Our Oil Wells

 The Marietta Intelligencer, February 13, 1861

We are now on the verge of a very interesting period in the progress of these wells. A great number of them are just at this time arriving at a depth at which oil is anxiously looked for and sanguinely expected. In fact, for the last two weeks, it has been no new thing to hear that someone had struck, as he thought, a paying vein; or at least, an additional one of more or less consequence. A few weeks, or a few months, at farthest, will determine whether the valley is rich with this latent treasure, or whether there is only occasionally an isolated spot of wealth. Many of the inhabitants flatter themselves that we have already passed the point of indecision in that matter. 

It is rather amusing to strangers passing along the valley to have almost constantly in view, shelters of boards about the wells, popularly called "shanties." In some places there is quite a village of them. There are, also, derricks over nearly all of the wells. These are usually made of four poles, twenty-five or thirty feet long, raised in such a manner as to very much resemble the corners of a pyramid. At the top of these poles, a pulley is attached, over which a rope is drawn and fastened to a windlass down in the shanty, by which means the drilling apparatus is hoisted from the well. These derricks present rather a novel and somewhat imposing appearance.

There are constantly persons about negotiating for sites. One would have thought that nearly all the bottoms had been let long ago. Not so, however; many of them are yet in the hands of the owners, though every nook and corner will be looked into, as the prospect becomes more favorable. 

The well usually known as "Dutton's Well," situated in Aurelius Township, one mile below Macksburg, is thought to be seriously jeopardized by the rather close proximity of two or three other institutions of the kind. The former partners, however, made a good thing of it, and some of the present ones have made in it a rich investment. A good looking engine has just been set at pumping, and a very commodious building has just been erected over the whole affair; the aggregate cost of both being, perhaps, not far from $1,500. The well has been called a "hundred barrel well." That it has produced one hundred barrels in twenty-four hours, I do not doubt, but it has fallen very far short of averaging that amount. I think that a careful calculation would show an average of about twenty-five barrels per day, from the commencement. But this at the present price of oil would have brought the snug little sum of say $35,000 and that too, in a period of about 90 or 100 days.

A few weeks ago a vein was struck some fifteen feet from the "Dutton's Well," which was thought to be a fine thing. There has, however, as yet, been no great quantity of oil taken from it. They are setting up steam works to pump it and have bored it deeper. It is owned by Dudley McKee & Caldwell of Noble County.

On the opposite side of the "Dutton Well," and but a few yards from it, are two wells owned by a company in Erie County, Pennsylvania, the affairs of which are conducted mainly by Mr. J. B. Smith of the Company. It was thought that he would make a rich "haul" from one of his wells. It poured forth for a time an exceedingly rich stream of oil. Mr. Smith, I understand, expects to procure in a short time, steam works for his wells.

So there will then be three engines almost as near each other as they can be constructed. It is not unlikely that one company will ultimately own all these wells. The net profits of them would then be much greater than when worked by so much machinery. Such, however, will not probably be the case until their aggregate proceeds shall not much exceed the proceeds of a single well if run alone.

Ruralist

 

Pleasant Trip to Newport

 The Daily Register, November 22, 1904

Enjoyed by the Register Man and His Friends - Thriving Village Destined to Grow and Flourish Steadily for Years.

One of the most thriving little towns of the county and, in fact, in this part of the Ohio valley, is Newport up the Ohio. The location is an admirable one, well adapted to a much larger town than now exists. Its people are a cultured class, enterprising, loyal to home, sociable to a large degree, and most of them descendants of pioneer families. 

While a good many of the homes and buildings are of recent erection, there still remain in the old town the buildings put up by the pioneers of that county, the Greens, Greenwoods and others. Those structures were well built. They are large in size, colonial in architecture, high ceilings, broad verandas and in every way comfortable and attractive to those who are cramped up in the modern house of the present. 

