294 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



1865, in the district of Oil Creek, one of the most productive of the 

 Pennsylvania oil localities, and embracing an area of 3,324 acres. 



Xo. of wells down ..... 480 



No. of wells producing ..... 180 



Average daily yield, bbls. .... 4,325 



No. of wells to be put down .... 542 



The most noticeable aspect of an oil well are a derrick, an engine 

 eouse, and many big tanks, all very brown and oily, and all emitting 

 an odor which, at first repulsive, is afterwards bearable, and at last 

 becomes rather pleasant than otherwise, ll the well is a pumping- 

 well, the rattle of the engine and machinery drowns that charm which, 

 in a flowing well, entrances the ear of the listener, viz : the luscious, 

 spontaneous flow of the oil. An iron pipe trained from the derrick 

 to the tank near by, conducts and delivers the precious product. Out 

 of this pipe with a sound like the " blowing " of a whale, pulsating in 

 greater or lesser volume according to the spasmodic force of the gas 

 below, the brown, rich fluid rushes into tank after tank; plashing the 

 surface of the reservoir into yellow foam, filling the atmosphere with 

 gas that rises and wavers like the heat from a red-hot stove, night 

 and day unceasing, a constant tribute of wealth to its owners. The 

 tankage of the wells varies according to their yield. Some have tank- 

 age for three thousand barrels. As these tanks are filled, the oil is 

 drawn off in barrels and shipped. 



The history of some of the principal wells along Oil Creek is briefly 

 as follows : 



The " Burned" well, was c'ompleted in April, 1861, at a depth of 

 330 feet. On the afternoon of April 17, while the workmen were 

 engaged in tubing, a stream of oil and gas suddenly lifted the tools 

 out of the well and leaped above the derrick in a continuous and sick- 

 ening volume. The engineer put out his fires, and then, with the rest 

 of the hands, fled from the sickening odor that oppressed the air. A 

 crowd collected, some one in which, approaching too near, suddenly 

 ignited the gas, which went off with a terrific explosion, setting fire, 

 of course, to the stream of oil issuing from the well. The conflagration 

 that ensued, and which continued for four days and nights, finally 

 destroyed the well. The lives of several persons were lost. The well 

 has not yielded any since. 



The " Brawley"well, began to flow in the summer of 1861, yielding 

 600 barrels per day. After flowing a year and a half, the yield began 

 to diminish. It speedily ran down to nothing. 



The "Van Slyke" well, "struck oil" in the fall of 1861, at a 

 depth of about 500 feet, and first flowed at the rate of 600 barrels per 

 day. It also <i:).ve out in about a year and a half. 



^The " Big Phillips" well struck oil in October, 1861, at a depth of 

 480 feet. The estimated quantity of the original flow was from 3,000 

 to 4,000 barrels per day. The rush of oil was so overwhelming, that 

 it was several days before the Avell could be tubed ; 40,000 or 50,000 

 barrels of oil were lost in the creek before the workmen finally got 

 control. The well was subsequently (like every other well yielding 

 at this period) not permitted to flow under any thing like full headway, 

 the price of oil being so low as not to pay. The flow began to decrease 



