Although it reported property valuation of only $5,000 in the 1917 annual report to the tax commission of Ohio (Athens County), it was still active in 1919.
The company purchased 80 acres for $180,000 in Wayne County, the westernmost county in the state. No records show petroleum exploration activity.
West Virginia’s exploration history began prior to the Civil War. In May 1863, rebel cavalry burned down derricks, oil tanks and pump houses in Wirt County. See Confederates attack Oilfield.
The 1919 National Gas Association of America’s 14th annual meeting lists Federal Oil and Gas Company as located at 517 Second National Bank building in Akron with E. B. Gill as treasurer and general manager. E.B. Gill’s signature appears on the stock certificate.
A separate Federal Oil and Gas Company organized in January 1908 under a Delaware charter. It drilled wells in the new state of Oklahoma.
Beginning with a 4,000-acre lease near Nowata, with 105 producing wells, this Federal Oil and Gas Company added properties from the Osage Indian Reservation and other petroleum companies. By 1911, Federal Oil and Gas held leases on 12,000 acres with 217 producing oil and natural gas wells. Learn more about the state’s petroleum history in First Oklahoma Oil Well.
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The stories of other attempts to join petroleum exploration booms (and avoid busts) can be found in an updated series of research at Is my Old Oil Stock worth Anything?
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