Bit used to drill first well in Beaver County.
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The oil industry was once a very important industry in Beaver County. The first well that was drilled for oil, in Titusville, Pa., proved that man could penetrate the earth and bring up to the surface a precious commodity - oil.
Regarding the first oil well in Beaver County. It is recorded in the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, dated 1875, that "the first oil well was bored in the Smiths Ferry area by Messrs. Pattens, Finlens and Swan Co. who, at a depth of 180 feet, obtained oil in December of 1860. In February of 1861, the Excelsior Co. struck oil at a depth of 72 feet.
But local tradition and history handed down through the years has always credited the first oil well to have been drilled a year after the Titusville well by the Ormes brothers and D.C. Thompson. That well was located in Ohio Township (now Ohioville Borough) near Smiths Ferry.
I find the following article of interest.
Dated August 25,1959 an article written by Glenn Waight in the East Liverpool Review states that the well was drilled by William Onnes, a negro blacksmith and his sons using an old fashioned spring pole because they did not have money to buy a 12 horsepower steam engine which cost about $1,300.00. The well had been drilled to about 300 feet when the rope holding the bit broke, and the bit was lost, halting the project. Clark Thompson, upon whose farm the well was being drilled, became interested, and offered to finance the oil venture if they would share half interest in the well. The offer was accepted and the machinery was brought in and drilling began again. Soon afterward, the bit penetrated the crust of oil rock and brought in a hole that yielded 15-20 barrels per day and kept making a profit for almost a century. The Ormes well was later sold to the French Oil Company of Philadelphia for $40,000.00 - $20,000.00 each to Thompson and the Ormeses.
This past summer I was able to have on loan at the Baker Dungan Museum at Penn State, Monaca Campus, the original bit used to drill the first well from Mr. Charles Chaffee of Ohiovifle. The bit came into Mr. Chaffee's possession some years ago when a local carpenter, well over retirement age, presented the bit to Mr. Chaffee with the understanding that he never sell it. The old carpenter told Mr. Chaffee the bit was the original one from the Ormes well.