Noble County, Ohio - Chapter 11: Physical Features and Natural Resources of Noble, 1887

Chapter 11: Physical Features and Natural Resources of Noble

Area and Geographical Position of the County - Topograpuy - Surface, Soil and Streams - Coal and Iron - Trm Importance of the Coal Area - The Meigs Creek Coal - Its Location Detailed - Possibility of Future Mining Wealth - Salt - The Pioneer Saltmakers - The Industry on the Muskingum River - The Olite Salt Works Established in 1814 - Df:soription of the Primitive Apparatus - The Decline of the Industry - Gas and Petroleum - The Oldest Oil Well in Ohio - *' Seneca Oil" - Old-Time Gas a^d Oil Wells in Noble County - Rise of the Petroleum Industry - History of Petroleum Production in the Duck Creek Valley - The Excitement of 1860 - The First Producing Wells - Development of the Field - The Socum Well - Later Phases of the Oil Business - Wonderful Gas Well - The Macksburg Field - Present Status of Oil Production.

NOBLE County, the latest formed of the eighty-eight counties in Ohio, lies in the southeastern portion of the State and is situated south of Guernsey ; west of Belmont and Monroe, north of Washington, and east of Muskingum and Morgan. Territorially, it is among the smallest counties in the State, liavintJ: an area of 404 square miles or 258,500 acres. The surface is very hilly, yet there is but little waste land, as nearly every elevation can be cultivated from its base to its summit. The scenery is pleasing and attractive, and in many places bordei's on the picturesque. The climate is agreeable and healthy. The soil is largely of limestone formation and is strong and productive, well adapted to grasses, fruits and cereals. The country is especially well adapted to grazing. Mixed farming j)revai.ls and a great variety of products is to be found. Wool-growing and tobaccoraising are two branches of industry which are es[>ecially successful and profitable here.

The rocks represented in the county are of the Devonian age and consist of carboniferous rocks, fossiliferous limestone, shale and sandstone. Lime- stone is abundant, and good sandstone for building purposes is found in many locab'ties. Iron ore, said to be of excellent quality, is found at several points. Brine for salt-inaking can be found almost anywhere in the county, and petroleum has been produced for some 3^ears on the west fork of Duck Creek.

Koble County has no large streams. Three creeks - Buffalo Fork, Seneca Fork and Beaver Fork of Will's Creek, with their lesser tributaries, drain the northern and northeastern part of the county. These streams flow In a general northwesterly direction, ultimat<3ly mingling their waters with the Muskingum. The western townships of the county are drained by Meigs Creek and Olive Green Creek and their branches - all small i|i this county - which are also received by the Muskingum. Duck Creek, a tributary of the Ohio, has three principal branches in this county, known as the East, West and Middle Forks. These streams, the course of which is southerly or southeasterly, drain a large area of the eastern, southeastern and central parts of the county. The lx)ttom lands are not extensive, but are rich and productive.

The county is supplied with good railroad facilities, contains several growing towns, and, for an old-settled communit}^ is rapidly increasing its wealth and extending its improvements.

the geology of Noble County presents httle that is interesting to the general reader. The county lies within the coal measures and contains two principal coal seams - the lower, that generally designated as the Pittsburgh coal; the other, known hitherto as the" Cumberland, we will here style the Meigs Creek coal, as it is thus denominated in the latest geological report of the State.

The Meigs Creek coal, which appears to be identical with the Scwickley coal of the Pennsylvania series, is the most important coal formation found in Morgan, Noble and ]>arts of Muskingum and Guernsey Counties. It lies about 250 to 200 feet above the crinoidal limestone, and from 80 to 100 feet above the Pittsburgh coal. The coal is of an inferior quality, containing much sulphur, and -when burned leaves a large amount of ashes and clinkers. It contains but 38 to 48 per cent of fixed carbon. Most of the coal seam has in it a tough streak from two to six inches thick, near the center of the seam, which, if not carefully picked out. seriously injures the quality of the coal.

The most important district of the Meig-s Creek conl includes that part of Morgan (younty east of the Muskingum River, the southeastern part of Muskingum C'Ount}^ all of Noble, and the southwestern part of Guernsey. Through this area, the Meigs Creek coal is the only coal above drainage that can ever be mined in a large way. There is a large area of coal in eastern Morgan and western Noble Counties, 4 to 4^ feet in thick-

Every township in Noble County except Buffalo contains this coal. The Ixfst areas are in the western and southern parts of the county. The valleys of the west fork of Duck Creek, in the central part, and of Buffalo, Seneca and Beaver Forks of Will's Creek, in the northern |>art. cut out large areas of the seam. The seam will average for the whole county very nearly four feet. In s^)me places it is found to be five feet, but fre<^|uently not more than two and one-half or three feet. In s<ime parts of the county a " roof coal," twelve to eighteen inches thick, is found six to eighteen mches alKive the main seam.

Broiikfield Township is es|>ecially rich in the Meigs Creek coal. Most of the coal used in Cumberland is mine<l in this township. The coal exists in all parts cf the township, except in the extreme northciist corner. In the eastern and northern parts, the coal is high in the hills; but in the southern and western parts it is only a few feet al>ove the creek valleys. In the southwest quarter of section 4, on II. C. Hunter's land, mcjisurement of the coal section resulted as follows: Hard shale, g(XHl roof ; cojil, eleven inches ; slate parting, one-half inch; coal, sixteen inches; clay, or slate parting, two inches; coal, twelve inches; hard slate, with ferriferous sandstone, one-fourth to one-half inch ; coal, twelve inches ; clay. On George McEndries' land, the same coal is

Thirty to forty feet below the coal in the northern |^rt of Brookfield there is a le<lin^ of fine-gniined, tough sandstone which makes an excellent quality of building st4>ne. The ledge is alHJut fifteen ftH»t thick. Here was quarrieil the main part of the stone useil in the construction of the Guernsey County court house.

