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The History of the Standard Oil Company, Volume 1, By Ida M.
Tarbell
One of the busiest corners of the globe at the opening of the
year 1872 was a strip of Northwesternennsyl!ania" not o!er fifty
#iles long" $nown the world o!er as the Oil %egions. Twel!e years
beforethis strip of land had been but little better than a
wilderness" its chief inhabitants the lu#ber#en" whoe!ery season
cut great swaths of pri#e!al pine and he#loc$ fro# its hills" and
in the spring floated the#
down the &llegheny %i!er to ittsburgh. It was the disco!ery
and de!elop#ent of a new raw product"petroleu#" which had #ade this
change fro# wilderness to #ar$et'place. This product in 12 years
had notonly peopled a waste place of the earth" it had
re!olutionised the world(s #ethods of illu#ination andadded
#illions upon #illions of dollars to wealth of the )nited
*tates.The belief in the substance as a cure'all increased as ti#e
went on and in !arious parts of the country itwas regularly s$i##ed
fro# the surface of the water as crea# fro# a pan" or soa$ed up by
woollenblan$ets" bottled" and peddled as a #edicine for #an and
beast.
)p to the beginning of the 1+ thcentury no oil see#s to ha!e
been obtained e,cept fro# the surface ofsprings and strea#s. That
it was to be found far below the surface of the earth was
disco!eredindependently at !arious points in -entuc$y" est
/irginia" Ohio and ennsyl!ania by persons drilling for
salt'water to be used in #anufacturing salt.
Naturally the first use #ade of the oil obtained in 0uantities
fro# the salt wells was #edicinal . by the#iddle of the century it
was without doubt the great erican Medicine.*eneca Oil see#s to
ha!e beenthe earliest na#e under which petroleu# appeared in the
3ast. It was followed by a large output -entuc$ypetroleu# sold
under the na#e erican Medicinal Oil. *e!eral hundred thousand
bottles of this oilare said to ha!e been put up in Bur$es!ille"
-entuc$y" and to ha!e been shipped to the 3ast and to3urope. The
point at which the business of bottling petroleu# for #edicine was
carried on #ostsyste#atically and e,tensi!ely was ittsburg. Near
that town" at Tarenti# in &lleghany 4ounty" werelocated salt
wells owned and operated in the forties by *a#uel M. -ier. The oil
which ca#e up with thesalt'water was sufficient to be a nuisance"
and Mr. -ier sought a way to use it. Belie!ing it had curati!e
0ualities he began to bottle it. By 1856 he had wor$ed up this
business until -ier(s etroleu#" or %oc$Oil was sold all o!er the
)nited *tates. The crude petroleu# was put up in eight ounces
bottles wrappedin a circular setting forth in good patent'#edicine
style its !irtues as a cure'all" and gi!ing directionsabout its
use. hile it was ad#itted to be chiefly a lini#ent it was
reco##ended for cholera #orbus" li!erco#plaint" bronchitis and
consu#ption" and the dose prescribed was three teaspoonfuls three
ti#e a day
<hough Mr. -ier see#s to ha!e done a good business in
roc$oil" neither he nor any one else up to thispoint had though it
worth while to see$ petroleu# for its own sa$e. In 185" 9eorge :.
Bissell" a graduateof ;ar#outh 4ollege" in0uired into the origin of
bottle of roc$ oil" and was told that it ca#e fro# oilsprings
located in Northwestern ennsyl!ania.
Bissell see#s to ha!e been i#pressed with co##ercial
possibilities of the oil" for he at once organised a
co#pany" the ennsyl!ania roc$ Oil 4o#pany" the first in the )*"
and leased the lands on which these oilsprings were located. :e
then sent a 0uantity of the oil to rofessor *illi#an of
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ennsyl!ania %oc$ Oil co#pany recei!ed its first notion of
drilling for oil fro# one of those tri!ialincidents which so often
turn the course of hu#an affairs. &s the story goes" Mr.
