COAL-OIL IN WEST VIRGINIA. 527 



cessful than the parties last named ; and this same vicinity hns remained one of 

 the most prolific portions of the oil regions of this State. We are at this time 

 unable to give accurately the yearly yield of this region, yet we know that it 

 has been and is still very great. 



In the spring of 1860 Mr. S. D. Karnes leased from Mr. John V. Rathbone 

 an old well which, in former years, had been bored for salt purposes. This 

 well was situated on Kanawha river, in Wirt county, eight miles above the 

 town of Elizabeth, the county seat. In the hands of Mr. Karnes it proved 

 very productive, yielding from fifteen hundred to two thousand gallons daily. 



The oil now commanded a good price in market, and it became manifest 

 that this region (known as Burning Spring, from a gas spring in the neighbor- 

 hood) was certain to reward the labors of operators. The attention of many 

 was immediately turned to this district, and when, in December, 1S60, Mr. J. 

 C. Rathbone bored a well, and pumped from it daily from eight to ten thousand 

 gallons of oil, the excitement became great. There were now three districts 

 producing abundant supplies of petroleum in West Virginia. Men of all 

 classes — mechanics, lawyers, laborers of all kinds — turned their feet in this 

 direction, and soon became actively engaged in the business of procuring and 

 shipping oil. All the land in the immediate vicinity of the working or pro- 

 ducing wells, and much at a distance from them, was leased or purchased by 

 capitalists eager to embark in the business. Buildings in the neighborhood, 

 which had rejoiced in the name of hotel or inn, were speedily crowded to over- 

 flowing ; quiet farm-houses, hitherto only humble and unpretending dwellings, 

 were forced from a quiet obscurity to a bustling notoriety. The farms of J. C 

 and J. V. Rathbone soon became a city of huts. Nothing could be seen but 

 great piles of barrels, derricks, scaffolds, and cisterns ; nothing heard but the 

 puff of the steam-engine, and the click, click, of the drill ! 



The process of boring or drilling is simple. The drill generally nsed is about 

 eighteen inches in length, shaped at the point quite like tlie hand drills com- 

 monly used by quarrymen, and corresponding in size to the well wished to be 

 bored. This is secured to the auger stem, a two-inch round iron bar from 

 fifteen to twenty feet long, weighing, probably, from three to four hundred 

 pounds. This is raised from the rock or bottom of the well twelve to twenty 

 inches, as the case may be, either by the application of steam or lever power, 

 and the fall of the iron from these heights does the drilling. By the steam 

 power the drill will strike from twenty-five to forty times per minute. Poles 

 are attached as the well deepens. 



To those unacquainted the process would seem tedious ; yet drilling or 

 boring in such material as is usually found in West Virginia, from the surface 

 to a depth of four hundred feet, will average, probably, twelve feet per every 

 twenty-four hours. The usual diameter of wells is four inches. 



West Virginia now began to rejoice over her newly developed sources of 

 wealth, and to look forward to a bright future. The "peculiar institution" of 

 Virginia had hitherto excluded many men from her limits. Indeed, so well 

 understood had this fact become, that many of her best men, although not 

 generally opposed to it, regretted the domination of this power here. Yet all 

 no-n indulged the hope that the day was dawning which should see, before its 

 Luon, the wooded hills and neglected valleys of West Virginia doffing their 

 rugged garb, and j^utting on the robes of a thorough and expanded cultivation ; 

 and, as preliminary to this, they hailed with a welcome the coming of those 

 v^'ho, reared and trained in the practice of active and honorable industry, should 

 give their labor and substance to the development of the resources of their 

 State. But these hopes were of short duration. The active efforts of those 

 who had moved to the new field of labor were only well begun when the hos- 

 tile shots were fired upon Fort Sumter. There were heroes sweating and 

 delving in the oil regions as well as elsewhere. 



