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of drilling a well to tap the oil. Drilling was not a new concept, for people had been drilling
saltwater wells in the Titusville area for years. Interestingly, many of these saltwater wells also
produced oil, which the salt drillers considered a nuisance because it contaminated the salt.
Another issue facing the fledgling oil company was the need to hire someone to oversee the
drilling project in Titusville. Eventually, board member Townsend met and hired Edwin L. Drake to
represent Seneca's interests at the Oil Creek site. At the time, Drake was an unemployed rail-road
conductor, but he had two things going for him. First, because he was out of work, he had plenty of
time to devote to the project. Second, Drake had a railroad pass, which allowed him free travel to
Pennsylvania. As a final touch, Townsend gave Drake the rank of honorary colonel, which sounded
considerably more prestigious than just plain mister. With that, Colonel Drake went to Titusville.
By the spring of 1859, Drake employed William A. Smith to be his well driller. Smith, a
blacksmith and an experienced brine-well driller, was known to most everyone as Uncle Billy. He
showed up at the well site in Titusville with his sons as helpers and his daughter as camp cook. One
of the first things Drake and Uncle Billy did was drive a length of hollow steel pipe through the soft
surface soil until it reached bed-rock. If they had not used this pipe, this steel casing, the loose
topsoil would have caved into any hole they tried to drill. (To this day, drillers still begin oilwells
by casing the top of the hole.) Drake and Smith then built the drilling rig, ran the drilling tools
inside the casing, and drilled the rock.
By Saturday, August 26, 1859, Drake and Smith had drilled the hole to a depth of about 69
feet (21 metres). Near the end of the day, Smith noted that the bit suddenly dropped 6 inches (15
centimetres). It was near quitting time, so he shut the operation down, figuring he and the boys
would continue drilling the following Monday. On Sunday, which in those days was a well driller's
holiday, Smith decided to check on the well. He looked into the top of the casing and found the hole
full of oil. Overnight, oil from a formation some 69½ feet (21.2 metres) below the surface had
flowed into the well casing and filled it to the top. The well's being full of oil signaled success. No
one knows for sure how much oil it produced, but it was probably around 800 to 1,200 gallons
(about 3,000 to 4,800 litres) per day, which far outstripped the gallon or two that could be collected
off the ground. Regardless of how much oil the well actually produced, it demonstrated that a
drilled well could yield ample amounts of oil.
As far as we know, Drake's was the first well in the United States drilled for the sole purpose
of finding and producing oil. News of the accomplishment spread rapidly and, because a ready
market existed for refined rock oil, dozens of new rigs sprang up in the area to take advantage of the
demand for it. Saltwater drillers formerly reluctant to drill oilwells changed their bias, and the first
oil boom in the U.S. was underway. Refined rock oil soon became the primary lamp oil. And, as
machines became more common, refined rock oil became a much sought after lubricant. Colonel
Drake's well in Titusville marked the beginning of the petroleum era in the United States.

CALIFORNIA, LATE 1800s

Reports of drilling for oil in Pennsylvania soon reached all parts of the U.S., Canada, and
abroad. Interest in oilwell drilling was particularly high in California, where the population was
rapidly growing. After prospectors found gold at Sutter's Mill in 1849, immigrants flooded into
California. Unlike the northeastern U.S., which had plenty of coal for heating and for firing boilers
and other machinery, California had none. Luckily, many oil and gas seeps, similar to those in
Pennsylvania, occurred in California. Therefore, as word of Drake's successful drilling venture
spread, enterprising Californians applied the technology to their fields. The first successful well was
drilled in 1866. It was 550 feet (168 metres) deep and produced 15 to 20 barrels (about 2 to 3 cubic
metres) a day. It was considered a great success and prompted the drilling of many more wells. Oil
and gas production provided much of California's energy.

THE LUCAS WELL, 1901
Before long, almost everyone in the U.S. came to depend on oil as a plentiful and

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