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Below article researched and submitted by Richard F. Palmer

Olean Evening Times, April 20, 1931 

First Well In Allegany Field Fifty Years Ago          

Richburg Hill Well Was Basis for Rush To Area Rich In Oil.

             ____  

    What was destined to become one of the richest oil fields in this section of the country came into existence just fifty years ago Saturday, when the Richburg Hill oil well came in.

     The same day saw the beginning of what was to prove a thriving little city for a number of years - Richburg, still prominent, but in a lesser way, in the oil industry. The Richburg Hill well was not the first oil well in this vicinity, but it proved to be the biggest paying project opened to that time and was the first well in what is now known as the Allegany field.

     Al most overnight Richburg sprang from a little hamlet of a dozen houses to a city of nearly 10,000 persons. This drive was the result of the effort of John Moran, who came up from Edinburgh, Pa. Mr. Moran was an experienced driller. He associated  with the Richburg Oil Company and the Friendship Oil Company in the project. Today not one of the original stockholders is alive, although the well is still producing. Mr. Moran died in 1904. The other stockholders were Ira Allen, O.P. Taylor, W.W. Rice, Herman Rice, Judge S.M. Norton, C. Lester, A.B. Cotrell and E.S. Bliss.

    Among those who remember the boom rush is Mfrs. Mary J. Moran, wife of the pioneer driller, who recalls many amusing and exciting incidents of the early days of the Allegany field. She is now living in Bolivar. Others who remember the boom are considering erected a monument at the site of the first well, about a mile east of town, to commemorate the pioneers of the industry in that section.   

     Mr. Moran is also survived by one son, T.L. Moran, Tulsa , Okla., and the following daughters: Mrs. Aileen Haely, Olean; Mrs. W.J. Hogan, Mfrs. D.V. McCarthy, Miss Evelyn Moran and Miss Olive Moran, Bolivar.