"Annie Edson Taylor Annie Edson Taylor (October 24, 1838April 29, 1921) was an American schoolteacher who, on her birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Her motives were financial but she never made much money from her adventure. Annie Edson Taylor was born on October 24, 1838 in Auburn, New York. She was one of eight children born to Merrick Edson (1804-1850) and Lucretia Waring; her father owned a flour mill and died when she was 12 years old, leaving enough money to provide a comfortable living for the"
"of what constituted the first commercial oil well is a difficult one to answer. Edwin Drake's 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, discussed more fully below, is popularly considered the first modern well. Drake's well is probably singled out because it was drilled, not dug; because it used a steam engine; because there was a company associated with it; and because it touched off a major boom. However, the first well ever drilled anywhere in the world, which produced oil, was drilled in 1857 to a depth of 280 feet by the American Merrimac Company in La Brea (Spanish for “Pitch”)"
"and prospector. By the early 1890s he was farming in Montrose. Popular lore is that idea came to him in a dream that the waters of the Gunnison River should be brought to the valley. As construction was undertaken, two advances in technology made work safer and easier. Jackhammers fed by a compressor replaced hand-turned drill bits to set holes for blasting charges. Dynamite replaced black powder for blasting. By 1906 shifts of workers up to 30 at a time worked in the tunnel. The tunnel opened in 1909 to much fanfare with a dedication ceremony attended by President William"
"hire a salt well driller, William A. Smith, in the summer of 1859. After many difficulties, they finally drilled a commercially successful well on August 27. Considered the birth of the oil industry, it was an event that changed the world. Teamsters transported the oil to barges, which were filled and sent down Oil Creek to Oil City on the Allegheny River. There the oil was transferred to steamships and sent to Pittsburgh. In 1862, transportation switched to rail with the completion of the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad between Titusville and Corry, where freight could be transferred to other,"
"process, and production was limited by the small supply of petroleum that seeped into his salt wells. On 28 August 1859, Edwin Drake discovered oil in a well 70 feet deep along Oil Creek, south of Titusville, Pennsylvania. The well made only 12 to 20 barrels per day, but the discovery set off a boom in oil drilling up and down Oil Creek, and then all down the Ohio valley, to Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia, the same area where many shale oil retorts were located. In 1861, petroleum flooding onto the market drove the price down to US$0.52 per barrel,"
"its way,""<br>""I could not tell you how,""<br>""there was no one there for me to show the way""<br>""but I figured it out.""<br>""I figured it all through for all of you to see today.”""<br>~Ellie Manette Mannette died on 29 August 2018, in West Virginia, United States. Mannette was credited with several innovations which have proven to be essential for the evolution of steel pan. He was the first to use a 55-gallon oil barrel instead of biscuit tins or soap boxes. Furthermore, Mannette was the person to sink the top of the drum into a concave shape, thus having more space to"
"in early adulthood and went to work for the Hyde Bros. Lumber Company in Hydetown, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. On August 27, 1859, Edwin Drake dug a successful commercial oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania which is commonly credited as the first oil well dug specifically as a commercial well in the United States. Days after the Drake well came in, news reached the Grandin General Store in Tidioute approximately 20 miles away. After hearing that Drake was selling barrels of oil at 75 cents each, John Livingston (then aged 23) who knew of petroleum seepage in the area, immediately began buying"
"oil drilling in the United States began in West Virginia and Pennsylvania in the 1850s. Edwin Drake's 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, is typically considered the first true modern oil well, and touched off a major boom. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the United States overtook Russia as the world's largest oil producer. By the 1920s, oil fields had been established in many countries including Canada, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States, Peru and Venezuela. The first successful oil tanker, the ""Zoroaster"", was built in 1878 in Sweden, designed by Ludvig Nobel. It operated from Baku to"
"a British colony. The oil was moved in earthenware vessels to the river bank where it was then poured into boat holds for transportation to Britain. In the 1860s, Pennsylvania oil fields became a major supplier of oil, and a center of innovation after Edwin Drake had struck oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Break-bulk boats and barges were originally used to transport Pennsylvania oil in wooden barrels. But transport by barrel had several problems. The first problem was weight: they weighed , representing 20% of the total weight of a full barrel. Other problems with barrels were their expense, their tendency"
"In contrast, one tonne of crude oil might occupy 272 gallons (6.5 bbl) and one tonne of gasoline will require 333 gallons (7.9 bbl). Overall, the conversion is usually between 6 and 8 bbl per tonne. The measurement of an ""oil barrel"" originated in the early Pennsylvania oil fields. The Drake Well, the first oil well in the US, was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859, and an oil boom followed in the 1860s. When oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of different shapes and sizes."
