Who was the first man to strike oil?
rude oil that seeped put from the surface was known to most ancient peoples. It was sometimes used in lamps and torches. In the United States, the Allegheny mountain region contained many rich oil fields. In places the oil lay so close to the surface that it seeped into streams.
The crude oil was used as medicine, and soon there was quite a demand for it. But no one thought of drilling for oil at first. Credit for the idea of drilling for oil is usually given to a New York lawyer named George Bissell.
Bissell had a sample of oil analyzed, and the chemist reported that petroleum could yield many useful products. So in 1857 Bissell hired a man named Edwin L. Drake to take charge of the oil properties on Oil Creek, near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
