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ist on North cident s the h was 17 N,. Hef-lenderged.W3*Kath-erse,;lester,:er.3r theday more than Smith could make in his shop.• uuj^-4 ‘Vi*' mm. itu Perrv j. vJook «nn ouiui.* vs“15 i-J5r enough *° buy er lost it all as a partner of a New and ]virs. Arthur S. Beach, propertyYork broker in oil stocks. Ill and jn pjeasantville.J I * I ^ M # ^ BWOut of the hr am-cudgeling mat njju ium5 511oy. ensued came an idea that entitles first silkmS^iSe^hCT^ed°VarIntu^ S^n^nt°ni^ i/the world haU Wooden Tanks Built destitute, he was voted a $1,500go because they liKea iarentum eam„Pi q|ii|man a TifiKvilte rnr- annual pension by the Pennsyl- , t . wand its nearness to Pittsburgn and altribute the 5dea hired to erect vwfe legislature in 1873. He died had managed l° ^were reluctant to leave their friendsre!?^d ^^p Riiiv mad, m his it “from the start. The drilling Samuel Kler of Pittsburgh, who had:’ll try it. method they were using undoubt- been Iw isome= Wmethei bus ness turned to his Butler County farm. They had evoivea an on won......make our edly had originated generations be- ^ th™ b^from the h= lost = wife. She had borne drilling technique which was to berrtunes there.” - « China; the same methods produce^^th the^rine from the h[m £cven chlldren and experl. followed for decadcs to come:It was agreed that his daughter, had ben employed in the «ajly October while enced the rigors of life on Oil They had shown how to produce, IRfVP* m th* Wssfc Vlrima salt V^ells. une miiu canyui _v c*,kr jFk++* i Mt *-%♦ 1 99 Vi m. tifn f* tvi y -*—4. m jA++. ^*41 !♦% n V\11 tl T1P P 2)5% fL 50111 C GEneWOO52Dyears later, wooden tanks to hold the oil. Buy- November 8, 1880.hadmind- He said, “Well, we’ll try it,the world:They had tapped the seemingly randchlldren Are Living boundless oil resources beneathFour years after Uncle Billy re- the Oil Creek basin;Margaret Smith, and her brother, 1800 s in the West Vigima salt well.. wag jn trje UIK;le 0 ,------L— --------- -------------------15-year-old Samuel, would accom- But here was a distinctly new con- defected 'a slowness in rled twice again, hLs second wife of light, heat, power, and lubrlcapany their father. Margaret would tribution. Thilclea, bke the Ate the vat was filling with oil. having died six weeks after the tion.keep house untU her mother and one, was simple. Why not sink. an Hg lighted lamp to go out to marriage. Five grandchildren of 'rhrouohmit that critical pcriotthe rest of the family and the iron pipe to the rock, tnus mak.mg the tank hoU5e to investigate. Ap- Uncle Billy are living In westernhousehold goods could be moved to the hole impervious W encroacnmg Darent]y he forgot, or was unaware Pennsylvania today.Throughout that critical periodof 1859, Uncle Billy had been the strong and skillful right arm ofIne St. r herMrs. Lt, for-epart-Sullt* jsenta-Rep. n, and-Mich) 33emo-e three wmak-Ohio; a, and Qlinois, ocraticwomenWestihanan, Kelly, Sosone, aer dis-nan.inyder, igo to-at thealone, cot seeonethoughtest.irtnU:n% andparently he forgot, or was unaware Pennsylvania today. „ ......Sam was to help his fa- »•««■ 7 ” i of, the inflammable nature of the Uncle Billy visited Titusville in Colonel Drake. ToJaytnside the drive pipe. gases produced with the oil. He 1880, when he was 68 and slightly Andrew Smith is rightfully calledBilJv agreed to throw in” the boy’s Drake hastily set-about procuring jUmpetJ ^ escape the flames that deaf. He told a reporter for The .the driller of the world’s firstwr V ** Wo r\hfain^H rUKt. imn nin^ in ____ ♦____-I rTTi#.. tt*, 11..4 u* s r..i —^11services free of charge.m vy t ■ *Men and women of the oil industry of Pennsylvania will payther with th; drilling, since Uncle operate,-about proc-....