Petroleum as a drug
Oil was initially regarded as a strange thing, and then, it was regarded as a commodity in a small range. So, when a large amount of oil was discovered in northwestern Pennsylvania and attracted the attention of the world, people were not unfamiliar with oil. Many early pioneers of Allegheny and its tributary valleys talked in their logs about a thick layer of oil stain floating on the surface of the springs and streams in their area, which would burn violently once ignited. The Indians believed that this kind of thing could cure diseases. With the development of the region, more and more people have heard about these oil springs. Because there are a lot of oil stains on the water surface, some streams eventually have nicknames, such as the "Oil Creek" in northwestern Pennsylvania, the "Old Fritters" in West Virginia or the Canova River. As time goes by, people increasingly believe that this substance can cure all diseases. They regularly scoop the oil from the water in a pan, or soak it in a wool blanket, then squeeze the oil out and put it in a bottle, and sell it along the street as a medicine that can cure humans and animals.
Until the early 19th century, there seemed to be no other extraction method except for extracting oil from springs and streams. The discovery of deep underground oil was independently completed by salt workers drilling wells in different places in different places in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Salt workers often find that a dark green, unpleasant, and identified as well-known "rock oil" are mixed in the brine. The oil and water must be separated to extract the salt from it. Many places also designed reservoirs, which are filled with water until the oil rises to the surface and then let it flow to the stream or the ground. It was quickly discovered that this operation was very dangerous because these oils were flammable. In several places, especially Kentucky, a lot of oil is mixed with salt water, so much so that salt workers have to choose to discard these salt wells . However, when people discovered that the value of the annoying substances that had abandoned salt wells was much greater than the salt water explored by the well diggers, the abandoned salt wells were redeveloped many years later.
At the beginning, the purpose of batch extraction of oil from salt wells is naturally to use it as a drug. Before the mid-19th century, oil was undoubtedly an important drug in the United States. "Come on Sene" seems to be the earliest name for oil when it appeared in the East. Following this is a large number of Kentucky petroleum products sold under the name of "American medical oil." Hundreds of thousands of bottles of medicinal oil are said to be packed in Burksville, Kentucky and shipped to Europe and the East. The most systematic and large-scale area of this bottled oil trade was in the Pittsburgh . In the 1840s, in the town of Tarantum, near Pittsburgh, there were a group of salt wells owned and operated by Samuel M. Gill. These oils mixed with salt water are very troublesome, and Jill has been exploring ways to deal with them. Because he believed that this oil could cure diseases, he began to fill the oil with a bottle. He had been doing this business until 1850, and "Gill Oil/Rock Oil" sold well all over the United States. This oil is 8 oz (Editor's Note: 1 oz is about 28.35 grams) per bottle. It is promoted as a patented drug with good efficacy and is accompanied by a guide to use. Its advantage is that it can treat various diseases. At that time, rock oil was mainly used as a topical application and was recommended for the treatment of early gastrointestinal diseases, liver disease, bronchitis and digestive tract diseases. The prescription dose was three times a day, three teaspoons each time. Between 1848 and 1853, Jill's leaflets were filled with certificates about the efficacy of rock oil and distributed everywhere. Although his rock oil trade was very large, he was not satisfied with the only medical use of oil, and he was more interested in the use of oil as a lubricant and lighting fuel. Before 1850, oil was found to have two of the above-mentioned uses in more than one region. More than one workshop owner in the oil area uses oil in a primitive way to lubricate their machines and illuminate their workshops. However, although oil has these two major uses, it cannot be widely used due to too many impurities of crude oil. Jill is perhaps the first person to try to accept expert advice and explore the possibility of refining oil.In 1849, he sent a bottle of oil to a chemist in Philadelphia who suggested that he distil the oil and ignite it in a lamp. Jill accepted the chemist’s advice. In the 1850s, the "five barrel still" he used to refine crude oil can still be seen in Pittsburgh. The oil produced in its tiny refinery is no longer sold locally.
