BITUMEN, ASPHALTUM, PETROLEUM, ETC. 211 



Jontaire in 1721. Fort Duquesne was built in 1754; the commandant, soon 

 after, in writing* to Montcalm, speaks of observing astonishing wonders 

 about three miles above Fort Venango, where he witnessed a religious cere- 

 mony of the Senecas. The tribe appeared very solemn, the great chief re- 

 cited the conquests and heroism of his ancestors; the surface of the stream 

 was observed to be covered with a thick scum, which at once burst into a 

 complete conflagration. The oil had been gathered and lighted with a torch. 

 At sight of the flames the Indians gave a triumphant shout. 



Lewis Evans, a surveyor employed by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania 

 to take geographical observations, in 1755, published a map which has " pe- 

 troleum" marked thereon, near the mouth of the present Oil creek, on the 

 Allegheny river. 



David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary, who visited the country of the 

 Allegheny river in 1767, speaking of the oil springs, says, " that the Indians 

 would dip off the surface oil, then stir the well, and when the water has set- 

 tled, fill their kettles and purify the oil by boiling." He informs us that it 

 was used by the Indians for toothache, headache, swellings, rheumatism and 

 sprains, was of a brown color and could be used in lamps, and that it burned 

 well. 



Gen. Benj. Lincoln, in 1783, mentions the oil springs on Oil creek, Ponn., 

 and says, "that the soldiers bathed their joints with it and it aftorded re- 

 lief and freed them from rheumatic complaints; also that water impregnated 

 with it operated as a gentle purge." 



The proprietors of the Columbian Magazine, in 1787, published a map of 

 Pennsylvania on which petroleum was marked near the confluence of Oil 

 creek and the Allegheny. Since that time there has been frequent men- 

 tion of Oil creek and the oil of this vicinity, Gideon C. Forsyth, in 1808, 

 first mentions the occurrence of Seneca oil in Ohio, and Dr. S. P. Hildreth 

 in 1809, mentions its occurrence in the Muskingum valley. Gen. Lincoln, 

 in 1783, speaks of a burning spring in Western Virginia, near which certain 

 huntsmen had once camped, who, taking a brand to light them to the spring, a 

 few coals were dropj)ed upon the water and in a moment the water was in a 

 flame, so that they could roast their meat as well as upon a hot flre. 



Bituminous and burning springs were also mentioned by Thomas Jeffer- 

 son and others as occurring on the Great Kanawha. 



Near Scottsville, K3^, in early days, an oil (petroleum) was collected 

 from springs and used for lighting purposes, and the Pittsburgh Gazette, in 

 1828, suggested that the city be lighted with petroleum. 



On Oil creek, Pa., there are found old pits, cribbed in with timber, in 

 which trees of several centuries growth are found, giving evidence of the 

 ancient use of the oil. For many years the entire supply of naptha was 

 obtained from the surface of these oil springs, and as late as 1859 Seneca oil 

 was obtained in this way.* 



"•■■Wm. Buck. 



