by Bruce Wells | Mar 23, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
March 23, 1858 – First American Oil Company reorganizes –
Investors from New Haven, Connecticut, organized the Seneca Oil Company with $300,000 in capital after purchasing the Titusville leases of the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, which had been founded in 1854 by George Bissell. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Mar 22, 2026 | Petroleum Pioneers
Abundant 19th-century natural gas supplies attracted manufacturers away from coal.
Natural gas discoveries of the 1880s revealed the giant Trenton Field in Indiana, which extended into Ohio. New pipelines and abundant gas supplies would attract manufacturing industries to the Midwest — where small towns competed with cities to attract new industries. It was an Indiana natural gas boom too good to last. (more…)