It was our pleasure and privilege on the last Sunday to drive up the beautiful valley from this city to Newport. The country is covered with the rust of autumn, and more burnt and dry by reason of lack of rain since July, except perhaps a light sprinkle. We drove because there was no trolley. There ought to be one built to and through Newport on to Matamoras. We know of no section better adapted to such an improvement, none more deserving of such and none to which a line would be more advantageous. We are told that the delay in building the line is due to the fact that quite a number of large owners between Marietta and Newport refuse to grant the right of way through their farms. They have not yet realized that they are standing in their own way, and it may be some time before they realize this to be true. While it may seem like considerable of a sacrifice to them to give up a strip of land, there is no doubting the statement that an electric line would be a great benefit to them in many ways and would also enhance the value of their farms. But they must live and learn as regards this. We believe with the proper encouragement on the part of land owners, a line would be constructed without delay. If not by one man or set of men by another. There are many people looking about for suitable routes for electric lines, and why not make it possible to have one to Newport?

We have gone our way, accompanied by neighbors, and at 11:30 we find ourselves in the yard of Junius Greenwood, and that gentleman is taking our horses to a good dinner. We approach the house where the estimable wife greets us and the odor of a well cooked country dinner meets the nostrils of a hungry four. The big house, remodeled to an extent, the old oven in the open fire place, the cheese cupboard and other things that we believe we would have left in, were gone, the rooms furnished with the tidy things and comfortable furniture, the old open fire place still there, but instead of the red oak logs the natural gas log has supplanted it and there is no more carrying of the cord wood. There is nothing more needed regarding the dinner to which we were invited to partake than that it was a regular Greenwood dinner. That's all; that's enough. There was nothing lacking.

The afternoon was spent about the village meeting old acquaintances and talking about Newport and her future. She has a bright future and oil is at the bottom of it. Aside from the fine farms that surround the town the oil development is the thing that will make the mare go. Newport is the center of a very important production. Recent developments have made it very attractive and it looks now like a second Belmont field, than which none more is important for a series of years existed, is to be opened just below the town. In fact, it is now up to the operators to define the direction the streak runs and see to what width it exists.

The Berea pool, which has been developing for a year or two, has now taken on new life and on the hill tops and in the valley may be seen the numerous new rigs, the wells drilling, pumping or flowing. The "find" of the field to date is the James Morrison & Co. well on the Friedel, which is about ten days old and still doing in the neighborhood of 300 barrels each twenty-four hours. This lease is attracting the fraternity far and wide, and there is promised during the coming weeks more wells of the like importance, the development of a great oil field and the enriching of many men, providing they get in line. 

The Snakards of this city are considerably interested in this Friedel lease. Joe takes his good fortune with the smile that is always his, whether in luck or disappointment, and we are glad to see the smile of good fortune on his countenance. Jimmie Morrison and D. C. Stewart are also interested. The former is a fixture in Newport. He found a fine wife there and is nicely settled in the village. Jimmie is one of those popular Democrats and is the only one of his political faith to hold office in the township and is the Treasurer. You wouldn't take him for a Democrat to look at him, neither would you take Dave Stewart for a Democrat. Davis is on the gold standard, all right. Look at his teeth for proof.

The people of Newport are to have the Marietta telephone line ere long. There are thirty-five subscribers to the new system and the poles are on the ground, ready to be set, after which the wire will be strung. This addition will give the people the advantage of having phones in their houses. As it is now, they have but the Central station, which is inconvenient at times, to say the least. The new system will hardly be ready for the people to be thankful for it on Thursday, but will certainly come as a welcome adjunct about Christmas time. It can't come too soon for the good people of Newport.

We are glad we went to Newport. We renewed some old acquaintances and saw many things of interest. Newport is a coming town. It will double in size in the next three years. Mark the prediction and if it gets the trolley, as it deserves to, it will just keep on growing. The visit to the town was a diversion from the every day life of Marietta. We shall not soon forget the ride, the oil fields, the scenery and the dinner and the hours spent in Newport and at the Greenwood home.

A. D. A.

   

A Visit to Marietta

The Marietta Times, May 19, 1870

From the Jackson Standard, D. Mackley, Editor.

The convention met at ten o'clock and its proceedings were conducted in an orderly, business-like manner. The official proceedings will be found in another column.

At three o'clock, buggies arrived to take us on a little excursion. We first visited Marietta College. President Andrews is a very pleasant gentleman, and was very kind in taking us through the College buildings. The library is large and well selected. The rooms we visited contained some thirty-three thousand volumes. President Andrews told me that he is always anxious to receive donations of old books, old magazines. He said many of these are destroyed every year to get them out of the way, when they might be of much use as additions to the College library.

