Edwin Drake facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edwin Drake
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Edwin Laurentine Drake
March 29, 1819 Greenville, New York, U.S.
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| Died | November 9, 1880 (aged 61) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Colonel Drake |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Petroleum exploration |
| Parent(s) | Lyman Drake and Laura Lee |
Edwin Laurentine Drake (born March 29, 1819 – died November 9, 1880) was an American businessman. He is famous for being the first person in America to successfully drill for oil from the ground. People often called him Colonel Drake.
Contents
Edwin Drake's Early Life and Work
Edwin Drake was born in Greenville, New York, on March 29, 1819. His parents were Lyman and Laura Drake. He spent his childhood on family farms in New York and Castleton, Vermont. When he was 19, he left home to start his own life.
He worked for many years on the railways. He was a clerk, an express agent, and even a train conductor. In 1845, he married Philena Adams. Sadly, she passed away in 1854. Three years later, in 1857, Drake married Laura Dowd. Around 1858, the Drake family moved to Titusville, Pennsylvania.
The Rise of Oil: From Whales to Rock Oil
Before Edwin Drake, people knew about petroleum oil. But there wasn wasn't a big market for it. Samuel Martin Kier was important because he started the first American oil refinery in Pittsburgh. He was the first in the U.S. to turn crude oil into lamp oil, which is called kerosene.
This new lamp oil began to replace whale oil. Whale oil was what people used most often to light their lamps. So, a new way to light homes was starting to develop.
Seneca Oil Company's Big Idea
The Seneca Oil Company was first called the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. It was started by George Bissell and Jonathan Eveleth. They heard that oil from a spring in Titusville, Pennsylvania, could be used as lamp fuel.
Bissell realized that this "rock oil" could be a good choice if they could find a way to get it out of the ground. At first, not many people were interested in their company. But then, a report showed that petroleum had a lot of economic value.
Because of some disagreements, the company split. In 1858, Seneca Oil was formed. Edwin Drake had already bought shares in the company. He met Bissell and Eveleth at a hotel in Titusville. They hired him to look into the oil seeps on their land. He was paid $1,000 a year for this job.
Drilling for Oil: Drake's Big Challenge
Edwin Drake was sent by the Seneca Oil Company to find oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. James Townsend, the company's president, sent Drake there in the spring of 1858. Drake was chosen partly because he could travel for free on the trains. Drake had no military experience, but Townsend gave him the title "Colonel" to impress the local people.
Drake decided to drill for oil like people drilled for salt wells. He bought a steam engine in Erie, Pennsylvania, to power his drill. The well was started on an island in the Oil Creek.
Overcoming Drilling Problems
It was hard for the drillers to get through the layers of gravel. At 16 feet (5 meters) deep, the sides of the hole started to fall in. The people helping Drake began to lose hope, but Drake did not. This is when he came up with a clever idea: a drive pipe.
This pipe was made of cast iron and came in 10-foot (3-meter) long sections. They drove the pipe down into the ground. At 32 feet (10 meters), they hit solid bedrock. Then, they lowered the drilling tools through the pipe. Steam was used to drill through the bedrock.
The drilling was slow, only about three feet (one meter) per day. It was hard to find all the parts needed to build the well. People even called his project "Drake's Folly" because it seemed like a crazy idea. But Drake kept going.
The Discovery of Oil
Crowds of people would gather to make fun of the project, thinking it wouldn't work. By 1859, Drake was also running out of money. His friends back in Connecticut gave up on finding oil by April 1859. After spending $2,500, Drake took out a $500 loan to keep drilling.
On August 27, 1859, Drake's hard work paid off. His drill bit reached a depth of 69.5 feet (21 meters). At that point, the bit hit a crack in the rock. The workers stopped for the day.
The next morning, Drake’s driller, Billy Smith, looked into the hole. He was amazed and happy to see crude oil rising up! Drake was called, and the oil was brought to the surface using a hand pump. The oil was collected in a bathtub.
Drake's Innovative Drilling Method
Drake is famous for creating a new way to get oil from the ground. He used piping to stop the hole from collapsing. This allowed the drill to go much deeper into the earth.
Before Drake, people collected oil from places where it naturally seeped out of the ground. They also dug shallow holes. Drake tried these methods near Titusville, but they didn't produce enough oil to be profitable. Digging large shafts also failed because water would seep in and cause them to collapse.
Drake's big step was to drive a 32-foot (10-meter) iron pipe through the ground into the bedrock. This let him drill inside the pipe without the hole collapsing from water. This idea is still used today by all companies that drill for oil and gas.
The Start of a New Industry
Some people had drilled for oil in other places before Drake, like in Poland in 1854 or Germany in 1857. But the importance of Drake's well near Titusville was huge. It started the first big wave of investment and drilling. This made petroleum a major industry.
Within a day of Drake finding oil, others in the area started copying his methods. This led to the creation of many oil boom towns along Oil Creek. Drake's well produced 25 barrels of oil a day. By 1872, the entire area was producing 15,900 barrels a day!
Drake tried to set up a company to get and sell the oil. While his work helped create an oil industry that made many people very rich, Drake himself did not become wealthy. He wasn't good at business. He didn't patent his drilling invention, and he lost all his savings in oil investments by 1863.
He ended up as an old man with little money. In 1872, the state of Pennsylvania voted to give him $1,500 a year. This was for the "crazy man" whose determination started the oil industry.
Edwin Drake died on November 9, 1880, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He had lived there since 1874. He and his wife are buried in Titusville, Pennsylvania, next to a memorial built in his honor.
See also
In Spanish: Edwin Drake para niños
- Drake Well Museum
- Pennsylvania oil rush
