Pennsylvania - part 3

July 16, 2019 - July 18, 2019

From Beaver Falls we drove to Titusville, where the first successful oil well was drilled in the U.S.  Oil had seeped from the ground for thousands of years in various places around the world and was used for a variety of things by the local people.  Sadly, the man who drilled the well failed to patent his method and died penniless.  

Recreation of the first oil well in Titusville.
When the news got out that an oil well had been successfully dug, people swarmed to the area, eager to get in on the action.

Titusville went from a small wooded dot of a town to something like this in a very short period of time.

The discovery of oil makes for happy whales. 
FYI - it was the Right Whale (not the wrong whale) that was hunted for whale oil.  That's how it got it's name.

Every new discovery brings new technology in many areas. Wooden barrels were first used to hold and ship oil.  Coopers (i.e. barrel makers) were kept busy making barrels as fast as they could.  These barrels had to be made so they wouldn't leak.  

A new type of barrel came along, taking the place of wooden barrels.

Finally, barrels like we are familiar with today were supplanted the old wooden barrels.
So what happened to all those coopers jobs?  Technology both gives and takes away. 

Basic petroleum products made from crude oil

Those basic petroleum products become products that we are more familiar with in our own lives.

Every 44 gallon barrel of oil makes a bunch of different products in the distillation process.

Oil will not last forever and new energy technologies will create new products, new jobs, new opportunities just as it will take away old products and old jobs.  What does it say in the Lion King?

It's the circle of life.