TITUSVILLE, PA
The world's first
purposefully drilled oil well was the Edwin Drake # 1 well, drilled in August
1859 by an agent of the Seneca Oil Company, Edwin L. Drake. The Drake
Well is located along Oil Creek, on the southeastern side of the town of
Titusville in Venango County, northwestern Pennsylvania.
The well struck oil at 69˝
feet below ground surface. The discovery started the world's first oil
boom, beginning an industry that literally changed the course of human
civilization forever. This was followed by the oil & gas boom of
northwestern Ohio in the 1880s and 1890s. The next oil boom after that
was in Texas.
Drake's well produced two
thousand barrels of oil in its first year. Within a decade, almost 1200
oil-producing wells had been drilled in the Venango Oil District. Natural
oil seeps occur along Oil Creek - these have been known since pre-Columbian
time. Hundreds of wood-cribbed pits, used to exploit oil, occur in the
Oil Creek Valley, some dated to the early 1400s A.D.
Drake Well House (reconstruction), on site
of the original oil well, now part of the Drake Well Museum grounds.
The producing oil wells along
Oil Creek are considered “shallow”. Geologically, shallow wells in this
area are those not penetrating below the Middle Devonian-Upper Devonian
boundary. Shallow oil in the Drake Well area is produced from several
shale-encased sandstone bodies in the lower Riceville Formation and the Venango
Group (both Upper Devonian).
Early 1800s Wooden Spring
Pole “Drilling Rig” (reconstruction) on display at Drake Well Museum. Such things
were used to drill salt wells, and were capable of drilling three feet per day.
Mostly synthesized from
Drake Well Museum info.