Although Jill seemed to have done a good thing in the rock oil trade, no one else thought of specializing in oil mining. They simply used the oil coming out of the springs and streams in front of them, or the oil mixed with salt water they drilled out. However, by 1854, a man who took rock oil more seriously appeared. His name was George H. Beasel, a graduate of Dartmouth College. He lived in the South for ten years as a journalist and teacher, preparing to try his luck in the North. At his alma mater, the newest wonder of the laboratory—a bottle of rock oil—was presented to him. The professor said with certainty that if rock oil is used as lighting oil, its effect will be no less than coal, and it will even be better. Bisser was told that the rock oil originated from oil springs, a farm of a logging company in northwestern Pennsylvania called Brewer-Warson United. The large amount of oil produced by these oil springs for a long time is collected regularly and purchased for medicinal purposes, and local workshop owners also use it as lighting fuel and lubricant.
Biser seemed to have thought of the commercial development value of this oil, so he immediately formed a company called "Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company" - the first company in the United States similar to an oil company, and rented out the entire location of these oil springs. Then he sent some oil to Professor Siriman of Yale University and paid him for experiment analysis. Professor Siriman's analysis report has attracted widespread attention after its public release. The report said that the best lighting object ever could be extracted from rock oil, and gas, paraffin, and lubricating oil could be produced. Professor Siriman said: "In short, the raw materials owned by your company only need to be produced with a simple and low-cost processing process to produce extremely high-priced products. It is worth noting that my experiments have proved that almost all original products will not be wasted during the production process. Of course, this is entirely due to a careful guidance process, which makes it the simplest practice in all chemical production processes." See Appendix 1: Professor Siriman's report on oil issues.
Extract oil
Oil is valuable, but how can we extract oil in batches and thus develop the economy in such a remote region? For Biser and his colleagues at the new company, the only way they know about extracting oil is to extract oil directly from the water surface of the oil spring. Is there any other way? There has been a story circulating in the oil area: Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company got its earliest inspiration for drilling oil from an accidental experience. In life, it is often such daily trivial matters that have changed the course of human history. The story goes like this: One day, Beasel walked along Broadway Street and came to a pharmacy to take a break for a while. He saw a bottle in the window with a strange trademark posted, which read, "Gill oil or rock oil, known for its miraculous treatment, a natural drug derived from a well 400 feet underground in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania," and other pictures of the trademark attached to it. It was from this well that Jill obtained his "natural medicine". In the past, thousands of people have seen this trademark because it appears on every flyer and poster of Jill, but it is the first time someone has looked at it with such a "focused look". Just as the bottle of rock oil from Dartmouth Laboratory made Bisser determined to figure out the true value of this strange substance, the trademark led him to find a solution to the bulk extraction of oil—deep into the underground of oil storage and pull it out.
Professor Cilimann made a report to the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company in 1855, but it was not until the spring of 1858 that a representative of the company was ordered to go to the scene to find oil. At this time, the company had changed its owner and was renamed Seneca Petroleum.This representative is a small shareholder of the company named Edwin L. Drake, who calls himself Drake "Colin". Drake has never had any experience related to the oil trade. He was 40 years old at the time and worked as a company employee, express agency and railway ticket seller. His only advantage was his passion and impetus for entrepreneurship. Once he encountered something he was interested in, he had strong tenacity to persevere. Whether Drake was ordered to dig a Zili Well in Titusville is still a mystery, and his admirers claim that the idea of digging a well came from Drake himself. But what is less credible is that none of these smart people, such as Professor Cyriman, Bisir and other shareholders of Pennsylvania Rock Oil, have taken the method to study the problems similar to how to extract "Gill Oil/Rock Oil". At least, Professor Siriman must know that the oil was extracted in different states by digging salt wells. In its report (see Appendix 1), it is indeed stated that the purpose of digging wells is to collect such products. The American Journal of Science, which he was the editor, published an article in 1840, saying that around 1830, when he was digging a well near Burksville, Kentucky for salt, he happened to find a famous oil well. It seems that the most likely thing is that the idea of finding oil at the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company's leased site by digging the self-flowing well has been discussed by shareholders before Drake was instructed to dig the well in Titusville. In any case, it is certain that Drake immediately explained to the boss at the company headquarters the difficulties of obtaining excavators, engine rooms and other tools, while using this time to open up new oil wells, also trying to make the old oil wells generate more profits.
