On A Handshake: Humble Beginnings to Global Impact: Ohio's Oil & Gas Industry

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ON A HANDSHAKE 

Humble Beginnings to Global Impact: 

Ohio’s Oil & Gas Industry 

by Mark J. Camp, Ph.D. 

A publication of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association 

HPNbooks 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

Derricks constructed in a shallow former canal reservoir . 

COURTESY OF THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2016 HPNbooks 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing 

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to HPNbooks, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790, www.hpnbooks.com. 

ISBN: 978-1-944891-00-8 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2016932414 

O N A H A N D S H A K E : H u m b l e B e g i n n i n g s t o G l o b a l I m p a c t — O h i o ’ s O i l & G a s I n d u s t r y 

2 

On a Handshake: Humble Beginnings to Global Impact—Ohio’s Oil & Gas Industry 

author: Mark J. Camp, Ph.D. 

contributing writer for “Sharing the Heritage”: Garnette Bane 

Eric Dabney 

HPNbooks 

president: Ron Lammert 

project manager: Mary Hanley 

administration: Donna M. Mata 

Melissa G. Quinn 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

production: Colin Hart 

Glenda Tarazon Krouse 

Evelyn Hart 

Tim Lippard 

Tony Quinn 

Christopher D. Sturdevant 

PRINTED IN MALAYSIA

CONTENTS 

4 LEGACY SPONSORS 

6 INTRODUCTION 

7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

9 CHAPTER 1 In the Beginning There was Shale... 

13 CHAPTER 2 Ohio’s Subsurface 

17 CHAPTER 3 Significant Oil and Gas-Bearing Rocks of Ohio 

21 CHAPTER 4 The First Discoveries of Gas and Oil 

31 CHAPTER 5 The Search Spreads 

55 CHAPTER 6 Trenton Plays 

89 CHAPTER 7 Even Deeper Plays 

93 CHAPTER 8 From Discovery to Final Product 

117 CHAPTER 9 The Marcellus and Utica - 21st Century Boom 

121 CHAPTER 10 The Human Side of the Oil and Gas Industry 

During the Boom Years 

146 OHIO OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY TIMELINE 

148 SOME GAS AND OIL FIELD TERMS AND PHRASES 

150 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

153 DATA FROM THE GAS AND OIL FIELDS 

163 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

165 SHARING THE HERITAGE: EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION 

234 SHARING THE HERITAGE: A STRONG FOUNDATION 

263 SPONSORS 

264 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

C O N T E N T S 

3

LEGACY SPONSORS 

Through their generous support, these companies helped to make this project possible. 

Ariel Corporation 

35 Blackjack Road Extension 

Mount Vernon, OH 43050 

740-397-0311 • Fax 740-397-3856 

www.arielcorp.com 

Bass Energy, Inc. 

130 Merz Boulevard 

Fairlawn, OH 44333 

330-869-8070 • Fax 330-869-6313 

www.bassenergyco.com 

Dearing Compressor & Pump Co. 

3974 Simon Road 

Youngstown, OH 44501 

330-599-5720 • Fax 330-599-5724 

www.dearingcomp.com 

Dominion East Ohio 

Dominion Energy Resources 

120 Tredegar Street 

Richmond, VA 23219 

888-366-8280 

www.dominionenergy.com 

International Union of Operating 

Engineers, Local 18 

3515 Prospect Avenue 

Cleveland, OH 44115 

216-432-3138 • Fax 216-432-0370 

www.iuoelocal18.org 


4

J. D. Gas & Oil, Inc. 

J. D. Gas & Oil, Inc. 

6995 Sweetheart Drive 

Zanesville, OH 43701-8607 

740-796-3305 

Moore Well Services, Inc. 

246 North Cleveland Avenue 

Mogadore, OH 44260 

330-628-4443 • Fax 330-628-4449 

www.moorewellservices.com 

Ohio Oil Gathering, LLC 

EnLink Midstream 

9320 Blackrun Road 

Nashport, OH 43830 

740-828-2892 • Fax 740-828-3660 

www.enlink.com 

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP 

52 East Gay Street 

Columbus, OH 43215 

614-464-6400 • Fax 614-464-6350 

www.vorys.com 

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company 

100 East First Street 

Brewster, OH 44613 

330-767-3401 

www.wlerwy.com 

L E G A C Y S P O N S O R S 

5

INTRODUCTION 

Ohio ranked 17th in oil and gas production in the United States in 2014. Before the Texas and 

Oklahoma booms of the early 1900s, Ohio was a leader in national production from 1895 to 1903. 

This was due to the Trenton plays of the Lima-Indiana field which produced over 380 million 

barrels of oil and 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A glance at the Oil and Gas Map of Ohio clearly 

shows the historic binary bands of production—the Lima-Indiana belt in the northwest and the 

eastern belt covering the eastern half of the state. The gas fields of eastern Ohio are currently 

expanding due to the exploration in the Utica shale. Standing out between these two historic areas 

of production are the oil fields of Morrow County. 

The following will present a history of the development of the oil and gas industry in the 

Buckeye state, from the early 1800s to present day. The history is an erratic one, with one play 

following another with no particular relationship to age of rock, stratigraphic position, or 

geographic location. The plan is to present this history based on these plays with the addition of 

the earliest plays in northeast and southeast Ohio and the current Marcellus and Utica activity. The 

state has been divided into regional areas for this discussion, but the boundaries are arbitrary and 

sometimes overlap. 

Right: A well burns somewhere in 

northwestern Ohio. 

COURTESY OF THE MAX SHAFFER COLLECTION, WOOD 

COUNTY HISTORICAL CENTER & MUSEUM 


6

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

This work, like many histories, is based on the work of many others who collected and 

assembled the data, physically witnessed the described events, took the photographs, wrote the 

reports and papers, and made the interpretations. To these folks I am sincerely indebted. Thank 

you for making sure this information was recorded and preserved for future generations. Finding 

this information involved many trips, both physical and virtual, to Ohio libraries, museums, and 

historical societies. Through the years my personal library has grown to hold considerable geologic 

resources, so much data was already on hand. I spent numerous hours at the Toledo Lucas County 

Public Library Local History room combing through their extensive collections of Ohio history 

books, journals, newspapers, scrapbooks, and photos. I revisited the Wood County Historical 

Center in Bowling Green to scan more photographs and documents from the Max Schaffer 

collection. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological Survey provided 

historic photographs from their collections. Of course, their publications were a major source of 

early data on oil and gas. I traveled throughout the Lima-Indiana field visiting many of the ghost 

towns and recording what remained. Thanks are also extended to the Allen County Historical 

Museum, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, American Oil & Gas Historical 

Society, Bremen Area Historical Society, Center for Archival Collections–Bowling Green State 

University, Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland State University, Fairfield County District Library, 

Hancock Historical Museum, Little Cities of Black Diamonds, Marietta College, Monroe County 

District Library, Monroe County Historical Society, Morgan County Library, New Straitsville 

History Center, North Baltimore Historical Society, Ohio Historical Society, Perry County Public 

Library, Puskarich Harrison County Public Library, Scio Historical Museum, the Southeastern Ohio 

Digital Shoebox Project, Tuscarawas County Historical Society, the U.S. Geological Survey, the 

Washington County Public Library, and Wood County District Public Library for maintaining 

collections and websites used during this study. Ben Eckart’s website, “History of the National 

Refining Company” (www.enarco.com) and Samuel T. Pees’ website, “Oil History” 

(http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/OHindex.html), were also valuable resources. 

Thanks go to my co-author of Ohio Oil and Gas, Jeff A. Spencer, for sharing some newly acquired 

historic photographs not used in our earlier work. I also extend thanks to former students—Julius 

Blanco of Marathon Petroleum and Kyle Tharp of the Ohio Division of Oil & Gas and employees 

of Chesapeake Energy for arranging field trips for my applied geology class to Marathon’s Oregon 

storage facility and a number of drilling sites in eastern Ohio. Mark Baranoski, another former UT 

student, of the ODNR Division of Geological Survey arranged for the use of historic photographs. 

Thanks, Mark. Tom Boltz of the North Baltimore Historical Society provided me with images from 

their fine collection as did Holly Hartlerode, Curator of the Wood County Historical Center & 

Museum. I also thank the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, for asking me to undertake this project. 

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 

7


8

CHAPTER ONE 

I N T H E B E G I N N I N G T H E R E W A S S H A L E 

Five hundred million years ago a shallow sea covered what was to become Ohio. The planet had 

already been evolving for over four billion years—-small land masses were forming, more 

interactions were taking place between the developing atmosphere, erupting volcanoes, and the 

land and sea. Rocks that had originally cooled and solidified to form the primordial crust were 

being broken down by chemicals in the air—often crumbling to sand and mud and eventually 

finding a way to the early oceans. The coarsest particles accumulated along the coastlines and finer 

ones clouded the seas. This sediment was the beginning of the vast sedimentary archives of 

Earth. The coarser particles were compressed and cemented to become conglomerates, 

breccias, sandstones, and siltstones; the finer particles became mudstones and shales. In a short 

time, this sediment became mixed with the remains of simple micro-organisms—organic matter. 

Billions of years passed; year after year more sediment accumulated on top of the previous year’s 

deposit. As the Earth evolved so did the organisms — from one-celled creatures to complex 

invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants. The remains of these organisms—fossils and organic 

chemicals – accumulated with the sediments. Thousands of feet of sedimentary rock built up in 

some places. In other locales the rocks buckled and broke and were pushed up into mountains, 

sometimes accompanied by volcanic eruptions and lava extrusion. The cycle continued as the 

uplifted areas were subjected to even stronger erosion; resulting in even more sediments. Thus has 

been the history of our planet. The seas come and go, mountains come and go, lands come and go, 

and so on. What nature builds up; nature takes away, but then rebuilds. This is 

our history. 

The sediment that formed in the geologic past is now buried as sedimentary rocks below the 

surface of Ohio. We see it occasionally where a stream, river, Lake Erie, or glacial icesheet has cut 

into it, underneath our soils. It also appears where we have quarried away the overburden, sunk a 

mine shaft, or drilled a well. Because the sediment is of different shapes and sizes, as it settles out 

of oceans and other water bodies, there is always pore space between the particles. The coarser the 

sediment; the more space between particles. Finer particles also settle with openings among the 

particles, but usually of small size. Water from the sea in which the sediment was deposited often 

fills many of the pore spaces, especially in sandstones, something geologists call connate water. Of 

course, more recent water—freshwater—trickles down into the rocks from the surface. This 

groundwater is an important resource and totally saturates pore space at a certain depth called the 

water table. Early humans learned of groundwater from places where it rises to the surface as springs 

or seeps. They also learned that they could contact it by simply digging deep into the ground. 

A few of these springs or seeps were salty, others stunk of sulfur, and still others had oily 

films or sticky black oozes—-all were evidence of what lay below. The salt came from 

ancient seawater and the solution of subsurface evaporite deposits. These lighter density 

compounds moved toward the surface whenever given the opportunity. Water reacting with 

sulfurous minerals, like pyrite, generated hydrogen sulfide, a gas with a distinctive “rotten egg” 

smell. In some places, organic matter from the remains of once living organisms became trapped 

among the fine pores of shales and mudstones. Continued compression and an increase in 

temperature due to deeper and deeper burial of the fine-grained sedimentary rocks eventually 

transformed the organics into hydrocarbons—mainly natural gas and oil. Commonly the 

hydrocarbons were forced out of the source rock to eventually move to areas of lower pressure. 

This migration might occur over immense amounts of time and result in considerable relocation. 

Because of their lighter densities the hydrocarbons tend to move upward in the strata through time. 

Opposite: Some oil and gas traps displayed 

in an east-west cross section across Ohio. 

COURTESY OF JOHN WICKS EXPLORATION. 

C H A P T E R O N E 

9

Right: John Strong Newberry. 

All the time, the gas and oil are acquiring the 

various changes in chemical composition and 

viscosity that will define their future use as 

fuels, lubricants, medicine, etc. Migration 

ends when either the gas or oil reach the 

surface or they are trapped within the rock 

strata by changes in the lithology or geologic 

structure. If a suitable reservoir rock is 

present where conditions terminate the 

migration, an accumulation of hydrocarbons 

(a pool) may form. This is what petroleum 

geologists are looking for. 

In the mid-1800s geologists and other 

scientists were puzzled by the scattered 

occurrence of gas and oil. By the turn of the 

century, Ohio geologists were convinced the 

gas and oil had an organic origin rather than 

an inorganic one favored by certain chemists, 

but the details were lacking. By 1899 two 

noted Ohio geologists—John Strong 

Newberry and Edward J. Orton had published 

their thoughts on this matter. In 1859 

Newberry reported: 

The precise process by which petroleum is 

evolved from the carbonaceous matter 

contained in the rocks which furnish it is 

not yet fully known, because we cannot 

in ordinary circumstances inspect it. We 

may fairly infer, however, that it is a 

distillation, though generally performed at a 

low temperature. 

He further reports in 1882: 

I have already referred to the Huron shale 

as a probable source of the greater part of the 

petroleum obtained in this country…. We 

have in the Huron shale a vast repository of 

solid hydro-carbonaceous matter which may 

be made to yield ten to twenty gallons of oil to 

the ton by artificial distillation. Like all other 

organic matter this is constantly undergoing 

spontaneous distillation, except where hermetically 

sealed deep under rock and water. 

This results in the formation of oil and gas, 

closely resembling those which we make artificially 

from the same substance…. The rock 

itself is frequently found saturated with petroleum, 

and the overlying strata, if porous, are 

sure to be more or less impregnated with it. 

In 1890, Orton summarized the ideas 

about the origin of petroleum: 

1. Most geologists hold that petroleum is derived 

from organic substances that were 

incorporated with the strata when the latter 

were formed. There is substantial harmony 

among the entire class of geologists as to 

this point. 

2. The majority incline to the opinion that 

vegetable substances have supplied the chief 

sources, but some count animal remains as 

also an important source. There are a few 

authorities upon the subject, chiefly foreign, 

who consider animal remains the chief, or 

perhaps, the sole source of petroleum. 

3. Many hold that it is the result of destructive 

distillation of the organic matter of the rocks. 

They rely upon such facts as have been 

already adduced, that certain shales, for 

example, contain a considerable percentage of 

hydrocarbonaceous material that is easily 

transformed by heat into several products of 

the bituminous theory. 

4. In accounting for the origin of oil and gas by 

destructive distillation of the shale, the 

advocates of the theory seem bound to furnish 

an adequate source of the heat required, and 

also to show what has become of the carbon 

residue that is inseparably connected with the 

process of destructive distillation. Real 

difficulties beset this theory in these regards. 


10

The view that destructive distillation is 

accomplished at ordinary temperatures would 

relieve the first difficulty, if such a process 

could be substantiated, but at present it only 

stands as an entirely unsupported suggestion. 

5. According to one phase of this theory, 

petroleum is constantly forming in the rocks; 

of course, as the world is old, the great stocks 

were formed thousands and millions of years 

ago. According to a second phase of the 

theory, the oil of the Allegheny field was 

formed at the time when the Appalachian [sic] 

mountains were elevated. 

6. A small number of geologists hold the view 

that petroleum results from the primary 

decomposition of organic matter; that the 

production is not a lost art of nature, but is in 

actual, though perhaps feeble operation at the 

present time, its chief seats being in tropical or 

subtropical regions. According to this view, the 

disseminated petroleum that the rocks contain 

was formed when the rocks themselves were 

formed. Organic matter which is notoriously 

unstable reaches in the bituminous series its 

stage of rest, and we may, therefore, truly 

speak of Silurian oil, Devonian oil, Tertiary oil 

and the like, the several stocks really having 

the age of the beds that hold them. 

The 

process of oil formation, according to this 

theory, ceased long ago in the older rocks. 

7. The facts upon which the last theory must rest 

are not well enough substantiated to allow 

[sic] as to build upon them with full 

confidence, but we are justified in looking 

upon it with great interest [sic] us it furnishes 

on the whole the best explanation of the facts 

for which we are obliged to account. 

Adding to the ideas of Newberry and Orton, 

Charles B. Morrey, an Ohio State University 

Professor of Bacteriology proposed around 

1902 that bacteria transformed organic matter 

into gas and oil. To quote Dr. Morrey: 

In accounting for the origin of oil and gas 

from organic matter, geologists have been 

unable to furnish the agent which might have 

brought about the proper decomposition, 

since there is no evidence of the action of heat 

on the vegetable and animal remains in Ohio 

fields at least. 

Now the only other agent with which we 

are acquainted which can produce the same 

compounds as we have in destructive 

distillation of organic matter are Bacteria. 

So, the gas or oil begins in a source rock, 

but because of differing densities, begins to 

move laterally or vertically from its birthplace, 

following fractures, pore spaces, and larger 

cavities or vugs. This migration continues 

until it reaches the surface or something 

impedes the movement. Since 1934, this 

impediment has been called a trap. A trap 

causes the hydrocarbons to concentrate and 

form a pool. In the mid-1800s geologists 

pinpointed the anticline as associated with 

oil and gas pools and thus most of the 

early searches involved drilling at known 

upward bends in the strata. It was soon found 

that this was just one of many different ways 

in which oil and gas could be caused to 

accumulate. Traps within reservoir rocks are 

often divided into structural, stratigraphic, 

and combination types. 

The hydrocarbons in Ohio reservoir 

rocks have been shown to be derived 

from shales of mainly the Devonian, Sunbury, 

Ohio, and Olentangy and Ordovician Point 

Pleasant formations, migrating along faults, 

fractures, unconformities, and extensive 

permeable beds from deep within the 

Appalachian basin. 

Left: Edward J. Orton. 

C H A P T E R O N E 

1 1


12

CHAPTER TWO 

O H I O ’ S 

S U B S U R F A C E 

The Ordovician strata are covered unconformably by younger rocks to the north and east, 

beginning with sandstones, shales, limestones, and dolostones dating to 420 to 445 million years 

old. This is the Silurian bedrock of western Ohio. It lies beneath the soil and spans from Dayton 

and Springfield, north to Toledo, west to the Indiana border, between Preble and Paulding 

Counties, and southwest to the Ohio River, in Adams County. The deepest Silurian strata contain 

the “Clinton”sandstone, which replaced the Trenton as the main producing formation in the state 

in the early 1900s. The “Clinton” unit formed in delta distributaries and as offshore bars as the 

former Taconic Mountains were being eroded away. The “Clinton” appears as sandstone lenses in 

central Ohio and as sheet deposits in the eastern counties. The Silurian rocks form the center of a 

series of north-south bands of bedrock in western Ohio. Bands to either the west or east of the 

Silurian show increasingly younger bedrock—from Devonian to Pennsylvanian age, 415- to 300- 

million- year-old rock. This is part of a gentle upward flexure of the sedimentary rock layers called 

the Cincinnati arch in the south and the Findlay Arch in the northern part of the state. This 

structure, along with associated fault systems, facies changes, and unconformities plays a role in 

the occurrence of oil and gas plays in Ohio, serving as traps for migrating petroleum. From a 

sedimentary section of 2,600 feet in northwestern Ohio, strata thickens to over 12,000 feet on the 

edge of the Appalachian basin in southeastern Ohio. 

Later in Silurian time, warm shallow seas returned to Ohio. By this time colonial corals 

flourished and led to the buildup of organic accumulations called reefs. Reef growth spread 

throughout the Silurian seas, often bordering areas where slow sinking of bottom sediments were 

taking place. These reefs eventually were buried in sediment and covered by younger rock layers. 

Their resistance to compaction left pores and cavities that later filled with fluids including 

petroleum and brines. This is represented by the Newburg horizon of the subsurface, a rather 

porous dolostone which here and there yields natural gas. In late Silurian time, seas withdrew from 

Ohio exposing former sea bottoms to erosion and leading to the evaporation of areas still covered 

by seas and the precipitation of dolomite, gypsum and rock salt. 

Shallow seas returned around four hundred million years ago during the Devonian Period. Once 

again limey and clay-rich sediments accumulated, forming limestones and shales. In present day 

eastern Ohio, rivers flowing out of an upland landscape, carried sands and silts, depositing them 

in finger-like deltas reaching the central counties. The Berea Sandstone, another oil producer, is 

typical of this deltaic deposition. Surrounding the deltas were subsiding basins where the finegrained 

sediments formed organic-rich shales. Late in Devonian time, the sea covering Ohio 

received a great influx of mud, forming a thick sequence of organic-rich shales. This led to the 

Olentangy and Ohio shales, source rock for hydrocarbons. The Devonian bedrock forms two 

bands. One extends along the Lake Erie shoreline from Ashtabula to Sandusky, then south through 

Columbus to the Ohio River in Adams and Scioto Counties. The other one extends from west of 

Toledo to the Indiana border with Paulding County. There is also a small erosional remnant at the 

crest of the Cincinnati Arch around Bellefontaine in Logan County. 

More deltaic deposition—sandstones, siltstones, and shales—characterizes the younger bedrock 

of the eastern half of the state. Mississippian strata (318-359 million years old) form the bedrock 

just south of the Devonian bedrock from Trumbull to Huron Counties and south to the Ohio River 

and Portsmouth. These rocks form the upland landscape along the edge of the Allegheny Plateau— 

the hills of southeastern Ohio. They are best known for their scenic shelter caves, natural arches, 

and waterfalls such as seen in Hocking Hills and Mohican State Parks. 

Opposite: Ohio geologic map. 

COURTESY OF THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL 

RESOURCES DIVISION OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

C H A P T E R T W O 

1 3

Streams and rivers continued to shape 

ancient Ohio on the far western edge of the 

rising Appalachian Mountains during 

Pennsylvanian time, some 310 million years 

ago. The meandering water courses 

periodically carved channels, depositing 

pebbles and sand, to later become 

conglomerates and sandstones. Floodplains 

formed from accumulating silt and mud. Low 

spots became marshes and swamps where 

organic debris eventually led to peat and 

coal formation. Fluctuating sea levels led 

to shifting delta complexes which produced 

the cyclic depositional-erosional events 

recorded in the Pennsylvanian strata. 

Petroleum trapped in some of the 

Pennsylvanian channel sands led to some of 

the earliest discoveries in the state. The 

Pennsylvanian strata underlie most of the 

southeastern counties. 

The youngest strata in the state outcrop 

from Belmont to Washington Counties 

along the Ohio River. These are Permian in 

age (299-251 million years old) and are hard 

to distinguish from the underlying 

Pennsylvanian strata. Deltaic deposition 

continued until the end of the Paleozoic Era. 

Strata of Mesozoic and Cenozoic age are 

lacking in the state due to the withdrawal of 

the shallow seas and slow rise of the 

landscape, continuing after the Appalachian 

mountain building episode. The present day 

landscape owes its origin to the erosionaldepositional 

processes of great glacial ice 

lobes and the ever present modification by the 

current drainage systems and Lake Erie. 

Opposite: A typical pump jack at a well in 

Jackson Township, Knox County, in 1953. 




14

C H A P T E R T W O 

1 5


16

CHAPTER THREE 

S I G N I F I C A N T O I L A N D G A S - B E A R I N G R O C K S O F O H I O 

The first Ohio strata discovered to contain hydrocarbons were shallow sandstones from the 

Allegheny plateau of the southeastern counties. As settlers headed into the hills bordering the Ohio 

and Muskingum Rivers they noted numerous oil and gas seeps or springs. With just a little shallow 

digging they saw that the fluids were coming from the bedrock and eventually using primitive 

methods drilled shallow wells. One of the first tasks of the newly created State Geological Survey 

was to uncover the mineral resources of the state. By 1900, state geologists had reported on most 

of the gas- and oil- bearing strata of the state. The main producers are listed in stratigraphic order, 

that is from oldest to youngest. 

T H E R O S E R U N 

The Rose Run sandstone has been an important source of gas and oil since its initial discovery 

in 1965. It is part of the much thicker Cambro-Ordovician Knox dolomite and stretches in the 

subsurface in a Northeast-Southwest band from Ashtabula to Pickaway County. It was named for 

a well site in Bath County, Kentucky. The sandstone is medium to coarse grained, dolomitic in 

places, and poorly sorted. It is considered Late Cambrian in age. 

T H E 

T R E N T O N 

Named after outcrops first described in Trenton Township, Oneida County, New York, this 

Ordovician limestone-dolostone is in the subsurface of Ohio, but closest to the surface 

in northwestern Ohio. It led to the Findlay gas boom in 1884 and the discovery of oil at Lima, 

the next year. Around sixty thousand producing gas and oil wells were drilled to this 

horizon. Production from the Trenton pushed Ohio to one of the top producers in the country 

in the 1890s. 

A generalized column of bedrock units 

in Ohio. 



T H E U T I C A S H A L E 

This organic-rich Ordovician shale lies in the subsurface of much of Ohio. It is interbedded with 

thin beds of fossiliferous limestone. It varies in thickness from 0 to 340 feet, becoming thicker in 

the Appalachian basin. Upon stimulation the strata yields gas and some oil. 

T H E C L I N T O N S A N D 

The Clinton sand has been a major source of natural gas in Ohio and ranks just behind the Trenton 

in terms of oil production. Although the name suggests correlation with the Silurian Clinton group— 

mainly carbonate strata of New York; it is instead equivalent to the older Silurian Medina group— 

sandstones, siltstones, and shales of New York. In Ohio’s subsurface the Medina is informally referred 

to as the Clinton in the eastern counties and is correlative to the Brassfield formation in the western 

part of the state. Drillers recognize three parts of the Clinton—the stray Clinton, red Clinton, and 

white Clinton. In appearance perhaps it best compares to the Silurian Whirlpool sandstone exposed 

in the Niagara gorge. Wells tap the Clinton from Cuyahoga to Lawrence Counties, across the midsection 

of the state. Its value as a producer became recognized in 1887 when drilling below the Berea 

hit a strong gas flow in the Clinton near Lancaster in Fairfield County. 

C H A P T E R T H R E E 

1 7

The Clinton sand varies from fine to coarse 

grained with generally good porosity, but 

because of a tendency to be well cemented, 

lacks the permeability of some other strata. 

Within the sandstone are scattered thin beds 

of shale—known as breaks to the driller. 

Thickness ranges from 1 to 100 feet, but it 

averages 20 to 40 feet. 

By the late 1940s, the success rate of 

Clinton wells had diminished, around fifty 

percent were recorded as dry holes. Much of 

the industry was convinced that the Clinton 

was played out. In the early 1950s, hydraulic 

fracturing experiments showed that 

production rates could be greatly increased. A 

renewed interest in the Clinton resulted. The 

year 2000 marked another increase in drilling 

to the Clinton horizon. According to the Ohio 

Oil and Gas Association, the average depth to 

the Clinton was 4,792 feet and the average 

cost of completing a well was $175,000. 

T H E N E W B U R G S A N D 

This Silurian gas producer was first noted 

in a gas well drilled in Newburg in Cuyahoga 

County. The “sand’ is actually a sandy 

dolostone equivalent to the Guelph- 

Greenfield contact of western Ohio. Its 

thickness averages 8 to 15 feet. The Newburg 

often contains large volumes of saltwater and 

is also referred to by drillers as the Big Water. 

T H E O R I S K A N Y S A N D 

This Devonian gas producer is known only 

from the subsurface of northeastern Ohio as 

discontinuous patches bounded above and 

below by disconformities. It lies below the 

Columbus limestone and above the Bass 

Islands dolomite. The stratum averages 

between 10 and 30 feet thick. Wells producing 

from this horizon were mainly in Ashtabula, 

Guernsey, and Tuscarawas Counties. 

T H E O H I O S H A L E 

This Upper Devonian gas-bearer outcrops 

from Erie County south to Scioto County, east 

along Lake Erie from the Huron area to 

Conneaut, and around Bellefontaine in Logan 

County. It is in the subsurface of eastern Ohio 

and is equivalent to the subsurface Antrim 

shale of northwestern Ohio. It occurs as thin 

organic-rich beds from 250 to greater than 

500 feet in outcrop. Known by drillers as Big 

and Little Cinnamon, the Ohio shale thickens 

in the subsurface to over 4,000 feet. 

T H E B E R E A S A N D O R 

B E R E A G R I T 

The Berea sand was the earliest stratum 

discovered to yield commercial quantities of oil 

in Ohio. It was named by John Strong Newberry 

for surface outcrops near Berea, Cuyahoga 

County in 1869. The Berea sandstone outcrops 

from Cuyahoga County east along the Lake Erie 

shore and south across the middle counties to 

Scioto County on the Ohio River. In the eastern 

counties, it lies in the subsurface. 

The Berea is characterized by fine to 

medium grain size sandstones with scattered 

layers of sandy shale. The strata vary from 

thin to thick, planar to lenticular beds. The 

unit varies in thickness from 1 to 155 feet. 

T H E B I G I N J U N S A N D 

This subsurface stratum of eastern Ohio is 

correlative with the Mississippian Cuyahoga 

Formation Black Hand Sandstone. This 

member stretches from Cuyahoga County 

south to the Ohio River and Scioto County 

and inland from Lake Erie from Cuyahoga to 

Ashtabula Counties. It contains beds of 

sandstone, conglomerate, and shale. The 

sandstone beds tend to be coarse-grained and 

mainly yield gas and saltwater. The general 

thickness is 70 to 120 feet. Historically, the 

Big Injun has been a good producer in 

Monroe and Washington Counties and to a 

smaller extent in Athens, Belmont, Guernsey, 

Morgan, and Noble Counties. 

T H E K E E N E R S A N D 

This Middle Mississippian sandstone lies 

above the Big Injun sand in the subsurface of 

eastern Ohio. It was named for farm property 

in the Sistersville, West Virginia pool. It is 

correlative with the Mississippian Logan 


18

formation that crops out in south central Ohio. 

Its thickness averages 25 to 35 feet and consists 

of alternating layers of coarse- and fine-grained 

sandstone. Most production has come from 

Athens, Belmont, Guernsey, Monroe, Morgan, 

Noble, and Washington Counties. 

T H E M A X T O N S A N D 

Found in the subsurface of eastern Ohio 

this oil-bearing sandstone correlates with the 

Pennsylvanian Pottsville Group Sharon 

conglomerate/sandstone. The Maxton was 

first encountered in the Sistersville pool of 

West Virginia. Outcrops of the Sharon occur 

in northeastern and southern Ohio. The 

Maxton consists of interbedded medium- to 

coarse-grained sandstone, pebbly sandstone, 

and conglomerate. The stratum varies from 10 

to 200 feet in thickness. 

T H E M A C K S B U R G 7 0 0 

This subsurface stratum forms the top of the 

Pennsylvanian Pottsville group in southeastern 

Ohio and is equivalent to the Homewood 

sandstone. It is present as a discontinuous lens 

in the subsurface of Monroe, Morgan, Noble, 

and Washington Counties. 

T H E M A C K S B U R G 

5 0 0 - F O O T S A N D 

A major producer from the Pennsylvanian 

Allegheny group in southeastern Ohio, this 

sandstone correlates with the Clarion 

sandstone and is widespread in the subsurface. 

It ranges in thickness between 10 and 50 feet. 

It was part of the original exploratory drilling 

in the Macksburg area in the early 1860s. 

S E C O N D C O W R U N S A N D / 

P E E K E R S A N D 

Discovered in drilling along Cow Run in 

Washington County, this subsurface 

sandstone is equivalent to the Upper Freeport 

sandstone of the Allegheny group. Although 

not a major source of gas or oil, production 

has come from Monroe, Morgan, Noble, and 

Washington Counties. 

T H E M A C K S B U R G 

3 0 0 - F O O T S A N D 

The base of the Conemaugh strata is 

marked by this lens of sandstone, occasionally 

a minor producer of oil and gas. It was first 

discovered in drilling around Macksburg, 

Washington County. It is correlative with the 

Mahoning sandstone and occurs sporadically 

in the southeastern counties. 

T H E F I R S T C O W R U N S A N D 

This Pennsylvanian Conemaugh Group 

sandstone outcrops along the Muskingum 

River and its tributaries. It is in the shallow 

subsurface of eastern Ohio. It was named from 

drilling along Cow Run, Washington County. 

The unit is massive, coarse-grained to pebbly 

and ranges between 5 and 40 feet thick. It 

averages about 25 feet thick. It occurs in the 

subsurface of eastern Ohio, but is most 

prominent in Athens, Morgan, Muskingum, 

Noble, and Washington counties. 

C H A P T E R T H R E E 

1 9


20

CHAPTER FOUR 

T H E F I R S T D I S C O V E R I E S O F G A S A N D O I L 

L O O K I N G F O R S A L T 

Settlement of the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains in the years after the Revolutionary 

War was a slow process and only for the most hardy. Among the many hardships was preserving 

foodstuffs in the wilderness. The pioneers were familiar with salt as a preservative from the old 

country and shortly discovered it could be found in the hills of what was to become southeast 

Ohio. They were helped by the fact that deer and bison had already discovered sites where brine 

came to the surface. Native Americans also pointed out places where salt was available. Salt licks 

and springs appear on early maps. It is without doubt that the discovery of salt in the bedrock of 

the Ohio and Muskingum River drainage and the development of the salt industry laid foundations 

for this part of the Northwest Territory to become a state in 1803. Before these discoveries, most 

salt was laboriously hauled over the mountains by wagon and pack animal. 

Aside from springs along the major drainage courses, among the first lands to be developed for 

salt manufacture were the flats along Little Salt Creek near the present city of Jackson. This site was 

easily discovered following well-worn paths left by herds of bison that made frequent trips to the 

site up until about 1800. Native Indians were the first to evaporate the brines, crystalizing the salt. 

They hollowed out shallow pits in the Pennsylvanian sandstone exposed along the creek bed 

during the dry season, dipped out the brine that filled the depressions, and boiled it. 

As the brine was generally a weak solution, enterprising settlers figured that the brine would be more 

concentrated at depth as it was in the old country. Thus, wells were first dug by hand, but this limited 

their depth and often did not yield the results wanted. The blacksmith became a valuable addition to 

this developing landscape. Augers and drills allowed the deepening of the salt wells, but then another 

problem arose. Since most of the early drilling took place in valleys, bedrock was further down so 

digging was mainly in valley fill, but eventually the deeper wells hit resistant rock. A simple auger no 

longer worked and new ways of drilling had to be developed. Percussion drilling was the answer. 

The Scioto Saline, as the Jackson County salt plains became known, was the earliest recorded attempt 

at making salt in what was to become Ohio, around 1795. Later on, attempts by the state legislature to 

control development of salt mining encouraged deeper drilling and exploring away from springs and 

licks. It was only a matter of time before more drillers were encountering petroleum and natural gas. 

The first salt wells bored in Columbiana County took place around a series of salt springs at a 

location that would become Salineville in 1839. The first wells produced more gas and water than 

salt, but by 1818 the production was finally satisfactory. The climax seems to have been around 

1835 when twenty wells were producing in the valley of Yellow Creek. Although salt production 

declined after 1835 the business still remained profitable until around 1865. Investors looking for 

oil in 1866, revived the industry when they struck high pressure gas and saltwater, rather than oil. 

The last salt production in Columbiana County was 1880. 

The early salt industry lives on in the names of creeks and villages across the state—places like the 

many Salt Creeks, Salt Forks, Salt Runs, and Salineville, but after the success of the 1859 Drake well 

in nearby Pennsylvania, drillers shifted their focus to the black smelly contaminant of many salt wells. 

Opposite: Oil still fills the hollowed-out log 

casing of one of the 1814 Thorla-McKee 

wells near Caldwell. 

COURTESY OF JEFF A. SPENCER. 

F R O M N U I S A N C E T O A U S E A B L E P R O D U C T 

Perhaps among the earliest references to an oil spring in what was to become Ohio is one by early 

explorers of the Ohio Valley near Macksburg, Washington County in 1787. Later in 1814, Robert 

C H A P T E R F O U R 

2 1

Above: Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth of Marietta, 

McKee and Silas Thorla drilled for salt at a 

deer lick along Salt Run near present day 

Caldwell, Noble County. Using the spring pole 

drilling method, the well struck salt, oil, and 

natural gas a couple hundred feet down. A 

second, somewhat deeper, well was drilled in 

1816 with the same results. Due to lack of 

competition in the area the saltworks thrived 

for about ten years. To get good saleable salt, 

the oil had to be separated from the brine; 

initially it was considered a great nuisance. 

Perhaps learning from the native population, 

the owners began marketing the oil as a 

cure-all. 

Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth, a Marietta 

physician, was also well versed in the sciences 

and wrote numerous articles about the natural 

history of southeastern Ohio and surrounding 

Virginia (now West Virginia). In 1826, he 

reported on the McKee well in a letter to 

Caleb Atwater of Circleville, another early 

investigator of Ohio geology and natural 

history. The letter was published in Benjamin 

Silliman’s American Journal of Science out of 

Yale University. Hildreth also reported that oil 

and natural gas was found commonly in the 

Muskingum Valley: 

“They have sunk two wells which are now 

more than 400 feet in depth. One of them 

affords a very strong and pure water, but not 

in great quantity. The other discharges such 

vast quantities of petroleum, or as it is 

vulgarly called ‘Seneka oil’, and besides is 

subject to such tremendous explosions of gas 

for several days that they make but little or no 

salt. Nevertheless, the petroleum, affords 

considerable profit, and is beginning to be in 

demand for lamps, in workshops and 

manufactories. It affords a clean, brisk light 

when burnt this way, and will be a valuable 

article for lighting the street lamps in the 

future cities of Ohio. 

There is a continual discharge of 

carbonated hydrogen gas from the well; and 

also from the bed of the creek on which the 

well is situated at various places for the 

distance of half a mile. This gas is highly 

inflammable, and where there is a free 

discharge of it, will take fire on the surface of 

the water, on application of a lighted stick, or 

flash of a gun, and continue burning for days, 

unless put out by a heavy shower or a high 

wind. It was this discharge of gas that induced 

the present proprietors to search for saltwater. 

It being invariably found to accompany, 

all the salt-water, of any consequence, that has 

been discharged in this western country.” 

Dr. Hildreth traveled throughout 

southeastern Ohio and Virginia, making notes 

on the archaeology, botany, geology and other 

topics of natural history. By 1833 he found 

hydrocarbons being used for illumination, 

medicine, and lubrication throughout this 

region. Much of the early expertise in drilling 

salt wells, and later oil wells came from the 

Virginia side of the Ohio River between 

Charleston and Parkersburg. The Ruffner 

Brothers are credited with developing a series 

of techniques that allowed them to drill wells 

into the bedrock along the Kanawha River 

Valley at what is now Charleston, West 

Virginia, in 1806. It appears they were familiar 

with methods of removing stone in quarries 

and applied those to the drilling of salt wells 

into the bedrock. They also found a way to 

incase the upper part of a well to prevent 

groundwater from diluting the brine and 

causing collapse of the well margins. Soon 

these techniques were applied throughout the 

salt industry. 

A brief description of Marietta and 

surrounding Washington County published 

in 1834 by John Delafield, Jr. mentioned 

spring oil or Seneca oil was familiar to 

hunters and early inhabitants since the 

first settlement. Delafield reports, "It can 

be used in lamps as it affords a brilliant 

light. It is very useful and therefore much 

employed in curing the diseases of and 

injuries done to horses. It is perhaps the best 

substance known for the prevention of 

friction in machinery." 

Up north, settlers as early as the 1850s, 

wrote of gas and oil springs in what was to 

become Lorain County. In 1857 reports came 

of flaming gas jets southwest of South 

Amherst. Similar areas of burning gas were 

observed in the Black River valley at Sheffield. 

Successful gas wells were put down at Avon, 

Lagrange, Pittsfield, and Russia. By 1915, 17 


22

gas wells were producing about 10 million 

cubic feet per day. A single Avon well was 

responsible for about half this production. 

The gas was from the Ohio shale and would 

prove short-lived. Pits were dug where oil was 

seen on the surface at Belden so the oil could 

be collected and sold as a cure-all. Around 

1860 a salt well was drilled and, at a depth of 

120-140 feet, oil was struck in the Devonian 

Berea Sandstone. This initial play drew 

wildcatters to the area and soon the area 

was riddled with holes. One well yielded 

about 145 barrels the first day; a couple 

others also had good yields, but overall the 

average production was 3 to 5 barrels a day. 

Initially the oil was not highly regarded 

because of its viscosity. There was hope that it 

could be distilled to make kerosene. The oil 

was soon found to be a good lubricant, but 

after about twenty-five years the field was 

essentially abandoned. 

A pioneer in distributing petroleum was 

the firm of Bosworth Wells & Co. of Marietta. 

They purchased oil from men mining it in 

sand pits along the Hughes River in 

neighboring Virginia in the early 1840s. The 

firm started out buying it for twenty-five cents 

a gallon, marketing it as “Seneca Oil” for 

medicinal purposes and then selling it to a 

New York City drug company for ninety cents 

a gallon. The oil was shipped down the Ohio 

and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans and up 

the Atlantic coast to New York. Bosworth & 

Wells continued dealing in the Virginia oil 

until the early 1850s shipping it across the 

continent to dealers making all kinds of 

medicinal oils and liniments. The Drake 

discovery in 1859 greatly impacted the 

company’s business, since now crude oil 

became much more available and cut into the 

company’s profits. 

A N E A R L Y P L A Y I N 

T H E B E R E A S A N D S T O N E — 

T H E M E C C A F I E L D 

Aside from these scattered encounters at 

salt wells and furnaces, the first true oil play 

in Ohio took place at the small Trumbull 

County community of West Mecca in 1860. 

This area is underlain by glacial till and about 

forty feet of Devonian Berea Sandstone which 

served as an aquifer for early settlers sinking 

water wells along Mosquito Creek. However 

early residents were frustrated, as often 

retrieved water had an oily surface film. So, 

small quantities of oil were soaked up with 

rags and used as a cure-all. 

Oil seekers spreading into Ohio after the 

Drake discovery were on the lookout for 

likely places to drill. News of the oily wells 

soon reached them. The first few wells yielded 

oil at depths of only 45 to 60 feet at rates of 

around 40 barrels a day. The early production 

far exceeded the market and the start of the 

Civil War in 1861 practically ended any 

further work in the field. Some time between 

1861-65, an attempt was made to mine the 

Berea for its oil (a technique that had been 

successful in the 1840s in Virginia). Three 

shafts were sunk to the Berea. Tunnels were 

then dug in the Berea with the hope of 

intersecting a nearby valley where it was 

expected the oil would flow out of the 

tunnels. The project became more challenging 

than expected and was never finished. A 

refinery or two operated in the region in the 

early years, but the operations were 

apparently unsuccessful as they were 

abandoned in a few years. After the Civil War, 

wildcatters eventually put down some 2,000 

to 2,500 wells in the area, most no deeper 

than 50 feet. In later years, a few wells were 

drilled as deep as the Ohio Shale, including 

one as deep as 1,135 feet, but none proved to 

be productive. The field was a relatively small 

one, covering about fifteen square miles. Most 

of the production was from an area of a few 

hundred acres. The oil was a thick dense 

variety, quite different from that underlying 

the Pennsylvania Oil Creek field. It was 

marketed as lubricating oil, fetching prices 

as high as $50 per barrel in places like 

Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Only minor 

amounts of gas were associated with the 

Mecca field. During the best year an estimated 

5,000 barrels of oil were pumped from this 

field. Most wells were short-lived, producing 

only trickles by the 1880s. 

In 1884, on the west side of the Mecca 

field, drillers once again attempted to mine the 

oil sand by excavating a shaft down to 


2 3

T H E M A C K S B U R G A N D C O W 

R U N F I E L D S : T H E S T A R T O F 

S O U T H E A S T E R N O H I O O I L 

A N D G A S P R O D U C T I O N 

Above: Although details are sketchy, this is 

thought to be a view in the Cow Run field of 

Washington County probably in the late 

1860s.. Note the spring pole rigs and open 

wooden storage tanks. 



Below: Another early view of probably the 

Cow Run field near Marietta. Note that the 

wells are all in the valley bottom. 

COURTESY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

FOREST SERVICE. 

the Berea Sandstone and then running 

tunnels through the bed. Although plentiful 

quantities of sand were removed, the mine was 

shortly abandoned. The community of West 

Mecca became a classic boomtown in the 

1860s. Now most of the area lies at the bottom 

of the Mosquito Lake Reservoir, completed in 

April, 1944. Many of the structures were 

moved to Cortland and Warren. West Mecca 

and Mecca continue as small communities, but 

attention is now focused on the recreational 

activities created by the reservoir. 

Oil in the Duck Creek valley of Noble and 

Washington Counties was well known due to 

the active salt industry, a couple of burning 

springs, and the 1814 Thorla and McKee well. 

It was only natural that the Drake discovery 

led locals to investigate the many oil seeps 

and gas springs north of Marietta. As Spring 

arrived in 1860, a well was drilled for the sole 

purpose of finding oil. Unfortunately it was a 

dry hole. Another well was put down in the 

fall on a farm just south of Macksburg in 

Washington County. The well was driven by a 

special type of hand lever, not the traditional 

spring pole. At 59 feet down oil was struck. 

It was a very viscous oil, unlike the 

Pennsylvania oil. Disappointment turned to 

joy when the oil was found to be a valuable 

lubricant and garnered $28 per barrel. It was 

taken by wagon to the Muskingum River port 

of Lowell where it was shipped by boat to 

Marietta and up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh. 

Another such investigation took place in 1861 

on the Uriah S. Dye and Samuel Dye farmsteads 

to the south at Cow Run by investors 

led by John Newton of Marietta. Gas periodically 

bubbled to the surface along Cow Run 

and there had been unsuccessful attempts to 

use the gas as a fuel by a nearby cooper. Hard 

work at the spring pole eventually led to a 

good play of oil at 137 feet, with wells averaging 

about 50 barrels per day. The oil was 

hauled by wagon to Marietta, then by packet 

boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to 

a refinery in St. Louis. 

The successes at Macksburg and Cow Run 

fields led to an oil boom. Stretching on both 

sides of the Ohio River around Marietta and 

Parkersburg, north to Caldwell, wooden 

derricks dotted the stream valleys. Then 1861 

brought the start of the Civil War and a 

slowdown to oilfield activity. The early boom 

was greatly speculative; the payout was less 

than expected, great expense was required to 

get the oil to market, and, as more oil became 

available, the price per barrel decreased. The 

first Macksburg boom was short and not so 


24

sweet. After the war, geology played a much 

more important role in the development of 

wells. George Rice’s gusher of 150 barrels in 

1874 rekindled interest in the Macksburg area. 

From 1872 to the mid-1880s much of Noble 

and Washington Counties were under lease to 

various oil companies. These companies 

included Acme Oil, Archer’s Fork Oil of 

Marietta, Bergen Oil and Coal of New York, 

Boston Petroleum and Mining, Cincinnati 

Petroleum, Crescent Petroleum of Boston, 

Duck Creek Petroleum and Mining of 

Cincinnati, Eagle Oil Association of New York, 

Equitable Petroleum of New York, Exchange 

Oil, Germania Oil, Lowell Oil, “Madison Oil”, 

Marietta Mining of New York, Marietta Oil 

of Boston, Moorehead Oil, New Jersey Oil, 

Ohio Oil and Mining of Marietta, Putnam 

Petroleum of Dayton, Union Coal of Marietta, 

Williamsport and Ohio Petroleum, and 

Willow Glen Petroleum of Philadelphia. These 

companies brought improved technology and 

equipment for drilling wells, including the 

first steam engines and new drilling bits. 

Exploration centered on the southern field 

around Cow Run and the northern or 

Macksburg field around Macksburg. 

Then in the 1880s, due to deep drilling 

plays in the Devonian Berea Sandstone, the 

boom returned to Macksburg. By August, 

1883, monthly production was 4,600 barrels, 

now transported by pipeline to refineries in 

Parkersburg,West Virginia. A peak in monthly 

production of 79,737 barrels was reached in 

July, 1885. Production declined slowly 

around Macksburg. According to a March 31, 

1887 report, 466 wells were producing an 

average of 66 barrels a month in an area of 

roughly 4,000 acres. The oil plays came in at 

depths of 1,425 feet below the valleys and 

1,900 feet under the uplands. Unfortunately, 

by 1900, it was evident that the deeper plays 

were not as successful as anticipated. Drillers 

headed to greener pastures. 

The Macksburg area is unique among oil 

fields in having a large number of oil-saturated 

sands. The first oil was encountered in a thin 

discontinuous band of sand only 59 feet 

down. Drilling deeper brought a strong play in 

Above: Farm fields yield to derricks in the 

Marietta area. 

COURTESY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

FOREST SERVICE. 

Below: This map of the Cow Run and 

Macksburg fields was drafted for John 

Bownocker’s 1902 Bulletin 1 of the Ohio 

Geological Survey. Macksburg is at the very 

top of the map, but is shown as an inset in 

the bottom corner. 


2 5

Above: Most of the development was south 

of Macksburg as shown by this c. 1887 

plat map. 



Below: Derricks sprout from the lowlands of 

Washington County. Although this postcard 

is labeled for the Marietta area, similar 

views are labeled for nearby West Virginia. 

It was common for some postcard 

photographers to label the same photo for 

several different locations. 

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR. 

what was called the 140-foot sand. It was 

equivalent to the First Cow Run sand 

encountered in the southerly Cow Run field. 

The best producers in this horizon yielded 

around 180 barrels, but most were in the 4- to 

60-barrel range. Here and there, below the 

140-foot sand is another thin discontinuous 

stringer of sand—the Buell Run—which 

occasionally showed a minor amount of oil. 

The 300-foot sand is another stratum 

containing minor amounts of oil. Below the 

300-foot sand is the Peaker sand which has 

produced at rates of 40 barrels a day near 

Macksburg. These wells were short-lived. The 

500-foot sand, 10 to 30 feet thick near 

Macksburg, was another important horizon. 

An 1861 well on the Keith farm initially 

produced 100 barrels per day and continued 

to produce until 1899. Many other wells 

tapping this stratum were still producing in 

the early 1900s. Discontinuous strands of sand 

were also encountered at 700 and 800 feet, 

but generally were unproductive in the 

Macksburg region. The lowest sand is the 

Berea which is pretty continuous throughout 

the Macksburg and Cow Run area. 

The plays of the 1860s in Noble County 

came from Pennsylvanian sandstones marking 

the site of former stream and distributary 

channels and offshore bars of the clastic delta 

complex stretching along the Ohio- 

Pennsylvania side of the rising Appalachian 

Mountains. These features were constantly 

shifting with the rise and fall of the 

Pennsylvanian seas and changes in stream 

dynamics. This led to short discontinuous sand 

lenses throughout the Pennsylvanian strata and 

the hit and miss potential of any well. Drillers 

named the plays based on depth below the 

surface. Oil horizons might be the Macksburg 

140, 300, 700, and 800, referring to feet below 

the Duck Creek valley. Because of the 

meandering of the water courses, Macksburg 


26

As an example of costs of an early well, F.H. Newell of the Ohio Geological Survey provided the following synopsis in 1888. 

The total cost (of a rig) ranges from $350 to $400. To save expense, when the wells flow quite steadily, many of the producers in the Macksburg 

field, when one well is drilled and tubed, take down the rig and use it for the next well. The cost of taking down and putting up the rig again is 

about $75, to which must be added $25 for new lumber to replace that broken in cutting down. This is a considerable saving of outlay for rig-irons 

and timber to a person operating with small capital, but if the wells stop flowing and need cleaning out, the rig must be, in part at least, put back. 

Sawed lumber, 10,000 feet, at $15 ..............................$150.00 

Rig timbers......................................................................30.00 

Rig irons..........................................................................65.00 

10 days’ labor at $3.50....................................................35.00 

20 days’ labor at $2.50....................................................50.00 

Teaming, grading, nails, etc. ............................................45.00 

Total $375.00 

A full set of drilling tools consists of: 

1 temper-screw..............................................................$50.00 

1 rope socket, weighing 75 pounds .................................16.00 

1 sinker-bar, 16 feet long, weighing 600 pounds .............48.00 

1 set jars, weighing 300 pounds ...................................105.00 

1 auger –stem, 3 5/8 in. diam., 40 feet long, 

weighing 1,300 pounds................................................85.00 

2 bits for 5 3/8 in. hole, weighing 150 pounds each........70.00 

2 bits for 8 inch hole.......................................................90.00 

2 tool-gauges.....................................................................2.00 

2 tool wrenches...............................................................24.00 

1 wrench circle..................................................................5.50 

1 wrench-bar.....................................................................4.50 

Total $500.00 

Besides these, a contractor needs: 

1 cable, 1 7/8 in., say 1,600 feet long, 

weighing 2,000 pounds, at 14 cents.........................$280.00 

1 sand-line, 7/8 in., say 1,600 feet long, 

weighing 450 pounds, at 14 cents................................61.00 

Set blacksmith’s tools, anvil, bellows, forge, 

sledges, etc...................................................................40.00 

Bailer, 30 feet long, at 85 cents per foot ..........................25.00 

Sand-pump .....................................................................25.00 

Incidentals ......................................................................19.00 

Total $950.00 

The above are list prices on which there is a discount for cash, so that a good outfit is estimated to be worth at Macksburg, $850. 

In addition to these necessary tools, the contractor, especially if at a distance from a large machine shop, finds it economy to own a few of the 

commoner ”fishing” tools, such as extra rope-socket, sinker-bar, jars, horn-socket, slip-socket, rope-pears and grabs, costing, say, $350. 

The total cost of a flowing-well, 1,600 feet deep, at Macksburg, is estimated as follows: 

Rig, complete .................................................................................................................................................................................$350 

Boiler, 20-horse-power .....................................................................................................................................................................450 

Engine, 15-horse-power ...................................................................................................................................................................210 

Drilling, 1,600 feet, at 75 cents per foot ........................................................................................................................................1,200 

Casing, head, etc. .............................................................................................................................................................................250 

Tubing and pipe to tank ...................................................................................................................................................................221 

Shot, 80 quarts, at $2.00 per quart...................................................................................................................................................160 

Tank, 250 barrels .............................................................................................................................................................................100 

Teaming, connections, tank-cover, etc. ...............................................................................................................................................59 

Total $3,000 

Engine and boiler can be sold at.......................................................................................................................................................500 

Net cost $2,500 

For a pumping-well, add about $100 for sucker-rods, pump, polished rod, stuffing box, etc. The boiler and engine must be left at well for 

pumping, or power obtained by some other means. 


2 7

Right: Two typical steam boilers provide 

power for several rigs. 


COUNTY HISTORICAL CENTER & MUSEUM. 

Opposite, top: An oil barge at Marietta. 


Opposite, bottom: Production of Cow Run 

Field 1861-1885 (Minshall, 1888). 

140 at one location might mark a different 

stream at another well at the same depth. Most 

of the producing horizons in Duck Creek 

valley are at comparatively shallow depths; 

thus gas and oil commonly rose to the surface 

through fractures and joints causing the many 

seeps and springs. The oil plays at Cow Run are 

associated with a small anticline. Deeper 

drilling to the Berea sandstone has not yielded 

economical quantities. 

As at other sites, oil mining was attempted 

at Macksburg in 1865. An initial oil well was 

drilled by the Moorehead Oil Company with 

a minor play. A shaft was then dug, but the 

amount of oil remained uneconomical and the 

project was abandoned. Similar findings were 

the result of a mining project by the Boston 

Petroleum Company in northern Newport 

Township, Washington County. Natural gas 

accompanied most of the productive wells in 

the Macksburg field. Most companies used 

the gas to fuel their drilling equipment. In 

some cases excess gas was piped to a nearby 

community and used for heating and lighting. 

Unfortunately this led to wastage of vast 

amounts of gas. 

A letter by Judge L. W. Chamberlain of 

Marietta, published in the June 15, 1899 issue 

of the Marietta Register reports on the School 

House well, a successful Cow Run oil well: 

In the summer of 1869 Moffit Dye and several 

others leased of the school board of 

Lawrence township about one-fourth of an 

acre owned on Cow Run and occupied by a 

hewed log school house, situated within 20 

feet of the run. 

Wells had been drilled all around the old 

school house, and the leasers proceeded to 

put down a well in front of the door of the old 

academy, and on the 21st day of October, 

1869, the drill broke into a crevice at a depth 

of 594 feet, and gas and oil immediately came 

to the surface and drove the drillers out of the 

derrick. In that early period few wells about 

the Run had been cased with artesian casing 

and this was one of the few. The well 

continued to flow for about one year, during 

which time it had put out about $63,000 

worth of oil which had to be hauled to 

market, the school board securing one-third 

of this as royalty. At the end of one year the 

well was pumped and has continued to 

produce ever since, now nearly thirty years. 

The production ran down for many, but for 

several years has produced the same for each 

year. Until recently the well has been pumped 

by steam, but during the past year has been 

fitted up with a gas engine which is being run 

by the gas from the well and plenty to spare. 

The old casing is still doing duty in the well, 

and the well promises to yield for many years 

to come. 

Production in the Cow Run field increased 

to the point where a pipeline could be 

justified. In the Spring of 1868, a 5.5-mile 

pipeline was laid to the Ohio River, 

downstream of Newport. Here, petroleum was 

transferred to boats for transport to refineries 

at Marietta and Parkersburg. By the 1870s 

only minor amounts of petroleum were being 

pumped from the Cow Run field. The opening 

of the railroad connecting Macksburg with 

both Lake Erie at Cleveland and the Ohio 

River at Marietta in 1883 made the Macksburg 

field even more economical. In the next three 


28

found that the denser oil had uses, too. In 

1866, the Glasgow Oil Company gained 

control of many of the St. Clair Township. 

wells and pumped a number until 1876. 

Production was up to 100 barrels per day. 

years some 34 wells were put down around 

Macksburg. Aside from the Rice well, only one 

significant producer was found—Marietta Oil 

Company’s No. 1—which came in at 500 

barrels for the first day. In the Winter of 1883, 

the Ohio Transit Company laid a pipeline, the 

first from the Macksburg field, from 

Macksburg to Marietta. It also arranged with 

the Cleveland & Marietta Railway to haul oil 

over its lines in tank cars leased or owned by 

OTC. In the Summer of 1884, the West 

Virginia Transportation Company of 

Parkersburg, West Virginia, laid a pipeline 

from Macksburg to Lowell on the Muskingum 

River. A year later both pipelines were taken 

over by the National Transit Company, a 

subsidiary of Standard Oil, which also added a 

pipeline from Macksburg to Parkersburg. 

Standard Oil erected about 40 storage tanks 

near Elba, each having a capacity of 600,000 

barrels. A second pipeline to Lowell was 

completed by independent oil producer 

George Rice in 1885-86 for the exclusive 

movement of his crude to the chagrin of 

Standard Oil. Rice shipped his oil down the 

Muskingum River to his refinery in Marietta. 

Rice continued to have problems with 

Standard Oil for they had reduced tariffs and 

rates for oil transport on most railroads. 

E A R L Y A C T I V I T Y I N 

C O L U M B I A N A C O U N T Y 

Investors looking for oil in the area around 

Calcutta, Fredericktown, and West Point in 

Columbiana County in the mid-1860s 

encountered oil plays of a heavy oil, quite 

different than that coming out of the 

Pennsylvania oil patch. As a result some wells 

were immediately abandoned, but it was soon 


2 9


30

CHAPTER FIVE 

T H E S E A R C H S P R E A D S 

C A R B O N I F E R O U S P L A Y S E L S E W H E R E I N S O U T H E A S T E R N O H I O 

Early residents of the Federal Creek drainage basin, northwest of Joy in Morgan County, were aware 

of the oil film covering portions of the local creeks in the early 1800s. Some also spoke of holes created 

from fallen trees that filled with strong smelling oil. The Drake discovery suggested that there might 

be significant oil under this region. Experienced drillers from the Pennsylvania oil fields spread into 

Ohio looking for places with conditions similar to the Titusville area. In 1860 a well was drilled 65 

feet down, striking oil in Pennsylvanian sandstones. It initially produced 8 barrels. This was just the 

beginning; by the Summer of 1861 there were around 25 wells scattered across the 325 acre Bishop 

and 400 acre Joy farms. This brought at least 150 workers into the area and the nearby towns of Joy 

and Wrightstown boomed. Shanties to house the workers lined the nearby roads, blacksmiths set up 

shop, while taverns and boarding houses were built. As the field was defined by prolific drilling in the 

1890s it became known as the Chesterhill oil field. It eventually stretched from about two miles north 

of Amesville in Athens County, northeast to Wrightstown in Morgan County, then east passing south 

of Chesterhill, and continuing east to Browns Mills in Washington County. In the 1890s, wells were 

deepened as production from the First Cow Run sand diminished and deeper plays gave some of the 

wells new life. Some 250 new wells had punctured the area by 1902. The next producing horizon, 

about 400 feet below the First Cow Run, was dubbed the Second Cow Run sand. It was generally 

thicker than the upper sand, sometimes double the thickness at 60 feet. 

In the early days, oil from the Chesterhill field was hauled far across country to McConnellsville 

and Stockport and shipped on the Muskingum River to refineries in Marietta. Later, much of it was 

hauled to Big Run, a station on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, and shipped to Marietta. The 

first pipeline to the field was opened in 1891, running to Sharpsburg with a connection to a branch 

of the Toledo & Ohio Central Extension Railroad; a second was added in 1893. Later the field was 

connected to Elba, a station on the Cleveland & Marietta Railway, by pipeline. 

The story was the same in the northeast corner of Morgan County. Pioneers in the area noticed 

oil slicks at various points along Buck Run and Wolf Creek. In 1860, a well struck a thick oil in a 

sandstone only 37 feet down. It was transported in barrels to McConnellsville, where an early 

refinery was located and marketed as a lubricant. The well was pumped until 1875, when it was 

abandoned. An unknown number of wells were drilled in this area, known as the Buck Run field, 

between 1861 and 1865. Production decreased, many wells were abandoned, and the nearby 

McConnellsville refinery closed around 1870, leading to near abandonment of the field in the early 

1870s. Like the Chesterhill field, a renaissance of oil drilling began in the 1890s. A new boom 

began in 1899; as of 1903, 8 companies were drilling in areas along Wolf Creek and in the uplands, 

left unexplored by the earlier workers. 

The western part of Washington County was also widely drilled in the early 1900s, but only 

minor production from the First Cow Run resulted. Gas was encountered around Barlow and gas 

wells at Vincent were sufficient to provide the community with gas service. 

A few miles southwest of Marietta, the Moore’s Junction oil field stretches across the Ohio Valley 

into West Virginia. The first well was reportedly drilled here in June, 1894. Oil shows were poor, 

but encouraging. By 1903, some 220 wells had been drilled. Of the producers, most were small, 

averaging about 25 barrels a day; a few good ones produced from 100 to 300 barrels a day. 

Near Marietta were two small pools in Marietta Township—the Goose Run and Hendershot pools. 

One of the first wells was drilled in January, 1886 in a brick yard on the east side of Marietta. It was 

Opposite: Near New Guilford in Perry 

Township, Coshocton County, oil and gas 

was struck in the early 1900s. This old 

wooden rig was still standing in 1953. 



C H A P T E R F I V E 

3 1

Above: This stereo card image of a well in 

the Marietta area was photographed by J. 

D. Cadwallader in the late 1800s. 

COURTESY OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC 

LIBRARY COLLECTION. 

drilled to the Berea, but failed to yield gas or 

oil. Other wells met similar fates. A few started 

out strong, but all died out quickly, within a 

year or less. Further east and southeast in 

Newport Township were more productive 

pools. East of the Little Muskingum River an 

1895 well came in at 80 barrels, initiating a 

drilling frenzy. In five years, around 75 wells 

had been drilled within a one mile radius. Best 

production came from the First Cow Run. The 

Newell Run pool was the most important one 

in the township with over 175 producing wells 

by 1903. The first producing well dates to the 

spring of 1890. This pool is essentially an 

extension of the Cow Run field to the west. The 

Berea contained a good supply of gas around 

Newell Run making the exploration for oil a 

touch easier because of the ready fuel. 

E A R L Y G A S F I E L D S — 

O H I O A N D M O H I C A N 

V A L L E Y S 

The Ohio valley was full of oil seekers after 

the Drake discovery. East Liverpool was an 

established pottery town, and when a good 

supply of natural gas was found below the 

community, city fathers were eager to take 

advantage. By 1874, the city was piping the gas 

for domestic use and for street lighting. 

Unfortunately much of the gas was wasted (e.g. 

street lights were constantly burning), leading 

to low pressures by the 1880s. Steubenville 

wells also showed gas at the Berea horizon, but 

production was meager and lasted only a few 

months. Gas springs at Wellsburg, West 

Virginia, had been known since its settlement. 

It was no surprise when wells struck gas both 

here and across the river in Brilliant. The first 

well tapped gas in 1882. Gas was provided for 

all that needed it and tremendous volumes 

escaped or were ignited. By 1885 the gas was 

pretty much exhausted. 

Peter Neff (1827-1903) graduated from 

Kenyon College in 1849 where he became 

deeply interested in chemistry, influenced by 

Professor Hamilton L. Smith. He continued 

his education at Bexley Hall Theological 

Seminary (affiliated with Kenyon College) in 

Bexley, Ohio, graduating in 1854. He served 

as a pastor for a short time in Yellow Springs 

and then became reacquainted with Professor 

Smith who was by then interested in 

photographic techniques. Neff also had a 

background in the geological sciences from 

his Kenyon days. While continuing research 

on photographic methods he was drawn into 

the search for oil and gas. 