Bissell was one daywal$ing down Boradway when he halted to rest in
the shade of an awning before a drug store. In thewindow he saw on
a bottle curious label"-ier(s etroleu#" or roc$ oil" it read"
4elebrated for itswonderful curati!e powers. & anural
%e#edy> roduced fro# a well in &llegheny co. a." four
hundred
feet below the earth(s surface" etc. On the label was the
picture of an artesian well. It was fro# this wellthat Mr. -ier got
his Natural %e#edy. The label ga!e hi# the solution of the proble#
of getting oil in0uantities ?it was to bore down into the earth
where it was stored" and pu#p it up.
rofessor *illi#an #ade his report to the ennsyl!ania %oc$'Oil
4o#pany in 1855" but it was not untilthe spring of 1858 that a
representati!e of the organisation" which by this ti#e had changed
hands andwas $nown as the *eneca Oil 4o#pany" was on the ground
with orders to find oil. The #an sent out was as#all stoc$holder in
the co#pany" 3d0in @. ;ra$e" 4olonel ;ra$e as he was called. ;ra$e
had noe,perience to fit hi# for his tas$. & #an forty years of
age" he has spend his life as a cler$" an e,pressagent" and a
railway conductor.
In 185+" Titus!ille was electrified by the news that ;ra$e(s
=olly" as #any of the onloo$ers had co#e to
consider it" had Austified itself. The well was full of oil. The
ne,t day a pu#p was tarted" and 25 barrels ofoil were gathere.
World Energy Resources
By 4harles Brown
The e,ploitation of petroleu#" $nown to #a$ing and used in
certain ways for thousands of years" isbelie!ed to ha!e co##enced
in 1857 in %u#ania. Two years later" in 185+" the first #odern'type
oil wellwas drilled in the )*&" near Titus!ille in ennsyl!ania.
<hough this oil disco!ery set off a wa!e of
e,ploration acti!ity at this ti#e in history" petroleu# did not
ha!e #uch practical use until newtechnologies e!ol!ed to increase
de#and.
The little petroleu# that was being used till then was used
#ostly for heating and lighting and wasobtained fro# naturally
occurring seepages that were readily and easily accessible on the
land surfacewith #inor wor$. Till the end of 18 thcentury"
petroleu# was sought pri#arily to #a$e $erosene to replacewhale oil
pre!iously used in la#ps" but $erosene has recei!ed widespread use
since that ti#e. hat #adepetroleu# one of the #ost sought after
natural resources was the in!ention of the internal
co#bustionengine in the early 1+66s and the subse0uent de!elop#ent
of the auto#obile industry which hasre!olutionised
transportation.
The first of the #aAor oil disco!eries outside the )nited *tates
occurred in Iran in 1+68" with other
disco!eries being #ade in /enenuela C1+22D" Ira0 C1+27D" Bahrain
C1+E2D" -uwait C1+EED" and the first)* offshore well co#pleted in
1+E7. orld petroleu# #ar$ets ha!e rapidly de!eloped since that
ti#e.=igure 2.F.1 shows the interacti!e nature and co#ple,ity of
world petroleu##ar$ets.
Natural gas in the )* and the world has ser!ed as a !ital energy
resource since the 1+76s" but growth hasbeen !ery rapid since the
late eighties because it is en!iron#entally a !ery benign source.
In the earlydays of petroleu# production" natural gas Cwhich often
occurs associated with petroleu#D was burned offCflaredD as a
on'useable byproduct. In so#e areas and countries today" flaring is
still done as an
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engineering conse0uence and for safety. Natural gas beca#e a
pried co##odity with the construction ofthe pipeline networ$ in the
)nited *tates" and then rapidly replaced the town gas which was
being used in#ost )*& cities. ;uring the 25 year period fro#
1+5 to 1+76" natural gas usage in the )*& grew at ana!erage
annual rate of F.5G" and by 1+FF all the states in the )*&"
e,cept &las$a and :awaii" had beenconnected by a networ$ of
pipelines for distribution of natural gas Cat a total cost of about
H17 billion.DThroughout the world" there is currently #ore e#phasis
being put on the use of natural gas as a pri#ary
product than as a waster product.