The task in front of Drake is not easy. Titusville, where he was sent, is a small village of loggers located on the banks of Oil Creek, 14 miles from the intersection of the Allegheny River. The main contact with the outside world is to take a stagecoach to Erie Canal , 40 miles away. The place is far away from modern civilization, and the locals are skeptical about the oil industry. In addition, Drake himself knows nothing about the self-flowing well, which has led to huge difficulties in the development of the business and delayed a long time. It was a few months later, and he had to postpone the start of work when Drake successfully obtained the tools, engines and ropes necessary for digging and found a well digger who knew how to operate them. Drake was obsessed with this project, and people called him a lunatic, but it had no effect on him. As soon as the spring of the following year, he borrowed a horse and a trojan and drove more than 100 miles to Tarantum, where Jill was still passing through a salt well, or bottling the oil directly, or refining the oil mixed with salt water. Drake hopes to find a driller in Talentum. He eventually brought back a driller and officially started drilling after months of trials and numerous accidents. One day in late August 1859, Titusville was in full swing. This mouth is called "Drake's Welfare" by many onlookers and the translation note: The original text is "Drake's Folly". The original meaning of "Folly" is "stupid, absurd" and is transliterated here as "welfare", aiming to achieve a humorous effect. In fact, this "Folly" well did bring wealth to Drake. The well proves everything, and the well is full of oil. The oil pumping began the next day, and a total of 25 barrels of oil were drawn out.
The meaning of this well in the local people is unquestionable. They accepted Professor Siriman's statement that there might be oil here a long time ago, and now they know how to extract oil in batches. People from the whole countryside flocked to the ground, and everyone was leasing land frantically. A leatherist from Titusville named William Barnsdale immediately drilled a second well nearby. Barnsdale is a British man and came to the United States as an adult and wanted to make a fortune. He went westward, overcoming obstacles, constantly looking around for opportunities. On the day Drake's well was drilled, Barnsdale knew that the opportunity had finally come! He soon set up a company and started drilling wells. He didn't even have the patience to wait for the arrival of the engine, and directly used manual drilling to drill.A rod made of elastic ash or hickory wood, 12-20 feet long, with one end of the rod fixed to a fulcrum and stirrups at the other end, or fixed to an inclined platform, two to three people hit the rod to drill downwards. As the worker slowly relaxes, the elastic force of the pole will generate enough force to lift the tool several inches. Its operating principle is like the foot pedal of a sewing machine, and the sewing needle moves up and down during operation. The tools rotate in the catheter—an 8-10-inch-wide wooden tube placed in a hole dug by the rock—are secured with a rope to the spring rod, 2-3 feet away from the worker, and the impact was very fast. There is also a sand pump - a 3-inch diameter nozzle that is fixed to a base plate with a hinge, opening inward, and operating the valve with a sliding handle, which is a bit like a syringe - mainly by sucking the cuts into the nozzle when it is quickly pulled out to remove the annoying cuts. Quoted from "History of Petroleum" by McLaurin. Although the drilling process took three months and cost $3,000, it finally proved to be worth the money. On February 1, 1860, Barnsdale began to extract oil, which could produce 25 barrels a day and sold for $18 a barrel. Within five months, the British leather maker sold more than $16,000 in oil.
Jonathan Watson is both a lumberjack and a businessman in the village. He has always believed that once there is oil in the local area, the amount of accumulation must be huge. He partnered with others to establish Brewer Watson United on the leasing ground of Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. Upon hearing about Drake's successful drilling, he ran on his horse, rode along the Oil Creek Valley, and spent the whole day renting the farm. Soon he drilled out of the third local oil well, also using manual drilling method. The well has been mass-produced in March at 60 gallons per minute and is sold at 60 cents per gallon. Within two years, the farm where the third well is located has produced 165,000 barrels of oil.