"in Brest, France, and was initially buried there. He was re-buried two years later at Hackensack Cemetery in New Jersey. Rank and organization: Fireman First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 3 October 1873, Lodi, N.J. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 182, 20 March 1905. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Iowa, 25 January 1905. Following the blowing out of the manhole plate of boiler D of that vessel, Behne displayed extraordinary heroism in the resulting action. Frederick Behne Frederick Behne (October 3, 1873 – February 11, 1918) was a fireman first class serving in the United States Navy who received the"
"the facility. The well was uncapped in 1900, after the Kansas, Oklahoma Central and Southwestern Railway, later acquired by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, came to Bartlesville, stimulating the development of the Bartlesville field by offering to transport crude to market in Neodesha, Kansas. Nellie Johnstone Cannon, who was six years old at the time the well was drilled and named for her, was granted the land on which the well was drilled by allotment through her Native American ancestry. She sold the land to Bartlesville in 1917. The area is now Johnstone Park. A replica drilling rig was"
"19th Century. The area was named after the Pedernales River tributary of Cave Creek, on which it is located. The creek was so named because of natural caves along its course. In 1865, John Ebert donated of land to accommodate the need for a school for the community's children. James A. Larson was the first teacher in 1891 when the one-room schoolhouse opened for classes. A total of twenty teachers served students for sixty-eight years in the structure. Attendance peaked when Cora Hahn taught eighty-two students in 1917. A wood stove in the middle of the room heated the school"
"that auxiliary power enabled faster trips, which led to bigger profits. The month after launch, and two weeks after heading to sea on April 12, 1900, she arrived in New York with over 200 barrels of fresh mackerel, which sold for nine or ten cents a pound. The success continued. On September 3, she returned to Gloucester, Massachusetts with 720 barrels of mackerel, which broke all records. In that year she stocked $40,660, at a share of $863. On October 25, 1901—seventeen months after her launch—she caught fire at North Sydney, Nova Scotia from a leak in the gasoline apparatus"
"to start drilling on a piece of leased land just south of Titusville, near what is now Oil Creek State Park. Drake hired a salt well driller, William A. Smith, in the summer of 1859. After many difficulties, they finally drilled a commercially successful well on August 27. It was an event that changed the world, beginning with the surrounding vicinity. Teamsters were needed immediately to transport the oil to markets. Barges were filled with oil and sent down Oil Creek to Oil City on the Allegheny River. There the oil was transferred to steamships and sent on to Pittsburgh."
