![]() ![]() Newspapers picture shabby homes and families and tell of jobless workers and their hungry children. Much is heard nowadays about depressed areas in the United States. Pithole undoubtedly was the most depressed area of that period of general depression. Such low prices forced many oil producing companies out of business. Not only were the wells drying up, but crude oil that had been selling in 1864 for $12.00 a barrel declined to a low of $1.35 in 1866. In 1866 Pithole became, in modern terminology, a depressed area. Today, Pithole is gone, and many people living in the locality have never heard of it. Fires claimed much of the town.īy June of 1868, oil production had come to a standstill, with only a handful of "hangers-on" in the dying town. Buildings were torn down to be moved and rebuilt in other towns. The drillers and speculators were followed by the teamsters and merchants. ![]() At the same time, new fields were being discovered in such places as Pleasantville, Tidioute, and Shamburg. In 1866, Pithole wells started going dry, and fewer new wells were coming in. Some actually produced oil, while the others thrived off the wealth that the wells created. ![]() Scores of new businesses had been created. Today, by comparison, it takes practically all of Texas to produce a third of the nation’s annual output. One-third of the production of petroleum in the United States that year came from Pit-hole. But by July of 1865 its post office was handling 5,000 letters daily, a volume exceeded in Pennsylvania at that time in only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. No census was ever taken of Pit-hole’s population. There were over fifty hotels, one of which-the four-story Chase Hotel-was built at a cost of $100,000. Streets were laid out, a water works system installed, a fire department organized and there were two each of banks, telegraph offices, and churches. This feverish pace continued through the summer. Six days later, the Oil City Register reported that "nearly two entire streets are built up, and a large number of buildings are in the course of construction." Pit-hole’s first hotel, the Astor House, was built in a single day. The town literally "sprang up." Two days after lots in the town were offered for lease, the first building was under construction. Thousands of people-drillers, speculators, teamsters, merchants, and Civil War veterans-came to Pithole to seek their fortunes. The town was created the following spring. The report of the new discovery brought wild speculation, but the winter was too severe for immediate new drilling. Early the following January, at a depth of 600 feet, he brought in a well producing 650 barrels of oil a day. Frazier, leased a farm seven miles up Pithole Creek, quite distant from the Oil Creek producing area. The success of "Colonel" Drake at Titusville led to further oil drilling along Oil Creek, and during the Civil War that area grew rapidly. That was the beginning of a new industry-petroleum. Drake drilled the first successful oil well near the small town of Titusville in Western Pennsylvania. Yet, in its heyday, the city was as well-known as Pittsburgh, Detroit, or any other industrial center. A casual glance might suggest that the place had not changed in the intervening years, but closer inspection reveals forgotten remnants of the once thriving city of Pithole. ![]() Anderson is a member of the teaching staff, Department of Economics, Grove City College, Pennsylvania.Īlong the banks of Pithole Creek in Western Pennsylvania lies a deserted field overgrown with weeds. ![]()
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