This book traces the story of American petroleum, from its inception
as the medicinal by-product of salt well operations through the peak of
its subsequent development as a source of illumination for a large portion
of the world's population. It terminates with an account of the industry
at the close of the nineteenth century, when signs of petroleum's future
role as a major source of energy rather than illumination were already
visible.

The domestic petroleum industry was an integral part of the impres-
sive expansion of the American economy during the post Civil War dec-
ades. Its members shared with other business enterprises the impact of
periodic booms and depressions and the long-run secular increases in
population, physical production, and capital formation that were charac-
teristic of this period of American history. Oilmen contributed to the
changes during these years when the United States shifted from an agrar-
ian to an industrial economy and from predominantly rural to urban pat-
terns of living.

Although petroleum had much in common with other American indus-
tries that emerged in the latter nineteenth century, it soon developed un-

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