![]() ![]() Investors consistently agreed on the importance of Titusville and its oil. In one season, he could capture as much as 20 to 30 barrels. One exception in Titusville was Hamilton McClintock, a farmer, who had the lower part of the creek on his property, where he would capture the oil seeping to the surface of the water. For example, Samuel Kier, an important Pennsylvania figure, had tried to set up a refining enterprise in Pittsburgh but was kicked out by people who feared an explosion. Before Drake, others used the then-known methods of drilling for oil, which only caused setbacks and never led to marketable quantities of oil. Prior to Drake striking black gold in Oil Creek near Titusville, other investors had tried profiting from the area, although none as successfully as Drake. Although much older, he was a loving husband who once wrote in a letter to her, "You know my love that I love you better than any and everything on Earth…" Drake was forced to retire from the railways shortly thereafter when he became ill with muscular neuralgia. In 1857, Drake married his second wife, Laura Dowd-16 years his junior. In 1849, he got a job with the New York and New Haven Railroad where he would spend the next eight years. During that time, in 1845, Edwin Drake fell in love with and married Philena Adams, who died during child birth. His family later moved to Vermont, which he left at age 19 and did odd jobs for 11 years. 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.Įdwin Drake was born on Main Greenville, New York. His world-famous well was drilled in Titusville, PA, a small town in Crawford County. 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 industry on its spectacular career…"Įdwin Drake was the first person to strike oil in America. ![]()
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