A 35-year-old man lived several miles downstream of Drake’s well, working on a barren land. He began planning his life at the age of 22, and obtained a farm through his most tenacious efforts - he worked in a timber manufacturing plant to make money, bought a batch of livestock to transport goods to others, and finally obtained a piece of land and accumulated wealth. How did he know that money can be made here? When Drake mined oil, the man was confident and quickly bought a piece of land, then sold it for profit, drilling an oil well with the profit, thus making $70,000. A few years later, the farm he earned ended up becoming an oil field. In 1871, someone invested $1,000,000, but he refused to transfer the land. There, he once mined 200,000 barrels of oil.
A young doctor who has been working hard in this barren land has also discovered the opportunity. He bought 38 acres at a very cheap price by the creek about 6 miles below Drake's oil well and sold half of it to Charles Hyde, a nearby warehouse keeper and lumberjack. They made millions of dollars from the 38 acres of land, and a well in Mapulseid alone made $150,000.
In every farm with piles of stones and every sparsely populated settlement, you can always meet such a type of person. Their ears are only sensitive to the information of Fortune magazine. They are full of courage and energy and dare to invest all their risks in oil. Fortunately, they acted quickly enough, because, as news of discovering oil spread, towns and farms in Ohio, , New York, , Pennsylvania were pouring in ambitious and energetic young people who were eager to seize every opportunity. Those from the eastern region were people who carried huge sums of money and had company management experience. They set up large joint-stock companies, occupying thousands of acres of land, and people drilling oil wells on every rocky path, stream, and even on steep mountains. Correspondingly, oil gushed out like a flood. In many places, pumping oil is not a problem.These wells produced 2,000 barrels, 3,000 barrels of oil per day. Such a huge oil production resulted in the price of oil falling to 10 cents per barrel by the end of 1861, while in January 1860, the price of oil was $20 per barrel.
This is oil, and it comes with unheard of production, and there are all kinds of problems. Drake's mining method is too primitive and must be improved. The refining process is a laboratory process and must be further developed. Communication with the outside world must be guaranteed and the market must be established. Indeed, a complete set of commercial mechanisms must be established to deal with oil discoveries. People everywhere are struggling to find ways to overcome these difficulties, "aware of the urgent need for something" and these problems have not been resolved until then. They even have to consider some very simple and basic issues, such as designing some containers for oil. Although turpentine barrels, syrup barrels, whiskey barrels, and various large and small barrels have been converted into oil barrels, the supply of oil barrels in the United States is still in short supply. At first they tried digging oil pools in the ground, laying wood and cement on it, and then using a box-structured container made of wooden boards to fill the oil, but the effect was still unsatisfactory. A young teacher and farmer from Iowa came to the oil area when he returned to his hometown in Erie County to visit relatives. Under accidental inspiration, he discovered the opportunity to make money, which is to create a container that can store a large amount of oil. Several oil-recovery tycoons listened carefully to his plan and invested in building a test tank. The experiment finally succeeded! Over the months, the teacher bought a lot of wood and hired dozens of workers to work day and night with them. He has been producing these wooden tanks for nearly a decade. Later, due to the emergence of iron fuel tanks that could hold thousands of barrels of oil, replacing wooden fuel tanks that could only hold hundreds of barrels of oil, he turned to oil production and handed over the packing to others. Oil zone entrepreneurs have one common characteristic, that is, they have strong adaptability and can change careers at any time.
