Petrolia: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom

by Brian Black

Overview

This award-winning history provides a fascinating look at the Civil War era oil boom in western Pennsylvania and its devastating impact on the region.

In Petrolia, Brian Black offers a geographical and social history of a region that was not only the site of America’s first oil boom but was also the world’s largest oil producer between 1859 and 1873. Against the background of the growing demand for petroleum throughout and immediately following the Civil War, Black describes Oil Creek Valley’s descent into environmental hell.

Known as “Petrolia,” the region of northwestern Pennsylvania charged the popular imagination with its nearly overnight transition from agriculture to industry. But so unrestrained were these early efforts at oil drilling, Black writes, that “the landscape came to be viewed only as an instrument out of which one could extract crude.”

In a very short time, Petrolia was a ruined place—environmentally, economically, and to some extent even culturally. Black gives historical detail and analysis to account for this transformation.

Winner of the Paul H. Giddens Prize in Oil History from Oil Heritage Region, Inc.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801874659
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Series:	Creating the North American Landscape
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	626,652
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brian Black is an associate professor of history and environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona College, and editor of Pennsylvania History.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Persistence of Oil on the Brain
Chapter 1. "A Good Time Coming for Whales"
Chapter 2. "A Triumph of Individualism"
Chapter 3. The Sacrificial Landscape of Petrolia
Chapter 4. Oil Creek as Industrial Apparatus
Chapter 5. "What Nature Intended This Place Should Be"
Chapter 6. Pithole: Boomtowns and the "Drawing Board City"
Chapter 7. Delusions of Permanence
Epilogue. The Legacy of Petrolia
Appendix
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

John R. Stilgoe

Impeccably researched and gracefully written, this book probes deeply into social, economic, and ecological meanings of an early high-tech landscape far too long ignored.
—John R. Stilgoe, Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

For the decades after the first commercial oil well was tapped in 1859, Black (history, Pennsylvania State U.-Altoona) traces the descent of the northwestern Pennsylvania region from farms and forests to environmental hell. The rural landscape was obliterated under oil derricks, storage tanks, pump houses, and shacks; floods intensified; fires became dangerous and dramatic; towns were built and abandoned; and an urban landscape emerged to service the industry. He includes photographs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A wonderful demonstration of the possibilities of historical studies of technology and culture . . . Just as Black offers Petrolia as the prototypical landscape of industrial sacrifice, his book will surely serve as the model for a new genre of holistic historical studies of people, place, technology, and culture.
—Peter Coates, Technology and Culture

Petrolia is an intimate portrayal of the history of a major event that has affected not only this nation but the entire world as well . . . This book provides an excellent example of geographic writing that reveals that all places have a quality of their own, and of the kind of literate writing that is needed in our profession today.
—E. Willard Miller, Professional Geographer

A clear, concise telling of Petrolia's fascinating story . . . Black does an excellent job of examining the oil boom's impact on many aspects of the life and culture of the region.
—Ralph Wilcox, Vernacular Architecture Newsletter

Although Black uses the development of Petrolia to make larger points about how resource extraction changes ecological interactions, he is also interested in the region as a specific place with a specific history . . . While other scholars have written about what happens when capital is used to extract a resource from one region for the benefit of another, Black tells the story of transformation in this oil-rich valley at a level of detail and care that is rich and interesting in its own right.
—Hugh S. Gorman, Historical Geography

From the Publisher

Petrolia is an intimate portrayal of the history of a major event that has affected not only this nation but the entire world as well . . . This book provides an excellent example of geographic writing that reveals that all places have a quality of their own, and of the kind of literate writing that is needed in our profession today.

Professional Geographer - E. Willard Miller

A clear, concise telling of Petrolia's fascinating story . . . Black does an excellent job of examining the oil boom's impact on many aspects of the life and culture of the region.

Vernacular Architecture Newsletter - Ralph Wilcox

Although Black uses the development of Petrolia to make larger points about how resource extraction changes ecological interactions, he is also interested in the region as a specific place with a specific history . . . While other scholars have written about what happens when capital is used to extract a resource from one region for the benefit of another, Black tells the story of transformation in this oil-rich valley at a level of detail and care that is rich and interesting in its own right.

Historical Geography - Hugh S. Gorman

A wonderful demonstration of the possibilities of historical studies of technology and culture . . . Just as Black offers Petrolia as the prototypical landscape of industrial sacrifice, his book will surely serve as the model for a new genre of holistic historical studies of people, place, technology, and culture.

Technology and Culture - Peter Coates

Although Black uses the development of Petrolia to make larger points about how resource extraction changes ecological interactions, he is also interested in the region as a specific place with a specific history... While other scholars have written about what happens when capital is used to extract a resource from one region for the benefit of another, Black tells the story of transformation in this oil-rich valley at a level of detail and care that is rich and interesting in its own right.

— Hugh S. Gorman

Historical Geography

A clear, concise telling of Petrolia's fascinating story... Black does an excellent job of examining the oil boom's impact on many aspects of the life and culture of the region.

— Ralph Wilcox

Vernacular Architecture Newsletter

Petrolia is an intimate portrayal of the history of a major event that has affected not only this nation but the entire world as well... This book provides an excellent example of geographic writing that reveals that all places have a quality of their own, and of the kind of literate writing that is needed in our profession today.

— E. Willard Miller

Professional Geographer

A wonderful demonstration of the possibilities of historical studies of technology and culture... Just as Black offers Petrolia as the prototypical landscape of industrial sacrifice, his book will surely serve as the model for a new genre of holistic historical studies of people, place, technology, and culture.

— Peter Coates

Technology and Culture