Near the juncture of the Kokosing and 

Mohican rivers, west of Walhonding, 

Coshocton County, two wells owned by Neff 

began producing gas from the Devonian Berea 

sandstone in 1865. Neff had hoped they would 

strike oil, but instead they hit a major gas zone. 

This small gas field is also the birthplace of 

lamp black manufacturing, developed by Peter 

Neff. Lamp black is a sooty form of almost pure 

carbon produced by the incomplete 

combustion of organic compounds, in this 

case, natural gas. Neff eventually refined it to 

be used in watercolors and ink. 

Neff’s first successful gas well, often 

referred to as the “geyser well” was allowed to 

spout for a few years before it was brought 

under control and the gas collected. Measured 

in May, 1887 it was producing 65,000 to 

70,000 cubic feet each day. Well No. 2 was 

also not controlled for several years. Also 

measured in 1887, it was releasing 164,376 

cubic feet per year. Wells No. 9 and 11, 

drilled in the early 1880s, produced 71,000 

and 104,000 cubic feet, respectively. 

E A R L Y P L A Y S I N 

N O R T H E A S T E R N O H I O 

Many communities throughout the eastern 

counties have drilled, hoping for gas from the 


32

Berea or perhaps a play of oil. The list of 

failures is great, including Birmingham, 

Medina, Milan, Oberlin, and Olmsted Falls. 

The early wells that led to Cleveland 

becoming an early refinery center and the 

home of Standard Oil were mainly located in 

the Cuyahoga Valley in Newburg. The 

Cleveland Rolling Mill was behind the drilling 

of one of the deepest wells at the time when 

workers drilled 2,750 feet seeking a source of 

natural gas in 1886. Small plays of oil were 

found at 2,658 and 2,686 feet. At the bottom 

of the hole where the drill bit became stuck, 

gas was struck in what was assumed to be the 

Clinton (Later this stratum would be referred 

to as the Newburg sand). The well did not 

yield sufficient high pressure gas and 

suggested that such gas was not likely in the 

Cleveland area. 

Success would eventually come. A well at 

Elyria produced gas at several levels in 

Devonian shale. Shale gas was also prevalent 

in wells at Akron, Ashtabula, Berea, Brooklyn, 

Brownhelm, Cleveland, Conneaut, Geneva, 

Independence, Kingsville, Lorain, Painesville, 

Rocky River, Sheffield, Wellington, and 

Willoughby. These shale wells had a 

tendency to be “blowers” where gas 

would explode from the hole, sometimes 

shooting water and/or oil from the well with 

extreme force for generally short periods of 

time. Well No. 2, drilled in 1887 at 

Wellington, was unusual in that it produced a 

strong flow of gas from a bed of sand in the 

lacustrine clay capping the underlying 

Devonian shale. Edward Orton described this 

well in 1888: 

When tapped by the drill, the gas broke 

out with great violence, first throwing all the 

water from the well, and when that was gone, 

sending out a storm of sand. It is computed 

that more than a ton of sand was thrown out 

in this way in the course of a few hours. When 

lighted, the flame blazed more than twenty 

feet high. 

Orton felt the oil originated in the Berea 

shale which produced gas in Well No. 1. 

Orton also described the use of gas from a 

well drilled at Kingsville, c. 1887: 

The supply, though small, is exceedingly 

useful. It was introduced at once into the 

house, and serves for a cooking-stove and for 

heating, to some extent, and for lighting the 

house throughout, but it is insufficient for the 

entire supply. All told, it would keep about 

twenty burners in steady operation. 

The Ward well drilled in 1864 in Niles 

seeking oil, produced a strong gas flow 

instead. Reportedly it flared sixty feet into the 

air. Although gas was encountered at 

Youngstown, saltwater intrusion rendered 

most of the gas wells unusable. Although 

wells were sunk, no major plays were found at 

Salem. In the late 1880s several wells were 

drilled around Peninsula tapping gas from the 

Ohio shale. For a short time the gas permitted 

some street lights and lit several residences 

before the supply disappeared. 

L A T E R D E V E L O P M E N T S I N 

N O R T H E A S T E R N O H I O 

The successful development of Clinton gas 

and oil wells in the central Ohio counties in 

the early 1900s led to renewed interest in the 

northeastern counties. The East Ohio Gas and 

Logan Gas and Fuel companies leased 

thousands of acres west of Kamm’s Corners 

and Berea between 1905 and 1907. East Ohio 

Gas bought and deepened the Newburg wells 

to the Clinton horizon, but production 

proved feeble and they were abandoned. A 

well drilled in North Ridgeville in 1908 made 

a showing of oil at the Newburg horizon and 

a strong flow of gas in the Clinton. Interest 

diminished until 1911 when a well in South 

Newburg produced commercial quantities of 

gas and oil from the Newburg. The real boom 

began in 1914 when producing wells in the 

Newburg and Clinton were drilled in 

Lakewood, South Brooklyn, and West Park. 

Fifty-five wells were in operation by April, 

1914; over 1,000 by June, 1916. The field 

developed with little regard to spacing of 

wells leading to diminished production by 

late 1915, particularly of the older wells, and 

an increase in dry holes. By 1915, wells were 

being drilled in Berea, Brook Park, and 

Middleburg Township, to the south of the 


3 3

S O M E O I L A N D G A S F I E L D S I N N O R T H E A S T E R N O H I O 


34

original field. Reports from late 1914 indicate 

the total production of the field was 100 

million cubic feet per day. Most of the gas was 

purchased by the East Ohio Gas Company 

and distributed through its pipelines. 

Although exploration began shortly after 

the discovery of gas at Findlay, drilling failed to 

uncover any significant gas pools in Wayne 

County. South and west of Wooster, several 

large flows of gas along with a good size pool 

of oil were struck in the Clinton between 1911 

and 1913. By 1920 the Wooster oil field, 

Shreve oil and gas field, Wooster, Congress, 

Canaan Township, Chippewa Valley, Funk, and 

Clinton Township gas fields were in operation. 

Thirteen gas wells produced from Clear Creek 

Township, Ashland County, in the 1930s, all 

within two miles of Savannah. 

A number of gas fields were opened in the 

Clinton between Akron and Canton in the 

1920s-30s. The Canton gas pool was 

discovered with the drilling of a well in 1945 

on the Belden property. Much of the gas was 

purchased by the East Ohio Gas Company. 

The field was quite productive throughout the 

1950s, but production decreased after 1959. 

A notable oil well was completed in 

September, 1910 at Union Station, southwest 

of Newark. After shooting and tubing, this 

Clinton well began flowing at 30 barrels per 

day. Another well, southeast of Fallsburg, 

began producing in October, 1910. 

Gas was first encountered in Fairfield 

County in 1887 near North Berne. A promising 

well was sunk at nearby Lancaster, finding gas 

in the Clinton strata some two thousand feet 

below the Hocking valley. In February, 1887, 

the flow was measured at 74,880 cubic feet per 

C E N T R A L 

O H I O 

Newark appears to have begun drilling for 

gas in 1885. The first well showed a small 

play in the Berea, but not a trace when sunk 

down towards the Trenton. The Everett Glass 

Company’s first well also tapped a small 

amount of gas in October, 1886. The glass 

company drilled a second well in 1887 which 

provided the needed gas— an estimated 

300,000 cubic feet per day from the Clinton. 

The success at the glass plant led to more 

drilling and a defining of the field. By 1889, 

local gas supplies began to dwindle. A 

number of new producing wells were found 

between Newark and Thurston. However, 

soon after, city fathers had to search for new 

suppliers. The Logan Natural Gas and Fuel 

Company provided gas from the Sugar Grove 

field some 20 miles to the south, then in 1902 

gas came from the Homer field, about 10-15 

miles to the north of Newark. Also in the 

Black Hand Gorge area near Toboso, a 

number of wells struck oil in the early 1900s. 

Left and Below: These rigs were tapping the 

Clinton under Knox County. 




3 5

This map was drafted for Bownocker’s 1902 

Bulletin 1 of the Geological Survey of Ohio. 

It shows the Homer and Sugar Grove fields. 

day. After torpedoing, the flow increased 

“several fold.” A second well was drilled at the 

base of Mount Pleasant, a prominent erosional 

outlier of Mississippian sandstone, and began 

producing at 792,000 cubic feet per day. A 

third, even more productive well, was drilled 

about the same time about a mile southeast of 

town, coming in at an estimated one million 

cfd. Each of these wells were drilled by a 

different company. In 1887, these companies 

were merged as the Lancaster Gas and Oil 

Company No. 1. This company received 

authorization to deliver gas to Lancaster 

citizens. Within a year, the demand was greater 

than the supply. Problems continued even after 

the city took over the operation until a well 

came in at the Mithoff machine shop in 

Lancaster in February 1889. This well 

produced 12 million cubic feet the first day 

and showed little evidence of slowing down. 

Another major producer was drilled on the 

Fairfield County fairgrounds, just west of 

Mount Pleasant. Lancaster became confident 

their supply of gas was inexhaustible and 

looked for ways to use it. The fairgrounds 

became the first to have a race track lit by 

gas lights. A lighted arch advertised free 

gas to manufacturers. A lack of gas meters 

led to more wastage. Lancaster was not alone; 

this was the case in most towns with a local 

gas source. 

It was only natural that the Thurston area 

would be drilled for gas, since it lay midway 

between Newark and Lancaster. The first 

attempt was in the spring of 1888. A well in 

Thurston showed a small play of gas. A second 

well drilled to the east of town produced 7 

million cubic feet the first day. By the winter of 

1889, production had increased to the point 

where a pipeline was laid into Columbus. The 

demands of the big city were too great and, by 

1902, the field was essentially exhausted. 

The Lancaster wells were on the northern 

edge of the Sugar Grove field which stretches 

from just east of Lancaster to west of Logan in 

Hocking County. By 1900, this was the most 

productive of the natural gas fields in central 

Ohio. Its’ importance is evidenced in the eight 

companies piping gas from the field to various 

communities throughout the state in 1901. 

West of Utica, centered on the community 

of Homer, was a prominent Licking County 

field. The first well in the Homer field 

was drilled in July, 1900 and reportedly 

produced some one million cubic feet per day. 

This production paled with the drilling of later 

wells which produced up to 12 million cubic 

feet per day. 

Oil was found in the Berea at several wells 

around Zanesville in the 1880s. The Blue 

Rock Oil Field was developed in 1866-67 in 

southern Muskingum County where shallow 

wells tap a Pennsylvanian sandstone. The 

wells were all low producers but yielded an 


36

oil that was quite effective as a lubricant. Two 

oil wells and one gas well in the Clinton were 

developed near Fultonham around 1910. 

Three wells drilled in Cambridge produced a 

strong gas play in the Mississippian sands of 

the Logan formation. At Kimbolton, an 1887 

well struck a good flow of gas in the Berea. At 

Quaker City, gas was also encountered in the 

Berea. Malta, on the Muskingum River, was 

discovered at an early time to overlie a 

significant source of natural gas and from the 

1860s-80s was also heavily investigated for 

oil. Gas came from the Mississippian Logan 

formation. Since its discovery, the gas has 

been used locally in a minor way. Oil was 

struck in the Clinton at a well just west of 

Gore in 1910. Soon the small community was 

dotted with derricks with no regard to 

spacing. Derricks also sprouted to the west in 

Webb Summit. Activity continued into the 

1920s and early 1930s. An 1888 well at 

Haydenville produced a flow of gas from the 

Berea, but not sufficient for the extensive clay 

plant. Another deeper well failed entirely. A 

well at Buchtel in neighboring Athens County 

also was a total failure. 

Well drilling in Carroll, Dresden, and Joy 

yielded minor amounts of oil. Wells at 

Eagleport turned out dry. An 1887 well at 

Logan suddenly burst with a gas flow that, 

when ignited, shot thirty feet into the air. It 

was unfortunately short-lived. About the 

same time, three wells were drilled at South 

Bloomingville, to the same Berea horizon, 

striking oil. The South Bloomingville wells 

and those at Logan produced about a barrel 

per month of good quality lubricating oil. 

Other wells at Canal Winchester, Sunbury, 

and Westerville showed strong, but short 

plays in Devonian shales. 

A large oil and gas field developed around 

Corning, Perry County, and then spread into 

neighboring Athens and Morgan Counties, 

beginning in the 1890s. Records appear 

missing, but the first deep well appears to have 

been drilled near Burr Oak, south of Corning in 

the 1860s. This pioneer well produced a flow of 

saltwater and gas. As was usual at the time, the 

gas was ignited and the well was considered a 

failure as an oil well. Other early wells also 

produced little trace of oil. In August, 1891, the 

Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad drilled a water 

well at their roundhouse in the yards south of 

Corning. About 630 feet down, the drillers 

struck a flow of saltwater so the well was cased 

and drilling continued with the hope of finding 

a source of freshwater at a greater depth. The 

drilling was terminated at a depth of 1,507 feet 

as no water was found. A few days later oil 

gushed from top of the derrick. The oil came 

from the Berea, forced to the surface by gas 

from the same horizon. The drilling company 

closed the well and the railroad continued to 

search for a better water source. The gusher did 

not go unnoticed and soon land was being 

leased by oil seekers. The Sunday Creek Oil and 

Gas Company was hastily organized by Corning 

residents to oversee the field’s development and 

hopefully keep it out of the hands of Standard 

Oil, who they feared might hold up its 

development. Early production of crude was 

shipped out in tank cars on the Toledo & Ohio 

Central Railroad. The importance of the field 

was evident when the Buckeye Pipe Line began 

to service the area in 1893. The Buckeye 

company used gravity and suction to pump the 

oil to two iron storage tanks. From there it was 

pumped down the pipeline to Elba. The year 

1896 marked the peak of production (469,258 

barrels) of the Corning field. The field spread 

out from Corning with important pools 

discovered around Glouster, Oakfield, and 

Porterville. The Oakfield pool, discovered in 

This postcard was mailed from Gore in June 

1912. At least four derricks are producing 

from the Clinton. Hocking Valley tracks are 

in the foreground. 



3 7

Top: Corning was the business center for 

nearby coal lands and a railroad terminal 

on the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad. On 

Main Street, many of these businesses had 

gas service by the late 1890s. This postcard 

views dates to around 1907. 


Middle: Bennet No. 2 well gushed 

uncontrollably around 1907 near New 

Lexington. Note the steam boiler in the dog 

house and the wooden storage tank. 


Bottom: Derricks dot the eastern hills 

surrounding downtown New Straitsville 

in 1907. The Hocking Valley depot is in 

the foreground. 


Opposite, top: Derricks are everywhere 

around New Straitsville. 



Opposite, middle: A lone wooden derrick 

pumps oil at one of New Straitsville’s 

brick plants. 


Opposite, bottom, left: This wooden derrick 

was located at Ludington about half way 

between Corning and Shawnee. 

1900, proved to be the most valuable with a 

number of wells initially producing 45 to 125 

barrels a day. However, the field was on an 

overall decline by this time. Some forty 

companies had investments in this field. It is 

estimated that at least 900 oil wells were drilled 

by 1902, with some 688 still producing at that 

time. The best gas production was from the 

Muddy Fork area of Trimble Township in 

Athens County. An 1897 well ranks as the 

number one producer at three million cubic 

feet. The Oakfield area also produced 

significant gas, but it was the oil that was more 

marketable. The gas wells were originally 

owned by the Corning Natural Gas Company, 

then transferred to the Ohio Fuel Supply 

Company around 1902. The gas was put to 

domestic use in places like Corning, Glouster, 

Hemlock, Jacksonville, Moxahala, Murray City, 

Nelsonville, New Lexington, New Straitsville, 

Rendville, Shawnee, and Trimble. 

A small gas spring in Blue Rock Township 

in the headwaters of Mann’s Fork seemed a 

logical place to drill. Two wells put down 

in the 1860s encountered oil at 75 to 80 feet. 

The production of 40 to 50 barrels per day 

led to a drilling boom. Within a year some 

100 wells had been drilled. A small 

community called Oil City arose out of the 

farmland. Unfortunately by 1900 it was 

realized the pool was small and the 

production short-lived. By 1903, the oil 

workers had moved elsewhere. Scattered 


Opposite, bottom, right: This postcard shows 

the site of the former Oil City around 1913. 



38

around the county, a few wells showed minor 

plays of gas and oil; most, however, were 

abandoned because of saltwater. 

Around 1895 the Rush Creek Oil & Gas 

Company was formed and drilled a well in 

1896 just north of Bremen, Fairfield County. 

A heavy flow of gas was struck 1,700 feet 

down and the gas was piped to Bremen, 

Rushville, and West Rushville. The villages 

made good use of the fuel for about a year 

and a half, but then saltwater displaced the 

gas and destroyed the production. Two other 

wells were drilled with unsuccessful results 

forcing the company out of business. In the 

spring of 1907, oil was struck in the Clinton 

between Pleasantville and West Rushville, 

several miles northwest of Bremen. The well 

initially flowed at a rate of seventy-five barrels 

per day. The Bremen Gas & Oil Company 

formed about this time and their initial well 

also hit oil in the Clinton. This well, 

unfortunately, was soon ruined by saltwater 

inflow. These two wells were the first of many 

in what became known as the Bremen oil 

field. After drilling a dry hole, the Bremen 

Gas & Oil Company hit pay dirt with their 

third well, drilled near their first in Rush 

Creek Township. Initial production was 

around 140 barrels a day. More producers 

followed and by 1909 the company’s 70 wells 

were yielding some 1,000 barrels daily. 


3 9

Right: Another map from Bownocker’s 

Bulletin 1 of the Geological Survey of Ohio 

shows the several pools within the Bremen 

field around 1901. 

Below: This postcard of Bremen was taken 

around 1910-12, looking north. The 

Pennsylvania Railroad depot and block 

station are located on the south side of the 

village (to the right or east side of this 

view). Note that derricks dot the farm land 

and also extend into the village. 


Opposite, top: This photograph shows the 

southwest edge of Bremen (It slightly 

overlaps the view above to the left or west). 

Downtown buildings rise among some 24 

derricks. In the immediate foreground is a 

“dog house”, small oil tank, and a one holer. 



Opposite, middle: This derrick in the 

Bremen area was a favorite spot of a local 

photographer to create group photos. A 

number of cards showing different groups of 

all ages in Sunday dress and/or everyday 

clothes are in the collection. The postcard 

came from the Martin Studio in Logan. 



Opposite, bottom: Looking west down the 

Pennsylvania Railroad, derricks rise beyond 

the depot. The Toledo & Ohio Central 

Railroad which curves to the right (north) at 

the depot shares the “Pennsy” tracks from 

Bremen east to Junction City. 

During 1908-09, four other companies 

took out leases in the Bremen area—Avalon 

Oil & Gas, David Rodafer Oil & Gas, Great 

Expectation Oil & Gas, and Planet Oil & Gas. 

The greatest well produced 500 barrels per 

day. Exploration spread out in all directions 

from the initial pool northeast of Bremen, but 

the most successful drilling was to the south 

and southeast. Drilling proceeded in the 

valleys of Rush Creek and Little Rush Creek 

and into Bremen proper. By July, 1910, 30 

wells had been drilled on Bremen town lots. 

Little regard was made of proper spacing 

which would doom the town wells to short 

production runs. The Pennsylvania Railroad 

(former Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley) and 

Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad carried the oil 

away in tank cars. In 1908, Bremen was 


40

connected to the Buckeye Pipe Line when a 

pumping station was built. 

The Rushville Oil & Gas Company drilled 

three wells just south of Rushville in 1909, 

hitting plentiful gas in the Clinton and the gas 

was sold to the Logan Gas & Fuel Company. A 

small pool of oil was also found near Rushville, 

and the Alberta Oil & Gas Company opened 

drilling in the Junction City area in March 

1909. Successful Clinton oil wells brought 

many oil firms to the area and soon the town 

and surrounding countryside was peppered 

with derricks. Successful companies drilling 

the Junction City pool included Alberta Oil & 

Gas, Capitol Oil & Gas, Electric Oil & Gas, 

Holiday Oil & Gas, and Shamrock Oil & Gas. 

By the end of 1910 over one million barrels 

had been pumped from the Clinton sands. 

A well near Butler in Richland County was 

unique among the many thousands drilled in 

Ohio up to this time. It was completed in 

December 1905 by the Butler Oil & Gas 

Company. The well flowed uncontrollably at the 

start, pouring out an estimated 200 barrels of 

“water white” oil. Other wells drilled also 

yielded this same clear oil, much like kerosene, 

but all evolved into gas wells. By 1909 around 

1,600 barrels of this rare oil had been produced. 

Local folks once used it in lanterns and lamps. 

B E R E A W E L L S I N E A S T 

C E N T R A L O H I O 

Deep wells were put down at Bellaire and 

Martins Ferry, but with only minor showings 

of gas. The Cadiz area was first drilled in 1887 


4 1

S O M E G A S A N D O I L F I E L D S O F C E N T R A L A N D E A S T - C E N T R A L O H I O 


42


4 3

Closely spaced derricks rise from farms on 

the south edge of Bremen around 1909. 



by the Cadiz Oil and Gas Company, but after 

two wells, the company had little to show for its 

work. After a careful geologic survey of the area, 

two more wells were drilled in the summer of 

1888, both producing gas, but little oil. After 

considerable wastage of gas, one of the wells was 

brought under control and the gas was used in 

Cadiz. The well was reported to be producing 

twenty-five thousand cubic feet in 1900. 

The Cambridge Light and Fuel Company 

drilled three productive gas wells in the late 

1880s. In 1893 the company purchased the 

wells in the Harmony gas field, south of 

Cambridge to fuel Cambridge’s growing glass 

industry. Eighteen producers were present in 

1902, and only one company piped gas to a 

glass plant in Byesville. The Guernsey County 

communities of Kimbolton, Quaker City, and 


44

The discovery of oil in Jewett led to the 

chartering of the Scio Oil and Gas Company in 

March 1898. All that remained to be done was 

to drill deeper. The first well to reach the Berea 

was completed in June 1898 just north of the 

village. An unfortunate fire at the second well 

made the news and turned the once quiet 

college and farming community into a raging 

boomtown. The population jumped from 

around 900 to an estimated 5,000 by early 

1899. Within the village, at least two hundred 

derricks popped up in open lots and 

backyards. The hills and valleys surrounding 

the town were dotted with another eight 

hundred or so derricks. A small refinery 

opened in town in 1899, but it was soon 

bought out by Standard Oil. There were 850 

producing wells in January 1900. 

Unfortunately most of the village wells were 

short-lived because little regard was given to 

maintaining adequate spacing. By 1903, the 

oil was being shipped by the Buckeye Pipeline 

Company (to Brice, West Virginia), National 

Pipeline Company (to Cleveland, Findlay, 

Newburg, and Toledo), and the Sun Oil 

Company (to their refinery in Toledo). 

Top, left: This postcard shows a distant 

view of Junction City as a horizon of 

derricks, c. 1970. 


Bottom, left: The Crown Oil Company of 

Columbus owned at least one of these 

closely spaced wells in the Junction 

City field. 

SHAWNEE ART CO. PHOTO, COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR. 

Below: The Appalachian plateau landscape 

of the Jewett and Scio area is well shown on 

this 1904 USGS topographic quadrangle. 

Senecaville tapped the Berea for small 

showings of oil and gas in the 1880s and ’90s. 

A successful Berea gas well initiated 

exploration around Jewett in 1895. Until 

1899 this pioneer well provided gas for 

nearby Jewett. The work started with the 

locally organized Jewett Oil and Gas 

Company, but by the spring of 1896 the Ohio 

Oil Company operated a good portion of the 

field. Later development led to gas being 

piped to Jewett, Cadiz, and Scio. By 1901, 67 

oil wells and 8 gas wells defined the field. 

Nearby Scio was the best known Harrison 

County oil field covering about fifteen square 

miles. The Scio field had its beginnings in the 

late 1860s with several drillings into the Big 

Injun. Disappointment reigned as most of 

these early attempts produced only saltwater. 


4 5

Above: This map was drafted for Bulletin 1 

of the Geological Survey of Ohio. Note the 

Scio field dominates the Harrison County 

production in 1902. 

Below: In 1899, derricks popped up all over 

the hills north of town. 



The Bowerston field opened with the 

drilling of a gas well in Fall 1899. The first oil 

was encountered in a Spring 1900 Berea well; 

coming in at 10 barrels. The greatest 

production was in Fall 1900 when 950 barrels 

were produced. The Buckeye Pipeline 

Company pumped the oil to its facility in 

Brice, West Virginia. 

A gas field was developed near Toronto in 

1891-92 by the Toronto Oil and Gas 

Company. The gas was piped to town from 

some six still producing wells in 1902. 

Empire was also supplied with gas from three 

local wells. 

The East Liverpool Gas Company drilled 

its first well in 1859, striking gas at 450 feet. 

The reason for this well has apparently not 

been recorded. It may have been a typical salt 

well or perhaps it was an attempt to repeat the 

Drake discovery. The natural gas, as 

elsewhere, was viewed as a curiosity. East 

Liverpool was chartered in 1870 to 

manufacture artificial gas for illumination 

purposes. By the 1870s a number of gas wells 

were producing plentiful gas causing the 

company to soon abandon making gas and 

turn to piping natural gas. In 1874, the town 

became the first to use it in a large scale for 

street lighting and to heat residences. 

As quoted from the 1880 edition of The 

Encyclopedia Britannica: 

The city of East Liverpool, Ohio, is entirely 

illuminated, and to a large extent heated, by 

gas-wells which exist in and around the town. 

The light is of extraordinary brilliancy, and is 

so abundant and free that the street lamps are 

never extinguished, and much of the 

manufacturing and steam power of the town, 


46

which embraces 22 potteries, giving 

employment to 2,000 hands, is derived from 

the gas. 

Unfortunately the gas was short-lived, 

lasting only about ten years. A discovery of a 

new gas field near Fairview, West Virginia, 

about seven miles east of East Liverpool, led to 

the organization of the Ohio Valley Gas 

Company which laid a pipeline to the city. Since 

technology had not yet developed to control the 

pressure of the gas in the pipeline a good 

quantity of it was flared off before crossing the 

Ohio River. The standpipe reportedly often 

flared fifty feet into the air. The Ohio Valley Gas 

Company laid a second pipeline to town in 

1886 from a new field near Harshaville, 

Pennsylvania, and began servicing nearby 

Wellsville. The Bridgewater Gas Company 

added a line from the Shannopin, Pennsylvania, 

field in 1887. 

In 1900, two wells were sunk into the 

Ohio Valley—the object being to locate a 

nearby gas source for East Liverpool potteries. 

Unfortunately, the wells failed to meet 

expectations. East Liverpool turned to 

supplying equipment to the oilfields. The 

C.A. Smith Drilling Company located there in 

the 1890s, along with other firms looking to 

ship machinery throughout the Ohio Valley. 

Charles A. Smith was introduced to the 

oil business when he was 17 and working as 

a water boy for a gas pipe line crew in 

West Virginia. He owned the Ohio Valley 

Gas Company until 1898. Later Smith laid 

out Chester, West Virginia, and became 

involved with the Ohio Valley pottery 

industry, an interurban line, bus line, raising 

livestock, and growing apples. 

Sometime before 1870, five wells were 

drilled along Little Yellow Creek, north of 

Wellsville. Two wells yielded 3-5 barrels per 

day, but soon slowed and were abandoned. 

Through the years, thick oil continued to seep 

from the site of the old wells. Locals 

occasionally used it for greasing wagon 

wheels. In Fall 1899, a number of wells were 

sunk near the old wells and yielded good 

amounts of oil. However, just like the pioneer 

wells, the production diminished. By 1905, 

one of the wells that started at around 150 

barrels per day, was only yielding 5 barrels per 

day. Some 20 oil wells were in place by 1902. 

On the north side of this field a few gas wells 

were drilled in 1902. The pool was eventually 

found to be limited and it was soon exhausted. 

Drilling in the Lisbon area, beginning in 

the 1860s, was not very successful. In 1901, 

three wells were producing gas. In a number 

of cases, strong saltwater inflow ruined the 

wells. Similarly, in the early 1860s, a small 

producer was drilled near Homeworth, but 

never developed. Then in 1898, a series of 

test wells were bored near the old well, 

bringing a greenish oil to the surface. The 

Renner & Diebel Oil Company of Akron and 

Youngstown put in more than 50 producers 

just north and northeast of town in the next 

five years. East of Homeworth, the field 

yielded natural gas, much of which was piped 

to Alliance. The community of Homeworth 

received their gas for lighting and heating 

from the Weaver Oil Company’s gas well on 

an adjacent farm. By 1904, the village and 

nearby farms were dotted with derricks. 

The Scio boom has slowed by 1906. Many 

wells were short-lived because of the 

disregard for suitable spacing. 



4 7

This well at Crooksville began as a strong 

producer in 1909, but the production waned 

and flooding problems eventually led to its 

abandonment. 


In 1903, a number of gas producers were 

brought in south of Leetonia, in Columbiana 

County. In 1904, the Natural Gas Company of 

West Virginia piped gas to nearby Leetonia and 

Salem where it was used for lighting, heating, 

and small scale manufacturing purposes. In 

1905, gas service was extended to Columbiana. 

New discoveries in 1902 led to the formation 

of the Columbiana Gas Company and the 

construction of a pipeline to Lisbon. 

A circa 1886 well near Millersburg struck 

viscous oil in the Berea. It was used for 

lubricating purposes. Gas from this well was 

sufficient to light and heat the owner’s farm. 

Showings of Berea gas and oil followed drilling 

around 1900 at Cumberland, Dennison, 

Gilmore, Newport, Port Washington, Post Boy, 

Tuscarawas, Uhrichsville, and Zoar. In 1909, 

the area just east of Sugar Creek yielded 

several shallow but strong gas wells. At one 

time, seven different companies were drilling, 

and gas was piped to Dover, Shanesville, and 

Sugar Creek by 1910 where it was used for 

heating and lighting. Unfortunately the gas 

was nearly gone by 1916. The gas boom 

returned in the 1970s, when drillers sought 

out deeper oil and gas bearing stratas. 

About a mile west of Wooster, a Clinton 

well was shot in July 1910, starting a flow of 

1.44 million cubic feet per day. The gas was 

used by a local brick plant. Four wells drilled 

in Vermilion Township of Ashland County also 

produced from the Clinton. A well brought in 

at Crooksville in October 1909 had an initial 

flow of two million cubic feet. Located on the 

floodplain of Moxahala Creek, the well was 

periodically covered by floodwaters and 

eventually abandoned. Nearby, a couple miles 

southwest of Roseville, oil was struck in the 

Clinton. The well, completed in March, 1910, 

was the deepest well in the state at 3,476 feet, 

for that time. The well initially yielded 15-25 

barrels a day, but production was short-lived. 

S O U T H C E N T R A L O H I O 

A well drilled near Ruraldale, Muskingum 

County around 1864, showed oil at a shallow 

depth. Deeper drilling led to small oil pools 

being worked near Black Run, Bloomfield, 

Cannelville, Fultonham, Gratiot, Nashport, 

Otsego, and Roseville by 1917. Across the 

county, more than 800 wells were producing in 

the early 1900s. Yields were approximately 

2,000 barrels of oil and 5 million cfd of gas from 

the Clinton, Berea, and Cow Run horizons. 

McConnellsville began searching for 

nearby natural gas in 1889. Persistent 

exploratory drilling eventually came up with 

producers just east of town in 1896. The gas 

came from the Devonian Berea sandstone. 

By 1888 only one well seeking oil had been 

drilled in Vinton County. In 1867, workers were 

surprised when their tools hit a high pressure 

gas zone in the Big Injun (Cuyahoga formation). 

In 1870, Andrews of the Ohio Geological 

Survey reported on this pioneer well: 

An oil well was bored in 1867 on the land 

of John Calvin (now owned by L.A. Arbaugh) 

in Section 10, Vinton Township. At a depth of 

95 feet a seam of coal was reported measuring 

5 feet in thickness. At a depth of 490 feet a fissure 

containing gas was struck. The gas 

rushed up with great force and took fire from 

the engine fire, 40 feet distant, and burned to 

a height variously estimated from 75 to 200 

feet. The burning continued for a fortnight, 


48

and caused no little consternation among the 

people of the neighborhood. The gas is still 

(1870) emitted with great force. It seems a 

great pity that so much heating and illuminating 

power should go to waste. 

Around 1877 the well was prepared so that 

the gas could be used in lampblack 

manufacturing but shortly disappeared. 

Wells at Jackson in the former Scioto Saline 

area tapped minor amounts of gas in the 

Devonian Berea. Wells in Gallipolis (1887), 

Nelsonville (1887), Sciotoville (1875), 

Ironton (1885), and Portsmouth (1885) 

exhibited no major plays of gas or oil. 

In eastern Washington County in the Ohio 

Valley were two related pools in the Berea 

sand—the Archers Fork and Elk Run. An 

1898 well started at 800 barrels, but had 

declined to 40 in a year. About 65 wells were 

producing around 1900. 

Several gas wells drilled in 1899 near 

Dudley, Washington County, became major 

suppliers of energy to nearby communities 

including Caldwell, Dexter City, Elba, and 

South Olive. Gas was also piped to 

Barnesville, Byesville, Cambridge, Pleasant 

City, and Quaker City. Another large gas well 

struck gas around 1900 in the Berea at 

Moundsville. Several wells produced oil from 

the Berea near Belle Valley in the late 1890s. 

It was not until 1898 that commercial 

quantities of gas were discovered in Vinton 

County, An immense gas field in the Clinton 

was opened through the central townships, 

stretching from the Hocking to Jackson county 

lines, west of the Hocking Valley Railroad. 

From 1901 to 1926 some 67 wells were 

producing either gas or oil across this field. 

Small pools of oil were struck in the Berea at 

Bolin’s Mills (1900) and Zaleski (1916). 

D E V O N I A N A N D 

M I S S I S S I P P I A N W E L L S O F 

S O U T H E A S T O H I O 

By far the most important oil producing area 

in late Paleozoic strata, is the Sistersville field. 

This pool extends across the Ohio River from 

Sistersville, West Virginia, across most of 

Jackson Township in Monroe County, and 

north to Mechanicsburg in Perry Township. A 

well drilled near Fly in April 1891 struck oil in 

Mississippian sandstones, known to drillers as 

the Keener and Big Injun sands. Upon 

pumping, 10-15 barrels was the production. 

Other wells matched this production, but all 

were plagued with saltwater inflow. In 1892, 

saltwater was pumped from a well near 

Sistersville with the hope of initiating oil flow. It 

worked and soon wells were being put down on 

both sides of the Ohio River. The best wells in 

Ohio produced 1,200-1,500 barrels per day. 

Drilling spread away from the river, following 

valleys was the custom at the time. The 

northern part of the field was opened with an 

1895 producer. Later wells included a major 

gusher and one that averaged 700-800 barrels 

for the first month. Wells on the northerly edges 

of this pool were not associated with excessive 

brine. During the boom years, streams flowing 

through this region were saltwater and made 

the Ohio brackish at their mouths. A Sistersville 

newspaper proclaimed in 1894 that the West 

Virginia town would be the ”New Oil City, the 

thriving and growing center of the greatest oil 

field on earth.” 

Monroe County came in late, but still has 

ranked as one of southeast Ohio’s most 

productive oil regions. Besides the Sistersville 

field several other areas of production 

developed in the late 1890s. South of 

Woodsfield, centered around Griffith and 

Graysville, were the Jackson Ridge and 

Graysville pools, both starting in 1896 and 

getting oil from the Keener sand. Drilling in 

1898 slightly northwest of these pools began 

the Moose Ridge pool. Drilling has taken 

place in all townships of the county, 

producers are scattered; here and there gas 

was also encountered. 

The early history of Noble County gas and 

oil exploration has been told, especially 

concerning the Macksburg area. Deeper 

drilling at first was unsuccessful, but in Fall 

1897 a well near Dudley came in at 14 

barrels. Some 40 gas and oil wells were drilled 

around Dudley between then and 1903. At 

least eight high pressure gas wells were 

serving the fuel needs of Noble County towns 

by 1903. Pipelines radiated out from the 

Dudley field bringing gas to Barnesville, 


4 9

Above: This map was drawn for Bulletin 1 

of the Geological Survey of Ohio. It shows 

the major pools of Monroe County in 1902. 

Below: The Bishop oil field near Woodsfield 

was a good producer around 1900. 



Byesville, Caldwell, Cambridge, Pleasant City, 

and Quaker City. Gas was found at 

Moundsville in the late 1890s and oil showed 

up at Belle Valley around the same time. 

The first deep well around Barnesville in 

Belmont County was reportedly drilled in 

early 1887 with the hope of striking a major 

gas flow in the Berea. Unfortunately the well 

only produced a minor amount of oil and 

considerably more saltwater. The citizens of 

Barnesville organized the Warren Oil and Gas 

Company in late March. From 1889 to 1891 

the company drilled four successful gas wells 

southwest of town. The largest initially 

produced 750,000 cubic feet per day. Gas was 

supplied to the town in 1890. Later drilling 

led to some producing oil wells. By 1903, 

there were 25 producing oil wells. 


50

S O M E G A S A N D O I L F I E L D S O F E A S T - C E N T R A L A N D S O U T H E A S T O H I O 


5 1


52

Southwest of Barnesville, another field was 

discovered in December 1899, just north of 

Temperanceville. By mid-1901, 21 wells were 

producing; the best initially providing 35 

barrels a day. The oil was pumped to 

Sistersville, West Virginia. In the northeastern 

corner of Belmont County there was a small 

Berea oil pool within the village of Colerain. 

Although the productive area was small and 

production short-lived, the field made the 

news because strong gas pressure made the 

wells look like black geysers. Most of the 

Berea activity in Belmont County climaxed 

between 1890 and 1920. 

The first deep well drilled in Vinton 

County struck a good flow of gas in the 

Mississippian sandstone in 1867. As was 

usual in those days, the gas was ignited and 

flared 75 to 200 feet into the air. The gas was 

never utilized and after about 10 years the 

well was exhausted. Other wells were put 

down throughout Vinton County in the 

1880s-90s; many showed some oil but 

saltwater dominated. The only oil of 

significance came from a small area of Jackson 

Township beginning in August 1899. Five 

wells were producing 109 barrels a day. Two 

wells drilled by the Ohio Oil Company near 

Orland in 1901-02 produced a good flow of 

gas from the Clinton. 

Meigs County was another place where the 

presence of oil and gas was known at least by 

1840. Salt was the sought quantity and thus 

the oil and gas was initially a nuisance. The 

first well encountering a small play of gas and 

oil was near Rutland. A salt well drilled in 

Pomeroy in 1852 flowed oil into a nearby 

ravine where it eventually reached the Ohio 

River. The town, fearing a fire would destroy 

the boats at their docks, dammed the ravine. 

Some hundred barrels of this oil were shipped 

to St. Louis and sold as a liniment. The same 

happened in salt wells near Minersville, 

however, casing was added to save the salt. An 

oil well drilled in the 1860s near Enterprise 

hit considerable gas, but no oil. Wells in the 

New Lima area made a showing of oil but not 

enough to pay expenses. 

An early attempt at producing oil by 

horizontal drilling took place in 1937, 

northwest of McConnelsville, in Morgan 

County. Along the bank of a stream oil seeped 

in the exposed Cow Run sandstone. Just 

upstream a 30 foot diameter concrete-lined 

shaft was put down to a depth of 30 feet. 

Drilling equipment was installed at the 

bottom of the shaft. Four wells were drilled 

into the Cow Run, inclined in such a manner 

to allow oil to flow back into a sump below 

the floor of the shaft. Within 12 years the 

project had been abandoned since the amount 

of oil produced was insignificant. Another 

attempt was made in the Buck Run field near 

Morganville in 1940. Initially, drilling took 

place in a stream exposure of the Cow Run, 

then later a shaft was constructed and six 

wells were drilled. Production was also low 

and soon this experiment was also 

terminated. Thus, the foundation was set for 

twenty-first century hydrofracturing. 


5 3


54

CHAPTER SIX 

T R E N T O N 

P L A Y S 

F I N D L A Y - G A S I N T H E T R E N T O N 

What appears to be the first recorded evidence of natural gas beneath the Findlay area is 

described by state geologist, Edward Orton, in 1888: 

The first discovery of gas in excavations in and around the town seems to have been made in October 

1836. At a point three-and-one-half miles south of the court-house, in the northwest quarter of section five, 

Jackson township, a man named Wade was digging a well on the farm of his brother-in-law, Aaron 

Williamson. The digging had been carried down ten feet and water was found in sufficient quantity. The 

workmen were ready to wall the well when they were called to supper. Coming back at the edge of the 

evening to complete the work, a lighted bark torch ignited the gas in the well, giving rise to a slight explosion. 

The gas appeared in quantity enough to maintain a flame which burned, as the story goes, for three months, 

when the snow and rain got the better of it and extinguished it. The well was never walled or used. 

Orton goes on to explain another early encounter: 

In 1838, Mr. Daniel Foster dug a well on his premises, at the corner of Main and Hardin streets, Findlay. 

The gas appeared in quantity and the water was too sulphurous for use. It occurred to Mr. Foster to get 

some good from his labor, though as a source of water the well was a failure. Placing an inverted sugarkettle 

in the well, he collected the gas that rose beneath it, conveying it by means of a wooden pipe under 

his house to the fireplace of one of the rooms. Here he burned it in an old gun-barrel, turning the heat to 

some economic account. The gas has been burning in this house from that day to the present (1888). 

Cygnet in 1885. This photo shows derricks 

on town lots. The close spacing led to 

short productions. 



As is evident from these accounts, early Findlay residents viewed the gas as a nuisance. The city 

also had problems when digging the sewer on the main street—gas fumes produced quite a stink. 

In 1864, Dr. Charles Oesterlen, a Findlay physician, tried to convince townsfolk that the gas was 

useful and should be stored and used for illumination. Unfortunately, Dr. Oesterlen’s ideas received 

little support at the time. The deeper drilling plays of gas in the 1880s and developments in western 

Pennsylvania led to the formation of the Findlay Natural Gas Company in March 1884. Dr. 

Oesterlen was elected as its president. A well was begun near the site of a gas spring along Eagle 

Creek, in the southeastern part of town in Fall 1884. Gas flowed into the well beginning at 310 feet, 

but a strong flow was struck at 1,092 feet. The well was lit and a flame reached 20-30 feet above 

the standpipe. The ignited well could be seen for 10 miles or so and attracted the curious to view 

the spectacle. Daily production was estimated by the Ohio Geological Survey to be between 200,000 

and 300,000 cubic feet. Small amounts of black oil were also encountered in the 1884 well. 

Thus Findlay became the first Ohio town to tap the deeper gas and oil riches below the western 

part of the state. This was the Ordovician Trenton limestone. Findlay already had a plant furnishing 

gas, but it was artificial gas, not natural gas. Natural gas is hard to define because it is widely 

variable. An analysis of the Findlay gas performed for the Ohio Geological Survey in 1886 follows: 

Marsh gas (methane)......................................92.61 

Olefiant gas (ethylene) .....................................0.30 

Hydrogen .........................................................2.18 

Nitrogen...........................................................3.61 

Oxygen.............................................................0.34 

Carbonic acid...................................................0.26 

Carbonic oxide (Carbon monoxide) ................0.50 

Sulphuretted hydrogen (Hydrogen sulfide) ....0.20 

C H A P T E R S I X 

5 5

S O M E S I G N I F I C A N T W E L L S I N T H E F I N D L A Y F I E L D ( F R O M O R T O N , 1 8 8 8 ) 

The Gas-Light & Coke Company was the 

pioneer firm that provided early Findlay with 

gas fuel, however this was made from the 

distillation of coal. After the Oesterlen 

discovery well proved the existence of a 

natural gas pool under Findlay, the Gas-Light 

& Coke Company drilled Well No. 2 at its gas 

works. Although not as strong a producer as 

the Oestelen well, the company immediately 

began pumping this through the line down 

Main Street. The Findlay Natural Gas 

Company entered direct competition with the 

GL&C when it laid a second gas line through 

the community. The Findlay Natural Gas 


56

Company was bought out by the GL&C 

which was now known as the Findlay Gas- 

Light Company. Citizens approved legislation 

permitting the town to own and operate its 

own gas wells. The first was drilled in 

November 1886; others were put down 

quickly and the city soon had an adequate 

supply. The Findlay Gas-Light Company was 

bought by the municipal system, thus ending 

a period of rate wars. 

By 1886 total gas production was around 

25 million cubic feet per day. No matter how 

the production rates were calculated the 

production far exceeded all demands from the 

community. To many the supply was endless. 

Throughout the city gas flares became 

common—the Karg was the largest of all. 

The Karg well erupted January 20, 1886, 

when the bore reached 1,144 feet and the 

Trenton limestone. A six-inch-diameter stand 

pipe rose above the well allowing the ignited 

gas to soar 60 feet into the air with a pressure 

of 400 pounds per square inch, enough to 

lift a three-ton piece of iron more than 100 feet 

into the air. Forty million cubic feet of gas 

escaped daily, waisting tremendous volumes. 

Professor George Frederick Wright, a professor 

at Oberlin Theological Seminary (later 

Oberlin College) and a geologist working with 

the U.S. Geological Survey, visited the Karg 

well one evening in February 1886 and colorfully 

described the local conditions. 

The Karg well was photographed by many 

and used in advertisements of Findlay. 

Here is a stereo card that allowed viewers 

to see a 3-D image. On the back was 

some information on other Findlay gas 

and oil wells. 


Although the snow had covered the 

ground to a depth of several inches, in every 

direction for a distance of 200 yards in 

circumference the heat of the flame had 

melted the snow from the ground and the 

grass and weeds had grown two or three 

inches in height. The crickets also seemed to 

have mistaken the season of the year, for they 

were enlivening the night with their cheerful 

song. The neighborhood of the well seemed 

also a paradise for tramps. I noticed one who 

lay soundly sleeping with his head in a barrel, 

with the rest of his body lying outside on the 

green turf, to receive the genial warmth from 

the flame so high up in the air.” Cold as it was 

he slept in perfect comfort, with no danger of 

suffering so long as he was within the 

charmed circle. 

The daily amount of heat from this single 

well is said to equal that from the burning of 

one thousand tons of soft coal. 

The cost of drilling a well is about $1,500, 

but gas is supplied so cheaply to consumers 

that no one thinks of drilling a well except for 

a factory or mill. The city owns a number of 

fine wells and has pipes under all the streets. 

Gas is furnished to consumers for fifteen cents 

a month for each grate or stove, and the 

consumer is permitted to burn as much or as 

little as he chooses. 

The gas has a distinct and penetrating 

sulphuric odor, so that it (is) safer for 

household use than manufactured gas, as it 

cannot escape without being quickly detected. 


5 7

Findlay’s 1887 Gas Jubilee extolled the 

advantages of locating businesses and 

residences in Findlay. 


RESOURCES DIVISION OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND THE 

MAX SHAFFER COLLECTION, WOOD COUNTY HISTORICAL 

CENTER & MUSEUM. 

Gas is a great luxury as a fuel, with no smoke, 

dirt or expensive manipulation connected 

with it. It is easily managed and burns with a 

beautiful blue flame that emits an intense heat 

which never varies in degree. 

There was a great deal of speculation in 

farms in the gas belt, and one agent told me he 

had sold the same farm ten times. Hundreds 

of farmers have been made rich, but I cannot 

think they have gained as much in 

contentment as they have in wealth. One odd 

character sold his farm for $75,000 and came 

to the town to live. He brought with him three 

strapping daughters, and this strange quartet, 

in garments cut in styles that were popular a 

quarter of a century ago, wander about the 

streets in a helpless and hopeless sort of way, 

wondering what to do with their money now 

that they have got it. The land which Senator 

Sherman paid $30,000 for has advanced in 

three months to $150,000 in value. The 

population of Findlay has grown from 5,000 

to 15,000 in a year. 

The Karg well spectacle drew thousands to 

Findlay. Excursion trains brought the curious 

throughout the Midwest, and Findlay’s depots 

were alive with visitors. The roar of escaping 

gas carried several miles, with the flame being 

visible for 40 miles. The city advertised widely 

its excellent gas supply, attracting all kinds 

of manufacturers and plants that could prosper 

with the readily available fuel for power 

and lighting. 

Several other huge gas strikes were made in 

the Findlay field in the late 1880s. Two miles 

north of the Hancock County Courthouse was 

the Tippecanoe well. This well was torpedoed, 

initiating one of the greatest gas emissions in 

Ohio. The first day 32 million cubic feet 

escaped, followed by 24 million and 19 

million the next two days. 


58

In June 1887 the newly incorporated city of 

Findlay put on a three-day gas jubilee, 

celebrating the first anniversary of “the 

practical application of natural gas to the 

mechanical arts in Findlay”. It was June 1886, 

that the Biggs Iron and Tool Company, the first 

new firm enticed to locate in the city and use 

the cheap supply of natural gas, beginning its 

production of various iron and steel tools. 

Forty thousand visitors poured into the 

town to participate in the natural gas jubilee. 

The bustling city was ablaze with light and 

decorations, radiant in all the glory of flags, 

evergreens, bunting, and flowers. The main 

street was spanned by fifty-eight arches, 

bearing jubilant mottoes illuminated by the 

flame of thousands of gas jets. Thirty 

thousand such jets were burning all over the 

city and turning night into day. The first day 

(Wednesday) was devoted chiefly to the 

reception of distinguished guests. On 

Thursday morning the exercises consisted of 

the laying of the corner-stones for four new 

manufacturing establishments, in addition to 

those which had been laid the day before. 

Early in the day Senator John Sherman and 

other dignitaries arrived, and in the afternoon 

Gov. Foraker, accompanied by Adjutant- 

General Axline and staff, and the regular 

army officers who were to act as judges 

of the military contest, reached the city, 

and were accorded a most hearty reception. 

Other arrivals were about 1,000 uniformed 

members of the Knights of Pythias from 

Springfield, Toledo, Dayton, Cleveland, 

Sandusky, Bluffton, and other points, all 

accompanied by bands of music. The 

$1,000 prize drill, later in the day, attracted 

5,000 spectators. 

All day long the burning gas on the street 

arches flared in the light rains. It was cheaper 

to let it burn than to employ men to put it out 

and light it again. In the evening there was a 

grand banquet, at which appropriate 

addresses were made by Senator Sherman, 

Gov. Foraker, Charles Foster, Murat Halstead, 

Gen. Thomas Powell and others. The evening’s 

illumination was a grand success. Hundreds 

of sheets of flame leaped from the arches, and 

the brilliancy of the burning gas flooded the 

Top: Tremendous volumes of natural 

gas was wasted as gas flares lined 

downtown Findlay. 



Middle: As seen in this early 1900 postcard 

image oil wells replaced the gas wells 

around Findlay. The Huffman well is shown 

after being shot. 


Bottom: A pump station is under 

construction near Findlay. Note older 

wooden tank in background. 

WILLIS A. LEITER PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF THE MAX 

SHAFFER COLLECTION, WOOD COUNTY HISTORICAL 



5 9

O I L W E L L S D R I L L E D I N H A N C O C K A N D 

W O O D C O U N T I E S , 1 8 9 1 - 1 8 9 9 

city in a blaze of light. A continuous display of 

fireworks was made from seven o’clock until 

midnight, while 70,000 people packed 

roadway, walks, windows and roofs, and 

manifested in repeated applause their 

admiration of the spectacle. Friday, the last 

day, was occupied with processions, military 

parades, prize drills, band contests at the 

Wigwam, the laying of various corner-stones, 

and of the first rails of the belt and electric 

railroads; the festivities concluding in the 

evening with the awarding of prizes and a 

display of fireworks. In the drill the first prize 

of $1,000 was won by the Toledo Cadets, 

while the State University Cadets won the 

second prize of $500, and the Wooster Guards 

the third prize of $250. 

The Jubilee extolled the virtues of the new 

city, particularly the plentiful energy supply. 

The city offered free fuel, sometimes guaranteed 

for five years and often land for the construction 

of factories. Findlay was a medium 

size town covering about four square miles 

when the Oesterlen well came in; by 1889 the 

city covered the entire township and twenty 

thousand more folks called the place home. 

The seemingly endless supply of fuel was 

used by brick and tile concerns, glass plants, 

iron foundries, lime kilns, to name just a few 

of the new industries that set up in Findlay. 

Businesses and manufacturing firms used the 

gas in generally wasteful ways. They were not 

alone, as home owners often found it easier to 

open a window or door rather than turning 

down the gas. The Winter of 1888 was a harbinger 

of what was to come. As the gas supply 

could not keep up with demand, businesses 

were forced to reduce hours of operation. Part 

of the problem was salty groundwater entering 

the wells and stopping the flow of gas. It 

soon became evident that the city would have 

to expand the gas field and hopefully bring in 

gas from elsewhere. In 1889 the municipal 

gas company sunk new wells in leased property 

in northern Hancock County. 

With the demise of the gas, many former gas 

wells were transformed to oil wells. Oil seekers 

first concentrated on Liberty Township, west of 

Findlay, where the first oil wells were drilled in 

Spring 1886. Allen Township, north of Findlay 

was not only a pioneer gas field, but beginning 

in late 1886, it also became one of the earliest 

areas of oil production. Oil exploration also 

spread westward into neighboring Portage 

Township (Hancock County). Drilling spread 

to outlying townships about 1890 and continued 

until about 1905. 

By the 1890s and after geologists had studied 

data from hundreds of wells, it had 

become evident that the Trenton varied from 

one area to another and sometimes within 50 

feet. It was common for the top of the Trenton 

to be devoid of gas and oil in many places and 

show plays just below this cap. The exact 

depth at which oil or gas was struck however 

was not definite. In Bloom Township, particularly 

around Bairdstown, there were often two 

or three plays separated by 30-150 feet. 

Companies often deepened original Trenton 

wells, hoping to revitalize the production. 

In 1896 the gas supply had dwindled to the 

point that Findlay cut off gas to most industrial 

concerns and instituted a meter system for 


60

domestic use. Many plants moved to newer gas 

fields where cheap energy was still available. 

This was the end of the glass industry in Findlay 

(and also many other Ohio towns)—out of a 

dozen factories only one remained (It had converted 

to coal). In February 1899, the municipal 

gas plant was sold. 

B O W L I N G G R E E N A N D 

L I M A F I E L D S 

The story of gas exploration in other northwestern 

Ohio communities parallels that of 

Findlay, except for the lack of the gigantic 

plays. The first two communities to tap into 

the subsurface gas were Bowling Green, Wood 

County, and Lima, Allen County. The Bowling 

Green field connects with the Hancock County 

field to the south by two bands, one to the west 

and the other to the east of North Baltimore. 

The Bowling Green Natural Gas Company was 

chartered in January 1885 to investigate the 

subsurface of this county seat town. The first 

well drilled in Portage Township, to the southeast 

of town, produced a strong flow of gas 330 

feet down at what was the Silurian Medina 

sandstone, but it was exhausted after two-anda-half 

days. After reaching the depth of the 

Trenton and still not showing significant gas, it 

was torpedoed and a decent flow of gas began. 

By January 1886 the company had put down 

six wells, three of which were producers. 

Production, however didn’t exceed 150,000 

cubic feet per day and proved inadequate during 

the winter heating season. Later wells 

tapped other parts of Portage Township and 

Bloom Township near Cygnet and produced 

enough gas to allow the town to provide free 

gas to any industries that would erect facilities 

in Bowling Green. Soon, Bowling Green was 

another center of glass manufacture, and 

industrial use led to a rapid depletion of the 

reserves, by 1890 the fields depleted. 

Southwest of town in Liberty Township, 

just south of Rudolph, was the Ducat Well. 

Dr. John Adams Bownocker, a geology 

professor at Ohio State University wrote 

about this well in 1903: 

Above: A map from the Geological Survey of 

Ohio Bulletin 1 showing oil and gas fields 

mainly north of Hancock County. 

Left: A portion of a USGS topographic map 

from 1903 shows many of the communities 

directly south of Bowling Green that were 

platted and experienced prosperity during 

the boom years. Many are now ghost towns. 

Also note the railroads that served the oil 

and gas fields. Today, I-75 passes along the 

right border of the image. 

A poor German had secured a twenty-acre 

lease in what was regarded “wild-cat territory. 


6 1

He had a very poor string of tools, putting in 

these and the lease every dollar that he could 

command. When he reached the Trenton 

rock, it yielded no oil, and the driller became 

greatly discouraged. However, he had staked 

all—and consequently was compelled to drill 

deeper, hoping for the best. At 50 feet a strong 

flow of gas was found, but no oil. The outlook 

now was practically hopeless, in view of the 

results in other fields. At this stage a representative 

of the Standard Oil Company, who 

had furnished these data, chanced to be driving 

by. Hitching his horse he walked to the 

derrick, and found the facts as just related. 

The driller was still at work, but with so little 

hope that he offered to sell the lease and well 

at cost, about $2,500. Not caring to add to the 

discouragement by refusing, the visitor promised 

to consider the proposition and drove 

away. A few minutes later, when only a fraction 

of a mile from the well, he heard a loud 

report, and looking back saw a solid stream of 

oil flowing from the well, and rising higher 

than the derrick. He at once returned to the 

well, offering to purchase it on the terms 

which the driller had proposed a half hour 

before, but now it was the latter’s opportunity 

to decline. 

The Ducat well was one of the first to 

demonstrate a pay below the first fifty feet of 

the Trenton. The flow of the well could not be 

measured until several days passed. It was 


62

Opposite, top: The Bowling Green area was 

an important part of the Lima-Indiana field. 

This stereo-optican view was taken by N. W. 

Low, a professional photographer from 

Bowling Green in the 1880s-1890s. A 

gusher such as this one usually attracted the 

curious. Mr. Low probably sold quite of few 

of these cards. 


gauged at 10,000 barrels per day, but was 

certainly higher when it first came in. 

Flora Carnicom, who lived in Ducat most of 

her life described the well in a 1960s interview: 

I remember the first well, the gusher that 

come in here was out here on the Defiance 

Pike, now it’s called Route 281. And Clarence 

Potter drilled the well. And it come in as a 

gusher. And it was a gusher, let me tell you! 

And I know it drawed people from far and 

near. You could hear that well roar! And they 

couldn’t get it, uh, shut in, you know, for the 

gas. Oh, it was just a fog of gas! It was just a 

wonderful well…. Now I don’t know how 

many barrels that made, but it flowed out 

before they got it shut in to go in the tanks. It 

flowed until the men had to put hip boots on. 

To wade to do it. I remember seeing that. 

Fred W. Meeker who lived in Jerry City in 

the 1900’s shared the following story about 

the Ducat well: 

I’ve heard the Potter well was terrific. The 

story that’s told of that is that Mr. Potter had run 

out of money. He contracted the well to go so 

deep for so much. And he run out of money and 

they hadn’t hit anything and he pulled his gold 

watch out of his pocket and he told the drillers, 

he said, “Here, I’ll give you this watch if you’ll 

drill six more feet.” And before they had drilled 

six feet they had hit the jackpot. I guess you 

would call it. And whether that’s true or not, I 

don’t know, but that’s the story that’s been told. 

The Ducat well gushed for two days before 

it was brought under control. The oil ran into 

the Portage River. Trees glistened with oil. 

Supposedly there was a stream of fire stretching 

for four miles and reaching 30 feet into 

the sky. It later was measured at 10,000 

barrels per day. Six months later the owner 

sold it for $10,000; ironically it eventually 

ended up Standard Oil property. 

The first gas well bored in Lima was on the 

grounds of the Lima Straw Board Works, a paper 

mill owned by Benjamin C. Faurot in the Spring 

of 1885. The mill, located along the Ottawa 

River, was seeking a source of groundwater as 

much as it was seeking natural gas. Faurot was 

disappointed when oil was struck instead of gas 

at the Trenton horizon, however he made the 

best of the situation. It was a little puzzling to 

drillers because many who were familiar with 

the Pennsylvania oil fields expected strong oil 

plays to come from sands (sandstones), not the 

limestones and dolostones of the Trenton. 

Torpedoing the well brought a good flow of 

oil—more than 200 barrels daily for the first six 

days and set the stage for the development of the 

Lima Oil Field. W. M. Rusler explained the 

shooting of this well in 1921: 

When the material arrived from Toledo to 

be used in shooting the paper mill oil well, the 

Opposite, middle: This scene was repeated 

in many of the oil fields of northwestern 

Ohio. 


Opposite, bottom: These wells located near 

Portage are in the pumping stage. They are 

connected by rods to a powerhouse. 



Left: These two views show a well near 

Rudolph. A crowd has gathered for a 

demonstration. Note the distance of the 

boiler from the rig to help prevent fires 

should the oil gush. 




6 3

Above: Derricks and early tanks at 

Oil Center. 



Below: Two unidentified men enjoy 

a break in the oil field somewhere in 

northwest Ohio. 



men to do it were not on hand and the operatives 

at the mill would take no chances on 

explosives being left there. The consignment 

was taken back to the depot and remained 

there overnight. It was a reddish looking stuff 

comprising sixteen ingredients, and the unsophisticated 

would take no chances with it. 

When ready to shoot the well, it was placed in 

two tin cans about three feet long, each weighing 

about 200 pounds; the men were careful, 

handling it like it were eggs. Part of it was 

burned outside making a beautiful light. 

Those in charge of the explosive objected to 

any one coming near who had a cigar in his 

mouth. Two hours before the time announced 

an immense crowd had gathered to witness 

the shooting of the oil well, the railroad 

embankment being lined with people interested 

in the success or failure of the undertaking. 

All available standing room was filled with 

men, women and children who patiently 

awaited developments. 

The workmen lowered one can of the 

explosive to the bottom with a cable wire, its 

weight being sufficient to sink it through the 

accumulated oil. The second can was lowered 

and a workman carefully produced a small 

package which proved to be small oil cans 

filled with glycerine. When the glycerine was 

lowered the plunger followed, the drill was let 

down and the explosion was the result, 

although no jar was felt and the first intimation 

was the appearance of oil at the surface. 

The concussion caused the oil to shoot seventy-five 

feet in the air, but after about one 

minute it subsided and there was a flow of 

natural gas. The oil was stronger than the gas 

and soon only oil was in evidence, and while 

the workmen were reticent the result was 

thought to be satisfactory. The Ottawa River 

was covered with oil, and those familiar with 

the oil industry said it was a good quality. 


64

Left: In 1885 Cygnet was dotted with 

wooden derricks seeking oil deep below in 

the Trenton formation. 



Below: Derricks south of Cygnet. 



The Citizens’ Gas Company of Lima 

drilled the next well, completing it in the 

Fall of 1885 also along the Ottawa River. It 

began as a 40-45-barrel pumping well and 

ended, yielding about 15 barrels. The Lima 

oil was a low density oil with a strong 

sulfurous odor. Owners of the Citizens’ well 

sent samples of it to refineries across the continent 

for analysis and recommendations for 

purification. It was shortly determined that 

Lima oil could be deodorized and refined 

to make an excellent illuminating oil. In 

the meantime, Faurot organized the Trenton 

Rock Oil Company which purchased oil 

leases from farm owners of northwestern 

Ohio and northeastern Indiana. By 1886, the 


6 5

Above: This 1903 Findlay quadrangle 

shows more towns that flourished during the 

boom years. 

Below: A worker pours nitro into a torpedo 

as a well is readied for shooting. 



company had 250 wells from Lima to St. 

Marys and into Indiana. 

The Lima Natural Gas Company was officially 

organized in August 1886 and charged 

with laying gas lines throughout the village. 

Since a suitable source of natural gas was not 

found locally, gas was piped 25 miles from the 

Longsworth well in the St. Marys field beginning 

in October 1887. This source was 

exhausted by 1902, so the city turned to other 

gas fields—first around Red Key, Indiana; 

then in Licking County, Ohio; followed by 

Medina County. In the early 1920s, natural 

gas was supplemented by manufactured gas 

produced by the Lima Gas Light Company, an 

artificial gas company subsidiary to the Lima 

Natural Gas Company. The West Ohio Gas 

Company, located at 319 West Market Street, 

was formed from the merger of five other 

firms including Lima Natural Gas in 1924. By 

1929 the company was serving Celina, 

Cridersville, Kenton, Lima, St. Marys, and 

Wapakoneta. By 1958 West Ohio Gas 

Company was also providing service to 

Bluffton, Cairo, Coldwater, Columbus Grove, 

Delphos, Elida, Glandorf, Leipsic, 

Middlepoint, Ottawa, and Van Wert. 

By April 1887, the Lima field boasted 424 

oil wells and was Ohio’s number one ranking 

field by far, and thought by the Ohio 

Geological Survey’s Edward Orton to be the 

second best in the world. Unfortunately problems 

developed with the Citizens’ well and it 

was abandoned by 1888. The problem with 

the Citizens’ well and with most of the wells 

in the Lima field was brine replacing the oil 

when pumping was stopped. The disregard 

for proper spacing of wells in these early years 


66

led to the failure of many wells after just a 

short period of production. 

It was rumored in the early 1880s that 

Standard Oil was looking for a site in northwestern 

Ohio for a second refinery—word was 

that it would be either Findlay or Toledo. 

