Ohio Oil Rush

Cygnet, Ohio, in Wood County was a booming oil town with 13 saloons and many workers when this photo was taken in 1885.

The Ohio oil rush was a 19th century petroleum boom in the southeast Ohio, United States. The boom started in 1860 in Macksburg, Ohio. Blacksmith William Jeffrey made a similar hit in Mecca Township, northeast of Warren.^[1] Crude oil production climbed year after year, especially after major oil reserves were found in Wood County in northwest Ohio in the 1880s. Between 1895 and 1903 Ohio was the leading producer of crude oil in the country when it was surpassed by Texas and Oklahoma. Production peaked in 1896 at 23.9 million barrels of oil.^[2]

Large scale production of oil continued into the 1930s. Due to inefficient early drilling techniques the oil fields rapidly lost pressure and large amounts of technically recoverable oil and gas remain throughout Northwest Ohio. Production in the area may once again become economically viable with higher gas prices and the advent of new drilling methods like horizontal drilling and reservoir repressuring. ^[3]

See also

• Pennsylvanian oil rush
• Indiana Gas Boom
• Texas oil boom
• History of the petroleum industry in the United States

References

1. ^ http://blackswampmemories.org/OG.html
2. ^ http://www.energybulletin.net/node/7376
3. ^ http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/04/25/Experts-explore-possibilities-of-drilling-for-oil-in-NW-Ohio-again.html