Abstract Western Pennsylvania is rich in oil history, and many of the fledgling petroleum industry’s “firsts” happened right here between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. First and foremost, it is home to the Drake Well, the first-ever economic well intentionally drilled to produce oil. In addition, western Pennsylvania has bragging rights to various industry advancements, from the way geologic samples were collected and interpreted, to how wells were drilled and stimulated for production, to early oil refining techniques, marketing, and production. In this field guide, we discuss the petroleum geology and history of western Pennsylvania in general and three important oil-producing sites in particular: (1) the McClintock #1 Well, Rouseville; (2) the Drake Well, Titusville; and (3) Muddy Creek oil field, Prospect. Each of these sites produced oil from Upper Devonian reservoirs and spurred additional petroleum exploration and development in the central Appalachian basin. This field trip generally follows the GSA guide published from the 2011 Joint Meeting of the GSA Northeastern and North-Central Sections in Pittsburgh (available at http://fieldguides.gsapubs.org/ ): Carter, K.M., and Flaherty, K.J., 2011, The old, the crude, and the muddy: Oil history in western Pennsylvania, in Ruffolo, R.M., and Ciampaglio, C.N., eds., From the Shield to the Sea: Geological Field Trips from the 2011 Joint Meeting of the GSA Northeastern and North-Central Sections: Geological Society of America Field Guide 20, p. 169–185, doi:10.1130/2011.0020(08).

Abstract Western Pennsylvania is rich in oil history, and many of the fledgling petroleum industry’s “firsts” happened right here between the late nineteenth and early tentieth centuries. First and foremost, it is home to the Drake well, the first-ever economic well intentionally drilled to produce oil. In addition, western Pennsylvania has bragging rights to various industry advancements, from the way geologic samples were collected and interpreted, to how wells were drilled and stimulated for production, to early oil refining techniques, marketing, and production. In this field guide, we discuss the petroleum geology and history of estern Pennsylvania in general and three important oil-producing sites in particular: (1) the McClintock #1 well, Rouseville; (2) the Drake well, Titusville; and (3) Muddy Creek oil field, Prospect. Each of these sites produced oil from Upper Devonian reservoirs and spurred additional petroleum exploration and development in the central Appalachian basin.

Abstract Western Pennsylvania is rich in oil history, and many of the fledgling petroleum industry’s “firsts” happened right here between the late nineteenth and early tentieth centuries. First and foremost, it is home to the Drake well, the first-ever economic well intentionally drilled to produce oil. In addition, western Pennsylvania has bragging rights to various industry advancements, from the way geologic samples were collected and interpreted, to how wells were drilled and stimulated for production, to early oil refining techniques, marketing, and production. In this field guide, we discuss the petroleum geology and history of estern Pennsylvania in general and three important oil-producing sites in particular: (1) the McClintock #1 well, Rouseville; (2) the Drake well, Titusville; and (3) Muddy Creek oil field, Prospect. Each of these sites produced oil from Upper Devonian reservoirs and spurred additional petroleum exploration and development in the central Appalachian basin.