08/27/2026
REJOICE — IT'S NATIONAL PETROLEUM DAY!!!
On this day in 1859, “Colonel” Edwin Drake struck oil with his revolutionary well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, prompting the first oil boom in North America.
In the late 1850s, American businessman and former railroad conductor Edwin Drake began a bold venture in Pennsylvania that would revolutionize the energy industry. Drake partnered with William "Uncle Billy" Smith, a salted well driller and blacksmith, to drill for oil in the manner of salted well drillers in hopes of yielding more oil than by conventional digging.
Drake and Smith drilled for months using various new techniques and a steam engine to power the drill, but their efforts were unsuccessful for several months. The project became known as “Drake’s Folly” and investors would pull out. However, after already personally spending $2,500, Drake persevered and took out a $500 loan to keep the project alive.
On Aug. 27, 1859, Drake’s drill bit reached its max depth of 69.5 feet, hitting a crevice. The next morning, Smith was delighted and surprised to see crude oil rising up. The duo would initially collect the oil in a bathtub!
The original structures at the well caught fire in October 1859 and were rebuilt by Drake a month later. The well would eventually produce 12 to 20 barrels a day, however, after the price of oil plummeted caused by the resulting boom, it was never profitable.
The well stopped producing in 1861 and the Seneca Oil Company sold the property in 1864. The well has since been reconstructed and can be visited at the Drake Well Museum & Park.
Drake set up a stock company to extract and market the oil. But, while his pioneering work led to the growth of an oil industry that made many people rich, for Drake riches proved elusive. He failed to patent his drilling invention, and proceeded to lose all of his savings in oil speculation in 1863. Drake ended up impoverished. In 1872, Pennsylvania voted an annuity of $1,500 to the "crazy man" whose determination largely founded the oil industry. He died on November 9, 1880, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The Drake Well is often referred to as the first commercial oil well, although that title is also claimed for wells in Azerbaijan, Ontario, West Virginia, Myanmar, Persia, Arabia, Sichuan and Poland. The importance of the Drake Well was that it prompted the first great wave of investment and additional drilling that established petroleum as a major industry!
Aug. 27 is a great day to commemorate Drake and Smith’s achievement as well as all of the incredible things American petroleum has helped accomplish since. Cheers to the Colonel and Uncle Billy!