The cabinet of minerals is very interesting. So are the specimens of insects, &c. One thing interested me very much. This was the fragment of the meteor which fell in Morgan County [Muskingum County], May 1, 1860. This fragment weights 110 lbs. It is of a dark color and looks a good deal like a chunk of pig-iron.

I was at Berlin when this meteor passed through a small portion of our atmosphere. It was at midday, and it looked nearly as large and bright as the sun. I wrote a short account of it for the Cincinnati Commercial. Prof. Evans, then of Marietta College, seeing the account, corresponded with me, and he used by account of what I had seen in a pamphlet he afterwards wrote. Prof. Evans held that the main meteor was one-third of a mile in diameter and moved at the rate of, I think, seventeen miles per second.

The theory of Prof. Evans was that the meteor merely glanced through a small space of the earth's atmosphere and then moved off into space. The intense heat caused by friction in the atmosphere caused the outer surface to melt and scale off the main body. These fragments which fell to the earth are the broken pieces of these scales.

There are now three large College buildings, the third one being designed for the library exclusively. It is not yet finished.

From the College we went to the Children's Home. This is located on the east side of the Muskingum River, a mile or more above its mouth. It consists of over a hundred acres of land. The building was a farm house and is not fully adapted to the purpose for which it is now used. But the house and grounds are fine.

We had a good drink of Lemonade, when the children gave us apples, and then we visited the different rooms. In the first room were five little children, from two to five years of age. I noticed one little sick child sitting on its low seat, which warmed my deepest sympathies. It was pale and emaciated, its little hands appearing almost transparent. The development of its features showed a precocity almost startling. It was born in the Infirmary, and the ladies and gentlemen in charge informed us that they believed that its life had only been preserved thus far in consequence of the extreme care that had been taken of it. When I looked upon this patient, innocent, suffering child, born in the Infirmary, I was most forcibly reminded of Dickens' child of the Marshalsea - Little Dorrit.

We visited another room where there were some half dozen children of a larger size. Then we visited the school room. It was rather close and quite warm. A little boy was requested by one of the ladies in charge to sing. He sang an appropriate verse and was joined in the chorus by all the children. A little negro girl was then requested to sing a verse, and all the children joined in the chorus with her. One little negro boy was so sleepy that I thought evry minute that he would fall prostrate upon the floor. A little white boy was in nearly the same condition.

These children were all clean and neatly dressed. Many of them were as fine and intelligent looking children as you would see anywhere. There were fifty-six of them, and they are being sent two or three every day to the country, as good homes can be procured for them, and others are coming in daily. This is an institution organized under a general law of the State, but it is said to be the only one yet organized under this law. Those in charge appear to be thoroughly interested in the work they are engaged in, and they regard it not so much as a duty for which they are paid, as a Christian duty for which they expect a higher reward hereafter. This institution reflects great honor upon the State of Ohio for passing such a law, and upon the people of Washington County who have carried the law into practical operation. It is a great advance in the direction of a higher and nobler Christian civilization.

As we were leaving, these little waifs all came out, some three or four of them being of the lately despised African race. They clapped their little hands and cheered us. May God bless them.

As we returned to the city, we crossed the bridge and drove through Harmar and then back to the hotel. Our meeting at night was pleasant and agreeable. Too much smoking, but no drunkenness.

I had resolved to start home on Friday morning, but several citizens urged me to go out to Cow Run. My friend Stimson was particularly solicitous that I should go, and finally I consented.

We started at seven o'clock in buggies and express wagons and had nine miles to go. We went over the hills, a pretty rough country. Judge Chamberlain took me and Dumble of the Marietta Register, Chapman of the Pomeroy Telegraph, and McFarland of the Portsmouth Tribune. We arrived at Cow Run at ten o'clock. This is a small branch which empties into the Little Muskingum. The bottom is narrow, and steep hills arise on both sides. The derricks occupy a distance of half a mile up the bottom, and then up the little hollows on the right haand side as you go up the little creel. Then they are scattered up the steep hill on the right, to its very summit. Where there is a narrow branch, or level space on the steep hillside, there a derrick towers up. But they are the most numerous on the little bottom of Cow Run. They are thick as the chimneys in a closely built town. 

