Edwin drake importance
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Edwin Drake and the Oil Well Drill Pipe
Wikimedia Commons
Edwin Drake
In 1959, Parke Dickey wrote in his article, "The First Oil Well," "No one is likely to question the fact that it was the Drake Well at Titusville which started the [oil] industry on its spectacular career…"
Edwin Drake was the first person to strike oil in America. His world-famous well was drilled in Titusville, PA, a small town in Crawford County. His innovative method of drilling for oil using an iron pipe not only caused a "black gold rush" but also placed him in the books of oil industry history.
Edwin Drake was born on March 29, 1819 in Greenville, New York. His family later moved to Vermont, which he left at age 19 and did odd jobs for 11 years. During that time, in 1845, Edwin Drake fell in love with and married Philena Adams, who died during child birth. In 1849, he got a job with the New York and New Haven Railroad where he would spend the next eight years. In 1857, Drake married his second wife, Laura Dowd—16 years his junior. Although much older, he was a loving husband who once wrote in
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Edwin Drake
Edwin Drake (1819-1880): Drilling for Oil in America
Edwin Laurentine Drake is credited as the first American to drill for oil in the United States and is famous for pioneering a new method for extracting oil from the ground. Following a career in New York railroading, Drake and his family settled in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He purchased stock in the Seneca Oil Company and was hired by the company to investigate the oil seeps on their land. Drake decided to drill in the manner of the salt well drillers using metal pipe to prevent borehole collapse. He purchased a steam engine to drive a percussion drill bit into the ground. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, his well finally struck oil at the depth of 69.5 ft. His oil drilling method is still used today. Edwin Drake spent his final years in the Fountain Hill section of Bethlehem.
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Edwin Drake : An Oil History Story
Pennsylvania Oil and Natural Gas Production
Natural gas production in Pennsylvania reached 6.2 trillion cubic feet last year. This makes it the second-largest natural gas producer in America, only Texas with the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin are before it. In crude oil production, they are a bit further behind running at around two million barrels a year.
If their crude oil production can’t keep up with the Permian Basin, that is just fine. Because without Pennsylvania, there would be no Permian Basin production. There would be no production at all. We have the oil and natural gas industry because of a small town called Titusville, Pennsylvania. An area there that became known as Oil Creek, is where the oil revolution was really born.
Col. Drake, American determination personified
Edwin Drake was not a colonel. He was a retired railroad conductor. He had retired early from the rails due to chronic poor health. In 1858, he was offered $1,000 dollars a year to explore the possibilities of finding a cost-effective method of collecting
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