The fact that Drake was the first in the United States to sink a well solely to secure oil is of inter est historically, yet far more significant to the pe troleum industry is the fact that his was a drilled, not a dug, well. His success marks the real start ing point in the development of the modern indus try by preparing the way for the subsequent deep borings, without which the present enormous de mands for oil could not be satisfied. It also made available for the first time a relatively economical, rapid, and efficient means of testing or prospecting for oil in localities regarded as probable oil pro ducers.
That the artesian well was the one thing for which the petroleum industry was waiting is evi dent from its rapid adoption on all sides, and the gigantic expansion of operations immediately aft erwards. To every place where oil is an important product, American methods, American tools, and American workmen have found their way, until, at the present time, the drilled well claims the pe troleum industry of the whole world as its own.
The first step in oil production, of course, is the location of the well. Drake was guided in his choice of locality by the existence of oil springs in the vicinity, and in a vast number of oil discoveries since then, the initial well has been sunk because of the occurrence of "surface indications" of some kind. The famous Baku district, for example, is probably the most important of all the localities in the world where outward appearances indicated the presence of large underground deposits.
Many of the most valuable oil deposits, how ever, have been revealed by the more or less ran dom process of "wild-catting." To call a well a "wild-cat" venture means merely that the drilling is done on untested territory, or on land not defi nitely known to be oil producing. The wild-cat operation is, therefore, an out-and-out gambling process, by a man who is willing to stake a few thousand dollars against heavy odds that he will find oil at some depths in a drill hole a few inches in diameter. If luck favors him, his winnings may be enormous; if he loses, his only hope is to pull up, leave the hole where his money is sunk, and move to some other place.
In the beginning of the industry, there were frequent absurd attempts to locate oil deposits by the divining rod, by clairvoyance, or through spir itualism. The divining rods .used were exactly the
same sort as are still heard of occasionally in locat ing wells to be dug for water—a simple crotch of wood, which is believed to turn over above any place where water is to be found. Using the same method for two substances as unlike as are water and oil appears ridiculous on the face of it, but the expert fakirs pretended that they could detect a difference in the action of the two substances on their magic wands. Clairvoyants and spirit me diums visited the oil regions at different times and essayed to tell where oil would be found. It is highly amusing to find them referring to "flow ing streams" of oil, their supposed spirit advisers apparently having suffered from the same degree of ignorance as did ordinary human beings of that day concerning the nature of oil deposits. Some credence was occasionally placed in these so-called manifestations of practical spiritualism, but, as might be expected, nothing of importance ever came of it.
The choosing of the actual site for a well, even in proved territory, is a ceremony which varies ac cording to the personal whims of the operator. Every man has his own pet theory about how it should be done. One man measures distances with scrupulous accuracy, plots the ground, and gath ers every available scrap of information before he is ready to set up his drill. Another drives a stake more or less at random and there begins work. Success is quite as likely to crown the efforts of one as the other, for there is no pos sible way of foretelling what may be found until the drill actually reaches the oil-bearing for mation.
After the site of the proposed well has been se lected in one way or another, the next step is the erection of a "derrick," or "rig," as the oilman calls the framework by which his string of drill ing tools is handled. In its simplest form, the der rick consists merely of four strong uprights held securely in position by cross-ties and braces. For deep drilling, where a long string of tools must be raised and lowered, derricks reach a height of 70 or more feet, and are 20 feet on a side at the base.
In shallow workings, heights of not more than 30 feet are common.