Did you ever see one of these derricks? Four sills, some twenty feet long, are framed together and made level. A piece of hewn timber, eight inches square and fifty feel long, is set upon each corner of this frame, and the tops are drawn in until they approach within eight feet of each other. They are then fastened by cross pieces and braces. In the center at the top is a pulley, over which a rope passes. One end is fastened to the top of the drill, and the other passes around a shaft. Upon this shaft is a drum. Around this drum passes a belt. The belt passes around another drum at the engine, and thus the rope is wound around the shaft and draws the drill up towards the pulley at the top of the derrick.

There are over one hundred derricks in view at one time. Derricks are being erected. They stand over new flowing wells. They stand over wells where the oil is being pumped up. They stand over weels which are being repaired and over abandoned wells. The wells all have names, such as "School House Well," "Eureka Well," "Grecian Bend Well," &c. A well was put down on the lot owned by the school district, and now the district has realized from it ten thousand dollars. They do not know what to do with the money. The party who bores pays the owner of the "territory" one-third of the oil as royalty, or rent.

A company over on the Little Muskingum, two miles north, forces water over one hill and to the top of another into two great tanks, and from these all the engines are supplied with fresh water. This company charges $25.00 per month to supply each engine, when it runs day and night. 

The wells now produce in the aggregate, 400 barrels crude of oil, worth eleven cents per gallon, or $4.50 per barrel. Pipes lead from the different wells to one point, and there a powerful little engine forces the oil through a pipe, over a high hill, five miles, to the Ohio River. A dial indicates the amount of pressure. When I saw it, 320 pounds to the inch was being put on. As the Ohio River must be lower than Cow run, I suggested to the engineer that a siphon might be used instead of an engine. But he said the friction of the oil in the pipe would render this impracticable.

I learned a great many interesting things about this oil business, but I fear I shall be tedious. I will, however, note a few more things about it.

The drill weighs from twelve to fourteen hundred pounds. Some have a number of wooden rods attached to them and then the rope. some have no rods, but the rope is fastened directly to the drill. These rods are thirty-six feet long and screwed together. The drill is worked the same as the pump. A cross beam is balanced in the center, and the engine at one end, and of course the other end of the beam has a corresponding motion. To this end is fastened the rope. So the drill is raised a foot or two and permitted to drop. A man keeps turning the drill, which is thus made to fall each time in a differen tposition, and thus the hole is made round. By this turning, a screw is all the time being operated at the upper end of the rope, and the drill is each time lowered, or screwed downwards, as the hole deepens.

The wells are from 200 to 1,600 feet deep. One is being drilled which is now over 1,600 feet deep, and it has cost $30,000.

Some wells will "flow," or throw up a barrel or two of oil every half hour. This may continue a month or more, when the periods will change, and the flow will be once an hour. After a month or so the period may again be changed. Sometimes the oil will be thrown fifty feel above the top of the derrick. Gas is almost constantly coming up. It can be seen like the glimmering of heat on a very warm day. This gas has a most pungent and disagreeable smell.

The oil does not look like I supposed it did. It is very thin and fluid and of a sky-blue-slate color. It is quite cold. It is very inflammable, and frequently the gas becomes ignited and flashes to the oil. Then there is an explosion, and the derricks, tank &c., are gone beyond redemption, as they are always thoroughly saturated with oil. It is too dangerous a place to have drunken men, and no one is permitted to sell whisky there.

The surface of the water in Cow Run is covered with floating oil and exhibits every color of the rainbow, as seen when light is resolved into its original elements by the prism. Sunlight has been decomposed by some unknown process in nature and stowed away deep in the bowels of the earth, perhaps millions of years before Moses was hidden in the bullrushes, or Abraham went forth to battle. And now it is brought forth, and from this long hidden light is made the rich and glorious aniline dyes, which far surpass the famous Eastner purple, and now the beautiful woman of 1870 is arrayed in silks, the colors of which far surpass the glories of the court of Solomon.

But I must let Cow Run slide.