Standard Oil officials, upon visiting Lima in 

1886, indicated that a site on the large Shawnee 

Township farm of James A. Hover was an ideal 

location especially since two railroad lines bordered 

it. Mr. Hover eventually sold 151 acres to 

the Solar Refinery Company (a Standard Oil 

subsidiary). The refinery was faced with the task 

of sweetening the crude oil of the northwestern 

counties. In 1905 the plant had 600 employees 

and manufactured benzene, illuminating oils, 

lubricating oils, and paraffine wax. 

When the refinery was built Standard Oil 

had already purchased and stored large quantities 

of the Trenton crude attempting to 

monopolize the market. Standard dropped 

the price of crude from over 60 cents a barrel 

to 40 cents and eventually to 15 cents. This 

hurt the small Lima producers who joined 

together to form the Ohio Oil Company in 

1887, a company whose task was drilling for 

oil, not marketing or refining it. From 1887 

to 1905 Lima was a major pipeline center— 

lines reached out like an octopus from the 

Allen County seat. The Buckeye Pipe Line 

Company had its offices at 137 West North 

Street in 1905. Since Lima was also a railroad 

center, trains of tank cars carried the petroleum 

products to all parts of the states. 

Above: The Lima area oil and gas fields are 

depicted on this map from Bownocker’s 

1902 Geological Survey of Ohio bulletin. 

Left: Oil derricks dotted the Lima 

countryside after Faurot’s discovery of oil 

deep below the town (Van Tassel, 1902.) 


6 7

1886 a well was drilled for the Hancock Oil & 

Gas Company on the former Simons’ farm about 

a mile north of Bairdstown. State Geologist, 

Edward Orton, described this site in 1888: 

Above: This postcard shows a powerhouse 

which was connected to several 

earby derricks. 

COURTESY OF JEFF A SPENCER. 

Below: his view of the Solar Refinery around 

1900 shows the platform for loading tank 

cars. (Van Tassel, 1902). 

Production reached its peak in 1904; by 1910 

the field was nearly depleted. 

The Manhattan Oil Company also maintained 

headquarters in Lima. In 1905 they 

had over 600 miles of pipelines, 24 pumping 

stations, and 200 storage tanks throughout 

the Ohio-Indiana Trenton field. 

B L O O M T O W N S H I P 

G A S F I E L D 

This Wood County field extended along the 

B&O Railroad from North Baltimore east to 

Godsend, a water stop on the railroad. In July 

The (Simons) farm is a lonely one, and is 

not only not located on any public road, but is 

not in sight of any road, and the nearest houses 

are nearly a mile distant from it. In much of 

the land of the farm, the underlying rock is so 

near the surface that it is laid bare whenever a 

forest tree is uprooted. Thirty or forty acres 

were here cut out of the original black swamp 

in a little block, and a small farm was set in 

order, upon which the cheapest possible 

equipment of necessary buildings was placed, 

a house on which $100 or $200 might have 

been expended, and a log barn that would not 

cost half as much in money outlay. Fields were 

fenced and an orchard was set. A narrow living 

was secured for a household by unremitting 

toil, and by the reduction of all demands to the 

bare necessities of life. A well sunk a few feet 

into the limestone rock furnished an abundant 

supply of water, rank with sulphuretted 

hydrogen, for farm and stock. Gas, bubbling 

up through the pools left by overturned trees, 

tainted the air and it was long ago found that a 

hollow corn-stalk or reed, thrust into the black 

mud at the bottom of these pools, would bring 

up gas enough to maintain a flame for some 

time. The owner seems to have had a 

presentiment that his little farm contained 

something out of the usual order, as he sought 

advice in matters geological as his grade of 


68

intelligence led him to trust, viz., the location 

of mineral wealth as indicated by the witchhazel 

branch and also by clairvoyant 

revelations. From one or both of these sources 

of information, he learned that his farm 

contained valuable deposits of silver ore, and 

also two veins of oil. Gas was not known at 

that time either to the geologist or the divining 

rod expert, and this accounts for its omission 

from these witch-hazel treasures. Enriched by 

the consciousness of these unusual sources of 

wealth, and doubtless happier than if he had 

sought to develop them, he pursued the even 

tenor of his way, and died, leaving the little 

farm to his natural heirs. 

It was no surprise when a tremendous flow 

of gas was struck in early August. A week after 

the first gas was struck the well was emitting 

12,421,968 cubic feet per day, the greatest to 

this point (The flow of the Karg well was 

measured through 4 inch piping; the Simons 

through 5.25 inch casing. Thus, if the measurements 

were made in the same way, the flow 

of the Karg well would have exceeded the 

Simons.) Just like the Karg well, the Simons 

well burned out of control for some time. 

Eventually it was taken over by the 

Northwestern Ohio Gas Company. 

As gas flow decreased, oil began to rise in 

many wells and the former gas field became 

an oil field around 1890. By 1902, Bloom 

Township was producing significant oil. 

Bairdstown and Welker (later, Galatea) were 

the centers of this oil patch. A large refinery 

was erected at Welker. 

A well drilled on the Weyrick farm at Jerry 

City by the Hancock Oil & Gas Company in 

1886 produced flowing oil at the Clinton 

level—about 30-40 barrels for several months. 

Later, around 1899 a well was drilled on Main 

Street in Jerry City. As the story goes a little 

boy was gazing down the hole when the 

drillers had pulled the drill stem. Suddenly he 

was knocked off his feet as oil gushed above 

the derrick. It was four days before they got 

the gusher under control. The well filled a 

250-barrel tank in less than a day. More tanks 

were added, but still a lot of oil was wasted. By 

1900, 122 producing wells were located within 

the Jerry City town limits. Bloomdale 

received its gas supply when a Hancock Oil & 

Gas Company well struck gas in the Trenton in 

June 1886. The flow ranged from 2.64 million 

to 3.24 million cubic feet per day. 

The Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas 

Company drilled four wells at the Godsend 

water stop, four miles west of Fostoria on the 

B&O Railroad in 1886. All four tapped gas in 

the Trenton on the Kelly farmstead. Kelly No. 1 

flowed at 3,187,000 cubic feet per day. The 

company laid a 10-inch diameter pipeline from 

Cass Township, Hancock County, through 

Bloom, Portage, Center, and Webster Townships 

into Toledo in 1887. The Toledo Natural Gas 

Company’s ten-inch pipeline was three miles 

Top: The Solar Refinery tank farm in Lima 

about 1912. 


Above: This view shows the Standard Oil 

Company office building at Lima around 

1900 (Van Tassel, 1902). 


6 9

Above: Buckeye Pipe Line operated this 

pump station at Lima. View dates to 1900. 

(Van Tassel, 1902). 

Bottom, left: Bicycles were the way to get 

around in Jerry City in the early days. 



Bottom, right: This well at Bloomdale erupts 

after being shot in 1906. 


west and extended from the Hancock County 

line through Bloom Township and then north 

through Portage and Center townships to 

Toledo. Pipelines also stretched from Bloom 

Township to Fostoria, Fremont, and Tiffin. 

H E N R Y T O W N S H I P 

O I L F I E L D 

This field abuts the Bloom Township Gas 

field on the west. The first well drilled in 

Summer 1886 in the North Baltimore area was 

seeking gas, and it produced oil. After a couple 

of other unsuccessful attempts, a well 

drilled on the Peters’ farm on East Broadway 

just east of town brought in an initial flow of 

three million daily cubic feet. The gas was 

piped to town with the hope of attracting 

industry. Between 1887 and 1888 the Central 

Pressed Brick, Enterprise Window Glass, 

North Baltimore Bottle Glass, and Zihlman 

Flint Glass companies opened up. Wasteful 

practices followed by all led to a rapid depletion 

of the gas. After being plugged for many 

years, the Peters well was reactivated in 1985 

to provide fuel for a new foundry. 

The first true gusher in the North 

Baltimore area took place on the Dave Fulton 

farm about a mile south of Hammansburg in 

December 1886. The drillers were getting discouraged, 

but continued to drill deeper until, 

and at 1,194 feet they hit pay dirt. All the 

drainage ditches were carrying oil and the 

countryside was spotted with oil. Thousands 

of barrels were lost. It took a couple of days 

before they got the well under control. 

According to C. Ash who was in charge of the 

drilling crew at the pioneer Hammansburg well: 

We drilled in this (The Trenton formation) 

a while and had about given up getting anything. 

We were living in hope every minute 

and Monday afternoon, the 6th, at 5 o’clock, 

we were just 30 feet into the Trenton when we 

heard a noise in the well which began to fill. 

We stopped the drill and were hardly out of 

the way when the oil spouted up over the derrick 

and 85 feet into the air. We quickly put 

the fire out under the boiler and withdrew 


70

Above: Somewhere around Wood County. 



from the field. The flow was so continuous 

that we were (not) able to get our tools out 

until Thursday. 

The second productive well was the nearby 

Henning well and completed in February 

1897. This one filled at least 15,000 barrels in 

the first day. By late 1887, the Henning well 

was producing 60-70 barrels each day. This 

strike filled 250 barrels in the first 12 hours. 

The best was yet to come. The Slaughterbeck 

well, the third drilled, gushed at least 5,000 

barrels in the first day. By 1898 over 50 successful 

wells had been drilled in this field. 

Most of the wells were flowing wells and most 

did not need to be shot. In 1891 the Hardy 

Machine Company opened in North 

Baltimore—both manufacturing and repairing 

parts for the local oil patch. 

Bottom, left: The Cramer Company 

produced photos out of a shop in North 

Baltimore. This cabinet card shows a typical 

wooden rig in the North Baltimore area 


Below: The enclosing of most of the well 

operations protected workers and equipment 

from inclement weather. This winter scene is 

supposedly from northwest Ohio. 




7 1

Above: `The Eiting farm gusher was also 

made into colored postcards and stereo 

cards. Please note the error in the 

postcard typography. 

COURTESY OF THE NORTH BALTIMORE HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY COLLECTION 

Top, right: This stereo card shows gas being 

burned off at a well near North Baltimore. 


SOCIETY COLLECTION 

Below: The boiler house in the left 

background provided power for a well on 

the Davis farm. To the right are a pair of 

storage tanks. 


SOCIETY COLLECTION. 

M I D D L E T O N T O W N S H I P 

O I L F I E L D 

The pioneer wells drilled near Haskins in 

1890 suggested that the area might be a good 

source of petroleum and a northward extension 

of the oil fields around Bowling Green. In 

the eastern part of Middleton Township, oil 

was struck near Dowling and Dunbridge in 

1894. The oil was of a poorer grade, but still 

the pool held promise. This area was riddled 

with 57 wells in 1896, producing 350 barrels 

per day total. By 1902, eighty-six wells were 

in use, but producing less than one barrel per 

well. By 1905 the field had been abandoned. 

O T H E R S M A L L E R 

N O R T H W E S T O H I O O I L A N D 

G A S F I E L D S 

East of the oil and gas fields at Bowling 

Green and North Baltimore was another producing 

area that stretched across eastern 

Wood County and western Sandusky County 

including the towns of Bradner, Gibsonburg, 

Helena, Prairie Depot (now Wayne), 

Risingsun, and Woodville. 

The Bradner Natural Gas Company drilled 

the first well in Bradner in early 1886, striking 

a small play of oil in the Trenton. It was not 

until 1888 that the Bradner Refining Company 


72

Top, left: Many of the wells around North 

Baltimore were gushers. Depending on how 

long it took for workers to get the well 

under control lots of oil was wasted. 


SOCIETY. 

Above: This photograph is typical of the well 

field around North Baltimore. Exact 

location unfortunately is unknown. 



Left: These photos were taken by Chas .S. 

Roberts about 1890-1900 in the vicinity of 

North Baltimore. 



shipped its first carload to Toledo on the 

Hocking Valley Railroad. The boom was on in 

1889. By the end of the year there were more 

than 400 wells in Montgomery Township. One 

50-acre farm had 13 wells. One person 

quipped “derricks were so thick in the north 

and west ends of the town that squirrels used 

them like trees.” Many of the wells were 

gushers. The village council passed an 

ordinance in 1890 to make it illegal to erect a 

derrick any closer than two hundred feet of 

any building. So much oil was being produced 

that additional refineries were erected to turn 

the crude into marketable by-products. Even 

with the railroad, the supply of crude and byproducts 

well exceeded the capacity of the 

tank cars. The Craig Oil Company was the first 

to install a cracking plant. A Manhattan Oil 

pumping station was located here in 1892. 

Also that year, Paragon Refining laid a pipeline 

connecting Bradner with its facilities in 


7 3

Above: Ohio Oil Company employees pose 

for the photographer at this North 

Baltimore area well. 



Top, right: Helena had a number of good 

producers from the Trenton. Note the coalfired 

boiler and discarded bull wheel. 


Below: By the early 1900s many of the 

North Baltimore area wells had passed 

their prime. 



Toledo. A well dubbed “Old Calamity” located 

near Bradner is still producing occasional oil 

and water. It was brought in December 1894 

and eventually produced 7,000 barrels over a 

three-year period. With exceptions of plugged 

wells and others like “Old Calamity”, 

unfortunately the supply was exhausted by 

around 1903. 

The Luckey area and Troy Township also 

had many good oil wells, with most drilled 

between 1906 and 1930. Oil was piped to the 

Ohio Oil Company in Findlay where it was 

eventually stored in tank farms between there 

and Cygnet. To the west of Woodville a small 

field was opened in 1895. The original well 

began with a production of 250 barrels a day, 

but was abandoned in 1902. Gibsonburg, the 

home of several stone quarries, drilled five 

wells between August 1887 and February 

1888. A well completed in August 1887 near 


74

Bownocker writes about this giant in 1903: 

When the Trenton had been penetrated to 

a depth of about ten feet a great pool of oil was 

liberated. The oil was thrown as a solid stream 

to the top of the derrick where it was broken 

by the crown pulley, and the spray caught by 

a strong wind was carried a mile north. A halfmile 

from the well, farmers were obliged to 

disconnect the spouting on their houses to 

prevent the oil from running into the cisterns. 

the local creamery produced a good flow of 

natural gas. Two others flowed oil—50 barrels 

and 600 barrels for the first few days. Others 

hit gas; soon the town had the fuel it wanted, 

at least for the next 10 years. Gas dwindled to 

the point that in 1902 the demand exceeded 

the supply. The Paragon Refining Company 

once loaded barrels of crude onto railroad cars 

for shipment to its refinery in Toledo. The 

loading facility was replaced by a pipeline to 

the Toledo refinery during the winter of 1891- 

92. Woodville, another quarrying center, was 

intent on finding natural gas to fuel the town’s 

many lime kilns. An 1886 attempt to drill a gas 

well unfortunately ended in great 

disappointment. No gas or oil appeared after 

drilling down to the Trenton. A second 

attempt, probably generated by the success at 

nearby Gibsonburg, produced paying 

quantities of oil, but still no gas. More wells 

soon appeared around Woodville and 

Gibsonburg and among them were some major 

gushers. The Baker Well, drilled in 1892 about 

a mile west of town was estimated to produce 

at least 2,500 barrels a day. A well drilled on 

the Myers farm, west of Gibsonburg, poured 

out 2,000 barrels the first day after being 

torpedoed. Even greater was the Kirkbride 

Well, located about half way between 

Gibsonburg and Pemberville. 

The drilling crew worked hard for several 

hours to get the towering gusher under control. 

A dam was built in the nearby creek into 

which the oil flowed. In what was probably a 

gross underestimate, the Kirkbride well was 

thought to have flowed at a rate of 10,000 to 

40,000 barrels the first day, November 17, 

1894. When measured in January 1901 it was 

producing four barrels daily. 

Wells were drilled at Risingsun and 

Pemberville during 1887, but only a minor 

play occurred at Risingsun and the other one 

was a dry hole. This was typical of the 

northwestern Ohio oil fields—oil production 

was sporadic, one location might be an active 

producer while nearby dry holes were 

common. Later the Sun Oil Company brought 

in a couple producers near Risingsun. Oil was 

discovered in the eastern part of Freedom 

Township in the late 1880s and by 1892 the 

Pemberville field was producing 8,000 barrels 

a day. Between Lindsey and Kingsway was a 

Top, left: Oil was discovered in the Bradner 

area in the late 1880s. This well, located 

near the Hocking Valley tracks, shows the 

typical wooden derrick and steam boiler. It’s 

a nice summer day and folks are visiting. 



Below: H. M. Summers published this 

colored postcard which was sold in the 

North Baltimore area. 



7 5

This fifty-thousand-gallon tank of the 

Manhattan Oil Company in Bradner 

burned 3 days and 2 nights in early April 

1897 (left). At least two other fires are 

evident in the distance. Another tank 

exploded in May 1897 (right). 



small isolated oil pool that produced in a small 

way from 1896 to about 1905. Burgoon and 

Kansas were among the smallest communities 

in northwest Ohio to have a natural gas supply. 

In 1890, the area around Prairie Depot 

(Wayne) and Mortimer created an oil rush. An 

average of 20 wells were completed each day. 

The Depression of the 1930s brought an end to 

most of these wells. 

South and west of Lima in Allen and 

Auglaize Counties, were a number of 

significant oil producers and some steady 

performers. At Elida, wells drilled in search of 

gas in 1886 were considered failures and 

abandoned when they just showed little 

amounts of oil. Some of these were 

reinvestigated about 10 years later and one 

produced 40 barrels the first day. Southwest of 

the Elida pool is another producing area 

surrounding Spencerville. Spencerville drilled 

a successful gas well in 1886 and continued to 

supply the village from 5 wells in 1902. These 

early gas wells also had a showing of oil, 

leading to the development of a small oil field 

as well. The first oil well drilled in the Ohio 

City area was put down in February 1902; in a 

short time the region was dotted with 200 

derricks. By 1902, many oil wells had been 

abandoned and those that were still pumped 

were on its last legs. 

Fremont, in Sandusky County, first sought 

gas in the Trenton from May to July 1885, when 

a well was drilled by the local gas company. The 

main gas play was in the Clinton, not the deeper 

Trenton. A total of 9 deep wells were drilled in 

Fremont in the late 1880s by the gas company 

and a local quarry. The best of the gas company 

wells produced 18,760 cubic feet per day in 

June, 1886. It was connected to the company’s 

pipeline to serve the citizens of Fremont. By 

1887, six shallow wells were put down, deep 

enough to intersect the Clinton horizon. A deep 

well drilled at Spiegel Grove, for then President 

Rutherford B. Hayes, was a failure, not 

producing enough gas to serve the residence. 

And many other dry holes were drilled. 

Between Fremont and Helena, the Wagoner 

well, struck gas in the Trenton, at a flow of at 

least 200,000 cubic feet per day, by far the best 

in the Fremont gas field. The local gas company 

was taken over by the North-Western Ohio 

Natural Gas Company (a Standard Oil 

subsidiary) and gas was brought in from Bloom 

Township, Wood County, by 1888. Wells at 

Bellevue, Burgoon, Clyde, Gibsonburg, and 

Woodville were generally weak producers. The 

Seneca County community of Kansas was 

luckier. A well drilled in 1895 struck gas and 

the flow continued into the early 1900s. The 

town also was connected to a number of gas 

wells in adjacent Sandusky County. 

Where Hancock, Seneca, and Wood 

Counties adjoin is Fostoria, and the story was 

similar. The community tried unsuccessfully to 

obtain gas in the Summer of 1885. Eventually 

the town received its first natural gas from a 

pipeline of the North-Western Ohio Natural Gas 

Company. By 1888 the Butler Art Glass, Fostoria 


76

Glass, and Mambourg Window Glass companies 

were taking advantage of the local gas supply. 

In Seneca County, the county seat of Tiffin 

began drilling for gas in December 1885, 

however the wells yielded more oil than gas. 

The city bought gas from the Northwestern 

Ohio Natural Gas Company for a while, 

building a municipal gas plant and secured the 

gas rights to acreage in nearby Wood County. 

Free gas attracted the usual glass factories, 

potteries, and other plants until the gas ran 

out. In 1892 during the oil boom, drilling 

began along the Sandusky River in downtown 

Tiffin, all were reportedly producers of 30 to 

120 barrels per day. In November 1894 and 

1899 Beatty Glass (by 1899 known as U.S. 

Glass) struck gas, but not enough to insure 

operations and so continued its use of crude oil 

as fuel. In 1900 the Van Natta well was 

described as a periodic flowing oil well. Two to 

three times a day it would pour out 300 to 400 

barrels. During the oil and gas boom, the 

Loomis Machinery Company retooled and 

began making drilling rigs. For many years the 

rigs could be found across the continent. 

Hopewell Township, west of Tiffin, sported 

many producing wells in the 1920s, with one 

farm producing, daily, some 6,000 barrels. 

Failure to follow a certain state law involving 

water inflow led to the abandonment of this 

field. The Sun Oil Company held many leases 

in Seneca County in the late 1930s and drilled 

a number of deep test wells. 

In Erie County the story repeated at 

Sandusky. The Bay City Natural Gas, Oil, and 

Fuel Supply and Electric Light Company 

began business in Summer 1886; the title 

seems to cover all bases. A well was drilled 

near the Kuebler Brewery striking the Trenton 

at 2,210 feet. Enough gas was obtained to 

light and heat the brewery. 

Ottawa County had a similar history. The 

Natural Gas Company of Oak Harbor was 

successful in producing gas from both the 

Clinton and Trenton horizons in July 1886. It 

was immediately used to fuel an adjacent mill. 

A third well drilled in late 1886 was the 

strongest producer, coming in at an estimated 

200,000 cubic feet per day. Thus began gas 

lights and heating in the village. As the 

population rose, the gas supply could not 

keep pace. The year 1898 marked the first 

producing oil well around Oak Harbor, 

beginning with 14 barrels. Others came in the 

next two years. A number of vigorous gas 

wells were drilled between Trowbridge and 

Limestone; supposedly the roar of escaping 

gas could be heard all the way to Oak Harbor. 

Unfortunately saltwater shortly replaced the 

gas. Drilling attempts in Elmore, La Carne, 

Steam from the boiler house hides the 

lower part of this rig along the Sandusky 

River in Tiffin. 




7 7

This unidentified view may be of the 

Limestone area in Ottawa County. 



Lindsey, and Port Clinton yielded only meager 

showings of gas and oil. Genoa was luckier— 

enough gas was found in several wells drilled 

in 1891 just north of town to allow gas service 

to the community. A small pool of oil was also 

found east of Curtice. 

In Huron County a small gas field developed 

around Olena in the late 1930s. The 

Atlantic Oil Company had 25 wells in production 

in 1937. Twelve wells also had a 

showing of oil. Production ranged from 

20,000 to 2 million cubic feet per day. 

A number of wells were drilled around 

Carey in Wyandot County in 1886. None 

were great producers, but enough gas was 

made available to fuel local flour mills in 1886 

and later to provide some lighting and heating 

in the village. Oil flowed from a pioneer well 

in 1888 at a rate of 500 barrels a day. 

Unfortunately the pool was small and by 

1902, many of the wells were already 

abandoned. 

Bryan began drilling for gas in Summer 

1886. In Williams County and adjacent 

extreme northwest Ohio counties, an 

additional unit covered the Silurian and 

Devonian carbonates—the thick Antrim Shale. 

This organic-rich unit contained significant 

gas, but of a different type than the underlying 

limestones and dolostones. The digging of 

water wells often included shows of natural 

gas so the populace had some familiarity with 

its presence. A strong flow of gas was found 

about midway down in the Antrim Shale 

(about 250 feet below the surface); nothing 

was found in the Trenton. Work continued 

until the drilling tools hung up in the hard 

rock. Later the well was continued by a 

different contractor. Fifteen feet deeper and 

the well gushed above the derrick. The gas 

flow was estimated to be at least 500,000 to 

700,000 cubic feet per day. The well produced 

a hundred barrels of oil the first day. 

Unfortunately within about ten days, the 

production of gas and oil ended. Two other 

wells, drilled in 1887, produced good gas 

plays, but again they were not long lasting. 

Small quantities of gas were encountered at 

Arcadia, Burgoon, Defiance, Delta, Deshler, 

Genoa, Gibsonburg, Kenton, Lindsey, 

McComb, Mt. Blanchard, Sandusky, Vanlue, 

and Wauseon. Small quantities of oil were 

struck at Beaverdam, Bluffton, Defiance, 

Elmore, Genoa, Hicksville, Lindsey, Risingsun, 

Sandusky, Wauseon, and Wharton. By 1885 

the list of towns that had drilled and not found 

a valuable production of oil and/or gas in 

northwest Ohio included Ada, Arlington, 

Bellevue, Bloomville, Clyde, Columbus Grove, 

Delphos, Deweyville, Dunkirk, Forest, Green 


78

S O M E S I G N I F I C A N T G A S A N D O I L W E L L S O F N O R T H W E S T O H I O 


7 9


80

Springs, Kalida, Kenton, LaCarne, Lafayette, 

Leipsic, Mt. Cory, Napoleon, Nevada, Ottawa, 

Paulding, Pemberville, Perrysburg, Port 

Clinton, Rawson, Rocky Ridge, Sylvania, 

Upper Sandusky, Van Wert, Waterville, 

Westminister, West Newton, and Woodville. 

Many abandoned wells that did not initially 

yield sufficient gas or oil were reopened in 

the late 1890s and early 1900s. Better 

understanding of oil and gas occurred in the 

Trenton and led to some of these wells 

becoming producers. What was once 

considered worthless territory became quite 

valuable. A good example is the Beaver Dam 

area which originally had only a small show of 

oil. A plugged 1885 well was reopened in 

1899, with new casing installed and 

production began. It became a 25 barrel per 

day well. Others were drilled in 1899, some 

producing up to a 100 barrels. By 1902 a 

number of wells were producing economic 

quantities about 2.5 miles east of Beaver Dam, 

and the area between Spencerville and 

Venedocia began producing oil in 1900. 

E A R L Y G A S A N D O I L 

P R O D U C T I O N I N T O L E D O 

Three wells drilled to the Trenton in 1885 

were unproductive, another one drilled in 1887 

yielded some gas upon torpedoing, but soon 

was claimed by saltwater inflow. The 

Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company soon 

connected the city to Wood County’s Bloom 

Township gas field. The Toledo Natural Gas 

Company followed suit, but shortly after 

Standard Oil controlled both pipelines. In 1889 

the city approved legislation to operate its own 

natural gas plant. The city began leasing oil 

lands in Hancock and Wood Counties and contracted 

with the Stuartsville Land Association to 

provide the city with 50 million cubic feet of 

gas per day. The Standard Oil Company, as elsewhere 

in the state, opposed this municipal 

operation and did its best to put it out of business. 

The big problem for Toledo became the 

supply of gas—during the winter, many plants 

were forced to do without. The city upgraded 

the facilities, but the gas supply problem continued. 

The operation continued to struggle 

into the mid-1890s. A new gas field in Ottawa 

County was brought into the system in 1896. 

By 1898 the supply and demand problems 

returned, and the city was forced to divest of its 

holdings outside the city limits in 1899. These 

were sold to the Kerlin Brothers who were then 

contracted to supply the city. The pipe lines 

within the city were leased to the Toledo Gas- 

Light & Coke Company, and the city was out of 

the gas business by 1900. By 1903, it had 

returned to being supplied by the Northwestern 

Ohio Natural Gas Company. Initially the gas 

came from fields tapping the Clinton in 

Fairfield and Hocking Counties. 

The year 1891 marks the beginning of significant 

oil production in Lucas County. Small 

pools were discovered in Monclova and 

Jerusalem townships, but the most notable 

wells were in Oregon Township. The Blodgett 

Farm well was the pioneer in this area. When 

Oil was struck in the Trenton along the 

Miami & Erie canal near Waterville. 



8 1

Right: This is thought to be the Klondike 

well, located near Ironville and the present 

boundary of Toledo and Oregon. 

COURTESY OF THE TOLEDO LUCAS COUNTY PUBLIC 


Bottom, left: Typical of the oil wells in 

Oregon Township, east of Toledo, is the 

McCaskey well. Refineries eventually 

replaced the wells. 



Bottom, right: The Wynn Smith well was 

another producer from the Trenton in 

Oregon Township. This view dates to 

September 1898. 



oil was struck in the Trenton it flowed from the 

well, but being mixed with groundwater, the oil 

was not of much value. After several other wells 

failed to produce useable oil, hope was reestablished 

when the Bartley well initially produced 

500 barrels daily. The most notable well of the 

Toledo region was the Miller farm well drilled in 

summer 1897 on the eastern edge of Ironville. 

The well soon became known as the Klondike 

because of its continuous flowing. When the 

Trenton was reached the well showed neither 

gas or oil. The driller shot the well in July, causing 

an immediate flow of oil. Unprepared much 

oil ran into a nearby stream until storage tanks 

could be brought to the site. It continued to 

flow for two weeks. Although flow measurements 

don’t seem to exist, the well must have 

initially produced somewhere between 4,800 

and 5,000 barrels per day. By 1902, 14 barrels 

were being pumped daily. 


82

S U P P L Y I N G T H E O I L A N D 

G A S I N D U S T R Y : T H E 

N A T I O N A L S U P P L Y C O M P A N Y 

Toledo Ohio was well known in the 

industry, not so much for producing wells, but 

for being a major supplier of equipment and 

tools. A small machine repair shop opened on 

St. Clair Street in downtown Toledo in 1870. 

The business soon expanded and began 

handling all kinds of equipment and machines 

related to steam engines and general milling. In 

1887 the company opened a store in the heart 

of the new Wood County oilfield at Cygnet to 

supply needed oil well equipment and tools. 

The organization did business as the Buckeye 

Supply Company. Wherever a boom began you 

could be assured the company would open a 

store. Buckeye Supply bought out the Union 

Supply Co., of Wood County. The National 

Supply Company, located in the Pennsylvania 

oil patch, and a direct competitor of Buckeye, 

was merged with Buckeye in 1896 and the 

merged company retained the name—National 

Supply to more properly define their service 

area. From then until 1918, National Supply 

was mainly a distributor of other 

manufacturers’ products. In 1919, the 

company expanded again to supply the new 

fields in Texas and Oklahoma. In 1920 they 

took over leadership in oilfield equipment 

manufacturing when they purchased the Union 

These wells are unidentified, but were 

photographed in the Toledo region 

around 1900. 




8 3

Above: The National Supply Company’s 

store in Cygnet was a busy place. Note 

the oil field equipment stacked outside 

the building. A siding off the T&OC 

Railroad allowed for easy unloading of 

rail shipments. 



Right: The main offices were located in 

Toledo. This April 1932 view shows part of 

the complex on Bishop Street. This building 

still stands in Toledo. 



Tool Company of California, then the largest 

maker of oil field machinery. By 1927, the 

National Supply Company was the largest 

manufacturer and distributor in the world of 

equipment for producing, refining, and 

transporting crude oil and natural gas. The 

Superior Engine Company of Springfield was 

purchased by National Supply Company in 

1928 because this company had many stores 

and warehouses throughout the oil fields. 

National Supply’s main office and plant were 

on Bishop Street in Toledo. The main plant was 

built in 1890, additions were added over the 

years until, in 1946, the Toledo plant covered 

20 acres and employed 1,300. The company 

closed their Toledo facilities in September 1959. 


84

Another Toledo company supplying the oil 

industry was the Acme Sucker Rod Company. 

Its’ founder was well known—-the so called 

“Golden Rule” Jones, no other than Samuel 

M. Jones, the famous Toledo mayor. The 

company was founded in 1892. Jones, as a 

young man, spent several years in the oil 

fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1886, he 

moved to Lima and established the Geyser Oil 

Company. Jones’ company brought in a 600 

barrel well early on. The company name was 

changed to the Ohio Oil Company, August 1, 

1887, and the rest is history. After selling out 

to Standard Oil, Jones came to Toledo to 

develop a better sucker rod which he 

patented in 1891. 

In 1903, the name of the company was 

changed to the S.M. Jones Company. In 1950 

the company made the record books by 

manufacturing the longest sucker rod string 

for an 11,614 feet deep well in California. 

The S.M. Jones Company on Segur Avenue 

closed in August 1963. 

Top: Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones, founder 

of Acme Sucker Rod Company 



Middle: The Acme Sucker Rod Company 

factory was located on Segur Avenue 

in Toledo. 



Bottom: The Acme Sucker Rod Company 

ran ads in all the oil and gas trade journals. 



W E S T C E N T R A L O H I O O I L 

A N D G A S P R O D U C T I O N 

F R O M T H E T R E N T O N 

Useable amounts of gas were discovered in 

the mid-1880s at Arcanum, Belle Center, 

Celina, De Graff, Fort Recovery, St. Henry, and 

Sidney. Two 1886 wells around Urbana 

vigorously blew out gas from shale beds, 

but before the gas could be utilized the 

flow ended. Similar short-lived gas blowing 

wells were also found nearby at Dayton, 

Piqua, Sidney, and Springfield. An 1887 

Huntsville well struck gas in the Ordovician 

Utica Shale producing around 72,000 cubic 

feet then gradually tapering off to 50,000 

in early 1888. A similar situation existed in 

Camden in Summer 1887; shale gas escaped 

at 74,520 cubic feet per day. An 1888 well in 

Sunbury produced gas from the Bedford 

shales, others in Cardington and Chicago 

Junction (now Willard) struck a good flow 

of gas in the Devonian Columbus/Delaware 

limestones. A few barrels of oil came from 

a June 1886 well drilled into the Trenton 

on the east edge of the Miami River valley at 

Piqua after the hole had been torpedoed. 


8 5

Drilling at Ansonia, Bellefontaine, Columbus, 

Covington, Crestline, Delaware, Eaton, 

Fountain Park, Greenville, London, Marysville, 

Mechanicsburg, Milford Center, New Bremen, 

New Carlisle, New Madison, New Paris, Piqua, 

Plymouth, Prospect, St. Paris, Sidney, 

Tippecanoe City, Troy, Union City, Waldo, 

Wapakoneta, and Westerville did not lead to 

successful production in the mid 1880s. 

O F F S H O R E 

D R I L L I N G 

I N O H I O : G R A N D L A K E - 

S T . M A R Y S ’ O I L F I E L D 

A postcard view of a gusher in the St. Marys 

field around 1907. 


In July 1886, a company finished the 

Citizens well in St. Marys, Auglaize County, 

that pointed to a potential oil pool underlying 

the area. Just into the Trenton, gas entered the 

well, followed shortly by oil. Shooting the 

well increased the gas flow to around 250,000 

cubic feet per day. Another well, the Hopkins 

and Gordon well, produced fifty barrels of oil 

per day. The Axe Well, in April 1887, 

produced 2,042,864 cubic feet of gas per day. 

As with many of the early gas wells, the Axe 

well was allowed to flame for at least four 

months, wasting some 250 million cubic feet. 

By 1888 it was supplying gas to the Lima 

Natural Gas Company pipelines. About 

three miles east of St. Marys, the Watkins well 

put out nearly two million cubic feet per day 

which was piped to St. Marys. The 

Kellermeyer and Haas wells, also east of 

town, were also valuable gas producers. St. 

Marys constructed a natural gas plant and 

served the local area with Trenton gas until 

supply ran out in 1893. Thus, the St. Marys 

field was established. 

At the western end of Grand Lake is Celina. 

Here, 1886 drilling showed a gas pool much 

like St. Marys. Another well drilled near St. 

Henry in November 1886 was measured at 

2,600,000 cubic feet in Winter 1887. Later, the 

Doenzes well, drilled in May 1887 by the 

Trenton Rock Oil Company in Franklin 

Township, released 4,625,000 cubic feet daily, 

by far the most prolific producer in 1887. A gas 

plant served Celina—the Celina Light & Fuel 

Company. Much of the gas went to fuel local 

glass factories. The Lima Natural Gas Company 

piped gas from the St. Marys field to the Allen 

County seat from 1887 to 1894 when the 

supply was exhausted. Van Wert also leased 

part of the St. Marys field and laid a thirty-onemile 

pipeline to supply the city. The 

Wapakoneta Natural Gas Company also piped 

gas from St. Marys Township beginning in 

1887. The Mercer Natural Gas Company once 

supplied many western Ohio towns—the 

largest being Dayton, Piqua, Sidney, 

Springfield, and Troy. Its main source was 

Franklin Township, but the company had 

several fields in Mercer and neighboring 

Auglaize Counties. Between 1890 and 1894, 

Urbana also piped gas from the St. Marys field 

some forty-seven miles, before the field 

pressure lowered and pumping stations had to 

be added. The plant was leased by the city in 

1898 when the St. Marys gas dried up. 

Greenville also piped gas from tracts in the St. 

Marys field. 

By 1890, oil production had become the 

mainstay of the St. Marys region and oil 

wells dotted the eastern shore of Grand 

Lake or Reservoir, also sometimes referred to 

as Lake Mercer. Grand Lake had been dug as 

a reservoir for the Miami & Erie Canal 

between 1837 and 1845. At least two wells on 

the reservoir’s shore had initial outplays of 


86

Top and middle: Derricks were built on 

wooden platforms constructed in this 

shallow former canal reservoir. 



Bottom: Pilings were driven into the shallow 

waters. Sometimes the boilers were on 

separate platforms some distance from the 

rigs for fire protection. 


1,000 barrels per day. This led to the 

development of platform drilling out in the 

lake during 1891. Some 200-300 wells were 

drilled within and around the reservoir. Small 

pools were also tapped in Mercer County, but 

by the early 1900s, many small wells had 

already been abandoned. By 1910, the boom 

was over. 


8 7


88

CHAPTER SEVEN 

E V E N D E E P E R P L A Y S 

T H E R O S E R U N S A N D 

In 1949, a deep well drilled on the grounds of the Rose Run Iron Company in Bath County, 

Kentucky, provided just a showing of gas and the usual water. The producing stratum in the 

Cambro-Ordovician Knox group was then named the Rose Run. Its’ productivity went undiscovered 

until a Holmes County well, north of Baltic, struck a major play of gas, 6,570 feet down. The initial 

daily gas rate was 2.1 million cubic feet. Oil followed the gas to the surface and flowed at a rate of 

ten barrels a day. Thus, with this discovery, it was evident that deeper drilling could be quite 

profitable. As yields from the Clinton diminished more effort was placed on exploring the deeper 

plays. Beginning in the 1980s, more wells were sunk to this Upper Cambrian horizon. 

T H E M O R R O W C O U N T Y O I L B O O M 

November 1, 1962, was an exciting day in Morrow County. A routine exploratory well drilled by the 

United Producing Company west of Mt. Gilead, hit a generally unexpected oil-saturated zone in 

Cambrian dolostone ( referred to informally as the Trempealeau, officially, the Copper Ridge dolostone) 

3,174 feet below the surface and began flowing at 200 barrels per day. This wildcat discovery drew many 

eyes to central Ohio. Actually, it began three years earlier, when a former oilfield worker, turned farmer, 

was convinced there was oil on his property near Mt. Gilead. In December 1959, deep below his farm, 

his suspicions proved true when oil was struck. Up until this time dry holes had been the norm for the 

county. During the rest of 1962, most of the exploration was in the western part of the county; no major 

pools were discovered. Interest began to wain. Was it just a fluke occurrence? In 1963, a number of 

gushers and large producers came in, particularly in the Edison, Mt. Gilead, and Lincoln Township areas. 

The boom was on! It was soon evident that drilling was unregulated and close spacing of wells was 

becoming a threat to future reserves and the surrounding environment. By January 1964, most of the 

county and adjacent areas were under lease and some hundred rigs were at work. The population of Mt. 

Gilead doubled to six thousand. On a smaller scale, other nearby towns grew as well. In Cardington, drill 

rigs were everywhere. Standing at one point one could easily count fifty rigs. Standpipe flares lit the 

countryside. Except for modern technology it was the Trenton boom all over again. The year 1964 was 

the peak of the Morrow County boom—1,340 wells had been drilled with 400 producers. 

The oil occurred in the Copper Ridge dolostone, the uppermost Cambrian formation in Morrow 

County. Middle Ordovician shale and limestone, the Chazy formation, lie above the dolostone. This 

is the Knox unconformity, a well developed erosional surface, formed during a major regressive cycle 

of an epicontinental sea. From early exploratory drilling around Morrow County, it was evident that 

the oil was hit and miss. No large pools were discovered. It was also evident that the oil was present 

in the buried hills (erosional highs) of vuggy dolostone below the unconformity. 

This aerial view shows numerous rigs in the 

Cardington area. 



S O U T H W E S T E R N O H I O — 

A C O N T I N U E D S E A R C H F O R O I L A N D G A S 

Shale gas was prevalent in the southwestern counties. Even so, there was a persistent tendency to 

drill in the Trenton. Unfortunately, it became evident that the riches of northwestern Ohio did not 

extend this far south. Not for lack of trying, oil and gas of sufficient quantities was not found in 

Cincinnati, Circleville, Hillsboro, Jamestown, Lebanon, New Vienna, Oxford, Sabina, Spring Valley, 

Washington Court House, Wilmington, and Xenia. Wells in Dayton, Felicity, Hamilton, Miamisburg, 

C H A P T E R S E V E N 

8 9

Above: The E. J. Laroche well of the 

Lakeshore Pipeline Company blew out in 

June 1963 in Lincoln Township north 

of Fulton. 


Right, top to bottom: During the height of 

the Morrow County boom scenes such as 

these were commonplace. Once the wells 

came in, steel storage tanks replaced the 

drilling rigs. 




90

M O R R O W C O U N T Y D R I L L I N G S T A T I S T I C S 1 9 5 9 - 1 9 7 0 

and Middletown, however showed a play of gas 

in the Ordovician shale horizon. 

So, with few exceptions, oil and gas have 

been found across Ohio. Due to the geologic 

structure of the central platform of which 

Ohio is a small part, different reservoir rock 

is present from one region to the next. 

The gentle incline of the strata into the 

Appalachian, Illinois, and Michigan basins 

with scattered basement uplifts and associated 

fault zones led to the migration and 

entrapment of various age hydrocarbons. The 

oil and gas took geologic time to form, 

migrate, and accumulate. Once discovered, 

humans had to figure out how to get it out of 

the earth. In about a century, the drilling for 

oil and gas quickly evolved from early pits to 

towering derricks to mobile drilling rigs. 

Below: The Hickson No. 1 well, in Gilead 

Township near Mt. Gilead, was drilled in 

October 1963. It gushed uncontrollably, 

covering the nearby landscape with oil. 



C H A P T E R S E V E N 

9 1


92

CHAPTER EIGHT 

F R O M D I S C O V E R Y T O F I N A L P R O D U C T 

D R I L L I N G 

M E T H O D S 

Salt licks were readily noted on early maps of Ohio. Native people often dug out these areas for 

ready access. European settlers took it a step further by sinking wells, often lined by hollowed-out logs. 

Drilling into the soil was not a problem, but continuing into the underlying bedrock required some 

ingenuity. One of the earliest methods was the spring pole. A long straight pole, around 30 to 40 feet, 

was needed to make the derrick portion of the device. Hemlock trees were favored because of its 

flexibility, however, ash and hickory were also commonly used. Another tree with a large limb 

projecting at an angle from the trunk would be cut off to make a v-shaped fulcrum. The tree might be 

left in place, if adjacent to the well site, or cut off and driven into the ground with the fork end pointing 

upward. The spring pole would then be laid across the fork with about two-thirds of it hovering above 

the well site and the opposite end pulled to the ground and held down by large boulders or logs and 

a pile of dirt. A rope (or multiple ropes) was attached to the pole near the well and looped at the 

bottom to form a stirrup. Workers would push down on the stirrup(s) forming the driving mechanism 

of the apparatus. Directly over the well, about three feet from the end of the pole, another rope or 

series of wooden rods held the drill string. The drill string consisted of segments that screwed together, 

terminating in a bit. The oak rods could be added to as the well was deepened. They also served to 

keep the boring vertical and in a straight line. Connected to the rods was a series of metal bars to add 

weight and maneuverability to the drill string and jars, tools designed to enhance the percussive force. 

The last tool was a sharpened steel bit. The operation of the spring pole involved the workers stepping 

down on the stirrup(s), pulling the tools into the borehole and striking the bedrock with force. The 

alternate down push and release was often referred to as “kicking it down”. Obviously, this was 

exhausting work and alternate methods of power were soon sought. The spring pole method gradually 

evolved into cable-tool drilling; another form of percussion drilling. 

(Another early method was to pick a sapling near the proposed well, bend it toward the ground 

leaving it rooted, loop rope around the upper part, connect the drilling tools, and using the stirrup 

to kick it down.) 

Towering above the early wells was a tepee of poles with pulleys for hoisting the drill string from 

the well as drilling continued deeper and when the hole needed to be cleaned of cuttings and mud. A 

device called a bailer, was periodically lowered down the hole, replacing the drill bit to remove mud 

and cuttings. Depending on the depth of the hole, the bailer would have to be filled and emptied 

several times before drilling could commence again. Although records are scarce, boring much beyond 

two hundred feet was rarely achieved by “kicking down”. Getting a deeper bore became increasingly 

difficult and time consuming. The supposed depth limit was about a thousand feet. Innovative drillers 

found that other power sources were necessary for deeper wells. The use of horses and mules 

supplanted foot power for some early operators. Some rather elaborate methods were designed 

using a treadle, which the animal turned by walking in place. This in turn 

caused the spring pole to rise and fall, driving the drilling tools. A teeter-totter was also used. 

By rocking this back and forth the drill stem could be raised and alternately dropped. The 

steam engine, if affordable and available, was the ultimate source of power in the early days. These 

methods were perfected by the workers at salt works and those drilling water wells, long 

before the discoveries in western Pennsylvania led to their use in petroleum exploration. Among the 

first notable users of the spring pole method were the Ruffner brothers of the Charleston, West Virginia 

area, who drilled a salt well some forty feet into the bedrock between 1806 and January 1808. 

The pipes laying on the ground at this well 

are drill stems. The bull wheel is to the left. 


C H A P T E R E I G H T 

9 3

Above: This stereo card in the collection of 

the Library of Congress shows the general 

components of an 1870s era drilling rig. 

Below: This drawing from the Geological 

Survey of Ohio Vol.VI shows the parts of a 

late 1880s drilling rig. 

Their innovative techniques set the stage for 

later drillers. 

Another early method of drilling involved 

the grasshopper walking beam. This was used 

at the famous Drake well in Titusville, PA. It 

seemingly evolved at the same time as the 

spring pole. The walking beam was a 1-by-2- 

foot wooden beam about 25 feet long, and 

tapered at the ends to a 1-foot thickness. The 

beam was hinged to a 13-foot-high, tapered 

wooden upright called a Samson post, which 

was either sunk deeply in the ground, or 

fastened to the hoisting derrick at the far end. 

The opposite end of the walking beam was 

either moved manually or connected to a 

steam engine which caused it to rise and fall 

like the hind legs of a grasshopper. By the 

mid-1860s, to increase the efficiency of this 

equipment and reduce the fire hazard from 

having a steam engine so close to the wooden 

platform and derrick, the Samson post was 

moved to the center of the walking beam. The 

beam sat on a central pivot, so it moved much 

like a teeter-totter. The walking beam was 

pulled down initially by foot power and 

released to tilt back toward the hole, driving 

the drilling bit down on the bedrock. Later, a 

band wheel attached by a rod to the far end of 

the walking beam and powered by a steam 

engine, provided a regular up and down 

movement of the walking beam and 

consequent chipping of the drill bit. 

By the early 1880s, wooden drilling rigs 

had become standardized and made by 

several companies. A sturdy wooden derrick 

replaced the old tripod to allow removal of 

the drilling tools. The derricks gradually 

became taller, up to eighty feet, as technology 


94

Left: This illustration, also from the 

Geological Survey of Ohio Vol. VI show a 

blacksmith working on drilling tools on the 

drilling platform. The bull wheel is to the 

left; drill bits rest in the box to the right. 

Below: A drilling crew poses as they prepare 

a rig for pumping. The large wheel and axle 

is called the bull wheel. 



evolved to allow deeper drilling. Cable tool 

rigs became commonplace and instead of 

just a single cable, they commonly contained 

three. A cable holding the drilling tools 

extended from a wheel and axle, called the 

bull wheel, at the base of the derrick to the 

top of the derrick, where it wrapped over a set 

of pulleys, called the crown block, and 

dropped to the walking beam. Another cable 

bore the bailer for removing mud and cuttings 

from the bore. A third cable allowed lowering 

of casing or pipe into the bore to prevent 

caving. Unfortunately, cable tool drilling did 

not allow for controlling pressure and 

explosive blowouts were a hazard. The 

method was also slow, taking as much as 

two months to drill a few hundred feet in 

hard rock. 

Rotary drilling was another method used for 

drilling early water and salt wells, but the first 


9 5

Right: At this unidentified well a worker 

poses on the walking beam. The large 

diameter pipes are casing that will be 

cemented in the hole before pumping begins. 



Bottom, left: This is the dog house where 

power was transmitted to several nearby 

derricks by rods. The location of the dog 

house is unknown. 



Bottom, right: This early spudder drill hit a 

pocket of gaseous oil. Tremendous amounts 

of oil are often wasted before the well can be 

gotten under control. 

recorded successful use of it in oil and gas 

exploration was in 1901 at the Spindletop well 

in Texas. It differs from the cable tool method 

in employing a rotating bit, rather than a 

percussion bit. Cuttings are continuously 

brought to the surface by a stream of drilling 

mud (generally a water clay mineral mixture) 

pumped down into the drilling pipe, out holes 

in the bit, and then back to the surface between 

the drilling pipe and walls of the well. This 

obviously reduces the drilling time from a 

cable tool operation where the drill stem has to 

be periodically withdrawn and the hole bailed 

to remove cuttings. Also the presence of even 

minimal amounts of hydrocarbons can be 

detected in the mud accumulating at the 

surface. A disadvantage is that the drilling mud 

may seal up plays of oil and gas. Drilling in 

cavernous limestone and dolostone, common 

in the northwestern Ohio oil fields, required 

extra attention since mud might be redirected 

into intersected karst horizons. 

By the early 1900s, spudder drills had been 

invented. These were drilling units that were 

portable and used generally for starting wells or 

drilling shallow wells. They were either 

mounted on trailers or truck beds. 

Wells showing a play were outfitted with 

an inner string of pipes, the oil string, in 

which either the oil flows or is pumped to the 

surface. Casing that is no longer needed was 

salvaged and water plays sealed off. A special 

valve prevented blowouts. 

By the early 1900s, oil was pumped 

through two inch pipes or tubing that 

extended to the bottom of the hole. At the 

bottom was a pumping device with a special 

valve. Sucker rods extended down to this 

working barrel and valve. The sucker rods 

moved up and down, pumping the oil up the 

tubing. Sucker rods were initially made of 

wood, but by the 1900s, most were iron. Rods 

varied in length but were usually between 20 

and 30 feet long. Many were screwed together 

to reach the bottom of the hole. 


96

increased height was necessary for 

withdrawing the drill stem for bit replacement 

and other reasons, since non-flexible cable 

could be rolled on a drum, by workers who 

had to pull long stems of rigid steel drill stem. 

Due to the increased height, most derricks 

had a catwalk about two-thirds of the way up. 

Nearby was the power source and a drilling 

mud containment basin. The well diameter 

was also much smaller than that of a typical 

cable tool well. The rotary method allowed for 

drilling deep holes; thousands of feet down. A 

rotary rig could drill some 3,000 feet down in 

about 5 days, compared to a cable rig that 

would take some 30 days. 

Top, left: This portable drilling rig operates 

in the side yard of a North Baltimore 

residence in the late 1930s. 



Top, right: This spudder rig has been erected 

on wood timbers at a 1953 well site in 

Jackson Township of Knox County. 



Left: A driller operates a spudder in the 

North Baltimore area. Drilling goes on in 

all seasons. 



S O M E E A R L Y O H I O 

R E F I N E R I E S 

By the 1920s, rotary drilling methods had 

evolved just as cable tool operations. A typical 

derrick was at least 170 feet high, more or less 

double that of a cable tool derrick. This 

Once the oil was pumped to the surface, 

the next step was to modify it into one of its 

many products. As it was just out of the 

ground, it was indeed, just crude oil. 

Petroleum products are wide ranging and vary 

from gaseous to liquid to solid matter. The 

first refineries were simply distillation 

facilities, unlike stills for making whiskey. 

They were initially located close to the oil 

fields for ease of transportation. 


9 7

Above: Another model of portable drilling 

rig at a site near Cygnet. 



Below: This early drilling rig was 

manufactured in Lodi. 



The late 1850s marks the construction of the 

first oil refineries in Ohio. Before this time a 

number of small plants for making and refining 

coal oil operated in the southeastern hills. One 

of the first refineries was started when a 

Cleveland coal distiller brought back barrels of 

Pennsylvania crude after visiting a new oil field 

in 1859. He turned it into kerosene at his plant 

located along the Ohio Canal. By 1860, the 

Hussey-McBride refinery, specifically designed 

to distill crude oil, was in operation in 

Cleveland. By 1861, Cleveland was also home 

to the Backus, Williams & Company refinery. In 

1863 the Andrews Clark and Company refinery 

opened on the Cuyahoga River and the Atlantic 

& Great Western Railroad in Cleveland. John D. 

Rockefeller was responsible for entering this 

company into the oil refining business. Within 

a few years, many more small refineries were 

established in the city. By 1865, the firm 

became known as Rockefeller and Andrews and 

was the largest of thirty refineries in the city. 

Cleveland processed over 600,000 barrels of 

crude that year and shipped out around 

400,000 barrels of refined products to all parts 

of the nation. By 1870, when the refinery 

became Standard Oil, the facility had spread 

out to sixty acres. 

One of the early oil refineries in the 

Muskingum Valley was located in Zanesville 

and was owned by Matthew Hodkinson. Mr. 

Hodkinson was drawn to Marietta by the Cow 

Run oil boom, and erected a 160-barrelcapacity 

facility; specifically to refine petroleum 

along the Muskingum River on the north side of 

town. The Hodkinson refinery opened in 1861, 

the same year the Herring & Buell refinery (60 

barrel capacity) was erected on the south edge 

of downtown Marietta. Built around the same 

time was the McAllister & Greenhill refinery 


98

(50 barrels) about two miles southeast of 

Marietta. Hodkinson and Greenhill combined 

to erect an eighty-barrel refinery in downtown 

Marietta near the Herring & Buell plant (this 

plant was later moved four miles north of 

Marietta and by the 1880s, became the busy 

Phoenix Oil Works). McConnelsville was the 

site of a 1861 refinery built to process the crude 

from producers in Morgan County. R.P. Iams & 

Sons, a longtime Marietta company, built what 

became a 340-barrel refinery in 1863-64 in the 

downtown area. In 1864, W.C. McCarty started 

the refinery business with a small plant in 

Marietta. Since 1872, the plant was located on 

the Ohio River south of Harmar. In the 1880s, 

it was doing business as the Marietta Oil Works. 

George Rice also became involved in the 

refining of petroleum in 1876 when he 

purchased and expanded a refinery on the 

north side of Marietta. In the 1880s, it operated 

as the Ohio Oil Works. A small refinery also 

operated at Stockport, serving the Morgan 

County area. The Argand Oil Refinery opened 

in 1877 near the McCarty plant, south of 

Harmar (The company bought an old Harmar 

plant that processed lubricating oils in 1884). 

Another early location of refineries was in the 

Mecca field of northeastern Ohio. 

The refinery business was quite profitable 

until the late 1860s. The Panic of 1873 hit the 

refinery business hard. Standard Oil then 

began its monopolistic practices and soon had 

control of most of the refineries and had 

negotiated rebates with the leading railroad 

lines to control movement of oil tank cars. 

By the 1880s, early refineries in Ohio were 

operating metal stills that could hold from 

200 to 1,000 barrels of oil each. These had a 

wide bottom designed to allow even heating. 

Before crude was pumped into the still, it had 

to be separated as much as possible from any 

groundwater. The furnace under the still was 

stoked and kept at a steady heat during the 

entire distilling process. The vapor passed 

through the outlet and into the coils of 

the condenser, surrounded by a bath of 

cold water. At the end of the condenser was 

the running box where the specific gravity of 

the condensate was determined and the 

products sorted. 

Many refineries had colorful advertisements 

in the late 1800s-early 1900s. This 

Cleveland Refining Company advertising 

card serves as an example. It was printed 

on both sides. 



9 9

S O M E O H I O G A S A N D O I L 

C O M P A N I E S A N D 

A S S O C I A T E D F I R M S 

T H E B E R G E N O I L C O M P A N Y 

This firm had ten producing wells in the 

First and Second Cow Run sands around 

1900. Production was small, averaging about 

150 barrels per month. 

T H E B R I D G E W A T E R 

G A S C O M P A N Y 

This company, controlled by Pennsylvania 

interests, began to serve East Liverpool 

in 1887. In 1899, the company was sold 

to the Fort Pitt Gas Company. It eventually 

became part of the Manufacturers’ Light & 

Heat Company. 

T H E B U C K E Y E 

P I P E L I N E C O M P A N Y 

The company was organized in 1886 as an 

affiliate of the Standard Oil Company to 

transport oil from the Lima area to Standard’s 

refineries. In 1888, Buckeye built pipelines 

from Lima to Chicago and Cygnet to Mantua. 

Over 1,000 pipeliners worked on the 

projects. During the boom years numerous 

coal-fired boiler houses were present along 

the lines to boost the flow. Major pump 

stations were then added, including Station 

No. 8 at Cygnet, which, when built, was 

claimed to be the largest in the U.S. In 1945 

the company began to handle the 

transportation of refined products as well as 

crude. The company operates today as 

Buckeye Partners, LP. 

C A N F I E L D O I L C O M P A N Y 

Canfield Oil was incorporated in 1886 and 

opened a refinery in Cleveland to produce 

lubricants and petrolatum. Gasoline became 

another main product as the company 

opened a second Cleveland refinery in 1907. 

This company also operated a refinery in 

Findlay until 1901, when the Findlay 

operation became part of the National 


100

Refining Company. Canfield Oil became a 

subsidiary of Sohio in 1945. 

T H E C A N T O N G A S C O M P A N Y 

The year 1855 marked the founding of the 

Canton Gas Company, an artificial gas 

producer. The company introduced the first 

gas street lights to Canton residents, erecting 

them around the square. In 1889 the company 

changed hands, becoming the Canton Gas 

Light & Coke Company and began to handle 

oil and gas stoves. Competition from the cross 

town Sun Vapor Street Light Company and the 

East Ohio Gas Company natural gas pipeline 

led to the sale of the firm to the East Ohio Gas 

Company in 1911. 

T H E C E N T R A L O H I O O I L 

A N D G A S C O M P A N Y 

northeast of Lancaster. A new pool of gas was 

tapped near Homer in northern Licking 

County in 1902 and a pipeline was laid to 

Columbus the next year. In 1902, the Central 

Ohio Natural Gas and Fuel Company built a 

thousand-horsepower pumping station 

between Lancaster and Sugar Grove. By now, 

the pressure of the field had greatly lowered 

and help was needed to get the gas all the way 

to Columbus. Around 110 wells had been 

drilled by the company by 1902 and some 

66,000 Columbus homes were served. 

T H E D E L A W A R E 


This company was organized in 1859 as 

the Delaware Gas Light and Coal Oil 

Company to provide the city of Delaware with 

Opposite: These three views show the 

Buckeye Pipe Line Pump Station No. 8 on 

the south edge of Cygnet. In view are the 

reservoir, tank farm, and pump house. 



Above: This building, housing the Transit & 

Storage Company, was built along the 

former T&OC tracks at the Buckeye 

Station. This view dates to 1949. 



Below: The Buckeye Pipe Line Company 

operated this pump station at Mantua. The 

card is labeled Standard Oil because 

Buckeye Pipe Line was a subsidiary. 

COURTESY OF JEFF A. SPENCER.. 

The Central Ohio Natural Gas and Fuel 

Company was formed in 1889 by a number of 

Columbus investors and initially piped gas 

from the Thurston area to Columbus. In the 

early stages the company supplied fuel to 

manufacturing plants as well as residences. 

Depletion of the small Thurston gas pool led 

to exploration to the south near Lancaster and 

the elimination of gas service to Columbus 

factories. In February 1891, a 6,000,000 

cubic feet producer, of Lancaster helped the 

company continue to supply Columbus with 

its supply of fuel. Later, in 1893, strong 

producers in the Sugar Grove vicinity 

replaced the wells in Pleasant Township 


1 0 1

artificial gas for illuminating purposes. The 

name was changed to the Delaware Gas 

Company in January 1894. In July 1902, the 

firm began to distribute natural gas; one of 

the first companies to convert from artificial 

to natural gas. 

T H E D R E S S E R G A S C O M P A N Y 

Around 1900, Dresser provided natural 

gas to Malta and McConnellsville. The gas 

came from 20 wells in the Devonian Berea 

sandstone. In 1903, the company served as 

many as 700 houses. 

T H E E A S T O H I O 


This company was incorporated 

September 8, 1898, by the Standard Oil 

Company of New Jersey and completed a 

pipeline from the West Virginia oil fields 

north to a point halfway between Massillon 

and Canton, where a distribution center was 

located, in December 1898. Here, a pipeline 

stretched west to Massillon and east to 

Canton. The company was the first to pipe 

natural gas into northeastern Ohio, and 

extending to Akron in 1900. Branch lines also 

served Canal Dover (now Dover), Dennison, 

New Philadelphia, and Uhrichsville. The 

pipeline was extended to Cleveland in 1902, 

and to Youngstown in 1909. In 1910, the 

company acquired two Cleveland area 

artificial gas companies—Cleveland Gas Light 

& Coke Co. and Peoples Gas Light & Coke 

Co. In 1911, it added the Canton Gas Light & 

Coke Co. In 1942, Standard Oil Company‘s 

ownership ended and East Ohio Gas became 

a subsidiary of the Consolidated Natural Gas 

Company. Consolidated became part of 

Dominion Energy of Virginia in 2000. It 

continues as Dominion East Ohio. 

about 350 barrels a month. The property of 

this company was sold in 1902. 

T H E F E D E R A L G A S A N D 

F U E L C O M P A N Y 

Federal Gas formed in 1898 and acquired 

former Hocking Canal lands between 

Lancaster and Rock Bridge in the midst of the 

Sugar Grove field. The company succeeded in 

laying a line to Columbus after a court battle 

with the Central Ohio Oil and Gas Company. 

The company also supplied Canal Winchester 

and Logan. Of some 30 wells drilled, 20 were 

producing in 1902. The firm became part of 

the Ohio Fuel Supply Company in 1903. 

T H E F I N D L A Y G A S L I G H T 

C O M P A N Y ( F I N D L A Y 

A R T I F I C I A L G A S L I G H T 

C O M P A N Y ) 

The Findlay Gas Light Company was 

formed in July 1871 to furnish artificial gas to 

the town of 5,000 people. After a delay, the 

company opened an artificial gas plant in 

December, 1874. The company switched to 

natural gas in 1885, and was the first to lay 

lines in the city’s streets. The company bought 

out the competing Findlay Natural Gas 

Company, in September, 1885. The city 

purchased the operation in October 1887, 

when it decided to enter the gas business. The 

city operation lasted only a short time. In 

March 1889, the city sold out to the Citizens’ 

Gas Light & Heating Company, which in turn, 

sold the property to the Citizens’ Gas Light 

and Coke Company, in July 1890. The 

Citizens’ Gas Light and Coke Company 

operated until 1922, when it was merged with 

the Logan Gas Company. Later, the Ohio Fuel 

Company took over and became part of 

Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc. 

T H E 

O I L 

E X C H A N G E 

C O M P A N Y 

T H E F I N D L A Y N A T U R A L 


In 1900, this company was well established 

in the Cow Run field with 28 producing wells. 

The plays were in the First and Second Cow 

Run sands. Production was small, averaging 

This short-lived company was formed to 

fund the drilling of the Oesterlen well in 

Findlay, in 1884. Upon discovering natural gas, 

the company decided to enter the distribution 


102

T H E L A N C A S T E R G A S A N D 

O I L C O M P A N Y N O . 1 

In 1885, the Lancaster Natural Gas 

Company was incorporated at the Fairfield 

County seat. A well, laboriously dug through 

the hard till, finally struck gas at 1,957 feet, 

but saltwater became a problem. After 

shooting the well, the gas was used to fuel a 

local factory. This well was followed by two 

strong well producers, drilled by the Mt. 

Pleasant Natural Gas and Oil Company 

(incorporated in 1887) and the East End 

Natural Gas and Oil Company (formed in 

1887). These three companies consolidated in 

late 1887 as the Lancaster Gas and Oil 

Company No.1 and obtained permission to lay 

gas lines in Lancaster. By early 1888, over 500 

addresses were receiving gas service. This so 

overtaxed the system that the company’s plant 

was purchased by the city in Spring 1888, and 

the city went into the gas business. 

market and laid mains in Findlay streets in 

direct competition with the Findlay Gas Light 

Company. The company sold out to Findlay 

Gas Light Company in September 1885. 

T H E G U L F O I L C O M P A N Y 

See Paragon Refining Company. 

T H E H O M E G A S C O M P A N Y 

This firm was chartered in 1897 in Malta. 

It began with 3 small producing wells. 

T H E 

O I L 

I M P E R I A L 

C O M P A N Y 

In 1913, this Canadian company got all its 

oil from the Buckeye Pipeline Company. They 

pumped oil to Sarnia, Ontario, for at that time 

little oil was available in Canada. In the early 

days there were two pumping stations—one 

at Cygnet and the other in Wayne, Michigan. 

