526 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



the weallli of these regions was developed. It would have been hard to have 

 convinced, six years ago, even the least sceptical on such subjects, that to-day 

 we would have wells right in our midst yielding thousands upon thousands of 

 gallons of oil daily. 



The history of petroleum in America commences in Indian times. The early 

 settlers in this country found the Indians using it for medicines, for paint, and 

 in their religious ceremonies. But whatever may have been the knowledge and 

 uses of petroleum in this country up to the present time, it is now clear that 

 henceforth it must hold a prominent place among the articles of commerce. It 

 must not be supposed that the history of petroleum commences in America. 



As a fuel it is no stranger to the French, to the dwellers on the Caspian, nor 

 to the Norwegians. As an illuminating agent it is fast supplanting the animal 

 and vegetable oils. The lamps of India are fed by it ; the streets of Genoa are 

 illuminated by means of it ; and there is, perhaps, no considerable city, either 

 iu the Old or New World, where the new forms of lamps adapted to the use of 

 kerosene are not found in use. 



Many scientific men have affirmed that the slime with which the artisans at 

 the tower of Babel cemented their structure was composed in part of this same 

 coal-oil. The Avails of Babylon were smeared with it, and the Dead sea, which 

 we are told buries Sodom and Gomorrah, is a basin in which rock-oil is pro- 

 fusely accumulated. 



The Spaniards who discovered Trinidad, we are informed, gazed with amaze- 

 ment upon a lake of pure petroleum. Rock-oil is found in Sicily, and has 

 illuminated its cities. Italy, France, and England, all have had their reservoirs 

 of petroleum. Whether we consider either the abundance of the supply, or the 

 great comfort and benefit derived from the use of petroleum, its recent discovery 

 in this country must be ranked as one of the greatest events of the age. The 

 pumping, barrelling, and refining of it, will require the labor and reward the 

 diligence of multitudes of men, and as an article for light, as well as for various 

 manufacturing purposes, it will ever be in demand. It is well known that 

 Seneca or rock-oil has long been famous for its medical properties ; little, how- 

 ever, did those who used it iu small quantities for this purpose dream of the 

 abundant reservoirs which slumbered so quietly in their subterranean beds. 

 We find that no practical movement was made in search of the native article 

 until as late as the year 1854, when a company, Messrs. Eveleth & Bissell, of 

 New York, organized and made preparations for boring on Oil creek, Venango 

 county, Pennsylvania; still, it was not until 1858 that the borings proved a 

 success. This delay was not owing to a scarcity of oil, as events afterward 

 proved, but rather to a want of energy in pushing the work to completion, 

 probably a lack of confidence in final success. The first well, at the depth of 

 seventy-one feet, developed the oil ; the yield at first was but four hundred 

 gallons, but soon arose to one thousand gallons daily. Enthusiasm now began 

 in earnest, and Titusville, a small town near the well on Oil creek, rose from a 

 long obscurity to great distinction. Meanwhile attention was turned in other 

 directions, and from this epoch we date the history of the 



OIL INTEREST OF WEST VIRGINIA. 



With the oil excitement at its height in Pennsylvania, of course it was not 

 long before the coal-oil business of West Virginia began to teem with busy 

 operations, and enterprising capitalists diligently engaged in collecting the rich 

 stores of petroleum which Avere discovered in her territory. The first operators 

 in West Virginia were J. T. Johnston & Co., from near Pittsburg. These par- 

 ties commenced their operations on Hughes river, Wirt county, in November, 

 1859. They bored a number of wells with varying success. Soon after 

 Messrs. Ilazlet & Co., of Wheeling, began to operate in the vicinity of Petro- 

 leum, (a small tOAV'n and station named from the product of the region,) on the 

 line of the Northwestern Virginia railroad. These gentlemen Avere more sue- 



