A few years prior to 1850, however, there began a chain of events which marked an important ad vance in the development of American petroleum. It started with the effort of a Pittsburg druggist, named Samuel Kier, to extend the use of petroleum for medical purposes. Conflicting stories are told concerning how Kier came to begin this business, but the important fact is, that he used almost every known means to introduce petroleum and make it a common medical remedy. The crude oil was put up in small bottles bearing the following state ment : Startling placards and ingenious advertising de vices were used to spread everywhere the story of the wonderful virtues of this natural panacea. But the taste and odor were no more agreeable in Kier's time than they had been in the days of the original Seneca oil or the American oil from Kentucky. Though the sales were raised to as much as three barrels a day, the supply greatly exceeded the de mand, and the stock of bottles rapidly accumulated. Undaunted by this dismal failure of his oil as a medicine, Kier's ingenious brain quickly con ceived the notion that it could be used just as well as an illuminant, and thereupon he began to sell it as a lamp oil. The thick crude oil, however, was so full of impurities that it burned very badly and with an extremely disagreeable odor. Previous at tempts had been made to use petroleum for illu minating purposes, with more or less satisfaction in sawmills and workshops, but practically all ef forts at household use had been unsuccessful, be cause of the intolerable odor and smoke. Thus, a new obstacle impeded the success of Kier's enter prise, although the solution of the problem was even then close at hand.
About the time that Kier was trying to establish the claims of his oil as a cure-all, plants were being erected in various places for the distillation of il luminating oils from coal or shale. This industry had started in France about 1832, had quickly spread to Great Britain, and then across the ocean. In 1846, the celebrated engineer, Abraham Gesner, made an illuminating oil from coal at his home in Prince Edward Island, introducing it into the United States under the trade name "Kerosene," and his example was soon followed by many others in this country. These manufactured oils met with almost immediate success, because they suffered from none of the disadvantages which prevented the general adoption of crude petroleum. Within half a dozen years from the first introduction of "kerosene," refineries for its manufacture were in operation at several places along the Atlantic coast, in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. The process of dis tilling these "coal oils" apparently suggested to Kier the possibility of removing the undesirable features of his oil by subjecting it to a similar treatment. At all events he tried refining the crude petroleum for illuminating purposes about 1852, and after various experiments, he finally suc ceeded in producing a distilled illuminating oil from petroleum which, though still far from en tirely satisfactory, was a decided improvement over the crude oil.
This first illuminating oil distilled from Ameri can petroleum was used in Pittsburg, and, despite various imperfections, the consumption of Kier's "Carbon Oil" soon taxed the old salt wells to their utmost capacity, and began to suggest the desir ability of securing additional supplies. The first barrel of the distilled oil sold in New York brought seventy cents a gallon, while at times the price rose as high as $2 a gallon on account of the limited amount available. Kier's experiments had re vealed some of the possibilities of petroleum which could be developed through a process of distilla tion, but there was not yet in existence a single well which had been sunk originally to secure oil. The entire supply still had to be secured from skim ming water surfaces or from wells drilled for brine, a condition of affairs which would not allow petro leum products to assume any great industrial im portance. The time was now ripe, however, to usher in the final steps leading up to the birth of the petroleum industry.
Distilled coal oil was becoming decidedly popu lar in the Eastern cities, when Jonathan Eveleth and George H. Bissell, New York lawyers, were impressed with the possibility of securing large supplies of a similar, cheaper illuminating oil from Pennsylvania petroleum. In 1854, under the name Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, they launched the first oil company in the United States. It was a joint stock concern, with ten thousand shares at $25 each, "to raise, procure, manufacture and sell rock oil." The entire property of the company consisted of some hundred acres on the famous "Watson's Flats," bordering Oil Creek, in Ven ango County, Pa. Oil springs had been known in this locality for more than two hundred years, and expert advice suggested it as the most likely region for securing a large supply of petro leum. The stock of the company was placed on the market in New York, but &good many factors pre vented its ready sale. The laws of the State made any holder of stock in such a company liable for debts of the company to the full par value of shares held. Petroleum development represented a venture then entirely untried, hence regarded as involving unusual risks. At that time, too, money was scarce, and the unloading of numerous out and-out frauds had created an attitude of suspi cion and general skepticism toward anything new.
The promoters, however, believed so implicitly in their venture that, as a last resort, they secured analyses of the oil from Prof. Benjamin Silli man, of Yale University, one of the most noted chemists of that day. His report, voicing the opin ion of a recognized and unquestioned authority, proved so favorable that several wealthy New Haven men expressed a willingness to take up the stock of the company if the company were reorgan ized according to the laws of Connecticut. Eve leth and Bissell had by this time become so far in volved financially that any solution of their diffi culties was gladly welcomed. The result was a new company, with the capital stock increased to $300,000, divided among a dozen original sub scribers.