L INTRODUCTION IFE is too short to compile a book that would cover the subject fully, hence this work is not a detailed history of the great petroleum development. Nor is it a mere collection of dry facts and figures, set forth to show that the oil business is a pretty big enterprise. But it is a sincere endeavor to print something regarding petroleum, based largely upon personal observation, which may be worth saving from oblivion. The purpose is to give the busy outside world, by anecdote and incident and brief narration, a glimpse of the grandest industry of the ages and of the men chiefly responsible for its origin and growth. Many of the portraits and illustrations, nearly all of them now presented for the first time, will be valuable mementoes of individuals and localities that have passed from mortal sight forever. If the reader shall find that "within is more of relish than of cost" the writer of these "Sketches" will be amply satisfied. BARNSDALL, THEODORE CAIN, COL. JOHN H. 292 FUNK, CAPT. A. B. 40 . 108 GALLOWAY, JOHN. 192 GROUP AT ST. JOE Page Name Page 265 MCMULLEN, JUSTUS C. . . 323 . 274 . 119 NESBITT, GEORGE 161 NOBLE, ORANGE 184 O'DAY, DANIEL. 324 OESTERLIN, DR. CHAS. 225 78 36 271 • 334 208 281 PERSONS, CHARLES E. .204 PHILLIPS, THOMAS W... 54 .100 PHILLIPS, WILLIAM · 320 . 108 54 GROUP AT THORN CREEK. 243 PLACE, JAMES M. 7 317 HAFFEY, COL. J. H. 124 HARLEY, HENRY PRATT, CHARLES . 292 HARLEY, STEPHEN W. .317 PRENTICE, FREDERIC... 101 225 MITCHELL, FOSTER W... 146 VANAUSDALL, JOHN 146 VANDERGRIFT, CAPT. J. J. 274 .317 VANDERGRIFT, T. J. 128 MCCALMONT, S. P. .73 MCCLINTOCK, HOMER 192 MCCRAY, JAMES S. . 292 .247 .339 WATSON, JONATHAN 54 314 WELCH, PHILIP C. · 308 296 WHEELER, J. N. 259 .306 WHITAKER, ALBERT P. . 293 . 131 WHITAKER, WILLIAM S. . 297 76 MCDONOUGH, COL. THOS.. 135 WICKER, CHARLES C. MCKEOWN, JOHN 309 192 237 YOUNG, W. J... 233 237 ZANE, JOHN P. 108 Frontispiece ZEIGLER, COL. JACOB. .319 119 MCKINNEY, J. CURTIS (viii) Petroleum in Ancient Times-Known from an Early Period in the World's History-Mentioned in the Scriptures and by Primitive Writers-Solomon Sustained-Stumbling Upon the Greasy Staple in Various Lands—Incidents and Anec- dotes of Different Sorts and Sizes-Over Asia, Africa and Numerous Indications of Oil on this Continent - Lake of Asphaltum - Petroleum Springs in New York and Penn- sylvania How History is Manufactured-Pioneers Dipping and Utilizing the Precious Fluid-Tombstone Literature- A Pathetic Episode-A Singular Strike-Geology Tries Salt-Water Helping Solve the Problem-Kier's Important Ex- periments - Remarkable Shaft at Tarentum-West Vir- ginia and Ohio to the Front-The Lantern Fiend-What an Old Map Showed-Kentucky Plays Trumps--The Father of Flowing Wells-Sundry Experiences and Ob- CHAPTER IV. A TALE OF TWO STATES. Interesting Petroleum Developments in Kentucky and Tennes- see-The Famous American_Well-A_Boston Company Takes Hold -Providential Escape-Regular Mountain Vendetta-A Sunday Lynching Party-Peculiar Phases of Piety-An Old Woman's Welcome-Warm Recep- tion-Stories of Rustic Simplicity. CHAPTER V. A HOLE IN THE GROUND.. The First Well Drilled for Petroleum-The Men Who Started Oil on Its Triumphant March-Colonel Drake's Opera- tions-Setting History Right -How Titusville was Boomed and a Giant Industry Originated-Modest Beginning of the Grandest Enterprise on Earth - Side Droppings that Throw Light on an Imp rtant Subject. CHAPTER VI. THE WORLD'S LUBRICANT A Glance at a Pretty Settlement-Evans and His Wonderful Well-Heavy Oil at Franklin to Grease all the Wheels in Creation --Origin of a Popular Phrase-Operations on French Creek-Excitement at Fever Heat-Galena and Signal Oil-Works-Rise and Progress of a Great Indus- try-Crumbs Swept Up for General Consumption. CHAPTER VII. THE VALLEY OF PETROLEUM Wonderful Scenes on Oil Creek-Mud and Grease Galore- Rise and Fall of Phenomenal Towns-Schaffer, Pioneer and Petroleum Centre-Fortune's Queer Vagaries-Wells Flowing Thousands of Barrels Sherman, Delamater and Coal-Oil Johnnie"--- From Penury to Wealth and Back-Truthful Recitals that Discount Fairy-Tales. CHAPTER VIII. PITHOLE AND AROUND THERE. The Meteoric City that Dazzled Mankind-From Nothing to Sixteen-Thousand Population in Three Months-First Wells and Fabulous Prices-Noted Organizations-Sham- burg, Red-Hot and Cash-Up-“Spirits" Trying