#EDWIN L DRAKE CLIP ART SKIN#

Entrepreneurs realized that a commodity that could be the least expensively produced and found in abundance would create light for the masses. Businessmen such as Bissell introduced alternatives in the early to mid-19th century including coal oil, coal gas, camphene and animal-based oils. Although quite expensive, it was used both in lamps and candles. In the 1850s whale oil, or sperm oil, remained the most popular illuminant in the world. Bissell, an attorney with ties to the coal business, immediately realized that the oil could serve as an illuminant. Angier dug trenches to convey oil and water to a central basin, where he separated the oil from the water and gathered about three to four gallons a day.īrewer soon took a drum of oil to Dixi Crosby, a chemist at his alma mater, Dartmouth College, who in turn gave some to businessman George Bissell. Brewer hired Angier to gather oil bubbling on the surface of Oil Creek. This was the first time anyone signed a formal oil lease. During a trip to Titusville in 1851 he contracted with a local man, J.D. American settlers soon understood oil's utility as medicine and local manufacturers used it to lubricate their machinery and for lighting.īrewer and many others knew that oil existed in Titusville, particularly around a local stream called Oil Creek, where it occasionally bubbled from the ground. European explorers in the Oil Creek Valley found about two thousand ceremonial troughs dug along the banks of Oil Creek, in the northwest corner of present-day Pennsylvania.

#EDWIN L DRAKE CLIP ART SKIN#

Pre-historic or Paleo-Indians who ventured from settlements along the Mississippi River to the area around present-day Pittsburgh had discovered pooling oil and used it for decoration, skin coloring, medicinal purposes and various religious practices.

Petroleum, as the substance would become more commonly known, is a naturally thick, sticky substance that has had a number of uses. Oil Derricks near Lamartine, PA, circa 1865.

Edwin l drake clip art