Later, pumping stations were added at 

Sylvania and Utica, Michigan. The pipeline 

was discontinued in the 1950s after the 

discovery of vast oil reserves in Saskatchewan. 

It eventually became Buckeye property. 

T H E L O G A N N A T U R A L G A S 

A N D F U E L C O M P A N Y 

In 1894, investors in the Logan area formed 

the Logan Natural Gas and Fuel Company to 

provide the community with natural gas from 

the Sugar Grove field to the west of town. By 

1898, the company had six producing wells; 

by 1902, there were 80 and this didn’t include 

new wells being put down in the Homer field 

of northern Licking County. The company laid 

a pipeline first to the Boys Industrial School, 

just south of Lancaster and then began serving 

Laurelville, Adelphi, and Chillicothe. The 

rapidly expanding company had lines to 

Ashland, Athens, Bellevue, Bucyrus, 

Cardington, Carey, Chicago Junction 

(Willard), Circleville, Clyde, Crestline, 

Delaware, Fostoria, Galion, Granville, 

Mansfield, Marion, Millersport, Mt. Gilead, 

Mt. Vernon, Nelsonville, Newark, Norwalk, 

Shelby, Thornville, Tiffin, Upper Sandusky, 

Utica, and Westerville. A pumping station was 

built in 1902. 

M A R A T H O N O I L C O M P A N Y 

See the Ohio Oil Company on page 105. 

Gulf Oil operated a refinery along Front 

Street in East Toledo’s Ironville area. 




1 0 3

plants. Bremen, Crooksville, Roseville, 

Rushville, and Somerset were also served. A 

pumping station was erected in 1902. 

T H E O H I O G A S C O M P A N Y 

May 14, 1914, marked the incorporation of 

the Ohio Gas Light & Coke Company in Bryan 

from the merger of the Napoleon & Wauseon 

and Bryan & Montpelier Gas Companies. The 

company manufactured gas from coal and 

Above: This 1960s view of a general store 

selling Marathon products was taken in 

Wood County. 

COURTESY OF TEH MAX SHAFFER COLLECTION, WOOD 


Right: Matchbook covers were another place 

to advertise. 


T H E N A T I O N A L 

R E F I N I N G C O M P A N Y 

Kerosene was the main initial product of 

this Cleveland firm, established in 1882. It 

began as National Oil, but was incorporated 

in Ohio in 1884 as the National Refining 

Company. National Refining operated 

refineries at Cleveland, Findlay and Marietta. 

The Cleveland refinery, built in 1884, closed 

in 1921. The company became part of 

Ashland Oil and Refining Company in 1950. 

T H E N O R T H W E S T E R N O H I O 


This subsidiary of the Standard Oil 

Company owned no wells, but purchased gas 

from others. It began with a pipeline running 

from the Sugar Grove field to Toledo. A 

pumping station was built in Fall, 1901. 

T H E O H I O F U E L 

S U P P L Y C O M P A N Y 

May 1, 1902 marked the beginning of the 

Ohio Fuel Supply Company, when the Great 

Southern Oil and Gas Company transferred 

over its holdings. The company piped gas from 

the Homer (Licking County) field beginning in 

1902. It also used gas from the Sugar Grove 

field, first established by the Great Southern 

company. The main service area was Zanesville 

with its many potteries and brick and tile 


104

supplied lighting to northwest Ohio 

communities. By the late 1930s two major 

natural gas pipeline companies had built 

through the region. April 1940 brought 

complete conversion to natural gas, most of it 

being piped from the great Oklahoma and 

Texas fields. The company changed its name to 

the Ohio Gas Company in July 1946 and 

focused on providing gas for heating and 

cooking. In 2014 the company marked a 

century of service to northwest Ohio. 

T H E O H I O O I L C O M P A N Y 

The Ohio Oil Company was chartered in 

August 1887 by five Lima producers. It was 

purchased two years later by the corporate 

giant, Standard Oil. James C. Donnell of 

Findlay, was appointed a director of the 

company shortly after the takeover. Mr. 

Donnell started in the oil business as a teenage 

teamster in the Pennsylvania oil patch and 

advanced rapidly in the business to the point 

where he was drilling wells. In 1886 he moved 

to the booming city of Findlay. After working 

on his own for a while in Ohio he took a job 

with Standard Oil, drilling the first major gas 

well in Indiana. A field office was established 

in Findlay in 1889. By the 1890s, the Ohio Oil 

Company controlled some 50% of the oil wells 

drilled in Ohio and Indiana mainly due to the 

expertise of Donnell. Due to the success in the 

Hancock-Wood County fields and the slowing 

Above: These 1910 vintage postcards show 

the National Refining Co. at Findlay. The 

older parts of this refinery were built by the 

Peerless Refining Company in 1887. 


Left: Ohio Fuel Supply natural gas plant at 

Homer Ohio. When opened in 1902 the 

plant was advertised as the largest natural 

gas plant in the world. It is shown here in a 

photograph produced by a central Ohio 

postcard publisher, c. 1907. Note the plant 

was located on the Licking Canal. 



1 0 5

Above: The Ohio Oil Company maintained 

a pump station along their pipeline at 

Harpster. This postcard view dates to 1913. 


Below: The Paragon offices in Toledo. 



of production in the Lima-St. Marys fields, 

Standard Oil made Findlay the main directing 

center and moved the general offices there in 

1905. The 1911 divestiture of the Standard Oil 

Trust led to the Ohio Oil Company returning 

to independent status. James C. Donnell was 

elected president of the company in 1911 and 

served in this capacity until his death in 1927. 

Under Donnell’s leadership the Ohio Oil 

Company expanded its holdings westward. 

J.C. Donnell became a well-respected expert in 

the oil and gas industry. Otto D. Donnell 

succeeded his father as president of Ohio Oil in 

1927 and served admirably until 1948. Upon 

his retirement, J.C. Donnell II, his son, 

assumed the presidency. In 1952, the company 

opened a refined products terminal in Oregon, 

Ohio. In 1962 Ohio Oil changed its name to 

Marathon Oil with headquarters in Findlay. 

Marathon Petroleum as it is now known, 

maintains a refinery in Canton (a former 

Ashland Oil plant), major storage terminal in 

Toledo, and offices in Findlay. 

T H E O H I O T R A N S P O R T A T I O N 

C O M P A N Y ( C E N T R A L 

C O N T R A C T A N D 

F I N A N C E C O M P A N Y ) 

This company laid a pipeline from the 

Sugar Grove field to Springfield in 1897. Loss 

of pressure resulted in the construction of 

pumping stations in 1900 (in Springfield) and 

1902 (in Mt. Sterling). By Fall 1902, the firm 

had 57 producing wells and was serving 

Dayton, Mt. Sterling, Piqua, Sidney, 

Springfield, Troy, Urbana, and several smaller 

nearby towns. 

T H E O H I O V A L L E Y 


1886 marks the chartering of this company 

in East Liverpool. It served both East 

Liverpool and Wellsville. By 1905 it was part 

of the Manufacturers’ Light & Heat Company, 

the largest natural gas firm in the world at 

that time. 

T H E 

O I L 

P A R A G O N 

C O M P A N Y 

This company bought oil from others and 

pumped it to refineries. They didn’t own any 

wells nor a refinery. Paragon had a pump 

station, called the Midway China, just south 

of Cygnet on the Dixie Highway. 

T H E P A R A G O N 


Ironville was the site of Paragon’s refinery. 

Paragon once produced White Swan oil, 


106

considered to be one of the best illuminants. 

They also marketed Red Cross gasoline, a 

smokeless odorless gas for automobiles, gas 

engines, and stoves. Another of their wellknown 

products was Banner Axle grease. Gulf 

Oil bought Paragon’s Oregon, Ohio, facilities 

in 1930. Paragon, at the time, was a supplier 

of 8,000 daily barrels of gasoline, fuel oils, 

lubricating oils, and wax and employed 

150 workers. Gulf began a program of 

expansion and redirection; adding a new 

boiler house, cracking units, gas plant, 

treating plant, and tanks and focusing on the 

production of gasoline, furnace oil, and coke. 

Output increased to 12,000 barrels. Updating 

and expansion continued; by 1960 the facility 

was refining some 42,000 barrels of crude 

a day. 

T H E P E E R L E S S 


The first Findlay refinery, the Peerless, 

began operations in 1887, serving the local 

area. By 1889 the refinery was producing 

1,500 barrels a month. The National Refining 

Company assumed control in 1896 and 

operated the refinery until after WWII. 

Ashland Oil operated this facility until 

merging with Marathon. 

T H E P U R E O I L C O M P A N Y 

Pure Oil Company opened a refinery in 

Oregon, Ohio, in 1931. The refinery initially 

had a capacity of 6,000 barrels, but 30 years 

later was producing 30,000 barrels daily. The 

plant specialized in aliphatic and aromatic 

industrial napthas, domestic and industrial 

burning oils, liquefied petroleum gas, motor 

fuels, and petroleum coke. 

T H E 

O I L 

S T A N D A R D 

C O M P A N Y 

In 1862, John D. Rockefeller and two other 

Clevelanders began their quest to establish a 

refining company in Cleveland. In 1865 the 

Rockefeller & Andrews Oil Company was 

founded. In the first year the company was 

deemed a success, garnering some $200,000 

and beginning Rockefeller’s wealthy years. 

The brain trust of the company focused on 

stabilizing the constantly fluctuating oil prices 

of the 1860s. The way this would be 

accomplished was to bring the competing 

companies under one umbrella. 

It began with convincing the largest 

refining company in Cleveland—the O.H. 

Payne Oil Company—to unite with 

Rockefeller & Andrews Oil. The idea was that 

the larger the company was, the more control 

it could exert over oil prices. Other related 

companies in Cleveland were convinced to 

join. By 1872, Standard controlled 21 of 

Cleveland’s 26 refineries. Those that chose to 

remain independent were eventually bought 

out or driven out of business. New oil fields 

were bought as discovered and the oil stored 

in vast tank fields so as not to affect Standard’s 

price. In 1870 the consortium of Rockefeller 

controlled companies were united as the 

Standard Oil Company. Rockefeller sought to 

expand the influence of Standard Oil. Between 

1875 and 1878 Rockefeller had acquired 

control of 80 to 90% of the total oil refining 

capacity in the U.S by establishing agreements 

with other refiners across the continent. In 

1881 he formed the Standard Oil Trust from 

40 companies throughout the oil patch. 

Headquarters remained in Cleveland until 

1882 when a shift to New York City took 

place. The Trust continued to grow, stifling the 

operation of smaller companies. The Trust was 

eventually broken up in 1911 citing a 

violation of the Sherman Anti-trust legislation 

This 1930s linen postcard shows a typical 

Pure gas station located in Byesville. 

COURTESY OF THE TICHNOR BROS. COLLECTION, 

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 


1 0 7

company officially adopted the name “SOHIO” 

as a trade name. In 1931 SOHIO acquired the 

Solar Refinery Company, an earlier affiliate, 

which operated the refinery in Lima. British 

Petroleum purchased SOHIO in 1970 and 

gradually phased out SOHIO brand name. 

Today it operates as BP-Husky. The Lima 

refinery is now part of Husky Energy. 

T H E S U N O I L C O M P A N Y 

Above: Standard Oil distributed their 

products by wagon in the early days. This 

one is in Toledo. 



Below: These postcards show the Standard 

Oil refinery and tank farm in Cleveland, 

c. 1912. 


and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (Note 

this legislation was proposed by John 

Sherman, an Ohio senator in 1890). 

Rockefeller’s original Standard Oil Company 

was limited to doing business only in Ohio 

and became known as Standard Oil of Ohio. 

Other companies were divided into various 

subsidiaries including Standard Oil of Indiana 

and Standard Oil of New Jersey to name a few 

(The “Standard” moniker was used for name 

recognition only; none of these were part of 

the former trust). Standard Oil of Ohio began 

a new refinery in Oregon, Ohio, in 1919. By 

1960 the plant employed 467 workers and 

had a capacity of 60,000 barrels of automobile 

and aviation fuels and lubricants. In 1928 the 

This company had its origins in 1894 when 

the Crystal Oil Company of the Toledo area 

was purchased by Joseph Newton Pew and 

Edward O. Emerson, oil field investors. The 

next year the four-still plant, now known as the 

Diamond Oil Company, began producing 

kerosene, gas, oil, and fuel oil. The name was 

changed to the Sun Oil Company in December 

1895. The company opened a tank farm just 

west of Rudolph and also a well field in the 

early 1900s. The Toledo-Oregon refinery 

started with 14 acres and five employees. 

Through the years the plant expanded to 

around 270 acres and 1,000 employees by 

1960. The success of the plant was bolstered 

with the completion of the Bay Terminal 

Railroad, linking the refinery to all the railroads 

serving the city. In 2011, Sunoco, as it was then 

known, sold its Toledo refinery after a shift in 

focus. It now operates as PBF Energy. 

T H E U N I O N N A T U R A L G A S 

C O M P A N Y , M A R I E T T A 

From wells in the Monroe area, this 

company first piped gas to Marietta in 


108

Above: An early Standard Oil filling 

station at an unknown location, perhaps in 

Wood County. 



Left: An aerial view of the Sun Oil refinery 

in Toledo. Tracks at bottom are Bay 

Terminal Railroad. 



1890. Its’ deepest well reached 1,900 

feet. Initial rates were $1.50 per month for 

cooking stoves and $1.63 per month for 

heating stoves. In earlier days the Marietta 

Gas Company (incorporated in March 

1857) manufactured gas from local coals. By 

1891, consumers preferred natural gas over 

artificial varieties. 

T H E P I P E L I N E S , 

P U M P S T A T I O N S , A N D 

S T O R A G E F A C I L I T I E S 

In the beginning oil was stored in wooden 

tanks at the site of an oil well. Then it could 

be transported in barrels or tank wagons to a 

refining site. Soon pipelines were put in to 

move the oil, and it was pumped from the 

small tanks to specific company pipelines 

serving the area. 

Numerous pipeline companies operated in 

Ohio and many of the lines continue in 

operation today. The Buckeye Pipe Line 

Company, one of the first major transporting 

companies in Ohio, was chartered in 1886. Its 

original storage tanks held 50,000 gallons and 

had wooden tops. Each was encircled by a dike 

to catch any leaking oil. The tanks were prone 

to lightning strikes and fires were not 

uncommon. Major tank farms in the 


1 0 9

James Sweet, an oilfield worker from 

Bowling Green interviewed in the 1960s, 

described some of the companies in southern 

Wood County during the 1880s: 

Above: Behind the men, early smaller 

capacity tanks hold oil from a number 

of rigs. 



Below: An early storage tank and steam 

boiler at a rig in Wood County. 



northwestern counties ran north-south from 

Findlay to south of Bowling Green and then on 

to Lima, until the 1970s. Four hundred 30,000 

gallon tanks once bordered Tank Farm Road 

near Cygnet ( several remain in 2014). Just 

south of Cygnet, Buckeye Pipe Line erected a 

pumping station, at one time, the world’s 

largest. More than 500 miles of pipeline 

radiated out from this station (Station No. 8) in 

Wood County alone. Oil was pumped from 

Cygnet northwest to Chicago, northeast to 

New York City, east to Philadelphia, and many 

points in between. South of Cygnet was the 

Buckeye Reservoir, which is where the 

company recycled its steam engine water so it 

was always warm. Boys found it a great 

swimming hole, even into the Fall. 

There were several oil companies around 

here. At one time, there was the Manhattan, 

and the Browning, and the Northern, and the 

Minear, and the Century. That’s right in the 

vicinity of the Kramer Road and the Rudolph 

Road, both sides, north and south. Then the 

Roust Oil. Lee Roust had an oil field in there. 

And then the Ohio Oil Company had oil wells 

in through there. Clear up to Rudolph.” 

“The Hurry-Up Oil Company was out here 

a west about at Rudolph. They wanted to drill 

they wanted to drill a lot of wells, and they 

had about seven or eight string of tools going 

on the 40 acres. It was just like polka dots 

around there. 

R A I L R O A D S I N T H E 

O I L F I E L D S 

Throughout Ohio the major oil and gas 

fields have been generally well served by the 

railroads. By 1900, Ohio was well blanketed by 

railroad lines. The railroad depot was the 

center of many communities and the lifeline to 

news and happenings elsewhere before the 

days of the telephone. To the oil and gas 

industry it provided transportation of officials 

and workers and most importantly allowed the 

movement of large volumes of product by tank 

cars; much improved over tank wagons. 

The discovery of oil and gas in the 

southeastern hills of Ohio came about ten 

years after ancestral lines of the B&O were laid 

through the Ohio River valley and into 

Columbus. The Belpre & Cincinnati Railroad, 

later the Marietta & Cincinnati was the first to 

serve the pioneer fields near Marietta. Later 

the Cleveland & Marietta Railroad, eventually 

a Pennsylvania Railroad line, was an important 

lifeline for the Macksburg field. The 1890s 

discovery of oil around Woodsfield, Monroe 

County, actually helped the narrow gauge 

Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railroad 

rebound from bankruptcy. By 1895 the line 

was hauling drilling equipment and oil field 

workers for the important Jackson Ridge field. 


110

R A I L R O A D S S E R V I N G S O M E O F T H E E A R L Y O H I O 

O I L A N D G A S F I E L D S A N D R E F I N I N G C E N T E R S 


1 1 1

Tank cars at the Manhattan refinery in 

Galatea, just east of the diamond of the 

B&O and T&OC. 



In the eastern Ohio fields, lines that 

eventually fell under the Pennsylvania Railroad 

(PRR) moniker offered valuable services. The 

Pennsylvania Railroad added a special train to 

serve the oil workers in the Scio field. Deemed 

the “Greaser”, it ran daily from Pittsburg to 

Dennison and return, around 1900. The PRR 

and Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad had major 

sidings at Scio usually full of tank cars destined 

to refineries in Cleveland, Findlay, Newburg, 

and Toledo. The PRR also served the 

Homeworth field; tankers carried oil to the 

National Refining Company in Cleveland. 

In western Ohio a framework of railroads 

were already in place when the gas and oil 

booms began. Among those running north 

and south were the Cincinnati Hamilton & 

Dayton (CH&D) and Toledo & Ohio Central 

(T&OC) lines; running east-west were the 

Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), Chicago & Erie, 

New York Chicago & St. Louis, and 

Pennsylvania railroads. 

The construction of a number of lines, 

mainly built under the auspices of existing 

lines, was directly connected to the boom 

times. A good example is the Toledo, Findlay 

and Springfield Railway. The CH&D 

constructed this line off their mainline at 

Tontogany from which it swung east into 

Bowling Green and then south through the oil 

fields to the mainline of the B&O at North 

Baltimore. This line, opened in 1890, passed 

through many Wood County oil towns 

including Bays, Ducat, Hammansburg, Plaza, 

and Rudolph. CH&D locals would pick up 

oilfield workers in Bowling Green, Portage and 

other stations along the line. In the early years 

the CH&D would drop off riders at just about 

any point through the oil field. Workers getting 

off their shifts at night would hail local 

passenger trains with torches of oil-soaked 

rope or rolled newspapers and the trains would 

stop and carry them to town. CH&D freight 

trains commonly brought 15-20 carloads of 

coal down the branch, setting cars on sidings at 

places like Ducat, Portage, and Rudolph. From 

there farmers with their teams of horses would 

haul the coal to various well sites to feed the 

steam boilers. In 1888 the Columbus Findlay 

& Northern Railroad was organized to extend 


112

the McComb Deshler & Toledo Railroad to 

Findlay by laying track between McComb and 

Findlay. It was opened in 1889 and eventually 

taken over by the CH&D. 

Two sub-parallel lines that eventually 

became part of the Toledo & Ohio Central 

(T&OC) in the 1890s provided similar services 

to another string of Wood County boom towns 

including Cygnet, Galatea, Mermill, Mungen, 

Portage, Prairie Depot, and Trombley. The 

T&OC gained access to the St. Marys field 

when it took over the St. Marys branch of the 

Detroit & Lima Northern in 1901. 

Interurban lines became the efficient way 

to transport workers and company personnel 

through the oil fields. The Toledo Bowling 

Green & Southern (TBG&S) was an 

interurban line that ran south from Toledo to 

Bowling Green and eventually Findlay. Many 

northwestern Ohio oil workers heavily 

patronized this line as it had even more 

frequent stops than the CH&D and T&OC. 

The TBG&S, after connecting Toledo and 

Bowling Green, built south to Mermill. 

Mermill was the end of the line for a while. 

Then the line laid track into Jerry City. The 

company had originally intended to continue 

their line into Fostoria, but later changed 

their charter to head into Findlay instead. 

After sometime with Jerry City as their 

southern terminal they built into Findlay by 

way of Cygnet and North Baltimore. The line 

from Trombley to Jerry City became a branch 

line and was served by a smaller trolley called 

a dinkey. The Lake Erie, Bowling Green & 

Napoleon (LEBG&N) and the Toledo Fostoria 

& Findlay (TF&F) traction lines also served 

the northwestern Ohio oil fields. The 

LEBG&N served Tontogany, Bowling Green, 

Pemberville, and Woodville. The TF&F ran 

from Toledo south through Luckey, 

Pemberville, Bradner, Risingsun, and Longley 

to Fostoria. Similarly in the Lima area, the 

Ohio Electric Railway provided convenient 

transportation in the oil patch. Western Ohio 

Electric served St. Marys. The East Liverpool 

Traction & Light Company connected East 

Liverpool and Wellsville. 

Large refineries often had an industrial 

railroad to shuffle tank cars. In Toledo, the 

Bay Terminal Railroad was chartered 

specifically to serve several refineries. 

Above: Tank cars were filled at this facility, 

thought to be on the T&OC at Mermill. 



Below: The TBG&S ran down the middle of 

Main Street in Jerry City. In the distance 

are two of its interurbans. 




1 1 3

Right: Shortly after the TBG&S extended its 

line to Findlay, the company removed its full 

size interurban service to Jerry City and 

replaced them with the small dinkey, seen 

here. 

COURTESY OF THE MAX SHAFFER COLLECTION, 

WOOD COUNTY HISTORICAL CENTER & MUSEUM 

AND THE AUTHOR. 

Below: A northbound interurban on the 

TBG&S loads at the depot in Cygnet. 

Some of these folks may attend the baseball 

game today. 



One of the reasons Cleveland became home 

to many early refineries and eventually 

Standard Oil, was that the Atlantic & Great 

Western Railroad (later part of the Erie 

Railroad) was built from the northwestern 

Pennsylvania oil fields into Cleveland in the 

1860s. The A&GW was meant to directly 

compete with the New York Central lines to the 

north and the Pennsylvania lines to the south. 

One of the straightest sections of track 

was laid between Findlay and Fort Wayne 

by the American Midland Railroad, opening 

in 1895. The line struggled from the 

onset with finances, eventually becoming part 

of the CH&D and being mostly scrapped 

during WWI. 

The Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake 

Michigan Railway was a projected line that 


114

was never completed. It would have served 

Jerry City, Mungen, and Weston and certainly 

would have been busy during the boom years. 

The route was surveyed, graded, and even 

partially laid with ties before money ran out. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad eventually used 

the grade from Mansfield to Tiffin, but then 

constructed a more direct route to the 

northwest into Toledo. Thus, Jerry City never 

gained rail service from a steam line. 

Left: TBG&S interurbans head through 

the North Baltimore business district 

around 1907. 



Below: Bay Terminal train at Sun Oil 

refinery in East Toledo. 

COURTESY OF THE TOLEDO LUCAS COUNTY 

PUBLIC LIBRARY. 


1 1 5


116

CHAPTER NINE 

T H E M A R C E L L U S A N D U T I C A - A 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y B O O M 

T H E F I R S T A T T E M P T S A T S E C O N D A R Y R E C O V E R Y 

The primary production of an oil well is the amount of oil that can be obtained at a profit 

using the natural driving forces in the pool, including natural gas, gravity gradients, etc., and 

the use of pumps. As oil flow decreases over time in a pumped well, a new source of energy 

applied to the well may lead to continued production. The first indication that old wells could 

be rejuvenated was accidentally discovered around Pithole, Pennsylvania, in the early 1860s. Soon, 

saline groundwater was re-injected into certain wells. The water flowed to areas of low 

pressure, pushing any remaining oil, called a bank of oil, ahead of it. On reaching a producing 

well, the oil would be brought to the surface as secondary production. This technique became 

known as water flooding. 

Regulations for water flooding were established in Ohio, in 1939. The Chatham field of Medina 

County was chosen as a test site. Production was from the Berea. Nine water injection wells and 4 

producing wells formed the initial test plot. The water came from a well drilled to an aquifer 151 

feet down (Surface water could also be used.). This water was deemed suitable, not needing 

filtration or any chemical additives. Success of the project led to a great expansion of the project, 

from 10 to 650 acres. The usual spacing is called a “five point plan” where four input wells form the 

corners of a square with a producing well located at the center. The injected water is forced into the 

reservoir rock in increments until the critical pressure of the area is reached. This critical pressure 

is generally calculated at 1 psi per foot of overburden. The main problems associated with water 

flooding is corrosion of equipment and environmental concerns about groundwater contamination. 

In an attempt to increase production in one of the early Macksburg oil wells, a company began 

pumping gas at a pressure of forty-five psi into the well to repressure it in 1903. After ten days, 

the pressure was released and pumping of the well resumed. The project was a success; production 

continued at a higher rate until the gas dissipated. This was the first recorded attempt at secondary 

recovery. The second test took place in the Chesterhill Field in Morgan County in 1911. Air was 

forced into a well at forty psi and, within a week, production had increased in nearby wells. By 

1917 this technique, known as the Smith-Dunn or Marietta compressed air process, was 

widespread in Monroe, Morgan, and Washington Counties. Around 80 percent of the attempts 

were successful in increasing production; on average an increase of 3.5 fold. 1920 saw the greatest 

application of this technique when thousands of wells were enhanced. Much refining of this 

technique took place in the Sistersville Field in the 1930s. Although the Smith-Dunn process led 

to many rejuvenated shallow wells in southeastern Ohio, it was not as effective in the deeper strata. 

Early attempts in Trenton wells were not fruitful. Clinton ventures met with more success. In 1933, 

several wells drilled around 1912 in the New Straitsville area of Perry County responded to a gas 

repressurization project by increasing production 25 percent in one month in 17 nearby wells. By 

the end of 20 months, the wells had increased from 352 to 763 barrels per month. A second 

successful Clinton project took place in 1935 in Hocking County, where production in another 

1912 field increased from 373 to 1,006 barrels in 23 months. In 1945, new projects were started 

around New Straitsville, Somerset, and Union Furnace. The first major attempt at secondary 

recovery in the Lima-Indiana field since the 1950s took place in the Summer of 1994 when a Texas 

company, Meridian Oil, proposed to inject water into the Trenton, thirteen hundred feet down, 

near Lima. The test well was a success in driving oil out, but Meridian stopped drilling a year later 

because the project was deemed uneconomical at that time. 

Opposite: The oil and gas fields of Ohio. 



C H A P T E R N I N E 

1 1 7

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y 

Here’s a comparison of traditional vertical 

drilling to horizontal drilling 

COURTESY OF THE OHIO OIL AND GAS ASSOCIATION. 

Even secondary techniques still leave 

considerable petroleum behind. Thus the 

industry is constantly researching new ways of 

recovery. The most common process involves 

the injection of gas, usually carbon dioxide, 

into the reservoir rock. The idea is to reduce 

the interface between oil and pore water, 

allowing more efficient movement of the oil. 

Instead of a gas, other methods involve the 

addition of certain chemical solvents that also 

reduce surface tension. Other enhanced 

techniques involve caustic flooding, fire 

flooding, microbial addition, polymer 

flooding, plasma pulse, and steam injection. 

H Y D R A U L I C 

F R A C T U R I N G 

Although used since the late 1800s in 

the stone industry, the first commercial 

application of hydraulic fracturing in the U.S. 

oil and gas industry was in 1949. Because of 

the success of increasing production rates, the 

technique was rapidly adopted and used by 

energy companies worldwide. By 1951, the 

process was being employed successfully in 

Ohio to increase production from the Clinton 

sand. The process was simple—water was 

injected into a reservoir rock under pressure 

to dilate joints and fractures to instill 

movement of fluids from the rock to the well 

boring, where it could be brought to the 

surface. A proppant (sand or some other 

particulate matter) would then be introduced 

so that the opened fractures would not 

immediately close upon termination of the 

injection. From 1951 to 1957 the success rate 

of wells tapping the Clinton reached 85%, 

restoring interest in this horizon. 

The Ohio Oil and Gas Association reported: 

Beginning in 1970 rising natural gas and oil 

prices, high demand for local supplies of 

natural gas, advances in fracturing technology, 

and the introduction in 1978 of the NGPA 

Section 107 “Tight Sands” incentive gas 

pricing and the Section 29 tax credit combined 

to create a massive drilling boom in the 

Clinton sands, as well as the Berea sands and 

Ohio Shale. Drilling activity within Eastern 

Ohio rivaled the early Trenton days. During 

the peak year of 1981, there were 6,085 wells 

drilled in Ohio, of which 76 percent were 

completed in the Clinton sandstone. 

OOGA further elaborates on the hydraulic 

fracturing technique: 

The technique of hydraulic fracturing is 

used to increase or restore the rate at which 

fluids, such as oil, gas or water, can be 

produced from a reservoir, including 

unconventional reservoirs such as shale rock 

or coal beds. Hydraulic fracturing enables the 

production of natural gas and oil from rock 

formations deep below the earth’s surface 

(generally 5,000-20,000 feet). At such depth, 

there may not be sufficient porosity and 

permeability to allow natural gas and oil to 

flow from the rock into the wellbore at 

economic rates. For example, creating 

conductive fractures in the rock is essential to 

produce gas from shale reservoirs because of 

the extremely low natural permeability of 

shale, (which is measured in the microdarcy 

to nanodarcy range). The fracture provides a 

conductive path connecting a larger area of 

the reservoir to the well, thereby increasing 

the area from which natural gas and liquids 

can be recovered from the targeted formation. 

S H A L E P L A Y S - 

B O O M T I M E S R E T U R N 

It was discovered early on that most of the 

oil and gas came from sandstones and vuggy 


118

carbonate rocks and not the finer grained rocks 

like shale and mudstone. Black shales, like the 

Devonian Ohio shale, were thought to be 

exceptions because of their high carbon 

content, but it was hard to extract anything 

because of the low porosity and permeability. It 

became accepted that these were source rocks 

for the hydrocarbons, but generally not 

profitable producers. As traditional producers 

began to decline and new technologies became 

available, thick beds of black shales were reexamined. 

In the nearby Appalachian basin, 

the Devonian Marcellus shale and Ordovician 

Utica shale were soon discovered to hold 

tremendous volumes of natural gas. But still, 

getting the gas out of the relatively 

impermeable shale was a problem. And the 

amount that could be acquired in a traditional 

vertical well was certainly not economical. The 

less used technique of horizontal drilling was 

resurrected. Now a single well could penetrate 

to the depth of the desired shale and then 

follow that stratum, laterally away from the 

well. The gas needs a little help in freeing itself 

from the tiny pores of the shale—thus arose 

hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracturing. The 

first step is to perforate the well casing that 

passes through the desired shale by special 

explosive charges. Then the fracturing fluids, 

consisting of 99.5 percent water and sand, are 

injected under controlled high pressure into 

the well. This forces open fractures in the shale 

and the sand particles hold them open so that 

the natural gas can flow to the well. The first 

wells to produce gas from the Marcellus in 

Ohio were drilled in 2006; 40 were producing 

by 2009. All were located in Belmont, 

Jefferson, Monroe, Noble, and Washington 

counties. The Marcellus thins and wedges out 

westward as it spreads into Ohio’s subsurface, 

underlying the eastern half of counties. The 

deeper and older Utica shale ranges between 

87-350 feet thick and lies in the subsurface of 

Ohio everywhere, but the central southern 

counties. It is producing plays of oil and wet 

natural gas. 

A history of Ohio wells drilled by year 

and reservoir. 

COURTESY OF THE OHIO OIL AND GAS ASSOCIATION. 

C H A P T E R N I N E 

1 1 9


120

CHAPTER TEN 

T H E H U M A N S I D E O F T H E O I L A N D G A S I N D U S T R Y 

D U R I N G T H E B O O M Y E A R S 

W O R K I N G I N T H E O I L F I E L D S 

The oil and gas fields of Ohio attracted many men to the state. Many migrated from one field 

to another, so Ohio was just a stopping point. As the fields played out they moved on to the next 

developing field—maybe Indiana, but probably later Texas and Oklahoma. Even so, many stayed 

and entered other trades. Drillers, dressers, pumpers and roustabouts all had different wages. Entry 

level workers began at 20-25 cents an hour. Some of them worked twelve hours running tower; 

some of them worked ten hour days. 

Rig-building crews built the oil and gas derricks. On average, it took a full day for a gang of 6 to 

8 men to erect a 66-foot wooden derrick, complete with the crown pulley. The first rigs were built of 

locally cut timber. In northwestern Ohio, this wood was extremely hard to nail. White pine was softer 

and was soon shipped in from northern Michigan. Later, hemlock was preferred. Inclement weather 

hit the state in 1913, causing disastrous flooding. Wind toppled many of the derricks in northwest 

Ohio. Companies immediately sent crews out to repair the damage. One three-man crew of the Ohio 

Oil Company was given 2 ½ days to rebuild a 58-foot derrick. If it took longer, the company refused 

to pay any more. After wells were drilled, tall derricks were no longer needed. They were replaced by 

shorter derricks, just tall enough to pull tubing and rods and allow crews to service the wells. 

Pumpers tended producing wells. They sometimes lived in 8-x-10-foot shacks at the well site; 

other times they might live in town at a boarding house. Depending on the lease, they might 

oversee the operation of a number of wells. One of their jobs was to oil the engines. There was a 

small container that continuously dropped oil on the engine shaft. This had to be kept full. Early 

on pumpers worked 12 hour shifts, seven days a week. Later they just pumped during the day, 

pretty much 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Occasionally when saltwater incursion became a problem, wells 

would have to be continuously pumped. If a part broke or some other thing went wrong with the 

pumping equipment, a repair crew would be called. 

Drilling crews worked in small gangs, usually two 12-hour shifts; six, sometimes seven days a 

week. Buckeye Pipe Line Company had many crews in the field during the oil boom. Crews were 

reduced in the winter. 

Opposite: A construction crew poses with 

their boss (in the center). This may be an 

Ohio Oil Company group. 



One of the more dangerous jobs was that of the shooter. Shooters detonated explosives in wells to 

fracture the rock at depth and hopefully encourage the flow of gas or oil into the well. Nitro-glycerine was 

the favored explosive. The gas and oil fields became the sites of plants where the nitro was made. The plants 

and associated magazines were located on the outskirts of town since explosions were all too common. 

Nitro was kept in special magazines, protected from unnecessary contact. When brought to a well site by 

the shooter, the explosive was poured into a metal tube in a prescribed amount. The resemblance of this 

tube to a torpedo led to its common name. The depth of the well would first be measured and the depth 

to which the owner wanted the torpedo set off. The torpedo was then lowered to the appropriate depth and 

supported on a pipe. A small cap was placed on top of the torpedo. Then the go-devil, a cast iron weight, 

was dropped down the well, striking the cap and setting off the explosion. The explosion blew everything 

out of the well and fractured the surrounding bedrock. If it was successful, the well would spew out gas, 

oil, and/or saltwater. Hopefully a productive well, sometimes a flowing one, was the result. 

The men that came to work the oilfields included all nationalities, some with lots of experience; 

others just learning their trades. Work was tiresome with long hours of heavy manual labor in all 

C H A P T E R T E N 

1 2 1

kinds of weather. Roustabouts and 

roughnecks migrated from one field to the 

next. The men who came to build the iron 

storage tanks were a rough bunch. Mixing 

pipeliners and boiler-makers with several 

nationalities led to many fights after a hard 

days work—some outside saloons; some in 

the prize-fighting ring. 

Ivan Myer, a North Baltimore farmer, had 

his own view of oilfield work around 1900: 

I know what oil field work’s all about. I 

helped to pull tubing one day. It was 14 

degrees below zero at noon. We stood the 

tubing in the derrick, too. I had to stand up 

there on the tubing board at 14 degrees below 

zero at noon. I don’t think anything equals oil 

field work for being nasty. It was always cold 

and wet, wind and rain. I’ve often thought it 

was the worst job a man could have. And it 

had to be done by the slow method—by horse 

power. To get that stuff around. 

Some workers were employed to pull old 

wells. This was regarded as a dirty tiresome 

job. A new derrick would need to be erected 

to remove the casing and pumping apparatus. 

Laying of pipelines involved hundreds of 

men. First the right of way had to be cleared of 

vegetation. Horse and mule teams were used 

to pull out stumps. Then the trenches had to 

be dug by hand. Italian immigrants were hired 

by the hundreds to do this work. Creeks and 

other water courses had to be bridged. 

Teamsters brought the pipe from the nearest 

railroad depot where it was shipped in. Pipe 

sections were connected with wrenches. 

Pipeline gangs often had tent camps and a 

kitchen tent and cook. A typical gang might 

have 75-100 men. Among these workers were 

those on the tong gang. Their job in the 1940’s 

is described by Fred Sager of Cygnet: 

The number of men on the tong gang 

varied accordin’ to the size of the pipe you 

was screwing together. If it was a small line, 

why, there was just two. If it was three inch, 

then it was four. And then for six inch, it was 

eight. And for eight inch, it took ten men. 

Half of the men would be stroking down 

while the other half was stroking up, setting 


122

Opposite, top: Workmen stoke up a boiler at 

a Wood County well site. 



Opposite, middle: An Ohio Oil Company 

crew somewhere in Wood County To the 

right is a driller’s chair. 



Opposite, bottom: Here another crew has 

finished pulling the drill stems. 



the tongs for the next screw. And a man would 

set there with a hammer and hit when his tong 

gang would stroke. They’d keep in stroke with 

the hammer just the same as you would with 

music. And there’s some that don’t have it just 

like there’s some that don’t have music 

rhythm. You just couldn’t be on a tong gang if 

you didn’t have rhythm. When somebody’d 

hit it a little quicker than the other fella 

did, that would unlatch their tongs on the 

pipe, see. 

Ben Sigworth who worked for Imperial Oil 

in 1913 and Buckeye Pipe Line beginning in 

1916 adds more information on the tong gang: 

The tong gang was a bunch of men that 

just screwed the pipe together. When we 

worked, we used six pair of tongs. The stabber 

would line up this joint of pipe and then we 

would rope it in as far as we could with the 

rope. The rope was wound around the pipe so 

that we could just spin it into the collar. Then 

Above: This view taken around 1900 shows 

a nitroglycerine factory at an undisclosed 

location. Note that it appears to be in a 

woods, most likely away from other 

buildings. Van Tassel, 1902 

Below: A shooter’s wagon poses for a 

photographer with a load of torpedoes, 

perhaps in Cygnet. 




1 2 3

Above: The shooting of a well often drew 

crowds of people. It was something 

fashionable to do in many a small town. 

This crowd is somewhere in the Wood 

County field. 



Top, right: At the base of a derrick a worker 

carefully pours nitro into a torpedo. The 

torpedo will then be lowered into the well 

and eventually detonated with a go devil. 



two pair of tongs would get on the joint and 

then the next two pairs would get on and then 

finally, the third two pair would get on. Then 

we’d wind that pipe in until you couldn’t see 

no more thread. And we’d take our tongs off 

and move to the next joint. And the stabber 

would stick another joint and we’d do the 

same thing over. And we kept that up for ten 

long hours a day, just bounding up and down 

on them tongs. 

We were pretty hungry when we went in at 

night. Man, we could eat a mule and chase the 

driver. And we had good cooks! They 

Middle, right: A group of roughnecks 

somewhere in the Wood County field gather 

around a rotary rig. 



Bottom, right: A typical tong gang. 




124

wouldn’t stand for anything if it wasn’t good. 

Because we’d raise heck. 

These pipeliners used to be kinda rough fellows. 

Oh, I don’t think they come any tougher. 

We’d go into town and just take charge. When 

we’d get into town, why, we’d decide where we 

was going to drink and just take over the place. 

There were 65 men in the pipe gang, in this 

gang we had here. I worked on one gang where 

there was 85 of us. Eighty-five men in the pipe 

gang. Boy, that was a murdering outfit. 

On a good day the gangs might lay a mile 

of pipe in a ten-hour day. Pipeline gangs also 

always had a water boy whose job it was to 

see that the workers had water to drink. Once 

the pipe was laid the trenches had to be filled 

in, often by the same men that dug them. 

Welding of pipelines began around 1912. 

The early welders used acetylene welding, not 

electric. This necessitated hauling generators 

out along the line to produce the gas. The 

Buckeye Pipe Line Company had six to eight 

welders at each generator. 

Telegraph, and later telephone, workers 

maintained the lines that followed the 

pipelines. These were necessary to report 

pump malfunctions or leaks along the 

pipeline system. A job of some employees was 

to walk along the pipeline right-of-ways 

regularly, checking for problems. Some used 

motorcycles, later autos, and later the 

pipelines were surveyed from airplanes. By 

the 1940s, Buckeye Pipe Line Company had a 

scheduled program of reconnaissance flights 

covering their lines from Bay City, Michigan 

south to Cygnet, Lima, and Cincinnati; west 

to Chicago; and east to New York City. Older 

lines were checked out weekly, while newer 

ones were surveyed monthly. The planes were 

flown only about two hundred feet above the 

ground so leaks of black crude could be 

easily spotted. If a leak was discovered the 

pilot radioed the company and a ground unit 

was dispatched to make the repair. By the 

Above: This truck contains parts of a 

dismantled oil rig. Most parts could be 

reused elsewhere. 



Below: Oilfield workers in the North 

Baltimore area. 

COURTESY OF THE NORTH BALTIMORE 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 


1 2 5

Right: Teamsters arrive at a boiler house to 

move some equipment. 



Below: A bunk house is being moved to a 

new location. 



Bottom, right: For moving heavier 

equipment more horses were employed. 



mid-1900s other petroleum products were 

also being moved by pipeline. Some of these, 

like liquefied butane and propane, were much 

harder to detect since they revert to gases 

when they escape through a leak. Pretty much 

impossible to detect while in a plane. 

Teamsters were important for hauling 

equipment and supplies in and out of the oil 

and gas fields. Local farmers with a good set 

of horses or mules could make extra money 

by contracting with the oil and gas firms. 

Another job was the building, removal, and 

maintenance of the large storage tanks. Tank 

crews commonly worked ten hour days. They 

assembled 35,000-50,000 barrel steel tanks in 

the field, riveting them together. The early 

tanks had steel bottoms. The problem was that 

these deteriorated resulting in leaks. By the 

1920s, rotted floors were being replaced with 

concrete. The roofs of tanks also had to be 

replaced. This was dangerous because the 

timber framing underneath was often rotten. 

By the mid-1900s floating roofs replaced a lot 

of the stationary roofs. These reduced the 

chance of gas buildup under the roofs which 

often led to fires. Besides building the tanks, 

workers had to construct earthen dikes around 

the tanks to contain any spills. Horse-drawn 

scrapers were used to build these. The levees 

were also to constrain the oil from flowing into 

water sources when released from the tanks. 


126

Pump crews manned the many pumping 

stations along the pipelines. The early steam 

driven pumps were replaced by gasoline 

engines and then diesel engines. Buckeye 

pump stations were located at Berea, Cygnet, 

Green Springs, Lima, Mantua, Wakeman, and 

Warren. Pumping stations were generally 

about fifty miles apart. 

Boarding houses were a common feature of 

the oil towns. Transient oil workers needed 

places to eat and sleep and many families 

found it a lucrative business. Such was the 

case in Ducat where Flossie Curliss ran such 

an establishment circa 1886: 

Boarders paid 25 cents a meal, $4.50 a week 

for room. It was all they could eat. They set 

right down in the family style just like the 

family. And the foremans of the pipeliners, 

when they was laying the pipelines through for 

this oil, would come ahead and make 

arrangements with my mother for so many 

extry men to feed. Twenty-five cents a meal. 

Mother had anyway from eight to ten steady 

boarders that stayed right there. And the ones 

that went out on tower, at midnight, would be 

willing to go in the same beds as the ones that 

was a comin’ off of tower, to take the same beds 

in order to get a place to stay. That was called 

“hot beds”. (Flora (Curlis) Carnicom, Ducat) 

The boarding houses were paid by the 

various companies. In the late 1930s rates were 

around 25 cents for each meal and 25 cents a 

night. Men often ate at boarding houses, but 

slept elsewhere. If not staying at a boarding 

house, they stayed at company- provided 

shacks and/or tents, in hotels, or in private 

residences and on farms. Those tending boiler 

houses might have access to a lounge where a 

short nap might be possible, especially when 

working eighteen hours straight. 

Tank crews were kept busy in the Lima- 

Bowling Green stretch. 




1 2 7

considered a nuisance by the production 

companies. Any unused gas at a well site 

might either be flared off or piped to 

buildings for lighting and cooking. The 

introduction of gas lighting was not an 

immediate success. Early use of artificial gas 

was often accompanied by low light levels and 

a constant flickering which made reading 

difficult. The use of natural gas was an 

improvement, but still most people kept their 

kerosene lamps at hand. The same was true of 

the first gas stoves. 

Geologists were employed by most of the oil 

and gas companies. One of their many jobs was 

to locate potential drilling sites. In the early 

days this was done without much technological 

help, but eventually it became possible by 

employing various types of downhole logging 

to more precisely locate plays. 

R E M N A N T S O F T H E P A S T : 

B O O M T O W N , G H O S T T O W N 

Top: Earth moving, 1900 style. Crews 

pose for the photographer while constructing 

containment dikes in this tank farm 

near Cygnet. 

Middle: Workers from the Buckeye Pipe 

Line facility on the south edge of Cygnet 

pose near the reservoir in 1899. 



Bottom: A typical bunkhouse provided by 

some companies for oilfield workers. 



One of the perks of having an oil well on 

your property was having free access to 

associated natural gas that was in many cases 

Early oil and gas discoveries were often 

surprises and led to the development of many 

settlements across the wetlands and till plains 

of the northwestern counties and the dissected 

plateau of eastern and southeastern Ohio. 

In northwestern Ohio most of the roads 

either followed sand ridges through the 

swamp or later were built along section lines 

in the surveyed townships, so many were one 

mile apart. In the days before the area was 

well drained the roads were nothing but mud. 

Horse-drawn wagons had a hard time getting 

through this, especially during wet weather. 

Going a mile was about the limit for a good 

team of horses and time for a rest—another 

reason for the closely spaced towns. 

In Wood County, towns grew up wherever a 

road crossed a railroad. Wood County boom 

towns that were once centers of commerce and 

activity but now are only a shadow of 

themselves are Bays, Bloom Center, Denver, 

Digby, Ducat, Eagleville, Eberly, Five Points, 

Galatea, Hammansburg, Haney Town, Marvel, 

Mermill, Mungen, Oil Center, Plaza, Six Points, 

Stockwell, Tank Siding, Ted, Townsline, 

Trombley, Tyson Town, Wingston, Woodbury, 

and Woodside. A few sites still have a few 

houses, but the many places of business have 


128

left barely a footprint. Persons not familiar with 

their history would drive by not realizing this 

or that crossroad once was a thriving 

community with a post office, stores, hotels, 

and the ever present bar or saloon. Bairdstown, 

Bradner, Cygnet, Jerry City, Portage, Rudolph, 

and Van Buren also each experienced great 

growth during the boom years. 

In the uplands of southeastern Ohio the 

early settlements began along the Muskingum 

and Ohio rivers, close to river traffic. Elba and 

Macksburg spread along the floodplain of 

Duck Creek. Oil City was built on the flood 

plain of the Muskingum River. Oil City is a true 

ghost town; today Bremen, Corning, Elba, 

Glenford, Macksburg, and New Straitsvlle have 

returned to pre-boom times. Scio experienced 

an early boom around 1900, reverted to being 

a typical small commercial center for nearby 

farmland and now is experiencing a new boom 

with the drilling of the eastern shales and the 

addition of a large gas plant. 

Following are a few notes about some of 

the early oil and gas field communities. Take 

a drive and experience this history yourself. 

Here and there you might see a still pumping 

well. The gas industry still maintains a 

Top, left: Two unidentified geologists survey 

a drilling site in the North Baltimore area in 

the early 1930s. Note the portable drill 

truck in the background. 



Above: The condition of northwest Ohio 

roads left much to be desired. Lots of wagon 

traffic with heavy loads of supplies and 

products of the oil and gas fields left the 

roads full of ruts. Poor drainage kept 

them muddy. 



Left: The arrival of motorized vehicles just 

made matters worse. Note the early mobile 

drilling rig. 




1 2 9

maker shop, three churches, two doctors’ 

offices, flour mill, general store, shoe store, 

tin shop, wagon shop, and an undertaker. 

The station for Barlow was called Fleming 

Station and consisted of a number of houses, 

post office, store, and the Marietta & 

Cincinnati depot. 

B A Y S , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Above: A typical homestead in the Great 

Black Swamp of northwestern Ohio. This is 

the Hanna family on Pea Ridge. 



Below: Bays School was well attended 

during the boom years. Students and 

teachers pose for the school photo in the 

early 1900s. 



presence around Cygnet, but the huge tank 

farms are gone. 

B A I R D S T O W N , 

W O O D C O U N T Y 

Bairdstown, platted in 1874 on the B&O 

Railroad, had dance halls, three saloons and a 

stave mill during the boom years. It was 

bigger than Cygnet at one point. 

B A R L O W, 

W A S H I N G T O N C O U N T Y 

This village was platted in 1840. Around 

1880 the town had a blacksmith shop, cabinet 

Located on the CH&D Railroad, Bays, 

surveyed in 1890, sported a bakery, boarding 

house, boiler shop, one lane bowling 

alley, depot, grocery store, church, 

barbershop, blacksmith, dressmaker’s shop, 

livery, doctor’s office, coal yard, machine 

shop, pipe yard, and school during the oil 

boom. Houses lined the roads in all four 

directions. Bays met a fiery end from an out of 

control fire around 1910. As the boom had 

ended it never recovered to its previous state. 

What’s left is at the intersection of Bays and 

Rudolph Roads, two miles south of Rudolph, 

Wood County. 

B I G R U N , 


This station on the Marietta & Cincinnati 

Railroad was major supply point for the 

Chesterhill oil field. 

B L O O M C E N T E R , 


Bloom Center was surveyed in 1897. In the 

early 1900s this community had a blacksmith 

shop, church, cider press, post office (known 

as Marvel P.O.), general store, grist mill, 

boarding house, town hall, several saw mills, 

and school. It was located at the intersection 

of Huffman and Oil Center roads. 

B R A D N E R , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Bradner was charted in 1876 and once had 

a glycerine factory, National Supply Company 

store, railroad depot, a refinery, and 

Manhattan pump station. It’s depot on the 

Hocking Valley line was a busy place during 

the boom years. 


130

B R E M E N , 

F A I R F I E L D C O U N T Y 

Bremen, founded in 1834, experienced 

phenomenal growth after the discovery of oil 

in 1907. From some two hundred residents in 

the 1880s the town exploded to a population 

in the thousands. Within about twenty years 

the boom was over and the community 

returned to serving as a center for business 

for the local farms. 

C Y G N E T , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Cygnet’s population was around three 

thousand during the oil boom. Many of the 

new residents came from the Pennsylvania 

oilfields. The town’s business district began 

west of the T&OC tracks—lots of boarding 

houses, a large grocery store, and the National 

Supply Company store. During the boom years 

the downtown grew rapidly with two bakeries, 

a bank, three churches, two dentists, three 

doctors, a railroad depot, an interurban depot, 

a drugstore, a feed and coal company, a general 

store, a number of hotels, three livery stables, 

three meat markets, three millinery shops, a 

post office, an opera house, several restaurants 

and dining halls, five rooming houses, two 

schools, a tailor shop, and an undertaker. Some 

thirteen saloons and three pool halls were 

located in Cygnet. Supplying the oil field was 

four blacksmiths, a boiler shop, two oil tank 

Top: Main Street of Cygnet was a busy 

place during the oil boom. Only a few of 

these buildings remain today. 



Middle: Riley Oates was a Cygnet 

blacksmith, an indispensable person in the 

community.Besides taking care of the equine 

population the smitty was often called on to 

repair oil field tools. 



Bottom: A view south of downtown Cygnet 

shows neatly kept homes. Soon the 

backyards would be dotted by derricks. 

Beyond the trees, to the right, was the 

Buckeye Pump Station. 




1 3 1

factories, a number of lumberyards, a stave 

factory, a sucker rod factory, and a torpedo 

company. The Toledo and Ohio Central 

Railroad provided daily passenger and freight 

service during the boom years. Competition for 

local passengers came from the Toledo & 

Bowling Green Southern traction line. During 

the height of the oil boom the wells around 

Cygnet were estimated to produce 5,000 barrels 

daily. Much of it ended up in the tank fields as 

there was more oil than the market could 

handle at that time. The town spread to east of 

the tracks around 1905. The establishment of a 

major pump station on the Buckeye Pipe Line, 

Station No. 8, south of town assured the 

continued importance of the community. Today 

scattered wells still produce from the Trenton 

and the Cygnet station continues as an 

important link in the pipeline system. The 

population was around six hundred folks in the 

2010 census. The early oil field workers, many 

coming from the Pennsylvania fields, left a 

legacy in some street names—Bradford, 

Clarion, and Venango. 

D E N V E R , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

This community was surveyed about one 

mile west of North Baltimore on the B&O in 

1875. An oil well was drilled here in 1889. It 

has since been absorbed by North Baltimore. 

D I G B Y , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

A Post office was established here in 1889. 

At its zenith the town had a grocery and boiler 

shop. It was at the corner of Mermill and 

Liberty roads. 

D O W L I N G , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Dowling was settled around 1861. A post 

office was opened here in 1883. The town had 

at least three churches. It was served by the 

T&OC Railroad. 

D U C A T , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

This town was surveyed in 1890 after the 

Ducat gusher was struck. A bakery, butcher 

shop, depot, general store, post office, a large 

saw mill, school, a stone quarry, and tool shop 

were some of the early businesses. For a time a 

small oil refinery sat along the CH&D. Oil would 

be skimmed off drainage ditches and creeks and 

hauled by wagons back to town in barrels. At the 

refinery the oil was heated in a large boiler and 

dirt removed. The processed oil was then put 

back in barrels and shipped on the CH&D. The 

plant ran 24 hours. Extracted wax was also a 

product of this plant. During the boom years 

about six daily passenger trains served the busy 

community. The site of the town is at the 

Rudolph Road/S.R. 281 intersection. 

And the wells stood so thick, you could 

almost step from one derrick to another, 

where they drilled. (Flora Carnicom, Ducat) 

D U N B R I D G E , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Surveyors platted Dunbridge in 1882 on 

the T&OC line. The town once had several 

stores, a doctors office, depot, saloon, hotel, 

mill, and stave factory. 

E A G L E V I L L E , 


Eagleville once had two stores, a grist mill, 

post office, saloon, sawmill, school and tannery. 

E B E R L Y , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Eberly came into existence in 1890 when a 

new station on the Toledo Findlay & 

Springfield Railroad (later CH&D) was 

established. This town had a depot, 

blacksmith shop, a boarding house, grocery 

store and around a dozen homes during the 

Wood County oil boom. There was also a 

Buckeye gathering line station here. This was 

a small pump station where pipelines from 

wells entered and the oil was sent out to the 

mainline. The town was located at the 

intersection of Cygnet and Rudolph roads. 

E L B A , 

W A S H I N G T O N 

C O U N T Y 

Along with nearby Macksburg, Elba 

experienced a period of rapid growth in the 


132

1880s. The community was laid out in 1873 

as the Cleveland & Marietta Railway was built 

through Washington County. The oil field 

surrounded the town. In 1891 the town had 

200 residents, a blacksmith shop, a railroad 

depot, two doctor’s offices, three general 

stores, a grocery, hotel, meat market, a 

post office, a school and two shoe stores. In 

1998, 2004 and 2005, Duck Creek floods 

devastated what was left of town. 

and the company houses were mostly 

sold and moved to other locations. In the 

early 1900s, a frame interlocking tower 

was built at the diamond which became one 

of the last non-residential structures standing 

in town. 

F R A Z E Y B U R G , 

L I C K I N G C O U N T Y 

Frazeyburg was settled in 1827. An oil 

boom hit the community in the 1860s. 

G A L A T E A , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

This community grew around the diamond 

of the T&OC and B&O railroads, just east of 

North Baltimore and was surveyed in October 

1886. It was originally called Welker. During 

its prime, the town had 3 bars, church, dance 

hall, passenger and freight depots, 3 grocery 

stores, two hotels, post office, restaurant, 

school, sucker rod factory and around 75 

houses. During the gas boom there was a 

glassworks at Galatea. It operated for a few 

years making all kinds of window glass and 

then moved to nearby North Baltimore. A 

brick plant once operated along the B&O. 

Galatea was the home of the Manhattan Oil 

Refinery which stretched along the tracks 

beginning around 1889. The distillers had 

tapered brick chimneys. The brick for 

the chimneys came from the local area as 

did the stone for the buildings. A row 

of company houses, maybe 15 to 20, 

extended along Eagleville Road. The company 

employed 200-600 workers. The company 

had a small locomotive which they used 

for switching tank cars in the plant. The plant 

produced a type of paraffin wax, kerosene and 

lots of other products. A unique 

product was a flavored pure white paraffin 

chewing gum. The hotel in town had as 

many as 32 boarders during the boom years. 

The Manhattan Oil Company was purchased 

by Standard Oil on February 1, 1901. The 

refinery closed down sometime after 1913 

Storage tanks and coal piles dominate 

these views of the Manhattan refinery at 

Galatea (Welker) where the T&OC 

crosses the B&O. 




1 3 3

H A M M A N S B U R G , 


Hammansburg was surveyed in 1873. It 

was the site of Wood County’s pioneer oil well 

which gushed forth December 8, 1886. It 

once had a barbershop, blacksmith shop, 

church, several boarding houses, depot, 

doctor’s office, drug store, dry goods store, 4 

grocery stores, hardware store, meat market, 

post office, 3 saloons, saw mill, stave factory, 

school and a stone quarry. Some 350 people 

called Hammansburg home in the 1890s. 

Between the business section of town and the 

railroad so many oil field shanties were 

present that it was dubbed Shantytown. East 

of town townsfolk could also catch the cars of 

the Toledo Bowling Green & Southern to 

reach nearby Cygnet or North Baltimore. 

Other than homes, little remains of the 

commercial part of town. 

H O M E R , L I C K I N G 

C O U N T Y 

Around 1900, oil and gas pools were 

discovered west and east of town. 

J E R R Y C I T Y , W O O D C O U N T Y 

Jerry City was first known as Stulltown 

when surveyed in 1861, then Shiloh before 

being renamed Jerry City around 1867. The 

railroad bypassed Jerry City, but the town was 

later served by a dinkey that connected with 

the Toledo Bowling Green & Southern 

interurban at Trombley 

Doing business in town were a blacksmith 

shop, butcher shop, four churches, two 

doctor’s offices, three grocery stores, harness 

shop, IOOF Hall, livery stable, millinery 

shop, oar factory, opera house, four-room 

school, four saloons, saw mill, stave factory, 

undertaker, and wagon shop. The town 

contained 301 wells within its boundaries. 

J U N C T I O N C I T Y , 

P E R R Y C O U N T Y 

A distant view of Macksburg around 1901. 



This town began in 1816 as Burlington. 

The name was changed to Homer around 

1825. The town boomed when a major gas 

pool was discovered. 

H O M E W O R T H , 

C O L U M B I A N A C O U N T Y 

This town was platted as a station on the 

Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad in 1851. 

Junction City was platted in 1872. It was 

formed from the combination of two adjacent 

former towns—Damascus and Trio City. In 

1880 it contained two churches, two depots, 

four doctors’ offices, two dry goods stores, 

two drug stores, a flour mill, several groceries, 

two hardware stores, two hotels, a meat 

market, two millinery stores, a newspaper 

office, a post office, a number of restaurants 

and a school. 

M A C K S B U R G , 

N O B L E / W A S H I N G T O N 

C O U N T Y 

Macksburg began as Rhenier’s Mills in 1815. 

Apparently the place had a number of names in 

its history. The name changed to Portland 

around 1856. In 1881 the town had about 

three hundred residents. It was incorporated in 

1883 as Macksburgh during the boom years. 

The population exploded in 1883 to fifteen 

hundred with the arrival of the oil workers. By 

1891, the town sported several boarding 

houses, two churches, a railroad depot, a 

doctor’s office, a flour mill, four general 

merchandise stores, three hardware stores, two 


134

hotels, two lodges, a meat market, a phone 

company, a restaurant, a school, two 

shoemakers and at least a dozen saloons. A 

good size machine shop and several 

blacksmiths served the oil fields. Scattered 

wells still produce in the area, but the 

community had shrunk to 186 residents by the 

2010 census. 

M E C C A , T R U M B U L L 

C O U N T Y 

The first settlers came to Mecca Township 

around 1813. East and West Mecca were 

platted by the 1860s when the oil boom began. 

M E R M I L L , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Mermill was apparently settled in the 

1830s. Located just east of Rudolph on the 

Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad this town had 

a large stave mill, barbershop, a couple of 

general stores, grain elevator, hoop factory, a 

post office and a railroad depot. The town also 

had a coal siding where coal was shoveled 

from T&OC cars into teamster wagons for 

transportation to various well-site steam 

engines. There was a Buckeye facility here, 

where oil was gathered and then pumped to 

Cygnet and an office of the Sun Oil Company. 

M U N G E N , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Mungen was on the T&OC, the next station 

south of Mermill on Bays Road. It was surveyed 

in 1888. While the Great Black Swamp still 

dominated northwestern Ohio, Mungen had a 

large saw mill and stave factory. A narrow 

gauge railroad headed east of town for about 

eight miles. Logs were brought into the mill on 

small cars and cut into staves at the plant. 

Downtown Mungen had a barbershop, 

blacksmith, boarding house, charcoal kiln, 

church, hotel, livery, a department store and 

school. The TBG&S also had a depot in town. 

N E W S T R A I T S V I L L E , 

P E R R Y C O U N T Y 

four thousand. As the mines closed the 

population declined to 2,300. The year 1909 

brought another increase in townsfolk as the 

oil boom began. Today, the town is probably 

best known for its annual moonshine festival. 

O A K F I E L D , P E R R Y 

C O U N T Y 

Oakfield was platted in 1838. In 1880 it 

had about 130 residents. 

O I L C E N T E R , 


Oil Center, surveyed in 1888, was located 

about half way between Cygnet and Galatea 

on the Toledo & Ohio Central and had a 

depot, grocery, three boarding houses, post 

Above: Mermill Market in 1965. 



Below: Mungen Public School had about 20- 

30 students during the boom years. 



Platted in 1870, this community became a 

coal mining and brick and tile town. During 

the coal boom the town’s population was over 


1 3 5

Above: The last house in Oil Center. 



Below: Rudolph was a flourishing 

community during the boom years. A local 

postcard photographer sold these multiple 

view cards in local stores. 



office, hotel, livery, school and several houses. 

Oil Center Road is the only reference to the 

once thriving community. 

O I L C I T Y , 

M U S K I N G U M C O U N T Y 

This Muskingum County village formed in 

1865-66 when a good quality lubricating oil 

was found in the Pennsylvanian First Cow 

Run of Bluerock Township. Frame buildings 

were quickly constructed, including the usual 

share of boarding houses and saloons. Over 

225 wells were put down before it was 

discovered the pool was small and the wells 

short-lived. By 1903, little trace remained of 

this community. Periodic flooding has since 

removed any remaining traces. 

P L A Z A , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Plaza, also known as Townline, was 

surveyed in 1892. During the boom years it 

had a church, depot, grocery, lodge hall, 

post office, school and the Dewey Stave 

Company. When the stave company moved, 

the town died. It was located at Jerry City and 

Rudolph roads. 

R O L L E R S V I L L E , 

S E N E C A C O U N T Y 

Rollersville was probably surveyed in 1832. 

Oil was discovered on the John Phister farm 

east of town in 1889 or 1891. In a few years the 

town was booming and many folks had gas 

lights in their yards. The oil was piped from the 

many wells to Lima. A Manhattan and 

Standard pump station were both located along 

Sugar Creek. An oil supply store, boiler shop, 

several blacksmith shops and five saloons were 

kept busy during the boom. 

R U D O L P H , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

This Wood County community, formerly 

known as Mercer, began with the 


136

development of the Bowling Green oil field. 

Before that time, in the 1860s, it was just a 

crossroads in the woods. A wooden fence 

there served as a mailbox to the few settlers 

carving homesteads out of the Great Black 

Swamp. The first non-residential building 

was a small post office. The name was 

changed to Rudolph, after the owners of a 

general store at what is now Rudolph and 

Mermill Roads. The town had a bank, 

barbershop, butcher shop, railroad depot, 

churches, dance hall, doctor’s office, dry 

goods store, garage, two grocery stores, 

harness shop, hotel, livery stables, locksmith 

shop, newspaper office, opera house, paint 

store, post office, restaurant, school, and 

telephone office in the 1920s. An Ohio Oil 

Company warehouse was located here during 

the oil boom and at least one oil supply 

company. Homes and some commercial 

buildings remain. 

