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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.

CHAPTER 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 Anec-
dotes of Different Sorts and Sizes-Over Asia, Africa and
Europe.

CHAPTER II. AMERICA ON DECK . .

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
to Explain a Knotty Point.

CHAPTER III. NEARING THE DAWN .
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-
servations at Various Points.

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 Important 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
Hand-The Pleasantville Furore-Facts Surpassing Fic-
tion in the Wild Scramble for the Almighty Dollar.

Pages

I-10

13-22

25-35

37-52

55-74

77-106

109-154

157-170

CHAPTER IX.
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
Lined Up-Over the Canada Border.

A BEE-LINE FOR THE NORTH.

CHAPTER X.

ON THE SOUTHERN TRAIL.
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-
cal Jokers-Sad_Tragedies-Lights and Shadows Inter-
mingle and the Curtain Falls Forever.

.

Pages 173-202

205-256

259-290

293-328

331-352

355-369

371-406

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.
"And the rock poured me out rivers of oil."-Job xxix: 6.

"Will the Lord be pleased with *** ten thousands of rivers of oil?"-Micah vi: 7.
"I have myself seen pitch drawn out of the lake and from water in Zacynthus."-Herodotus.
"The people of Agrigentum save oil in pits and burn it in lamps."-Dioscorides, Vol. 1: p. 99.

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