with another operator, built a rig many years ago on Rough run, near the WHITE & Company wells of 1893. At the wrong moment the third party objected to further expenditures, and the venture ended there. Shortly after MCBRIDE started a well in the Bald Ridge field, lost the tools, incurred an expense of about $6,000, and found a six-barrel well; while in sight of the derrick, the great PHILLIPS gusher was subsequently drilled. The WHITE well, on the James CAMPBELL farm, was struck in the Third sand May 9, 1893, when the oil flowed with great force. The territory was previously known as the Hundred-Foot, this being the first Third sand encountered. Many other instances might be adduced of the uncertainties of the oil field and examples given of how a few experts in the business have devoted half a life-time to the exploration of a string of dry holes, others to a chase after new developments, and others-the oil dreamers, to visions of oily oceans waiting to be tapped.

The pumper is by no means the sleepy fellow one would picture him. He is an inventive genius, and possesses some rude sense of music. To make his life endurable, the pumper has made steam his advance guard or picket line; for, with steam, he has arranged a signal for each well in his charge, a signal as true as that given by nature to the infant to notify the mother of its wants. These signals are of several tones and are as familiar to the pumper as are the notes of the caged canaries to their owner. One says "toothache," "toothache," day in and day out, so long as steam is supplied. The strength or feebleness of the song announces to the pumper what is being done in some distant part of the field. Another signal for another well is pitched in some higher or lower key, to sound another word, and thus, as the calls of the cuckoo tell of the meadows in the summer and fall, so do these tell-tale words of steam speak of producing oil fields and watchful pumpers. Prior to the adoption of this system, pumpers had to be as lively as lamp-lighters. Their travels, too, were attended with danger; for it is related that an experienced pumper visited a well near Fairview one night, and, stretching forward his lantern to make observations, fired the escaping gas and this, in turn, fired the tanks, resulting in the destruction of thousands of barrels of oil.

The part taken by the torpedo in oil well operations should not be overlooked. In 1862, Col. E. A. L. ROBERTS conceived the idea and in November, 1864, applied for a patent. On January 2, 1865, ROBERTS attempted to test the torpedo at Titusville, but not until the 21st did Captain MILLS permit him to make a trial. The result confirmed his own opinion of the invention, for the "Ladies' Well," answered by an immense flow of oil and parafine. Later trials were even more satisfactory and the inventor's fortune was assured. When the [p. 293] United States Supreme Court was subsequently asked to confirm his claims, his petition was granted, and in the decision the following particulars relating to the torpedo were contained:

The patent consists of sinking to the bottom of the well, or to that portion of it which passes through the oil-bearing rock, a water-tight flask containing gunpowder or other powerful explosive material, the flask being a little less in diameter than the diameter of the bore, to enable it to slide down easily. This torpedo or flask is so constructed that its contents may be ignited either by caps with a weight falling on them or by fulminating powder placed so that it can be exploded by a movable wire or by electricity, or by any of the known means used for exploding shells, torpedoes or cartridges under water. When the flask has been sunk to the desired position, the well is filled with water, if not already filled, thus making a water tamping and confining the effects of the explosion to the rock in the immediate vicinity of the flask, and leaving other parts of the rock surrounding the well not materially affected. The contents of the flask are then exploded by the means above mentioned, and, as the evidence showed, with the result in most cases of increasing the flow of oil very largely. The theory of the inventor is that petroleum, or oil taken from the well is, before it is removed, contained in seams or crevices, usually in the second or third stratum of sandstone or other rock abounding in the oil regions. These seams or crevices being of different dimensions and irregularly located, a well sunk through the oil-bearing rock may not touch any of them, and thus may obtain no oil, though it may pass very near the crevices; or it may in its passage downward touch only small seams or make small apertures into the neighboring crevices containing oil; in either of which cases the seams or apertures are liable to become clogged by substances in the well or oil. The torpedo breaks through these obstructions and permits the oil to reach the well.

