The Drake well at Titusville, Pennsylvania, was completed on
August 28, 1859 (some sources list the date as August 27). The driller, William
"Uncle Billy" Smith, went down 69.5 feet (21.18 meters) to find oil
for Edwin L. Drake (1819-1880), the well's operator. Within 15 years,
Pennsylvania oil field production reached over 10 million 360-pound (163.3-kilogram)
barrels a year.
(Adapted from ‘The Handy Science Answer Book,
compiled by the Science and Technology department of the Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh)