Places
-
MID-CONTINENT FIELD OF KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA
In 1919, the great Mid-Continent Field of Kansas and Oklahoma produced 193 million barrels of crude, more than half of all the crude produced in the United States. At the time, this gigantic field was producing nearly twice as much as California and more than twice as much as the combined production of the Appalachian, Gulf, Rocky Mountain, Illinois and Lima Fields.
-
EMMA SUMMERS, OIL QUEEN OF CALIFORNIA
Emma Summers was early owner of oil wells in California. Confident of inevitable success, Emma purchased interests in other wells before her first well was finished. She hired her own workmen, personally purchased drilling tools and supplies and superintended the daily work and well development. She was not afraid of going into debt and would work at night teaching piano to help pay her workers and the growing stack of bills.
-
Galena Oil
Galena Oil manufactured in Franklin rose from humble beginnings in the 1860s to lubricate all the railroads in the United States and Canada, 75 percent of the South American railroads, 29 percent of the street railways in the United States and a large percentage of the rail lines in Europe.
-
Nitroglycerine Saved Many Wells
Less than a year after the first oil well was drilled in northwestern Pennsylvania, well owners had trouble. Paraffin was the culprit. Petroleum in this region is rich in the waxy substance and it was clogging the underground flow of oil. The producers were an ingenious lot and they quickly set out to find a solution.
-
Franklin Heavy Crude
The oil business was still in its infancy when producers started to notice a difference in the petroleum they were pumping. In Franklin where traces of that “nasty Seneca oil” had crept into water wells along French Creek, the success of Colonel Edwin L. Drake’s well was quick to spawn interest.
-
Eclipse Refinery
The Eclipse Refinery, located near Franklin, was reported at one time to be the “largest refinery in the world.” While this claim is frequently contested it is known that the refinery turned out every petroleum product known at the time and that it was an important part of the Venango County economy for 65 years.