August 27, 1859

Drake Well

Drake’s crew completes the purpose-drilled oil well near Titusville

The crew packed up on 27 August without seeing a drop of oil. It rose into the pipe overnight and was found on a Sunday visit the next day.

Sixty-nine and a half feet

At the Seneca Oil Company site beside Oil Creek on 27 August 1859, Edwin Drake's crew reached a final depth of 69½ feet and withdrew its tools for the day. The bit had dropped into a petroleum-bearing rock crevice.

Shallow collection pits had not yielded enough petroleum, so Drake and his driller adapted salt-well percussion drilling. Drake introduced iron drive pipe to stop the unstable upper bore from collapsing.

The man at the drill was not Drake

William A. "Uncle Billy" Smith, an experienced salt-well driller and blacksmith, did the drilling under Drake's direction. Drake organised and supervised the enterprise.

Smith came back on Sunday, 28 August, saw oil floating in the bore and brought some up, reportedly using an improvised container. Drake arrived on Monday and installed a hand pump.

The man remembered as "Colonel" Drake held no military rank.

What the anniversary actually marks

27 August is the conventionally commemorated completion or "strike" date, but it marks reaching the productive formation rather than the moment oil was first seen.

The output figures are unsettled too. A Petroleum History Institute review notes published estimates of 10, 20, 25 and 40 barrels per day, so any precise 12-to-20-barrel range should not be treated as established.

The defensible claim is a narrow one: the first successful American well deliberately drilled for petroleum, not the first place anywhere that oil emerged from a well.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.

What the sources leave uncertain

August 27 is the conventionally commemorated completion or “strike” date; the oil itself was first observed on August 28.
Initial-output figures are not secure. A Petroleum History Institute review notes published estimates of 10, 20, 25 and 40 barrels per day, so the article’s precise 12–20-barrel range should not be treated as settled.
“First oil well” requires qualification. Drake’s is credited as the first successful U.S. commercial well intentionally drilled for petroleum, not the first place anywhere that oil emerged from a well.