They hoped the local people would be impressed.Įdwin’s first wife was named Philena. He wasn’t really a colonel, but it looked good on the envelope. The company also started to address his letters to Colonel Drake. He became the General Agent of the Seneca Oil Company. They hired Edwin as a full-time employee. Edwin also did some work on the company’s ownership papers.Įdwin’s report was encouraging for the Seneca Oil Company stockholders. Townsend hired Edwin.Įdwin made his first trip to Titusville in December 1857. ![]() But best of all, because he had worked for the railroad, he had a free train pass. Edwin was the perfect person for the job. This person would inspect the land there and make a report on what he saw. He needed someone to go to Titusville for him. He convinced Edwin to buy a little stock in the business. He planned to get the oil out of the ground, distill it, and get rich selling lamp oil. He and some others had bought the land in Titusville, Pa. When Edwin Drake met James Townsend, they talked about Mr. Here was the new fuel that was so badly needed! The process for distilling was not expensive. He explained that the petroleum could be distilled to get out the impurities. Silliman was a professor at Yale University. Then someone gave a sample of petroleum from Titusville, Pennsylvania to a man named Benjamin Silliman, Jr. Settlers in Pennsylvania had tried to use Seneca Oil in their lamps as a fuel, but it didn’t work very well. At times petroleum would seep into the salt wells. When they let the water dry, they had salt. Many frontier families kept a bottle of Seneca Oil in the house. The oil helped make their wagon wheels turn smoothly. They also used it to lubricate the wheels of their carts. They believed that it could cure headaches, toothaches, lung disease, burns and cuts. They also used blankets and boards to collect oil from the surface of Oil Creek.Įarly settlers traded with the Seneca for this oil. They collected the oil by digging a pit and waiting for the oil to seep in. ![]() They called it “antonotons.” This means, “Oh, how much there is!” They preserved animal hides with it. The Seneca tribe had used petroleum since the 1400’s. ![]() Native Americans in Pennsylvania knew about oil. It has been used to preserve mummies, kill lice, caulk ships, and as a medicine. People have used it since ancient times for various things. It is sometimes called petroleum, sometimes crude oil, and sometimes bitumen. Oil can be found in the ground in certain parts of the world. People needed another fuel for their lamps. So many sperm whales had been hunted and killed that there were hardly any left. For years they had filled their oil lamps with whale oil. This company was interested in getting oil from a piece of property in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He had recently formed a new company called the Seneca Oil Company of New Haven. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut to get better.Įdwin was living at the Tontine Hotel in New Haven when he met an interesting man. He worked for the New York & New Haven Railroad. He worked as a clerk, a salesman, and a railway express agent. When he was nineteen, he left home.Įdwin had a variety of jobs. Edwin Drake was born in Castleton Corners, Vermont, in March of 1819.
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