August 28, 1859, as Mr. Smith and his 

 boys were about to quit for the day, 

 the drill dropped into one of those 

 crevices, common alike in oil and salt 

 borings, a distance of about six inches, 

 making a total depth of the whole well 

 sixty-nine and one-half feet. They 

 withdrew the tools, and all went home 

 till Monday morning. On Sunday 

 afternoon, however, 'Uncle Billy' went 

 down to reconnoiter, and peering in he 

 could see a fluid within eight or ten 

 feet of the surface. He plugged one 

 end of a bit of rain-water spout and let 

 it down with a string, and drew it up 

 filled with petroleum. 



"That night the news reached the 

 village, and Drake when he came down 

 next morning bright and early found 

 the old man and his boys proudly 

 guarding the spot, with several barrels 

 of petroleum standing about. The 

 pump was at once adjusted, and the 

 well commenced producing at the rate 

 of about twenty-five barrels a day. 

 The news spread like a prairie fire, and 

 the village was wild with excitement. 

 The country people round about came 

 pouring in to see the wonderful well. 

 Mr. Watson jumped on a horse and 

 hurried straightway to secure a lease of 

 the spring on the McClmtock farm, 

 near the mouth of the creek. Mr. Bis- 

 sell, who had made arrangements to be 

 informed of the result by telegraph, 

 bought up all the Pennsylvania oil- 

 stock it was possible to get hold of, 

 and four days afterwards was at the 

 well." 



This memorable strike ushered in 

 the petroleum era. It now only re- 

 mained to develop this "bonanza." 

 The condition of things on Oil Creek 

 in 1865 is given as follows: "The sur- 

 face of the whole country was satu- 

 rated with oil from the leaking barrels, 

 the overflow and enormous wastage 

 from the wells before they could be 

 got under control, and from the leak- 

 age and bursting of tanks. The pecu- 

 liar odor of petroleum pervaded every- 

 thing; the air for miles was fairly satu- 

 rated with it; nothing else was thought 

 of; nothing else was talked about. 

 Land was sold at thousands of dol- 

 lars per acre. Fortunes were made 

 and lost in a day. Oil companies with 



high-sounding names were organized 

 almost without number, absorbing mil- 

 lions of money; many companies were 

 formed without the shadow of a basis 

 for operations, and many persons who 

 were as covetous as they were igno- 

 rant, were drawn into the maelstrom of 

 speculative excitement and hopelessly 

 ruined. No parallel in the history of 

 speculation in this country can be 

 found, excepting, perhaps, that which 

 occurred during the 'California gold 

 fever' of 184c." 



The Pennsylvania oil region and the 

 Russian oil region are the two greatest 

 centers of petroleum in the world. 

 The latter has its center at Baku, on 

 the Caspian Sea. The following inter- 

 esting state of affairs at Baku in 1872 

 is given by Major Marsh: 



"The afternoon was devoted to the 

 great natural wonders of Baku, petro- 

 leum and the everlasting fires. At 

 Surakhani the whole country is satu- 

 rated with petroleum; on making a 

 hole in the ground the gas escapes, on 

 lighting which it burns for a very long 

 while, one of the few spots on earth 

 where this phenomenon can be seen. 

 When there is no wind the flame is dull 

 and small, but in a gale it roars and 

 leaps up eight or ten feet. There are 

 two naphtha refining establishments at 

 Surakhani, the furnaces of which are 

 entirely heated by the natural gas, 

 which is collected as it rises out of the 

 ground in an iron tank and led off by 

 pipes. At night the whole place is 

 lighted in the same manner, by ordi- 

 nary gas burners attached to the walls. 

 On returning home in the evening we 

 saw the silent waste, lit up by various 

 fires, each surrounded by a group of 

 wild Tartars cooking their food by its 

 heat. 



"We shall have occasion further on 

 to furnish more particular information 

 respecting the enormous yield of the 

 wells around Baku, and therefore in 

 this connection only incidentally allude 

 to the statement of the geographer, 

 who notices the 'seven hundred oil 

 wells' which have all been drilled, none 

 of which shows any signs of exhaus- 

 tion, and says that 'immense loss is 

 caused by the ignorance of those en- 

 gaged in the trade. Thus a well at 



