well on the G. W. M'Clintock farm, the Phillips well on the Tarr farm, the Willard well on the H. M'Clintock farm, and the Rouse, Mitchell, and Brown well on the Buchanan farm. This latter well flowed a stream of oil without pumping, equal to one thousand barrels per day. In every direction, new borings were undertaken, and new discoveries of flowing wells were made, almost daily; while other regions of similar geological structure were carefully explored for evidence of their capacity for producing oil. Soon there were oil-wells, -either pumping or flowing,-yielding considerable quantities, in Western Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Canada; and, subsequently, discoveries were made of the existence of petroleum in large quantities in California and in some of the northwestern states. At first, vast quantities of oil flowed into the creek and were wasted, before suitable tanks could be prepared to receive it; but after a while, the flowing wells were fitted with strong tubing and stop-cocks, by means of which the supply was entirely controlled.

As might well be expected, the owners of farms in the oil-regions believed that the fortune of almost unlimited wealth had now smiled upon them, and (says Eaton, in his exhaustive and invaluable work on the subject,) the price of lands throughout its whole extent, from the new well to the Alleghany, immediately rose to a very high figure. Sometimes entire farms were sold, but generally they were leased in quite small lots. The terms of lease were at first easy, the operators giving one-fourth or one-fifth of the oil as a royalty to the owner of the soil. Gradually, the terms became more exacting, until not unfrequently one-half and even five-eighths of the oil was demanded, with the addition of a considerable sum of money as a bonus. Sometimes the proprietor of the soil required the proposed operator to furnish him his share in barrels; that is, not only turning him over a third or a half of the

oil, but furnishing him the barrels to contain it. With this arrangement, it afterwards came about that, as the price of oil fell and the price of barrels advanced, the entire proceeds of some wells would hardly purchase barrels to contain the royalty share pertaining to the owner of the land. The leasing of land for oil purposes amounted, at one time, to a monopoly, in

PROCESS OF BORING FOR PETROLEUM.

some sections of the oil valley. The landholders in many places were men in very moderate circumstances. By great frugality, they had been able to live comfortably, but had no extra means with which to embark in speculations. Sometimes they had neither taste nor energy for this business, or lacked faith in the general result, but were willing that others should embark in the business by sharing the

profits with them. In this state of affairs, shrewd and enterprising men made a business, for a time, of leasing all the lands in certain localities, with no intention of operating themselves, but with the design of sub-leasing to real operators.

In the midst of the excitement occasioned by the prodigious success of the Rouse well, the gas and oil issuing therefrom took fire from some unknown cause, and, as described by an unknown witness, columns of black smoke rolled upward into. the air, the blazing oil leaped heavenward, and, falling over on all sides from the fiery jet, formed a magnificent fountain of liquid fire. The sight was awfully grand, but, sad to relate, involved a most melancholy loss of life, no less than nineteen human beings meeting their death in the flames. The scenes of terror and woe accompanying such a catastrophe can be better imagined than described. Among the victims of this destructive occurrence was Mr. Rouse, one of the proprietors of the well and a very prominent man in the oil region. Mr. Rouse lived for several days after being injured, and, in framing his will, after making certain bequests, left to the county of Warren a handsome sumsubsequently reaching one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in value, to be applied one-half for road purposes and onehalf to the poor of the county.

Other terrible scenes caused by the combustion of the oil and gas in the wells,of natural or accidental origin, though happily not involving loss of life, have occurred from time to time in the oil regions. The phenomenon of the "burning well" has been often described as one of those grand and amazing exhibitions to be found only within the arena of nature's kingdom. Before approaching near enough to see the well, (says an eye witness,) the observer's ears were saluted with a roaring sound similar to that of the Geysers in Iceland, and seemingly due to the rush of gas from the depths below, or from the flame itself as it rises high in the air. The well was of course bored for oil. It had reached a depth of some five hundred

feet, when the immense column of gas rushed up and became ignited from the furnace of the engine. Soon, of course, the derrick, engine-house, and fixtures. were consumed, and the engine itself a wreck. An attempt was made to fill up the pit with earth and extinguish the flames. But this proved a failure, as the pressure of the gas was so great that it rushed through the loose earth in a thousand jets, the result being that a column of flame constantly emerged from the pit equal to its size-about eight feet square; this column rose to a height of from fifty to one hundred feet, varying every few seconds from the minimum to the maximum height. The pillar, rough and jagged in form, and sometimes divided, sent out its tongues of flame in every direction. As it reached its greatest height, the top of the flame leaped off and was extinguished. This was the appearance in daylight. At night, the appearance was awfully grand and imposing. Every three or four seconds, a cloud of dark smoke rolled up with the flames, and, after being swept to its very summit, disappeared. Some visitors computed the height at one hundred and fifty feet. The roaring sound was constant, and almost resembled that of distant thunder. For successive weeks, the well continued to burn, with no apparent diminution in its power, or in the quantity of gas. At one time, the phenomenon assumed a very strange appearance. The atmosphere was somewhat cloudy, and, in addition to the usual ruddy glow, the light appeared to concentrate itself into a bright lance-like figure, about four or five degrees in length, that remained stationary about midway between the horizon and the zenith, where it continued all the evening. Immense destruction of oil and other property, by fire, has, in fact, taken place in almost every part of the petroleum region, from the very first, and in spite of every precaution.