"1836-1837, and opened 1838, the earliest railroad tunnel in the U.S. still in use today. In 1832 the railroad purchased its first locomotive, the ""Herald"", which was run along the route from Baltimore to Owings Mills. This purchase was a major undertaking, for it was built in England and transported by ship ""The America's."" Also, because the age of railroading was new to America, an engineer was sent with the locomotive to ensure that he could teach others the finer art of locomotive engineering. John Lawson (b. Makerfield, November 27, 1810) went on to own, captain, and be first engineer"
"well ""wild."" The initial flow of gas from the well changed to oil after about a day, with oil fountaining up to into the air. Oil vapor blew in the wind as far as Norman, to the south. A safety zone was established around the well to prevent fire. The American Iron and Machine Company was engaged to cap the well, led by superintendent H. M. Myracle. The first attempt failed after twelve hours, but a second attempt restricted the flow, and oil was diverted into a pit until a final seal could be effected. A total of 211,600 barrels"
"barges and cylindrical railroad tank-cars similar to those in use today. The modern oil tanker was developed in the period from 1877 to 1885. In 1876, Ludvig and Robert Nobel, brothers of Alfred Nobel, founded Branobel (short for Brothers Nobel) in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was, during the late 19th century, one of the largest oil companies in the world. Ludvig was a pioneer in the development of early oil tankers. He first experimented with carrying oil in bulk on single-hulled barges. Turning his attention to self-propelled tankships, he faced a number of challenges. A primary concern was to keep the"
"inn where it was burned for illumination. Soon many gas wells were drilled in the area, and the gas-lit streets of Fredonia became a tourist attraction. On August 28, 1859, George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake made the first successful use of a drilling rig on a well drilled especially to produce oil, at a site on Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania. The Drake partners were encouraged by Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), a chemistry professor at Yale, who tested a sample of the oil, and assured them that it could be distilled into useful products such as illuminating oil. The Drake"
"the holidays, they encountered new problems. Upon reaching solid rock, their drill lodged in a crevice at 1,060 feet. At approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 10, 1901, while the Hamill brothers were attempting to free their drill from the crevice, the famous Lucas Gusher blew in. Oil sprayed more than 100 feet above the derrick for nine days until the well was capped. It was the greatest oil well ever seen. Although Lucas estimated its flow at 6,000 barrels per day, it was actually flowing 80,000 – 100,000 barrels per day. No longer was Patillo Higgins laughingly called the “Millionaire.”"
"to leak, and the fact that they were generally used only once. The expense was significant: for example, in the early years of the Russian oil industry, barrels accounted for half the cost of petroleum production. In 1863, two sail-driven tankers were built on England's River Tyne. These were followed in 1873 by the first oil-tank steamer, ""Vaderland"", which was built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company for Belgian owners. The vessel's use was curtailed by U.S. and Belgian authorities citing safety concerns. By 1871, the Pennsylvania oil fields were making limited use of oil tank barges and cylindrical railroad"
"well was abandoned after Faucett fell ill and died later in 1888. The first commercially productive well in Indian Territory was the Nellie Johnstone No. 1 well near Bartlesville, Oklahoma (then in the Cherokee Nation), drilled in 1897. The well was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1972. The capped well casing is the well's only remnant. The presence of oil in Indian Territory had been observed for many years, usually as natural seepage from the ground. Oklahoma Historian Muriel H. Wright described an incident in 1859, in which Lewis Ross, the brother of Cherokee Chief"
"was the Norman No. 1 near Neodesha, Kansas, on November 28, 1892. The successes that followed of the Nellie Johnstone No. 1 (Bartlesville, Oklahoma) in 1897, Spindletop (Texas) in 1901, and the Ida Glenn No. 1 (Glenn Pool, Oklahoma) in 1905, demonstrated the existence of a large oil field in the central and southwestern United States. It became known as the Mid-continent Oil Field. Continued drilling found many other oil fields and pools within the Mid-continent, both large and small. Historically this area has produced more oil than any other area in the United States, and until the discovery of"
"line. Testimony reinforced the theory that the likely cause was a loose power cable that came in contact with the trolley, though a later investigation thought that open flames were the more probable cause. It was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in Pennsylvania history and led to the prohibition of miners and explosives being transported at the same time. The Baltimore Mine Tunnel Disaster was an accidental explosion that occurred on June 5, 1919 just inside the mouth of Tunnel No. 2 in the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company's Baltimore Mine. The coal mine was located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,"
