The Trenton Oil and Gas Boom

Some ideas about resource management prepared for students at Hook’s Discovery and Learning Center by

It was the height of the Industrial Revolution in America, the middle of the 19th century, and the new iron machinery that was creating jobs, prosperity, and pollution in the western world needed a natural, organic lubricant to run smoothly. But the whale oil on which the machines depended was expensive and there was not enough of it.1 There were a few disconcerting signs that the whales might be in decline. What could substitute for whale oil that was as pure, slippery, and clean?

Mankind had known about oil seeps for two thousand years, and had used the black, smelly, sticky mess for everything from sandal soles to medicine. But now several inventors began to

experiment with creating lubricating and illuminating oils from coal, oil shale, or crude oil. Several inventors soon produced lamps that would burn the “kerosene” produced from crude oil, which was cleaner than the oil extracted from coal or shale. In 1847, Colonel A.C. Ferris developed the first oil distillery to produce kerosene on a commercial scale. The new fuel was cheaper and more plentiful than whale oil, and the search for reliable crude oil resources was on.2

The first oil company to successfully produce oil was the Seneca Oil Company, which drilled its first wells in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. Soon oilrigs were scattered helter-skelter across the landscape. Wildcatters followed the American tradition of moving west, and wells in Pennsylvania were joined by wells in Ohio in supplying the new demand. Unfortunately, the northwestern Ohio oil was heavy in sulfurous compounds, and it was only when the Standard Oil Company discovered a way to remove the sulfur that the potential in the Ohio crude could be realized. Standard oil built refineries, tank storage, and pipelines, and began supplying fuel to places as far away as Chicago.

Natural gas also escaped from the wells, but it was not captured, as its value was not recognized except as a way to fuel the boilers that drove the well rigs. Gas lamps began to appear in city homes and on city streets in the mid 1800’s, but that fuel came from coal. The boom in oil drilling supplied the nation’s growing appetite for kerosene, fuel oil, and lubricants, not natural gas.3

Nobody recognized that a major potential resource was being squandered because no one had yet discovered a commercially viable use for the gas. It wasn’t yet considered a resource, because there was yet no need for it.4

1R. Dee Rarick, The Petroleum Industry—Its Birth in Pennsylvania and Development in Indiana, Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Occasional Paper 32 ( Bloomington: State of Indiana, 1980) 2. The watermark on this page is from the photo on p. 15. 2 Rarick 3. 3 Rarick 6. 4 “natural resource” Mayhew, <e2129>

resource Some component which fulfils people's needs. Resources may be man-made—labour, skills, finance, capital, and technology—or natural—ores, water, soil, natural vegetation, or even climate.

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Indiana discovers its oil and natural gas resources

Natural gas provided the first indication that the Trenton oil field of northwestern Ohio extended into Indiana. One well drilled at Eaton, Indiana, in 1876 produced enough natural gas to fuel a 2-foot flame for 10 years, but it was regarded as a “curiosity.” It was only in the 1880’s that the commercial value of natural gas began to be realized. The first commercially successful gas well apparently was drilled in 1886 near Portland. Soon gas wells dotted the Indiana landscape, drilled by local entrepreneurs rather than the big oil companies that controlled the industry in Pennsylvania. But the eastern gas companies took note when a gas well in Lima produced commercial quantities of oil, and soon the Trenton field was producing both.5

The Standard Oil Company built pipelines to convey the oil to its refineries to the east. The natural gas, however, was used to supply local towns and eventually the rural areas as well with fuel for factories. Eventually, the Trenton Field supplied gas to more distant locales as well. By 1900, 36 billion cubic feet of natural gas worth more than $7 million flowed from the Trenton wells.

But production began quickly to decline, reaching only 2 billion cubic feet in 1916. Oil production declined just as quickly and steeply, and the oil companies moved on in search of new sources of supply.6 The Trenton Boom was over.

Once depleted, resources must be found elsewhere or replaced by new strategies.

A chart showing Trenton Boom natural gas production and decline

mirrors the production and decline of oil as well.8

5 Rarick 7-9. 6 Rarick 11, 22. 7 Mark J. Camp and Graham T. Richardson, Roadside Geology of Indiana (Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 1999) 221, and Stanley J. Keller, Underground Storage of Natural Gas in Indiana, Indiana Geological Survey Special Report 59 (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1998) 7. 8 Rarick 22.