R U S H V I L L E , 


East Rushville was laid out in 1809. By 

1880 it had a population of about two 

hundred. The village contained two 

blacksmith shops, a church, two doctors’ 

offices, two dry goods stores, a drug store, 

three groceries, a harness shop, a hotel, and 

an undertaker. Across Rush Creek is West 

Rushville, laid out in 1815. In 1880 it had 

about 175 residents. In 1880 it had two 

churches, two dry goods stores, a hotel, a 

lodge hall, a post office and a school. 

S C I O , H A R R I S O N 

C O U N T Y 

The Harrison County town of Scio began as 

New Market in 1836. A rural seminary 

originally located in Carroll County moved to 

town in 1852. This institution became Scio 

College in 1878 and New Market Station 

became Scio. Oil was first discovered in the 

early 1870s, but it was not until 1898, when 

deeper drilling techniques were used, that a 

boom began. Population increased five-fold and 

with it came boarding houses, saloons, theaters, 

all kinds of stores, and the usual array of shacks 

and tents. The village was home to 250 wells 

and another 750 dotted the surrounding 

countryside. The boom was short-lived; by 

1901 it was over and the itinerant workers 

moved to the next boom town. Unfortunately, 

the college suffered great losses in enrollment 

during the boom years. In 1911 what was left 

was transferred to Alliance and amalgamated 

with Mount Union College. In 2013 

construction on a large gas fractionation plant 

brought the oil and gas industry back to Scio. 

The gas is pumped in from the sites tapping the 

huge plays of gas in the local shales. For a great 

Above: A derrick on the north side of 

downtown Rudolph taps the Trenton and 

riches for the property owner. 


Below: This postcard shows downtown Scio 

with the Pennsylvania and W&LE depots in 

the middle of the image around 1910. 



1 3 7

would go to the slab piles of saw mills and 

stave factories and use the discarded wood to 

build shanties. Slabtown was basically a saw 

mill location. 

S U G A R G R O V E , 


Sugar Grove was incorporated in the 1850s 

or so. Around 1880 it had a population of over 

three hundred. Three blacksmith shops, three 

churches, two doctors’ offices, four dry goods 

stores, a general store, grist mill, a hotel, a lodge 

hall, a school, three shoe shops, a wagon shop, 

two tanneries, and an undertaker did business 

in the community around 1880. The town was 

a major quarrying center in the late 1800s. 

T O W N L I N E , W O O D C O U N T Y 

Above: Wells were drilled on the floodplain 

of Rocky Ford near Trombley .(Please note 

that the author feels this photo is incorrectly 

labeled Bays. Only a small ephemeral creek 

flows through Bays.) In the early days 

Spring would bring flooding. This cabinet 

photo from 1910 shows two iron derricks 

and a boiler house. 



painting of boomtown Scio visit the local bank. 

Scio is once again quite a busy place. 

S L A B T O W N , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

This small crossroads community was just 

west of Wingston. Its name is quite 

appropriate, for many of the towns in the 

oilfields were hastily constructed. Often they 

This small Wood County town had a church, 

dance hall, grocery store, hotels, lodge halls, 

school and 30 to 40 houses in the late 1800s. 

T R O M B L E Y , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

This Wood County community was first 

called Blake and was located at the 

intersection of Jerry City Road and what is 

Below: A busy spot in Trombley was one of 

the boiler shops. Teamsters hauled the 

boilers to the oil rigs initially by horsedrawn 

and later tractor powered wagons. 




138

now S.R. 25. The Trombleys’ built a sawmill, 

surveyed the town and renamed it. When the 

T&OC was built in 1883, the town moved a 

little east on Jerry City Road to the depot site. 

A general store/post office, hotel, National 

Supply store (originally Jericki Oil Supply), 

coal yard, lumber yard, two boiler shops, 

machine shop, three blacksmiths, several 

bordellos, a stave factory, ten 30,000 barrel oil 

storage tanks and several other businesses 

made up the town during the oil boom. The 

stave mill was there long before the railroad 

but it went out of business in the 1930s. 

Trombley also had five busy saloons. The 

problem with Trombley was that it was built 

on the floodplain of Rocky Ford and every 

spring it would be partially underwater. 

When the interurban built the line to Jerry 

City, the days of Trombley were numbered. 

V I N C E N T , 


Vincent was platted in 1853. In 1880 a 

church, cooper shop, two general stores and a 

saloon served the village. Vincent became a 

quarrying center when a good quality 

dimension stone was discovered. It was on the 

line of the original Marietta & Cincinnati. 

W I N G S T O N , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Surveyed in 1873, this community at Bays 

and Wingston roads, had a grocery, hardware, 

lodge hall, post office, sawmill, saloon and an 

office of the Mutual Oil Company. 

W O O D S I D E , W O O D 

C O U N T Y 

Woodside, on the T&OC, was surveyed in 

1883. During the boom years it was home to 

a couple stores, a stave factory, and a post 

office. Oil was discovered in the area in the 

late 1890s. 

O T H E R V E S T I G E S 

O F T H E P A S T 

Bremen has preserved a 1920 vintage steel 

derrick in its Howell Park. The derrick came 

from a farm near Roseville in Perry County. 

Just south of Wooster, at a private tractor 

museum, is a restored 1926 oil derrick 

originally located near Killbuck. The Wood 

County Historical Center has a replica early 

frame oil well and pump house display on 

their grounds on the south edge of Bowling 

Green. Driving around Wood County brings 

one to Ohio Oil and Tank Farm Roads. Bays, 

Digby, Ducat, Mermill and Oil Center roads 

pass through vanished boom towns of the 

same name. Four major refineries continue to 

operate in Ohio—one in both Canton and 

Lima and two in Toledo. The main offices of 

the National Supply Company still stand on 

Bishop Street in Toledo. Marathon Petroleum 

is housed in the 1929 office building of the 

Ohio Oil Company in downtown Findlay. 

Visit the many libraries and historical 

societies across the Buckeye State for some 

great displays and collections of Ohio’s oil and 

gas history. A plaque marks the site of the 

famous Karg well in downtown Findlay. 

Another historic plaque is at the location of 

Lima’s Faurot oil well, drilled in 1885. The 

Thorla-McKee well is preserved in a small 

park near Caldwell, off I-77. An Ohio historic 

plaque and narrow gauge caboose marks 

the site. 

Shreve, Ohio is home of the Ken Miller 

Supply Company Oil & Gas Museum. This 

A Huber tractor, manufactured 

in Marion around 1917. 

COURTESY OF MAX SHAFFER COLLECTION, WOOD 


Below: Oil still fills the hollowed-out tree 

trunk used as casing for the remaining 

Thorla-McKee well. 

COURTESY OF THE NOBLE COUNTY CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE. 


1 3 9

Above: Spectators watch from a safe 

distance and workers reinforce the 

containment dike as a tank burns 

near Cygnet. 



Below: Tank 311 burns near 

North Baltimore 



museum houses historic drilling machines, 

gas pumps, tractors, trucks, cars and other 

artifacts relating to local history. It is hosted 

by the County Line Historical Society. Across 

the Ohio River, is the Oil & Gas Museum in 

Parkersburg, West Virginia. 

O I L F I E L D D I S A S T E R S 

A N D H A Z A R D S 

The first reported oil accident in Ohio took 

place in September 1888 when two men were 

killed when an oil tank at Cygnet ruptured. 

Fires were the most obvious hazard of the 

industry. Oil tank fires around Cygnet were 

often so bright that at night you could read a 

newspaper standing in a Hammansburg yard. 

Once three adjacent tanks near Cygnet were 

on fire. The tanks would often boil over 

catching others on fire. The iron plates just 

peeled down during the hottest fires. The heat 

was so intense that spectators had to keep 

their distance. For a long time Cygnet didn’t 

have a fire department to protect surrounding 

property, so it was hoped the containment 

dikes would hold and the fire would burn 

itself out. 

When a lightning strike set a tank on fire, 

a loud whistle went off at Station No.8 of the 

Buckeye Pipe Line Company on the south 

edge of Cygnet. Emergency crews would rush 

to the site and begin reinforcing the dikes to 

hold in the oil. A cannon was brought to the 

site to shoot a hole in the tank and allow the 

oil to fill the containment basin surrounding 

the tank. The oil could then be pumped into 

tank wagons and taken to other available 

tanks out of range of the inferno. Obviously, it 

was a dangerous job. In some cases, as much 

Down here, they used to have big tank 

fires. We used to go down and stay all day 

and watch them burn…. It was wonderful to 

see. (Grace Bachman, North Baltimore, 1966) 


140

oil as possible was pumped out and then the 

rest was just left to burn itself out. 

Tending these large tanks also had its 

hazards. A worker in the Bowling Green field 

was on top of a tank checking the level of oil. 

He had a lighted lantern. Apparently he didn’t 

pay much heed to signs because at the bottom 

of the ladder was a warning—“Do not take 

any lighted lights up this ladder” Gas rising 

from the oil ignited, blowing up the tank and 

this unfortunate soul. 

The most disastrous fire in Cleveland 

history occurred at a storage tank of the East 

Ohio Gas Company on October 20, 1944. 

The tank, holding a reserve of liquefied gas 

for use in local war industries, suddenly 

sprung a leak and the combustible vapor 

exploded releasing an equivalent of ninety 

million cubic feet of flaming gas. It quickly 

engulfed over one square mile of homes and 

businesses on Cleveland’s east side. A second 

tank also exploded about 20 minutes after the 

first. A portion of the gaseous fluid drained 

into the sewer system, exploding here and 

there and blowing manhole covers high into 

the air. The fire burned itself out in about a 

day leaving 79 homes and 2 factories leveled, 

around 225 vehicles destroyed and 130 dead. 

Refineries were also plagued by fires but 

most eventually maintained specially trained 

crews to fight the conflagrations. 

October 27, 1895, is an infamous day in 

the history of the Wood County oil town of 

Mungen. An oil fire burned a strip one mile 

wide by two miles long at the edge of town. In 

the aftermath among the damages the Palmer 

Oil Company lost 12 derricks and several 

tanks; the Ohio Oil Company lost 4 derricks; 

the Ral Brothers lost several derricks; and Sun 

Oil lost 9 derricks, 4 tanks and a boiler house. 

Derricks were typically 68 to 74 feet high. 

About two-thirds of the way up were three 

planks on which workers had to stand to pull 

the tubing and drill stem. You had to have 

Lightning strikes were the most common 

cause of tank fires. These are all in the 

tank fields near Cygnet and North 

Baltimore. Note the large crowd with 

shovels to help contain the burning oil 

within the earthen dikes. 


SOCIETY COLLECTION AND THE MAX SHAFFER 

COLLECTION, WOOD COUNTY HISTORICAL 



1 4 1

Top: Lightning started this fire in 1974 

around Cygnet. 



Middle: The next year another lightning 

strike set this Cygnet area tank ablaze. 



Bottom: This 35,000-barrel naptha tank at 

the Solar refinery tank farm in Lima was 

another lightning casualty around 1912. 


good balance for there was nothing to hang 

onto and it was before the time of safety belts. 

Starting the early gas engines was also 

hazardous, back fires were common and 

resulted in numerous injuries. Serious burns 

came from accidentally coming in contact 

with the red hot tube used to start the engine. 

Hospitals were few and far between. 

Many people dreaded the appearance of a 

glycerine wagon along a road and prayed that it 

would remain intact and arrive safely. 

Nitroglycerine explosions were not uncommon. 

Both Galatea and Oregon had one, literally 

blowing a man, his horse, and wagon to 

“Kingdom come”. Another disaster happened 

on Gypsy Lane just south of Bowling Green. A 

man was killed as a leaking container of nitroglycerine 

led to a tremendous explosion as he 

was returning from a glycerine magazine with 

an empty wagon, crossing the B&O tracks. 

Nothing much was left of the wagon and its 

human and equine workers. The rails were 

mangled and a deep hole was left. In Spring 

1900, during the shooting of a well in Salem 

Township, Washington County, an unexpected 

detonation killed seven men. A Lima glycerine 

factory exploded, killing a man, on October 28, 

1892. A glycerine factory west of Cygnet also 

blew up in 1897. 

Cygnet had its share of misfortune. As 

retold by Cygnet barber and local historian 

Max Schaefer, a tragic accident happened at a 

well owned by George Grant on Corey St. in 

the middle of town. Mr. Grant decided to 

terminate drilling at 104 feet and employed 

Samuel Barber, a professional shooter of the 

Ohio and Indiana Torpedo Company to 


142

Top: March 20, 1929, a fire broke out at 

the Sinclair Oil tank yard on Miami Street 

in Toledo. 



Middle: An oil well burns north of the B&O 

tracks in North Baltimore in the early 

1900s. Note the many derricks on town lots. 



Bottom: A major fire hit the Manhattan 

refinery at Galatea around 1910. 



prepare the well for shooting. Although it was 

approaching evening it was decided to go 

ahead with the shooting. One hundred quarts 

of nitro were lowered in the casing and the 52 

remaining quarts were placed on the wagon. 

Barber moved the wagon about 130 feet from 

the derrick. Mr. Grant then dropped the go 

devil and the well gushed oil and gas to an 

excited crowd. Unfortunately it had not been 

made certain that the fire at the rig’s boiler had 


1 4 3

A nitro explosion toppled a seventy-sevenfoot 

derrick at this unknown location in 

northwest Ohio. 



been completely extinguished. Instead of 

escaping upward, the gas hugged close to the 

ground and a flash fire resulted. The wooden 

derrick was immediately engulfed in flames. 

Bystanders rushed to help those caught in the 

inferno. Warnings came too late as the flames 

spread toward the glycerine wagon. The 

resulting explosion left a hole in the ground, 

killed three men, injured many, and shattered 

about nine buildings. The blast was heard as 

far away as Bowling Green. A total of six men 

were killed, three died from the initial fire. 

Bradner also had more than its share of 

explosions. The American Glycerine 

Company opened a factory less than a mile 

east of town around 1890. At least 6 

explosions were triggered at well sites around 

town. In January 1891 a glycerine magazine 

blew up. The blast completely demolished the 

building and surrounding trees and it 

shattered windows all over town. Luckily 

there were no casualties. However, in 

December 1897, while winterizing the 

American Glycerine factory, a worker was 

killed when the remaining nitro in a tank was 

accidentally jarred. In August 1903, the 

Hercules Nitro-Glycerine factory, a mile and a 

half east of town, exploded. Again, luckily no 

one was nearby. Other explosions took place 

in 1913 and as late as January 1930. 

Another explosion, which occurred on July 

20, 1893, at an Ohio Oil Company well at 

Woodside resulted in deaths and injuries to a 

number of workers. The derrick, engine house 

and two adjacent houses were destroyed. On 

March 17, 1930, the Rock Haven plant of the 

Producers Torpedo Company (a Marietta firm) 

suddenly blew up. An employee was blown 30 

feet in the air, suffering fatal consequences. A 

1928 explosion at the same plant injured 

several workers. 

Fires were common at the rigs, especially 

in the days of steam boilers. Cigars carelessly 

thrown or not put out entirely led to some 

derricks going up in smoke. Near Bloomdale 

in the 1880s, a burning well brought the 

curious from miles away. Eventually the flow 

subsided and the fire was put out. People 

then came to watch the oil flow into a small 

storage tank. Fires were also common during 

the early days of gas service to residences. 

Most of the early homes had ceilings covered 

with paper underlain with muslin. Gas flames 

turned too high often led to house fires. 


144

On November 11, 1999, a Texas company 

drilling an oil well east of South Woodbury in 

Morrow County struck a pocket of highly 

charged natural gas which immediately 

spewed from the well. This potentially 

hazardous situation led to the evacuation of 

some 2,700 people in southern Morrow 

County and northern Delaware County 

including the village of Ashley. Luckily the 

leak was capped and residents were allowed 

back in the next day. 

Safety is a major concern of today’s oil 

and gas industry. Accident-free years are 

always the goal. Even so, working around 

modern drilling rigs is dangerous and 

workers must be continuously observant 

and cognizant of their surroundings. 

Although computers now run most tasks, the 

presence of moving machinery still poses 

potential hazards to life and limb. Modern 

drilling pads are also designed with the 

environment in mind. Several levels of 

containment reduce the threat of leakage of 

spilled fluids in surface water and 

groundwater. A sudden increase in gas 

pressure may automatically shut down a rig, 

preventing a dangerous and wasteful blowout. 

Specially trained firemen are available, if 

needed, to fight major well, storage facility 

and refinery fires. Reports of water well 

contamination continue, but many are related 

to improper plugging or deteriorated casing of 

abandoned wells. 

S O M E M I S C O N C E P T I O N S O F 

E A R L Y G A S A N D O I L 

E X P L O R A T I O N 

1. Oil trends lined up in a northeastsouthwest 

direction. This came from 

initial discoveries in northwestern 

Pennsylvania which followed this pattern. 

It was assumed this would be the case in 

Ohio. Exploratory drilling has long since 

showed that oil occurrence is controlled by 

local stratigraphic and structural trends 

which obviously vary across the state. 

2. Oil pools generally were found in valley 

bottoms. This was assumed because of oil 

seeps and slicks on many southeastern 

Ohio and western Pennsylvania streams. 

Initially little exploration was undertaken 

in the uplands. 

3. During the boom years if the oil wells were 

not gushers, they were usually plugged. 

Many early abandoned wells have since 

become producers. 

4. Oil wells were usually abandoned if 

saltwater poured forth. In many cases oil 

would follow the saltwater. 

5. Oil and gas plays were expected in 

sandstones, not in limestones and dolostones. 

Nearby houses sustained damage from the 

Grant well fire and explosion in Cygnet in 





1 4 5

OHIO OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY TIMELINE 

1781 James Watt invents steam engine. 

1788 Marietta founded at mouth of Muskingum River. 

1803 Ohio gains statehood. 

1806 Oil and gas discovered in Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia) while drilling salt well. Ruffner Brothers perfect 

drilling techniques. 

1814 First Thorla and McKee salt well along Salt Run, Noble County drilled, striking oil and gas. 

1816 Second Thorla and McKee salt well along Salt Run, Noble County drilled, also striking oil and gas. 

1843 Bosworth & Wells of Marietta become first Ohio purveyors of petroleum products. 

1859 Drake oil well strikes oil at Titusville, beginning Pennsylvania oil boom. 

Circa 1860 Gas struck in Berea near East Liverpool, Columbiana County. 

1860 First well strikes oil at West Mecca, Trumbull County. Begins Mecca field in Devonian Berea Sandstone. 

Oil discovered in First Cow Run sand in Homer and Union townships, Monroe County. 

Fall 1860 Dutton well near Macksburg, Washington County strikes oil in Pennsylvanian First Cow Run sand. First Ohio well 

drilled exclusively seeking oil. 

1861 Hodkinson and Herring & Buell refineries open in Marietta. 

Gas struck in Devonian Ohio Shale at Painesville, Lake County. 

Winter 1861 Newton well strikes oil in Pennsylvanian Cow Run sandstone starting Duck Creek oil boom between Caldwell and 

Macksburg, Washington County. 

1861-62 Refinery opens at McConnellsville. 

1862 McAllister & Greenhill and Greenhill & Hodkinson refineries open in Marietta area. 

1863 West Virginia becomes a state. 

John D. Rockefeller opens his first refinery in Cleveland. 

1864 Iams & Sons and W.C. McCarty refineries open in Marietta. 

Dr. Charles Oesterlen in favor of storage reservoirs for natural gas in Findlay area. 

1865 Bergen Oil and Coal Company brought ten steam engines to be used in the Cow Run field. Unfortunately financial 

problems led to a suspension of its operations before the year ended. Refinery opens at Stockport. 

1868 West Virginia Transportation Company lays pipeline from Cow Run field to Ohio River. First iron storage tank built in 

Ohio was erected by the Cow Run Iron Tank Company at the river end of the pipeline. It held 10,000 barrels. 

1869 Eight refineries in operation in or near Parkersburg, West Virginia. By 1872 it is established as a major refining center in 

the Ohio Valley. 

1870 Cow Run village booming. The Cleveland and Marietta Railway being constructed between Marietta and Caldwell. 

Standard Oil Company of Ohio chartered, headquarters established in Cleveland 

1871 Meeting held in Marietta of Ohio and West Virginia oil men to discuss organization of a producers association. 

1875 Predecessor of Ohio Oil Works opens on outskirts of Marietta. 

1876-77 Argand Oil Refinery built just below Harmar. 

1881 Patton refinery opened in Harmar to make lubricating oils. 

1882 Standard Oil Trust formed. 

1883 Macksburg oil boom begins. By 1885, 3000 barrels per day being produced. 

1884 Findlay Natural Gas Company drills first successful gas well in Findlay, precursor of Findlay Gas field 

1885 W.L. Greenhill & Co. erect a plant to manufacture lubricants in Marietta. 

Gas-Light & Coke Company sink second gas well in Findlay and begin supplying the community natural gas as a fuel. 

Matthias well drilled in Findlay seeking gas, became first true oil well in Findlay Oil field. 

Standard Oil moves headquarters from Cleveland to New York City. 

Faurot Well strikes oil, opening Lima Oil Field. 

Bowling Green Natural Gas Company organized. 

1886 Karg well comes in at Findlay, largest flow at the time 

Van Buren well completed near Van Buren, even greater output than Karg well 


146

Standard Oil opens Lima refinery 

Simons well in Bloom Township, Wood County largest flow at time. 

Gas discovered in Clinton sand near Lancaster, Fairfield County beginning prospecting in Silurian Clinton sand 

1887 Gas Jubilee held in Findlay 

Findlay incorporated as city. 

1891 Offshore oil drilling in Grand Reservoir at St. Marys began 

1894 Kirkbride well erupts 

1896 Findlay terminates supply of gas to industry and manufacturing firms. 

1899 Oil struck in Clinton sand in Jackson Township, Vinton County. 

Oil struck in upper part of Big Lime at Jefferson, Ashtabula County, became known as Oriskany sand. 

1904 Oil struck in Clinton sand in Jackson Township, Knox County. 

1905 First successful repressuring of an oil well using gas in Macksburg field, Noble County. 

1907 First significant oil pool in Clinton sand discovered near Bremen, Fairfield County opening Bremen field. 

1911 Oil and gas first discovered in the lower part of Big Lime at Newburg (Cleveland), Cuyahoga County, became known as 

Newburg sand. 

Initial application of Smith-Dunn or Marietta compressed air process of secondary recovery, Chesterhill field, 

Morgan County 

Divestiture of Standard Oil 

Circa 1922 Large gas pool discovered in Oriskany in Guernsey County 

1937 First attempt at horizontal drilling for oil, near McConnellsville, Morgan County. 

1961 Morrow County oil boom begins 

1970=1985 Resurgence of interest in Clinton wells as oil and gas prices rise 

1986 Oil prices drop, natural gas prices show little change causing a depression in the oil and gas industry 

1991 Steps taken to create historic site at 1816 Thorla and McKee well by Noble County Historical Society. 

2006 Marcellus shale becomes new sought after oil and gas play in easternmost counties 

2013 Utica shale yields liquid-rich natural gas after hydraulic fracturing in eastern counties 

2014 Construction of new gas plants refining Utica shale liquid-rich gases in eastern counties 

O H I O O I L A N D G A S I N D U S T R Y T I M E L I N E 

1 4 7

SOME GAS AND OIL FIELD TERMS AND PHRASES 

“agitating a well”: raising and lowering an iron rod suspended in 

an oil well to help contained gas expulse water from the well, 

a method of cleaning an oil well 

bailer: a long pipe-like device with a trap door at one end This is 

lowered into the well so it hits the bottom and opens the door. 

Sediment and drilling mud fills the bailer and it is pulled back 

to the surface, emptied, and lowered for another load. 

barker: a can-like device on the exhaust pipe of an engine that 

made a barking sound so that operators could easily tell that 

the engine was working, in a given area each barker would 

have a unique sound that could easily be recognized by 

company personnel 

beam well: usually a saltwater well, worked faster and pumped 

more fluid 

Berea: a gas and/or oil-bearing unit above the Trenton, equivalent 

to the Devonian Berea Sandstone 

Big Injun: a gas and/or oil bearing unit above the Berea, 

equivalent to parts of the Mississippian Cuyahoga formation 

Big Lime: drillers term for a thick sequence of Middle 

Silurian-Middle Devonian carbonate rock, overlying the 

Silurian Brassfield Formation and underlying the Devonian 

Olentangy Shale 

bit: a heavy iron mass at the end of a drill stem with a sharpened 

chisel-like surface used for breaking up the rock at the bottom 

of the well 

“blowing a well”: used when wells have a problem with water 

inflow, well is shut down for a 30 minute period to allow gas 

to build up, then it is opened allowing the gas to blow the 

water out of the well, a method of cleaning an oil well 

boiler house: in early days housed a large boiler to produce steam 

bull wheel: a large iron wheel located on an early drilling platform 

used in companion with the crown block to raise and lower the 

drill stem 

cable tool drilling rig: an earlier percussion drilling method where 

a drill stem of various tools with a terminal carbide-tipped bit 

is dropped repeatedly to slowly dig a hole, typically drills 25- 

60 feet per day 

Cambridge sand: drillers’ term for Devonian Oriskany sandstone, 

name comes from Cambridge, Ohio, where it was a gas and oil 

producer in the 1920s 

can: a metal container for transporting nitroglycerine 

casing: metal lining or pipe added to a well, particularly in the 

upper part, to keep fluids or rock debris from interfering with 

the drilling or pumping of a well, diameter decreases with 

depth in drill hole 

“cleaning a well”: used where saltwater inflow is a problem, 

removes water from oil well allowing oil to flow 

Clinton: a drillers’ term for a gas and/or oil-bearing unit above the 

Trenton, but below the Berea, equivalent to the Silurian 

Medina sandstone 

coal oil: kerosene 

crevice: an opening or vug in a sedimentary rock 

crown block: the pulley at the top of a derrick used for raising and 

lowering the drill stem 

dog house: a boiler house at a well, also used for the control house 

located on a modern drill rig 

downstream: transportation and refining activities in the oil and 

gas industry 

driller: worker who runs the cable or rotary drilling mechanism 

drill stem: the series of iron rods and special tools lowered into a 

well for drilling purposes 

dry hole: a gas or oil well that fails to yield hydrocarbons 

dry well: a well lacking significant inflow or seepage of fluids 

fishing tools: special drill stem tools used when tools are lost in 

the well 

flaring gas: burning of natural gas from a standpipe next to a well 

to release gas pressure and allow oil to flow into the well 

flowing well: an oil well with sufficient gas pressure to force the 

oil to the surface so that the well does not require pumping 

fracking: colloquial for hydrofracturing 

gauger: an oilfield worker who measures the amount of oil in a 

storage tank 

go devil: a heavy metal device about 3’ by 14-16”dropped down 

the well casing to trigger the nitro glycerine explosion during 

shooting of a well 

“going down”: a well about to be abandoned, short-term production 

gusher: an oil well spouting oil often above the derrick because of 

strong gas pressure 

hammer bit: a massive diamond-studded drilling bit that operates 

by percussion, also known as a down the hole (DTH) hammer 

horizontal drilling: a technique of drilling laterally in the subsurface 

usually following a productive stratum 

hydraulic fracturing: injection of pressurized water into reservoir 

rock to create permeable strata so hydrocarbons move 

more readily, hydrofracturing 

jars: special tools designed to create slack in the drill stem, 

allowing bit to be jarred loose from rock 

“kicking down a well”: early method of drilling using a spring 

pole, driller would step on a stirrup, pushing the bit down and 

then release the pressure causing it to rise. Reciprocal motion 

would slowly deepen the well. 

lease: an official agreement between a landowner and oil firm 

that permits the drilling for gas or oil, also, the land under 

such a lease 


148

Marcellus: a Middle Devonian black shale of the subsurface of 

eastern Ohio containing plentiful natural gas 

mouse hole: well drilled adjacent to drill hole just a bit shorter 

than a standard drill rod to aid in assembly of drill rods before 

being lowered in drill hole 

mud engineer: one employed to oversee the drilling fluids or mud 

and make sure they remain within specified parameters 

mud logger: an individual that examines cuttings brought to the 

surface by drilling mud to determine borehole lithology, 

determine fluid and natural gas content, and construct well logs 

Newburg: a drillers’ name for the oil-gas zone in the Upper Middle 

Silurian dolostone in Ohio, often associated with reefs, named 

after the former village of Newburg, now part of Cleveland. 

offset: drilling wells around a known producer 

“on tower”: working a 12 hour shift on an oil well 

Packer Shell: drillers’ term for Silurian Dayton limestone 

pad: an engineered and environmentally designed platform for a 

modern oil or gas rig and associated equipment and structures, 

usually gravel floored with containment features 

paraffin: a waxy hydrocarbon often associated with northwestern 

Ohio oils 

pitman: part of drilling rig that causes the up and down motion 

of the walking beam 

power: a central power station containing either a steam or gas 

engine that was connected to several wells by steam lines or 

shackle rods, also called a power house 

“pulling a well”: hoisting out the drilling tools from a well for 

bailing, routine maintenance, changing of tools, etc. 

reservoir: a rock unit that has pore space or fractures filled 

with hydrocarbons 

rods: metal or wooden rods connecting a power to a well, also 

called shackle rods 

“rope choker”: a driller, so called because of the need to keep a 

hand on the drill stem rope to determine tension and efficiency 

of the bit 

Rose Run: an oil- and gas-bearing sandstone within the Cambro- 

Ordovician Knox dolomite of eastern Ohio’s subsurface 

rotary drilling rig: a form of drilling developed in the 1900s 

employing a carbide-tipped bit that is augered into the rock 

roustabout: a migrant oil field worker that performed various 

tasks as needed, often moving from one site to another, may 

have cleaned and painted equipment 

roughneck: an oilfield worker that handled the assemblage of the 

drill stem at an oil rig 

samson post: an upright post that supports the walking beam in 

an oil rig 

sand: drillers term for a gas- or oil-bearing unit, often a sandstone, 

but also a fractured or porous permeable rock 

shackle rod: ½” iron rods, 20’ long to connect well pump 

jacks with power containing gas engine, usually elevated 1’ off 

the ground 

“shooting a well”: exploding nitroglycerine in a gas or oil well to 

induce the flow of hydrocarbons 

slate: driller’s term for most subsurface shales 

“smitty”: a blacksmith, one that forges tools and equipment for use 

in the gas or oil field, also produces shoes for teamsters’ horses 

sour: a gas or oil containing sulphurous compounds 

standpipe: pipe-like device for burning off gas 

steam box: a wooden box in which steam lines were run from one 

engine to another, raised off the ground and insulated, often 

just a plank covering a 2” steam line, sometimes there would 

be an adjacent pipe for oil 

“steaming the oil”: purifying oil before shipment 

still: a metal boiler vat with a helical coil of pipe used for distilling 

crude oil 

stripper well: a well where every last drop of oil has been taken 

out, usually just before they are abandoned 

sucker rod a wood or metal rod connecting the pump jack to 

the working barrel at the bottom of an oil well 

sweet: a gas or oil lacking sulphurous compounds 

teamster: a handler of horses or oxen for transporting material in 

wagons or sleds, in early days animals were also used to power 

some drilling rigs 

tool dresser: a person who sharpened drill bits, kept the drilling 

rig parts lubricated, and once maintained the steam in boilers 

at a drilling site 

torpedo: cans of nitroglycerine lowered into a well that is being shot 

tower: a twelve-hour shift of workers manning a well, 

pronounced “tour”, always two men, two shifts—midnight 

until noon and noon to midnight 

Trempeleau: an oil-bearing unit below the Trenton, equivalent to 

the Cambrian-Ordovician Knox dolostone 

Trenton: a gas and/or oil-bearing unit below the Clinton, 

equivalent to the Ordovician Trenton limestone 

tri-cone roller: drilling bit with three rotating disks of carbide teeth 

upstream: exploration and development activities in the oil and 

gas industry 

Utica shale: an oil-gas producing stratum and source rock 

underlying the eastern half of Ohio, It is an organic-rich shale 

of Middle Ordovician age 

walking drill rig: newly designed rigs that can be moved from one 

drill hole to another, without disassembly 

walking beam: a device that moves the bit up and down in a well, 

attached to the band wheel by the pitman 

water flooding: a secondary recovery technique where water is 

injected into a reservoir rock to drive out remaining oil 

wildcat well: a well not associated with any large organized company, 

could be drilled by a land owner or an association of investors 

working barrel: a barrel-shaped device lowered to the bottom of 

an oil well to pump petroleum 

S O M E G A S A N D O I L F I E L D T E R M S A N D P H R A S E S 

1 4 9

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B I B L I O G R A P H Y 

1 5 1

Morgan County Historical Society. The History of Morgan County, Ohio, 1980. McConnelsville: Morgan County Historical Society, 336 p., 1980. 

Morris, Edward (Ed.) The North Baltimore Story 1876-1976. North Baltimore: Centennial Book Committee, 72 p. 1976. 

Natali, Alan. “Morrow County The Birth of the Boom.” Ohio Magazine, p. 35-41, August, 1981. 

Norling, Donald L. “Geology and Mineral Resources of Morgan County.” Columbus: Division of Geological Survey, Bulletin 56, 131 p, 1958. 

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey. “Oil and Gas in Ohio History of Drilling in Ohio.” Columbus, 

ODNR, Division of Geological Survey, Ohio Geology Newsletter Summer 1982, 1982. 

Ohio Oil & Gas Association. The DeBrosse Memorial Report: 2013 Oil & Gas Activity in Ohio. Columbus: OOGA, March 2014. 

Orton, Edward. First Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio (Third Organization). Columbus, Geological Survey of Ohio, 323 p., 1890. 

Orton, Edward. Geology of Ohio Vol. VI Economic Geology. Columbus: Geological Survey of Ohio, p. 1-59, 1888. 

Overbey, W. K. Jr. and B. R. Henniger. “History, Development, and Geology of Oil Fields in Hocking and Perry Counties, Ohio.” Tulsa: 

AAAPG Bulletin, v. 55, no. 2, p. 183-203, 1971. 

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Pepper, James F., Wallace de Witt, Jr., and Gail M. Everhart. “The ‘Clinton’ Sands in Canton, Dover, Massillon, and Navarre Quadrangles, 

Ohio.” Washington D.C.: USGS Bulletin 1003-A, 15p., 1953. 

Pickenpaugh, Roger. A History of Noble County, Ohio, 1887-1987. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 396p., 1990. 

Potter, Paul Edwin, L. Barry Maynard, and Wayne A. Pryor. “Appalachian gas bearing Devonian shales: statements and discussions.” 

Oil & Gas Journal, January 25, 1982, p. 290-318, 1982. 

Riley, Ronald A. “Oil and Gas Exploration in the Rose Run Sandstone.” Columbus: ODNR, Division of Geological Survey, Ohio Geology 

Spring 1994, 1994. 

Root, Samuel I., Joaquin Rodriguez, and Jane L. Forsyth. “Geology of Knox County.” Columbus, Division of Geological Survey, Bulletin 59, 

232 p., 1961. 

Rusler, W. M. A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio. Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, 598p., 1921. 

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environmental and geotechnical investigators.” Columbus: ODNR Division of Geological Survey, Inf. Circ. 63, 191 p., 2013. 

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152

APPENDIX: DATA FROM THE OIL AND GAS FIELDS 

Oil and Gas Maps of Ohio Through the Years 

• 1948.............................................................................................................................................................................................152 

• 1953.............................................................................................................................................................................................153 

• 1960.............................................................................................................................................................................................154 

• 1964.............................................................................................................................................................................................155 

Production 2010-2013.....................................................................................................................................................................156 

Permitted Formations .......................................................................................................................................................................156 

Wells Per County Top Ten.................................................................................................................................................................157 

Completions by Formation for 2013 .................................................................................................................................................157 

Utica Wells as of October 4, 2014.....................................................................................................................................................158 

Natural Gas Equivalent 1985-2015 ...................................................................................................................................................159 

A P P E N D I X 

1 5 3


154


1 5 5


156


1 5 7


158


1 5 9


160


1 6 1


162

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

SHARING THE HERITAGE 

Alliance Petroleum 

Corporation 

H i s t o r i c p r o f i l e s o f b u s i n e s s e s , 

o r g a n i z a t i o n s , a n d f a m i l i e s t h a t h a v e 

c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e d e v e l o p m e n t a n d c o n t i n u e d 

Appalachian Well 

Surveys, Inc. 

g r o w t h o f t h e O h i o o i l a n d g a s i n d u s t r y 

Exploration & Production ............................................................1 6 5 

David R. Hill, Inc. 

A Strong Foundation ...................................................................2 3 1 

The Energy Cooperative 

Equity Oil & Gas Funds, Inc. 

Lake Region Oil, Inc. 

Opposite: A typical spring pole rig. 

COURTESY OF THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

S H A R I N G T H E H E R I T A G E 

1 6 3


164

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION 

Fishburn Services .......................................................................1 6 6 

Dearing Compressor & Pump Co. ..................................................1 7 2 

Ariel Corporation .......................................................................1 7 8 

Dominion East Ohio ....................................................................1 8 4 

Atlas Energy ..............................................................................1 9 0 

Kenoil .......................................................................................1 9 4 

The Ken Miller Supply Oil, Gas, Car, Tr uck, and 

Agriculture Museum ..............................................................1 9 5 

Ken Miller Supply, Inc. ................................................................1 9 6 

Moore Well Services Inc. ..............................................................1 9 8 

Bakerwell, Inc. ...........................................................................2 0 1 

J.D. Gas & Oil, Inc. 

Ohio Natural Gas Reserves, Inc. ..............................................2 0 2 

Knox Energy Inc. 

The Jordan Family .................................................................2 0 5 

Mattmark Drilling Company .........................................................2 0 6 

MB Oil & Gas, LLC .....................................................................2 0 8 

American Refining Group, Inc. ......................................................2 1 0 

Bass Energy, Inc. ........................................................................2 1 2 

Eric Petroleum Corporation ..........................................................2 1 4 

The Sandy Supply Company 

Wooster Tool & Supply Company 

Scion Energy, Inc. ............................................................2 1 6 

EnLink Midstream .......................................................................2 1 8 

The Tipka Family .......................................................................2 2 0 

Artex Oil Company .....................................................................2 2 2 

Petro Evaluation Services, Inc. .....................................................2 2 4 

Patten Producing Company ...........................................................2 2 6 

JD Producing, Inc. ......................................................................2 2 7 

Mason Producing, Inc. .................................................................2 2 8 

Dugan Drilling, Inc., and 

Dugan Oil and Gas, LLC ........................................................2 2 9 

Opposite: A typical rotary drilling rig. 



E X P L O R A T I O N & P R O D U C T I O N 

1 6 5

FISHBURN 

SERVICES 

Below: The Fishburns in the mid-1960s. 

Bottom, left: The Fishburns in the 

mid-1970s. 

Bottom, right: Karen and Jack Fishburn at 

an OOGA event in the early 1970s. 

Jack Fishburn grew up in a small, northern 

Ohio town called Grafton, settling in 

Morrow County in 1958. He married Karen 

in 1955 and they have two children, Denise 

Fishburn Aumend and Dan Fishburn along 

with spouses and three grandchildren. Karen, 

Denise and Dan have also been very active 

in the family ventures. Karen passed away in 

September of 2013, and she is greatly missed 

in all aspects of the family business. In their 

early years in Morrow County, Jack and Karen 

were dairy farmers, but when the oil boom 

hit some of their energies were diverted to 

the oil fields, even though they continued to 

milk cows until the mid-1970s. 

The farming operation has been directed 

toward grain farming and the raising of beef 

cattle. Presently, several thousand acres are 

cultivated utilizing the most modern of 

farming techniques. A major cash crop is 

alfalfa hay, which both Karen and Jack baled 

every summer. Jack still drives the baler to 

this day and Karen also drove a baler every 

summer up until 2007. Jack says, 

“If you enjoy baling hay, needless 

to say, you must love farming.” 

Jack has been the recipient of some 

significant farming recognitions and 

awards over the years, being one of 

the largest farmers in the central 

Ohio area. 

Jack remembers those early years 

well. “I had one farm truck with a 

tank to haul water to cattle and the 

drilling rigs wanted me to use that truck to 

haul water to their rigs, so I did. A year or two 

after the boom hit Morrow County in 1962; 

we decided to rig up some more water trucks 

and officially established Fishburn Tank Truck 

Service. There at the beginning of it all, those 

were some pretty strange and odd looking 

trucks, but Chuck Freeman did a great job 

rigging them up for us and they got the job 

done! We did not want to use new trucks 

because of what the oil field did to them, but 

in 1966 we decided to buy all new Chevrolets. 

After that, we bought a few used Macks and 

saw how well they worked, so in 1971 we 

bought our first brand new Mack, and we 

bought them pretty frequently from then on. 

In November of 1974, we started hauling 

crude oil. Having worked with Sohio since the 

late 1960s, we took over their entire Ohio 

operation in 1974 including purchasing, 

gauging and hauling. A partnership with 

Horton & Huffman in the early 1980s eventually 

led to us buying them out and we 

acquired all of their Morrow County wells. 

In 1991, we purchased Marathon Ashland’s 

producing wells in Morrow County, which was 

another big milestone in our oilfield division.” 

Gradually, the family’s work in the oil fields 

expanded into providing a full service company 

to oil field clients, purchasing wells, having 

wells drilled, and operating transmission lines 

as well as extensive involvement in gas collection 

lines, exploring new production, hauling 

crude oil, and eventually introduced 500 bbl 

frac tanks to the Appalachian area. 

Fishburn’s currently produce over 

130 wells, and in the past have 

produced as many as 150 wells. 

Fishburn Services has grown 

since 1962 at a very steady rate. It 

presently employs approximately 

120 people (in all the businesses 

they own), to provide a variety 

of services. One of the largest of 

these services is the rental of frac 

tanks in both the oil field and in 

the industrial community. Those 

unique looking tanks, painted 

red, white and blue can be seen 

almost anywhere east of the 

Mississippi River. 


166

When it comes to listing Fishburn Service’s 

most valuable players, Jack starts the list with 

his son, Dan “Boone” Fishburn. Jack says, 

“Boone started with us in the 1970s with frac 

tanks and just about everything else! From 

there we have a great group of key individuals 

who joined us to make this company what it 

is today. They include Chuck Freeman, who 

started working for us in 1967 (but came to 

live with Jack and Karen as a foster child in 

1958). Ron Young also started working for 

the Fishburns in 1967, and began taking care 

of gauging and hauling crude oil in the early 

1970s. Dave Mossholder moved frac tanks 

and pumped water from the early 1970s until 

his sudden illness and death in 2006. We 

hired Don Collier in the mid-1980s (after we 

partnered up with Horton & Huffman for our 

oil production) and he has remained a key 

employee in production ever since. Chuck’s 

son, Doug Freeman, also started working 

with us in the 1970s when Boone started— 

they were both in high school at the time. 

Doug moved tanks, pumped water, ended up 

being a pumper and checking wells, and even 

operating some of our farm equipment in his 

most recent years. He worked for us his whole 

career, until his sudden illness and death in 

the summer of 2012.” 

Jack smiles as he recalls a few of the adventures 

he has shared in the business, “One day 

Chuck Freeman and I were on the banks of 

the Alum Creek River cleaning a tank and our 

truck was trying to die on us. Chuck ran over 

to pump the accelerator to keep it going and 

natural gas fumes proceeded to roll out of the 

open hatch to the tank we were cleaning. 

I was standing right behind an open hatch, 

and when he was pumping the accelerator to 

the truck it backfired! There was massive flash 

fire and explosion that knocked me clear back 

into a fence. All I could see was that there 

was a ball of fire all around the truck. I ran 

through the fire to get to the truck because 

I knew where Chuck had been standing, but 

he was nowhere to be found. All I saw when I 

looked down was an empty pair of boots 

where Chuck should have been standing. 

Thankfully, the explosion had just knocked 

him clean out of those boots and away from 

the fire. We both ended up okay, but with a 

few minor burns.” 

Through the years, Fishburn Services made 

some significant contributions to the oil field 

industry; in particular, they were the first to 

introduce the 500 bbl frac tank to the 

Appalachian area. The tanks were modified to 

make them work in the muddy rough terrain 

of the Appalachian. Today, the 500 bbl tank is 

the most popular tank in the oil field. These 

tanks are also used extensively in industrial 

A historic Final Four was once celebrated 

on the Fishburns frac tank (below) and 

trailer (bottom). 


1 6 7

Below: The Fishburns in the early 1990s. 

Bottom: The Fishburns in 2003. 

cleaning and environmental clean-ups. In the 

early 1970s, frac tanks were in high demand, 

and operators usually had to have tanks a 

week in advance in order to have enough time 

to get them filled for a frac job. Fishburn 

Services perfected its tank filling efficiency to 

the point that tanks could be set and filled 

the same day, and be ready to frac the next. 

Fishburn’s were also known to have tanks 

moved from a morning frac, and get them filled 

to frac again on another location on the same 

day, which was virtually unheard of in the 

industry at that time. This was accomplished 

through the early use of vacuum trucks and 

innovative methods of pumping water. 

Fishburn Services initially purchased 300 

bbl frac tanks when they first started the 

tank rental business. But soon after, in talking 

to their tank manufacturer out west, they 

learned that the oilfield industry out west was 

going thru a depressed time, and this tank 

manufacturer was selling out of the larger frac 

500 bbl Frac tanks. Jack decided to go ahead 

and purchase all they had left, and was 

worried about what he was going to do with 

all these tanks…and they no more than got 

them hauled back to Ohio when they got a 

call from Dowell in Detroit. Dowell was 

working on a warehouse fire full of cleaning 

materials, which was threatening the Lake 

Erie Walleye population from all the contaminants 

that could potentially go into Lake 

Erie. Fishburn Services ended up with forty 

tanks sitting on the banks of the Maumee 

and had write-ups in the environmental 

papers and magazines about saving the 

Walleye of Lake Erie! The company ended up 

working for Dowell many more times on 

environmental clean ups over the years. 

Another one of Fishburn Services early frac 

tank customers was MB Operating. When 

Jack and Chuck talked to them about the new 

500 bbl frac tanks, they learned it would cut 

their drilling site frac tank needs down to ten 

500 bbls, from the seventeen 300 bbls they 

were using at the time. This allowed the use of 

smaller areas for rig locations, and because of 

the larger fluid capacity, companies loved 

them! Special bottoms, skids, and bumpers 

were put in place, as well as heater tubes (for 

the use of heated water), making Fishburn’s 

frac tanks very efficient! Their frac tank fleet 

started out with one hundred sixty 300 bbl 

tanks in 1975, and at one point had over five 

hundred of the 500 bbl tanks in their fleet. 

The company also offers complete well 

servicing, with two service rigs, a hot oil 

unit, pipe cutting and threading service, and 

tank battery construction equipment to 

make up a customer base of more than 2,000 


168

Top, left: Tank (vacuum) truck. 

Top, right: A 500bbl frac tank at disposal. 

Left: A hot oiler and service rig. 

over the years. The Fishburn’s also own and 

operate a wide variety of construction and 

support equipment including several dozers, 

cranes, hydraulic excavators, trenchers, back 

hoes, portable welders, and much more. In 

support of this wide array of equipment, 

Fishburn Services maintains an extensive 

mechanical shop, a complete welding shop, 

plus sand blasting and painting facilities on 

the premises, which are used in the fabrication 

and repair of tank trucks, tanks and 

related equipment. 

In addition, they have also branched out 

into the excavating and construction business; 

contracting out on some jobs, and providing 

the needed construction on their own 

new projects. The most recent project being 

the new medical facility located at I-71 and 

State Route 61, which will be leased by 

Morrow County Hospital and will provide 

numerous services from the hospital to southern 

Morrow County. 

Today, Fishburn Services is among many 

outstanding business ventures that Jack 

and Karen own. These businesses include 

Fishburn Farms, a farming enterprise of 

6,000 acres of corn, beans, wheat, alfalfa and 

approximately 175 head of cattle; Fishburn 

Producing, an oil and gas production company, 

which owns and/or operates approximately 

190 producing wells in central Ohio; Marengo 

Auto Parts, Mount Gilead Auto Parts, and 


1 6 9

Above: The family celebrated Jack and 

Karen’s fiftieth anniversary in 2005. 

Below: Jack and Karen Fishburn in 2003. 

Mansfield Auto Parts, which are three local 

NAPA auto parts stores—one of which 

includes a car wash; Morrow Meadows 

Development, which has established significant 

holdings of strategic real estate with a goal 

of enhancing positive development in southern 

Morrow County, Ohio, and currently leasing 

a professional building in the Marengo area; 

Morrow Meadows Industrial & Commercial 

Park, a 225 acre parcel of land with water, 

electric and sewer, located at the I-71 and 

SR95 interchange, with individual lots to 

accommodate thirty-four or more businesses; 

Bennington Area Developers, a commercial 

land development partnership, currently leasing 

two professional buildings in the Marengo 

area; Bennington Industrial Park, nearly 300 

acres of prime land with water, electric and 

sewer, located at the I-71 and SR61 interchange; 

with individual lots to accommodate 

thirty-six or more businesses; Wenmor 

Development, a cooperative sewage treatment 

plant with Wendy’s International, at the SR95 

and I-71 interchange; Somoco Sanitary, a 

cooperative sewage treatment plant with Ohio 

Assemblies of God, at the SR61 and I-71 interchange; 

and Ole Farmstead Restaurant, a very 

successful family style restaurant located at 

the SR61 and I-71 interchange. Past business 

ventures include Mid Ohio Crude, a purchaser 

of approximately 15,000 barrels per month of 

crude oil from wells in Ohio; Royal Acres, a 

code restricted residential land development 

partnership; and Fishburn Environmental 

Drilling, which consisted of underground 

horizontal boring in conjunction with underground 

pipe installations for gas and water. 

The family has also established several 

newer ventures including Cardinal Center 

Campground & Cardinal Shooting Center 

for camping, trap shooting (hosting three of 

the six largest trap shoot tournaments in the 

country), sporting clays, international bunker 

shooting, and 3D archery (hosting the third 

leg of the IBO Triple Crown); Suds ‘n Sun, a 

Laundromat and tanning salon all wrapped up 

into one facility; and Sparkle ‘n Shine car 

wash, which includes three self serve bays, one 

fully automated bay, and an outdoor RV bay. 

In recent years much of Jack’s efforts have 

been directed toward the development of 

industry and commercial business in Morrow 

County. At this point, most of these efforts 

have been in the development of water, sewer, 

gas and roads to better prepare the area for 

future development. In particular, Jack played 

a leading role as an original trustee in the 

development of a rural water system in 

Morrow County, which began as Morco Water 

and is now Delco Water. 

Jack’s contributions to the community are 

not directed toward any one or two areas. His 

contribution is very broad based. He has 

worked extensively in the activities and the 

development of his own church, as well as 


170

many other churches in the county. In 

the field of education, he has worked 

tirelessly for the improvements of 

the physical facilities of the public 

schools, a private school and the 

facilities for the disabled in the county. 

In addition to providing several thousand 

dollars in scholarships each year, 

Jack also participates in activities that 

support academic achievement, 

music, athletics, and the fine arts. 

He has always been so supportive 

of the local schools, and such a 

contributor, that in 2013 Jack was 

nominated by Highland Local Schools 

and received an award at the state 

level (through the Central Region 

Ohio School Boards Association) called 

the “Friend Of Education Award”. 

Jack is unwavering in his support 

of a variety of outstanding organizations such 

as 4-H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church youth 

organizations, and anti-drug programs, and 

has also been a major purchaser at the 

Morrow County Junior Fair Livestock Sale each 

year. He also provides college scholarships, is 

a supporter of academic, athletic, and music 

boosters, and supports the Future Farmers 

of America (FFA). If it has the betterment 

of youth as its goal, he will give his total 

support. The photographs of the frac tank 

and semi-trailer that Jack had his paint shop 

crew create when the Highland High School 

basketball team made State Champs in 1998 

are good examples of what lengths he will 

go to supporting the local athletics! 

Over the years, Jack and Karen have 

worked for, and with, outstanding community 

organizations such as the United Way, 

American Red Cross, Heart and Cancer 

Society, Crippled Children Society, Muscular 

Dystrophy Association. He has served as 

trustee on the boards of Morrow County 

Hospital, Morrow County Health Department, 

Morrow County Jail Committee, Morrow 

County M.R.D.D. Program, on the Christian 

School Development Committee, president of 

Citizens Opposing Pornography, and Highland 

Community Park. 

Several years ago, Jack teamed up with 

major league baseball pitcher Tim Belcher 

to develop the forty-two acre Highland 

Community Park. Jack donated the forty-two 

acre land parcel, and together with his 

employees has spearheaded the construction 

of not only the four-diamond baseball facility, 

but a beautiful six acre fishing lake that 

includes a 150 foot learning deck for local 

science and biology classes to utilize. In 

addition, he has provided the park with 

a 4,500 foot nature trail through a lovely 

fourteen acre wooded area. 

Jack enjoys participating in the works of 

his church and its various organizations, 

which include service as a trustee of the 

Marengo United Methodist Church, as a 

supporter of its youth activities, as a member 

of the Administrative Board and Finance 

Committee, and as a member of the United 

Methodist District Planning Committee and 

the United Methodist Men’s Club. 

Jack also serves on the state level as a 

member of the OSU Swank Committee, the 

Department of Agricultural, Environmental 

and Development Economics, and the 

Governor’s Technical Advisory Counsel on 

Oil & Gas. He is also a major contributor to 

the AGR Fraternity, which has resulted in a 

room being named in Karen’s honor. 

Fishburn Services remains today where it was 

when the business first began more than fifty 

years ago—at 5012 SR229 in Marengo, Ohio. 

The Fishburns in 2012. 


1 7 1

DEARING 

COMPRESSOR AND 

PUMP CO. 

Above: Richard H. Dearing, Sr. 

The Dearing Compressor and Pump Co. is 

an Ohio family business celebrating seventy 

years of continuous service. 

In 1945, World War II was winding down, 

and local companies were having problems 

getting delivery on the equipment that they 

needed to convert from wartime to peacetime 

production. Dearing and Co. was formed when 

a local steel company approached Albin P. 

Dearing, III and offered to provide financing 

to start his own industrial, mechanical, and 

electrical supply business. He had a total of 

three employees at the time, and their main 

market was selling and servicing Gardner 

Denver industrial air compressors along with 

electric motors, starters, and switch gear. 

One year after starting the company, 

Albin, III tragically passed away. Dearing 

and Co. was continued by his wife Helen 

and sons, Albin P. Dearing, IV and Richard H. 

Dearing, Sr., until 1959, when Albin, IV and 

Richard, Sr., decided to split the company. 

Richard, Sr., known to most as Dick, 

assumed direction of the compressor and 

pump business and formed the Dearing 

Air Compressor and Pump Co. Albin, IV 

(Bud) Dearing took the electrical division 

under separate ownership and created 

Panelmatic Inc., which is still operating in 

Youngstown and in five other cities across 

the United States. 

For the compressor company, the introduction 

to the oil and gas business came in 

1960 when Gardner Denver, a world leader 

in the design and manufacture of industrial 

compressors, asked Dick to work on a drill 

rig compressor. This fortuitous endeavor 

led to the expansion into oil and gas well 

drilling and natural gas gathering and 

transmission within Ohio. Gardner Denver’s 

gas compressors were designed for the 

petroleum industry in the Southwest and 

did not meet all of the needs of the growing 

natural gas industry in Ohio. Dearing 

redesigned an air compressor unit for local 

gas drillers and began fabricating the gas 

units in 1970. At that time, the company 

manufactured three types of packaged 

Gardner Denver and Quincy units for the 

oil, gas, and mining industries. In June of 

1980, a 104 foot, freestanding oil derrick 

was assembled on Andrews Avenue in 

Youngstown. This derrick was sold to Atlas 

Energy Group and stood ready to tap the 

long-standing reserves of oil and gas hidden 

in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys. 

In the late 1970s, deregulation of interstate 

natural gas prices made new wells profitable 

in the area, and for the first time Dearing was 

poised to profit from a new surge of drilling. 

Dearing became a Youngstown success story 

after the gloom of the steel mill closings. As 

Dearing began to see the opportunities of 

deregulation, the company was also unaware 

of the many booms and busts they would 

endure over the coming years. 


172

The company name was formally changed 

in 1983 to the Dearing Compressor and 

Pump Co. During the country’s economic 

downturn of the mid 1980s, the company 

was severely depressed and began looking for 

a new market to penetrate. Gas prices were 

low and electric power was very expensive. 

The energy cost of operating a natural gas 

engine compared to the base cost of operating 

an electric motor was extremely low. In 

1988 the collaboration of the industrial and 

petroleum markets translated into strong 

sales for Dearing when they developed a 

natural gas engine driven air compressor 

called Ultra-Air. The company developed a 

product line of 50–600 horsepower compressors 

that were manufactured and supported 

in Youngstown with distribution in Chicago, 

Detroit, New York, Boston, and California. 

In 1992 the Ultra-Air was nominated for 

Plant Engineering’s Product of the Year. By 

the late 1990s, natural gas prices began to 

rebound on their way to a new all-time 

high, and Dearing returned to manufacturing 

compressor systems for traditional natural 

gas production, transmission, and storage. 

Dearing’s business vision of providing 

superior customer support through quality 

products and service was realized between 

the years of 1996 and 2005. During this time, 


1 7 3

the company recognized seventy percent 

growth in sales revenue and maximized the 

current manufacturing facility at Simon Road 

in Boardman, Ohio, with forty employees. 

In 2005 the company also leased a facility 

in Twinsburg, Ohio, to expand its highpressure 

air compressors and low-pressure 

industrial vacuum business. In 2006 the 

company added a 10,000 square foot, highbay 

assembly area to the Simon Road facility 

to accommodate the natural gas compression 

business and the large horsepower packages 

that were being sold to the energy market in 

the Appalachian basin. The product line was 

continuously expanding to increase market 

penetration while focusing on providing a 

higher level of service and product quality 

than competitors. 

Quality and safety became paramount to 

initiating business with high-profile, exploration 

and production, transmission, and 

midstream natural gas companies. During 

this time period, natural gas prices rose to 

record highs and production remained at 

capacity from 2006 through 2009. Employee 

growth rose to eighty-six employees working 

at both the Simon Road facility and the 

Twinsburg facility. In 2009, the company 

earned the “U” and “R” code stamp that 

is governed by the American Society of 

Mechanical Engineers through a rigorous 

application process. This compliance certification 

enhanced their portfolio of services as 

Dearing became a certified ASME boiler and 

pressure vessel manufacturer and repair shop. 

In 2008 and 2009, many of Dearing’s 

customers began drilling test wells in 

Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale by utilizing 

a new horizontal drilling technique. The 

company was approached by several big 

players in the Marcellus Shale development 

for bids on large, multi-unit orders. At this 

point Dearing again recognized the upcoming 

need for additional assembly space. In June 

of 2010, the 56,000 square foot, state-ofthe-art 

facility opened for business to cater to 

key accounts in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 

and Ohio who were drilling the Marcellus 

Shale. Production capability grew from four 

units to ten large horsepower units at a 

time. The Simon Road facility was dedicated 

to building structural subassemblies and 

ASME pressure vessels, and Twinsburg was 

expanded to accommodate the growing 

industrial business. 


174

Between 2011 and 2014, the company 

acquired many additional properties for 

welding, storage, and painting operations 

creating a 185,000 square foot campus in 

Youngstown for gas packaging. In 2014, 

Dearing purchased a 24,000 square foot 

facility that finally established permanent 

roots in the Cleveland region for the industrial 

operations. As of 2015 Dearing remains the 

second oldest continuous distributor for 

Gardner Denver compressors in the United 

States. But Dearing Compressor and Pump 

Co. is more than a family enterprise: Dearing 

has always manifested its values as a team 

that appreciates its customer relationships. It 

is a matter of honor at Dearing to provide 

customers with the best compressor packages 

and pumps in the world and to expediently 

provide precise troubleshooting service on 

the first call. Today, three of the four shareholders 

work in the business, and the fourth 

generation is represented in the daily operations. 

More than 225 employees now anchor 

the Dearing Compressor and Pump Co. and 

they work continually to develop new applications 

for their products and to foster positive 

and profitable relationships. 


1 7 5

The values of a customer-first culture 

spans across four generations of the Dearing 

family and reflects Dearing’s dramatic 

growth. Dick Dearing, chairman of the board 

of directors from 1959 to 1996, passed away 

on November 10, 1996. Richard “Rick” 

Dearing, Jr, the current president, joined the 

company in 1985 and worked alongside 

his father for over ten years. Rick 

received a bachelor’s degree in petroleum 

engineering from Marietta 

College and a master’s degree in 

business from the University of 

Pittsburgh. During his tenure, Rick 

has established the company as a 

leader in the engineering, packaging, 

and installation of quality compression 

equipment while representing 

manufacturers that provide the best 

available equipment and support 

in the current marketplace. Becky 

Dearing Wall joined the family 

business in 1981 after receiving 

her bachelor of science degree from 

Muskingum College. Partnering with 

brother Rick, who handles all of the technical 

services for the company, Becky is the CFO, 

communications director, and is responsible 

for all of the company’s human resources. 

Albin Dearing, V, the founder’s namesake, 

joined Dearing in 2003 after receiving his 

MBA from Kent State University and following 

advice from a trusted professor who 

urged that it was the perfect time to consider 

the family’s business. Albin applies his technology 

background to develop information 

systems for the company so they can quickly 

meet the ever-changing demands of the emergent 

energy industry. Albin also works with 

Becky’s husband, Robin Wall, to run the 

industrial distributorship. Robin pioneered 

the Ultra-Air compressor sales throughout 

the 1990s. The bar for the Dearing family’s 

work ethic is high. Ryan Wilson, oldest 

grandchild to Dick Dearing, received his 

business degree from Kent State University in 

2007. Following the lead of his uncles, he is 

busy building gas compressors for the shale 

boom. Ryan’s younger cousins are following 

close behind. 


176

Today Dearing’s air and gas compressors 

serve automotive, aluminum, chemical, food, 

high-tech, lumber, plastics, rubber, steel, 

mining, and oil and gas related industries. 

Dearing’s industrial compressor distributorship 

continues to grow by expanding their 

product offerings to the energy sector. The 

energy rush in the Marcellus and Utica region 

will advance future expansion and growth 

as the location in the Mahoning Valley eases 

logistical problems for clients working in the 

energy hot spots of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and 

West Virginia. A half-century after its founding, 

many things have changed for Dearing, 

and while the growth of the company has 

been remarkable, world-class dedication to 

the customer drives the heart of Dearing. 

Serving clients through a quality in-house 

engineering department that is complemented 

by an experienced and highly skilled 

workforce is their legacy. 

The Dearing family and its outstanding 

employees also align their business values to 

their community and proudly support nonprofits 

that are changing lives like the YMCA 

Camp Fitch Youth Camp and the United Way 

of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. 

Dearing loves to share their experiences in 

the regional job market and is a strong partner 

to education. They have been leading the 

charge to teach children about manufacturing 

and to create opportunities to use hands-on 

skills. Internships and high school workstudy 

programs at Dearing provide a safe and 

stable pathway to satisfying careers for bright 

young people. In November 2014, Ohio’s 

Governor Kasich visited Dearing where he 

was asked to build the right business climate 

that would allow the industry to help bring 

manufacturing back to Youngstown and to 

the state of Ohio. 

As a mid-sized, family-owned operation, 

Dearing has the capability to handle all people 

on an individual basis. The past success and 

future growth of the company can be attributed 

to the family philosophy and mission 

statement, “Service is the key to the sale.” 

For more information, please visit the 

company online at www.dearingcomp.com. 

Dearing—fueled by customer confidence 

since 1945. 


1 7 7

ARIEL 

CORPORATION 

Top, left: Jim Buchwald at the drafting table 

in the early 1980s. 

Middle, top: Left to right, founders George 

Woodman, Jim Buchwald and Jim Doane. 

According to Karen Buchwald Wright, Ariel 

Corporation’s smell of success was not always 

a sweet one. Now the president and CEO 

of the company her father, Jim Buchwald, 

co-founded in 1966, Wright recalls her early 

teen years when her father and his partner, 

Jim Doane, moved the prototype Unit 1 from 

the family’s basement (where the two “Jims” 

had built it) to a defunct turkey processing 

plant north of Mount Vernon, Ohio, as 

their improvised test facility. Remnant fumes 

wafted through the air, but Wright remembers 

being “happy to hang out” with her dad, 

“regardless of the smell.” Fast forward nearly 

five decades later and Ariel Corporation has 

grown into the world’s pre-eminent natural 

gas compressor manufacturer and the scent 

in the air indicates that everything appears to 

be coming up roses. 

Manufacturing capital goods equipment 

was not always on Buchwald’s radar. His first 

job in 1949 at the age of twenty-one (with a 

fresh degree in history from Baldwin Wallace 

College), was as a junior high school teacher 

in the small northeastern Ohio town of Vienna. 

Although he only worked there for a semester 

before being dismissed for his inability to 

control the students, this time proved one of 

the most important in his life because it was 

there he met his future wife, Maureen Hunter. 