The coal has l)een o|>eneil and mined for local supply on almost every farm in BnM)kfield where there is an outcrop. At John Dickson's steam mill in the northwest quarter of section 31, the coal showe<l the following section : clay, shale roof, j>oor; coal, six inches; clay jmrting, often with ferriferous sandstone, one-half inch ; coal, thirteen inches ; hard slate, full of ferriferous sandstone, one-half inch ; coal twenty-eight inches; clay. Here the total seam is four ftHit. In s<mie places it reaches four and one-half or five feet. On John A. Thrap's land, in the northwest quarter of section 22, the following was found to l>e a section of the Meigs Creek coal: Clay, shale roof, {K)or; coal, slaty and poor, six inches; clay parting, one inch; coal, fifteen inches; hard slate parting, one-half inch ; coal, eleven inches; black slate, two inches; coal, thirteen inches; clay. The average of the three analyses of the Brookfield Township coal is as follows: Moisture, 3.41 j)er cent; volatile combustible matter, 40.30 ; fixed carbon, 45.41 ; ash, 10.88. The proporti(m of sulphur was 5.31 iX3r cent.

The mark of a higher coal was founil in the southwest quarter of section 18 in Brookfield Township, at a distance by the barometer of 215 feet. The blossom indicated at least 2i feet of coal. This coal was opened many years ago and taken to Cumberland for making coke, but the thinness of the seam and the distance from the railroad caused it to be abandoned. On sections 9 to 16 a coal mark was found, IfiO to 180 feet above the Meigs Creek coal, but no openings could be found. NoAvhere in the township was seen any coals below the Meigs Creek formation.

''In Buffalo Township, states the geologist, " nothing could be found of the Meigs Creek coal, as the land is all too low for it. It is possible that there are a very few outliers of the coal in the tops of some of the highest points in the southeast corner of the townshij), but if there should be, they would be of no practical value."

Tliere is very little of the Meigs Creek coal in Noble Township. There are a few outliei*s in the east central part and in the southwest corner. Several openings worked for local supply have been made in tlie western outliers, but none in the eastern. At Iliramsburg, in section 13, a mine is worked for local use. The coal is here found to be from 4 to 4^ feet thick, and 258 feet above the crinoidal limestone.

There is a large area of the Meigs Creek coal in Sharon Township. In the eastern part the coal is well up in the hills, but in the western and southern parts it is low. Little of it has been carried away by the creek.

The coal is thickest in the southern part of the township, where it is from 4 to 4| feet. In the northern part it is 3 to 3|^ feet thick. The roof is usually bad, and mines have to be thoroughly timbered. Marks of a thin coal, 100 to 170 feet above the Meigs Creek were discovered m sections 3 and 10 of this township. A fine-grained sandstone, suitable for building or flagging, lies 30 or 40 feet below the Meigs Creek coal.

In Olive Township the Meigs Creek coal is found in the eastern and western parts, but through the central portion it has been cut out by the broad and deep valley of Duck Creek. The eastern area is made up of a few outliers and narrow strips in the top of the ridge. The western area is found in the watershed between the west fork of Duck Creek and Big Olive Creek. Although high in the ridge, there is a good area of solid coal. In the western part of the township several mines have been Avorked, but are now abandoneil. The coal was found to be thin, except in the extreme southern j>ortion. Near the north wast corner of the township is an old mine, with the coal 2^ to 3 feet thick, rarely 3^ feet. In section 28 the average thickness was found to be about 3 feet, with a "tough streak," 3 to 4 inches near the top of the seam. In section 35 the coal is said to be 3 feet, 0 inches to 4 feet thick, with a tough streak near the center of the seam.

measured as, follows: Clay, shale [ roof, fair; hard, black, ra\v slate, 2 ; inches; coal, 12 inches; hard, black | slate, i inch; coal, 21 inches; tough | streak, 3 inches; coal, 24 inches; clay. In the southwest quarter of section 12, the coal measures only 3 to 3^ feet, with a tough streak at the top.

In Jackson Township is a larger area of the Meigs Creek coal than in any other township of the county. Only the largest creeks cut down through the coal, and they take out only very narrow strips. In the northeastern comer of the township the coal is well up in the hills ; but to the south and west it droj)s rapidly, soon coming ch)se to the level of the valleys. In the northeastern quarter of section 12 in this township the Meigs Creek coal gives the following section : Shale ; coal, poor, 18 to 24 inches ; clay, 14 to 18 inches ; coal, 4 to 4^ feet ; clay. On William Taylor's land, in the southwest quarter of section 10, the Meigs Creek coal measured 5^ feet, and was reported as being over 6 feet in one part of the mine. The coal from this mine makes a gray ash, and leaves no clinkers.

