The new park at Burning Springs was opened in September 2004 with no fanfare. While unfinished, we did get all the outdoor displays labeled and the indoor museum refinished and in good order. Thanks to many donations of artifacts and funds; we have been able to make a very decent presentation. We hope to have a formal opening this fall with dignitaries to cut a ribbon.

The outstanding item in the indoor display is an 1861 sales book for the general store at Burning Springs from 1861. The sales book actually shows the name change when Burning Springs was changed to Rathbone in July of 1861. The outstanding outdoor item is the wooden derrick over the Rathbone well with all the original equipment, including the gas engine for power. It is impressive.

Frankly, we are surprised with the numbers of people who stop to visit. As you probably know, Burning Springs is really "out in the country", being 7 miles from Elizabeth on Route 5, which means it is 27 miles from Parkersburg. You can get there in about 40 minutes.

Just think how long it took back in 1860 when the boom started and the first persons had to get there over terrible roads, or no roads. And then when the drilling started they had to get all the heavy equipment to the location, including heavy steam engines, boilers, barrels, etc. I am always fascinated with this element of the industry - how they moved all this heavy equipment with horses, mules and oxen over almost impassable roads and up the steep inclines. It looks impossible.

We get very favorable comments in our sign-in book, mostly in the context of "thanks for saving this great heritage". It is comments like this that make the whole project worthwhile.

Tours are self guided. We have given several tours to high school and college groups but that is the exception. We expect in the future to give more tours for schools as word of the park spreads. We have already gotten several calls for such this fall.

The themes at the park are several, as follows:

First, we have the oldest producing well in the world.

Second, Burning Springs was the oldest oilfield boomtown in the world.

Third, the Burning Springs oilfield is a Civil War site, with its own Fort to protect the oilfield. The Fort was named Fort Hill. There were skirmishes with Confederate guerillas throughout the war. It also was the first oilfield attacked and burned in wartime.

Fourth, the Little Kanawha River is linked to Burning Springs and is historical in that the Locks and Dams were built by a private corporation, rather then the Corps of Engineers. The private corporation was financed by the oilmen to get oil from Burning Springs to Parkersburg.

As you can see, we have quite a story to tell, and each of the above is described in outdoor write ups.

NEW CIVIL WAR ROOM OPENS

In November last year, in conjunction with the publication of our new book The Civil War And Northwestern Virginia authored by your editor, we also opened the new Civil War Room in the museum. Three years in construction, our cold winter project, this room is on the first floor in the old shipping department of the Smith Hardware store. We had to put up new walls, refinish the tin ceiling, put down a new floor, and install new wiring.

Our Civil War collection is one of the finest in the state, outdone only by the State Museum in Charleston and the Federal Park at Harpers Ferry.

Of note are several original uniforms, weapons, flags, dug artifacts and other era memorabilia. The fireplace and mantel are from the old Rathbone mansion in Parkersburg, the piano from Senator Van Winkle's home (still standing in Parkersburg) and we have now added a couch that was in first Governor A. I. Boreman's home. We call the room the Swann House Tavern, named for the tavern at the point in Parkersburg where the military and political leaders met during the war.

Also included is probably the oldest real-photograph of a scene in West Virginia, showing an Indiana regiment in Parkersburg in 1861. We also have a real photograph of the steamer OHIO #3, which brought the first troops to invade Virginia at Parkersburg during the Civil War. The troops were the 17th Ohio Volunteer Regiment and they had been pre positioned at Marietta, Ohio. General McClellan had been told that they would be met by hostile southern forces, but fortunately that did not materialize. After the initial invasion, over 30,000 troops came through Parkersburg on their way east in the first three months of the conflict.

Why in the Oil & Gas Museum? The oil boom at Petroleum, Burning Springs and California, WV was intimately mixed with the wartime activity in the area as both continued throughout the war years all around Parkersburg. Also, the people involved in the war and the politics of statehood were one and the same in this area. As a case in point, J. J. Jackson, J. N. Camden and the Rathbones at Burning Springs stayed with the Union - their partners J. Byrne and Wm. L. Jackson left and joined the Confederate Army. It is a fascinating story and we try to represent that story in this new display and in the new book.

FOUNDERS SECTION

We also have developed a new section devoted to the oilmen and politicians who participated in creating the new state of West Virginia. Most were one and the same. This is another previously untold and significant story about our state. The display includes pictures of the personalities involved and a write up of the roles each played in the statehood movement.

JACKSON REUNION

There is a national group formed called the "Jackson Brigade" that studies the history of the Jackson clan, which is quite extensive. West Virginia's most prominent member of the clan was one Stonewall Jackson. Parkersburg had a large number of his cousins, both Jacksons and Neales, his mother's maiden name. Stonewall often visited Parkersburg before the war. Well, the Brigade had a reunion in Parkersburg and almost by accident, on the last day of their visit, discovered the Oil & Gas Museum, with its treasure of Jackson history. One of the members subsequently created a website of related pictures from the museum. It is a credit to the museum - the website is "hyde at bucknell.edu".

OIL TANK CAR

Years ago we reported finding and dragging into Parkersburg not one but two very early railroad oil tank cars, without wheels. These cars still had their original ID plates with the name of the manufacturer, George Denmead, