Focal Point: Fred Carrow

Year Born: N/A

Price Range: $15.00 - $4,000.00
(This price range was estimated with limited info and may be inaccurate)

Main Website: http://www.fredcarrow.com

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Overview

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Only 150 signed and numbered giclee prints available

Commemorating the 150th Anniversary
of the
World's First Successful Oil Well.

15" x 22" giclee on fine art paper
$100.00
To order, please click here.

Titusville druggist, Peter Wilson with friend Colonel Edwin Drake are in the foreground.
I painted driller "Uncle Billy" Smith sitting on the oil barrels towards the right.

Who was "Colonel" Drake?
The truth was, Edwin Drake was not a "Colonel" of anything. He and his financiers simply invented the title to impress the locals, many of whom laughed at what was, for a time, known as "Drake's Folly". With the financial backing of the newly formed Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company (soon to be renamed Seneca Oil Company), Drake set off to Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1857 to survey the situation. Drilling began in the summer of 1859. There were many problems with this well, and progress was slow and financially costly. The initial money the investors had fronted Drake ran out, and he had to borrow more to keep drilling.

"The Yankee's Struck Oil!"
On August 27, 1859, Drake and Smith drilled to a depth of 21.18 m (69 1/2 feet). It was not until the next morning, on August 28, when the driller, "Uncle Billy" Smith, noticed oil floating in the hole they had pulled the drilling tools from the night before. By today's standards, it was a pretty unremarkable hole, probably producing 20 barrels or less of oil per day.

.....and just in time
The timing could not have been better. Most of the financial backers had given up on the project, and James Townsend, after having financed the operation out of his own pocket, had sent Drake the order to pay the remaining bills and close up shop. Drake received this order on the very day that he struck oil.

The oil boom
Almost overnight, the quiet farming region changed in much the same manner as the gold rush towns of the Wild West. The flats in the narrow valley of Oil Creek, averaging only around 330 m (~1000 feet) wide were quickly leased, and hastily constructed derricks erected. Towns sprang up out of nowhere with people coming from all over looking to make their fortunes. This once quiet area suddenly became louder than anyone could have imagined, with steam engines and other types of machinery necessary to run the hundreds of wells that sprang up in the valley in the first couple of years. And the mud was fast becoming legendary. Horses were the main means of transporting machines and oil in these early days. As soon as a trail became too muddy to travel, the trail was simply widened. Soon, the width of the trails stretched from the stream to the foot of the hills, with the entire area having been transformed into mud. Horses, which were worked to beyond exhaustion, would often sink up to their bellies in the stuff.

The dangers of early oil
Due to the lack of geological knowledge of the rocks beneath which were actually producing the oil, wells were drilled almost at random in those first few years. Photographs show that derricks were built at extremely close proximity to one another in an attempt to get as much oil out of the ground as fast as one could. Frequent fires often raged out of control. In fact Drake's initial well only lasted a few months before it burned to the ground. A second well was erected shortly thereafter.

The birth of an industry
Still not convinced that the Oil Regions in Pennsylvania were important in the early days of oil? Consider this - Pennsylvania was responsible for 1/2 of the WORLD'S production of oil until the East Texas oil boom of 1901.

Also just released...
Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday is February 12th, 2009
Limited edition of 200 signed and numbered
Abraham Lincoln
Giclee on Fine Art Paper on Paper
22 x 16.5
$75.00
To order, please click here

Check Out My Latest Sports Art Click Here

To Watch a Short Newscast About My Artwork Click Here

Biography

Hello and welcome to my gallery. I have been interested in art since, well, for as long as I can remember. My Grandfather, who was an exceptionally talented artist, craftsman, and musician had quite an influence on me when I was young boy. He used to draw for hours upon end to the delight of myself and the entire Sixth Street neighborhood of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bill Applequist, to whom I am very grateful, was my art teacher at Oil City High School and guided me in the right direction. You may find that my work is quite diverse in subject matter which I attribute to a wide range of personal interests from sports to the aesthetic beauty of sunlight filtering through the autumn mist. In other words I just want to paint whatever moves me at a particular moment. I hope you enjoy my work and feel free to either e-mail me or phone me with any questions whatsoever.

Thanks for viewing,
Fred Carrow
814-676-5470

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