On Keith's land, in the northwest quarter of section 8, Jackscm Township, the coal gave the following section : Clay, shale roof, poor; coal, 3^ to 4 feet; clay, 1 to 3 inches; coal, 6 feet for bottom, 4 to 6 inches ; clay. On Ileasoner's Run in section 19, a thick sandstone comes down on toj) of the coal, which is here from 3 feet 8 inches to 4 feet thick. Above the sandstone is a thick, white limestone.

non-fossil iferous. In section 25, on Cat llun, traces of another coal were found 50 to ()0 feet above the Meigs Creek; and in sections 2S and 33 traces of two upper coals were found, one 250 feet and the other 1«)2 feet above the Meigs Creek coal. The highest is 18 inchas thick; the thickness of the other is unknown.

In Jefferson Township, on land of John E. Williams, in the northeast quarter of section 34, a coal section was measured with the following result : Limestone ;'bone coal, 6 inches; coal, 8 inches; slate, 1 inch; coal, 14 inches ; slate parting, i inch ; coal, 12 inches ; clay, 12 to 18 inches; coal, Ifi to 22 inches; parting, 2 inches; coal, 24 inches; clay, 2 to 4 feet; limestone, exposed, 2 feet. The roof coal, here unusually well developed, is taken down and used with the regular seam. There is a large i)()rtion of Jefferson Township containing the Meigs Creek coal, but little of it is as thick as in the section above given. The roof coal seldom exceeds lb to 20 inches at other places.

There is a hirge area of coal in Elk Township that could easily be reached by a railroad traversing the east fork of Duck Creek. The Meigs Creek coal is reported* to be the same as the Stafford coal of Monroe County. Througli the northern part of the township there is a thin coal about 60 feet below the Meigs Creek. A section of the latter, measured on the farm of Hugh Robinson, in the southwest quarter of section 13, townshi]) B, range 7, resulted as follows : Ilaixl shale ; coal, 30 inches ; clay, 12 inches ; coal, 14 to 15 inches; bone coal, 4

In Enoch Township the coal lies high in the ridges, consecjuently the area of first-class coal is less than in Jefferson and Elk Townships. The coal is found in two ridges, with their spui*s running northwest and southeast through the township, and dividing the waters of the West Fork, Middle Fork and East Fork of Duck Creek. A sample from William Lincicome's mine, southeast quarter of section 32, was analyzed as follows: Moisture, 2.18 i)ercent; volatile combustible matter, 41.75; fixed carbon, 45.02 ; ash, 10.15. There was also found 4.02 |>er cent of sulphur.

In the southwestern part of Enoch and the western i)art of Jeffei^son, when^ the coal touches the line of the Cleveland and Marietta Railroad, it was formerly mined for slii|)ping, but the mines are now abandoned.

The coal in Stock Townshij) is well up in the hills, and a large amount of it has been cut out by the broad valley of the East Fork of Duck Citjek. Over the entire township the coal ranges from 3^ to 5 feet in thickness, probably averaging a little over 4 feet. In the southwest (juarter of section 25, on land of Wdliam Taylor, in this township. The coal revealed the following section: Clay, or soft clay shale; coal, 13 inches ; slate parting, 1 inch; coal, 1(5 inches ; bone coal and slate, 4 inches; coal, 20 inches; clay.

the tops of the high ridges in the eastern part of Center Township. The area of marketable coal, though conn)aratively small, will probably be sufficient to supply the local denumd for several yeiirs. The coal is reported as averaging about 4 feet. In the eastern part of the township there is a thick sandstone a few feet above the coal, continuous for several miles.

Marion Township liohls considerable Meigs Creek coal, although it is quite high in the hills. On the northwest quarter of section 1 of this township, on land of W. II. Craig, a section of coal was measured as follows: Shale, roof coal, 18 to 24 inches; clay shale, 18 inches; coal, 12 inches; slate ^ to 1 inch; coal, 12 inches ; bone coal or tough streak, 5 inches; coal, 17 inches; clay, 1 to 3 feet; limestone. In the B., Z. & C. R. K. cut at Freedom, in the southeast quarter of section 2, Marion Township, a section of a coal 113 feet, by barometer, above the Meigs Creek coal, measured as follows: Soil, soft, shaly sandstone, 4 feet; soft clay shale, blue and yellow, 10 feet ; coal, 12 inches ; clay, 5 inches ; coal, 5 inches ; clay.

About Freedom, and in the western part of Marion Township, a thick ledge of sandstone is found from two to four feet above the Meigs Creek coal, and often forty feet thick. In the ridge which runs north from Summerfield, the coal is often wanting, and always thin when found.

Hi8Toby Of Noble County, Ohio

was found to measure as follows: Shale; roof coal, twenty to twentyfour inches; clay, eighteen to twentyfour inches; coal, four to six inches ; clay parting, one-half inch; coal, twenty-four inches; bone coal or slate, two to three inches; coal, twenty to twenty-two inches; clay, two to four feet; limestone in layers, with slate between, ten feet, exposed. This coal was analyzed and found to contain : Moisture, 1.86 percent; volatile combustible matter, 39.63; fixed carbon; 45.92; ash, 12.59. It also contains 6.10 per cent of sulphur, and has a specific gravity of 1.376. It was rejwrted by the miners that in parts of this mine the roof coal was replaced by a white non-fossil if erous limestone, the clay between the roof coal and the main seam being found all regular between the white limestone and the regular seam. The coal is opened and worked for winter supply in almost every farm in the township, and is seldom found less than four feet in thickness. As the coal is well uj) in the hills, it can easily be reached by railroads. The B., Z. & C. railroad crosses the ridge far above the coal.

