The 46th district in southwestern Pennsylvania has a long history in the natural resource productions coal as well as gas and oil. McDonald a borough in the district was the hub of a 13,000-acre oil field that in 1891 and 1892 gushed the highest levels of oil in the world. Indeed, oil -- black gold, bubbling crude, Pennsylvania tea -- was everywhere in McDonald 120 years ago, joining coal mining and railroading as the main local industries. The McDonald Oil Field, measuring about 15 miles long and 3 miles wide, was the second largest in terms of size and production in Pennsylvania history, after the Bradford Oil Field in McKean County. The area covered numerous smaller fields that together extended southwest from around Coraopolis at the western edge of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County to several miles into Washington County, along the way passing under McDonald, a small borough straddling the two counties. In 1892, the U.S. was the worlds top oil producer, with much coming from Pennsylvania and the McDonald area, a standout in the Appalachian region. Most of the McDonald oil came from sandstone about 2,000 to 2,450 feet below the ground. Peak production in the McDonald field was 84,300 barrels a day in November 1891, and during a one-year period in 1891 to 1892, the field produced 12 million barrels of oil. Pictures of McDonald back then showed the whole town had oil well derricks in their backyards right in town. Most of the larger farms even 5o years ago had 2 or 3 well producing gas and oil. Even today there are several of these wells still producing and lot of people don’t realize that because they no longer use the derrick. Many of the new housing plans in this area such as Timber Run on route 980 just outside of McDonald and Pristine Fields on 980 closer to Muse are built on top of these oil fields. You may even own a house that sit on top of some of the old pipes from these wells you could even say you own a piece of history.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 04:19:10 +0000