By DAN NEPHIN(AP)– 10 hours ago TITUSVILLE, Pa. — The oil boom that began 150 years ago in this small northwestern Pennsylvania town changed the world and made countless people rich, but not the man who found the way to successfully extract black gold from the earth.
Edwin Laurentine Drake died an invalid, confined to a wheelchair and virtually penniless. In his later years, he relied on the goodwill of friends and a state pension given late in life to recognize the millions of dollars in tax revenue Pennsylvania made from his drilling method. "As they say, sometimes the good we do benefits others and not ourselves because he certainly benefited others from his work," said William Brice, a University of Pittsburgh professor emeritus, author of a book on Drake and the early oil industry. His "Myth, Legend, Reality, Edwin L. Drake and the Early Oil Industry" will be published this year.
Full Story: Drake's Pa. oil well idea changed world in 1859 - The Associated Press
Edwin Laurentine Drake died an invalid, confined to a wheelchair and virtually penniless. In his later years, he relied on the goodwill of friends and a state pension given late in life to recognize the millions of dollars in tax revenue Pennsylvania made from his drilling method. "As they say, sometimes the good we do benefits others and not ourselves because he certainly benefited others from his work," said William Brice, a University of Pittsburgh professor emeritus, author of a book on Drake and the early oil industry. His "Myth, Legend, Reality, Edwin L. Drake and the Early Oil Industry" will be published this year.
Full Story: Drake's Pa. oil well idea changed world in 1859 - The Associated Press
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