Looking back: Oil discovery in western Pa. spurred Greene County gold rush
Photo courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society
Oil derricks in the 1870s in McDonald
Photo courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society
McConnell's Atlas of Greene County shows Dunkard Township in 1865.
Photo courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society
In McConnell's 1865 map, David Keener's property is shown off of modern-day Big Foot Road, near where it intersects with Bobtown Road.
Courtesy of Washington County Historical Society
This map in Caldwell’s 1876 Atlas of Greene County shows land owned by David Keener.
On Aug. 27, 1859, near a small town in rural Pennsylvania, oil was struck. At a depth of 69 feet, oil was found at Drake’s Well in Venango County. This finding would usher in a whole new industry in the United States. It would be an industry that would go on to shape the entire world. Once oil was found, people everywhere wanted to find the next big well. Oil derricks would go on to dominate the landscape in Western Pennsylvania for several decades. That dream of striking it rich extended into Greene County. But what no one would realize, the finding of oil in Western Pennsylvania would bring about a gold rush in Greene County.
In 1863, Amber Oil Co., a small company based out of Philadelphia, was formed in the hopes of finding oil and striking it rich. It would sell off stocks to raise the money needed to build derricks and dig wells. The promise of those stocks was a return once oil was found. One well that the company had high hopes for was on the property of David Keener in Dunkard Township. Oil had been found in the surrounding counties, and a geologist for Amber Oil felt Keener’s property was a perfect candidate for a high-producing oil well.
Drilling began in early 1866. The drill was reaching depths of nearly 175 feet when workers got a huge surprise. As reported in the Waynesburg Republican on June 13, 1866, “At the depth of 175 to 180 feet the sand pump brought up glittering particles, which seemed to be gold. Some of these were sent away and analyzed, and pronounced to be gold.” It did not take long for the news to get out, and gold fever hit Greene County. Very quickly the owners of the Amber Oil formed the Amber Gold Mining Co. It began selling off stocks to raise funds to dig a pit at the site of Keener’s well. It was able to sell nearly 150,000 stocks at $1 each. A company out of New York City was hired to dig a pit at the site of Keener’s Well. The plan was to dig an 8-by-10-foot pit that would reach a depth necessary to locate the gold vein. By April 1867 the pit had reached 200 feet, but no other evidence of gold had been found. Operations would cease on April 24, with the only gold found being what was brought up by the sand pump. This left people wondering what exactly had happened. How could there have been gold found while drilling, but then nothing once the pit was dug?
Some people in the area began to suspect fraud. It was written in the Valley Spirit, from April 24, 1867, that “Operations at the ‘gold shaft'” have been suspended. It is rumored there has been fraud and that the officers of the ‘Amber Gold Mining Company’ have made a handsome fortune selling shares and do not care to test if even if it pays well.”
From the very beginning there were those who were skeptical at the finding of gold in Keener’s Well. In the Geological Report on Brady’s Bend Iron and Coal Co.’s Land in Armstrong County, April 1866, by J.P. Presley, it was written that finding gold at Keener’s Well was “Geologically speaking … an impossibility; certainly an incredibility.” It goes on, “The ease with which an infinite variety of deceptions have been played upon well owners, company managers and landowners … is of itself efficient to condemn this whole story of the discovery of gold…” It was suggested that the author would quietly wait until Amber Gold Mining Co. “sank their shaft” before accepting the find. The question remains, was it fraud?
The answer is yes – it was fraud. One of the major stockholders in Amber Oil was a gentleman from New York, Samuel Knox. Knox had traveled to Greene County to oversee the drilling of several wells in this region. While in the county, he boarded in the home of Mrs. Annie Garrison. Garrison’s son, George, had recently returned from California where he was part of the gold rush there. He brought back a small amount gold he had mined. It seems that after seeing the gold, Knox hatched a plan. He was able to get his hands on a few smaller samples of the gold – small enough that he felt they would not be missed. He then went to the well one evening after drilling had ceased and dropped them down the shaft. The next day well drilling resumed, the particles were brought up by the sand pump, and the Greene County gold rush began. Knox partnered with the owners and several stockholders of Amber Oil to form Amber Gold Mining Co. and sell a large number of stocks. By the time digging of the pit at Keener’s Well had ceased in 1867, Knox and the owners of the company were nowhere to be found. It was also reported by George Garrison that his gold had been completely plundered.
In the months following, it was reported that another company had plans to continue digging at Keener’s, as well as several other locations, but it seems nothing ever came of this. So the Greene County gold rush came to an end. Not only was gold never found, but it seems that oil was also never found at Keener’s.
On a side note, during research for the article, I found a reference from the 1890s to The Old Amber Gold Mining Co. out of Buffalo, N.Y. Interestingly, Knox was said to have moved to Buffalo shortly after leaving Greene County.
Clay Kilgore is executive director of the Washington County Historical Society.