And now a parting word to Marietta. It is a fine old place. I did not see a drunken man, nor a doggery, nor did I hear an oath sworn in the place. Of course there is vice and immorality there, and even crime. But these are rare. The people are refined. There is more aristocracy of learning than of wealth. The place is behind the age in some things. The streets are not graded, and when it is wet weather they are mud holes. 

I never saw so many trees in a city. Looking down from the top of the College buildings, one can scarcely see the houses. It looks like a dense forest. And what is more beautiful is, that the great bulk and body of these trees are maples. There are some elms and other trees, including evergreens. But then it is one great maple forest. I consider the American maple the most beautiful tree in the world. And the elm next. 

My old friend, Col. David Alban, drew a little on his imagination. He said that the whippoorwill could be heard in the heart of the city - that this lonely bird had never forsaken Marietta since it was originally settled in 1788. But he finally took that back and said that it might be on the hills back of the city where it could be heard.

I have left myself no room to speak of the many worthy men whom I met in Marietta. I will only mention one, the chairman of our evening meeting, S. S. Knowles, Esq. He is every way worthy, and I was gratified to hear that there is a strong inclination to send him to Congress. He is about the only man in Marietta who showed a decent respect to Mrs. Longley and Miss Bates when they were in the place.

 

Options Site for Station

Marietta Daily Times, December 9, 1922

A real estate deal of some magnitude, which likely will result in the opening of another modern gas filling station, at Front and Greene streets, is pending this week and it is believed by those concerned that it will be concluded within a few days. The National Refining Company is said to be the prospective purchaser and the property involved is known as the Flatiron building.

An option at an agreed price has been given the company by A. Cassis, a Sistersville Syrian who acquired the property some years ago, and if the deal goes through, the old building will be razed and a modern filling station will be constructed.

The Flatiron property fronts on Greene, Front and Ohio streets and as the name implies, is a triangular shaped piece of ground splendidly adapted to the purpose to which it would be put by the Refining Company.

 

Petroleum Saloon

The Marietta Times, December 8, 1864

On Thursday evening of last week, the "Petroleum Saloon" was formally opened to the public.  The proprietors, J. De Kator & Co., gave a free supper, and extended invitations to every body to partake of their hospitality.  Not less than one hundred and fifty persons availed themselves of the opportunity to test the quality of their edibles.  As for the quantity, there was "enough, and to spare."  The supper was all that the most fastidious epicure could desire - consisting of oysters, turkey, chicken, ham, pies, cakes, jellies, crackers, bread, butter, &c.

The Saloon is specially intended as an Eating House for oil men, and all others temporarily sojourning in the city.  Meals prepared at all hours, on short notice.  The bar, which is merely adjunct to the Saloon, contains the choicest liquors, cigars, &c.

When you desire to "eat, drink, and be merry," go to the Petroleum Saloon, north side of Greene Street, between Front and Second.

 

Local Oil Field Holds Place of Pre-Eminence

Sunday Morning Observer, January 20, 1917

Discovery of "Spring Oil" Brought Much Attention.

In looking back over some old records the other day to find some data on the oil production in this section we came across some facts and figures that brought us to the conclusion that there is one product in which Washington County is and has for many years held decided preeminence - petroleum.

For the years 1873-1874, the Secretary of State's report for Washington County shows and aggregate of 2,209,928 gallons of oil produced and for the rest of the state 185,280 gallons.  Thus this county produced about twelve times as much petroleum as all the other counties combined.

In another statement we found that the production came from the following: Cow Run, 510,000 barrels; Macksburg, 104,000; Newell's Run, Pawpaw and Fifteen, 6,000; a total of 620,000 barrels.  At three dollars a barrel, which was the probable average price at that time, there was a value of $1,860,000.

In a brief account of this county published in New York, in 1834, by John Delafield, Jr., mention is made of petroleum - called "spring oil," or "seneca oil" - as having been known to the hunters and early inhabitants of the country since the first settlement.  "It can be used," he says, "in lamps as it affords a brilliant light. It is very useful and therefore much employed in curing the diseases of and injuries done to horses.  It is perhaps the best substance known for the prevention of friction in machinery."

Most of the oil used by druggists through the states was sold through a Marietta concern - Bosworth, Wells & Co.  This was a heavy oil and came principally from the neighborhood of Hughes river in West Virginia.