Oil Wells in Millerstown

Ryan Bishop and Erica Bullman

Before the first well was drilled, the Indians and early settlers used the oil for medicine. It cured many ills. One of the first wells was drilled on the Martin Hemphill farms. The Divener #1 produced 1,000 barrels a day.

Donegal Township has produced oil in large amounts in the past. They drilled one hundred feet down into the ground with fourth sand. Barrels were selling at four dollars. That was in 1972.

Many of the merchants came to Millerstown. They came because oil was discovered. The average cost of sinking deep wells was about $6,000. It took an average of six weeks to sink and tube a well above depth.

This was early Oil, Ernest C. Miller, 1968.

The History of Butler County Penn. R.C. Brown and Co. Publishers, 1895.

20^th Century History of Butler and Butler County, PA. James A. Mckee, Richmond Arnold, 1909.

Reflections of Butler County, Pennsylvania. Denis M. Throm, Curtis Media Dallas, 1993.

Butler County 150 years of History and Development. The Butler County Sesqui Centennial Association, 1950.