18 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
two sons, and the outfit. On May 20 the men and tools were at 
the spot selected for the hole. . 
“Delays and tribulations had not retreated from the field. 
In artesian boring it is necessary to drill in rock. Mrs. 
Glasse’s old-time cook-book gained celebrity by starting a re- 
cipe for rabbit pie: ‘First catch your hare.’ The principle 
applies to artesian-drilling: ‘First catch your rock.’ The or- 
dinary rule was to dig a pit or well-hole to the rock and crib 
it with timber. The Smiths dug a few feet, but the hole filled 
with water and caved in persistently. It was a fight to a 
finish between three men and what Stow of Girard—he was 
Barnum’s hot-stuff advance agent—wittily termed ‘the cussed- 
ness of inanimate things.’ The latter won and a council of 
war was summoned, at which Drake recommended driving 
an iron tube through the clay and quicksand to the rock. This 
was effectual. Colonel Drake should have patented the pro- 
cess, which was his exclusive device and decidedly valuable. 
The pipe was driven thirty-six feet to hard-pan and the drill 
started on August 14. The workmen averaged three feet a 
day, resting at night and on Sundays. Indications of oil were 
met as the tools pierced the rock. Everybody figured that the 
well would be down to the Tarentum level in time to celebrate 
Christmas. The company, tired of repeated postponements, 
did not deluge Drake with money. Losing speculations and 
sickness had drained his own meager savings. R. D. Fletcher, 
the well-known Titusville merchant, and Peter Wilson, in- 
dorsed his paper for $600 to tide over the crisis. The tools 
pursued the downward road with the eagerness of a sinner 
headed for perdition, while expectation stood on tiptoe to 
watch the progress of events. 
“On Saturday afternoon, August 28, 1859, the well had 
reached the depth of sixty-nine feet, in a coarse sand. Smith 
and his sons concluded to ‘lay off’? until Monday morning. As 
they were about to quit the drill dropped six inches into a 
crevice, such aS was common in salt-wells. Nothing was 
thought of this circumstance; the tools were drawn out and 
all hands adjourned to Titusville. Mr. Smith went to the 
well on Sunday afternoon to see if it had moved away or 
been purloined during the night. Peering into the hole he 
saw fluid within eight or ten feet. A piece of tin spouting was 
lying outside. He plugged one end of the DON, let it down by 
a string and pulled it up. Muddy water? No! It was filled 
with petroleum! . . That was the proudest hour in 
‘Uncle Billy’ Smith’s forty-seven years’ pilgrimage. Not dar- 
ing to leave the spot, he ran the spout again and again, each 
time bringing it to the surface full of oil. A straggler out for 
a stroll approached, heard the story, sniffed the oil and bore 
the tidings to the village. Darkness was setting in, but the 
Smith boys sprinted to the scene. When Colonel Drake came 
down, bright and early next morning, they and their father 
