We've been to the Petrolia Discovery several times and always enjoy our visits. Everything is so interesting and the history of the oil industry in Ontario and around the world, fascinating.
In 1857, James Miller Williams of Hamilton began distilling some of the "tar" lying around Oil Springs (located a few kilometers south from Petrolia), after buying the property rights from Charles Nelson Tripp. In July or August 1858, he struck an oil deposit in Oil Springs while digging a shallow well, sparking the oil drilling industry. In 2008, the 150th anniversary of the discovery, Canada Post issued a stamp commemorating this first commercial oil well, featuring portraits of Charles Tripp and Williams. However, these early wells resulted in a large amount of wastage from gushers, estimated at 5 million barrels (790,000 m3) of oil in 1862 alone.
Petrolia got its start in 1866 when a major gas well was found, resulting in an oil boom that caused many to abandon Oil Springs in favour of this new settlement. The place separated from Enniskillen Township and was incorporated as a town on 25 December of that same year.
Oil production went through several boom periods in Petrolia; one was in 1898 and another in 1938. Some wells sunk in 1938 were initially producing 100 barrels per day (16 m3/d) at a price of $2 per barrel. This output, however, often lasted only a few weeks, falling to less than a barrel a day.
Oil men from Petrolia travelled to the far reaches of the world (Gobi Desert, Arctic, Iran, Indonesia, United States, Australia, Russia, and over 80 other countries) teaching others how to find and extract crude oil. Those born and raised in Petrolia are referred to as "Hard Oilers", paying tribute to the toughness of their ancestors.
While you are in the area I would recommend a visit to the Oil Springs in Oil Springs ON and the oldest operating oil field in the world is right next door at Fairbank Oil Fields.
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