Category Chapter 1 – 1859: The Drake Well and the First Oil Rush

🕯️ Lighting the Darkness The dark liquid that rose from Drake’s well in 1859 may have looked unimpressive—thick, foul-smelling, and unrefined—but within it lay untapped potential. Among the early uses of crude oil, none was more transformative than its refinement…

⚒️ A Gamble in the Mud In the sweltering heat of a Pennsylvania summer, a man with a top hat, a limp, and a curious determination stood beside a wooden derrick on the muddy banks of Oil Creek. His name…