Their Pages Along the Allegheny River from Oil Creek-The First Petro- leum Company's Big Strike-Ruler of President-Fagun- das, Tidioute and Triumph Hill-The Economites-War- ren and Forest-Cherry Grove's Boomshell-The Great Bradford Region-John McKeown's Millions-Richburg Down the Allegheny-Reno, Scrubgrass, Bullion-Clarion District-St. Petersburg, Antwerp, Edenburg-Parker to Greece City-Butler's Rich Pastures-The Cross Belt- Petrolia, Karns, Millerstown-Thorn-Creek Geysers-Mc- Donald Mammoths-Invasion of Washington-West Vir- ginia Plays the Deuce-General Gleanings. CHAPTER XI. FROM THE WELL TO THE LAMP Transporting Crude-Oil by Wagons and Boats-Unfathomable Mud and Swearing Teamsters-Pond Freshets-Estab- lishment of Pipe-Lines—National-Transit Company and Some of Its Officers-Speculation in Certificates - Ex- changes at Prominent Points-The Product that Illumines the World at Various Stages of Progress. CHAPTER XII. THE LITERARY GUILD. Clever Journalists Who have Catered to the People of the Oil Regions-Newspapers and the Men Who Made Them— Cultured Writers, Poets and Authors-Notable Characters Portrayed Briefly-Short Extracts from Many Sources-A Bright Galaxy of Talented Thinkers-Words and Phrases that will Enrich the Language for all Time. CHAPTER XIII. NITRO-GLYCERINE IN THIS. Explosives as Aids to the Production of Oil-The Roberts Tor- pedo Monopoly and Its Leaders-Unprecedented Litiga- tion-Moonlighters at Work-Fatalities from the Deadly Compound-Portraits and Sketches of Victims-Men Blown to Fragments-Strange Escapes-The_Loaded Porker-Stories to Accept or Reject as Impulse Prompts. CHAPTER XIV. THE STANDARD OIL-COMPANY Growth of a Great Corporation-Misunderstood and Misrepre- sented-Improvements in Treating and Transporting Pe- troleum-Why Many Refiners Collapsed-Real Meaning of the Trust-What a Combination of Brains and Capital has Accomplished-Men Who Built Up a Vast Enterprise that has no Equal in the World. CHAPTER XV. JUST ODDS AND ENDS . . How Natural Gas Played Its Part-Fire and Water Much in Evidence-Changes in Methods and Appliances-Desert- ed Towns-Peculiar Coincidences and Fatalities-Rail- road Episodes Reminiscences of Bygone Scenes-Practi- I. LOOKING BACKWARD. PETROLEUM IN ANCIENT TIMES-KNOWN FROM AN EARLY PERIOD IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY-MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES AND BY PRIMITIVE WRITERS-SOLOMON SUSTAINED-STUMBLING UPON THE GREASY STAPLE IN VARIOUS LANDS-INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF DIFFERENT SORTS AND SIZES-OVER ASIA, AFRICA AND EUROPE. "Oil out of the flinty rock."-Deuteronomy xxxii: 13. "Will the Lord be pleased with *** ten thousands of rivers of oil?"-Micah vi: 7. ETROLEUM, a name to conjure with and weave romances around, helps out Solomon's oft-misapplied declaration of "Nothing new under the sun." Possibly it filled no place in domestic economy when the race, if the Darwinian theory passes muster, sported as ring-tailed simians, yet the Scriptures and primitive writers mention the article repeatedly. Many intelligent persons, recalling the tallow-dip and lard-oil lamp of their youth, consider the entire petroleum business of very recent date, whereas its history goes back to remotest antiquity. Naturally they are disappointed to find it, in various aspects, "the same thing over again." Men and women in the prime of life have forgotten the flickering pine-knot, the sputtering candle or the smoky sconce hardly long enough to associate rock-oil with "the brave days of old." This idea of newness the host of fresh industries created by oil operations has tended to deepen in the popular mind. Enjoying the brilliant glow of a modern argand-burner, doublewicked, silk-shaded, onyx-mounted and altogether a genuine luxury, it seems hard to realize that the actual basis of this up-to-date elegance has existed from time immemorial. Of derricks, drilling-tools, tank-cars, refineries and pipelines our ancestors were blissfully ignorant; but petroleum itself, the foundation of the countless paraphernalia of the oil trade of to-day, flourished "ere Noah's flood had space to dry." Although used to a limited extent in crude form for thousands of years, it was reserved for the present age to introduce the grand illuminant to the world generally. After sixty centuries the game of "hide-and |