1st North American Oil Well, 1858

Tripp Brothers, J. M. Williams and John Fairbank Lead Petroleum Boom

May 24, 2008 Susanna McLeod

One of Canada's significant resources, the rich 'black gold' was first pumped, not in Alberta, but in Ontario. Initially, wells were dug, then drilled by spring pole rig

Oil is a precious commodity today. Without the gasoline, diesel, heating oil and lubricants it provides, vehicles and machines would sputter to a standstill. The massive plastics industry would collapse without petroleum. In the mid-1880s, oil was not required to operate cars or trucks, but it was essential for lamp fuel - whale oil was becoming scarce, and kerosene was needed as a substitute.

Henry Tripp located oily deposits in southwestern Ontario, thick and sticky gum beds that held an oozy substance. Calling his brother Charles to join him, the Tripp Brothers gathered samples for analysis in 1853. Thinking their discovery would be suitable for asphalt, a chemist examining the samples in New York City said there were many more uses. “Paints, mastics or adhesive products, waterproofing materials, and if distilled, lighting oil,” noted the Oil Museum of Canada.

World's First Oil Company

Henry and Charles Tripp purchased a large amount of acreage in the area and incorporated their new petroleum business on December 18, 1854. The International Mining and Manufacturing Company was the world’s first oil company. Not yet interested in the kerosene lamp oil, in 1855, Charles Tripp sent a sample of his gum bed asphalt to the Universal Exhibition in Paris, France. The International Mining and Manufacturing Company received an order from Paris and shipped it across the ocean to pave the grand French city’s streets. With poor transportation and little road infrastructure in the local Oil Springs area, the Tripp brothers’ business flagged.

Hamilton businessman and carriage-maker James Miller Williams met Charles Tripp in the same year as the Exhibition. Interested in lamp oil, Williams purchased resource-rich parcels of land from Tripp. Making a success of “refined illuminating oil,” Williams founded the J. M. Williams Company, later called Canadian Oil Company. Not long after, Williams “was digging for water with his work crew, when he discovered a black, smelly substance in a shallow pit, only 14 feet deep". He found the black gold: Oil.

First Commercial Oil Well

Registering the first commercial oil well in North America in 1858, Williams received awards from England, a bronze medal for “Father of the Oil Industry” and “Best Refined Oil in North America,” said the Oil Museum of Canada. Williams was only 39 years old.

Word of the success began to spread. Founded as the town of Black Creek in 1856, two years later the name was changed to Oil Springs, noted the Town site. The population grew to over 3,000 as explorers flooded into the small town, bringing innovation and energy to the new industry. A surveyor from Niagara Falls, John Fairbank was one of many men who moved to Oil Springs.

Purchasing half an acre with a $10 deposit, Fairbank dug a well and found oil. He dubbed his well the “Old Fairbank” and within a few years, became a wealthy businessman in the oil industry. With partners, he invested in real estate, hardware, grocery, hotel and liquor businesses, and was elected several times to local council. Fairbank bought more land in Petrolia, a village just down the road from Oil Springs. The area was equally rich in oil.

Spring Pole Drilling Rig

Fairbank was also an inventor, devising a “jerker-line system” of running many well pumping machines with the power of only one boiler and two engines. The derricks were not the huge metal structures of modern oil fields - they were initially constructed of wooden beams. The well drilling was accomplished at first by spring pole rigging, a labour intensive method. The Oil Museum described the rigging as, “a long ash tree trunk was placed parallel to the ground over a y-shaped fulcrum. A heavy drill bit was suspended from the end of the pole. By jumping on a treadle, drillers jerked the bit up and down.” The action eventually broke up the rock.

By 1861, the count of oil wells in the area was over 400 rigs, and oil was going for the price of $10 a barrel. This year, 2008, the town of Oil Springs, Ontario celebrates the 150th anniversary of the “First Oil Well 1858”.

The copyright of the article 1st North American Oil Well, 1858 in Canadian History is owned by Susanna McLeod. Permission to republish 1st North American Oil Well, 1858 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Oil Derricks 1886	Painting of James Miller Williams	John Fairbank, MP of Lambton East
Henry Nelson Tripp, Brother of Charles Tripp	Oil Wells Near Oil Springs, 1923-24