In Senecii Township there is very little of the Meigs Creek coal, it being found only in the highest ridges. The ridge between Beaver Fork and Seneca Fork of WilPs Creek holds quite a large outlier which furnishes coal for the adjoining farmers. The dividing ridge between Seneca Fork and Buffalo Fork of Will's Creek hokis the largest area of coal in the township. This is worked near Mount

Ephraim, in the mine of Samuel McConnell in the northwest quarter of section 33 and gives the following section: Hard shale; bone coal, or hard black slate, sixteen inches ; good coal, eight inches ; clay shale, eight to eighteen inches ; coal, ten inches ; parting, one-half to one inch; coal, fifteen inches; parting, one to two inches; coal, twenty inches; clay. The roof coal is left for roof, the clay shale being taken out of the entries, and in the rooms it is thrown back as it falls down. No higher coal marks were found in the township. A faint mark of the Pittsburgh coal was found at one place only.

Wayne Township has only a few outliers of the Meigs Creek coal in the northeast corner. The coal is in the very top of the hills, and, so far as could be ascertained, rather thin. It has been opened in the southeast quarter of section 21, and in the northwest quarter of section 28; in both places it was reported to be about three feet thick. A faint C4>al mark was seen fifty to fifty-five feet below the Meigs Creek coal, but no trace was found of the Pittsburgh coal, which ought to be a little lower. A few feet below the Meigs Creek coal is found a thick sandstone which is very nearly continuous in the northeastern part of Wayne and in the northwestern part of Beaver Township.

The northern and southern parts of Beaver Townshij) have considemble of the Meigs Creek coal, Avhile in the central part, it has been entirely cut away by Beaver Fork of Will's Creek, running west through the

Township. On the land of II. C. Reeil, in the southeast quarter of section 17, the coal is mined for the Williamsburg market. A section is as follows : Sandstone ; shale, eighteen inches; coal, sixteen inches: clay, sixteen inches ; slate two inches ; coal thirty inches ; clay parting, two inches; coal, twenty -four inches; ciay, two to four feet ; limestone.

It is said that several years ago a coal from three to four feet thick was dug out of the creek bed at ninetytwo feet below Heed's coal bank. The lower coal was sought farther to the south and west, but never found. If this be true, we are here upon the western edge of the valuable area of the Pittsburgh coal, extending eastward to the Ohio River

In section 1, Beaver Township, the Meigs Creek coal is three feet thick. In the northwest quarter of section 8 a strong coal mark was found ninety to lOO feet above the Meigs Creek coal. No openings into the upper seam were found. On William Lashley's land, in the southwest quarter of section 26, the Meigs Creek coal was found four and a half feet thick, with two thin partings dividing the coal seam into three nearly ecjual parts. The roof coal was from eighteen to twenty-four inches thick, and six to twelve inches above the main seam, from which it is sej)arated by clay.

The Meigs Creek coal is the same coal that is worked in lielmont County, and there known as the Upper Barnesville coal. From the researches of the geologist it is quite evident that the coal area of Noble

County is large and important, and though onl}^ slightly developed as yet, the time will doubtless come when mining will be one of the most important industries of the county.

Salt

This primary staple was developed at an early day in the history of this part of the State. Being one of tlie indisi)ensable re(juisites at the time of the first settlement of the State, it was brought from the east on packhorses at the cost of 20 cents per pound. Dr. Ilildreth says that the "great scarcity of it was a source of annoyance to the people. The animals suffered from its want, and when ranging the woods visited tlie clay banks which contained saline particles. And here necessity proved the mother of invention and pointed out the sujierficial source of the vast reservoir of that article so necessary for the healthful existence of animal life, of which the Indians from the earliest times had been cognizant, but had kept as an inviolable secret. In fact, all the saline sources firstutilized were indicated by the swamps or springs of brackish water frequented by the deer and buffalo. It is siiid that the first Siilt produced in this part of Ohio was made by a i)arty from Marietta in 1794, on a branch of the Scioto, a short distance from Chillicothe, the locality having been ])ointed out by a person who had been a prisoner with the Indians. In 1795 a locality was discovered in a similar Avay on Salt Creek, in Muskingum County, and "in the summer of 1796 a com- pany was formed at Marietta of fifty shareholders at $1.50 each, making a capital of $75. Twenty -four kettles Avere bought in Pittsburgh and transported by water to Duncan's Falls, and thence by pack-horses about seven miles to the salt licks. A well was (hig near the edge of the creek, fifteen feet deep, down to the rock which formed the bed of the stream, through the crevices in w^hich the siilt water came to the surface. The trunk of a hollow sycamore tree three feet in diameter was settled into the well and bedded in the rock below, so as to exclude the fresh water. A furnace was built of two ranges, containing twelve kettles in each, a shed erected over the furnace, and a small cabin for the workmen. The water from the well was raised by a sweep and pole. * * * By the aid of one man to chop and haul wood with a yoke of oxen they could make about one hundred pounds of salt in twenty-four houi^s, requiring 3,()00 gallons of water. * ^ * * Thus was made the first salt in the ]\[uskingum Valley." The company was kept up for three or four years. The works afterward became the property of the State, and were leased at a fixed rent until no person would i)ay the rent, and they were abandoned. Although some salt was afterward nuide on the Muskingum, it was not until 1820 and later that the industry became important on that river. Up to that time the inhabitants of southeastern Ohio had been supplied with salt principally from the Kanawha Salt Works in West Virginia.