The next large flowing well that was opened was the Empire, in the vicinity of the Funk well, that flowed three thousand barrels of oil per day. The Sherman well

was opened in April, 1862, then the Noble and Delameter well in May, 1863. This celebrated well was commenced in 1860, and was bored to the depth of one hundred and sixty-seven feet, and then abandoned. Mr. Noble went further down the creek and became interested in other wells on the Tarr farm, but in the spring of 1863 he re-commenced the work on his old well, and went down to the depth of four hundred and seventy-one feet, without, however, any indications of oil. At that depth he concluded to tube and pump, abandoning the idea of obtaining a flowing well, but, to the great astonishment of himself and every one else, after pumping a very short time, suddenly the great Noble well commenced to flow. Long before the opening of this well, petroleum had become so plenty that most of the pumping wells were abandoned. Every person wanted a flowing well.

The discovery of a method of refining the crude oil is said to be due to Mr. Samuel M. Kier, of Pittsburg. Mr. W. H. Abbott, of Titusville, erected the first large refinery at Titusville, which was before the days of railroads in that region. The heavy iron castings and machinery were brought in wagons from Union Mills and Franklin, through mud that was axle-deep. Parties interested with him became disheartened, and would have abandoned the enterprise had it not been for the energy of Mr. Abbott, who finally succeeded in completing his building. But the really great pioneers in the introduction of petroleum in large quantities, were Brewer, Watson & Co., whose enterprise was so determined and untiring, that they expended nearly eight hundred thousand dollars in cash for barrels alone, before they realized one cent of profit. All they required was the actual cost of the barrel. They however ultimately reaped a rich harvest from their arduous efforts in this new field of business, and were handsomely repaid for the hardships and trials through which they had passed. During the summer of 1861, Samuel Downer, of Boston, established a branch of his works and com

menced the refining of oil at Corry, giving his entire attention to the business, and during that year his refinery absorbed nearly all of the oil product. George M. Mowbray, agent for Scheifflin & Co., of New York, made the first extensive purchase of petroleum for shipment. Messrs. Drake, Watson, Brewer, Kier, Abbott, Mowbray, Downer, the firm of Brewer, Watson & Co., and others, exerted their utmost endeavors to acquaint the public with the value of the article, and to create a demand equal to the supply; but before this could be accomplished, oil at the yells was offered for sale at prices ranging from ten to fifty cents a barrel.

In consequence of the abundant supply of the oil, its cheapness, and the continued small demand, the entire oil regions of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio became, for a while, almost wholly deserted, and the then so-called "oil bubble" exploded. Most of those who had taken leases and had opened wells, now removed the tubing, sold their engines, tools, etc., and retired from the oil trade disgusted with their enterprise, and, no doubt, much displeased with themselves, returned to their deserted homes to be ridiculed by the knowing ones, who "always said the undertaking would prove a failure."

Much time, however, did not elapse before a new demand for petroleum was created, and once more thousands poured into the oil regions, and ultimately the use of petroleum became almost universal, as a cheap and excellent oil for burning. So vast did the business now become, that, from the third of March, 1865, to the close of that year, the quantity of crude petroleum produced in the Venango county region was 1,020,126 barrels; in western Virginia, 13,666; in Ohio, 10,676; in Kentucky, 2,405. The trade involved in this immense production became the most important business of several cities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, affording employment and support for tens of thousands of people.

An immense export trade soon began, amounting, in 1863, to 252,000 tons'

weight, or 28,000,000 gallons, valued at $12,000,000, and employing no less than 252 vessels of one thousand tons burden. Of course, many hitherto comparatively poor persons became millionaires all of a sudden, and of these, "some were wise and some foolish," in the use of their wealth.

An illustration of the latter class was that of a widow, whose farm proved to be one of the earliest and best for the production of oil, in the whole county of Venango, several wells with products ranging from two hundred to twenty-five hundred barrels per day being struck at intervals, and the income in money from the territory proving almost fabulous in amount. The old lady did not live long to enjoy her good fortune, and, dying, left her great property, without any reservation, to her adopted son John, then about twenty years old. This youth,-like the hero of that well-known novel, "Half a Million of Money," who came suddenly into possession of a like sum,-had not been taught to understand the value of dollars and cents; and, unlike that character, he had

Of

no refined tastes, and threw his wealth away with the most lavish folly. course he rushed to New York; and there, in only a year and a half, he squandered two millions of dollars. Presumably the most ingenious extravagance was necessary to accomplish this enormous result. "Johnny," as his associates called him, not only entered into every species of debauchery, not only lost a hundred thousand dollars in two nights at faro, but bought superb teams and gave them away after an hour's ownership, supported a swarm of human leeches of both sexes, and even equipped a negro-minstrel troupe, presenting each member with a costly diamond ring and pin. By-and-by, however, Johnny's brilliant career came to a close, and, oddly enough, he was glad at last to fill the position of door-keeper to the trav eling minstrel company which his own munificence had organized, his farm on Oil Creek having been disposed of at public sale, for arrears due the government.

Time and space would indeed fail to adequately record the doings of those sham