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Coles Oil on the Pigtail: The Union and Titusville Railroad 1865-1928 at Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa, ON
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Until the fall season of 1859, naturally occurring seeps of crude oil in rural Northwestern Pennsylvania were considered a local oddity. The locals who lived near the seeps would often skim off the oil that collected on the surface of ponds and streams. The skimmed oil was used as a cure-all medicine, as a fuel for torches, or as a crude lubricant for neighborhood sawmill and gristmill machinery. Crude oil in Pennsylvania was seemingly destined to remain a local oddity that added a few supplemental dollars to the income of the region's farmers. Then, on August 27, 1859, a single well bored to a depth of 69 1/2 feet fostered a new American industry in the sleepy backwoods region of northwestern Pennsylvania. By the end of 1860, thousands of barrels of the suddenly valuable "local oddity" had been extracted from a creek valley south of a hamlet called Titusville. Thus began Pennsylvania's first oil boom that many called, "Oildorado." From the riches of Oildorado sprang an unlikely transport route: a 25-mile shortline railroad called the Union and Titusville-nicknamed "the Pigtail" for its many twists and turns. Started in 1865 and completed in 1871 at a cost of $700,000 ($15,350,578 in today's money), it took a host of investors, a Civil War hero, and an infamous Robber Baron to build the rail line to export Pennsylvania's petroleum and related products from Northwestern Pennsylvania's "Oil Regions" to mainline railways.
Until the fall season of 1859, naturally occurring seeps of crude oil in rural Northwestern Pennsylvania were considered a local oddity. The locals who lived near the seeps would often skim off the oil that collected on the surface of ponds and streams. The skimmed oil was used as a cure-all medicine, as a fuel for torches, or as a crude lubricant for neighborhood sawmill and gristmill machinery. Crude oil in Pennsylvania was seemingly destined to remain a local oddity that added a few supplemental dollars to the income of the region's farmers. Then, on August 27, 1859, a single well bored to a depth of 69 1/2 feet fostered a new American industry in the sleepy backwoods region of northwestern Pennsylvania. By the end of 1860, thousands of barrels of the suddenly valuable "local oddity" had been extracted from a creek valley south of a hamlet called Titusville. Thus began Pennsylvania's first oil boom that many called, "Oildorado." From the riches of Oildorado sprang an unlikely transport route: a 25-mile shortline railroad called the Union and Titusville-nicknamed "the Pigtail" for its many twists and turns. Started in 1865 and completed in 1871 at a cost of $700,000 ($15,350,578 in today's money), it took a host of investors, a Civil War hero, and an infamous Robber Baron to build the rail line to export Pennsylvania's petroleum and related products from Northwestern Pennsylvania's "Oil Regions" to mainline railways.
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