47
it in small barges or skiffs down Oil Creek to the Allegheny River and eventually to
Pittsburgh. This turned out to be highly inefficient because nearly a third of the
700–800 barrels of oil loaded into a skiff leaked out before the vessel was even
launched, and another third was lost by the time the boats reached Pittsburgh, if they
reached Pittsburgh at all. Only a little more than half of the flimsy vessels survived
the trip (Black 1998). A railroad line was run into Titusville in 1862 by the Oil
Creek Railroad Company, which connected Titusville to several other existing railroads (Hildegarde 1959). The new railroad brought more people into the Oil Creek
region and provided a safer alternative to the transport of crude oil. Pipelines were
laid from the wells to the rail line in 1865, further improving both the economics
and safety of moving oil.
Early products derived from petroleum included expected materials like kerosene lamp fuel and lubricating oils, but a number of unusual byproducts were also
developed, in many cases almost by accident. The inventor’s maxim of being in the
right place at the right time was certainly important, along with critical thinking. For
example, the so-called “Pennsylvania-grade” crude oil obtained from wells in the
Appalachian basin is often paraffinic or waxy. While this tends to make it a great
lubricant, operators were unhappy with wellheads becoming clogged by what was
called “sucker rod wax,” and it frequently drew the curses of workers who had to
halt production to scrape it off. About the only useful thing anyone could say about
this gooey material was that it made a pretty good first aid ointment for the treatment of abrasions, burns, and other wounds that routinely afflicted oilfield personnel.
The website of the American Oil & Gas Historical Society (https://aoghs.org/
accessed 8/15/2019) describes a visit to the Titusville oilfields of a young chemist
from New York City named Robert Chesebrough. Arriving with plans to drill a
gusher and strike it rich, he soon returned to New York more sober and wiser, and
he carried samples of the troublesome sucker-rod wax. Fascinated with its reported
healing properties, Chesebrough worked in his laboratory to purify the wax and turn
the paraffin into a skin balm. In August of 1865 he filed the first of several patents
“for purifying petroleum or coal oils by filtration” and he called the resulting product “petroleum jelly.” Chesebrough continued to work with the substance and by
1872 he had developed it into a commercial skin care product known as “Vaseline.”
Although designed for treating cuts and bruises, enterprising consumers soon found
that it would also remove stains from furniture, polish wood surfaces, restore leather,
and prevent rust. French bakers even added Vaseline to cakes and pastries because it
never became rancid like lard or butter. Chesebrough himself was convinced of the
health benefits of Vaseline and consumed a spoonful every day, living to the
age of 96.
Petroleum jelly became popular among young ladies as a makeup base, and they
soon discovered that mixing in a small amount of coal dust or lamp black made a
primitive type of mascara for lengthening eyelashes. In 1913, a Miss Mabel Williams
of Chicago was carrying out this particular task in preparation for a date while her
brother Thomas Lyle Williams watched in fascination. Inspired by Mabel’s example,
Thomas developed a Vaseline-based mascara that performed better and began selling it by mail order under the name “Lash-brow-ine.” By 1917, the mail order sales
3.2 Spindletop, Gushers, and the Advent of Big Oil
it in small barges or skiffs down Oil Creek to the Allegheny River and eventually to
Pittsburgh. This turned out to be highly inefficient because nearly a third of the
700–800 barrels of oil loaded into a skiff leaked out before the vessel was even
launched, and another third was lost by the time the boats reached Pittsburgh, if they
reached Pittsburgh at all. Only a little more than half of the flimsy vessels survived
the trip (Black 1998). A railroad line was run into Titusville in 1862 by the Oil
Creek Railroad Company, which connected Titusville to several other existing railroads (Hildegarde 1959). The new railroad brought more people into the Oil Creek
region and provided a safer alternative to the transport of crude oil. Pipelines were
laid from the wells to the rail line in 1865, further improving both the economics
and safety of moving oil.
Early products derived from petroleum included expected materials like kerosene lamp fuel and lubricating oils, but a number of unusual byproducts were also
developed, in many cases almost by accident. The inventor’s maxim of being in the
right place at the right time was certainly important, along with critical thinking. For
example, the so-called “Pennsylvania-grade” crude oil obtained from wells in the
Appalachian basin is often paraffinic or waxy. While this tends to make it a great
lubricant, operators were unhappy with wellheads becoming clogged by what was
called “sucker rod wax,” and it frequently drew the curses of workers who had to
halt production to scrape it off. About the only useful thing anyone could say about
this gooey material was that it made a pretty good first aid ointment for the treatment of abrasions, burns, and other wounds that routinely afflicted oilfield personnel.
The website of the American Oil & Gas Historical Society (https://aoghs.org/
accessed 8/15/2019) describes a visit to the Titusville oilfields of a young chemist
from New York City named Robert Chesebrough. Arriving with plans to drill a
gusher and strike it rich, he soon returned to New York more sober and wiser, and
he carried samples of the troublesome sucker-rod wax. Fascinated with its reported
healing properties, Chesebrough worked in his laboratory to purify the wax and turn
the paraffin into a skin balm. In August of 1865 he filed the first of several patents
“for purifying petroleum or coal oils by filtration” and he called the resulting product “petroleum jelly.” Chesebrough continued to work with the substance and by
1872 he had developed it into a commercial skin care product known as “Vaseline.”
Although designed for treating cuts and bruises, enterprising consumers soon found
that it would also remove stains from furniture, polish wood surfaces, restore leather,
and prevent rust. French bakers even added Vaseline to cakes and pastries because it
never became rancid like lard or butter. Chesebrough himself was convinced of the
health benefits of Vaseline and consumed a spoonful every day, living to the
age of 96.
Petroleum jelly became popular among young ladies as a makeup base, and they
soon discovered that mixing in a small amount of coal dust or lamp black made a
primitive type of mascara for lengthening eyelashes. In 1913, a Miss Mabel Williams
of Chicago was carrying out this particular task in preparation for a date while her
brother Thomas Lyle Williams watched in fascination. Inspired by Mabel’s example,
Thomas developed a Vaseline-based mascara that performed better and began selling it by mail order under the name “Lash-brow-ine.” By 1917, the mail order sales
3.2 Spindletop, Gushers, and the Advent of Big Oil