by Bruce Wells | May 7, 2026 | Petroleum Pioneers
The true oil production from an 1882 Pennsylvania well was a closely guarded secret.
In the dense woods of Cherry Grove, Pennsylvania, in June 2025, the community celebrated the 143rd anniversary of its 19th-century well — and an oilfield’s place in American petroleum history. Led by local and visiting oil-patch historians, the Cherry Grove Old Home and Community Day featured tours of the well that once shook world petroleum markets.
When the daily oil production from the Cherry Grove “Mystery Well” on Lot 646 was revealed in 1882, oil prices plunged worldwide. Drillers of the exploratory well in the wilderness of Warren County had kept news of their oilfield discovery secret. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Apr 20, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
April 20, 1875 – Improved Well Pumping Technology –
Pumping multiple wells with a single steam engine boosted efficiency in early oilfields when Albert Nickerson and Levi Streeter of Venango County, Pennsylvania, patented their “Improvement In Means For Pumping Wells.” The new technology used a system of linked and balanced walking beams to pump oil wells. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Apr 14, 2026 | Petroleum History Almanac
Standard Oil curbed the excitement of unruly speculators trading oil and pipeline certificates.
In a sign of the growing power of John D. Rockefeller at the end of the 19th century, Standard Oil Company brought a decisive end to Pennsylvania’s highly speculative — and often confusing — trading markets at oil exchanges.
On January 23, 1895, the Standard Oil Company’s purchasing agency in Oil City, Pennsylvania, notified independent oil producers it would only buy their oil at a price “as high as the markets of the world will justify” and not necessarily “the price bid on the oil exchange for certificate oil.” The action would bring an end to the “paper oil” markets of brokers and buyers.
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by Bruce Wells | Jan 19, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
January 19, 1922 – USGS predicts Oil Shortage, Again –
The U.S. Geological Survey predicted America’s oil supplies would run out in 20 years. It was not the first nor last false alarm. Warnings of shortages were made for most of the 20th century, according to A Case History of Oil-Shortage Scares, a 1950 report that documented six claims prior to that year alone. (more…)