They married in 1950. The newlyweds moved 

back to Buchwald’s native Cleveland and 

he entered Case Western Reserve University, 

earning a mechanical engineering degree, 

while Maureen worked to support them. 

Luckily, Buchwald was hired right after 

graduation in 1954, by Cooper Bessemer, just 

a few weeks before their first child, Karen, 

was born. Money was exceedingly tight for the 

last several months before he graduated, as 

women were routinely let go when pregnancy 

became evident, which happened to Maureen. 

However, Maureen eventually would join the 

tiny company, organize all of the Ariel office 

systems in finance, human resources and supply 

chain, and would prove to be absolutely 

essential to Ariel’s establishment and success. 

Putting Buchwald through school proved 

both a good investment and good experience. 

Four years later, the family moved to 

Springfield, Ohio, where Buchwald began a 

job at White-Superior, where he had been 

hired to design a compressor line. Buchwald 

was recommended to White-Superior by 

Robert P. Ramsey, who had been a consultant 

Middle, center: Jim Buchwald with the 

prototype JG in the turnkey processing 

plant, c. 1968. 

Middle, bottom: Jim Buchwald in the 

company’s first shop, a former Pontiac 

dealership in Mount Vernon, Ohio, c. 1971. 

Far right: Maureen and Jim Buchwald on a 

1948 Ariel Square Four Motorcycle, 1953. 


178

to Cooper-Bessemer and had met Buchwald 

when he worked there. Karen mentions 

that even though her father had no prior 

experience in compressor design, he was 

young (thirty) and confident in his own 

ability to figure it out. As it happened, he did. 

In 1965, Buchwald left White-Superior to 

begin a two year contract with Enterprise- 

DeLaval of Oakland, California to design an 

8,000 horsepower, 600 rpm compressor that 

was for many years the largest compressor 

built to operate at that speed (in the late 

1990s, Ariel broke that record with a 

10,000 horsepower 1,000 RPM compressor). 

For several years prior to that, the new high 

speed engine designs had prompted some 

thought on Buchwald’s part to design a small, 

high speed compressor to utilize the engines 

as drivers. While Buchwald was working on 

the Enterprise-DeLaval design, his friend 

George Woodman (from Houston, Texas and 

eventually one of the three principle partners 

in what would become Ariel) called Buchwald 

and suggested that he thought Buchwald was 

the leading light in the compressor business 

and that he would like “to hitch his wagon to 

the Buchwald star.” Consequently, Buchwald 

designed a small, very high speed (1,800 rpm) 

compressor for gas gathering—unlike anything 

else in an era of 300 rpm, water-jacketed, 

stationary, block mounted compressors. 

A name was required for the project and 

new company. Buchwald rode motorcycles 

in his youth (since cars were well beyond 

his limited means) and as maintenance was 

equally expensive, he was also his own 

mechanic. One of his favorite motorcycles was 

the Ariel Square Four, because it ran well and 

was easy to maintain. In honor of “another fine 

machine,” the partners named the fledgling 

enterprise Ariel Corporation. (Ariel, originally 

a British bicycle company started in 1870, 

went on to manufacture motorcycles, and 

sadly, went out of business in 1967.) 

Doane, the other principle partner was an 

old hiking buddy (they were Appalachian 

Trail enthusiasts and hiked the AT in the 

Smokey Mountains many times) from 

Buchwald’s days at Cooper-Bessemer. When 

Doane joined the partnership, it was he and 

Buchwald who built the prototype, in the 

Buchwald’s basement, that became Unit #1. 

The initial investment to form the company 

was comprised of $5,000 from Buchwald, 

$3,000 from Doane and $2,500 from George 

Woodman (each paying over a ten month 

period). At the time, that was a huge amount 

of money for the families, and was an enormous 

risk, betting on something with no 

guarantee whatsoever. 

When the time came to “name” the newly 

designed compressor, Buchwald and his 

partners realized everyone involved in the 

venture was named either Jim or George. 

The group included Jim Buchwald, Jim 

Doane, Jim MacAlexander, Jim Whaley, 

George Woodman, George Allen and George 

Leachman. (Jim Doane and George Woodman 

were Buchwald’s principle partners—the others 

invested very small amounts). According 

Above: Karen Buchwald Wright in the large 

product line assembly bay. 

Below: Left to right, Ariel’s Founders George 

Woodman, Jim Buchwald and Jim Doane, 

c. 1980. 


1 7 9

Maureen and Jim Buchwald with 

Serial #1000, July 1974. 

to Buchwald, it seemed fated that the original 

design be called the “JG”. Luckily, Woodman 

was able to find a buyer for Unit#1, and 

what had been a prototype became the first 

Ariel JG field unit. 

The next product design was designated 

the JGM after the three partners’ wives: 

Maureen Buchwald, Marge Doane and Mary 

Gail Woodman. The “sportsman” who bought 

the first JG, Keith Paul, was later honored 

with the third new design added to the 

company’s product line, the JGP. Over the 

years virtually every addition to the Ariel 

product line-up was named for someone: 

some notables being the JGK; after Buchwald’s 

children, Karen and Kurt; the JGR, for 

Robert P. Ramsey, who got Buchwald into 

the compressor designing business in the 

first place; and the JGC for Bill Crooks. 

Crooks was the chief engineer, development, 

when Buchwald started at Cooper-Bessemer 

in 1954. Buchwald explained he learned a 

distinct problem solving method from 

Crooks, “a way of getting to the heart of 

the problem, cutting through the extraneous 

technical complications, and finding the most 

workable solution.” When the first JGC was 

built, Crooks was invited to the plant to see 

his namesake. At the time, Crooks was well 

into his nineties and had been an American 

military aviator who earned his “Silver Wings” 

in 1918 during WWI. He was so proud of “his” 

compressor and his neighbors report that he 

wrote “JGC” in the snow in front of his house. 

Crooks lived to the ripe old age of 109, just 

months short of his 110th birthday in August 

of 2003 (born in 1893)! He was a wonderful 

gentleman and the Buchwalds are glad he 

lived to see Ariel’s growth and establishment. 

In 1997, the then owner of the first JG 

contacted Ariel to say he had Serial #1, which 

was still in service twenty-seven years after 

its initial installation. Quickly purchased, 

(for three times what it sold for) cleaned, 

painted and restored, Unit #1 graces Ariel’s 

lobby. Every bit as structurally sound as 

when it was built, it would operate today as 

well as it did in 1969 when it was sold. 

Maureen began working for Ariel around 

1972. Wright recalls that because her father 

disliked writing checks and had fallen behind 

on the task, Maureen took it up and began 

to put her stamp on the company’s culture. 

Consequently, Maureen instituted many of the 

systems that are essential to any successful 

business, accounting functions especially, 

such as keeping track of accounts receivable 

and accounts payable, payroll, benefits and 

personnel protocols. Although Buchwald 

was a brilliant designer and entrepreneur, 

it took Maureen’s discipline and budgeting 

to make earning a living from the venture 

a reality, especially in the early years when 

virtually every penny of income was invested 

back in the business. 

Karen Buchwald Wright started working at 

Ariel in 1980 and has had a ringside seat to 

the business ever since. Although she worked 

part-time from 1983 when her first son was 

born, until 1997, when her mother retired, 

being a member of the family, with a husband 

and parents in the business, meant she was 

always involved in the business. She credits 

the years of raising four sons and working 

part-time as the best training she could have 

gotten to run the company today. According 

to Karen, raising four children was much 

harder than running a business, since adults 

generally do as you ask—and you do not have 

to work so hard at keeping them safe, she says 

with a smile. She feels we do not give women 

nearly enough credit for the intense, difficult 

and unpaid job of mother and household 


180

manager. Karen suggests, “If you have a woman 

looking to get back into the workforce now 

that her children are in school, hire her right 

away! She can do pretty much anything.” 

In discussing the company’s secret to 

success, Karen mentions that “Dad was 

brilliant to recognize that in the capital goods 

business, what you do after the sale is more 

important than the sale itself…all the processes 

in our manufacturing plant are geared toward 

longevity of operation. Our equipment is built 

to last fifty to seventy years (we’re not really 

certain how long since most of it is still in 

operation and we will celebrate our fiftieth 

anniversary in 2016). In any event, we have 

a very large field service and operations 

technology group who are available to help 

anywhere, anytime. We ship parts within 

twenty-four hours or faster in an emergency. 

We have the philosophy of getting the customer 

back in operation first—then sorting 

out who’s responsible for the cost.” In addition 

to this “after the sale” philosophy, Karen 

continues, is a corporate culture built around 

personal pride and responsibility, where 

every part and every action is done with such 

attention to quality that “we are confident of 

our quality being second to none.” 

Over the years, as the business continued 

to grow, it was not always smooth sailing. The 

partners invested almost all profits back into 

the business (first very small profit in 1974) 

and operated on a shoestring, as do most 

entrepreneurs. In those early years, the risks 

taken—such as mortgaging their homes to 

borrow enough to build their first factory in 

1973—also developed the underlying spirit 

of survival and conservative fiscal planning 

that has stood the company in very good 

stead over the years. 

As anyone in the oil and gas industry 

knows, you could not pick a more volatile 

business. Because energy is the base of the 

economy and is both global (oil) and domestic 

(natural gas), the complexity of factors 

influencing the price of both oil and gas are 

well-nigh impossible to predict. Additionally, 

because of the strategic nature of energy, both 

Federal and State governments have at various 

times turned the market upside down 

with regulatory interference. Additionally, 

recessions and booms affect virtually every 

industry that uses electricity or feedstock 

Above: Karen Buchwald Wright with an 

exploded JG. 

Below: Jim Buchwald at his desk in the 

Blackjack Road Facility, c. 1982. Note the 

cycling picture in the background. As of 

publication, Jim has logged 195,000 miles 

on his bicycle. 


1 8 1

Karen Buchwald Wright in 2002 with her 

favorite blue compressors. 

(oil or gas) and energy use and prices rise and 

fall accordingly. Add in what Karen calls the 

“Yee Hah Factor” (when the price gets high 

enough, the last ones to enter the drilling 

business yell, “Yee Hah, Boys, we’re getting 

in!”) and pretty soon you have a glut, which 

leads to price collapse and the whole thing 

starts over. Since 1980, when she joined 

the company, Karen has seen four serious 

industry crashes in which Ariel’s revenues 

dropped off by over forty percent virtually 

overnight. Two of those were under her watch 

as CEO in 2002 and 2009 and she ruefully 

admits that managing through such severe 

downturns requires great fortitude. The 

slump of 2015 is well on its way, but Karen 

is confident the company will weather this 

in good fiscal condition, making significant 

investments in their plants and machine tools, 

maintaining employment for the workforce 

throughout, and ready to ramp up when the 

market recovers. 

Indeed, Buchwald’s partners found they 

did not have the stomach for these kinds of 

precipitous downturns and sold their stock to 

a private equity company in the early 1990s. 

After some serious legal wrangling, the 

Buchwalds were able to reacquire the stock 

and eventually pass it to the second generation, 

their daughter Karen and son Kurt. 

In 2001, Kurt decided he was interested in 

a buy-out and sold his stock to his sister. 

Karen says that since then she has done 

significant estate planning so that the company 

will not be bankrupted by the estate tax 

at her death. Her four sons are committed 

to running the company and continuing the 

family’s growth strategy into the fourth 

generation (their children). They are looking 

forward to running a successful family business 

and are very proud of the amazing story 

of Ariel, from the basement to the world! 

Karen mentions that managing through the 

booms and busts of the oil and gas industry 

require some old-fashioned values that her 

parents learned growing up during the Great 

Depression: avoid loans, and if necessary 

never borrow more than you can pay back 

quickly; reinvest significantly in the business 

(which she says has averaged around $25-$35 

million for the last several years); share profits 

with the workforce as they are the ones who 

make it happen; make jobs interesting; understand 

that every job is necessary and the person 

doing that job deserves respect; and 

invest in the future—even in the doldrums. 

“We believe that the real secret to our success 

is our workforce, the people of small town, 

Middle America” she says, adding that their 

compressors “are still 100 percent American 

made, by intention, and we have no plans to 

move to another state or country for manufacturing. 

The vast majority of great American 

suppliers are right here in the midwest and 

that’s where we’ll be staying.” 


182

The Shale Revolution is making that philosophy 

look quite good at this point as domestic, 

plentiful, and stable supplies, not to mention 

cheap natural gas, from the shale formations, 

are initiating a tremendous renaissance 

in the manufacturing sector of America! Not 

only will the direct infrastructure development 

of shale oil and gas lead to hundreds of billions 

of investment for the next fifteen to 

twenty years, but the companies which supply 

housing, food, vehicles and goods and services 

to all the millions of people employed (over 

ten million people currently employed in the 

American oil & gas industry) in this vast infrastructure 

build, will grow and prosper along 

with the oil and gas sector. 

When Karen became president and CEO in 

2001, it coincided with a time of significant 

transition not only for Ariel Corporation, but 

for Karen herself. 

She recalls, “At that point, we were still 

operating on the entrepreneurial model: one 

boss and lots of managers, all of whom ostensibly 

reported to the president. Most information 

on corporate structure suggests that one 

person can effectively manage six to eight 

people. The challenge for me, then, was to 

add some layers and structure to the company 

without creating silos, self-appointed decision 

makers, or a bunch of unhappy people.” 

Although she began her presidency just as 

the oil and gas industry slumped in 2002- 

2003, she can say with confidence that her 

experiences up to that point, even those 

seemingly worlds apart from the industry, had 

unexpectedly prepared her to run a company. 

Karen attributes her experiences in raising 

four sons as the key to becoming president 

and CEO of Ariel Corporation. The daily rigors 

of “being able to switch gears constantly, 

always trying to persuade people to do something 

they may not want to do, and recognizing 

that what motivates one person will not 

work for another” are lessons learned in 

motherhood, but are completely applicable in 

her current role. 

Finally, Ariel’s success has led Karen to 

philanthropy. “Ever since I had my own 

income, as a teenager, I gave to things I 

thought might help others less fortunate 

than me,” she says. In the 1990s, Karen 

gradually took over corporate giving from 

her mother. In 2009, she founded the Ariel 

Foundation; a private family foundation 

devoted to the quality of life in Ariel’s hometown, 

Mount Vernon, Ohio. Through the 

foundation, Ariel Corporation’s continued 

robust philanthropy, and her own personal 

giving, the downtown, the parks, and 

the infrastructure of the town have been 

developed to the benefit of all. One might say 

it seems only natural and right that the 

community that has been such a vital part 

of the Buchwald’s family heritage should be 

the beneficiary of its success today—it seems 

that smell of success is sweet, after all. 

Left to right: Karen Buchwald Wright’s 

oldest son and next generation leadership, 

Alex Wright, Karen Buchwald Wright and 

her dad, Jim Buchwald in 2012. Note the 

size of the compressor, a KB2, compared to 

the original JG. 


1 8 3

DOMINION EAST 

OHIO 

Right: John D. Rockefeller’s National Transit 

Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil of 

New Jersey, was East Ohio Gas Company’s 

first parent. 

Below: Putting in gas service lines, c. 1898. 

With the discovery of abundant oil in 

Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, John D. 

Rockefeller began refining and transporting 

this natural resource with an innovative 

efficiency unknown before. He would eventually 

build an empire in the oil industry 

with his company, Standard Oil. However, 

many oilmen knew that the search for oil 

often led to the discovery of natural gas 

instead. During what was called the “oildorado” 

oil rush, drillers often burned off gas in 

their quests for oil or “black gold.” 

There were some who soon realized the 

potential value of the natural gas that was 

simply being wasted. The natural gas could be 

utilized as an efficient, clean-burning fuel for 

American homes, as well as in many industries. 

One of the men who realized the possible 

prospects of capturing gas for fuel was 

Daniel O’Day, a tough hard-working pipeline 

builder. O’Day was in charge of Standard 

Oil’s pipeline construction and an employee 

of Rockefeller. He abhorred the fact that an 

immense amount of gas was being wasted in 

the oil fields. He believed that the pipelines 

could be modified and used to transport the 

combustible gas to market. In 1883, at his 

persistence, Rockefeller who trusted O’Day’s 

expertise in the business, authorized him to 

pursue the gas business through National 

Transit, a subsidiary company of Standard Oil. 

Another important figure in the development 

of gas resources,resources was Calvin 

Payne. Like O’Day, Payne was a pipeline 

builder, who built the first long distance natural 

gas pipeline at a distance of ninety-one 

miles. As National Transit’s general manager, 

he helped organize fifteen gas companies, 

and also founded Metric Metal Company, the 

first company to manufacture gas meters, 

a groundbreaking invention to measure gas 

usage by customers. By 1898, National 

Transit owned some of the richest gas fields 

and soon organized the Hope Natural Gas 

Company, its first big gas producer. On 

September 8, 1898, the company spawned a 

new marketing company to deliver this 

resource to the people of northeastern Ohio. 

The company would soon be known as 

The East Ohio Gas Company. 

The City of Akron granted a franchise to 

The East Ohio Gas Company, and the company 

set up a business office and shop at 42 

and 44 East Mill Street. Within two months 

of construction, pipefitters had connected 


184

twenty-two miles of pipe under the city’s 

streets. On May 10, 1899, East Ohio erected 

a tall stand, or flambeau pipe, at the corner 

of High and Market Streets where in the 

evening, the people of Akron saw natural 

gas burn in the city for the first time. 

Eventually other pipelines were built as the 

pipe crews labored away in harsh conditions. 

“Men, mules, and mud,” tells the story as 

these crews worked with picks and shovels in 

rain, ice, snow and hot sun, to construct these 

pipelines. Every mile of National Transit’s 

pipeline was under the direction of O’Day. 

In October of 1898, L. B. Terry was 

brought on board to help market the new gas 

resource. He was quoted as saying, “It was 

rather hard work at first to get the people 

to believe that we could pipe gas at such a 

distance and give service.” Eventually more 

people accepted the new resource and pipe 

crews struggled to keep up with the orders, 

sometimes numbering more than 100 per day. 

East Ohio’s first president was Elizur 

Strong, a powerful, gruff oilman with extensive 

pipeline experience. He is credited 

with making several innovations in pipeline 

construction, including the use of hinged 

sections. As East Ohio’s transmission lines 

were constructed up from the south, the 

company began to focus on areas north to 

the booming port city City of Cleveland. 

With a population of over 381,000, 

Cleveland sat at the heart of the American 

steel industry between Minnesota’s great 

iron ore range and the coal and oil 

regions of Pennsylvania. Cleveland would 

eventually become the “jewel” in East Ohio’s 

distribution crown. 

Top, left: Early view of Goodyear Tire and 

Rubber Company, one of East Ohio’s 

first customers. 

Top, right: Natural gas shortages in the 

1920s made these modern gas burners too 

expensive for many homeowners. 

Bottom, left: Oil was discovered in Lima in 

1885. Rigs like this were a common sight. 

Bottom, right: In the early days East Ohio 

purchased all its natural gas from fields 

such as these in West Virginia. 


1 8 5

The 1937 construction of New York 

State Natural Gas’s Line No. 8 in 

Tioga, Pennsylvania. 

By 1902, Martin B. Daly was hired by East 

Ohio from National Transit’s Western Ohio 

Natural Gas Company. For nearly a quarter 

of a century, this former pipefitter would 

forge the character of East Ohio, directing its 

business affairs and eventually molding it 

into the largest natural gas company in the 

world. It was with Daly’s assistance that newlyelected 

Cleveland Mayor, Tom L. Johnson, 

would support East Ohio, approving a 

franchise in June 1902. Mayor Johnson 

quickly recognized the benefits of affordable 

natural gas for the people of his city. In 

January 1903 the City of Cleveland received 

its first shipment of natural gas. 

Daly continued to oversee East Ohio’s 

company business, often dealing with problems 

such as the scarcity of good, trained 

pipefitters. In an effort to alleviate this problem, 

Daly arranged for East Ohio to establish 

a program to train new workers. By 1905 

the company was sending bills to 30,000 

customers, who were paying only thirty cents 

per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. 

Daly also signed contracts with the some 

of the first companies, including American 

Steel & Wire Company and Pabst Brewing 

Company. By 1907, East Ohio customers 

numbered nearly 150,000 just nine years 

after the company began. Daly was named 

president of East Ohio in 1906 and was 

credited with not only advancing the company 

significantly, but making East Ohio a quality 

company with a reputation as a good company 

to work for. Daly was known to have a 

tremendous respect for his hard working 

employees, once stating that East Ohio’s 

“employees worked with him, not for him.” 

Kindness and loyalty was his slogan and 

he extended these to both his employees 

and customers. Daly also established a system 

of annuities and a form of insurance benefits 

later adopted by Standard Oil. He was referred 

to as the “dean of the industry,” and after his 

death in 1926, Cleveland’s newspapers carried 

many tributes to this remarkable man. 

In 1911, in an effort to curtail monopolies 

from forming, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 

that Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) 

must dissolve and became thirty-four independent 

companies. East Ohio, however, 

remained part of Standard until 1943, when 

further federal regulation led to the creation 

of Consolidated Natural Gas Company 

(CNG). By 1913 several states had passed 

laws to oversee utilities providing public 

services. Ohio joined those states who 

organized commissions to regulate “fair 

and reasonable rates, levels of service, and 

discriminatory practices.” 

During the 1920s East Ohio, as well as 

other gas companies, were worried about 

their overall gas supply with gas wells 

decreasing their output in the formerly 

gas-rich Appalachian fields. Soon East Ohio 

was forced to put out ads in newspapers 

to warn customers of possible shortages. To 

encourage conservation, East Ohio received 

permission to charge higher rates. However, 

the actual “shortage” problem was not a complete 

lack of gas, as some of the largest gas 

fields on earth had been recently discovered 

in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. The problem 

was a lack of high-pressure welded steel 

pipes to carry gas over a thousand miles 

back to the north and east. East Ohio helped 

pioneer the welded pipe capable of carrying 

much larger volumes of gas at high pressure 

much greater distances, and, by 1927, the 

world’s first long-distance transmission of 

gas began. Business Week magazine called it 

“the pipe miracle.” Also in the early 1920s, 


186

East Ohio started drilling their own oil and 

gas wells to meet the growing demand for gas 

supply, and through the 1960s East Ohio 

drilled thousands of wells in Ohio becoming 

one of the largest oil and gas drillers/developers 

of this period. Beginning in the 1970s, 

East Ohio slowed down its drilling activity 

and began divesting production wells with 

the final East Ohio producing wells sold 

in 1990s. 

In 1940, Cooper proposed and developed 

a liquefied, storage, and regasification plant in 

Cleveland, the first of its kind in the country. 

Adjacent to the American Gas Association’s 

testing laboratories, the first three storage 

tanks were built in 1940. The massive tanks 

were spherical shaped each holding 60 million 

cubic feet of gas, and were insulated with 

three feet of cork. With the success of the first 

three tanks, a fourth tank was added in 1943 

with a 120 million gallon capacity. The Plain 

Dealer called the plant a “scientific wonder.” 

Unfortunately on October 20, 1944, gas vapors 

began to leak from the Number Four tank and 

ignited a catastrophic explosion killing 130 

people and destroying 680 homes around the 

plant. East Ohio lost seventy-three employees, 

and the plant was a total loss. The fire was the 

worst in Cleveland history. 

Due to the increased consumer gas consumption 

in the 1940s, along with increased 

demands brought about by World War II, 

ways for efficient gas storage were being 

explored. Engineers were aware that when 

gas is liquefied, it becomes compressed and 

therefore can be stored more efficiently occupying 

less space. The man widely credited 

with first bringing liquefied natural gas into 

commercial usage was Howell C. Cooper. 

World War II was referred to as a “mechanized” 

war, and the heavy industries of 

northeastern Ohio were called the “arsenal 

of democracy.” 

A number of investigations were launched, 

probing the cause of the fire and explosion. 

The United States Department of the Interior 

report, however, found no evidence of 

improper personnel or operating procedures 

and found no wrongdoing on East Ohio’s 

part. The investigation showed that Number 

Four tank failed, but how or why this 

failure occurred was never known. After the 

tragedy, East Ohio was praised for its prompt 

settlement of all claims in the disaster area. 

Top, right: The growth of underground 

storage was one of the most important 

advances of the post-war “Golden Age.” 


1 8 7

Bottom, left and right: Storage compressors. 

In response to the loss of employees, and 

loss for the families, an Educational Fund 

was established in 1945 to offer financial 

assistance for the education of children of 

employees whose death was work-related. 

Total settlements amounted to over $7 million 

for the company. 

To avoid any future repeats of the Cleveland 

tragedy, efforts were made by East Ohio to 

developer safer, more efficient underground 

storage systems. Former CNG President Robert 

Seymour stated, “Underground storage was 

probably the biggest single change in the 

years following World War II.” The growth 

of underground storage mirrored the increased 

post-war demand and was the safest, most 

economical way of assuring customers a 

constant supply of natural gas. The new 

technology allowed East Ohio to buy gas 

economically during periods of lower 

demand in the spring, summer and fall and 

store it into the ground for use in the winter 

months. Storage pools were developed by 

East Ohio over a twenty-five year period, 

and are among the largest in the world. 

East Ohio’s gas storage facilities utilize 

depleted reservoirs and a lot of the original 

production wells that East Ohio drilled 

between 1920-1940 that were converted 

to storage wells. The storage fields are 

located in the middle of East Ohio’s service 

territory in northeast Ohio between Akron 

and Canton in close proximity to East Ohio’s 

customer base. 

The West Ohio Gas Company, formerly 

Lima Natural Gas Company, began operating 

gas pipes in the City of Lima in 1886. 

C. S. Brice was appointed the first president 

of the company. The first natural gas pumped 

into Lima for business and residential use 

began in October 1887. The local newspapers 

announced the arrival of the gas as a “gigantic 

enterprise carried out with a speed that is 

wonderful.” The original location of the 

Lima Natural Gas Company was at 1122 

West Market Street, and the Lima Gas Light 

Company was located on Elm and Jackson 

Streets, the current location of West Ohio’s 

distribution facility. By 1890 the city’s population 

was over 15,000 and the oil and gas 

fields around Lima were being depleted. 

The company realized it would be necessary 

to conserve gas. However, with the growing 

population becoming dependent upon natural 

gas, the company was forced to find other 

suppliers. Eventually the City Council of Lima 

fixed a ten-year price schedule for natural gas 

of thirty-three cents per thousand cubic feet 

with monthly charges of fifty cents. To avoid 

shortages of gas, the city enacted an ordinance 

that a one million cubic foot gas “holder” 

be built to hold a supply of artificial gas to 

supplement natural gas supplies during 

extreme cold weather. 

River Gas Company, founded in 1894, and 

headquartered in Marietta, Ohio, became a 

part of East Ohio in the 1990s. East Ohio, 

West Ohio, and River Gas continued to 

operate and provide natural gas to Ohio 

customers, eventually all combining under 

The East Ohio Gas Company, which was a 

subsidiary of Consolidated Natural Gas 

(CNG). The company serves over 1.2 million 

customers in Ohio. In 2000, Dominion 

Resources based in Richmond, Virginia, 

bought CNG in a deal that transformed 

Dominion into one of the largest electric 

and gas utilities in the United States, with 

more than 4 million customers. The East 

Ohio Gas Company with West Ohio and 

River Gas as Division of East Ohio now does 

business as Dominion East Ohio. 

In 2003, Dominion East Ohio formed a 

partnership with the Ohio Oil and Gas 

Association (OOGA), and finalized a longrange 

Production Enhancement Agreement 

(PEA) to increase the value of the states’ 

natural gas production. Tim McNutt, director 

of Ohio Gathering Operations at the time for 

Dominion East Ohio stated, “Dominion East 

Ohio is excited about the opportunities the 


188

Agreement affords both East Ohio and Ohio 

producers. The Agreement creates a collective 

focus on the value of local Ohio production 

that will benefit everyone. East Ohio is looking 

forward to working closely with the 

OOGA and the producing community on 

projects and initiatives that focus specifically 

on maximizing the flow of local Ohio gas on 

East Ohio’s system.” William Kinney, former 

OOGA president was quoted as saying, “This 

global deal is a fundamental shift in how 

the local LDC, Dominion East Ohio, will 

view production delivered into its gathering 

and distribution systems. Now they will 

have an incentive to maximize production 

delivery and output…I am very excited for 

the producing community and for the 

improved relationship with East Ohio.” 

In November 2007, OOGA and Dominion 

East Ohio strengthened their business partnership 

with the announcement of a new 

agreement to enhance the value and improve 

the delivery of Ohio-produced natural gas 

flowing into the East Ohio system. The Heat 

Content Agreement (HCA) extended the 

previous PEA providing Ohio producers with 

more access to Dominion East Ohio’s transmission 

and storage systems while continuing 

to recognize the heating value of gas produced 

in the state by apply a Btu conversion factor to 

all eligible Ohio-produced gas delivered into 

the company’s system. OOGA Executive Vice 

President Tom Stewart stated, “the agreement 

will provide long-term benefit to the Ohio 

producer and addresses the evolving nature 

of the natural gas market. What the HCA 

does is continue a relationship with the local 

distribution company that transports the 

majority of Ohio-produced gas, and provides 

an agreement where Dominion East Ohio is 

going to ensure Ohio producers receive fair 

market value for our gas while making sure 

it gets to market.” 

Today, Dominion is one of the nation’s 

largest producers and transporters of energy, 

with a portfolio of nearly 23,500 megawatts 

of generation, 10,900 miles of natural gas 

transmission pipelines, and 6,400 miles of 

electric transmission lines. Dominion operates 

the nation’s largest natural gas storage 

system with 947 billion cubic feet of storage 

capacity, serving customers in ten states. 

For more information about Dominion’s 

history, operations, education programs, environmental 

commitments, energy conservation, 

and community projects, go to www.dom.com. 

Dominion East Ohio storage. 


1 8 9

ATLAS ENERGY 

The Atlas name has long been synonymous 

with the oil and gas industry throughout the 

nation. Known today as Atlas Energy Group, 

LLC, (NYSE: ATLS), its antecedents (and other 

companies) include Atlas Energy, L. P., Atlas 

Energy, Inc., Atlas Energy Resources, LLC, 

Atlas America, Inc., Resource America, Inc., 

and Resource Exploration. 

Atlas Energy is a master limited partnership 

that owns all of the general partner 

Class A units and distribution rights and 

approximately twenty-eight percent limited 

partner interest in its upstream oil and gas 

(O&G) subsidiary, Atlas Resource Partners, L. P. 

(NYSE: ARP). It functions as an exploration 

and production master limited partnership, 

which owns an interest in more than 14,500 

producing natural gas and oil wells primarily 

located in Appalachia, the Eagle Ford Shale 

in south Texas, the Barnett Shale in Texas, 

the Mississippi Lime in Oklahoma, the Raton 

Basin in New Mexico, Black Warrior Basin in 

Alabama, and the Rangley Field in Colorado. 

In Appalachia, Atlas operates over 8,600 

mature, low-decline shallow production wells 

in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and 

southwestern New York. Atlas has 160 Bcfe 

of proved reserves and a minus 32 million 

cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) of net production 

in Appalachia, of which ninety-four percent 

is natural gas. These assets are in close 

proximity to the natural gas consuming 

regions of the mid-Atlantic and northeastern 

United States. It also operates over 200 

vertical wells and thirty horizontal wells 

in the Marcellus Shale in southwestern 

Pennsylvania. Atlas is drilling new horizontal 

Marcellus wells in northeastern Pennsylvania 

through its investment partnership business. 

All statistics aforementioned are as of 


The company’s existing land operations in 

eastern Ohio take advantage of development 

opportunities in the Utica Shale. It is drilling 

Utica wells through its investment partnership 

business. 

Other company efforts are focused primarily 

in the South and Southwest, with the exception 

of Tennessee. There, it has over 100,000 net 

undeveloped acres in the Chattanooga Shale 

in northeastern Tennessee. Atlas operates 

over 450 wells in the region and has two gas 

processing plants, Fruehauf and Big Mountain 

plants, in eastern Tennessee with a combined 

capacity of approximately 35 Mmcf/d. 

Atlas has direct mineral ownership in 

nearly 605,000 net acres in Raton Basin in 

northern New Mexico; and has 320 Bcfe of 

proved reserves and less than 76 Mmcf/d of 

net production. These assets have a shallow 

production decline rate, low operating 

expenses, and more than a thousand potential 

future drilling locations. The company 

owns the gathering system for these assets. 

In Alabama it owns 88,700 acres in the 

Black Warrior Basin, with 141 Bcfe of proved 

reserves and 37 Mmcfe/d of net productions. 

These assets have a stable production profile, 

low base decline, and 600 potential future 

drilling locations. 


190

Oklahoma operations owned by Atlas 

include over 30,000 acres in the core of the 

Mississippi Lime play. It is located in the oil 

and liquids-rich portion of the play (primarily 

in Alfalfa, Grant, and Garfield Counties.) 

In Indiana, Atlas has access to over 

123,000 net acres in the New Albany Shale in 

the west central part of the state. There, it has 

150 producing wells (including 50 from 

Michigan) and 28 Bcfe of proved reserves as 

well as several CO2 treating facilities. 

Atlas’ successful history in the O&G 

industry dates to 1968. That was the year 

that the company launched its efforts in the 

energy business. At the time, it assumed 

management of Resource Exploration, a company 

that originated in Louisiana and moved 

operations into the northeast. Resource 

Exploration’s original office was in Dennison, 

Ohio, and the company moved to Ohio to 

drill oil and gas wells within syndicated 

drilling programs which were funded by 

individual investors through a network of 

broker dealers. Today, Atlas continues to 

maintain this business over forty years later, 

and is currently the largest sponsor of O&G 

investment programs in the United States. 


1 9 1

This page and opposite : Cramblett 

facility, 2013. 

The company’s first Ohio office was located 

in Tuscarawas County in the late 1960s. At 

that time, approximately 1,000 wells were 

drilled by Resource, primarily in Tuscarawas 

and Harrison Counties, which sit atop the 

prolific Utica Shale play. Resource Exploration 

ultimately became Resource America, Inc. 

(NASDAQ: REXI). RAI continues to operate 

today as an asset management company 

focused primarily in the formation and 

collateral management of various structured 

financial products, as well as the acquisition 

and management of multifamily properties in 

its real estate division. 

By the 1990s, RAI focused its efforts on 

drilling wells in its syndicated fundraising 

programs. In fact, over $120 million of 

drilling funds was raised in that timeframe. 

RAI also completed several acquisitions of 

neighboring oil and gas producers in the 

region during the 1990s, including: Dover 

Atwood, Shongun Resources, Longasco, Atlas 

Energy and Viking Resources. Additionally, 

a division of RAI named Resource Well 

services was created initially to service RAI’s 

wells, but was soon expanded to handle third 

party production. Through the well-servicing 

business, Resource helped develop a special 

type of casing plunger, and eventually, the 

company was able to market this device to 

other producers. 

Atlas has always been a strong corporate 

partner and socially responsible citizen in all 

regions of its operations, especially in 

Appalachia. Atlas has supported many local 

charities and organizations through financial 

donations, as well as giving special attention 

to being a steward of the environment. 

Corporate headquarters locations are in 

New York and Philadelphia. Atlas Resource 

Partners, L. P. has its operating headquarters 

in Fort Worth, Texas and Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania. In addition, Atlas has several 

offices in Ohio, including an accounting 

and administrative office in Uniontown; and 

field production offices in New Philadelphia, 

Cambridge and Deerfield. 

Growth statistics of the combined organizations 

have been dramatic. In 2004, RAI 

spun out a twenty percent ownership in 

Atlas America, Inc., though a public offering. 

AAI would hold all of the O&G assets 

previously held by RAI. In June 2005, the 

remaining ownership of AAI was spun out to 

a public offering. 

In 2006, AAI spun out Atlas Energy 

Resources, LLC (ATN) as a separate publictraded 

subsidiary and energy and petroleum 

(E&P) master limited partnership. All of the 

oil and gas assets and syndication business 

was to be held by ATN, and AAI was to retain 

100 percent of the general partner interest 

in ATN. 

During the period, 2006-2009, ATN 

became one of the largest producers in 

the Marcellus Shale in southwestern 

Pennsylvania, and controlling over 500,000 

net underdeveloped acres in the play. By 

September 2009, ATN was consolidated into 

its parent, Atlas America, in order to focus 

more capital on developing the Marcellus 

Shale position. Atlas America was concurrently 

renamed Atlas Energy, Inc. (AEI). 

A year later, AEI entered into a joint 

venture agreement with Reliance Industries 

(India) to accelerate development of the 

Marcellus Shale. Reliance acquired a forty 

percent working interest in AEI’s acreage 


192

position for $1.4 billion. That same year, 

Chevron entered into an agreement to 

acquire AEI for $4.3 billion. In concurrent 

transactions, Atlas retains its Appalachia 

production and syndication business in Atlas 

Energy., L.P. (NYSE: ATLS). 

In March 2012, ATLS spun out its newly 

created energy and petroleum master limited 

partnership. Atlas Resource Partners, L.P. 

(NSE: ARP), which currently holds all of Atlas’ 

oil and gas assets and syndication business. 

Most recently, in February 2015, Atlas sold 

its Midstream Oil and Gas Subsidiary, Atlas 

Pipeline Partners, L. P., to Targa Resources in 

a transaction originally valued at $7.7 billion. 

Atlas Energy, L. P., was also merged with Targa 

and as a result Atlas Energy Group, LLC, was 

formed to hold the remaining interests not 

sold to Targa. Atlas Energy Group today 

trades under the ticker symbol “ATLS” on the 

New York Stock Exchange. 

This phenomenal growth can be attributed 

to the astute thinking of staff members who 

are well-versed in the O&G industry, and the 

forward-thinking members of its board. 

Jonathan Cohen, J. D., is executive chairman 

of Atlas Energy GP, LLC, and chairman of the 

executive committee. He is also chief executive 

officer of Atlas Energy GP, LLC, president of 

Atlas Energy GP, and chief executive officer 

and director of Atlas Energy GP, LLC and a 

member of the executive committee. 

Atlas continues its focus to continue providing 

strong value for all of its various stakeholders 

through development in all of its operating 

areas, acquisition of long-lived mature producing 

properties, and through the advancement 

of its syndication business. It also maintains 

the preservation of the environment as a critical 

focus, and the health and safety of its 

employees, local citizens, and all constituents 

is given the company’s highest priority. 

For additional information on Atlas Energy 

Group, LLC, visit www.atlasenergy.com. 


1 9 3

KENOIL 

Above: Lois Miller stands at the door to 

the company’s first office that existed from 

1961 to 1966. 

Below: Ken Miller stands next to the 

company’s first storeroom that existed from 


The story of Ken Miller and his companies 

is a story of American ingenuity and parallels 

the fascinating role of the oil and gas 

industry in the late twentieth 

century at home and around 

the world. Its founding can 

be traced to 1960 after Ken 

began investing in oil and 

gas wells with various cable 

tool drillers, who were good 

and honest operators. Ken 

sold pipe to many of them 

and decided to form Ken 

Miller Supply. 

By the end of the decade, 

the growing company was 

buying old, played-out wells 

and plugging them so they 

could sell the used pipe from 

each well. After the price of oil 

rose from $3 to $12.77 during 

the Arab Oil Embargo of 

1974, Ken began pumping 

the old wells. A year later, 

Kenoil was formed to drill 

around them. 

In the late 1980s, U.S. 

President Ronald Reagan struck 

a deal with Saudi Arabia that 

dropped the price of oil from 

$25 to $9.00 a barrel. Russia 

was also desperate for cash flow, 

which played a major role in 

ending the Cold War, but at 

the same time America’s oil 

producers also played an unwitting 

role in this historic shift 

and suffered as oil had to be sold 

at a cost less than their lifting 

costs. Kenoil bought many of 

these cash strapped companies 

and nursed them along until oil 

prices rebounded. 

By the early 1990s, Seismic 

settled into the Ohio market and 

made the drilling of the Roserun 

and Trempeleau Fields feasible. 

Kenoil was a major participant 

in this play with producing 

wells in fourteen counties. In 

2012, Shale came to Ohio and 

Kenoil is poised to participate when the play 

comes to counties where they have acreage 

held by production. 


194

The Ken Miller Supply 

Oil, Gas, Car, Truck and 

Agriculture Museum near 

Shreve, Ohio, debuted in 

1982. The unique effort traces 

the history of these natural 

resources from 1750, when 

the Whaling Industry supplied 

all of the world’s oil, to 

1870, when oil was discovered 

beneath the earth’s crust 

and the industry was transformed 

and the killing of 

whales for oil was virtually 

eliminated. Since that time, 

landowners such as farmers 

have sought to work together 

with the industry to successfully 

produce oil and gas, 

while landowners have 

received millions of dollars 

for their free royalty in Ohio 

wells. The museum highlights the early primitive 

equipment used in both the oil and gas 

and farming industries, and includes a large 

collection of oil cans and gasoline pumps to 

illustrate how oil put “America on wheels.” 

Today, the museum is regarded as one of 

the finest oil and gas museums in North 

America and has grown to include a large 

collection of oilfield tools, machinery, and 

photos with both indoor and outdoor 

displays that bring the past to life. “The oil 

and gas business has been good to us, so 

I wanted to give something back”, says Ken. 

It was his distinct love for history that served 

as a motivating factor in the acquisition 

and preservation of this fabulous collection 

of oilfield antiques. 

The museum is located near Shreve, 

Ohio, just minutes from Wooster on State 

Road 226 and tours may be scheduled by 

phoning 330-263-7890. Individuals and 

groups are welcome. 

THE KEN MILLER 

SUPPLY OIL, 

GAS, CAR, 

TRUCK AND 

AGRICULTURE 

MUSEUM 

Above: Left to right, Jack, Max and 

Ken Miller. 

Below: The Ken Miller Supply Oil, Gas, 

Car, Truck and Agriculture Museum. 


1 9 5

KEN MILLER 

SUPPLY, INC. 

Left to right: Ron, Ken, Jack and Dan Miller 

stand alongside the company’s first truck. 

Its first day on the job, the motor blew up 

and the company never even received 

payment for the job. 

When Ken Miller first began buying and 

selling used pipe and renting 300 BBL frac 

tanks, he needed what most people in his 

line of work need—a good, dependable truck. 

How he found that truck is the stuff of legend. 

It was setting wrecked in front of a tree 

along the roadside at the bottom of a hill, so 

Ken inquired about it. The owner told him 

that he was driving down the hill when a 

snake came up out of a hole beside him in the 

seat. The owner turned to the snake and said, 

“It’s all yours!” Ken enjoyed the story so much 

that bought the truck on the spot. 

Founded in 1959, Ken Miller Supply, Inc. 

was owned and operated by Ken and Lois 

Miller. A firm belief that “teams don’t win 

without good players”, created a successful 

foundation for staffing a small company 

whose business was renting frac tanks and 

buying and selling used pipe and production 

equipment. As the second generation of the 

Miller family entered the business, company 

growth accelerated. A new pipe account, 

Republic Steel, was acquired, and Ken Miller 

Supply, Inc., quickly became a fast growing 

supplier of oil country casing. The next 

milestone was achieved by acquiring a 

distributorship for Churchill pump jacks, 

a well thought of product in its own field. 

The frac tank business and Ken Miller Supply 

was revolutionized by Ken when he invented 

the straight truck by adding a ten foot driveline 

and stretching the frame ten feet. This enabled 

his company to haul a thirty foot tank on a 

twenty foot straight truck bed and allowed drivers 

to get in and out of muddy lease roads more 

efficiently than tractor and trailers. Soon, Ken 

Miller Supply had the world’s largest fleet of 

300 BBL frac tanks. The cash flow from frac 

tank rental helped the pipe supply business 

grow and threading machines were added. 

As Ken Miller Supply, Inc., became a second 

generation company with just one location in 

Wooster, Ohio, it grew to a total of eleven supply 

stores and pipe yards located strategically 

throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 

Virginia and Kentucky. In 1978, Ken’s son Jack, 

who was working as a straight truck driver, 

sold a $1 million dollar new pipe order. Ken 

Miller Supply did not have new pipe to sell so 

Ken, Jack, and Max Miller drove to Newport 

Steel and told them they had a million dollar 

order and needed to buy some pipe. 

The second generation family members 

working in the company are Jack and 

Max Miller. Third generation Millers now 

involved are: Co-CEO Kirk Miller, Co-CEO 

Lindy Chandler, Field Operations Brandon 

Grosjean, and Field Operations Cole Miller. 

Ken Miller Supply, Inc. is known as the 

“hands on” supplier, with a sterling reputation 

as a quality threader and hydrotester of 


196

oil country tubulars goods. They carry large 

inventories of sizes common to the 

Appalachian Basin and ship tubulars into 

many other parts of the United States. 

Ken Miller Supply, Inc., has a strong history 

of service and hard work that has passed 

from generation to generation, and is a common 

thread throughout the company; its 

owners and employees. The Miller family is 

known for their many contributions to area 

ministries, stadiums, ball fields, gymnasiums, 

schools, and universities. 

Today, the historic company is located in 

Wooster, Fallsburg, Marietta, and Junction 

City, Ohio; Weston, Glenville, and Elkview, 

West Virginia; Conneautville and Indiana, 

Pennsylvania; Pikeville, Kentucky; Coeburn, 

Virginia, and at www.kenmillersupply.com. 

Ken Miller stands at the first Roserun Well, 

which made 180 bbl a day for 

several years. 


1 9 7

MOORE WELL 

SERVICES INC. 

Among the leading providers of Ohio’s 

natural gas resources stands Moore Well 

Services, Inc. Family owned and operated, the 

company was founded in April of 1996 by 

Robert “Bob” (1944-2009) and Connie Moore. 

Educated at Kent State University High School 

in Kent and Field High School in Brimfield, 

Bob worked at Maple Crest Golf Course in 

Brimfield from the time he was ten years old 

and developed a strong work ethic that 

carried him through receiving his certificate 

of apprentice as a carpenter in the late 1960s. 

In the early 1970s, Bob 

turned his attention to overseeing 

cattle operations in 

Wayne County along with 

looking after the Monroe 

Coal Company, located in 

Muskingum County. These 

opportunities led him into his 

life’s calling, the oil and gas 

industry, and he never left. 

With a Chevrolet El Camino 

and the desire to learn, Bob 

was focused on acquiring 

knowledge in the oilfield. 

Employed by Edward Barr at K. S. T. Oil 

and Gas Company, the two combined for a 

powerful team that lead to over 1,200 well 

completions throughout the Appalachian 

region. During his twenty-five tenure with the 

company, Bob gained considerable experience 

in the industry while overseeing the drilling, 

completion and production of more than 

1,200 wells across the state of Ohio. 

In 1995, K. S. T. sold its holdings and was 

dissolved, but Bob and his wife, Connie wanted 

to continue their passion of exploring and 

producing wells throughout Ohio. With its 

founding, the couple established a true family 

business with MWS that included Keith and 

Stephenie Moore and Jeff and Bernadette 

Moore. Bob and Connie also believed in their 

employees, the industry and what it stood 

for, and even continued the employment of 

field personnel from their savings until the 

operations of their own company, Moore Well 

Services, were established and operating. 

Working on a shoestring budget from 

their savings, MWS was created and provided 

a complete oilfield service company. The 

Moore brothers headed out in the field 

with that core group of employees that 

Bob retained while adding new blood as 

needed. Typical oilfield hours were the 

norm, leaving little time for anything else. 

Stephenie and Bernadette also worked full 

time while raising the third generation of 

Moore’s at the shop, including Zack, Morgan, 

Dakota “Cody,” Ryleah, Madison, Garrett, 

McKinnley, Kyleigh, Emilie and McCalister. 

Providing services for the industry from the 

mid-1990s, MWS began acquiring production 

throughout this time as well. In the early 

2000s, MWS was able to secure holdings 

that tripled its well count and began the 


198

ehabilitation of old wells producing 

in its region. MWS and its affiliates have 

continued this process of acquiring 

both existing production and new 

production to this day. 

Paving the way with his thirty-five 

years of experience, Bob passed away 

in 2009. He taught his second and 

third generation of family the values 

of hard work, knowledge and the 

meaning of a handshake. To this day, 

Jeff and Keith continue running service operations 

on a daily basis maintaining production, 

acquiring new leases and developing 

relationships with partners throughout the 

industry. Bob was an active member of the 

industry and a trustee for the Ohio Oil and 

Gas Association, where he was inducted into 

the Ohio Oil and Gas Hall of fame in 2011. 

Today, nearly two decades after its founding, 

Moore Well Services has secured a 

vital position in the state’s ever-growing and 

ever-changing oil and gas landscape. The 

company provides twenty-four hour service 

across the entire industry. MWS employs 

between 15 to 20 full time positions and 

5 to 10 part-time positions depending on 

the work load and drilling programs. The 

company’s strong customer base is made 

up of producers, landowners, municipalities, 

school districts and both state and federal 

agencies covering all of Ohio, and portions of 

Pennsylvania and New York. 


1 9 9

Top: The Moore Family. 

Bob and Connie’s sons, Jeff and Keith, 

continue to operate the company with a 

sense of heritage and pride in their parents’ 

foundational principles that have existed 

from the company’s creation. 

Jeff worked for K.S.T. Oil and Gas Company 

from 1987 to 1996 and gained a variety of 

experiences in the field. He attended the 

Enterra Oil Field School in Ripley, West 

Virginia, as well as many safety and education 

courses related to the industry. Jeff currently 

sits on the Ohio Oil & Gas Associations, 

Board of Trustees as Region II spokesperson 

for the Ohio Oil & Gas Association. 

Keith was employed with K.S.T. Oil and 

Gas Company from 1985 to 1996. There he 

gained experience in the field 

with exploration operations, 

completions and where he 

is today, a specialist in the 

drilling and service rig 

operations. Keith, like Jeff, 

attended the Enterra Oil 

Field School and many 

safety and education courses 

related to the industry. He 

also helped with the building 

of Ohio’s first oil and gas 

fire training facility in 

Wayne County. 

The key to any business 

is its employees and MWS 

has been fortunate to be 

with the best people in the area and would 

like to point out these individuals for their 

hard work and dedication. Key employees 

and allies both past and present include: 

Chuck Vajner, legal and title; Jim Starcher, 

water operations; Joe Stack, head mechanic; 

Bobby Glass, water operations and injection 

well; Shane Limric, head supervisor; Robert 

Cramer, rig supervisor; Terry Jones, rig operator; 

Frank Riggle, production /rig operator; 

Rod Massey, production; Suzanne Young, 

controller; Nick Marsick, land and leasing; 

Bob Rufner, production; John Mazrek, 

production; George Kerns, rig operator; 

Alicia Glodich, office manager; and Kaylee 

Kren, daughter; Zack Moore, field technician; 

Morgan Moore, office assistant; Dakota 

“Cody” Moore, field technician; Madison 

Moore, office assistant; Mason Neff, field 

technician; Jim Dalziel, field technician; 

Harold Hosterman, field technician; Allen 

Johnston, Johnston Electric; David Mathena, 

accountant; and many others. The Moore 

family would like to give a special “thank you” 

to those mentioned and to all of the employees 

that have worked at MWS in the past, 

realizing that without all of their hard work, 

MWS would not be successful today. The 

family is also grateful to their landowners 

and allies across the industry. 

Moore Well Services, Inc,. is headquartered 

at 837 Seasons Road in Stow, and 246 North 

Cleveland Avenue in Mogadore, also online at 

www.moorewellservices.com. 


200

Committed to the continued long-term 

development of oil and gas production across 

Ohio, Bakerwell, Inc,. was gradually formed 

through the many years of drilling and 

service rig experience of L. Andrew “Andy” 

Baker, the son of W. R. Baker and brother 

to William Roscoe Baker, Flavel 

Baker, Robert Perry Baker and 

Paul R. Baker all with a wealth 

of experience in the oil patch. 

The sons of Andy, after leaving 

home for higher education 

and gaining various business 

experiences in other industries 

and professions, migrated back 

to the oil patch. Today, the 

company includes Bakerwell, 

Inc., Bakerwell Service Rigs, 

Inc., Tidalwave Services, Inc., 

Baker Boys, Inc., and Baker 

Boys, Properties, LLC. 

Late in the boom of the 1970s, Wesley Rex 

Baker was ready to return to Ohio 

from Georgia to start a business in the oil 

patch using the experiences of his father 

Andy. After Rex raised enough money from 

Andy and his brothers Jeffrey J. A. and 

William T., he leveraged the purchase of 

an old Cooper Single Pole Service Rig 

and hired his first rig hand by picking up 

a hitchhiker along SR 62 on his way to the 

first service job. 

Jeffrey J. A. Baker, CPA, incorporated 

the businesses on February 28, 1981, as 

Bakerwell, Inc. and Bakerwell Service Rigs, 

Inc. C. Ruston Baker started a water hauling 

company, Tidalwave Services, Inc., which 

later became a subsidiary to Bakerwell. Andy, 

Jeffrey, W. Rex, Robert Kent “Roc” Baker, 

CPA, and C. Ruston Baker were all fulltime 

employees of Bakerwell by the 

mid-1980s. Jeffrey served two year terms as 

treasurer, vice president and president of the 

Ohio Oil and Gas Association from 2001 to 

2006. The Bakers’ brother Timothy passed 

away on September 20, 1992. 

The group’s first well for investment was 

the Andrews #1 near Killbuck, Ohio. In 

the early 1990s, Bakerwell started drilling 

Rose Run and Trempealeau wells in the 

Knox Unconformity. From 1993 to 1995, 

Bakerwell drilled seventeen successful Rose 

Run wells without a dry hole. For the next 

sixteen years, Bakerwell drilled 175 Knox 

Unconformity wells and participated in 

another 390 Knox Unconformity wells with 

other Ohio oil and gas producers. 

Headquartered in Killbuck and Westerville, 

Ohio, Bakerwell, Inc., includes gross revenues 

in the best years topping $10 million and 

as many as fifty employees. Today, the 

business has settled in with just over twenty 

employees and annual revenue of $3 to 4 

million. The best customer for their service 

companies has been Bakerwell. 

For more information, visit the company 

online at www.bakerwell.com. 

BAKERWELL, INC. 


2 0 1

J. D. GAS & 

OIL, INC. 

OHIO NATURAL 

GAS SERVICES, 

INC. 

Above: John Dosch’s first well drilled, 2003. 

Below: John Dosch with sons, left to right, 

Patrick and Ross Taylor. 

A first generation, fully independent 

producer of crude oil and natural gas, 

J. D. Gas & Oil, Inc., was founded by 

John Dosch in 1989 and has flourished into 

the twenty-first century with sites in ten 

counties across Ohio and West Virginia. Since 

its opening, the company has maintained 

a steady growth in the field through an 

unwavering commitment to the ideals of low 

cost, efficiency, production, family values, 

dedication and good old-fashioned hard work. 

When John considers the past and how 

he arrived in his life’s work, he immediately 

recalls his boyhood. “My parents made me 

work hard as a young boy and save, save, save 

my money,” he recalls. “I started working for 

Cameron Drilling in 1979. It was very hard, 

tough work, but they worked hard too—and 

they were the owners. You don’t see that often. 

They worked along with you, expected you to 

work hard and preached to all of us about 

saving our money. I was pretty sheltered 

back then as I hadn’t yet been exposed to the 

‘big oil’ investor-type companies.” 

Later, John was working for an investmenttype 

oil and gas company. At the same time, 

oil and gas prices became sluggish and so 

the company wanted to pursue their other 

interests and sold John six wells. The next 

year, John added twelve more, and then the 

remaining thirty-two wells, which included 

office equipment, files, trucks, and equipment. 

“I purchased everything on my own, and we 

were quickly up and running as a company 

in those first three years,” John recalls. 

“My personal goal was to drill a well with 

my own money before I was fifty years old. 

In 2003, I turned forty and did just that in 

an old gas field, drilling prices were still fairly 

low and gas prices were coming up, so we did 

alright. Today, what we do is ‘cookie-cutter’ 

stuff. We produce in the traditional Clinton and 

Berea formations and have assumed ownership 

of several older gas transmission lines. We 

have purchased old wells and drilled new 

wells ever since that first new well in 2003. 

As a necessity to keep our wells producing, 

I work right beside everyone, every day.” 


202

Those early impressions and profoundly 

important experiences would shape and hone 

John throughout his life. When he decided to 

form his own company, he knew hard work 

would require just the right team. “We had a 

very young crew back then, boys who worked 

their tails off, including our own boys” John 

says with a chuckle. “They were driving trucks 

and using equipment at a very young age!” 

For John and his young company, there 

were always lessons to be learned. “This has 

always been a business where you can learn 

something new every day; you just have to 

look for it. Early on, I realized that one of my 

most important responsibilities was to watch 

production,” says John. “You have to get paid 

for what you produce…we’ve been lucky, but 

we’ve also made our own luck.” 

Beyond hard work, John instinctively 

realized the necessity of remaining a totally 

independent oil man. To this day, he does not 

have investors and owns everything exclusively. 

“I always said that I would rather own 100 

percent of ten wells than ten percent of 100 

wells, and I learned early on not to ask anyone 

to do something that I wouldn’t do myself,” 

says John. “We learned to keep very good 

records, both in our production and finances, 

and that always pays off in the long run.” 

Always with any eye toward innovation and 

new interests in the field, John also established 

Ohio Natural Gas Services, Inc. (ONGS) in 

2004. It was formed after John acquired 

NESC, formerly a service company that had 

established itself among customers as ninety 

percent automotive and ten percent oil and 

Top: John Dosch with his young crew setting 

up to frac. 

Above: John Dosch (left) getting dirty on 

a plugback. 


2 0 3

Above: John Dosch (center) and son, Ross 

Taylor (second from right) with a nice 

oil well. 

Below: John Dosch hooking up a new well 

on a cold day. 

gas, at just the right time. John recalls, “I was 

just lucky in catching the oil and gas market 

in an upswing.” 

Today, Ohio Natural Gas Services serves 

nearly its entire customer base in the oil and 

gas market, while remaining active in automotive 

care, across the industry. 

Throughout his career, John has surrounded 

himself with a team of outstanding, visionary 

people who have, as he often says, “weathered 

all kinds of storms” with him. They include 

Terry Dunn and Margaret Zaleski, who have 

both remained with John since the company’s 

opening; Lloyd Cutright and Penny Warehime 

of ONGS; the entire group at Cameron Drilling; 

Kevin Smith and Oxford Oil Company; many 

trusted contractors and a host of state oil and 

gas inspectors. John’s oldest son, Ross Taylor, 

has remained invaluable to the company and 

continues to carry more and more responsibility 

in the day-to-day work of the companies. 

Patrick Taylor, John’s youngest son, graduated 

with a degree in petroleum engineering from 

Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, and works 

for CNX Gas in Pennsylvania. 

John’s dedication to the field has resulted 

in his appointment to the Ohio Oil and Gas 

Association (OOGA), where he served one 

term as a trustee. He remains a staunch 

supporter of the organization as well as the 

Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program 

(OOGEEP), a nonprofit statewide education 

and public outreach program that was created 

in 1998. John is a lifetime member of Safari 

Club International and the National Rifle 

Association (NRA) and is an active supporter 

of numerous local charities. 

J. D. Gas & Oil, Inc,. now include six 

full time employees and two contractors and 

is located at 6995 Sweetheart Drive. Ohio 

Natural Gas Services, Inc,. is located at 5600 

East Pike. Both remain proudly headquartered 

in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio. 


204

KNOX ENERGY 

INC. 

Knox Energy Inc. is an oil and gas 

exploration and production company and 

was formed in 1998 by Mark Jordan and 

his father, Jerry Jordan. Jerry practiced law for 

twenty-five years at the Vorys, Sater, Seymour 

and Pease Law Firm in Columbus, Ohio, 

specializing in oil and gas. In 1988, Jerry left 

the Vorys firm to become CEO of CGAS Inc., 

a publicly traded oil and gas company. In 

1998, Jerry was selected as the chairman of 

IPAA. Mark also worked at CGAS for fourteen 

years after graduating from college. 

However, the family’s involvement in the 

oil business began one generation earlier with 

Jerry’s father, Welcher “Fat” Jordan, when he 

entered the business in the 1920s in Duncan, 

Oklahoma. As the family story goes, Fat was 

working as a farmer in the cotton fields for 

his father when one day a man stopped by 

to ask him if he wanted to make a dollar a 

day working as a roughneck on a nearby 

drilling rig. After receiving his father’s 

approval, Fat started in the field, and 

remained there for the next forty years. He 

ultimately became an owner of two rotary rigs 

and drilled in southern Illinois for Carter Oil. 

Knox Energy Inc. began with the purchase 

of approximately 380 wells from CGAS. The 

following year Knox purchased a service rig 

from Harry Berry, a longtime friend of Mark. 

This started the company in the oilfield 

services business. However, Knox would not 

have bought that first service rig if it had not 

been for Bill Mitton, a field supervisor and 

coworker with Mark and Jerry at CGAS, who 

had great experience in service rig operations. 

Bill is now vice president of field operations 

at Knox. 

Today, Knox owns and operates 620 wells in 

Ohio of which over 400 were drilled by Knox. 

It also owns five service rigs and other oilfield 

equipment. The company has two offices—a 

field office located in Muskingum County and 

the main office in Columbus. Knox currently 

employs approximately forty-five people, many 

of which came from CGAS and also includes 

two of Mark’s sons, Matthew and Eric. 

One of the things the company is most 

proud of is the team of people they have put 

together. Without their great efforts Knox 

would not be the company it is today. They 

are also very proud of the great relationships 

they have made with landowners, investors 

and all the businesses that work with 

them. For they have learned, “It takes a lot of 

people to drill a well.” 

THE JORDAN 

FAMILY 

Above: Jerry at Rose Run drill in Dresden, 

Ohio in October 1991. 


2 0 5

Heskett House. 

MATTMARK 

DRILLING 

COMPANY 

Gerald Benson is widely respected in the 

Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia oil 

and gas (O&G) industry. As president of 

Mattmark Drilling Company, he is known as 

resourceful, fair, and heavily involved, not 

only in his own business, but the industry 

and community as a whole. 

Born in Manchester, England, he emigrated 

to the U. S. in 1970, becoming a citizen 

November 8, 1977. Educated at Somerset 

University in Somerset, England, where he 

obtained a bachelor’s degree in business 

studies, he was armed with the knowledge 

that would set him on the career path that he 

was destined to take. And, he loves every 

minute of it. 

He founded the Benatty Corporation (forerunner 

of Mattmark) in 1972, and realized 

that the petroleum industry was his forte. 

An oil and gas producer, Benatty has had 

deep roots in the oilfields of Ohio for more 

than forty years, drilling over 450 wells in 

Southeastern Ohio. In 1994, he sold the 

Benatty assets to Belden and Blake. 

He founded Mattmark Drilling in 1988, 

operating as an independent drilling contractor 

with more than 250 oil and gas wells in 

Southeastern Ohio. (He named the company 

for sons Matt, an attorney, and Mark (MBA), 

an investment advisor, who joined his father 

as vice president.) In 1998, Benson sold those 

assets (drilling rigs, etc.) to Pinnacle Drilling; 

however, Mattmark continued under its own 

banner, operating leasing and royalty acquisition 

activities. Since that time, it has acquired 

and divested more than 10,000 acres of oil 

and gas leases; and, it owns O&G mineral 

rights and royalties throughout Ohio. 

In reflecting on the Ohio, Pennsylvania and 

West Virginia oil industry, the founder/president 

says, “Up until about three or four years 

ago, Shell Oil was the biggest ‘brand name’ 

operating in the area. Residents were ready 

to sign leases with that company, thinking 

prosperity would fall in their laps. A few 

of the landowners received bonus checks 

from Shell, but many did not realize the 

dream for which they had hoped.” Smaller 

gas companies such as Mattmark, however, 

were waiting in the wings to pick up the 

slack and void that was felt when the giant 

O&G company pulled out of the area. New 

participants are Antero, Carrizo, Eclipse, 

Hess, PDC, Statoil and Triad-Hunter. 

“When Shell pulled out, the smaller companies 

stepped up production efforts, bringing 

financial stability to the area in the form of 

pipeline rights-of-way payments from owners’ 

leases, O&G bonus checks, etc. Landowners 

who lease with Mattmark Drilling (and similar 

companies) are included in drilling units and 

now reap checks on a regular basis,” he adds. 


206

Later, he founded Mattmark Property 

Company, which owns oil and gas mineral 

rights (royalties) and real estate in Southeastern 

Ohio. The company acquires leasehold 

acreage to identify potential drilling prospects 

in order to successfully explore and develop 

the acreage. Its primary focus is acreage located 

in the liquids/condensate portion of the 

Utica Shale fairway in Southeastern Ohio. 

Mattmark currently holds approximately 

10,000 acres of “deep rights” in Athens 

County. While this portion of the Utica Shale 

play is largely unproven as of this writing, 

recent vertical test wells in the area have 

shown that the Utica Shale is, in fact, present 

in Athens County. 

Benson is also co-owner of Sangria 

Development Company with William Black, 

Jr., of Byesville where they are involved in 

developing retail businesses such as Southgate 

Carry Out, Moore Brothers Hardware, and 

Plus One Pizza. While he is involved in other 

ventures, petroleum still runs deeply through 

his veins. 

“There was a time,” he says, “when O&G 

companies were called carpetbaggers—someone 

who came from other states—to reap 

the rewards of the industry.” Early on, it 

was possible that Benson was perceived 

as such; but his longevity, dedication to, 

and involvement in Ohio’s O&G industry 

have demonstrated that he is committed to 

the industry and community as a whole. 

