Four Barrel Well in Wellsville
Phillips Bros. Made a Little Strike on the Mackin Farm, Lot 92.
Bolivar Breeze, April 12, 1896
After drilling eleven dry holes, at an estimated expenditure of over $22,000, the wildcatter has at last found petroleum in Wellsville. Phillips Bros. of Allentown are the lucky producers and the well is situated on the edge of what is known as the Andover field, six miles or so from our post office. A mistake of a few feet in location would have put the new well, not on Lot 92 Wellsville, but in Andover, and it really wouldn’t have taken much of a crook in the hold to make the sand lie beneath the surface of our neighbor oil town. However, we now have the distinction of finding oil in our confines and will make the most of it. There is a remarkable showing of sand. Six feet of the ordinary Allegany chocolate sand were found, and below and adjoining this nineteen feet of a coarse white sand. The well has filled up with 300 feet of oil and will probably settle to a four-barrel producer. It will not be shot immediately as there is no pipe line connected near it. – Wellsville Reporter.
Transcribed by Joanne LaForge, volunteer 8/11/2022