How did the Trenton Field form?How did the Trenton Field form?How did the Trenton Field form?How did the Trenton Field form? Over millions of years,

layers of various types of rocks were laid down in the area now covered by Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. The layers became tilted, and their upper edges were carried away by erosion. The natural gas and oil created far below from decayed and pressurized ancient life forms drifted upward through the layers through small cavities connected by small passages in the rock, forced upward by the buoyancy of the gas. When the gas and oil reached rock, such as shale, that did not have as many pores, or that had pores that were not connected into tiny passages, they became trapped and created the reserves the drillers found.

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The oil industry wasted much of this natural resource from the start. The story of the Trenton Oil and Gas Boom is a story of a young nation learning to use its vast untapped natural wealth. Unaware of all the potential of petroleum (the automobile was not yet a factor in the American economy) and of the hazards of spills, the early oil industry made some serious mistakes:

• Too many wells were dug, resulting in a field that leaked so much natural gas that the pressure of the gas underground could no longer force oil to the surface.10

• Oil was initially transported by barge until the railroads constructed spurs into the fields. Small, shallow creeks were dammed and then opened to create a flood that would carry the barges to deeper channels, inevitably leading to the first environmental hazard spills.

• Oil was transported in wooden barrels, which leaked on the ground and in the water.11 • Competition led to sabotage of early pipelines and storage sites, contributing further oil spills.

• Geologists of the time were aware of the problems, but their concerns were ignored by oilmen who did not recognize that this was a finite, non-renewable resource.12

Indiana was unable to control the wastage in spite of US Supreme Court rulings in favor of anti-

waste law because it did not have the funds or personnel.13 In fact, “geologists have estimated that as much as 90 percent … of the oil in the Trenton reservoir at the time of its discovery may still be there. The natural energy—that is, natural gas—of the Trenton reservoir was poorly used and largely wasted. With today’s production techniques probably as much as 20 percent more oil might have been recovered. This means that the old Trenton Field might have yielded much more than the 105 million barrels of oil that it did.” 14 Ignorance of science can cause wasting of resources. An oil well burns in Blackford County, March 1900.15 Controlling oil fires has become a lucrative profession.

9 Mayhew <e2186>. 10 Camp 224. 11 Rarick 6. 12 Rarick 23. 13 Rarick 24. 14 Rarick 22. 15 Rarick, 21.

non-renewable resource A finite mass of material which cannot be restored after use, such as natural gas. Non-renewable resources may be sustained by recycling.

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Sometimes, waste of resources comes from lack of resources to do anything about it.

The picture at the left shows part of the earth

from space. This section shows the Arabian peninsula

at the bottom and the eastern part of Russia center top.

The white lights are population centers and the red

flares are burning natural gas the petroleum industry is

not recovering—worldwide, over 100 billion cubic

meters a year.

Why is this natural resource being wasted?

Often, a country finds it too expensive to recover gas

and pipe it to population centers. This is particularly

the case in Nigeria, which creates 20% of the world’s

gas flares. But oil industry emissions contribute to

atmospheric pollution on a worldwide scale.16

Would a greater understanding of the science

of petroleum contribute to less waste and less pollution? Perhaps. But human beings also need to decide whether or not controlling wastage and pollution is as great a priority as economic development. Is it better to spend human resources on economic development to feed the population or on pollution control to improve their health?

The more you know about science and about economics, the better you can help the world decide.

Knowledge of science can help us make better decisions about our natural resources.

16Earth at Night, map (Washington D.C.: National Geographic, 2004). The map was created from satellite images from the United State Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

SSSSome additional questions about resources to ponder ome additional questions about resources to ponder ome additional questions about resources to ponder ome additional questions about resources to ponder

Companies have “Human Resources” staff who deal with hiring, staff training, and employment law. 1. Considering what you have learned about natural resources, why do you think companies regard

their employees as “human resources”? 2. What have you learned about the use and misuse of natural resources that would apply to the way

companies treat their human resources?

You have resources, too. Look at the definition of “resources” on page 1 again. 1. Make a list of the resources you currently have. 2. Make a list of the things you could accomplish (buy, make, achieve, affect) with your resources. 3. Are there accomplishments you would like to have that you need additional resources for? 4. What resources do you need to acquire? 5. How can you get them? 6. How can you make sure you care for your resources?