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But Titusville did not believe it; it said no Favor ever did anything but run away in such circumstances. But they believed it when, later on, they read in the newspapers how Lieutenant Favor had sprung out of the trenches and ran to the rescue of a wounded private soldier who had lain in a shell hole in No Man's Land since the night before.
The third great event that occurred in Eighteen Hundred Fifty-nine was when a man by the name of Edwin L. Drake, Colonel by grace, bored a well and struck "rock-oil" at Titusville, Pennsylvania. At that time "rock-oil" or "coal-oil" was no new thing. It had been found floating on the water of streams in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
In 1875 John D. Archbold, a brilliant young refiner who had grown up in the oil regions and who had gained much local fame as opponent of the Standard, appeared in Titusville as the President of the Acme Oil Company. At that time there were twenty-seven independent refineries in this section.
George H. Bissell of New Orleans accidentally met with a sample of the "Seneca Oil," and being convinced that it had a value far beyond that usually accorded it, associated himself with some friends and leased for 99 years some of the best oil springs near Titusville, Pa.
There were rumors that some one in digging for salt had tapped a reservoir of oil that actually flowed a stream. There were oil-springs around Titusville and along Oil Creek. The oil ran down on the water and was skimmed off by men in boats. Several men were making modest fortunes by bottling the stuff and selling it as medicine.
This proved so popular that A. C. Ferris, also of Pittsburg, undertook to sell this in other cities, and these two men not only sold the fifty barrels and the other petroleum that accumulated from the salt wells, but they had created such a demand for the new light that they could not supply enough oil, and in 1859 Colonel Drake drilled at Titusville the first well solely for petroleum.
The man who owned that territory on which the city of Titusville now stands, and those Pleasantville valleys, had studied the subject from the second day of God's creation clear down to the present time. He studied it until he knew all about it, and yet he is said to have sold the whole of it for $833, and again I say, "no sense." But I need another illustration.
When the whales ceased spouting, the earth took up the business; and "here she blows" and "there she blows" are heard in Tideoute and Titusville, while New Bedford sits sadly by the sea, and thinks of long absent crews to whom the cry has become strange. I cannot but look upon this discovery of oil in the earth as one of the most remarkable and instructive revelations of the age.
Titusville consisted of only a few houses; but the party were gladly taken in by the settlers.
Elkins had started life as an entry clerk in a grocery store, had made money in the butter and egg business, had "struck oil" at Titusville in 1862, and had succeeded in exchanging his holdings for a block of Standard Oil stock. He too became a Philadelphia politician, but he had certain hard qualities he was close-fisted, slow, plodding that prevented him from achieving much success.
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