"tunnel enlarged the fire. The fire was eventually extinguished in the early hours of the morning. The tunnel, and the road passing over it, were damaged. It and the road were stabilized, however, and Montgomery Bell Tunnel is again safe. Montgomery Bell Tunnel The Montgomery Bell Tunnel, also known as the Patterson Forge Tunnel, is a historic water diversion tunnel in Harpeth River State Park in Cheatham County, Tennessee. Built in 1819, the long tunnel is believed to be the first full-size tunnel built in the United States, and is the first used to divert water for industrial purposes. It"
"on October 23 which established records at Lowell which held until 1902. The Androscoggin River flooded significantly, which destroyed many homesteads in what would become Bethel, Maine. Those that survived the flood moved uphill into less valuable, plots. Turner's first mill was destroyed during this inundation. Received its name due to the pumpkins that were washed away in the flood on October 5. It was a major flood in the Susquehanna River basin. According to the Caddo tribe, a ""great flood"" moved down the river and reinforced the ""Great Log Raft"" on the river. This raft was a natural dam"
"his many water-powered industries along the Twelve Mile Creek in Thorold. The construction began at Allanburg, Ontario, on November 30, at a point now marked as such on the west end of Bridge No. 11 (formerly Highway 20). This canal opened for a trial run on November 30, 1829 (exactly five years, to the day, after the ground-breaking in 1824). After a short ceremony at Lock One, in Port Dalhousie, the schooner ""Anne & Jane"" (also called ""Annie & Jane"" in some texts) made the first transit, upbound to Buffalo, N.Y., with Merritt as a passenger on her deck. The"
"was towing her schooner barge ""David Wallace"" (which was named after Robert Wallace's brother) when she stranded near Marquette, Michigan. The ""Robert Wallace"" eventually caught fire and burned down. This incident almost ended her career but she was pulled off and repaired. On November 12, 1891, the ""Wallace"" ran aground because of low water in the Sheboygan Harbor. She was loaded with a cargo of coal at the time of the incident. She was also towing the ""David Wallace"" which was carrying 1,500 tons of coal and also ran aground. On October 22, 1896, the boilers of the ""Wallace"" started"
"dam upstream is Garrison Dam, near Riverdale, North Dakota, and the next dam downstream is Big Bend Dam, near Fort Thompson, South Dakota. In September and October 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through what is now Lake Oahe while exploring the Missouri River. Oahe Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, and construction by the United States Army Corps of Engineers began in 1948. The world’s first rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) was invented in 1952 by James S. Robbins for the Oahe Dam project, which marked the beginning of machines replacing human tunnelers. The"
"after hearing of his efforts. Edward Orr Taylor had camped on Nighthawk Lake three years before a major discovery. The two prospectors Victor Mansen (or Mattson) and Harry Benella (or Penella) set up a mine on the lake in 1907, along with a crude mill. They had managed to produce a single bar of gold by the next year, when a fire burned the mine down. They decided not to bother setting it back up again, and abandoned the site. By 1909 the north was being inundated by prospectors travelling up the new railway and hunting down any hint of"
"her career but her final rescue of her own consort's crew caused a fatal blow to her structure that resulted in her suffering the same fate. On 1 October 1901, ""Drake"" headed into a storm on Lake Superior with her consort, the 27-year-old, 3-masted schooner barge ""Michigan"", both heavy with iron ore loaded at Superior, Wisconsin. As ""Drake"" labored through frigid rain and wind, by 2 October 1901, the seams of ""Michigan's"" planking began to leak at a rate that overwhelmed her pumps. The flooded and dense iron ore cargo made it likely that ""Michigan"" would sink without warning before"
"as Nellie Johnstone Number One, was drilled near Bartlesville in 1897. According to the ""Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture"", the industry developed slowly because of communal land ownership by the Cherokees, the lack of crude oil markets, and lack of reliable transportation. Bartlesville became an oil boom town only after 1900, when the nearby Osage County oil fields were developed and railroads were built into the area. In 1900, Phoenix Oil Company built a pipeline from Osage County to Bartlesville's Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot, where there was an oil loading facility. Oil was shipped from there"
"where I can glorify Him more than in this business. Therefore it is my duty to get into the field where I can glorify Him most."" In 1905, Charlotte Blair, secretary of Dimmick Pipe Company in Anniston, Alabama, along with her brother James W. Blair, interested several southern businessmen in the idea of starting a new pipe plant in Birmingham, Alabama. With its natural resources, access to raw materials and rail transportation, Birmingham was considered a well suited location. Eagan was one of five charter investors in the Birmingham pipe plant, which was named American Cast Iron Pipe Company and"