Cambridge is where he and his wife, Georgia, 

raised and educated their sons. 

Benson has a strong working relationship 

with all the major banks and savings institutions 

in Cambridge and St. Clairsville, serving 

on the boards of directors at People Bank 

(later National City Bank), and Steel Valley 

Bank in St. Clairsville (Ameribank). He is a 

member of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, 

the Independent Petroleum Association of 

America, the Southeast Ohio Oil & Gas 

Association, Byesville VFW 3760, and 

Eagles FOE Aerie 386. In many of these 

organizations, he has served as trustee, 

chairman of the board, and/or past president. 

Although he values his family, church 

(St. Benedict’s), community, business, and 

industry most in his life, he gives credit to 

the day he became an American citizen. 

Twenty-five years later, he was recognized 

in 2002 by the Honorable Robert W. Ney, a 

member of Congress from his district, who 

issued a proclamation citing his responsible 

citizenship, demonstrated commitment to 

the community of Cambridge, Ohio, and 

his American successes. Introducing the 

proclamation on the floor of Congress, it 

was requested that the document be printed 

in The Congressional Record. (This document 

hangs on his office wall; and a copy of The 

Congressional Record is only fingertips away.) 

Above: Spending time with the grandkids. 


2 0 7

MB OIL & 

GAS, LLC 

Left to right: John D. Barber, H. S. Belden, Jr., 

Charles. S. Bolender, George Kessling, and 

John D. P. Elder. This photograph was taken 

on March 20, 1920, in Junction City, Ohio. 

Almost always, when there is a story about 

an oil and gas (O&G) business, you can bet 

that long ago, a single family played a vital 

role in laying the foundation, building the history 

of the company. This story, in fact, is not 

just about MB Oil & Gas of Canton, Ohio, but 

the Belden family’s role in the O&G industry. 

In the 1860s, the great grandfathers of 

MB Oil & Gas founder Marshall Belden 

invested in Pennsylvania oil fields, drilling 

on Ohio River islands. Industry connections 

continued through the late nineteenth century 

via leasing of family-owned lands and directwell 

investments. Marshall’s uncle, John Barber, 

(nephew of President William McKinley) 

started an oil company in 1919. Known as the 

Canton Petroleum Company, it was sold 

about ten years later. Marshall’s father, Henry 

S. Belden, Jr., was an investor and principal in 

that company. 

In 1930, East Ohio Gas Company, a utility 

in northeast Ohio, began drilling wells 

in-and-around Jackson/Plain Townships. One 

well was drilled on a farm owned by Henry 

Belden, Jr. The well was successful and 

more wells followed during the Depression 

providing needed income to prevent the 

farm from being sold for back taxes. That was 

the impetus for young Marsh to pursue oil 

and gas as a career. 

Marsh took his first lease in 1933 and 

drilled his first well in 1936 in Tuscarawas 

County, Ohio. During the 1930s he accepted 

any job available to continue his oil interests, 

including working locally on the open hearth 

at a local steel mill, and as a rubber curer. 

In the late 1930s-1940s, he spent time in 

Michigan leasing and drilling wells in the 

Troy Township, Newago County next to what 

became a large-producing oil field. Michigan 

was not successful for Marsh, so he kept leasing 

and drilling wells with local investor-groups. 

In 1945, he discovered large gas reserves on 

the Stark County Infirmary lease in Canton; 

starting what East Ohio Gas termed the 

“largest gas field” in Ohio history. 

Canton’s gas boom lasted five to six years 

with hundreds of wells drilled in every empty 

town lot in the city. In 1946, Canton Oil & 

Gas Co. was established to drill and operate 

cable tool rigs and the new rotary drilling 

rigs. In 1952, he began utilizing new hydrofracing 

to stimulate wells as opposed to older 

methods of “shooting” with nitroglycerin. 

Marsh had hired numerous employees, 

including his brother, Henry S. Belden III, 

who joined him after working at a local 

drop-forging plant. The next several years 

were, as with any boom time in the oil patch, 

very busy ones. 

In 1930, Marsh spent time in Cody, 

Wyoming, working at a ranch owned by 

Buffalo Bill Cody’s niece (his father spent 

some seasons hunting there in the 1920s). His 

love for the West and ranching resulted in a 

decision in 1952 to move to Colorado Springs 


208

and continue oil and gas exploration out 

West. In 1955, Belden & Blake Oil Production 

partnership was established with Marsh’s 

brother Henry, and cousin, Glenn Blake, as 

partners to manage the company’s activities 

in Ohio. Canton Oil & Gas continued as the 

operating arm for the new company. 

After twelve years and numerous attempts 

to establish a producing field in Colorado, 

including amassing, a sizable acreage south of 

Colorado Springs and the Raton Basin, west of 

Trinidad, Colorado, Marsh had meager return 

on his investment. He tried gold and uranium 

mining and cattle ranching, which were also 

unprofitable. In 1964, he returned to Ohio, 

and MB Oil & Gas was founded as 

a sole proprietorship, acquiring leases in 

Ohio and Colorado (operating today under 

MB Oil & Gas, LLC by Marshall Belden, Jr.). 

The partnership interest in Belden & Blake 

Oil Production was sold, and Marsh began 

drilling and acquiring leases again with 

local investors under MB Oil & Gas. At that 

time, another boom began in East Canton 

where Marsh had established a reasonable 

lease inventory. 

The boom attracted investors and promoters 

from across the country and, Marsh in 1968, 

established an operating arm to care for the 

wells being drilled. The company became 

known as MB Operating Co., Inc. From 1966- 

1970, approximately 150 wells were drilled and 

numerous drilling partnerships, formed. In 

1970, Marsh, Jr., having finished the Petroleum 

Engineering curricula at the Colorado School of 

Mines, joined the company. For the following 

twenty-five years, M. B. Belden served as CEO 

and president until his death in 1995. Marsh, Jr., 

who assumed the vice presidency in 1977, 

succeeded his father. Then, in 1996, MB 

Operating Company merged with Northeast 

Ohio Natural Gas to become Marbel Energy. 

At that time, about 1,600 plus wells and 

approximately 2,000 miles of gas-gathering 

systems were built, as well as a large gas utility 

operating in the eastern half of the state. 

In 1998 the company was sold; and, the 

successful bidder was First Energy, one of the 

largest electric utility companies in the nation. 

(It was subsequently sold to Range Resources 

and later, to Enervest.) 

MB Oil & Gas continues today under 

the leadership of Marsh, Jr., in an investor 

capacity, with wells throughout Ohio, as 

well as maintaining investments in many 

Western states. 

Left: Marshall Belden, Sr., explains to 

Canton City councilmen drilling safety 

features, Stark County Infirmary #4, 

May 1946. 

Right: Left to right, Blace Smith, vice 

president; Marshall Belden, Sr., chaiman; 

Ben Thomas, vice president of production 

and Marshall Belden, Jr., president. 


2 0 9

AMERICAN 

REFINING 

GROUP, INC. 

Above: ARG’s refinery in Bradford, 

Pennsylvania, McKean County. The 

photograph shows the crude unit, diesel 

hydrotreater, storage tanks, barrel house, 

four-bay and main office. Research and 

development buildings are at the far left. 

The refinery facility spans three miles. 

Below: The Sandyville terminal. 

American Refining Group, Inc,. (ARG), 

while headquartered in Pennsylvania, operates 

a critical crude-gathering function at two 

locations in Ohio. ARG’s Ohio team comprises 

28 full-time employees at sites in Mineral City 

and Randolph, including 19 truck drivers, 

2 railcar loaders, 1 mechanic, 1 administrative 

clerk, 3 supervisors, 1 manager and 1 vice 

president. The team is responsible for gathering 

crude oil from locations throughout Ohio 

and unloading it into two 15,000 barrel 

storage tanks at the Sandyville terminal. A 

variety of vehicles are used to transport the 

crude oil; the fleet includes 8 tractor-trailers, 

11 tri-axle trucks and a pair of tandem-axle 

trucks. The facility takes in approximately 

5,000 barrels of crude oil each and every day. 

The crude oil is then loaded onto railcars 

and sent to the refinery in Bradford, McKean 

County, Pennsylvania. Every year approximately 

1.2 million barrels of crude oil are sent 

via railroad to the refinery in Bradford; and, 

ARG currently maintains a fleet of roughly 

280 railcars in order to haul crude oil and 

ship its products. 

The unique, privately owned Bradford 

refinery is situated on approximately 131 

acres in the heart of McKean County and the 

birthplace of the U.S. domestic oil industry 

more than a century ago. The refinery, which 

was established in 1881, is the oldest 

continuously operating lube-oil refinery in 

North America, has a rated capacity of 11,000 

barrels per day and processes light, sweet, 

paraffinic crude oil. This type of crude oil 

is characterized by low asphaltene content 

and high lubricant yields. It is available 

domestically, and ARG purchases the majority 

of its crude oil from sources in Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia. 

Much of the success ARG has enjoyed 

throughout the years is due largely to the 

highly valued relationships it maintains with 

all of its crude-oil producers. 

American Refining Group, Inc,. purchased 

the refinery—formerly home to Kendall/ 

Amalie Motor Oils—in March of 1997 and 

since then has increased its employment 

from 158 to more than 350 full-time 

employees. The Bradford facility includes a 

crude-distillation tower, five processing units, 

376 feedstock- and product-storage tanks, 

a main office building, a refinery office 

building, research and control laboratories, 

various warehouses and maintenance shops. 

Here ARG stocks are converted into highquality 

waxes, lubricant base oils, gasoline, 

diesel fuel, fuel oil, naphtha and distillate 

solvents, as well as a wide variety of specialty 

products. These include various resin blends, 

shock fluids, camping fuel, asphalt cutback 

solvents, well-treating solvent, extract blends, 

dust suppressants and quench oils. 

American Refining Group’s state-of-the-art 

blending and packaging equipment and 

facilities have the capability of producing a 


210

full spectrum of finished lubricant products. 

These products are available in a broad 

range of package sizes, including bulk, and 

delivered either by rail or truck. ARG’s total 

commitment to quality is proven through 

its packaging plant and refinery being both 

ISO 9001:2008 and Made in USA certified. 

The refinery earned its ISO certification in 

2009 and, in 2013, became the first oil 

refinery in the United States to earn the 

Made in USA Certified designation. To do so, 

ARG was required to successfully complete 

the rigorous Made in USA Certified audit of 

its entire supply chain, a crucial part of which 

is its Ohio-based crude-gathering function. 

American Refining Group’s vision is to 

create a business model of entrepreneurship 

that is service-driven, value generating and 

life-fulfilling. The company is focused on and 

committed to being a responsible corporate 

community member and partner. With a 

pervasive philanthropic spirit that is cultivated 

corporately and encouraged in its employees, 

ARG focuses its charitable giving on education, 

economic development, human services and 

healthcare. Further, American Refining Group 

has pledged to advance its communitydevelopment 

efforts by maintaining its 

commitment to keeping its dollars local and 

giving back at every feasible opportunity. An 

economic engine in its communities for more 

than 130 years, ARG acquires more than 3.5 

million barrels of 100 percent Penn Grade 

crude oil annually, the majority of which comes 

from suppliers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The 

company employs more than 350 people in 

its Ohio and Pennsylvania locations and 

maintains relationships with local contractors 

and providers of other goods and services. 

ARG has additional offices in Pittsburgh 

and West Conshohocken, providing key 

administrative support to the refinery and its 

extensive supply chain. 

The company donates tens of thousands of 

dollars annually, and thousands more are 

contributed through its employee donation 

matching program to other nonprofit 

organizations and relief efforts in the 

communities in which it operates. The 

Matching Gifts program allows for any 

donation made to a 501(c)(3) organization by 

an ARG employee to be matched, dollarfor-dollar 

(up to $500 per request), by the 

company. Harry Halloran, Jr., owner of 

American Refining Group Inc., is a dedicated 

philanthropist and ARG encourages its 

employees’ community involvement, generosity 

and voluntarism. Operating on a foundation 

of values such as integrity, trust, excellence 

and safety, ARG is committed to long-term 

sustainability via innovation, environmental 

stewardship, quality improvement and service. 

Continued investment in and development of 

its employees and the areas where they live and 

work will contribute to strong communities 

that can educate their members and provide 

positive opportunities for future generations. 

Above: The Sandyville terminal. 


2 1 1

BASS ENERGY,INC. 

Above: A young Dr. William J. Hlavin. 

Right: Dr. William J. Hlavin. 

Below: Left to right, Leon Panetta with 

Dr. William J. Hlavin. 

A full service oil and gas exploration 

and production company formed in 1983 

by Dr. William J. Hlavin, Bass Energy, Inc., 

has remained at the forefront of geologic 

exploration and geophysical data acquisition 

since its inception. The company’s goal is to 

invest in America’s future by using state-ofthe-art 

geologic and geophysical data and 

drilling techniques to explore for significant 

discoveries of oil and gas in North 

America. They operate primarily in 

Ohio and the Appalachian Basin 

and have interests in projects from 

the Gulf Coast, Mid Continent to 

the Williston Basin. Bass Energy 

also partners with industry experts 

to minimize risk and provide 

responsible energy to local markets. 

The historic company’s founder 

and president, William J. Hlavin, 

received a BS in geology from Ohio 

University in 1968. Dr. Hlavin 

received his masters and doctorate 

degrees in geology from Boston 

University in 1976. He has been 

actively engaged in well development 

in Ohio since 1969. Dr. Hlavin has participated 

in the drilling and completion of 

more than 1,000 wells, principally in northeastern 

Ohio. He has held senior management 

positions in both privately held and 

public exploration and production companies. 

He was the president of Appalachian 

Exploration, Inc., from 1976 to 1982, a 

Canton, Ohio-based company that operated 


212

Left: Dr. William J. Hlavin’s young sons, 

left to right, Daniel, Andrew and Timothy. 

over 600 wells. He served as president of 

Nancy Drilling Company, Inc., from 1982 to 

1987, an Ohio-based well drilling contractor 

and as executive vice president of the publicly 

traded Resource Exploration, Inc., from 


Dr. Hlavin, a certified professional geologist, 

is an active member of several organizations 

including the American Association of 

Petroleum Geologists, Geological Society of 

America, the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, 

where he has served as a Trustee and was 

inducted into the OOGA Oil & Gas Hall of 

Fame in 2014, and is a Fellow of the 

Explorers Club, New York City. 

Today, Bass Energy remains a privately 

owned, independent oil and gas exploration 

and production company with offices in 

Fairlawn, Ohio. The principals of Bass Energy 

have over 100 years combined experience 

drilling and producing wells in Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Illinois. The 

company is a vocal proponent of political 

issues affecting oil and gas industry regulation. 


2 1 3

ERIC 

PETROLEUM 

CORPORATION 

Front row, left to right: Donna Spurio, 

Mary Pat Perehinez, Mike Britt and 

Connie Zeck. Back row, left to right: 

Jacob McBride, Peter Papoofnick and 

Tim Silker. 

Headquartered on Silica Road in mineralrich 

Austintown Township, Mahoning County, 

Ohio, Eric Petroleum Corporation (“EPC”) 

was founded in 1983 by Bruce E. Brocker a 

year after the incorporation of its sister company, 

Capital Oil & Gas, Inc. Its offices are located 

within minutes of I-76, I-80, S. R. 11 and S. R. 

46 and just a mile east of the Meander 

Reservoir where as early as 1865 oilman James 

Mathewson of Detroit, Michigan, had been 

leasing “all the oil of all kinds, description 

and nature and especially all the Petroleum, 

Seneca or Rock oil” along the Meander Creek. 

Brocker began his oilfield career working 

for Rowley & Brown Petroleum Corporation, 

which was located in New Philadelphia, 

Ohio. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, 

Rowley & Brown drilled numerous Clinton 

wells throughout Canfield and Austintown 

Townships, some of which were drilled for 

Cleveland industries such as Ferro Corp., 

Sifco Industries and SPS Technologies as 

part of Ohio’s self-help program initiated 

during the energy crisis of that era. A number 

of those wells continue to produce in the 

vicinity of EPC’s offices. 

The assets of Rowley & Brown were 

purchased by Capital Oil & Gas, Inc., in 1982 

and the oil and gas leasing company known 

as Trinity Oil & Gas, Inc., was started in 1986 

in Warren, Ohio under the supervision of 

longtime landman, Russell G. “Rusty” Yohman. 

Capital drilled its first wells in 1983. In 

1987 the common stock of both Capital 

and Trinity was acquired by North Coast 

Energy, Inc. (“NCE”) of Bedford Heights, 

Ohio, and Brocker became chairman of 

the board. At the time Capital was the 

operator of approximately 154 wells in 

Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, and Holmes 

Counties. Capital was an aggressive regional 

developer of the Clinton formation and 

helped the City of Warren form the Warren 

Municipal Gas Service, a public utility, in 

1988 so that locally produced gas could 

be sold to its Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

In 1990, NCE initiated a public offering 

and exchanged its newly issued common stock 

for landowner royalties and units of limited 

partnership. The Delaware corporation traded 

on NASDAQ under the symbol NCEB. Capital 

continued to oversee drilling operations as 

new Clinton-Medina wells were drilled for 

the benefit of newly syndicated limited 

partnerships throughout the 1990s in Mercer, 

Lawrence, Venango, Warren and Washington 

Counties in Pennsylvania as well as in familiar 

Ohio territory. 


214

Due to the constraints characteristic of 

the limited partnership business and public 

reporting associated with trading on a national 

exchange, the entrepreneurial spirit led 

Brocker to become independent once again. In 

early 1995, he sold his stock in NCE to Lomak 

Petroleum, Inc., in exchange for the sale to 

EPC of substantially all of the oil and gas wells 

then operated by Lomak in Mahoning County. 

Four years later, EPC increased its portfolio 

with the purchase of Farrar Oil Company’s 

Alliance and East Canton Fields which 

includes the nearly fifty year old Stark 

Ceramics producing leasehold and field office. 

In 2002, EPC acquired several wells from 

Belvoir Oil & Gas, LLC in Mercer County, 

Pennsylvania and thereafter opened a field 

office between Jamestown and Greenville. 

In the ensuing years EPC invested in wells 

drilled in the vicinity by Energy Resources of 

America, Inc., a company headed by a former 

Capital officer, Joseph S. Glista. 

In 2007, Brocker attended an auction 

in Texas and EPC successfully bid on a 

package of wells and undeveloped acreage 

being offered for sale by ConocoPhillips 

covering leaseholds in Belmont, Carroll, 

Columbiana, Harrison and Jefferson 

Counties. The five wells had been operated by 

Conoco’s subsidiary, Burlington Resources. 

EPC immediately tested the Marcellus Shale 

with the drilling of its DeNoon #1 well 

in Salem Township, Jefferson County in 

February 2008. 

Since then EPC has continued to take 

advantage of its leasehold position by way of 

joint venturing with other industry partners 

in development of natural gas reserves, many 

of which are located in the heart of the Utica 

Shale play. In addition to its participation 

in the testing of these deeper formations, 

EPC continues to operate approximately 

250 conventional Clinton wells throughout 

northeastern Ohio. 

Front row, left to right: Rick Huffman, 

Tom Hill, Brandon Ellyson, Thomas 

Zamary and Mark Heagerty. Back row, 

left to right: Dan DuVall, Rich Protiva and 

Andy Downard. 


2 1 5

THE SANDY SUPPLY COMPANY 

WOOSTER TOOL & SUPPLY COMPANY 

Above: Left to right, Dick Yenne and Bob 

Hesser inspecting an oil and gas well site, 

July 2009. 

Below: A. W. Yenne, founder and president. 

SCION ENERGY, INC. 

In June 1948 the Y&N Manufacturing 

Company was founded in Wooster, Ohio, 

by Allen Wayne “A. W.” Yenne, a natural 

entrepreneur and salesman. The purpose of 

the company was to manufacture and market 

a patented invention of his named the 

Y & N Preserver Brush Safe (U.S. Patent No. 

2043643), a simple metal box used to 

preserve paint brushes after use. The product 

turned out to be a commercial failure that 

was eventually abandoned by its creator. 

Y&N’s name was changed to The Sandy 

Supply Company in 1951. Sandy Supply 

was in the business of furnishing oilfield 

equipment and materials to the oil and gas 

industry. Yenne started working in the oil and 

gas business at the age of twenty. Prior to 

starting the Y&N Manufacturing Company, 

he worked for Ohio Fuel Gas Company, 

Ohio Well Supply Company and Zanesville 

Tool & Supply Company. In the early years of 

the business, he had a partner by the name of 

Carl Smith. The name Sandy came from the 

combination of their initials “S” and “Y”. In 

the beginning the fledgling business was 

located in the founder’s basement and then 

in a furniture-less, one-room office above a 

local bank. It finally established permanent 

residence at 636 Kemrow Avenue in Wooster. 

During its peak years, The Sandy Supply 

Company employed dozens of employees 

and had a customer base that included both 

small and large oil and gas producers, drilling 

companies, trucking companies, natural gas 

distribution companies and many others. 

Just about anyone who was associated with 

the oil and gas industry in the Appalachian 

Basin from the 1950s to the 1990s was 

probably familiar with Sandy Supply and 

did business with it at one time or another. 

The company’s sales territory included all of 

Ohio as well as the oil and gas producing 

regions of Pennsylvania, New York, West 

Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, and 

Illinois. The Sandy Supply Company ceased 

business operations in 2006. 

A. W. was inducted into the Ohio Oil 

and Gas Association Hall of Fame in 1998. 

He continued to work at the businesses 

he founded well into his eighties, passing 

away in 1994 at the age of eighty-eight. 

In addition to A. W., Charles Richard 

“Dick” Yenne and Bob Hesser played key roles 

in helping Sandy Supply weather the lean 

years of its youth and grow into a prosperous, 

well-respected oil and gas equipment supply 

business. Dick was the son of A. W. and 

“Woodie” Yenne. He joined the business in 

1950, retiring in 2006 and passing away on 

July 6, 2010 at the age of seventy-nine. Bob 

arrived from Oklahoma in 1956 to work for 

the company until his retirement in 2006. 

Other family members who worked for 

The Sandy Supply Company over the years 

included Bernard “Bernie” Miller, Rick Yenne, 

Jay Yenne, Rob Yenne, Greg Miller and 

Franz Schmidt. 

The Wooster Tool & Supply Company, Inc. 

was established in 1924. Little is known 

about the company prior to A. W. taking it 

over in 1957 and, along with the assistance 

of Dick and Bob, turning it into a successful 

manufacturer of oil and gas production 

units, separators, and gas metering systems 


216

marketed under the WOOSCO brand. The 

company sold and serviced a variety of oilfield 

production equipment to operators of all sizes, 

cable tool and rotary rig drillers and a full range 

of oilfield service companies. At its height 

the company employed several dozen workers 

including machinists, welders, engineers, 

laborers, truck drivers, office workers, and 

repairmen. The business was located alongside 

The Sandy Supply Company on Kemrow 

Avenue. On January 18, 2000, Wooster Tool 

was sold to Westerman, Inc., of Bremen, Ohio. 

Continuing his entrepreneurial pursuits, 

A. W., along with Dick and Bob, founded 

Enney Oilfield Rental Company on September 

18, 1968. The name was shortened to Enney 

Oilfield Company in December 1984 and 

changed to Scion Energy, Inc. on January 27, 

1997. While Enney was originally formed to 

rent anything and everything that might be 

needed by an operator to equip a producing 

oil and gas well, the company suddenly found 

itself in the production business when, in 

1978, it was awarded ownership of over 150 

producing wells in Ohio after its biggest 

customer defaulted on its equipment lease 

agreements and was forced into bankruptcy 

by the lessor. 

A. W. served as president of the company 

until 1990, after which Jay, grandson of A. W. 

and son of Dick, took over as president of 

the company. Also involved in the business 

at one time or another were family members 

Rick Yenne, Rob Yenne, Franz Schmidt and 

Greg Miller. 

Prior to 1991, Enney had remained strictly 

an oil and gas production company. In 1991, 

Jay decided to take the company in a new 

direction by entering the exploration end of 

the business. At the time there was considerable 

excitement in the industry over the 

Knox Unconformity and the huge potential 

of the deeper Rose Run, Beekmantown, and 

Trempealeau formations. Bringing together a 

capable team of experienced exploration 

professionals who were adept at using the 

tools of their professions, the company set 

about evaluating the deep potential of its 

numerous but scattered lease holdings. As 

a result of this effort, Enney/Scion went on 

to drill dozens of deep wells throughout 

Ohio in the coming years. Now nearing its 

fiftieth year of operation, Scion continues 

to explore for oil and gas in Ohio. For more 

information about Scion Energy, Inc., go to 

www.scionenergyohio.com. 

The Sandy Supply Company and 

Wooster Tool & Supply Company offices 

and pipe yard in Wooster, Ohio. 

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY ROBERT E. YENNE. 


2 1 7

ENLINK 

MIDSTREAM 

Above: Black Run office, June 1971. 

Below: EnLink Midstream 

Bells Run Barge Terminal. 

EnLink Midstream is a leading integrated 

midstream energy company with a diverse 

geographic footprint and a strong financial 

foundation, delivering tailored customer 

solutions for sustainable growth. Many of 

EnLink Midstream’s assets have a legacy that 

includes other well-respected and historic 

energy companies. In the Ohio River Valley, it 

is a story that spans three centuries. EnLink 

Midstream honors those companies and their 

rich history here. 

John D. Rockefeller’s legacy is palpable 

in today’s energy environment—especially 

around the region where the Marcellus Shale 

and Utica Shale are located. This timeline 

shows EnLink Midstream’s connection to the 

historic Standard Oil Company through a 

winding trail of acquisitions and mergers: 

• 1863–John D. Rockefeller founds Standard 

Oil. Its pipeline activities are performed 

by its subsidiary Buckeye Pipe Line. In 

1911 the U.S. Supreme Court forces divesture 

of Standard Oil Pipelines. Buckeye 

Pipeline and Eureka Pipeline became 

independent. Eureka was subsequently 

acquired by Pennzoil. 

• 1964–The Pennsylvania Railroad acquires 

Buckeye Pipe Line, but is bankrupt by 1970. 

• 1975–Buckeye’s gathering operations spin 

off into its subsidiary, Ohio Oil Gathering 

Corporation, which was sold to Clearfield 

Energy in 1983. 

• 1980-2000–Pennzoil sells all Eureka Pipeline 

assets to Clearfield Energy. Clearfield Energy 

in 1998 purchases American River Terminals. 

• 2000s–Clearfield Energy rebuilds the 

Eureka Pipeline. 

• 2012–Crosstex Energy acquires Clearfield 

Energy. 

• 2014–Crosstex Energy and Devon Energy 

agree to combine substantially all of their 

midstream assets to form EnLink Midstream. 

EnLink Midstream was formed in 2014 

when Devon Energy agreed to combine 

substantially all of its midstream assets with 

Crosstex Energy to form a leading integrated 

midstream company with enhanced size and 

scale in core operating regions. The merger 

resulted in increased scale and diversification, 

allowing EnLink Midstream to capitalize 

on more significant opportunities in the 

midstream industry. 


218

EnLink Midstream owns and operates a 

geographically diverse portfolio of midstream 

assets located in the most prolific oil and 

gas regions in the United States, including 

gathering and transportation pipelines, 

processing plants, fractionators, barge and rail 

terminals, storage facilities, brine disposal 

wells, and a crude oil trucking fleet. In 

the Ohio River Valley, EnLink Midstream’s 

operations consist of condensate stabilization 

and natural gas compression facilities, truckunloading 

terminals, a rail-loading terminal 

on the Ohio Central Railroad network, a 

barge-loading terminal on the Ohio River, 

brine disposal wells, and crude oil pipelines 

in Ohio and West Virginia. 

Above: EnLink Midstream 

Black Run Terminal. 

Below: EnLink Midstream 

Ohio Oil Gathering Storage Tanks. 


2 1 9

THE TIPKA 

FAMILY 

Right: William “Bill” N. and Erna Tipka. 

Below: In September of 1978 the Pirl Orr in 

Guernsey County, Ohio, blew out. 

John and Anna Tipka emigrated as adults 

from Czechoslovakia in 1905. The youngest 

of their four children, William N., was born 

on October 1, 1913, and was raised in 

Libuce, Louisiana, and Cleveland, Ohio. His 

family endured the great flu epidemic of 

1917. Known to family and friends as Bill, 

he worked many jobs all over the country 

to earn money for college at Ohio State 

University where he majored in geology 

graduating in 1939. He became a lifelong 

Buckeye football fan. 

In 1932, Bill stowed away on a ship to 

get to Alaska where he worked on the 

railroad to earn money for college. While 

there he ate canned rations left over from 

World War I. Later, he hopped trains to get 

to New Mexico to find work there. 

During World War II, he was given a 

deferment to work for East Ohio Gas 

Company. He often said that the government 

thought his skills were more useful in finding 

oil and natural gas than as serving as an 

artillery officer. 

While working as a geologist for the 

company in the 1940s, Bill helped establish 

the famed East Canton Oil Field and assisted 

in setting up a natural gas storage area in 

Columbiana County. During this time, he was 

involved in a near-fatal head on collision 

where he lost one eye and fractured numerous 

bones, which resulted in a permanent limp. 

In September of 1954, Bill was working 

for National Gas and Oil and was on the 

second ever frac job in Ohio on the Rohrer 

lease near Hartville. Following his departure 

from the company in the late 1950s, Bill set 

out on his own to drill hundreds of wells 

with private investors. It was an increasingly 

busy time in their lives and Bill’s wife, 

Erna, singlehandedly ran the home office in 

Cleveland. In 1980, Bill and Erna moved to 

Dover, Ohio. Today, Bill’s legacy company 

employs five people, all of whom have been 

with the firm for twenty to thirty years. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, Bill drilled in 

excess of 100 “self-help” wells, under provisions 

established under Governor Rhodes’ 

administration, on behalf of Libby Owens 

Ford and in conjunction with Peter and Paul 

Bartlo and son, William J. Tipka. Bill served 

as president of Tipka Bartlo Oil and Gas. 

In September 1978, one of these wells, the 

Pirl Orr, in Guernsey County, blew out while 

drilling through the Oriskany. The rig was 

destroyed. Bill and several workers from 

Armstrong Drilling were injured, but fortunately 

there were no fatalities. The legendary 

“Hellfighter” Red Adair came up from Texas 

to control the blaze and shut in the well. 

After working for two days, the well was 

eventually controlled with the use of heavy 

mud. It was the only time Adair was in Ohio 

for an emergency situation. The existing 


220

Libby-Owens-Ford wells are now operated by 

Artex Oil Company. 

Bill also mentored several people in the Ohio 

oil and gas industry: Bob Moore of Moore Well 

Service, Ed Barr of KST, James B. Legg and Bill’s 

sons, Alan and William J. The legacy companies 

include: A. W. Tipka Oil and Gas, Inc. with 

Alan W. Tipka, president; Tipka Energy 

Development Company with William J. Tipka, 

president; and WJT Well Service operated by 

William J. and Barbara Tipka and their son, 

Brian. Daughter-in-law, Sarah Tipka, is a founding 

and continuing member of the OOGEEP 

(Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program) 

board of directors and has served as an OOGA 

trustee for nearly a decade. Sarah earned the 

OOGA Patriot Award in 2007 and was inducted 

into the OOGA Hall of Fame in 2011. 

Clockwise, starting from the top left: 

Alan and Sarah Tipka. 

William J. and Barbara Tipka. 

Sarah Tipka was inducted into the 

OOGA Hall of Fame in 2011. 

Brian Tipka, the third generation of the 

family to be in the oil and gas business. 

William “Bill” Tipka was a laudable 

member of “the greatest generation.” Bill 

remained an avid fisherman, hunter and 

Scout leader throughout his life and enjoyed 

fishing in Ohio, Florida, Canada and Belize. 

As a Scout leader, he canoed and camped 

with his sons’ troops on most of the rivers 

and streams of east central Ohio. He was a 

forty-five year member of AAPG (American 

Association of Petroleum Geologists) and 

OOGA (the Ohio Oil & Gas Association). In 

addition to miraculously surviving a near 

fatal car crash, Bill survived skin cancer, 

breast cancer, and prostate cancer. His wife, 

Erna, passed away in 2001 and he fell victim 

to myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow 

disease, on October 19, 2002. 


2 2 1

ARTEX OIL 

COMPANY 

Above: Left to right, Jerry James, 

Arthur N. Rupe, and Gene Huck. 

Below: The Artex staff. 

The Artex Oil Company of today was 

incorporated in 1996; but, the company can 

trace its roots back over fifty years. The 

company started drilling and 

operating wells in Archer 

County, Texas, in the 1950s. 

When natural gas consumption 

began to increase, Artex 

moved closer to the larger 

natural gas markets in the 

East, setting up operations 

in West Virginia in the 1960s. 

In the early 1970s, Artex 

Oil Company expanded into 

Southeastern Ohio and for 

the next several decades 

operated in the Appalachian 

Basin as well as in Texas and 

New Mexico. 

Original founder, Art Rupe, was an 

American music industry executive and 

record producer. He was also the founder 

and owner of the Specialty Records label and 

recorded such gospel greats as Sam Cooke, as 

well as secular music recording stars Lloyd 

Price, and his most successful artist, Little 

Richard. Rupe is a member of both the Blues 

Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of 

Fame. Though the music industry was his 

first love, oil and gas soon became a passion. 

In the 1990s, Rupe chose to again invest 

in oil and gas ventures with petroleum 

engineers Jerry James and Gene Huck of 

James Engineering, Inc. The new Artex 

Oil Company was established in a small 

basement office. The trust Rupe had in 

these young engineers set the standard for 

Artex today as the company continues to 

seek out and provide opportunities for 

young professionals. 

Artex Oil Company invests its own funds 

to explore for oil and natural gas using stateof-the-art 

seismic and drilling techniques. 

In the past two decades, the company has 

experienced accelerated growth from fiftysecond 

to the second largest oil and natural 

gas producer in Ohio in 2012. The company’s 

main headquarters are in Marietta, Ohio, 

with operations in Mississippi, Montana, 

New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and 

West Virginia. Artex Oil Company’s focus is 

to provide energy to America, provide good 

jobs, and contribute to the 

communities in which they 

live and work. 

In the early days of the 

new partnership, Artex actively 

acquired and explored for 

natural gas reserves concentrating 

in Ohio, and in 2000, 

the company acquired Mission 

Gas Company, which greatly 

expanded its operations. Artex 

also began exploring the 

Knox formation in Ohio with 

technical expertise provided 

by Geologist Bob Thomas of Eastern Mountain 

Fuel. The company started using 2D seismic 

and then began using 3D seismic to explore 

this technically difficult formation. To date, 

Artex has shot over 300 square miles of 

seismic, the most of any company in Ohio. 

In the last decade, Artex Oil Company has 


222

drilled nearly 200 Knox Group wells, three 

times the nearest competitor. 

Most recently, Artex Oil Company formed 

a joint venture to test its Utica acreage in 

Ohio. Currently, seven horizontal wells have 

been drilled and are being tested. Petroleum 

engineer, attorney-at-law, oil company executive 

from the Rockies, 

and long-time associate 

Joe Brooker has 

joined Artex to maximize 

opportunities in 

the Utica. 

Artex is currently 

responsible for the 

creation of at least 

500 jobs in its area of 

operations. Nearly all 

employees, from the 

president to the field 

personnel, reside in 

Ohio, and over 100 

college interns have had the opportunity 

to gain experience working part time for 

Artex Oil Company. 

As a result of its excellent staff, Artex Oil 

Company produces enough energy annually 

to heat over 50,000 homes. Proudly, Artex 

has improved the local economy by paying 

landowners tens of millions of dollars in 

royalties while generating significant revenue 

for local governments. Artex also supports 

its communities by attending county fairs to 

purchase livestock and promoting 4-H Clubs. 

The company regularly supports local police 

and fire departments, secret Santa programs, 

and was a sponsor for the Tunnels-to-Towers 

Wounded Warrior Foundation. 

From that small basement office, Artex 

expanded into a newly-constructed headquarters 

just outside of Marietta, Ohio. The 

company has grown 

to operate more than 

600 wells in Ohio 

alone. It is one of 

the largest oil and 

gas producers in Ohio 

thanks to landowners 

who trust and believe 

in them and a staff 

of dedicated employees 

and professionals. 

Artex Oil Company 

stays focused on 

responsibly providing 

energy to America. 

The professional staff 

and supporting contractors 

are setting 

the standard for the 

production of oil and 

gas in Ohio. Artex expects to expand its 

presence and performance for many years 

to come. 

Artex would not be the company it is today 

without the help of the staff and professionals 

who helped to expand the business. 

Above: Muskingum County, Ohio. 

Below: The Artex M. Miller #3. Left to 

right, Eric Grayson and Matt Lupardus. 


2 2 3

PETRO 

EVALUATION 

SERVICES, INC. 

Jay G. Henthorne, Jr. 

It all began in Olive Hill, Kentucky. Jay’s 

father, J. G. Henthorne, Sr., was a graduate of 

Washington and Lee University in Virginia and 

worked as a mining engineer for General 

Refractories Fire Brick Company. The company 

included approximately ten mines and 

seven plants where they fashioned bricks from 

ground up fire clay placed in kilns and then 

took them to steel mills to line blast furnaces. 

Jay attended the University of Kentucky 

and received a BS in petroleum geology. 

The summer of his junior year, he worked 

as a roughneck with Perry Fulk Drilling 

in western Kentucky. He learned a lot and 

decided to stay in school and get a degree. 

Tennit Brooks was drilling with Fergerson 

and Bosworth in eastern Kentucky and Jay 

became his midnight sample catcher, junior 

geologist…among other roles. 

Brooks invited Jay to follow him to the 

Morrow County Play. He started Cardinal Oil, 

partnered with Clark Oil, and moved into 

an office complex at 808 North High Street 

in Worthington. Jerry Olds with Southern 

Triangle and Bill Womack with Clark Oil & 

Refinery were in the same building and Brasel 

& Brasel were in an office nearby. John 

Cochran had a seismic office there and George 

Shearrow set up a consulting office before he 

joined Quaker State as a geologist. At the 

same time, Jay went to Ohio State part time 

and took a few graduate courses in geology. 

A petroleum club was started off the bar at 

the Worthington Holiday Inn and a lot of 

good times and even better stories ensued. 

One of Jay’s consulting jobs was for Noble 

Cunningham; he had acquired a drill site 

during the no spacing regulation periods 

that existed before 1965 and put his rig on 

location in “Little Hollywood.” Lake Shore 

Producing (E.O.G. Company) had just completed 

an excellent well—200 plus bbl. per 

day just across the road from the Cunningham 

location. Noble drilled the well and Jay called 

it dry, but Noble knew they would have 

to make something out of it because more 

drilling money would come if the well hit. Jay 

called it too high a risk, but Noble insisted. 

Jay perfed the top four feet of Glenwood and 

gave it a 5,000 gallon acid frac job. The flare 

went out across the street, nearly 180 feet, and 

right into Lake Shore’s site. They were very 

unhappy, but the well produced ten to thirty 

bbl. of oil every day for nearly two years. 

After Town Lot Drilling ended in 1965, 

Ohio spacing regulations were introduced 

and the Morrow Boom was effectively over. 

However, local operators stepped in and 

ran new seismic activities and developed 

prospects under the new rules. Jay accepted a 

position as a logging engineer with Birdwell 

Logging in Wooster. He flourished at the 

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company and soon 

moved into sales before eventually becoming 

regional sales manager. 

Under his supervision, the company built 

2 truck stations into 5 open-truck logging 

locations and 2 production units. They set up 

annual storage logging programs with East 

Ohio Gas Storage and Columbia Gas Storage 

while the East Canton Drilling boom was in 

full swing. At the same time, the Clinton 

Drilling boom was on and, in Claysville, 

Dever hit a good one, drilling moved south, 

allowing Birdwell to become even busier. 

The company logged wells “like a fire bell 

going off.” Jay’s wife, Mary Beth, wanted to 

know what her husband did all day so on one 

occasion the couple set off from Wooster for 

southern Noble County to visit a consolidated 

coal lease. They soon found themselves 

pulled, with skid plates in, and a mud boat 

the last 100 yards. They were rigged up, the 

bit laid down, and, twenty-four hours later, 

logging. Mary Beth never wanted to know 

what Jay did after that long day, but she 

would always remember seeing some “art” in 

the doghouse. 

After nine years with Birdwell and the 

Clinton sand play in full swing, Jay decided 

to create his own company—Petro Evaluation 

Services—in 1975. Among the first wells was 

Harmony Township in Morrow County. Jay 

visited Red Armstrong of Armstrong Drilling 

in Wooster and he agreed to have a rig available 

by the time the state permit was issued. 

They discussed a total price including the 

route to and from the location and shook 

hands on the amount. Before leaving, Jay 

asked if they should sign a contract and Red 

said, “Aren’t you going to pay me?” Jay said, 

“Of course.” And that was that. The well was 


224

among Petro’s best producers, Hurdle #1, and 

came in for nearly forty years. Other major 

wells in the early years included sites at east 

central Lake County, Lake Erie College in 

Painsville, Gilmore Academy School and 

University School in Pepper Pike, and various 

sites around the City of Cuyahoga Falls. 

As the Clinton Drilling boom continued 

with upward spiking gas prices, Petro continued 

to grow at a slow rate. Jay was also getting 

older and asked his son, Jason, to join the company, 

making him “an offer he couldn’t refuse.” 

Jason, a graduate of Penn in geology and environmental 

science, agreed and was quickly 

tested in his new role by greasing pump jacks 

in Morrow County and running rabbits in the 

Lake County area. Jason flourished in the role 

and became involved in the company’s leasing 

projects across Pennsylvania. 

Today, Petro continues its enduring success 

in the field with 7 new employees, 5 new 

vehicles and 4 new companies, which 

include Petro Energy Services, LLC, to serve 

mid-stream companies; Petro Evaluation, 

LLC; O&G Holdings, LLC, the leasing arm of 

Petro Evaluation companies; Petro Aviation, 

LLC, ownership of the company’s airplane; 

30-30 Camp LLC, with potential ownership 

of land in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and 

Ohio; and Pentagon Pipeline LLC. Soon, Jay 

will also complete his chairmanship of the 

AAPG Foundation of Trustees Association. 

Jay sums up his experiences and love of 

exploration with these words, “I have talked 

about my adventures but have left out the 

basis of my success—my wife Mary Beth 

and our sons, Jason and Jonathan.” Without 

their continued help and support and putting 

up with the difficult hours Jay has had to 

work, he could not have made it. 

Jonathan graduated from Wooster High 

School and then attended college at Niagara 

University, where he studied hotel and 

restaurant management. He was offered a job 

at the Waldorf Astoria and joined them after 

graduation. Today, he is the head concierge. 

Jason has followed Petro Evaluation’s future 

and now manages the pipeline division of the 

company. He is married to Heather and the 

couple has two children, Calvin, who is eight, 

and Piper, who is three, and lives in Wooster. 

Jay met Mary Beth in 1960 while they were 

both attending the University of Kentucky in 

Lexington. She received her MS in nursing 

from a school to the north (he seems to have 

forgotten the name of it). They moved to Ohio 

in 1966 and were married in October of 1967, 

“having lived happily ever after…except for 

a couple of days in the fall when OSU 

plays Michigan!” 

Jay “draining the swamp” of a South 

African crocodile with a .416 Rigby, 

on July 10, 2014. 


2 2 5

PATTEN 

PRODUCING 

COMPANY 

Above: William H. Patten, III with his sister, 

Kimberly Mathie. They were co-owners of 

Patten Producing Company until Bill’s death 

in 2004. 

Below: Left to right, Patricia Patten 

(mother of William H. Patten, III and 

Kimberly Mathie), Brittany Mathie 

(daughter of Kimberly Mathie), Maynard 

Patten (owner, son of William H. Patten, III), 

Joy Patten holding William H. Patten, V 

(wife and son of William H. Patten, IV), 

William H. Patten, IV (owner, son of 

William H. Patten, III), Chloe Patten (in 

pink, daughter of William H. Patten, IV), 

Danielle Olney (secretary, daughter of 

Kimberly Mathie) and Kimberly Mathie 

(owner). Picture was taken at William H. 

Patten, III Memorial Event benefitting the 

William H. Patten, III Scholarship with the 

Holmes County Education Foundation. 

When William H. Patten, Sr., of Newark, 

Ohio began drilling for crude oil and natural 

gas in 1940, he had no idea he was building 

a legacy for his family that would continue 

into the fourth generation. Key individuals 

in the company during the early days were 

Rollin McClelland, Max McClelland, Cole 

McClelland, and Burt Scadden. 

The company was founded as W. H. Patten 

Drilling, and later Patten Drilling. Patten later 

moved the company to Millersburg; and 

today, it is known as Patten Producing 

Company with Kimberly Mathie, William, Sr.’s 

granddaughter, president. (His son, Bill, Jr., 

was unable to join the company due to 

complications from Multiple Sclerosis.) 

Joining Kimberly in the company business 

today are his great-grandsons William H. 

Patten, IV and Maynard Patten. Prior to the 

current administration, William Patten, III 

co-owned the venture with his sister, Kim, 

until his untimely death in 2004. Kim’s 

daughter, Danielle Olney is also part of the 

family-run business that is still focused on 

the founder’s early vision of Ohio’s oil and gas 

(O&G) future. 

Throughout the years, the privately-held 

business has experienced several key periods 

of reorganization. Each time it passes from 

one generation to the other, some form of 

reorganization takes place. 

Patten Producing Company employs six 

additional persons—five pumpers/field workers, 

and a secretary. All are long time employees 

and are considered part of the Patten family. 

Patten Producing offers natural gas, BP 

crude oil, natural gas connections, commercial 

natural gas and liquid natural gas. 

The company’s annual revenue is comparable 

to other privately-held companies offering 

similar services. 

Danielle says the company is a huge supporter 

of causes in the local community. “We 

take great pride in giving back to our community 

that has been so good to our family. We 

believe strongly in sponsoring youth athletics 

and the Holmes County 4H program, as well 

as school-sponsored activities,” she says. 

In 2005, Patten Producing 

Company joined with the Holmes 

County Education Foundation to 

create the William H. Patten, III 

Memorial Scholarship in memory 

of the man who formerly owned 

the company. The scholarship is 

awarded to West Holmes’ graduating 

seniors majoring in education 

and/or business. 

What lies ahead for Patten 

Producing? “We hope to continue 

expanding our resources by 

utilizing our current drilling 

partnerships with other small 

producers. Drilling new wells 

is the only way to preserve 

the family business for our 

next generation.” 

Patten Producing Company 

is located at 6336 County Road 

333 in Millersburg, Ohio. 


226

When Jim Dilyard was young he had no 

idea what he wanted as a career. Along the 

way, though, he forged a career from the 

experiences that practically fell into his lap. 

As a twenty-seven year-old in 1979, he 

lost his job as a construction supervisor. 

Along with the job, however, he lost $24,000 

in salary plus a company car. He managed to 

land a job with Joe Fink who worked at 

Bethel Resources as a pumper trainee in 

the oil and gas (O&G) fields of Ohio. “They 

were drilling wells like mad in the Clinton,” 

says the man who is now owner of 

JD Producing, Inc. in Burbank, Ohio. 

Although his income dropped to $4.50 

per hour, that job offered great experience 

in the O&G industry; Jim became attracted 

to the “oil patch” life. When Bethel was 

purchased by RIMCO Corp, Fink joined 

Oxford Oil. Jim who had a “knack” for 

production was offered a pumping position 

with Berman Shafer, a local producer, and 

started pumping wells for Shafer. 

Jim says, “That was the best move of my 

life. Shafer did a lot of drilling, owning several 

producing wells. I was given a truck and a 

route, and was let loose to ‘git ‘er done’.” He 

became a problem-solver for Shafer, running 

his wells better and contributing greatly to 

the bottom line. 

Others experienced in O&G, including 

Richard Smith, Kenny Spielman, Al Burkhard (a 

former Haliburton man), and John McAskill, a 

Canadian, among others, played major roles in 

educating Jim about the industry. He got to 

know the people at Columbia Gas, the principle 

gas buyer and formed a positive relationship. 

“In 1981, McAskill formed Parkside 

Petroleum of Ohio, Inc. and hired me as 

the main man to run the field operation.” 

We were drilling and completing wells in 

Median County. Jim was in charge of getting 

everything accomplished and into production. 

McAskill eventually sold Parkside and in 

1988 JD Producing, Inc. was formed 

“In 1993, I bought several leases from 

Berman, and with local producer help drilled 

the Noyes #1 well to the Knox. It was the 

best producing oil well in the county for 

the next year.” The established company, 

JD Producing, Inc., has drilled ten wells in 

the Knox, with six of them still producing. 

He also made purchases of other Clinton 

production and has co-invested with other 

local producers. He was among the first to put 

a ‘frack’ job on a Knox well. 

JD Producing, Inc., remains a one-man 

operation, as Jim does most of the development 

and field operations, pumping all production, 

primarily in Wayne, Medina, and Summit 

Counties; and working with other producers. 

JD PRODUCING, 

INC. 

Jim Dilyard. 


2 2 7

MASON 

PRODUCING INC. 

Above: John C. Mason. 

Growing up during the Great Depression 

was tough. For young John C. Mason of 

Newark, Ohio, he landed his first job in an oil 

field repair shop as a welder and machinist 

helper under Henry Lightner, where he 

worked until inducted into military service. 

Following discharge, John returned to the 

machine shop, working for the new owner. 

Lightner approached John to do welding on 

a spudder (a light drilling rig chiefly used 

to drill shallow wells) he was building. 

For several months he continued to work at 

both jobs, when the spudder was nearly 

completed, he quit the shop and worked fulltime 

on the spudder. 

When the spudder was moved to Lightner’s 

leases in Licking County, Ohio, John borrowed 

a truck and hauled the rig to location, hiring 

a retired driller to drill the first well for 

Lightner and Mason Drilling Contractors. 

Unfortunately drilling waned, he began taking 

plugging contracts in the depleted Clinton 

Gas Field for producers Allen Willey, Raymond 

Penwick, and Buckeye Supply, among others. 

In 1950 he married Marguerite Lightner, 

Henry’s daughter. As a family-owned business 

Lightner and Mason used some of the income 

to buy two defunct leases and reworked them, 

producing petroleum for the next few years. 

With drilling in a recession in 1948, John 

accepted an offer to drill around the old 

Trenton Field south of Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

That year, he moved the spudder and continued 

drilling 1,000 foot wells into the top of 

Trenton for the next several years. When that 

work ran out, they moved the spudder to 

Cory, Indiana, migrating with the work northeastward 

and finally settling in the Clinton 

Fields of Killbuck, Holmes, Wayne, Ashland 

and Coshocton Counties of Ohio. The deeper 

wells required a heavier rig and the first of 

several Walkeneer rigs was purchased. 

Throughout the 1950s into the 1960s, 

John built his business the “BootStrap Way” 

(working at every aspect of the business.) 

His hands-on approach lead to such 

developments as the infamous “Charlie’s 

pump” a unique downhole pump setup better 

known for its efficiency in jippy wells, built 

by Ben Hoover, among others. John had a 

keen instinct for mechanics as well as geology, 

which led to many successes in the “patch” 

where he was able to pass his knowledge to 

those who worked for him, invested with him 

and his children. As a family business during 

the 1990s, Mason Producing Inc. and joint 

venture relationships brought seismic to 

the area and began developing the deeper 

horizons of the Rose Run formations. 

Today, those he mentored as well 

as two of his three children continue 

to work in the industry producing, 

drilling, and servicing. 

Working for the industry, the 

family has stayed active in the Ohio 

Oil & Gas Association. John, for 

many years, championed for free trade 

market and fought for competitive 

commodity pricing. His interest in 

bettering the politics surrounding the 

industry development led to a stint as 

president of the association, climaxing 

in induction to the Industries’ 

Hall of Fame. Today his daughter, 

Charlotte, continues to champion 

those very ideals, and devotes time to 

the agencies, and boards associated 

with the oil and gas industry in 

Ohio, as well as overseeing the 

developed production. 


228

The story of Dugan Oil and Gas, LLC. is 

the story of family. From its founder’s earliest 

experiences working alongside his father 

to gradually building his own successful 

company, Guy Dugan and his wife Linda have 

lived and loved the role they have played in 

the grand history of oil and gas in their home 

state of Ohio. 

As a youngster growing up on the family 

farm in Knox County, Ohio, Guy spent 

many hours observing and helping Layrd, his 

father, start oil wells on the family farm and 

other farms in the area. After Guy graduated 

from high school in 1960, he went to work 

dressing tools on a drilling rig for Kidd and 

Kidd Drilling in Frazeysburg, Ohio. 

Guy continued to garner more and more 

experience and soon went to work for Charlie 

Kidd Drilling. At the same time, he met Linda 

and the couple married on August 11, 1963. 

Later, Guy went to work full time for Miller 

Company in Utica and took a second job 

pumping wells for Tom Spohn. He and Linda 

began saving his earnings from this additional 

work and bought their own farm. 

When the Miller Company closed in 1970, 

Guy returned to dressing tools for Don McKee 

Drilling and was asked to pump more wells. 

He then started pumping for Reliance Energy, 

Inc., full time and quit working on drilling rigs. 

Guy and Linda also began buying old well 

production sites. This experience would prove 

to be the turning point in their lives and set 

the family on a path that continues to flourish 

to this day. 

In 1980 the Dugan’s bought their own 

drilling rig and formed Dugan Drilling, Inc. 

on June 9. They completed contract drilling 

requests, often drilling one well a month, for 

several different companies in and around the 

area and hired employees to work on the rig. 

When the economic downturn of 1985 hit 

the area, they shut down their drilling rig. 

Guy continued pumping and buying oil 

production in their area. One such company 

purchased was Independent Oil Investors from 

Michigan. As this area of their business grew, 

Guy and Linda eventually formed Dugan Oil 

and Gas, LLC, on October 24, 2006. Today, 

the family operates production of their wells 

out of this company. 

In 2008 the Dugans also resumed drilling 

three or four wells each year for themselves. 

They have six employees currently working 

on the rig or pumping. Guy is semi-retired, but 

still runs the rig and remains the company’s 

number one “chief/gopher.” He still pumps 

a few nearby wells and continues to oversee 

the family’s 110-acre farm and beef cattle 

production. Guy and Linda’s son, Barry, also 

works with them in the business. 

Dugan Drilling, Inc., and Dugan Oil and 

Gas, LLC., are located at 27238 New Guilford 

Road in Walhonding, Ohio, in Knox County, 

and continue to own and operate wells in four 

Ohio counties including Knox, Licking, 

Coshocton, and Muskingum. 

DUGAN 

DRILLING, INC., 

Top: Linda and Guy Dugan with Daisy. 

Above: Barry Dugan. 

AND 

DUGAN OIL AND 

GAS, LLC 


2 2 9


230

A STRONG FOUNDATION 

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP .............................................2 3 2 

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company ........................................2 3 6 

Local 18, International Union of Operating Engineers ......................2 4 0 

Kokosing ...................................................................................2 4 4 

The Edwy R. Brown Department of Petroleum Engineering and 

Geology at Marietta College ....................................................2 4 8 

Buckeye Water Service Company ...................................................2 5 0 

Producers Service Corporation (PSC) .............................................2 5 2 

TerraStar, Inc. ...........................................................................2 5 4 

The Levengood Family .................................................................2 5 6 

Mac Oil Field Service, Inc. ...........................................................2 5 8 

Ohio Oil & Gas Association ..........................................................2 6 0 

Canaan Industries, LLC ...............................................................2 6 1 

J Hawk Water Service, Inc. ...........................................................2 6 2 

Opposite: A typical cable tool rig. 



A S T R O N G F O U N D A T I O N 

2 3 1

VORYS, SATER, 

SEYMOUR AND 

PEASE LLP 

Above: Jerry D. Jordan. 

With decades of experience representing 

clients in oil and gas exploration, Vorys, Sater, 

Seymour and Pease LLP (Vorys) provides legal 

counsel to clients pursuing development of 

the Utica and Marcellus Shale Plays. This 

historic firm has represented key players in 

the ongoing exploration of the Utica and 

Marcellus, including producers, pipeline companies, 

and drilling and services companies, 

and the firm remains a leader in the field. 

The firm understands the complexities 

associated with horizontal drilling and 

hydraulic fracturing because they have counseled 

clients in each stage of the exploration 

process. With offices in Columbus, Cleveland, 

and Akron, Ohio, as well as Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania, Vorys is located in the heart 

of the shale, which spans eastern Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. 

They advise clients on all types of transactional 

work, from simple leasing and well-field 

service contracts to sophisticated joint venture 

and asset transactions, financing agreements 

and hedging programs. The firm also represents 

clients in energy disputes before state 

and federal courts and arbitration panels, 

including those involving gas purchase and 

sales contracts, lease and joint operating agreements, 

bankruptcies and class-action royalty 

litigation. Additionally, energy lawyers regularly 

represent clients before state permitting 

agencies and public utilities commissions, the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the 

U.S. Department of Transportation, and the 

Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agencies. Vorys attorneys have also advised 

energy businesses on tax issues that arise from 

oil and gas exploration. 

The firm was founded by Arthur I. Vorys, 

Lowry F. Sater, Augustus T. Seymour and 

Edward L. Pease in the spring of 1909 in 

Columbus, Ohio, and has since grown from 

a four-person office to a firm of nearly 375 

lawyers in seven different cities including 

Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, 

Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Houston, 

Texas; and Washington, D.C. 

The Vorys oil and gas practice sprung from 

the Morrow County oil boom that took place 

in the early 1960s. During the boom, wells 

sprung up everywhere. After this boom 

ended, Vorys lawyers were instrumental in 

the drafting of the law passed by the Ohio 

Legislature that created the state’s oil and 

gas regulatory statute, Chapter 1509 of the 

Revised Code. 

The firm’s oil and gas practice was started 

by Jerry D. Jordan, who was a partner at 

Vorys until 1988 when he left the firm to 

become the founder and CEO of the Clinton 

Oil Company. Jordan worked with now Vorys 

partners W. Jonathan Airey, who joined the 

firm in 1973, and John K. Keller, who joined 

in 1974. 

In the 1970s, Vorys lawyers represented 

industrial gas customers who were the subject 

of curtailment by pipelines. The firm was 

quite active in this arena. The firm was so 

entrenched in this area that Ohio Governor 

James A. Rhodes appointed Jordan as the chair 

and Airey as the secretary of the governor’s 

committee of Self-Help Natural Gas. This 

committee was formed to address the historic 

natural gas shortages of that decade. 

During this time, the firm also served as 

counsel to companies that transported gas 

in Ohio through intrastate pipelines, rather 

than through interstate pipelines. Through 

this work, the firm developed a positive 

working relationship with the Public Utilities 

Commission of Ohio (PUCO). Vorys lawyers 

also represented operators and natural gas 


232

applications in Ohio and Pennsylvania and 

assisted producers in securing the maximum 

lawful price for their natural gas, which doubled 

the regulated price of the natural gas. 

Jordan left the firm in 1988 to run an energy 

company. As he departed, Keller, Airey and 

another partner, M. Howard Petricoff, continued 

to expand the firm’s energy practice. The 

team actively represented a large number of 

producers in connection with their claims in 

the Columbia Gas Bankruptcy (in connection 

with rejection of their gas purchase contracts.) 

Vorys has continued to lead the way on oil 

marketers that were supplying natural gas for 

pipelines during this time. 

Vorys lawyers were also active in the 

Independent Petroleum Association of America 

(IPAA) and lobbied hard against the passage of 

the Natural Gas Policy Act. Ultimately, the bill 

passed by two votes in 1978. It gave the federal 

government authority to regulate intrastate as 

well as interstate natural gas production. 

After the passage of the Natural Gas Policy 

Act, there was an internal firm strategy 

session on how the industry should move forward. 

Jordan, the senior oil and gas lawyer at 

the firm, was perplexed about how to assist 

clients pursuing natural gas in the Clinton 

Formation. Airey, one of the junior lawyers 

at the firm (practicing only for a few years), 

suggested getting the Clinton Formation 

reclassified as a Tight Sands Formation. 

It was at that moment that Jordan knew 

Airey would become a leader in oil and gas 

legal issues. 

It took some work, but ultimately they 

were successful in getting the Clinton 

Formation classified as a Tight Sands 

Formation. Vorys lawyers were able to assist 

producers in the Appalachian basin region as 

they navigated though the new regulations. 

Ultimately, the firm filed the most Tight Sands 

and gas rules and regulations. For example, 

Airey has been a central part of the recent 

changes to the Ohio oil and gas regulatory 

code and played an integral role in the formation 

of the new policies that are regulating the 

Utica exploration updates, including those 

adopted in 2010, which modernized Ohio’s 

oil and gas regulations and ensure the proper 

protections for landowners as producers con- 

Top, left: John K. Keller. 

Above: M. Howard Petricoff. 


2 3 3

Greg Russell. 

tinue to explore the Utica. Greg Russell, the 

current chair of the energy practice, was a part 

of the stakeholder workgroup that developed 

hydraulic fracturing guidelines used by 

STRONGER, Inc., and its stakeholder review 

teams to evaluate state oil and gas environmental 

regulatory programs. 

The firm’s oil and gas practice has grown 

significantly since the Utica Shale Boom 

began in the 2000s. In fact, there are now 

attorneys from several practice areas who 

spend a significant amount of time counseling 

the firm’s oil and gas clients. More than forty 

Vorys’ attorneys counsel oil and gas industry 

clients on a regular basis. 

To further assist clients in the Appalachian 

region, the firm expanded into Pittsburgh in 

October 2013. In this office, Vorys welcomed 

a team of experienced attorneys with considerable 

experience serving the oil and gas 

industry. The Pittsburgh team has significant 

experience in oil and gas litigation, as well as 

lease issues, title disputes, quiet title actions 

and dormant oil and gas actions. 

In addition, Vorys’ wholly owned subsidiary, 

Vorys Advisors, has been assisting 

the oil and gas industry. Former Ohio 

Congressman Zack Space, a principal with 

Vorys Advisors, represented most of the Utica 

Shale territory during his years in 

Washington. While in Congress, he served on 

the House Committee on Energy and 

Commerce. Since returning to the private 

sector in 2011, Zack has been actively 

engaged in shale developments. While serving 

in the Ohio Senate, Tom Niehaus, also a 

principal with Vorys Advisors, built a strong 

reputation for his work on energy-related 

matters. Among his many accomplishments as 

president of the Ohio Senate, Tom personally 

negotiated and ultimately secured passage of 

Ohio’s landmark energy bills. In 2014, Tom 

was inducted into the OOGA Hall of Fame, an 

honor that was created in 1987 to honor 

individuals who have made significant contributions 

to the advancement of Ohio’s oil and 

gas industry. 

Vorys lawyers have also given back to the 

legal community and have helped shape energy 

lawyers from across Ohio and the nation. 

For example, five Vorys partners have served 

as chair of the Ohio State Bar Association’s 

(OSBA) Natural Resources Law Committee. 

Airey chaired OSBA’s Natural Resources 

Law Committee. In addition, he has served as 

an Energy and Mineral Law Foundation 

Trustee from 1980-present; OOGA Trustee, 

Executive Committee Member from 1994- 

present; the OOGA Legal Committee Chair 

from 1982-2014 and OOGA’s General 

Counsel from 2012-present; IPAA Trustee and 

the Law Committee Chair from 1999-present; 

and the IPAA Pipeline Safety Task Force 

Chairman, 2002-present. He was inducted 

into the OOGA Hall of Fame in 2006 and 

became the only lawyer to receive the OOGA 

Oilfield Patriot Award in 2008. 

Russell has served as chair of the OOGA 

Environmental and Safety Committee from 

2005-present and as an Energy and Mineral 

Law Foundation Trustee from 2006-present. 

He is an adjunct professor at The Ohio State 

University Moritz College of Law, teaching the 

College of Law’s only course on oil and gas law. 

Keller served as a member of the Energy and 

Mineral Law Foundation (EMLF) Executive 

Committee from 1998-2001, and is the chair 

of the EMLF Oil & Gas Committee and the 

EMLF Annual Institute. 


234

Petricoff recently served as a commissioner 

on the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission where 

he heard appeals from decisions of the chief of 

the Ohio Division of Oil and Gas Resources 

Management on matters of drilling, spacing 

and pooling. He is also a co-director of Capital 

University Law School’s Midwest Center for 

Energy Law and Policy. According to Capital 

University, the center’s aim is to promote the 

study of Ohio’s energy laws and regulation. 

Vorys remains headquartered at 52 East Gay 

Street in Columbus. More information about 

the energy practice can be found online at 

www.vorys.com/shale. 

Above: Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease 

LLP headquarters at 52 East Gay Street, 

Columbus, Ohio. 

Below: W. Jonathan Airey (right) accepting 

the Oilfield Patriot Award. 


2 3 5

ABOVE: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF HARRY GAYDOSZ 

© 2014. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

BELOW: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MATT ARNOLD 


WHEELING & 

LAKE ERIE RAILWAY COMPANY 

The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway 

Company (W&LE) is the largest railroad 

headquartered in Ohio and one of the 

largest Class II railroads in the United 

States. The W&LE’s service area, concentrated 

in eastern Ohio and western 

Pennsylvania, includes approximately 850 

miles of track stretching from Toledo, Ohio, 

to Hagerstown, Maryland. 

