History of Oil Well Drilling

With all the focus on oil in the Middle East and elsewhere overseas, it can be easy to overlook that the idea of drilling for oil was an American one. The first oil wells were drilled over a century before OPEC came into being, and long before anyone worried about dwindling fossil fuels. They've come a long ways since then, but modern platforms started humbly.

Time Frame

Petroleum oil was discovered, but wasn't used much, by the late 1850s. People used whale oil for lamps and other oil-based uses, and it wasn't until a find in Titusville, Pennsylvania, of burnable petroleum that those ideas began to change.

The Colonel

In 1858, "Colonel" Edwin Drake was sent by the Seneca Oil Company to investigate the find in Pennsylvania. In Titusville he found that the reports about the oil seeping from the ground were true, and he began devising a way to extract it for commercial use.

Drilling for Oil

Drake had knowledge of the drilling techniques used for salt mining, and thought something similar could be adapted for oil. Early efforts met with difficulties, but eventually Drake came up with the method of using pipes to surround the drilling tools, preventing the holes from collapsing.

The First "Gusher"

Drake struck oil, though it did not erupt in the violent gushers most people think of. It seeped to the surface, and was eventually brought up with a pump and poured into buckets. Yet despite the lack of drama, Drake's method allowed for the collection of oil from far below the surface.

Start of an Industry

There are reports of similar attempts at drilling for oil elsewhere in the world, but it was Drake's efforts in Pennsylvania that eventually led to the modern oil industry as we know it today.

Famous Ties

The events surrounding the first well were made into a 1954 movie starring Vincent Price. "Born in Freedom: The Story of Colonel Drake" is shown daily in the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, Pennsylvania (see Resources).

Resources

• The Drake Well Museum
• History of the Drake Well