![]() ![]() ![]() After initially producing a reported 25 barrels per day, production declined 12 to 20 barrels per day. The financial success of the well was questionable. It was totally destroyed, but Drake rebuilt it a month later. The structure caught fire in October 1859. Drake had to borrow $500 to keep drilling, which culminated on August 27. Drake investors in Connecticut became frustrated and decided to pull their financial support in April 1859. Drake placed cast iron pipe down the hole. ![]() As drilling deepened, groundwater was encountered, which caused the walls of the well to collapse. The drilling rate was only three feet per day. Drilling was slow, expensive, and challenging. An engine house and derrick were constructed, and Drake purchased a steam engine, which was used to ram the drill through the soil. The Drake Well is located in northwestern Pennsylvania, Venango County, on the east bank of Oil Creek, which got its name because of natural seeps of the shallow deposits of oil that frequently flowed in the water.ĭrake hired a blacksmith and salt-well driller, William Smith, to help with the drilling. The result was more business ventures in drilling and production, transportation of crude oil from the well to locations where it could be refined, and later marketed to consumers. The Drake Well inspired more people to take the risk to drill for oil, which led to more discoveries and more oil production. “But after five months of financial setbacks and drilling problems, the locals called the well ‘Drake’s Folly.’ To improve his reputation, Connecticut investors addressed their letters to ‘Colonel’ Edwin Drake,” according to AOGHS. The museum proudly houses some of the industry’s most unique collectibles, including Drake’s toothbrush.“Drilling at Oil Creek, Drake pioneered new drilling technologies, including a method of driving an iron pipe down to protect the bore’s integrity,” according to AOGHS. The Drake Well still stands and is now part of the Drake Well Museum. At its peak, the well was producing nearly 400 gallons of oil every twenty-four hours. The next morning, as Drake arrived at the site, he discovered a pool of oil had welled up from his drill. With the help of a local blacksmith and working at a pace of three feet per day, the well reached 69 feet on August 27, 1859. The structure later became known as simply the Drake Well. The people of the town named the first drill “ Drake’s Folly ” in connection with their opinions of Edwin’s work. He changed his strategy to mimic the current salt mining approaches and discovered that iron pipes, what he called “drive pipes,” could be used to break up the shale and reach the oil deposits. His attempts failed when his mine shafts filled with water. Edwin Drake assumed oil could be dug from the ground using ordinary mining techniques. Prior to that time, oil companies collected oil by gathering it from oil seep locations where it welled up naturally through the ground. It is rumored he became part of the oil industry by chance when he met two Seneca Oil Company founders while staying at the same hotel (). The man credited with the invention was an out-of-work railroad conductor named Edwin L. The first modern oil well was built and used in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, over 150 years prior to the Marcellus Shale oil rush. ![]()
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