The history of the W&LE began in 1871 

with the need for a rail connection between 

the Wheeling, West Virginia, coal fields and 

Lake Erie port cities and facilities. Initial 

enthusiasm was offset by capital constraints 

and financial difficulties which slowed the 

progression of the line until 1877 when 

interest began again in earnest to move 

southeastern coal to Lake Erie and iron ore 

from Lake Erie to steel plants in southeast 

Ohio. In 1913 the main offices were moved to 

Brewster, Ohio, where they remain today. 

After World War II, W&LE has had various 

owners—first the Nickel Plate leased the line, 

then the Norfolk & Western took control and 

later its successor, the Norfolk Southern (NS). 

Although the original W&LE was dissolved 

as a corporate entity in 1989, a spin off sale 

in 1990 by the NS to a group of investors 

renewed the old corporate name. The new rail 

system was made up of a combination of the 

former W&LE, the Pittsburgh & West Virginia 

(PWV) and the Akron, Canton & Youngstown 

(ACY) lines. The 576 miles of track, combined 

with trackage rights acquired from NS, 

encompassed approximately 850 miles. 

In 1994 the W&LE grew with the acquisition 

of the former Akron and Barberton Belt 

Railroad and part of the local Conrail 

“Cluster” in the greater Akron, Ohio, area, 

which combined is now known as the Akron 

Barberton Cluster Railway (AB). 


236

Today, the W&LE handles over 130,000 

carloads per year with a fleet of eighty-four 

locomotives. Major rail yards are located 

in Akron, Canton, Brewster, Carey, Mingo 

Junction, and Norwalk, Ohio as well as 

Green Tree, Pennsylvania. The company is 

private, 100 percent internally owned and 

currently has over 400 employees. W&LE 

has over 110 customers and a continually 

growing customer base. 

W&LE currently moves a wide range of 

bulk commodities, which includes steel and 

raw materials, aggregates, chemicals, industrial 

minerals (frac sand), plastic products, 

grain, food products, lumber, paper, coal, and 

petroleum products (including Marcellus and 

Utica Shale liquid petroleum gases (LPGs) 

and natural gas liquids (NGLs). While some 

of the major commodities handled by W&LE 

remain the same today as they did in earlier 

days (e.g. coal and steel), the Marcellus 

and Utica Shale plays have brought new 

customers, greater diversification, and significantly 

increased overall rail traffic to W&LE. 

Some of W&LE’s customers include: MarkWest 

Energy Partners, Marathon Petroleum, National 

Lime & Stone, Timken Steel, Republic Steel, 

Shelly Materials, Superior Silica Sands, 

Unimin, American Refining Group, and 

Centennial Energy, to name a few. 

W&LE is well-positioned as a major player 

in the future of the oil and gas industry in 

Ohio and Pennsylvania. Rail service is provided 

daily for the inbound and outbound tank car 

movements of petroleum products for various 

customers. W&LE’s involvement in the new 

shale plays began in 2008 in the Marcellus 

Shale in southwest Pennsylvania and has 

extended to include large demand from the 

Utica Shale in Ohio. 

ABOVE: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CARL LUTHER 


BELOW: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BRAD MOROCCO 



2 3 7

W&LE interchanges with three Class I 

railroads (CSXT, Canadian National, and 

Norfolk Southern), along with twelve Class II 

and III railroads. These varied connections 

with other railroads enable W&LE customers 

to have routing options from origin to 

destination allowing the customers to benefit 

from competitive rail rates and service. 

W&LE mainline tracks are rated for 

286,000 pounds gross weight on rail and 

mainline track speed is forty miles per hour 

for the majority of the mainline as a result 

of the installation of continuous welded 

rail, as well as improvements made to 

many bridges and tunnels. In 2004, Railway 

Age Magazine selected W&LE as “Regional 

Railroad of the Year.” 

An additional asset that has proved productive 

for W&LE is the Brewster, Ohio, shop 

complex. As far back as 1910, the W&LE 

built steam engines in the Brewster locomotive 

shop and the upgraded shop continues 

to be a valuable asset of the W&LE, offering 

locomotive and car rebuilds, repairs, as well 

as fabrication services to other railroads 

and railcar owners. This extensive facility can 

accommodate the repair of fifty cars under 

roof and fifty additional cars outside. 

Due to projected increases in business 

for 2015 and 2016 the W&LE continues 

to hire new conductors, acquire additional 

locomotives (sixteen locomotives were 

purchased in 2014 alone) and build new 

tracks. In recent years, W&LE has invested 

over $40,000,000 in its own rail line and 

recently completed a major expansion project 

at its Brewster Yard to accommodate the surge 

in traffic occurring as a result of the Utica 

Shale production. 

W&LE has a promising future with the 

growing and varied traffic base of bulk 

commodities, heavy on-line traffic and 

interline potential. W&LE has a strategic 

location in the Marcellus and Utica Shale 

natural gas and oil production areas in 

Ohio and Pennsylvania, which gives it a 

strong foundation on which to continue 

building. W&LE has become a successful 

regional railroad and will continue to grow 

and thrive with its dedication to safety, 

customer service, and efficiency. 


238

OPPOSITE, TOP: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF 

MATT ARNOLD © 2014. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

OPPOSITE, BOTTOM: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF 

BRAD MOROCCO © 2014. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

LEFT AND BELOW: PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF 

BRAD MOROCCO © 2014. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 


2 3 9

LOCAL 18, INTERNATIONAL UNION 

Above: Local 18 was the premier sponsor 

at the 2014 Oilfield Expo held at 

Cleveland’s IX Center. 

Below: One of hundreds of oil wells already 

in place in southeast Ohio. 

OF OPERATING ENGINEERS 

A significant year—1939! In spite of an 

unemployment rate of 17.2 percent and per 

capita income that had dropped almost two 

percent in a decade (it was a great deal worse 

in the mid-1930s), the 1939 opening of the 

New York World’s Fair often was credited with 

proving to the American public that prosperity 

and good times would lie just ahead after the 

Great Depression. 

It also proved to be a significant 

year for six autonomous local Ohio 

unions, several of which had been 

around since the early twentieth 

century. That year, locals from the 

state’s major cities, perhaps believing 

in the euphoria that prosperity did lie 

just ahead, but also to better serve the 

interests of its membership, joined 

together to form Local 18 of the 

International Union of Operating 

Engineers, which had its origins as 

the National Union of Steam 

Engineers of America in 1897. 

The name was appropriate for the 

time since steam was practically the 

only motive power available. In 1912 

the name was amended to the 

International Union of Steam and 

Operating Engineers to reflect 

diminishing reliance on steam power. 

In 1928 the current title was adopted. 

The new Local 18, headquartered in 

Cleveland where more than half of its 

members worked, was chartered to serve 85 

of Ohio’s 88 counties and 4 of Kentucky’s, 

just across the Ohio River. 

Shortly after its creation, the organization 

would live through a decade of war and 

peace working on a wide range of public and 

private projects. 

During that period, Local 18 Operating 

Engineers not only built highways, tunnels 

and buildings, they built their reputation as 

quality professionals who could be relied on 

to work safely, knowledgeably and efficiently. 

Through post-war “ups and downs” Local 

18—and unions in general—were subjected, 

both positively and negatively, to various new 

federal legislation. 

One of the most negative was the 1947 

Taft-Hartley Act, which gave employers 

the right to conduct anti-union sessions on 

company time, without equal rights for 

unions. Secondary boycotts were outlawed 

and the use of federal injunctions, outlawed 

since 1932 by the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 

was restored over the veto of President 

Harry Truman. 

Perhaps concerned that Taft-Hartley was 

not strong enough, since thirty-five percent 

of workers belonged to unions in 1954, the 

Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959 made major 

additions to Taft-Hartley, including a ban on 

organizational or recognition picketing. 

That was the same year, twenty years 

after Local 18’s inception, a Health and 

Welfare plan was instituted by the members 

for the members and jointly administered 

with “management.” 

It was no different five years later when 

a pension fund was created in 1964, once 

again by the members for the members and 

jointly administered. 

As important as those changes were to 

the growth of Local 18 and the well-being of 

its members, perhaps even more important 

was the creation of the Ohio Operating 

Engineers Apprenticeship and Training 

Fund in 1965. It was a joint creation of 

Local 18, the Ohio Contractors Association 

and the Associated General Contractors 

of Ohio. 


240

Once again, the members helped make it a 

success with an initial contribution of one cent 

per hour out of their hourly rate, knowing 

full well a changing world needed people 

who could change with it by staying ahead 

of technological advances in equipment, 

regulations and the environment itself. 

That single penny has increased through 

the years, with the contribution rate now 

being paid on more than 11,000,000 workhours, 

bringing in approximately $7.5 million 

a year. All of which goes back into educating 

and training the members. 

As a result, that 1965 penny has helped the 

training program grow into four regional 

training centers—each with an all-weather 

building for training—open five to six days a 

week, fifty-two weeks a year. 

Education and training programs are divided 

between apprentice training (sixty percent) 

and journeyperson retraining (forty percent), 

and cover more than 135,000 hours annually 

on more than two dozen different topics. 

The fund is administered by a board of 

trustees, with membership evenly divided 

between contractors and union representatives. 

Their combined expertise, good business 

sense and desire to meet the skilled manpower 

needs of the construction industry, have moved 

this program steadily forward to the point 

where it has become the premier training 

organization of its type in the country. 

The number and direction of some classes 

was to change dramatically in late 2011. 

If 1939 was a significant year, September 22, 

2011, was a significant date for Local 18. 

Besides being the first day of a new season, it 

was the first day of a new direction that 

emerged out of an Energy Summit at Ohio 

State University that had been called by Ohio 

Governor John Kasich. 

Among those who attended the summit 

as a panelist was Local 18 Business Manager 

Patrick L. Sink. 

Shortly thereafter Sink, recognizing a completely 

new field of endeavor told the membership 

in his monthly newsletter column, “With 

the ongoing research and investment made 

in the capture of gas reserves in Ohio, we 

are gearing up to be a player’s partner in the 

extraction and transport of that energy source.” 

And later, “We are very active in supporting 

the exploration, drilling and transportation 

of products obtained from the…shale 

deposits in Ohio. We are making it well 

known that the work of extraction and 

transporting is what we do. This work entails 

many steps, which require products to be 

transported by pipe both to and from the 

extraction site.” 

Above: Building drill pads requires moving a 

lot of earth. 

Below: CBC Pipeline working on one of 

many natural gas gathering line projects in 

southeast Ohio, utilizing Local 18 

operating engineers. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CBC PIPELINE, LLC.© 


2 4 1

Skilled Local 18 members build all types of 

roads: asphalt (top) and concrete (above). 

The extraordinary growth, especially in the 

Utica shale fields, led to creation of the following 

relevant mission statement by Local 18. 

Exploring our shale fields and our future. 

The current exploration and drilling of the 

Marcellus and Utica shale fields promise a lot 

of good things for Ohio. 

Lowering our dependence on foreign oil 

and providing our manufacturing industries 

with cheaper energy, which will stimulate 

industrial growth are just a few benefits. 

For Local 18 and its membership, this 

drilling and capturing these resources give 

us an opportunity to work. Our signatory 

contractors are seeking to do the drill pad and 

related work, and our pipeline contractors are 

building the gathering lines to transport the 

product. Our highway and paving contractors 

are building access to the sites and upgrading 

the infrastructure in the drilling areas. 

Our goal is to provide the service energy 

companies need to make this happen, resulting 

in a positive effect for the citizens of Ohio. 

At the same time, our membership will be 

gainfully employed, paying their taxes and 

earning their health and welfare and pension 

benefits. We are here to help our communities, 

state and country prosper and grow. 

This extraordinary growth also led to 

extraordinary growth in the training and education 

programs, and in the number of men and 

women wishing to become operating engineers. 

Prior to Local 18’s active involvement in the 

oil and gas fields, 80 to 120 new apprentices 

would enter the program each year. With the 

additional work, that number has jumped 

to as many as 240 new apprentices annually. 

And these new apprentices and journeypersons 

alike are being trained in a variety of 

new fields, learning new techniques and 

getting exposed to new equipment. 

• New classes introduced as a result of this 

commitment to the oil and gas industry 

include Safeland USA certification and 

several pipeline classes including John 

Henry Rock Drilling, Bending Engineering, 


242

Excavator I, Angle Dozer I, Sideboom I 

and Vacuworx. 

• Safeland USA gives each student a general 

idea of life and safety issues in the oil 

and gas industry, upstream, downstream, 

onshore or offshore. 

• John Henry Rock Drilling, named for 

the legendary steel driver, is as its name 

indicates, a program to teach operators 

how to drill in the pipeline industry. 

• Bending Engineering gives students handson 

training in the operation of a bending 

machine to bend a joint of pipe. 

• Excavator I Pipeline, Angle Dozer Pipeline 

and Sideboom Pipeline classes are limited 

to a maximum of four students. Each class 

is geared to teaching Local 18’s operating 

engineers different aspects of working in 

the pipeline industry. 

• Vacuworx is designed for experienced 

excavator operators. The class introduces 

the participant to the vacuum pipe lifter 

and the basic operation and maintenance. 

Students learn how to load and unload 

pipe trucks, rack pipe for a pipe yard 

and string pipe on a pipeline right-of-way. 

With the increase in pipeline work for the 

oil and gas industry, there has been a related 

increase in work for horizontal directional 

drills. To meet this need, another directional 

drill was added to the Local’s extensive equipment 

fleet, and additional days of training 

were added to meet members’ requests. 

Since the fall of 2011, Local 18—its leadership 

and its membership—have been committed 

to making the oil and gas industry an 

integral part of its long-term commitment to 

building roads, bridges and buildings and 

providing new opportunities for its members. 

Another part of that commitment is Local 

18’s role as a presenting sponsor at the Ohio 

Oil and Gas Association’s Oilfield and Expo 

and Safety Congress held in December each 

year in Cleveland’s IX Center. 

The Expo brings together a broad spectrum 

of industries and companies that facilitate 

the production of oil and natural gas 

resources in Ohio. This is the largest exposition 

of its kind in the eastern United States 

and Local 18 is proud to be actively involved 

in this annual event. 

In 1942, just a couple of years after 

Local 18 became a reality, the organization 

put out what it called “The Book of Local 18.” 

What was written almost three-quarters of 

a century ago, holds true today. 

“Organized labor contributes order to 

industry and a backlog of capable, satisfactory 

workers whose work is accomplished under 

fair standards of employment…. To progress 

together, labor must meet the changing conditions 

of industry equally as they occur…. 

Local 18 offers the best possible means 

available to operate a job with qualified and 

satisfactory operators.” 

The work and equipment has certainly 

changed in seventy-five years, but the philosophy 

has remained the same! 

Modern day methods for offloading and 

distributing pipe with a vacuum-assisted 

device (top, left and right) and the former 

way with cables and slings (above). 


2 4 3

KOKOSING 

Right: Over the years, Bill earns money by 

selling Billy Buck’s wool—financing first a 

pony and then a bicycle. A few years later, 

he sells the bike and begins buying tools 

for his workshop on the farm. Bill uses 

the same tools when he later starts 

working construction. 

Below: Cooper-Bessemer was Kokosing 

Construction’s first client with ties to the 

natural gas industry. Kokosing has worked 

with Cooper-Bessemer for over fifty years 

and the relationship continues today. The 

night crew erects fifty-ton bridge girders for 

Cooper-Bessemer in 1967. 

Bill Burgett has always been resourceful. 

Born in 1930 to parents who were teachers, 

he was encouraged to follow his talents. At 

three years old, he received his first erector 

set, putting together “projects” with the nutsand-bolts 

that came in the package. Little did 

he know that he was laying the groundwork 

for what would become his life’s vocation. 

One thing led to another for the young 

boy. In elementary school, the Fredericktown 

youth saved money earned from chores to 

purchase Buck, a sheep whose wool he sold 

so he could purchase a pony and a bicycle. 

Later, he sold the bike and began buying 

tools for his workshop on the farm. 

When he finished high school in 1948, 

his heart was set on a career in construction. 

A year later, he married Shirley Ackerman 

and began work in 1949 for Bill Clever’s 

Construction Company, along with friend Les 

Rinehart. When Clever quit the construction 

business two years later, and the two could 

not find work, Burgett started his own company: 

William Burgett Builder & Concrete 

Work. Rinehart joined him, working together 

until 1996 when Les retired. Bill’s company 

was founded on honesty, integrity and high 

standards of “doing what is right”. 

Three years after its founding, William 

Burgett Builder & Concrete Work changed 

its name to Kokosing Construction Company. 

In the early years, the company primarily 

built and remodeled new houses in the 

Mount Vernon and Fredericktown areas. 

About the same time, the company began 

making precast concrete wall panels for use 

in buildings. Bill dreamed of a larger picture, 

adding small commercial work. 

In the early 1950s, Bill purchased one 

acre of property on Waterford Road in 

Fredericktown and built a small office and 

shop, of which was a dirt floor where the 

concrete panels were made. 

Kokosing Construction Company (KCC) 

was incorporated in May 1959; and, in the 

60s, KCC undertook larger commercial projects 

in the Knox County area. Bill knew if the 

company continued to grow and qualify for 

industrial work, union affiliation was necessary, 

so in 1963, KCC became signatory to the 

ironworkers, carpenters, laborers, operators 

and brick masons and today, is also signatory 

to the Teamsters. During this period, the work 

included a combination of building and 

utility work, expanding into central Ohio. 

Some of KCC’s first work in the oil and gas 

(O&G) sector was for Cooper-Bessemer in 

Mount Vernon, Ohio in the early 60s. Cooper- 

Bessemer manufactured large gas turbine 

compressors that were shipped to natural gas 

fields throughout the world. KCC performed 

various projects for Cooper-Bessemer including 

a new office for the testing laboratory, test 

cells for compressors, utility work, new metal 

roofing, siding and more. KCC retiree Jim Fox 

commented, “Our crews were there constantly.” 

Construction projects continued into the 

90s when Cooper-Bessemer became Rolls 

Royce in the early 2000s. Today, Rolls Royce 

is served by Kokosing’s affiliate company, 

Corna Kokosing. 


244

In 1978, KCC submitted a successful bid for 

the grading package at the Piketon Uranium 

Enrichment project ($8.9 million), then picked 

up an underground utility contract that 

involved welding steel pipe. A major step, 

it began a series of projects that led to 

$120 million in contracts at the Piketon plant 

over the course of six years for the United 

States Department of Energy. The amount of 

dirt to be moved greatly exceeded any project 

KCC had previously undertaken. It was a 

wet construction site making dirt moving 

more difficult, as did the long distance from 

the company’s home base in Fredericktown. 

“The significance of the Piketon work was 

illustrated by the on-site management complex;” 

according to Brian Burgett (Bill’s son, 

who became president in 1981). “It was as 

large as our entire company. There were seven 

secretaries, nine engineers, eight superintendents 

and many trailers. We hired experienced 

people, and this work (while the country was 

in recession and in the midst of an energy 

crisis) helped the company’s profit picture.” 

In the early 1970s, the company purchased 

a sixteen-acre tract adjacent to the original 

office for expansion. Four years later, a new 

maintenance building was constructed. KCC 

welcomed the technological age, installing its 

first computer system and ending the payroll 

and job quantity entries that were originally 

done by hand. 

Another expansion took place in 1976 

when KCC purchased The Wander Company 

in Columbus, Ohio, and entered the treatment 

plant and bridge-building areas of construction. 

The acquisition was a significant 

step, setting the stage for major work in treatment 

plants and highway work, and again 

increasing the company’s geographic reach. 

In 1983, the company continued its work 

in the power sector with a project for American 

Electric Power (AEP). The relationship with 

AEP Generation Group has continued for 

over thirty years with work being performed 

on various projects throughout the region. 

Today, work with AEP also includes the 

Transmission Group. 

In keeping with the heavy industrial 

construction sector, another company was 

acquired by Kokosing in 1992. McGraw 

Kokosing (MK) provides mechanical and 

electrical construction work, along with 

pipe fabrication in their 240,000-square-foot 

facility located in Middletown, Ohio. 

In the late 90s and early 2000s, KCC 

participated in the construction of several 

major combined cycle plants throughout the 

region. This heavy industrial work saw the 

company successfully through the millennium 

as it prepared for its biggest workload yet. 

Kokosing began making inquiries into the 

Power Delivery market in 2000. Since then, 

KCC and affiliate subcontractor MK have 

completed over $1 billion worth of work 

for SunCoke Energy of Knoxville, Tennessee, 

making them one of the company’s largest, 

private industrial clients. Projects included 

construction of metallurgical coke facilities 

with highly-aggressive schedules. The work 

with SunCoke Energy was critically important 

as it helped Kokosing solidify many processes 

and procedures when managing large-scale 

industrial projects. 

Above: In February 1978, Kokosing 

Construction was awarded the grading 

package for the Piketon Uranium 

Enrichment Plant in Piketon, Ohio. 

This job started a series of projects at the 

plant leading to $120 million in contracts 

with U.S. Department of Energy. 

Below: Kokosing Construction completed 

several combined cycle plants throughout 

the region in the late 90s and early 2000s. 


2 4 5

Above: Kokosing self performed a majority 

of the construction for four cryogenic gas 

processing facilities in Summerfield, Ohio, 

for MarkWest. 

Below: The SunCoke Energy Middletown 

Coke and Cogeneration Facility was 

recognized in 2012 as the Best Industrial 

Construction Project completed in the 

U.S. by the Associated General 

Contractors of America. The project, 

located in Middletown, Ohio included a 

total invested value of $400 million and a 

peak field workforce of nearly 1,000 

Kokosing employees. 

In 2012, Kokosing won a national award 

from the Associated General Contractors 

(AGC) of America for the Best Industrial 

Construction Project completed in the U.S. 

for the SunCoke Energy Middletown Coke 

and Cogeneration Facility. The project, located 

in Middletown, Ohio, included a total 

invested value of $400 million and a peak 

field workforce of nearly 1,000 employees. 

That same year, Kokosing constructed 

a plant addition to an already operating 

cryogenic natural gas processing facility in 

Langley, Kentucky. The successful project in 

Langley officially launched KCC and affiliated 

subcontractor MK into the heart of the 

Utica and Marcellus Shale region and was 

followed by the construction of four new, 

200 mmscfd cryogenic gas processing plants 

in Summerfield, Ohio (Eastern Ohio) for 

MarkWest. Kokosing self performed a majority 

of the work. Along with the plant work 

opportunities, Kokosing has been constructing 

and fabricating compressor stations, various 

site preparation contracts, barge and 

truck load-out facilities, gas storage facilities 

and numerous projects associated with the 

build out of the natural gas network in the 

region. The all-around successful project 

and execution of Kokosing’s first cryogenic 

plant within an operating plant was the 

start to Kokosing’s clear success in the shale 

gas play. 

Also in 2012, Integrity Pipeline sought a 

partner for its gas pipeline construction 

operation. The leadership teamed up with 

Kokosing, forming a new company, Integrity 

Kokosing Pipeline Services. Since then, 

the company has expanded the combined 

companies’ expertise with labor, equipment 

resources, and processes. Integrity went 

from a $35 million company to almost $100 

million as Integrity Kokosing with room 

for growth. Integrity Kokosing is focused 

primarily on construction of natural gas 

pipelines, compressor stations, well hookups, 

waterlines and associated work within 

the oil and gas industry. Today, Integrity 

Kokosing has master service agreements 

with over forty clients in the Marcellus and 

Utica Shale plays. 

Kokosing Water was created in 2013 in 

response to the growing need for water supply 

by the oil and gas producers in Ohio. The 

group’s mission is to satisfy Ohio producers’ 

needs for the millions of gallons of water 

needed at each well site. Kokosing Water, 

working in conjunction with KCC, identifies 

raw water sources, engineers and constructs 

the water transfer and handles the required 

permitting process. 

Kokosing expects the build out of infrastructure 

required for the Utica and 

Marcellus Shale plays to continue and is 

prepared to meet the challenge. 

Fifty years ago, KCC was performing 

$5 million of work per year with only thirty 

employees. Today, Kokosing is a diversified, 

family-owned business including Kokosing 

Construction Company, Inc., Integrity 

Kokosing Pipeline Services, Kokosing Water, 

McGraw Kokosing, Corna Kokosing, 

Kokosing Materials, Inc., and The Olen 


246

Corporation. Brian remains president and 

chief executive officer. The founder remains 

chairman of the board. Numerous second and 

third generation family members work at the 

company today. 

Kokosing bases its vision on being the construction 

industry leader in safety, customer 

service, quality, employee satisfaction, financial 

strength and continually participates in 

many community membership, leadership 

and charity endeavors. 

Kokosing provides clients a trusted and 

stable local firm with the resources of the 

largest contractor in the region. Associates are 

respected throughout the construction industry 

with a relentless drive for innovation and 

problem-solving challenges. Kokosing’s ability 

to self perform on projects is a significant 

differentiator; and its depth of capabilities is 

reflected in the variety of large-and-small 

projects—from power plants, pipelines and 

marine projects to industrial facilities, transportation 

projects and commercial buildings. 

Kokosing’s reputation for having the largest, 

environmentally-friendly, privately-owned fleet 

in the Midwest combined with over a $1 

billion bonding capacity and $1 billion in 

annual revenues is highly respected. 

How does Brian view the company, 

“Kokosing has the financial stability to assure 

clients that the projects will be done right, 

on time, and within budget.” 

Above: In the early 70s, the company 

changed its logo to the “owl’s eye” which 

is still Kokosing Construction Company’s 

signature trademark. The name Kokosing 

and current logo draws upon the Kokosing 

River which runs by the Fredericktown 

office. The Native American Indians who 

lived in the area called the river Kokosing 

which means “wise owl.” 

Below: As one of the most active drillers 

in the Marcellus Shale region, Antero 

Resources announced in 2013 an initiative 

to construct approximately eighty miles of 

pipelines from the Ohio River to various 

wellpad sites in West Virginia. 

Together, Integrity Kokosing and Kokosing 

Construction provided construction services 

for pipelines, an intake structure and a 

pump station. 


2 4 7

THE EDWY R. BROWN DEPARTMENT OF 

PETROLEUM ENGINEERING AND GEOLOGY 

AT MARIETTA COLLEGE 

Founded in 1797, Marietta College, located 

in Marietta, Ohio, has become known as a 

leader in the education of students entering 

the petroleum industry. The college began as 

the Muskigum Academy, the first institution 

of higher learning in an area formerly 

referred to as the Northwest Territory. A 

charter was granted for the school by the 

state of Ohio in 1835. Most of the school’s 

alumni come from within the state of Ohio, 

where they grew up around the oil fields. 

The college’s renowned Edwy R. Brown 

Department of Petroleum Engineering and 

Geology offers B.S. degrees in geology and 

petroleum engineering. The petroleum 

engineering program is accredited by the 

Engineering Accreditation Committee (EAC) 

of ABET, Inc., a federation of twenty-eight 

professional and technical societies that is 

recognized as a U.S. accreditor of college 

and university programs. 

It was in 1919 when Dr. Edwy Brown 

became an elected a trustee of Marietta 

College. He was a generous donor to the 

college in the 1930s and 1940s with over 

$500,000 in funds donated to help establish 

a “School of Petroleum Engineering.” Upon 

receipt of the bequest in 1943, the College 

moved to form the “Edwy R. Brown School 

of Petroleum” and authorized the Bachelor 

of Science in Petroleum degree. Two years 

later, The Edwy R. Brown Department was 

established with funds set up by the will of 

the late Dr. Brown in 1945. With this funding, 

The Edwy R. Brown Building construction 

began on the campus of Marietta College in 

1955, and was the first new building to be 

constructed since 1930. A full schedule of 

courses was instituted to lead 

to a degree program, including 

engineering classes and a 

full-scale laboratory. Because 

of the location of Marietta 

College near the Appalachian 

oil fields, students were and 

are still able to do their laboratory 

work in the field with 

cooperation from local operators. 

The indoor laboratories 

provide studies for complete 

core analysis, grain size distribution, 

oil and gas analyses, 

reservoir behavior, and testing 

of some oil field equipment. 

After graduating with the 

class of 1894, Dr. Brown 

began his career as a laborer 

in the oil fields for fifteen 

cents an hour. He began to 


248

work in a fledgling industry that would not 

only change his life but change the lives of all 

Americans. He played an important role in the 

building of the first refinery in the American 

Southwest in Corsicana, Texas. The first 

stills were fired on Christmas Day of 1898, 

which became the nucleus of the Magnolia 

Petroleum Company. He later became chairman 

of Magnolia Petroleum Company in 

1925, which eventually became affiliated 

with Standard Oil of New York. A few years 

later, he became vice president and a director 

at Standard Oil. By 1931, he was elected 

board vice chairman, and at his death in 

1942, he was vice president and director of 

the company, then known as Socony Vacuum 

Oil, and today known as Mobil Oil. 

Dr. Brown was a philanthropist and distinguished 

citizen and civic leader in his adopted 

hometown of Dallas, serving as president of 

the Dallas YMCA for fifteen years, and president 

of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. He 

was instrumental in providing funding and 

equipment for Baylor Hospital in Dallas. 

The petroleum engineering program is 

now recognized as the tenth largest program 

in the United States, and the only program at 

a small, liberal arts college. 

Dr. Robert Chase has served as chair of the 

department from 1978 to 2015. The campus 

environment allows each student to receive 

quality one-on-one help from professors to 

ensure academic success thanks to class sizes 

that are typically less than twenty students. In 

addition, state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, 

and summer internships opportunities 

are available. Beginning with the freshmen 

year, students have the chance to gain handson 

experience through internships offered all 

across the U.S. 

Students are also able to become members 

of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the 

American Association of Drilling Engineers, 

and the Society of Women Engineers. Students 

attend meetings and participate in national 

and regional conferences. 

Starting salaries for petroleum engineers 

rank the highest of any engineering discipline, 

and graduates of Marietta College have 

historically enjoyed nearly 100 percent job 

placement upon graduation. Students have 

been hired by companies such as Chesapeake 

Energy, Baker Hughes, Chevron, Conoco 

Phillips, Consol Energy, Energy Corporation 

of America, Halliburton, Noble Energy, and 

Southwestern Energy, to name a few. Marietta 

College graduates now serve at the highest 

levels of management in oil and gas companies 

all around the world. 

The long-term vision of the petroleum 

engineering program at Marietta College is to 

be recognized by the global petroleum industry 

and other educational institutions as one 

of the premier undergraduate petroleum 

engineering programs in the United States. 

Staff and faculty are dedicated to the mission 

of graduating well-rounded, well-educated 

petroleum engineers who are prepared for 

entry-level positions in the petroleum industry. 

These students will be capable of excelling 

in terms of development as professional 

engineers and leaders in the future of global 

petroleum exploration and development. 


2 4 9

BUCKEYE WATER SERVICE COMPANY 

Above: Buckeye Water Service Company 

headquarters located at 1535 John Glenn 

Highway in New Concord, Ohio. 

Bottom, left: Owner Fred Badertscher 

giving an acceptance speech for his 

induction into the 2014 Ohio Oil and Gas 

Association Hall of Fame. 

Bottom, right: Left to right, 

Fred Badertscher, Wayne W. Phillips II, 

attorney-at law, gave the introduction and 

Sarah J. Tipka, OOGA Board of Trustees 

presented the award at the 2014 Ohio Oil 

and Gas Association Hall of Fame induction 

ceremony and dinner. 

Buckeye Water Service Company began as 

a small company where deals were sealed 

with a simple handshake. As the oil and gas 

industry has evolved, so has the company’s 

way of doing business. But some things 

remain true: hard work, dedication and good 

employees are still the core values. 

The journey to what Buckeye Water 

Service Company is today started back in 

1944, when Fred Badertscher first entered 

the oil industry as a member of a casing 

gang. From there, Badertscher enlisted in 

the Army Corps of Engineers and then in 

1948 returned to the oilfields driving trucks. 

He spent time working on standard rigs 

and “spudders” dressing tools and eventually 

held a drilling job. 

In 1959, Badertscher purchased his 

father’s drilling business, Killbuck Drilling 

Contractors. Killbuck worked well sites 

throughout Ohio and Michigan, often doing 

business on a handshake. They worked for 

many small independent companies, but 

also for Columbia Gas. 

Badertscher expanded his company in 

1972 with the purchase of Buckeye Water 

Service and set up his business in New 

Concord. At the time, the company only 

had two water trucks. 

Since then Buckeye Water Service 

Company has expanded significantly. 

Buckeye’s focus has become water hauling 

and disposal to approved sites and hauling 

and disposal of drill cuttings to certified and 

approved landfills. 

With the recent development of the Utica 

Shale in Ohio, Buckeye Water Service 

Company has been able to expand to meet 

the needs of large independent contractors. 

Badertscher worked hard to meet all of 

the certifications and requirements needed to 

enter into MSAs (Master Service Agreements) 

with these companies. Badertscher also 

invested over $1 million dollars in tools 

and equipment necessary to complete 

the work. 

Today, Buckeye Water Service Company’s 

revenue has more than tripled what it 

was two years ago. Badertscher has added 

6 water trucks, 1 tanker truck, 6 dump trucks, 

5 roll off trucks and 50 roll off boxes to 

haul cuttings. The company’s workforce has 

also expanded from 2 to 6 office employees, 


250

Top: Dump truck. 

Center: Vacuum truck. 

Bottom: Roll-off truck and container. 

and 7 to 28 field employees. The added 

workforce and equipment allow Buckeye 

Water Service Company to provide specialized 

services to the oil and gas industry 

in Ohio. 

Badertscher comments, “Buckeye Water 

Service Company has a philosophy: we 

don’t take on a job that we can’t fulfill. 

Whether it is a holiday, weekend or middle 

of the night, it’s important. We have twentyfour 

hour dispatchers and the place never 

closes. Our mechanics are here until after 

midnight. Equipment is moving all the time 

and we have to maintain it around the clock.” 


2 5 1

PRODUCERS 

SERVICE 

CORPORATION 

(PSC) 

Bottom, left: The PSC crew on first frac job. 

Bottom, right: PSC’s first frac job was on 

August 19, 1981. 

The history of Producers Service Corporation 

(PSC) should easily read as two separate stories. 

The first starts in 1981 with Larry Perkins and 

his decision to start a hydraulic fracturing 

company in Zanesville, Ohio. The second story 

begins when he decides to retire thirteen years 

later and sell the equipment. Instead, the 

employees, with a guiding idea from friend, 

Russ Lloyd, found an innovative way to save 

the company. 

When Larry founded PSC, he sold stock to 

Ohio producers. This proved to be an insightful 

business decision because Halliburton and 

Dowell were the only companies in the area 

who provided fracturing services. PSC started 

off strong, doing not only its first, but first 

two fracturing jobs on the opening day of 

business. The original board of directors was 

Larry Perkins, Graham Robb, Jerry Jordan, 

Alan Jones, Dave Lechner, and Jim Cameron. 

This group managed the company through 

the ups and downs of the first part of its 

business history. 

The supporting customer base through 

those years was Oxford Oil Company, Edco 

Producing, Cameron Producing, Clinton Oil 

Company, Guardian Management, Stocker and 

Sitler, among others too numerous to mention. 

By 1994 the industry was experiencing 

a downturn and Larry decided to retire. 

An offer was made from a Canadian firm to 

buy the equipment and move it overseas, 

but there would be no jobs for the employees. 

This would be the end of Producers 

Service Corporation. 

These were very stressful and difficult times. 

To be able to put a competitive bid together 

in a very short amount of time was going to 

be an extremely tough proposition. The group 

did it, however, with the help of a number of 

individuals. The most critical help came from 

board member Jerry, who came to a pivotal 

board meeting shortly after major surgery just 

to make sure that the employee group was 

given a fair chance to put together their bid. 

“I refer to 1994 as the major turning point 

of the company. Thirteen employees agreed 

that PSC should become an employee-owned 

company and worked hard to obtain financing,” 

says Dan Pottmeyer, now president of 

the company. 

In the reorganization, the new slate of 

officers was: 

• Dan Pottmeyer–president 

• Kelly Hartman–vice president 

• Debbie Armstrong–corporate secretary 

• Jim Rose–treasurer 

In forming the Employee Stock Ownership 

Plan, (ESOP), employees were fortunate to 

acquire the necessary funding and legal work 

within 100 days of making the decision. 

The employees were convinced they could 

continue as a viable company because there 

was a definite need for their services. 

Thirteen valued employees decided to stay 

with the company. Among them were Dan 

Pottmeyer, Debbie Armstrong, Kevin Ansel, 

French Berry, Kelly Hartman, Randy Heagan, 

Charlie Conrad, Dusty Darst, Keith Flexter, Mark 

Cable, Jim Rose, Dale Swingle, and Bob Tilley. 


252

“Becoming an employee-owned company 

is one of the best things to happen to us. 

First, it is a great concept; and, two, it helps 

us compete with the industry’s larger 

companies with greater resources and deeper 

pockets,” says Pottmeyer. Employee ownership 

increases production and profitability, and 

improves employees’ dedication and sense 

of ownership. 

Business offices are located on South 

Graham Street in Zanesville. When the ESOP 

began to grow, an 18,000 square foot garage 

was built in 2006, and a new office building 

in 2008. In addition, PSC undertook a leaseto-purchase 

option on a 50,000 square foot 

building on Sonora Road to fabricate the 

equipment used in the fracturing process. 

Their in-house fabrication and maintenance 

capabilities ensure that we build and service 

innovative, quality-controlled, and user 

friendly equipment. This includes their 

industry-unique body load, Department of 

Transportation (DOT) legal, 2250 HHP frac 

pumps. In 2000, PSC had forty employees. 

By 2014, the number has grown to over 120. 

Business looks bright for PSC. The development 

and exploration of the Marcellus 

and Utica Shales has greatly impacted the 

company’s profit picture. The refinement of 

horizontal drilling and multistage fracturing 

is a key component to the company’s growth. 

“Because of our experienced people, we 

are the premier fracturing company in the 

state; in fact, we are the only fracturing 

company based in Ohio. Further, we have 

developed dust control and firefighting 

procedures that are quite innovative. Our 

equipment design leads the industry,” 

Pottmeyer states. 

Producers Service Corporation operates 

with two shale fleets, one conventional crew, 

and an acidizing crew. The company is 

well-positioned for the future and is in great 

shape to take advantage of the developing 

Utica Shale play. 

The company’s mission is to provide the 

best service to its customers while maintaining 

the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. 

In doing that, the company builds 

value for its employees who are shareholders. 

Above: PSC on Marcellus Shale 

location, 2014. 

Left: Employee owners, November 2012. 


2 5 3

TERRASTAR, INC. 

Brad Wittrock, armed with a business 

degree and an entrepreneurial spirit, turned a 

career setback into a thriving and profitable 

business venture to serve the oil and gas 

(O&G) industry. That was three years ago. 

Since then, TerraStar, Inc., the diversified, 

fledgling startup he founded on April 6, 2011, 

has become a service company focused on the 

upstream operations of O&G development. 

TerraStar’s expertise is in the areas of custom 

containment, rig mat services, frac support, 

drilling mix-off, oilfield equipment rentals, 

heat shelters and heaters for winter operations, 

roustabouts, and hot shot/trucking. 

That expertise has enabled the company to 

grow rapidly, quickly becoming a leader in 

quality workmanship in some of the dynamic 

shale plays in the northeast United States. 

TerraStar, Inc. is dedicated to getting the job 

done quickly and efficiently in the nonstop 

twenty-four hour a day O&G industry. 

Founding a new company was not what 

Brad initially had in mind. After graduating 

from Oklahoma State with a bachelor’s degree 

in finance, the O&G industry piqued his 

interest. Even though he had no connections 

in the industry, he decided to exchange a possible 

desk job crunching numbers for working 

as a floor-hand on a drilling rig in 

Southern Oklahoma. After gaining knowledge 

of the drilling rig operation, he hired into the 

corporate office of an Oklahoma City-based 

operator as an engineering technician. Realizing 

after a year that he could not advance in 

that capacity without an engineering degree, 

he transferred to the drilling department 

working as a field representative overseeing 

operations in northwest Oklahoma. 

Two years later, he was promoted to field 

superintendent and moved his family 1,400 

miles to Bradford County, Pennsylvania. 

In that role, he assisted in expanding a 

two-drilling-rig program to a twenty-threedrilling-rig 

program in the Marcellus Shale. 

In early 2011, his employment with that operator 

came to an end and Brad decided to start 

his own business. After two months of planning, 

he launched TerraStar, Inc. 

Brad was able to quickly secure a master 

service agreement with his previous employer, 

which enabled TerraStar to begin working immediately. 

A couple of his former Pennsylvania 

colleagues also began utilizing TerraStar to 

support their company’s operations and that 

allowed the company to get up and running. 

The astute owner hired a staff to run the 

business; and, began consulting as a superintendent 

for another operator in northeast 

Pennsylvania working in water management 

and completions. After a little more than a 

Above: Core values for 

TerraStar Incorporated. 

Right: Mixoff and solidifications are just 

a few of the services provided by 

TerraStar Incorporated. 


254

year in that position, oil and gas operations 

slowed across northeast Pennsylvania. Brad 

went back to focusing on TerraStar, Inc. and 

expanded the company into the Utica Shale 

in Ohio in mid-2012. 

The name TerraStar originated from a compilation 

of terms that were chosen to reflect 

the services the company would provide; these 

being ‘Terra’ meaning “earth” in Latin and ‘Star’ 

using the initial letters in (ST)abilization (A)nd 

(R)oustabouts. However, soon after expansion 

into the Utica Shale, TerraStar extended their 

range of services to allow for growth and the 

ability to provide services for individuals that 

appreciate unrivaled workmanship. A focus 

was made to hire and train quality employees 

to form an experienced and trusted team that 

could develop and implement this range of 

services to meet the client’s needs. 

TerraStar’s team is committed to its company 

goal of becoming the preferred service 

provider for O&G producers by offering a 

diverse selection of services while maintaining 

a strong, proactive stance on upholding their 

core values. An emphasis on teamwork and 

safety are a few of the key aspects that make 

TerraStar an exceptional place to call home. 

Safety is of utmost importance to TerraStar! 

The company has a zero tolerance policy 

for drugs and alcohol and this, along with 

superior training standards, has allowed 

them to achieve a goal of zero reportable 

accidents since the company’s inception. 

TerraStar remains a privately-owned company 

with no investors or partners. They 

currently employ eighty plus people and 

over ninety-five percent of those employees 

servicing the Utica Shale are local Ohio 

residents. TerraStar currently has offices in 

Carroll County, Ohio, and Oklahoma City, 

Oklahoma; and is currently opening an 

additional location in Belmont County, Ohio 

to support the tri-state region of Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Today, they 

are working in more than ten counties in 

Ohio, serving ten O&G operators, and look to 

support more as they continue to expand in 

the fast-growing Utica Shale. 

In retrospect, Brad is proud of the team he 

has assembled and knows that the key to making 

things work is having a good foundation to 

stand on. He attributes the largest part of his 

success to the never ceasing support of his wife, 

Starla, as she has always encouraged him to 

build his dream. He is confident in the establishment 

of TerraStar and what the future holds 

for this company. This has all been possible 

because of his love for the industry and willingness 

to make sacrifices for the long-term goals. 

Above: TerraStar Incorporated provides 

heaters and custom shelters to enable O&G 

operations during harsh winter months. 

Below: Brad and Starla Wittrock 

with family. 


2 5 5

THE LEVENGOOD 

FAMILY 

Top, right: Donald and Marjorie Levengood 

with their seven children. Back row, from 

left to right, Brian, Tim, John, Ted and 

Bruce. Front row, from left to right, 

Sue, Marjorie, Kreg and Donald. 

Right: The seven Levengood children as 

young adults, left to right, Ted, Tim, Kreg, 

Sue, Brian, Bruce and John. 

Bottom, left: Left to right, Pennzoil Products 

Representative Bill Dixon, awarding the 

Yellow Dog Lantern Award to John and 

Bruce Levengood. 

Bottom, right: Marjorie “Marge” Levengood 

operating service rig. 

The Levengood family consists of Donald 

and Marjorie, parents of seven children. Don 

and Marge, both union carpenters at the 

time, mortgaged their farm to purchase the 

first service rig and the partnership began 

providing well servicing to customers. In 

1978, Donald and Tim were sent to Texas 

to purchase one of the first double service 

rigs capable of standing double rods and 

tubing in the derrick for increased efficiency 

in the service business. The business quickly 

grew to two workover and completion rigs 

and one swab rig. 

In 1979 the company added three cable 

tool drilling rigs and support equipment. 

They truly “learned the business from the 

ground down.” While drilling wells in 

Holmes, Wayne and Medina Counties, leases 

were taken and soon they were drilling wells 

for themselves. 

In 1980, Atwood Resources, Inc (ARI) was 

formed by the four oldest boys, while they 

were in their early twenties, as an exploration 

and production company. The Bruce Kimble 

Production Field in Holmes County included 

forty wells and pipelines, it was purchased in 

1980, allowing the company to expand into 

the business of providing turnkey drilling 

and well operations for various investors in 

the limited partnership business. ARI drilled 

hundreds of wells in Ohio and Pennsylvania 

through the 1980s and early 1990s for itself 

and its investors. 

In 1984, ARI, partnering with National 

Gas and Oil Corporation (now The Energy 

Cooperative) purchased all of the oil and gas 

assets of Cyclops Corporation (now AK Steel 

Corp.) in Ohio and Pennsylvania and enlarged 

its footprint and operations. They also started 

Quapaw Drilling and Exploration, owning 

two Jack Knife drilling rigs to integrate 

drilling services for ARI. 

In 1988, ARI purchased Park Ohio Energy 

and changed the name to Atwood Energy, Inc. 

(AEI). The combined companies now had 

operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New 

York with approximately 1,500 wells. 

In 1991, AEI was awarded the “Yellow Dog 

Lantern” by Pennzoil for the significant role it 

performed as one of the top fifteen suppliers 

of crude oil in the Northeast United States. 

In 1992 the businesses 

were consolidated and restructured 

with Transfuel 

Resources, a indirect subsidiary 

of Mitsubishi. 

John, his wife Pam and 

their children Sarah and 

Leah and his brother Brian 

started Dover-Atwood Corp. 

operating as an exploration 

and production company, 

located in Massillon, Ohio 

as well as other business 

ventures including saltwater 

injection wells. 


256

Bruce, his wife Annette and their children 

Nathan, Tyler and Amber started Sound 

Energy Company, Inc., and operate as an 

exploration and production company located 

near Dover, Ohio. The company operates 

400 wells in eighteen counties in Ohio. 

They are also involved in lease and land 

acquisition and saltwater injection wells. 

Bruce has served in various capacities for 

the Ohio Oil & Gas Association currently 

as trustee and serving on the executive 

committee, project review committee and 

producer committee. 

Tim purchased Ream & Haager Laboratory 

in 1992 and expanded the environmental 

testing business from the coal industry into 

potable and waste water sampling and 

analysis. He later expanded the laboratory 

into analyzing oil and natural gas including 

natural gas liquids. In 1994, Tim formed 

Industry Standard Supply Inc. with Michael 

Abernathy as a wireline supply company, 

which they soon engaged in lease acquisition, 

drilling, exploration and production. 

In 2012, Tim started Cyclone Oilfield 

Supply Company with Dewain Horne providing 

production and flow-back companies 

with repairs, supplies, tubular and vessel 

recertification. Tim and Dewain purchased 

a majority interest in TRU-GAS Inc. in 2014, 

giving Cyclone the ability to manufacture 

and repair high pressure gas production units 

and flow-back vessels. Tim resides in 

Dover, Ohio with his wife Catherine and 

their four children Heather, Holly, Austin 

and Alina. 

Ted, his wife Richelle and their children 

Dustin and Megan continued in the drilling 

business as Downhole Drilling, Inc., converting 

to a well servicing company with two 

workover rigs and ancillary equipment. 

Don and Marge along with Brian, Kreg 

and Sue began Atwood Enterprises, Inc., in 

1982 to continue building rigs, drilling 

and operating as well as performing 

recompletions on many shale wells in southeast 

Ohio applying new techniques with 

water fracs. They also became the dealer 

for Peck O Matic power tongs at the time. 

Kreg is a professional petroleum engineer 

(Marietta College). After spending years in 

the E & P business with Atwood and CNG 

(now Dominion), he is now doing design 

and construction of combined cycle gas fired 

turbine generators throughout North America. 

Sue has applied her business skills 

as director of corporate sourcing for 

Westfield Insurance. 

In 2010, Donald was inducted into the 

Ohio Oil & Gas Association Hall of Fame. 

Top, left: Donald and Marjorie Levengood 

and their family. A recreation of the black 

and white photograph on the opposite page. 

Back row, from left to right, Brian, Tim, 

John, Ted and Bruce. Front row, from left to 

right, Sue, Marjorie, Kreg and Donald. 

Top, right: Left to right, Bruce, Tyler, Amber, 

Nathan and Annette. 

Above: Front row, left to right, Augusta, 

Sarah, Leah and Pam. Back row, John is 

holding Noah. 

Below: Tim holding Austin. 


2 5 7

MAC OIL FIELD 

SERVICE, INC. 

While young Robert “Bob” McVicker, Jr., 

joined his father and namesake in a 

construction business it was not long until he 

had an itch to start his own business. 

That itch led him to the oil and gas (O&G) 

fields, which were prospering in the 

Millersburg, Ohio, area; and he knew he 

wanted to be a part of it. He founded Mac Oil 

Field Service, Inc., October 1, 1978, and he 

has not looked back. 

“I could see there was a need for the type 

of business I envisioned—a full service 

oilfield construction company to serve the 

escalating industry. I knew it was the right 

place to be. It was the right time, and I knew 

from the start, it was the right career for me. 

“I had worked as roustabout, drove frac 

and water trucks for my father; so, I had a 

pretty good handle as to what the industry 

needed. I saw that oil prices were beginning 

to skyrocket, and I knew I wanted to be 

my own boss. Ownership was the way for me 

to accomplish that.” 

What started as a small, privately-owned 

business with his wife, Patricia, keeping the 

books, grew rapidly to sixteen employees 

by 1981. In fact, he admits that he was 

mostly a one-person business. Today, thirtyfive 

years later, there are eighteen fulltime 

and two part time employees. Second 

generation family members have joined the 

company. Son, Bryan, is vice president; son, 

Brandon, is field specialist; and daughter 

Breacole’s husband, Chris Streng, has 

provided the company with his business 

acumen for four years, fostering the 

company’s growth. 

By 1988-1989, the industry was drilling 

rose run wells with a volume of production 

that was deeper and more financially feasible 

to drill. Basically, it was greater production 

at a lower cost. That gave the business a 

real boost. 

Mac Oil Field Service, Inc., is a full-service 

oilfield construction company. “That means 

that our staff arrives after the rig leaves the 

site. You might say that we ‘play clean-up’ 

an analogy relating the business to baseball. 

We make the determination about issues such 

as oil and gas storage and setting a separator 

for the oil and gas. For instance, we separate 

the water (and brine) into tanks and send 

the gas down the gas line. We build tank 

storage batteries, gas lift and pumping well 

heads (units). 

“And, a good bit of our business is 

involved in trucking, hauling waste and 

drilling fluids away from oil sites to properly 

dispose of them. That sounds easy, but we 

cannot dispose of petroleum waste materials 


258

just anywhere. Any type of chemical must be 

transported to a designated area that 

accommodates that particular type of waste 

according to government regulations. We 

have two saltwater disposal injection well 

units that are controlled by the 

Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio 

Natural Resources. Those regulatory 

organizations monitor everything we do to 

ensure that everything is within legal realms. 

“The states in which we operate (Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) monitor us 

a minimum of once a month, and they can 

spring a check at other times, too. There are 

strict guidelines to which we must adhere. 

We follow them to a ‘T’.” 

With trucking (transport), there are 

additional guidelines. “Because we haul brine, 

drilling fluids, chemicals and/or do special 

oilfield hauling on request, we must comply 

with each state’s regulations. First, we have to 

apply with the state prior to a delivery, 

requesting permission, indicating the route 

we hope to take to-and-from a specific storage 

destination. If it is an oversized load (large 

truck), the state may re-route us based on the 

size of truck, its contents, and the roads 

themselves. Our larger trucks may not meet 

requirements on smaller, rural roads, or small 

bridges, for instance.” 

Another arm of Mac Oil Field Service is 

building tank storage batteries, gas lift and 

pumping well heads (units). 

“We strive to be the best in everything we 

do. We hope to grow with our clients as they 

grow, and make room for new clients. It 

doesn’t matter if they have been a customer 

for a long time; or, they are brand new. 

Our aim is to give them quality service in 

everything we do.” 

Currently, expanding Mac Oil Field Service’s 

services means adding more truck drivers. 

“We are currently looking for people with 

experience and can pass a drug-ordered 

pre-employment check. With the nature of 

our business and the liability we assume on 

each job, we are required to do random 

alcohol and drug testing,” adds McVicker. 

“Sometimes, we find good drivers and 

workers who have made a mistake in life. 

I’d like to think that we give them a second 

chance to prove themselves. Usually, they 

do—and, that restores my faith in mankind.” 

He says he cannot stress the importance 

of giving the customer quality service. “I make 

sure that our staff has the same goals to 

succeed as I do; and, they adhere to that 

mission statement.” 

Mac Oil Field Service, Inc. is located at 7861 

Township Road 306 in Millersburg, Ohio. 


2 5 9

OHIO 

OIL & GAS 

ASSOCIATION 

Above: A photograph from 1919 of the 

Ohio Gas & Oil Men's Association, First 

Annual Convention. 

Below: A group of wildcatters including 

Henry “Chic” Belden IV (right) check out a 

heavy duty “oil saver” for cable tool rigs. A 

6-8" cable tool bit is being lowered through 

the control. 

In the years following World War II, the 

Ohio oil and gas industry was mostly made of 

small, family-owned independents. In the 

northwest, some continued to work the 

outliers of the famed but depleted Trenton 

field centered on Findlay. In the east, 

producers pushed on with Clinton and Berea 

sandstone development. They worried 

about adequate natural gas markets and 

were discouraged that nitro-stimulation 

was no longer sufficient to make tight-sand 

formations yield economic production. 

The cable tool standard rig remained the goto 

technology. 

It was out of this environment that Ohio 

producers formed the Ohio Oil & Gas 

Association in 1947. Changes were coming and 

a modern age of petroleum development was 

upon them. New technologies, combined with 

emerging American thirst for energy supplies, 

were about to reinvent the Ohio oilfield. The 

first order of business was to unite the various 

factions under a single voice, bringing together 

various regional voices under a single umbrella 

organization. The advantages of industry unity 

would become the driving force of OOGA’s 

advocacy in the years to come. 

By 1953, Ohio producers were introduced 

to the miracle technology of hydraulic 

fracturing that revolutionized sandstone 

reservoir economics. Shortly thereafter, an oil 

discovery in the mid-Ohio Trempleau 

fascinated the nation and Morrow County 

became a boomtown sensation. By the 1970s, 

global oil geopolitics began driving 

independents’ fever for oil development. The 

Ohio industry was front and center in the 

1980s as natural gas deregulation, coupled 

with tight-sand tax incentives, drove Ohio to 

become a leading drilling state, number one 

among states in tight-sands development. 

Even when the markets crashed, Ohio 

producers used their imaginations to go 

deeper, drill smarter, and use technology to 

explore for more prolific and economically 

efficient formations. 

Each technological advancement or market 

game-changing event, every public policy 

debate, the frequency for which demonstratively 

increased each passing year, confirmed that 

unified public policy advocacy was crucial for a 

producer’s success. 

Thus, OOGA was at the forefront in 

establishing dedicated oil and gas law in the 

Ohio statute that protected correlative rights 

and the conversation of the state’s resources. 

OOGA was there in the 1980s to confront the 

emerging anti-development movement; 

working to ensure adequate environmental 

safeguards in the law, knowing that to do so 

was in the industry’s best interests. 

By 2000, the Association worked to resolve 

social conflict between competing developmental 

interests when the Association led the 

effort to enact total state preemption of oil and 

gas law. The passage of H.B. 278 in 2004 was a 

landmark event, superior to any other state, 

that ensured the proper application of 

regulatory authority worked best for the 

industry and society to provide for the orderly 

development of the state’s resources. 

OOGA’s mission is to protect, promote, 

foster, and advance the common interest of 

those engaged in all aspects of the Ohio crude 

oil- and natural gas-producing industry. From 

its origin, the Association has practiced this 

mission through having a unified voice. 

So once again the wheel turns. Today, 

American ingenuity is driving advanced drilling 

and reservoir stimulation technology that is 

dramatically expanding America’s proven 

reserve base in ways that were unimagineable 

just a decade ago. Industry innovation has 

crated the ability to find large amounts of oil and 

gas; not only in conventional reservoirs but now 

also in nonconventional shale “source” rocks 

where nature actually formed the product. This 

has been a transformational event, particularly 

for a state like Ohio that resides within the 

oldest producing basin. 

Once again, the advancement of 

exploration techniques generates policy and 

market challenges throughout the industry. 

OOGA will be there to be the clarion voice for 

the Ohio producers as they enter yet another 

phase of this great industry. 


260

Canaan Industries, LLC, was founded in 

2001 by Chris Deem, who had been 

employed with an oilfield supply company, 

when he decided to begin building and 

repairing natural gas compressors. With the 

assistance of his wife, who built bases and 

controls for the compressors, along with 

help from his father, the new company grew 

rapidly to the point where new employees 

were hired and trained to build and service 

the equipment. After training, the new 

employees would be able to weld, plumb, 

wire both AC/DC in multiple voltages, 

and make engineering changes to satisfy 

customer needs. As sales orders came in, 

the company began filling and shipping 

orders to countries as far away as South 

America (Argentina, Venezuela) and Greece. 

Domestic sales continued to grow as well. 

The company uses all quality components 

such as Marathon TEFC and Toshiba TEFC 

electric motors and frequency drives, 

Square D and F. W. Murphy electrical parts, 

stainless steel gauge panels with stainless 

hardware. All bases are built in an open 

ladder style. Canaan Industries, LLC, became 

a Toshiba motor and frequency drive OEM 

in 2008 and incorporated them into electric 

compressor packages and pumpjack controllers 

when needed. 

Standard features in the compressors 

include operation from suction pressure, 

protection for high/low discharge pressure 

and low oil pressure, motor overload 

protection, guarded belts, bleed valves on 

control lines to prevent freeze-off of controls, 

and pulsation damping on gauges. The 

company can also add many custom features 

such as oil controllers, vibration shutdown 

switches, hour meters, by-pass valves, etc. 

In 2009 the company added a pipe storage 

facility, which rents pipe racks along with 

forklift services. 

Canaan Industries, LLC, is also known 

for their ability to take existing compressor 

skids and outfit them to meet certain 

customer needs. The company can overhaul 

used compressors, build/repair control panels, 

and make old units like new again. The 

company slogan is “If you can imagine it, 

we can probably build it.” 

The family owned company, presently 

located in Burbank, Ohio, is also active in 

supporting local youth organizations, as 

well as being mentors with the county 

children’s services. 

Canaan Producing, LLC, was started in 

2013 as an oil and gas production company. 

In 2015, we are expanding with a new 

manufacturing facility. We will still be located 

in Burbank, Ohio. The new facility will give 

us two and a half times the floor space as 

our current location. 

For more information about Canaan 

Industries, LLC, go to their website at 

www.canaanindustries.com. 

CANAAN 

INDUSTRIES, 

LLC 


2 6 1

J HAWK WATER 

SERVICE, LLC 

Below: Brenda and Jim Hawkins. 

Starting a new business is a scary venture 

for anyone, and it was no different for Jim 

and Brenda Hawkins. After years of service in 

the oil and gas industry, gathering the right 

people and resources to form a brand new 

business was unnerving to say the least. Those 

very years of service would prove to be the 

key to the couple’s success, however, and 

when J Hawk Water Service finally came to be 

on April 19, 2006, the infant company proved 

to stretch, spread its wings, and take off. 

Located in Malvern, Ohio, J Hawk Water 

Service specializes in the hauling of brine 

and fresh water as well as dabbling in 

oilfield construction. 

According to the family, the glue that 

holds the business together is a unanimous 

commitment to loyalty. “We will always be 

loyal to those who have been loyal to us,” 

attests Brenda. “J Hawk has been very blessed 

to have the wonderful customers that we 

have. They have stayed loyal to us from the 

beginning. Our loyalty extends as well to our 

drivers. We have what we feel are the best 

drivers in the industry.” 

Of course, the couple did not set out 

on their journey alone, and the success of 

J Hawk must also be attributed to the key 

individuals in the company’s early days. 

Eric Anderson, Tom Duncan, and Dale Saling 

were the first of who would come to be 

the business’ most prized possessions: its 

drivers. The couple also gives significant 

credit to Dean Swift and John Corp, who 

would both provide legal counsel and 

invaluable advice, for the company’s early 

success. With the years of experience had by 

all parties involved, J Hawk Water Service 

was able to slowly but surely overcome its 

early struggles to experience much success. 

“Our most prized assets are our drivers,” says 

Jim. “Their commitment to serving the customers’ 

every need is remarkable. The business 

would not be successful without the drivers.” 

Initially Jim and Brenda planned to only 

ever have five trucks. As fortune has had it, 

however, J Hawk has added a new truck and 

a new driver almost every year. In just eight 

years the company has grown from 7 employees 

to 14 and from 5 trucks to 13. Having 

doubled in size, J Hawk Water Service is 

currently responsible for fulfilling the needs 

of well over 100 customers. “We pretty much 

take it one day at a time,” says Brenda. “Our 

only goal is to do our very best to meet the 

needs of our customers.” So far, the company 

has nourished a reputation for doing just that. 

Profile written by Lauren Hawkins. 


262

SPONSORS 

Alliance Petroleum Corporation ........................................................................................................................................................163 

American Refining Group, Inc...........................................................................................................................................................210 

Ariel Corporation..............................................................................................................................................................................178 

Artex Oil Company...........................................................................................................................................................................222 

Atlas Energy......................................................................................................................................................................................190 

Bakerwell, Inc. ..................................................................................................................................................................................201 

Bass Energy, Inc. ...............................................................................................................................................................................212 

Buckeye Water Service Company ......................................................................................................................................................250 

Canaan Industries, LLC.....................................................................................................................................................................261 

David R. Hill, Inc..............................................................................................................................................................................163 

Dearing Compressor & Pump Co......................................................................................................................................................172 

Dominion East Ohio .........................................................................................................................................................................184 

Dugan Drilling, Inc., and Dugan Oil and Gas, LLC ...........................................................................................................................229 

The Edwy R. Brown Department of Petroleum Engineering and Geology at Marietta College ............................................................248 

The Energy Cooperative....................................................................................................................................................................163 

EnLink Midstream ............................................................................................................................................................................218 

Eric Petroleum Corporation ..............................................................................................................................................................214 

Fishburn Services..............................................................................................................................................................................166 

J.D. Gas & Oil, Inc. 

Ohio Natural Gas Reserves, Inc. ..................................................................................................................................................202 

JD Producing, Inc. ............................................................................................................................................................................227 

J Hawk Water Service, Inc.................................................................................................................................................................262 

Ken Miller Supply, Inc. .....................................................................................................................................................................196 

The Ken Miller Supply Oil, Gas, Car, Truck, and Agriculture Museum .............................................................................................195 

Kenoil...............................................................................................................................................................................................194 

Knox Energy Inc. 

The Jordan Family.......................................................................................................................................................................205 

Kokosing ..........................................................................................................................................................................................244 

Lake Region Oil, Inc. ........................................................................................................................................................................163 

The Levengood Family......................................................................................................................................................................256 

Local 18, International Union of Operating Engineers.......................................................................................................................240 

Mac Oil Field Service, Inc. ................................................................................................................................................................258 

Mason Producing, Inc. ......................................................................................................................................................................228 

Mattmark Drilling Company .............................................................................................................................................................206 

MB Oil & Gas, LLC...........................................................................................................................................................................208 

Moore Well Services Inc....................................................................................................................................................................198 

Ohio Oil & Gas Association ..............................................................................................................................................................260 

Patten Producing Company...............................................................................................................................................................226 

Petro Evaluation Services, Inc. ..........................................................................................................................................................224 

Producers Service Corporation (PSC) ................................................................................................................................................252 

The Sandy Supply Company 

Wooster Tool & Supply Company 

Scion Energy, Inc. ..................................................................................................................................................................216 

TerraStar, Inc. ...................................................................................................................................................................................254 

The Tipka Family..............................................................................................................................................................................220 

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP ................................................................................................................................................232 

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company..........................................................................................................................................236 

S P O N S O R S 

2 6 3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

M A R K J . C A M P, P H . D . 

Dr. Camp is a professor in the geology department at the University of Toledo, and the author of eight non fiction books. His published 

books range from geology and paleontology topics, to the history of railroad stations to petroleum history. He is a co-author of Ohio Oil 

and Gas (2008). 

Dr. Camp is a member of the Ohio Academy of Science and was president of that organization from 2006 to 2008. He received his 

Ph.D. in geology from The Ohio State University. 


264

On A Handshake: Humble Beginnings to Global Impact: Ohio's Oil & Gas Industry

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