Oil-Producing Salt Well

Oil-Producing Salt Well is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Crawford County, dedicated 1985.

PA 198 near Redd's Corner Rd., Lawrence Corners, 1 mile E of Ohio line

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Drilled here in 1815 by Samuel Magaw and William Clark to reach brine, a frontier source of salt. When it was deepened by Daniel Shryock to 300 feet in 1819, oil was struck. Because of this unwanted byproduct, the well and salt works here were closed, 1821. This early yield of oil from a drilled well occurred 40 years before Edwin L. Drake's 1859 discovery near Titusville.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1810 · United States of America, northern part. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · Pennsylvania (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1819 · Ohio & Indiana (H. S. Tanner, 1819) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1823 · Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1827 · Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Ohio & Indiana (H. S. Tanner, 1819), 1819, covering the location of Oil-Producing Salt Well, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Ohio & Indiana (H. S. Tanner, 1819), 1819, covering this location. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

Oil-Producing Salt Well

Historical maps covering this location

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