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Nestled quietly in the rolling hills of Venango County in Northwest Pennsylvania is Pithole, a ghost town located just of Rt. 227 between the small towns of Pleasantville and Plumer.
During the oil boom of the late 1860's Pithole City was a rather large boom town. As a matter of fact America’s largest boom town. Oil was first discovered at Pithole in January of 1865, just six years after Colonel Edwin Drake discovered oil near Titusville, which is about 15 miles northwest. By September of the same year, Pithole had grown from a lowly farming area to a boom town of 15,000 people. This entire area is considered the birthplace of the oil industry. Oil wells popped up on every piece of land for miles, while some did not produce much oil, many did. As a matter of fact, there were several small towns that sprang from this oil boom, although most of them are still here. By January of 1866, Pithole was vanishing. Fires, and over drilling for oil caused money to run out and oil to dry up. People started moving on to bigger and better things.
This area’s first oil production was located in the Oil Creek and the Allegheny River Valleys. Until a well was drilled on the Thomas Holmden farm along Pithole Creek, this well named the Frazier Well was producing 250 barrels of oil a day. Something that was very amazing at that time in history. The story of this well spread and everyone came to the Pithole area to try their luck. Numerous other “gusher” wells were drilled, and Pithole City sprang up around these wells, by May of 1865, Pithole was home not only to the 15,000 people, but 57 hotels, many homes, shops, a daily newspaper and the third busiest Post Office in the state of Pennsylvania for that time. They were handling 5500 pieces of mail each day.
While much of the barreled oil was shipped out of this valley by wagons and horses, the world’s first successful oil pipeline was run between Pithole and another small town called Miller Farm. These towns were about 5 ½ miles from each other, through woods and up and down valleys. So this was a major accomplishment for this time. Although thieves had a much easier time stealing oil by making a break in the pipeline.
The oiled was then barreled at Miller Farm and shipped out of the area by the Oil Creek Railroad.
But by December of 1866 the population of Pithole had dropped to 2000. Overdrilling for oil, and major well fires, combined with the quickly constructed wooden buildings within the city did not make a good combination. One time just before the end of the town, the oil ran like water through the streets and water wells in the area, making people hope that the oil had not run out. But it seemed to just be a freak of nature and as quickly as the oil came, it went again. The oil pocket under Pithole was dry. By 1867, there was no one living in Pithole, but a few of the original farmers.
Now all that is left of Pithole are the indentations in the ground of where the old cellars were. You can still see where the streets in this town were located, they have now taken on the form of grassy pathways. The land is rather hilly and full of trees, this must have been a town built on hillsides. This ghost town is located not 3 miles from where I grew up, and my family used to enjoy sled riding on the old “streets”during the winter months. There is also a reservoir located near by and you can also the well sites that have now been capped off.
There is now a Visitor Center on site, which is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Wednesday’s from 12 to 5, Thursday thru Sunday from 10 to 5. I do believe guided tours are offered on Sunday also. There is a $2.00 admission charged to visit the center, but no charge to walk on the paths. There is also a scale model of the city in it’s boom days in the Center. And many plaques located on the paths that will tell you what buildings were located on that particular street.
They also give a lantern tour of Pithole every year near Halloween time, there is a fee for this, but you are taken on a guided tour, in the dark, by lanternlight.
If you are looking to discover a bit of oil history, this is where it all began, so maybe you should too.
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