Salt-making was one of the early industries of the Duck Creek Valley. Silas Thorla from Massiichusetts, entered the land on which the village of Olive now is, and began salt-making there in 1814. lie had previously been to the Kanawha salt-works, where he had worked long enough to learn the process and earn a little money with which to make a beginning. At that time salt was Avorth $2 a bushel and the supply hitherto had been brought by the settlers on pack-horses from great distances. By means of a spring-pole and rude ap{)aratus operated entirely by hand, a well was dug about 200 feet deep. Its location was near the railroad at the north end of Olive, close by the stream known as Salt Run, on the lot now owned by James Mc- Cune. A deer-lick, much frequented in early years, led to the discovery of salt water here. The well was Ciised with wooden tubing, a pump put in, with a blind horse as its motive power, and the water was received in a number of troughs, ftishioned from the trunks of large trees. For boiling the water all the kettles in the settlement that could be spared by their owners were borrowed and put in use. The siilt-well was also a gas-well and oil-well, and at times these products of the earth seriously interfered with the process of salt manufacturing.* establishment was known as McKee's Salt-works. Silas Thorla died early, but the business was carried on by McKee until the competition of the various salt-works on the Muskingum River had reduced the price of salt to 50 cents a bushel, when the works were abandoned. Altogether they were in operation nearly twenty years, and to supply fuel for boiling, nearly all the wood had been cut off from the neighboring hills. Some of the salt was markete<i in Barnesville, but most of it w^as bought by customers who came to the works for it.

A half-mile from the deer-lick at Olive, or a mile, following the windings of the run, Avas a similar lick. A well defined path, worn deep into the earth by the hoofs of elk, deer and buffalo, led from one lick to the other. About a year after Thorla started his salt-works, Robert Caldwell, John Caldwell and Isaac Hill, the latter an Englishman, dug a well at the upper lick, and, with an outfit somewhat similar to Thorla's began boiling salt. The business was continued for some years, all the salt being used to supply the local demand.

The McKee and Caldwell SaJtwells \vere the earliest, and for many years the only wells of the kind in the valley. In 1801 William Young and others formed a company and bored for salt at South Olive and erected a furnace which was managed successfully and profitably. During war-times salt was exceedingly scarce and the product of the works readily sold at $5 per barrel.

In the oil excitement the farm on which the salt-well was situated came into the possession of the Syracuse Oil and Salt Company, and thence into the hands of W. B. Ostrander, of Syracuse, N. Y. In 1871 an association known as the South Olive Salt Company, consisting of A. Haines, J. W. Campbell. P. M. Jordan, W. D. Guilbert and others, purchase<l the works. Afterward David Gouchenour and W. D. Guilbert bought the interests of the other shareholders and carried on the business until 1875. When they took hold of the works salt was worth $2.25, but its subsequent decline to DO cents made the industry unprofitable. Mr. Guilbert estimates that the cost of manufacture was not less than $1.50 per barrel. The brine from the well was not so strongasin the Muskingum Riversaltw^ells, and the proprietoi's were conseqently unable to compete with the Muskingum saltmakei's. Salt continued to be made at intervals at South Olive until 1877, when the works were entirely abandoned. The well was 200 feet deep, and the furnace when run at its full capacity made about 80 barrels of salt per week. In 187() Messrs. Gouchenour & Gilbert bored another salt-well. In 1877 the old salt- well suddenly took a strange freak and became an oilwell. In the space of 30 days about seven carloads or 350 barrels of oil w^ere pumped from it. The well has produced no oil since.

County, about a half mile further down the valley. Salt was also made here for a few years, and the works then abandoned. Salt is no longer reckoned among the products of Noble County.

Gas And Petroleum

In regard to petroleum, Noble Count}' makes a claim that cannot be refuted, of ix)ssessing the oldest oil wells in Ohio, and among the oldest in the country. Not that petroleum is a modern discovery, it was known very early in the history of the United States. Petroleum was found in springs along Oil Creek in Pennsylvania by the early French explorers. It was used by the Seneca Indians in their ceremonies as early as 1750, and even at that time was quite extensively known to the white people of Pennsylvania and New York, who called it Seneca oil, and believed it to be a sovereign remedy for aches and pains of almost every sort. Along Oil Creek between Titusville and Oil City, and elsewhere in Western Pennsylvania, have been found wall l)its, curbed with timber, which are supposed to have been excavated by the Indians for the purpose of obtaining oil. The early settlers gathered the petroleum from the surface of springs and creeks by spreading blankets so as to absorb it and then wringing them over a tub or some other receptacle. " Seneca oil" was long a staple medicine among the western pioneers. The main source of its supply was the region that afterwards became the great oil fields of Pennsylvania.

On Oil Creek, near Titusville, in Venango County, Pennsylvania, was one of the most prolific natural oil springs, and there the first systematic effort toward oil proiluction was made. In this locality, on the 28th of August, 1859, Col. E. L. Drake, a Connecticut yankee, in the employ of other parties, struck oil at a depth of seventy -one feet below the surface. This was the starting-point of one of the greatest of modern industries. The history of the subsequent oil excitement is familiar to all.

