Oil-Producing Salt Well

Drilled here in 1815 by Samuel Magaw and William Clark to reach brine, a frontier source of salt, this well was deepened by Daniel Shryock to 300 feet in 1819 and struck oil. Because of this unwanted byproduct, the well and salt works here were closed in 1821. This early yield of oil from a drilled well occurred 40 years before Edwin L. Drake's 1859 discovery near Titusville.

Pennsylvania · United States