What Region Was the First to Deliberately Drill for Oil and Launched the Modern Petroleum Industry?

Q: What Region Was the First to Deliberately Drill for Oil and Launched the Modern Petroleum Industry?

A: Pittsburgh, PA

The Oil Region Alliance: History of Oil Region Board of DirectorsLink to Oil Region Alliance Website

1859 - August 27 -Edwin L. Drake's well, drilled 69 ½ feet, struck oil near Titusville PA (first well deliberately drilled for oil) and launched the modern petroleum industry August 30 - John Grandin & H. H. Dennis drilled in Tionesta,PA - first dry holeOctober 7 - Drake's well ignited by gas and destroyed - first oil well fire on record, well house rebuilt and oil equipment replaced
1860 - April - Steamboat "Venango" carried first load of petroleum to Pittsburgh
1861 - May - A. B. Funk's "Fountain Well" reached 460 feet & flowed 300 barrels per day Annual U. S. crude oil production increased from .5 million barrels in 1860 to 2.1 million barrels in 1861October - Phillips Well #2 on Tarr Farm came in at 4000 barrels a dayNovember - First shipload of petroleum to cross the Atlantic shipped from Philadelphia to London
1862 - Humboldt Refinery established near Plumer, by John Burns & the Ludovici brothers.Jacob Vandergrift and Daniel Bushnell shipped crude from Oil City to Pittsburgh by bulk barge tows, more than 20 Allegheny River shipping companies in Oil City.Oil Creek Railroad reached Titusville from Corry, first railroad into PA Oil Region.
1863 - Pennsylvania legislature passed first anti-pollution bill preventing running of tar and distillery refuse into certain creeks
1864 - "Coal Oil Johnny" Steele began spending spree
1865 - Pithole Creek oil field discoveredCol. E.A.L. Roberts used explosives to increase "Ladies Well" flow near Titusville, PA April 9 - Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse ended the Civil War.April 14 - President Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Six weeks later, well on Pithole Creek, in which Booth had a share, struck oil.Van Syckle oil pipeline connected Miller Farm on the Oil Creek Railroad to the U. S. Well, a distance of approximately 6 miles.

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