The Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg is developing the West Virginia Oil, Gas and Civil War Heritage District to celebrate the birth of the nations oil industry as well as related Civil War activities. The anchor and magnet for the district is to be the Oil & Gas Museum in Parkersburg then fanning out to encompass:

• Burning Springs, seven miles from Elizabeth in Wirt County (with park in place).

• Palestine Lock and Dam site, Wirt County.

• Big Bend Rebel Civil War site, Calhoun County.

• Oil Rock, off Standing Stone Creek in Wirt County, a post Civil War boomtown.

• California, located on the Hughes River three miles past Freeport in Wirt County.

• Ritchie Mines, north of McFarlan in Ritchie County.

• Petroleum, in Ritchie County.

• Volcano, in Wood County, 20 miles from Parkersburg on U. S. Rt 50.

These eight sites are all located 20 to 30 miles east of Parkersburg on the Burning Springs geological anticline projecting north out of Burning Springs.

The coordination point for the district will be the Oil & Gas Museum in Parkersburg (in place) which will be the focus from which the district will be developed around. The museum already has developed the historical context for the district with historical displays and artifacts from each location. The books Where It all Began and The Civil War And Northwestern Virginia by David L. McKain provide the initial historical context and historical research base for developing each site. Each site will have its own park on historic land connected with the beginnings of the oil industry and at each site there will be descriptive stands, videos, shelters, replica forts and other artifacts of the early days including pumping outfits and other pieces of equipment.

It should be pointed out that this district also encompasses:

1. The Little Kanawha Byway (Rt 5 at Burning Springs);

2. The Staunton to Parkersburg Turnpike, (through California) now designated a national scenic byway;

3. The North Bend Rail to Trail through Petroleum station (on the old B & O railroad).

The interconnecting roads north & south become “scenic backways” so that the district is linked throughout in both the oil and civil war themes.

A summary of the history, significant and development tasks of each site is as follows:

• 1. The Oil & Gas Museum in Parkersburg celebrates the town where the initial investors and pioneers came to as a base from which the early exploration and finances for the industry emanated. Parkersburg became the center of the fledgling industry as the financial center, supply center, transportation center, refining center and cultural retreat. It also became the political hub from which many of the area politicians developed. Parkersburg was also the target and center of much of the Civil War activity in the surrounding counties and the museum has an extensive collection of local Civil War momentous. The Oil & Gas Museum will be the visitor’s center and beginning point for tours of the district and will be the base for development of each site.

• 2. Burning Springs – Seven miles east of Elizabeth on Route 5, designated the “Little Kanawha Scenic Byway”. The current site of the newly developed Burning Springs Park, the beginning point for developing the district, at which is located the oldest producing well in the world. The park also celebrates being the first oilfield boomtown of significant proportions; is the location on the terminus of the Little Kanawha Navigation Company’s waterway consisting of four locks and dams coming from Parkersburg, built by the early oil barons, is a significant Civil War site with its own fort (blockhouse) and the location of many raids during the war, including the famous General Jones raid in 1863. Rt 5 could truly be called “guerilla alley.” It remains a productive oil and gas field to this day. The current park owned by the Oil and Gas Museum, consists of 31 acres, 1800 feet of riverfront, a museum, operating antique oil derrick and many historic artifacts from local West Virginia oil fields.
  
  Tasks – Build a civil war fort (blockhouse) to be named “Fort Hill” after the original fort built in 1861 by oilman J. C. Rathbone. Install signage and historic interpretations. Extend walking trails.

Other related sites in the Burning Springs area are:

• A. Camp “Big Bend” – an historic guerilla camp for Confederates where local Confederate guerilla (such as the Moccasin Raiders) and regular troops gathered between marauding raids on the surrounding countryside is Wirt, Calhoun, Gilmer Ritchie, Jackson, Roane and Wood counties, including constant raids north on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
  
  Tasks – Clear access rods, install signage and build shelter.

• B. Palestine lock and dam. This lock and dam, between Burning Springs and Elizabeth, was first built in 1871 by the recently “minted” oil barons, most of whom by this time resided in Parkersburg. Remains of the locks and dam are still prominent and are of interest to visitors. The site is currently owned by the WV Dept. Of Natural Resources and is on Route 35/2.
  
  Tasks -- Clear and enlarge access road, build shelter and install signage.
• 3. Oil Rock – Located off Route 53 on Standing Stone creek, Oil Rock is the location of the first major new discovery in the area after the Civil War where the Orchard Well came in at a reported 1,000 barrels a day in 1866. It became an instant boom town with its own hotel, and disappeared just as quickly, because so many wells were drilled without casing that the field was flooded. However, the Orchard Well is still in operation with an old fashion jerk line pumping system, by a private oil company and can be seen from the Oil Rock Run road, West Virginia # 53/3. As this is private property, no property or construction is planned.
  Signage must be acquired from the state.

