A Young Dutchman Views Post--Civil War America: Diary of Claude August Crommelin

5. New York City, Albany, Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania Oil, and Canada: July–August 1866

5 New York City, Albany, Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania Oil, and Canada July–August 1866 Wednesday 11 July 1866 Visited with some friends in New York. Thursday 12 July 1866 Ditto ditto. In the evening with CasimirThoron to Staten Island; tea at the Dutilhs. Friday 13 July 1866 Dinner with Blake in the New York Club. Two brothers of Blake’s, two gentlemen Mackay and Mr. Chapman.1 Saturday 14 July 1866 In the City in the morning, in Central Park in the afternoon. Sunday 15 July 1866 Sunday, wrote letters. Monday 16 July 1866 By boat on the Hudson to Albany. Drove around Albany in the evening. Street names: Colonie, Van Tromp, De Witt, Orange, Van Woerdt, Ten Broeck Street.2 Tuesday 17 July 1866 Saratoga. New York City, Albany, Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania Oil, and Canada 57 Wednesday 18 July 1866 Trenton Falls; man run over.3 Thursday 19–Saturday 21 July 1866 Niagara, Clifton House. Been under Central Falls.4 Sunday 22 July 1866 Sunday, wrote letters. Monday 23 July 1866 By way of Buffalo, Erie, and Corry to Meadville. Arrived late at night.5 Tuesday 24 July 1866 Visited with the Huidekoper family. Alfred and Frederick were at home, also the children and widow of their deceased brother Edgar. Dinner at Frederick’s, tea at Alfred’s. Children of Frederick: Nelly, Annie, and Willie. Children of Alfred: Mrs. Bond in Boston, Emma in Europe, Annette, and a son, Arthur, who is now at Harvard College. He was already in the army at 16 and promoted to captain on his 18th! Frederick was the only son of Edgar whom we met there.6 Wednesday 25 July 1866 In the morning by train to the oil region. At Reno Station we meet John Huidekoper, a cousin of the others who came over later. He will accompany us, and together we arrive around 11 am in Pithole. Although the real excitement and rush is over here, Pithole is still much more alive than Oil City and other places where the wells have dried up. Here in Pithole and some other places most wells still produce oil, but it has to be pumped up now. At many of them, which were still flowing at the time of an earlier visit by John Huidekoper, the pressure had dropped off, and only after a long search could we find a single well that was still flowing. For the visitor there is little distinction between the two systems, as one sees only the petroleum flow from a pipe into a tank, fed by pumping or natural pressure. But in the case of natural pressure, the fluid is flowing stronger and because of the gas that is still carried along it looks more clear and whitish.The quantities produced by the several wells differ from four or five to two hundred barrels a day. Only a few have produced more than that, and then only temporarily. Of course, all wells are only temporary and are destined to die after a longer or shorter time. The petroleum seems to gather in underground cavities, and when these are pumped out, it does not flow fast enough to fill these cavities again. It is 58 A Young Dutchman Views Post–Civil War America possible that these ­ dried-­ up wells will produce again in the future.The depth varies between 700 and 800 feet; the size of the drill hole is usually 4 inches.7 Nowadays all excitement here is over.The price of the oil is now only $3 per barrel , against $10 and even $16 earlier, and the steadily declining production seems to discourage everybody. Pithole—founded only one year ago—once had a population of about 14,000, but now much less. Nobody wants to buy a lot for well drilling , where earlier gigantic sums were being paid for that purpose. First owners have made a lot of money out of that. Lots are generally being leased now, which means that the owner of the land will get half of the oil found. If a well turns out to be productive, this may be very profitable. It should be borne in mind that early wells of two hundred or three hundred barrels per day were not rare in those days. Now the oil business is more centered on the oil as a product, no longer as a matter of reckless speculation and a way to...