^ jumped to escape the names mat ----- ----- ----...... ------- -- , , ,cast iron pipe:in enveIoped htm. ,Tltusvi!le Herald that he rented successful well deliberately drilledDrake and Smith discussed the }on£ J*0111 * He recalled later, A little streak out the farm when he could not for oil.tools needed for the drilling. It was with w^lte oak battering ram of nice a flash of lightning, work it, due to illness. He recalled -decided that Drake would furnish % hand-powered windlass they wen^ to the oil, set everything in a the generosity of men of the Oil uu^uy ua jr......... ^ ^the materials and Smith would $E°ve 3-ie€C, beorock- in no time everything was City Exchange who bad raised grateful tribute to his memory Oct.make the tools in his own black- •Thcn* drilling with steani burned up. including the little house funds to help him avert eviction 18 when they unveil a graniteshoq before setting^out for wmmenced in earnest. By that T „Ted In. His family escaped with from his farA at a sheriffs sale shaft on his grave. It Is in the? time thc summer had worn into only a few their belongings, because of his many unpaid debts. Pape Cemetery at Kannahstown,Three hundred barrels of oil, the Uncle Billy died July 27, 1890, on about eight miles south of the But-derrick, and the tanks were dc- bis farm at the venerable age of ler city line on state route 356.cfmrerl no tt. T5,. tt«r_Trnonnrf tlJfrhWRV. TtTitusville.Pounds Out Tools Smith set to work to pound outAugust.Drill About 3 Feet a DayUnder Uncle Billy's sensitive stTj?ye£' — ---- ■---^ UhUU UliWC +JAJLAJ O WV.ftW»M*wthe tools. They consisted of a drill- guidance, the drill gouged deeper at ing stem—a solid cylinder of steel the rate of about three feet a day about* four feet long, to which was ..... “ ~ ‘ ' —Meanwhile, Cclonel Drake wassd like encountering difficulties in the ad-also a ministrative end of the enterprise. T.^ y _,____ sn__— frost. 78. He undoubtedly long before the Butler-Freeport highway.Drake, returning next morr.ing ba^d become fully cognizant of the is a long-deserved and fitting tnb-from Erie, heard enroute the news j-jch legacy that he and Colonel ute to a great pioneer of the es-of the fire with an unruffled air. j)rake together, although poor sentlal oil industry.W-™-— Ml J —- “ W — — — — — 1 ■ ■that they could transmit a jar” a year to loosen the tools in the hole; a stanttalhadstockholderstions left by th« drilling bit, and Drake finally, to ease^his °wn_fi-an eye socket by which the string of tools was suspended from a cable in a derrick.countryside had been blanketed in June that year by a black frost that had threatened to kill all crops Smith replied it was too blackllB4.U;i2U ftlLUailUil, HAM LAJ AXj'n - _ ^ .$500 from a MeadviUe bank on a . aff..t,.nBy Su cabletool or percusskm SnMSf M ™drilling method, the principles of jT^fehe?1 the^en?^ store •b^TJhcI^BHly. I was fortun-stnmture. ^Power^w«I ^T^^’naJity ^nong the stock- have suited myself better if I structure. p^wer was holders, had mailed Drake a letter, could have bad a man made to^ enclosing a check, ordering him to order/'^ timber called a ^ company bills, and return wKlv.t colonel Drakewalking beam. The cable was con- jTrf—._ t^oyai w coioneinected to the walking beam. Hooked ^ wf** aonarenUv did not ar- Dncle Billy was loyal to Drake to the cable were the drilling tools. rive untii just after Uncle Billy one and appeared to hold the C^micl An entry made by Uncle Billy In saturd ? late In August lad struck In the highest esteem. Samuel, a memorandum book on May 14, the bonanza that was to rank in Smith’s son. remarked one* time 159, shows that the full set of importance far above the California that his father earlier that drilling tools cost Drake $46. Smith *oM rush of tht same period- had been offered $4 a day to takealso made two extra boxes at $2.50, Sources differ on the date, but charge of a blacksmith shop in two «rtm pm at $4 1$ meter fet bte ialoraed opinkm mr* H temten* a permowt place, Hi«THE REVIVALYou Have Been Reading Aboutthe Past 10 DaysIn Our Time ROM. 10-9-1 3iIn Our Town 2 chr. 714InHeartsJOHN 3-16IT’S HERE—See Page 10
Newspaper Details
Titusville Herald
Titusville, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Oct 13, 1952
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Carnegie L.
Pennsylvania, USA 13 May 2021
Other Publications Near Titusville, Pennsylvania
Titusville Petroleum World
Titusville Herald
Titusville Weekly Herald
Titusville Morning Herald
