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Oil
As machinery began to change the world there was a desperate need for oil. People had long gathered oil, but a method of extracting it from the ground was established in 1859 when Edwin Drake drilled his first oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. A thriving industry soon emerged, and enormous fortunes were made by men such as John D. Rockefeller.
Edwin Drake, the Inventor of Oil Drilling
Edwin Drake, though dogged persistence, accomplished the feat of extracting oil by drilling into the earth. This PBS web page provides some biographical information on Drake and tells the story of the world's first oil well.
Edwin Drake Drilled the First Oil Well in Pennsylvania in 1859
The first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859 by Edwin Drake, who started the modern oil industry though he would only drill three oil wells in his brief career.