PRINTER'S NO. 789
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
139
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY RAPP, SAMUELSON, ROAE, JAMES, CAUSER, DUSH,
SONNEY, REED, OBERLANDER, BAKER, PICKETT, HARHART, ROZZI,
REESE, HENNESSEY, DiGIROLAMO, KIRKLAND, MURT, VEREB,
WHEELAND, MILLARD, KAUFFMAN, BARRAR, McNEILL, ROSS, DIAMOND,
TALLMAN, KINSEY, READSHAW, D. COSTA, COHEN, MAJOR, GINGRICH,
McGINNIS, HEFFLEY, GIBBONS AND WATSON, MARCH 3, 2015
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 3, 2015
A RESOLUTION
Honoring petroleum industry pioneer Edwin Laurentine Drake upon
the 195th anniversary of his birth.
WHEREAS, Edwin Laurentine Drake, also known as Colonel Drake,
was born March 29, 1819, in Greenville, New York; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Drake spent the early parts of his life
working for the railroads; and
WHEREAS, In the late 1850s, Colonel Drake was hired as an
agent for Seneca Oil Company to extract oil in Titusville; and
WHEREAS, In May 1858, Colonel Drake and his family arrived in
Titusville and he began his attempts to drill for oil; and
WHEREAS, At the time, drilling was a radical concept since
the primary method for collecting oil was ground collection; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Drake pioneered a new method for producing
oil from the ground by using piping to prevent borehole
collapse, allowing the drill to penetrate farther into the
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ground; and
WHEREAS, On August 27, 1859, after the drill bit reached a
total depth of 69.5 feet, Colonel Drake and his team stopped
work for the weekend; and
WHEREAS, The next day, Colonel Drake's driller, Billy Smith,
visited the site to prepare for the next workday and was
surprised to see crude oil floating on top of the water that
filled the pipe; and
WHEREAS, Billy Smith summoned Colonel Drake to the site, and
oil was brought to the surface with a hand pitcher pump and
collected in a bathtub; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Drake's success in extracting oil prompted
the first great wave of investment and additional drilling that
established petroleum as a major industry; and
WHEREAS, After going on to work as an oil commission merchant
and serving as a justice of the peace, Colonel Drake eventually
retired with his family to Vermont; and
WHEREAS, After he became disabled by neuralgia, Colonel Drake
relocated his family to Bethlehem in 1870; and
WHEREAS, Three years later, the General Assembly granted
Colonel Drake a pension of $3,000 per year in recognition of his
work; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Drake died on November 8, 1880, and is
buried in Titusville; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Drake's efforts in extracting oil changed
the world and helped to create the modern-day oil industry;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor petroleum
industry pioneer Edwin Laurentine Drake upon the 195th
anniversary of his birth.
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