Oil Discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859

The Essential Primary Sources
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Oil Discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859

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Abstract

Last week, at a depth of 71 feet, [E.L. Drake] struck a fissure in the rock through which he was boring, when, to his surprise and the joy of everyone, he found he had tapped a vein of water and oil, yielding 400 gallons of oil every 24 hours. The pumps now in use throw only five gallons per minute of water and oil into a large vat, when the oil rises to the top and the water runs out from the bottom. In a few days they will have a pump of three times the capacity of the one now in use, and then from 1,000 to 1,200 gallons of oil will be the daily yield … The excitement attendant on the discovery of this vast source of oil was fully equal to what I ever saw in California when a large lump of gold was accidentally turned out.

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