• 4. California, located on the Parkersburg to Staunton Turnpike (Route 47), 27 miles from Parkersburg. This turnpike has just received the designation as a National Scenic Byway by the Federal Government because of its significance as a transportation route from the early 1800s. The California site is the location at which the early trenches were dug and from which oil was barreled and commercially distributed to Parkersburg and Marietta, Ohio from the early 1800s. Also, a famous water well, which produced marketable oil in the early 1850s was located at this site. It was sold to the famous Samuel Kier, developer of the Kerosene lamp, in early August, 1859. It was here that a well was being commercially drilled for oil in the spring and summer of 1859 by Charles Shattuck and J. T. Johnston, at the same time as the famous Drake well was being drilled in Pennsylvania. California became a significant oilfield in the 1860s and 1870s and the area still contains numerous producing oil and gas wells. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate forces traveled on the turnpike and frequented the California House and tavern. The Oil & Gas Museum currently owns 5 acres at the site and it is on this property the historically significant “California House” was located. The original foundation stones, water well and barn are still located on the museum property. Plans are to develop a small park site along the highway on this property starting in the spring of 2006.
  
  Tasks – Rebuild Original Barn, build shelter along highway, build wooden demonstration oilfield derrick, grade and clear ground for property access, and install interpretive signage. Acquire Property along riverbank where original sand diggings were located.

• 5. Ritchie Mines – This unique site is located approximately four miles north of McFarlan, West Virginia on the Parkersburg to Staunton Turnpike National Scenic Byway, 10 miles east of California. It is the site of a famous asphalt mine first developed in 1858 and operated till it flooded in the 1860s. Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was paved with asphalt from this mine in 1860, and asphalt from here was shipped around the world. A small gauge railroad was built from here to Cairo, WV, in the late 1850’s called the Cairo and Kanawha Railroad, or “Calico”. Distinct remnants of the mine crevice on three hillsides remain as do railroad roadbed remnants. At one time a refinery was built here and a second boom in the 1890s occurred here when deep drilling happened. There also was an important brick works at this site. The site is currently owned by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. Access will have to be developed to the site. This site is a very important site in that it is one of the only known observable mines of its kind in the world.
  
  Tasks – Grade and clear access and apply stone to road and hiking trails, construct shelter at McFarlan and at the mine site and install interpretive signage.

• 6. Petroleum – Petroleum is probably one of the most significant sites in the district for it is here that the nation's first wells were drilled along Oil Spring Run in early 1859 by Dr. Robert Hazlett of Wheeling. He purchased the property in January, 1859 and began operations shortly thereafter. The B & O Railroad, as well as naming the site, had been getting its lubricating oil from this site as early as 1857 from an oil spring or wells located appropriately on Oil Spring Run. Factual reports of this activity are numerous. It is this site and the California site which gives West Virginia the historical basis to challenge current history as to where the oil industry started. The town of Petroleum was first started by the B & O Railroad as an oil and water stop, and became a small community, serving railroad and oilfield workers, with stores, telegraph, refinery, hotel etc. Currently the North Bend Rail to Trails passes through Petroleum. During the Civil War, Union troops (6th WV Infantry) were stationed at Petroleum, as well as at each end of the tunnels on either side of the community. There was probably a fort structure (blockhouse) at Petroleum for these troops, as there was at Walker, another station a few miles from Petroleum.
  
  Tasks – Acquire property along Oil Spring Run, Construct Shelter, Erect wooden demonstration derrick, Construct demonstration Telegraph Pumping System similar to the original, Signage, Construct Civil War Log Fort (blockhouse), Historic Interpretation.

• 7. Volcano – This site in the district was developed in the middle of the Civil War in 1863 because of the relatively safe environment north of the B & O Railroad, which was protected by Union troops at major intersections and tunnels. The developer was one W. C. Stiles and others from Parkersburg and the Volcano oilfield and town became a major boomtown starting in 1863, and lasting till 1879 when most of the town was destroyed by fire. It probably reached a population of over one thousand. It was at this location and at Petroleum that the unique and efficient “continuous cable” pumping system came into being, first developed by W. C. Stiles, where one engine pumped as many as 30 to 40 small wells from one location. One such system operated into the 1970s. A video exists showing this system in operation as it did in the 1870s. There are no active oil wells at Volcano at this time. The museum plans to erect several pumping outfits, a typical operating derrick and other period relics on the old town site.
  
  Tasks - Acquire Property, Construct Shelter, Construct Derrick, Construct Example only of continuous pumping system, with pump house, Historic Interpretation, Signage.

It is important to note the County Commissions of Wirt, Ritchie, and Wood County, as well as the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Ritchie and Wood Counties have endorsed and support this project.

Note 1: To give some perspective to the potential of this project, a similar “oil region” in Pennsylvania, managed by the state, including the Drake Museum, counts approximately 40,000 visitors per year. This number includes many categories including charter bus tours, school bus tours, casual tourists and local visitors who use the parks. The point is, the area attracts a huge number of people, all of whom add to the economy.

Note 2: There are several unique appealing features in the above, as follows:

• 1. The oldest producing oil well in the world – Rathbone Well

• 2. The oldest oil field in the world – Petroleum

• 3. A one-of-a-kind crevice asphalt mine – Ritchie Mine

• 4. Only lock and dam in the United States not built by the Corps of Engineers, but by oil barons – Palestine

• 5. Civil War links throughout district.

• 6. First oil field attacked during war – Burning Springs.

• 7. Earliest major commercial oil industry activity from 1819 – California.

• 8. Still an operating oil field.

Note 3: Because of the extensive nature of the district, the possibility of multiple days visits is important.

Note 4: The above includes Wirt, Ritchie, Wood and Calhoun counties.