The system of "pooling oil" was observed throughout the various fields in the fall of 1872, the object being to keep crude oil up to a stated price, which would leave a profit to the producers. The well owners designated tanks in which the oil could be stored, and the council kept their agent posted on the quantity ready for shipment. The first lot of oil tanked was shipped on the first order, the payment therefor was lodged to the credit of the owner in a designated bank, and there he could present his certificate and draw the money. At that time oil was selling at $4.50 per barrel. The shut-down of October, 1872, left 4,000 wells idle, and removed from competition with the producer no less than 800,000 barrels of oil in stock and 500,000 barrels of non-production. This movement checked the designs of refiners for the time; but they reorganized and, purchasing a charter from the Pennsylvania Legislature, made a second attempt to control the market. The action of S. D. KARNS, James M. LAMBING and other members of the Producers' Council of the second district, checkmated the refiners again; for, in December, 1872, the Union agreed not to start new wells until March 1, 1873, and to urge the unions in the first and third districts to follow their example.

In the earlier days, before invention, skill and experience had brought the work to its present perfection, the drilling of an oil well was a costly undertaking, sometimes involving an expenditure of upwards of $10,000. CARLL, the well known geologist, gives figures showing the cost to be nearly ten dollars a foot in 1865, and about $5.75 a foot in 1872. These estimates are regarded as excessive, and much above the average cost of wells in the Butler field. The records of 1889 make the following showing: For rigs, about $300 per well; labor drilling [p. 294] about $500; boiler and engine, about $500; pulleys, ropes, etc., about seventy-five dollars; casing and tubing about $400, a total of about $1,775. While many wells in the Butler field have been kept down to the total given, a great number cost in the neighborhood of $2,500, and several exceed the $4,000 mark.

In January, 1873, when the price of oil fell to $2.35, of $2.10 below the current price on November 15, 1872, one of the drillers wrote eight verses on the condition of the market, one of which is as follows:

I've niver known the likes, bedad,
   Since ile was struck before,
That you and all the children had
   Sthamps plenty by the schor.
But now the very divil's to pay,
   Wid workin' men and all,
For ile's increasin' every day
   An shure the price must fall.

There have been only two or three mysteries, in this county, each of them unimportant, so far as the oil market was concerned; but interesting, locally, as novelties in the field. The surprises of the field have, however, compensated for the want of many interesting mysteries, and, better still, taught the geologist and the driller to be careful in expressing opinions. The history of the wells is really a history of accidents; for, in thousands of cases dry holes have been found within a few rods of famous producers, and famous producers have been found here in fields which were not considered worth exploring, until the operators grew tired of other fields. Prophets of decay have been in the field since its beginning, yet oil wells multiply and every day sees some new venture rewarded by production. Butler is not now the field it was in 1877; but it is questionable, if the same prices reigned now as then, her celebrated oil men would not raise the production to the figures of that year. Old operators have faith in the field, and one of them gives, very concisely, the following opinion of the prophets who have expressed their ideas since 1865:

They have been predicting the failure of the supply periodically for twenty-five years. At one time there was a line drawn north of Tidioute, where the oil rock ran to the surface, and a line in Butler county near the south line of the county, where the rock dipped so much that it would be below sea level and would only produce salt water. An estimate was made of the oil that had been taken out and of the amount still remaining in the rock that could be taken out. The production since that time has far exceeded the estimate. Subsequently the great Bradford field, many miles to the north, and Allegheny county, Washington county, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio to the south were opened up. This prediction was as far from the facts as many of the predictions that have been made in recent years in regard to the production of natural gas.

Indeed, it may be said that no man knows the origin of this fluid, no one knows the source of supply or fountain head, and no one can tell but greater oil springs than the "PHILLIPS," or the "Armstrong," may yet respond to the driller's industry in this county, and fields, as bounteous as Petrolia, Karns City and Bald Ridge were, come forward to create new riches and turn the wheels of progress faster.

[End of Chapter 19 - The Butler Oil Field: History of Butler County Pennsylvania, R. C. Brown Co., Publishers, 1895]

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Updated 4 Jul 2001