620 M. L. FULLER— APPALACHIAISr OIL FIELD 



with the object of presenting such a review and prediction that the present 

 paper has been prepared. 



Historical Summary 

 early mention 



There is a romance attached to the Appalachian oil field in the minds 

 of most geologists and oil men that is associated with no other American 

 field. The overwhelming rush of the oil from the ground, the terrific 

 pressure of the escaping gas, the running streams of the dark, oily liquid, 

 and the flaming pools and oil-covered rivers, coming, as the}^ did, at a 

 time before the public mind had been satiated with the new wonders of 

 the telephone, electric light, electric power, X-ray, wireless telegraphy, 

 and the mysteries of radium, created an impression that is still vivid aftei' 

 the lapse of more than half a century. 



The oil seepages near Cuba, Allegany County, New York, appear to 

 have the distinction of- being the first in North America to be mentioned, 

 reference to them being found in a letter of a Franciscan missionary as 

 early as July 19, 1627.^ 



About 1753 an account and map of the oil springs near what is now 

 Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, was published by Peter Kaln, who had visited 

 the region in 1748.^ At this time these springs were almost certainly 

 known to the garrison at Fort Du Quesne (Pittsburgh), as well as to the 

 officers and soldiers of the Colonial and British forces who penetrated the 

 region during the French and Indian War a few years later. The oil and 

 gas springs of West Virginia were also well known before the Revolution, 

 for George Washington preempted in 1775 the ^^burning springs,'^ nine 

 miles below Charleston, on the Kanawha, as a part of the lands granted 

 him by Virginia as recompense for his military services. The Oil Creek 

 springs of Pennsylvania were again mentioned by Gen. Benjamin Lin- 

 coln, who described the use of "Barbados tar" for medicinal purposes by 

 his troops in the Revolution. The medicinal fame of the oil had also 

 spread abroad, being mentioned in German literature in 1789. 



By the beginning of the nineteenth century petroleum had become well 

 known as an antidote for rheumatism, burns, sprains, etcetera, chiefly 

 under the name of Seneca oil, from Seneca Lake, Alleghany County, New 

 York. The oil came from a pool some 18 feet in diameter, from the sur- 

 face of which it was scraped. It was subsequently purified by heating 



-G. Sagard : "Histoire du Canada et Voyage des Missionaires Recollets," 1636. 

 3 "En resa til Norra Amerika." Stockholm, 1753-1761. 