Some of the Pennsylvania pioneers discovered oil while boaring for siilt. Such a discovery was made near Butler, Pa., in 1811. Though Noble County can scarcely substantiate tiie claim which she has advanced of having the oldest oil well in the world, her title to the first in Ohio is indisputable; for, in a similar manner to the Pennsylvania discovery, the ( )li ve saltmakers struck oil while boaring a salt well in 1814. Nor was Noble County far behind Pennsylvania in sinking wells and putting them in working order, as will be indicated farther on in this chapter. In boaring for salt at Olive in 1814, Silas Thorla and Eobert McKee struck both oil and gas, both of which the well continued to produce us long as it was pumped for salt water. The gas pressure was very powerful, but much stronger at some times than at others. At intervals of a week or ten days, the gas was forced so rapidly from the well that water was thrown foi'ty feet or more into the air. After the ''blowing" had ceased there Avas not sufficient pres- sure to force the water to the surface. While the gas was issuing from the well, it was noticed that at a point near by in the creek bubbles of gas were being forced up through the water. The current of gas was sufficiently strong to burn steadily and brilliantly, and on being ignited would blaze up live or six feet, presenting the novel sight of a fire on top of a stream of running water. The flow of oil was also found to be intermittent, and at times the oil was pumped from the well and thrown away. Many barrels of it were thus thrown into the creek and wasted, because it interfered with the saltmaking. Some of the settlers made use of the oil in its crude state, burning it in their lamps. But the amount of smoke and the offensive odor arising from it precluded the possibility of its becoming popular as an illuminating agent.

The Caldwell salt-well on Salt Run, above Olive, also produced salt and gas abundantly. But by draining the salt water off from beneath the oil the brine could be used for the manufacture of salt, while the petroleum was principally suffered to go to waste. Like the other well, this one was at times affected by the gas pressure to such an extent that for three or four hours the gas was passing off in a forcible manner with a sound like the roar of esca{)ing steam, at the same time throwing out oil and water. At one time an obstruction in the run caused the stream to be dammed up, and the backwater extended up to the salt works. The surface of the water being thickly covered with oil, which had been allowed to run into the stream from the well, some boys, not knowing the nature of the stuff, thought it would be fun to set it on fire, and did so at the lower end. In a few minutes the run was a sheet of flame for a half mile, and dense clouds of black smoke ro]le<l up, obsuring the sky and frightening all who saw it. A considerable quantity of oil stored in troughs near the well took fire and were consumed. Fortunately the flames did not approach near enough to ignite the gas from the well, or more serious damage might have resulted.

In the liepuhllcan of July 7, 1870, the following reminiscence of one of the old-time salt-wells is related* on the authority of John McKee, an aged pioneer:

*' Mr. McKee states that he and a few others bored a well for salt water in the vicinity of where Olive Village now stands. Before they had reached the siilt water they struck a vein of oil, then known as British oil. After passing through this oil vein a short distance salt water was reached, a pump put in and the manufacture of salt begun. The company had no furnace, but instead the}^ borrowed all the iron kettles on Duck Creek, arranged them in double rows and made salt sufficient to supply the inhabitants of this thinly-settled region. The fires under the kettles Avere never allowed to go out,, but blazed brightly day and night J some member of the company attending to them during each night. Sufficient salt water was

"One niglit it fell to the lot of Robert Caldwell to 'run the machine.' Everything went well with him until nearly morning, when he found the water nearly exhausted and had to pump more. For this purp')se he mounted a platform made of puncheons to reach the springpole; this brought him eight or ten feet above the ground and almost directly over the well. In order to have light upon his work, he carried some blazing coals upon a piece of hickory bark. lie placed the bark upon the floor, seized the spring-pole and commenced work; but ere his task was half completed a live coal fell through the floor and very near to the well - quite near enough to i^jnite the ras from the well. Mr. Caldwell said he saw a ball of fire rise upward, while timbers cracked and irons rattled and his hair stood on end. Slow^ly this ball ascended, being fully as large as a haycock, until it reached the highest branches of a hickory tree standing neiir, when it (^xplo<led, making a noise equal to the loudest thunder. The noise was heard for five miles in every direction.

" Old Mr. Thorla, who owned most of the salt-well, was sleeping at Colonel Caldwell's, a half-mile distant. He heard the report, hastened to the spot and was most agreeably surprised to find all well. Robert (^aldwell was not hurt, but a w^oi^e scared man was never seen on Duck Creek."

of the pioneer oil men in the Duck Creek region. The way Mr. Duff became accjuainted with this territory is thus explained: A short time after Drake struck oil in Pennsylvania, Fulton Caldwell was in Pittsburgh and in an interview with Mr. DulT found the latter so imbued with the prevailing oil excitement that he could not talk of anything else. " Why," said Mr. Cald wJll, " we have had oil in our part of the country for over fifty years. It has nev^er caused any excitement or bt^en worth much to anybody." " You are not in earnest, are you ^" On being assured that he was, Mr. Duff reciuested Mr. Caldwell to send him a sample of the oil. When he reached his home, he sent to the old well at Olive, secureil a jug filled with petroleum and forwaixled it to Mr. Duff. A few days later found Duff in Noble County, leasing and bargaining for oil territory. Thereafter the excitement spread rapidly.

The first genuine oil w^ell in the Duck Creek region was drilled in the spring of 1800 on the Dennis Gibbs farm (now Mrs. Tilton's). The well was completed in the summer of the same year. The operators were Judge b. S. Gibbs, Dr. Erwin Gibbs and Erwin G. Dudley. Ten days later J. C. Tiiton began drilling a well on the Frank Blake farm. In both of these wells oil was found, but not in jmying quantities.

