While anxiously anticipating a fast-approaching 6-day trip to visit the eastern Pennsylvania stomping grounds of my childhood and early adulthood, this OGJ staffer, now a faithful—and gratefully much warmer—Houstonian transplant, got to thinking about the crucial role that the Keystone State played in the early history of the oil and natural gas industry.
While living in the oil-rich Lone Star State these last 71/2 years, one tends to forget all too easily that oil and natural gas is, after all, being produced outside of Texas.
Granted, Pennsylvania, or PA for short (unabashedly pronounced "pee-ay" by those who reside within the commonwealth's borders), currently boasts only 15 million bbl of proved crude oil reserves and 4,000 b/d of indigenous oil production, most of which comes from stripper wells. These statistics rank PA a respective 24th and 23rd place among its sister states in proved oil reserves and production, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Nevertheless, despite this middle-of-the-road positioning in the US, PA's historical roots run deep beneath the topsoil of what is today's oil and gas industry.
'Crude' beginnings
Pennsylvania is credited as the home of the first commercial oil well to be drilled, near Titusville, Pa., a town on Oil Creek, in 1859. The Drake well, named after "Col." Edwin Drake, the man responsible for the well, was one of the first successful oil wells that was drilled for the sole purpose of finding oil, cited the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) of Ithaca, NY.
Drake—who created the title of "Colonel" only to impress PA locals—gained the financial backing for the well from the then-newly formed Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co., later named Seneca Oil Co., PRI recounted.
"On Aug. 27, 1859, DrakeUdrilled to a depth of 21.18 m (69.5 ft). It was not until the next morning, on Aug. 28, when the driller, "Uncle Billy" Smith, noticed oil floating in the hole they had pulled the drilling tools from the night before," PRI said.
The two men then installed a hand-operated lever pump borrowed from a local kitchen. Production during the first few days was about 25 b/d, dropping off to a steady 10 b/d or so, which remained the well's rate for a year or more.
PRI continued to describe the aftermath of the scene: "Almost overnight, the quiet farming region changed in much the same manner as the gold rush towns of the Wild West.
The flats in the narrow valley of Oil Creek, averaging only around 330 m (about 1,000 ft) wide, were quickly leased, and hastily constructed derricks were erected.
"Towns sprang up out of nowhere with people coming from all over looking to make their fortunes. This once quiet area suddenly became louder than anyone could have imagined, with steam engines and other types of machinery necessary to run the hundreds of wells that sprang up in the valley in the first couple of years.
"And the mud was fast becoming legendary. Horses were the main means of transporting machines and oil in these early days. As soon as a trail became too muddy to travel, the trail was simply widened. Soon, the width of the trails stretched from the stream to the foot of the hills, with the entire area having been transformed into mud. Horses, which were worked beyond exhaustion, would often sink up to their bellies in the stuff."
So important was this original discovery, in fact, that PA went on to become responsible for roughly half of the world's production of oil until the East Texas oil boom of 1901, PRI reported.
History remembered
Yet another early PA oil pioneer, George Bissell, was commemorated last October with the dedication by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission of a state historical roadside marker, erected on the corner of Liberty and South Park St. in South Park, Franklin, Pa.
Bissell's financial backing with his company Pennsylvania Rock Oil was vital to the completion of Drake's well. Years earlier, Bissell also had purchased the Hibbard Farm, the very plot of land that later became the site of the Drake well.
With this new landmark in place, those visiting PA will no doubt be reminded of the significant contributions that the state has given to the oil and gas industry we know today.
I know now that I won't soon forget.