Oil transportation
After solving the problem of oil storage, the transportation problem will be faced immediately. There is only one waterway in the area leading to the outside world, and it is a stream that has been called "Oil Creek" for more than a hundred years. The stream is unstable in water levels, and it runs longitudinally through the narrow valley where oil is found, converging with the Allegheny River in what is now known as the Oil City. It is 132 miles away from Pittsburgh and the nearest railway. In addition to the waterway, there are some rugged country roads leading to the railways of Union City, Cowley, Erie and Meadville. However, there is only one road to transport oil to the shores of Oil Creek or to various railways, so the oil can only be put into a barrel and dragged away. The horse gang dedicated to the service seemed to fall from the sky at this time. Farms within a radius of one hundred miles sent their men, horses and carriages to ship oil. Tow for 5-10 miles, the shipping fee is usually $3 per barrel, and sometimes $4, which is not too high. The best routes they can take are narrow and bumpy, and these roads are just exits to the outside world. To go to the oil wells, they had to overcome all obstacles and pass through the major oil fields. For many horse-drawn carriages, these roads are almost inaccessible. The continuous transport teams emerged from these large oil fields one after another. For those visiting the oil area, it was very common to see an oil caravan with more than 100 carriages. These caravans often delay for hours because a wheel or horse is trapped in a dangerous mud pit. Even if it is possible to build a new road bypassing the obstacle, the road has to pass through a certain farmer's field. In fact, there was a constant fighting of guerrilla war between the farmer and the horse gang. These roads are so often unpassable that horse gangs have to open new paths, and sometimes a short gun can stop the carriage from walking the best path. In fact, these horse gang leaders also carried a weapon that almost no farmer dared to face - a terrible, long and heavy black whip called the "black snake". Once anyone's legs are brutal whipped by the "black snake", he will often never dare to fight against the leader of the horse. After receiving the shipping fee of
, the horse gang leaders could be considered a little wealth.An old oil producer said he had hired a horse gang leader to transport oil for nine weeks, when his income was only enough to support himself and his horse. The gang leader slept on the carriage and tied the horses with ropes. He thought, "he should go home and change a clean shirt" and find another place to settle down. In the end, I made a total of $1,900. This story objectively describes the life and income of the Youxi Horse Gang team. Because their role is indispensable to the oil industry, they become grassroots tycoons in the region. Hard work and fighting from time to time are their lifestyles, like the owner of a flat-bottomed boat that once added color to life on the Mississippi River, or the cowboys who are now making life in the prairie colorful. Although notorious, many people also gain opportunities and eventually become rich or important figures in the oil industry. Wesley Chambers, one of the smartest, kindest but weirdest people in the Oil Zone, became famous from the horse gang and finally climbed to the top of society. He failed to succeed in , California, , and finally came to the Youxi area. When he saw the hordes of horse gangs and ships, he said, "My chance has finally come!" He then began to form a transport team and ship oil to Pittsburgh. Not long after, he bought horses and built ships. He has a lot of insight into the situation of the industry. A few years later, he realized that the horse gangs and transport ships would definitely be replaced by oil pipelines and railways. As a result, he took the lead and turned around gorgeously, from operating oil transportation to engaging in oil production.
In addition to horse gangs, the most critical issue in transportation is the oil stream and plunge boats. The current flow of this stream is very unstable. Every summer, the water level is low and it will freeze when winter comes. Sometimes ice piles up into mountains, sometimes rivers flood and rush to both sides. In seasons where water levels are low, shipping conditions can only be provided through artificial storage. There are some privately controlled dams on both sides of the Oil Creek and its tributaries. According to the arrangement, these dams generally discharge floods on a certain day of the week or on a few days (usually on Fridays), when a plunge boat full of oil can drift down. These floods are always roaring and rushing, full of dangers, and sometimes even have catastrophic effects. Where the ships docked, the boatmen stared at the surging floods and aimed at the peaks. Once the peaks passed, they would anchor their boats. The ships rushed into the roaring floods one after another, and the danger of their collision and blocking each other increased. If there is a really rare flood, dozens of ships in the two sides of the shore will often appear in scenes where dozens of accidental ships piled up high on the shore - the broken ships and oil barrels are hopelessly blocked together, soaked in oil, full of the smell of oil. If the ships sail into the river safely, there will be almost no more danger.