The first important oil well on Duck Creek, found by an actual pros])ector, was drilled on the James Dutton farm, about one nn'le below Macksburg, and completed in the fall of 1860 - a year after Colonel Drake's strike in Pennsylvania. Oil was found at a depth of sixty -seven feet below the surface. The well yielded over 100 barrels per day for some time. The oil was of 28*=^ gravity and a good lubricator. The well yielded al)out 18,000 barrels before it was abandoned. This pioneer well was drilled by James Dutton, in partnership with William Dutton, John Smithson and Alden Warren. The work was done by means of a springpole as in the case of all the early wells. Pumping was done by hand, and half a day's pumping filleil an eighty-barrel tank.

The success of the Dutton well encouraged scores of prospectors to try their luck, and it was not long before the valley of the w^est fork of Duck Creek, from Macksburg to Caldwell, was studded with derricks and the earth perforated with holes. Hundreds of the wells were failures; but oil was worth $8 to $10 per barrel, and the ardent operators w^ere not discouraged by a few unfortunate ventures.

David McKee, in the fall of 1860, completed and put in operation the " Diamond " well in JefiFerson Township below Dexter City. This well was pumped for a time, but the water interfered to such an extent that it was found impracticable to work it.

In the winter of 1860-1 Andrew Woodford completed the first paying well of any note in Xoble County. This was on the Levi Davis farm, and yielded about ten barrels per day. Across the creek from the Woodford well was afterward put down the

The most celebrated well in the vicinity of Caldwell was the Socum well, two miles south of Caldwell. Oil was struck at a depth of eightyseven feet. The well is said to have flowed fifty barrels in eighteen minutes. Its yield was so great that every receptacle at hand was soon filled, and hundreds of barrels of oil flowed into the creek and w^ere wasted. For some time after its com|)letion the well yielded several hundred barrels per (kiy. Other wells put down around it tapped the same vein, let in the surface water, and eventually ruined it. The Socum w^ell w^as bored and owned by Speai*s & Wheeler, of this county. The oil was of 35 degrees gravity. Most of the oil Avas purchased by Gibbs, McKee & Co., Avho hauled it to Coal" Run, on the Muskingum River, and lost money by the operation.

The war checked the oil excitement, and, as it progressed, stopped it completely. But in the fall of 1865 speculation in od lands was revived, and for a time there was the greatest excitement among the owners of such lands. Oil men came from New England, New^ York and Pennsylvania and purchased or leased all the territory that they could. Companies w^ere forme<l wnth capital stock ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000, and plenty of credulous Eastern peo])le were found to buy their stock. The lands in Noble County that wei'e supposed to lie in the belt appreciated in value from twenty to fifty fold. Many who owned lands along the creek had fortunes within their grasp ; but when offered $1,000 per acre for land that was not worth $50 for agriciiltural purposes, they still held on, hoping to realize a still more exorbitant price. The golden opportunity passed, and very few farms were sold.

After the collapse of this second oil excitement, there were no important oil oi>erations in the Duck Creek Valley except in the vicinity of Macksburg. That village is situated in Washington County, but the best of the oil territory in its vicinity lies in Noble. There, George Rice and Mr. Decker and his sons Avere the principal o])enitors. They drilled only for the shallow oil, found in what is called the 500 foot sand, which was found to be quite productive.

In the fall of 1865 was completed the Eastwood & Parker well, near the southwest corner of Olive Township. This was the first floAving well in the county. It continued to flow for about two weeks, at first yielding at the rate of fifty barrels per day. This was a lighter oil than any previously discovered on Duck Creek. Before tanks could be* constructed to receive it the oil was allowed to flow for several days into a hollow m the ground, whence it was dip])ed up and barreled.

The Eastwood & Parker well was in operation until May, 1869, when another well tapped and destroyed it. Toward the last it yieldeil about ten barrels per day. The well which caused its suspension was put down

Contemporaneous with the Eastwood & Parker well, the Duck Creek Valley Oil Company, composed chiefly of Eastern capitalists, obtained four paying wells on the farm then owned by J. C. Tilton, near Dexter City. All were in operation for years, and two are still pumj>ed at intervals.

Gouchenour & Gilbert, at South Olive, struck oil at a depth of al>out 900 feet. The well was pumped for oil, but yielded but little. Fr^m 1865 to 1868, the oil production of the county was quite extensive. Then, as at first, and until 1871, oil was hauled to Ix)well on the Muskingum River, a distance from twelve to fifteen miles from the wells. At Lowell it was taken by the Muskingum River boats, carried to Marietta and Parkersburg, and thence shipped to various markets. The cost of getting the oil to the river was very great, reaching in some cases the enormous figure of $1 per barrel. This, added to the cost of production and the freight charges by boat and rail, left httle margin for profit when oil began to decline in price, as it speedily did, owing to the immense production in the Pennsylvania fields. The shallow wells were so rapidly exhausted that the yield did not pa\' for working, and one after another they were abandoned. The completion of the C. & M. Railroad to Caldwell in 1871, gave prcxlucers an outlet for their oil, and for a time, production was greatly stimulated in consequence thereof.

There is little doubt that many of the first wells failed to produce, owing to the imperfect apparatus then in use, the deficiency of the curbing and the inex|)erience of the operators.

The oil production in the vicinity of Caldwell was never very great. Most of the wells were small producers and ot shallow depth. In December, 1SC}(\, the Upi)er Duck Ci'eek Petroleum Company, struck oil near the village of Olive, at a depth of 425 feet. Over fifty barrels were taken during the first day. This, according to a local paper, was the first well in the vicinity that had l>een put down more than 250 feet.

