First U.S. Oil Company incorporationIn 1854, the first U.S. oil company, the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, was incorporated by George H. Bissell, a New Yok Banker, with a capital stock of $250,000 (10,000 $25 shares) to commercially produce oil for lamp fuel. It was later renamed the Seneca Oil Co. Petroleum from oil seeps in Western Pennsylvania had long been collected by the native Americans for medicinal purposes. Settlers had used the rock oil for lamp fuel and lubrication. Water well drillers abandoned water sources they found contaminated with oil. Benjamin Silliman, Jr., had discovered the oil could be distilled into several fractions, one of which was a high quality illuminant. Bissell envisioned drilling for petroleum sources. With the Company's funding, Edwin Drake struck oil at Titusville, Pennsylvania on. 27 Aug 1859.« |