The Allegheny River has seen a significant increase in transportation - the fleet consists of a full 1,000 punts and about 30 steamers, as well as at least 4,000 crew members. Just like others who find opportunities in drilling oil wells or forming horse gangs, those who work in shipping are those who see opportunities to make a fortune. The most representative of these is a captain who was forced to come to the north due to war, J.J. Van der Grift. Van der Grift started with a cabin waiter and accumulated extensive experience until he had his own fleet. The war hindered his trade on the Mississippi River, and he converted one of his own ships into gunboats, handed over to General Foot, the Navy General, and then searched for a new stream to engage in shipment. The oil barrels were most urgently needed in the oil zone at that time. He dragged 4,000 empty barrels up the stream and immediately saw some kind of business opportunity for bulk transportation. He was inspired by an oil barge that was being tested carefully and immediately ordered 12 ships, towed the fleet to Oil Creek, purchased oil to load it, and then shipped it to Pittsburgh for sale. This trip alone, he made $70,000.
However, rail transportation soon began to crack down on water transportation. When oil was discovered, the caravans carrying oil could reach three railway lines: the Philadelphia-Ely Railway, the Buffalo-Ely Railway (now the Lakeside Railway, connected to the Central Railway), and the Atlantic-Western Railway connected to the Erie Railway. The Philadelphia-Ely Railway can reach Erie, United City and Cowley. The Buffalo-Ely Railway can lead to Erie.The Atlantic-Western railway can reach Middleville, United City and Cowley. At the beginning, Yili was the most ideal freight point because the road in this direction was the best. The oil transport volume carried by railways in the first year was huge. At the same time, people are building railways as quickly as possible. In early 1863, the railway famous for the Oil Creek Line could already extend from Cowley to Titusville. In this way, the East can be connected through the Philadelphia-Ely Railway and the Atlantic-Western Railway. However, as the Atlantic-Western Railway is building a branch line from Middleville to Franklin , the Oil Creek line has also become the main branch line of the former. In 1865, two branch lines were completed and the oil city could be reached by railway.
Although the railway was built, the problem of transporting oil from the well to the shipping point was still cumbersome, time-consuming and wasteful. The horse gang leader is still a grassroots tycoon in this field, but he has lost his glory. In front of the oil pipeline, the status of the horse gang leader is shaky. Almost since the beginning of the oil industry, people have been discussing the possibility of using pipelines to transport oil. Shortly after the Drake Well started drilling, oilmen began to talk about the most appropriate way to transport oil from the well to the railway is through the pipeline. In many places, oil can be transported by gravity, but when there is no gravity, it is necessary to use an oil pump to press it. The idea was so strong that as early as February 1862, Pennsylvania established a company that transported oil from all over the Oil Creek to either the Creek mouth or any stop on the Philadelphia-Ely Railway. The most important thing the company has ever done seems to be getting a franchise business license. In 1863, at least three short-lived pipelines were completed and put into use. The first is a 2-inch diameter pipe, 3 miles long, that delivers refined oil from the Warren Refinery in Plummer to Warren Pier on the Allegheny River. The most notable thing is a 2.5-mile pipeline that transports crude oil from Tal Farm to the Humboldt refinery in Plummer. Although various pipeline transportation tests have been done, some relying on natural gravity and some relying on oil pump pressure, there are always errors in some places. Sometimes the oil pipe will leak or explode, and sometimes the power of the oil pump is too weak. The continuous migration of oil production centers will also affect those trials that could have been successful. At this moment, a man born in need suddenly appeared, and he was Samuel van Secole. In 1864, Saikole brought some money to the Oil Creek area, hoping to have the opportunity to make more money. He sold a large amount of oil mined in Pitol, which several miles from the shipment point, and he found that all the profits were earned by the horse gang. The tyranny of the horse gang made him angry, but it also inspired his wisdom. He decided to build a pipeline from the oil well to the railway. At the beginning, he was ridiculed and ridiculed, but he was unyielding and persisted stubbornly. Finally, he laid a pipe with a diameter of 2 inches and installed three relay pumps to send oil in. The pipeline was successful in one fell swoop and could transport 80 barrels of oil per hour. The day when the Van Saikole oil pipeline began to transport oil was also the time when the oil industry began to revolution. This pipeline is the most important event in the history of the oil zone since the Drake Well was excavated.
This article is excerpted from "History of Mobil Oil Company", written by Aida Taber, translated by Xiao Huafeng/Fang Fang, said by Guangxi Normal University Press·Xinmin, March 2019.
Source: Pengpai News