The greatest production of oil in the Macksburg field is from Noble County wells, though Washington County usually gets credit for it, simply because the oil is stored in that county. Jefferson Township, Noble County, in particular has of late proved a most prolific field.

The chief oil excitement in Jefferson Township started in 1SS8. The first well was drilled on the William Clark farm and pi-oved to be a good one. The second, on the Ohio Coal Company's land, was known i\s the Lang well. It started at 125 barrels per day and is still producing a small quantity. Five wells on the George Hupp farm now produce about forty barrels per day. They are from 1,600 to 1,800 feet deep. On this farm a showing of oil, with

In April, 1877, a well was drilled on the Mitchell farm, near Dexter City, which has proved the most phenomenal gas well in Noble County. In attempting to case the well in the summer of 188(), water was let into it in order to facilitate the drilling. Hefore the drills could be got in place again the gas pressure was so great that the water had frozen into solid ice, as was shown by the result of the drilling, at a depth of 1,450 feet in the earth. The volume of gas discharged from the well is enonnous, and its roar can be heard a great distance. The gas has been ignited on several occasions, blazing to the toj) of the derrick. When it first began to discharge gas the roar could be heard for two or three miles. It is the intention to utilize the gas from this well in Dexter City.

The later history of the oil operations in Noble County and the Macksburg field is thus given by Captain I. C. Phillips, of Caldwell, in a carefully written article, prepared for the second edition of Howe's History of Ohio, and is here inserted by permission of its author:

" In the year 1869 or 1870, George Rice concluded that perhaps geological conditions existed in the Macksburg field similar to those in Penn sylvania, and determined to test the matter with the drill, and was sue cessful in 'finding a light well in tl i third sand, at a depth of 1,450 feei The result Mr. Rice kept as a profound secret. In the winter of

1882-3, the ' wild cutters' from the oil fields of Pennsylvania put in an a])j)earance and began operations on Long Run, about three miles southeast of Macksburg, in Jefferson Township, Noble County. They were successful in finding oil in the third sand, but plugged the well, removed the derrick and reported, when questioned by the anxious farmers in the vicinity, that it was a failure, allowed their lea^ses to expire, and to complete the hoax, hired a farmer, under pledge of secrecy, to haul some oil over the hill from Macksburg, and i>our it on the ground around the well, telling him that other oil men from Pennsylvania would come, and being deceived by the appearance of the oil at the well, would buy his and his neighbors' lands at a goo<l price, for the pur{)ose of drilling for oil. They then departed and in a short time the supposed ' greenies,' stranger's, ignorant of the facts, as the farmers supposed, arrived, and were enabled to lease lands for a small royalty and a light bonus, and made purchases outright of lands, at about what they were worth for agricultural purposes. After most of the land over a wide extent of country had been secured, drilling began in earnest, and there was a general rush to the new field from all quarters and the field Wius rapidly develoj)ed and its limit defined. Inside these limits there was scarcely a chance of failure to find oil in the third sand, in paying quantities. Pumping stations were established to force water to the tops of the highest hills for the use of the drillers, and soon the ground was a net work of pipes conveying water and oil to their different destinations.

" The wells range in depth from 1,425 in the valleys, to 1,900 feet on the hill-tops. The Held has an area of about 4,000 acres, and is oval in shape with its longest axis extending from the northw^estto the southeast. The sand varies in thickness from three to twenty feet, and besides containing oil has enough gas in the same rock to force the oil to the surface with great energy, through a tube usually two inches in diameter, enclosed in a gum packer, located 5< ) or 60 feet above the oil producing sand , which prevents the water from descending to the sand and causes the oi I and gas to How through the tube and discharge into the receiving tank located near the well. Then it is drawn oflf into the Standard Oil Company's tanks, erected for storage purposes. These tanks are erected in the valley above Elba, Washington County, and are connected with ail the wells in the field except those belonging to George Rice. The receiving tanks number 35 or 40 and have a capacity of ()00,000 barrels, and are connected with the refineries located at Parkersburg, W. Va., by a three inch pipe line. The Macksburg field at its best produced about 3500 barrels of oil daily. The production has fallen to about 1,800 barrels daily, at the present writing, November 1st, 18S*). This production is from about 5iK) wells.

ing tanks at Alacksburg and laid a two-inch pipe line over the hill^ to Lowell, on the Muskingum Eiver, through whi^ he forces oil into lK)ats at that pkice, and floats it to his refinery located at Marietta. The Macksburg field could never boast of such wonderful ' gushers ' as were found in the Thorn Creek and Washington fields of Pennsylvania. The best well in the Macksburg field probably did not produce more than 300 barrels the tiret 2-i hours after it was shot and tubed ; the sand is more compact than any of the fields in Pennsylvania, and consequently yields its precious contents more slowly, and the well is not so soon exhaust^. Northeast of Macksburg near the edge of the field several large gas-wells have been struck in the search for oil, which wouhl have caused great excitement in any other locality, but which here were only referred to as a failure to find oil. One of these wells visited by the writer three months after the gas was tapped, threw a column of salt water 90 feet high, at intervals of five minutes ; between these intervals the column stood about 50 feet high as steadily as a fountain in full play. In time the great salt rock here, 180 feet thick, became nearly exhausted of its water, and the intervals became longer, but the gas has not decreased perceptibly, although more than two years has elapsed since the well was drilled.