21 I the Venango Valley began to attract the attention of people other than the local residents. It seemed obvious to many that this was evidence of a greater deposit beneath the surface. This interest led to the organization of th~ Senaca Oil Company in 1859, by a group of business men in New Haven, Connecticut, for the purpose of drilling for oil in the Valley. They engaged a Mr. Edwin L. Drake, a retired railroad conductor, to do the drilling. Their choice was due to his being entitled to a free railroad pass, and not to his experience in drilling '!,¥ells. Working with "Uncle Billy" Smith, a local blacksmith and tool maker, Drake began drilling the first oil well in history. At a depth of only 69 feet Uncle Billy peered into the stove-pipe casing and saw a black substance only a few feet from the surface. They had struck oil and had ushered in a new era in the history of man. Little did they know how this would revolutionize · the transportation system of the world. With the discovery of oil in the Venango Valley began Lyman Stewart's business career. At nineteen years of age he had accumulated a savings of $125 . 00, a sizable sum in 1859, for a young man not yet of age. Influenced by the "oil fever" which had gripped the people of the Valley, he invested his total savings in a one-eighth interest in a lease on the Benninghof f farm. Unfortunately, the investors spent all their capital in the purchase of the lease, and had nothing left to finance the drilling of a well. Con- sequently, they lost their entire investment. Interestingly, six years later others drilled on this farm and struck the first 300-barrel per-day well in the history of the oil industry. Mr. Stewart had lost the possibility of a fortune in his first business venture. Undaunted, young Stewart tried again. He and several others leased the Boyd farm near what was called Petroleum Center. Having learned from their previous mistake, they held back enough capital to drill their first well. Unfortunately, when it seemed fortune was within their grasp, several new wells were brought in, producing an oil glut, and the bottom dropped out of
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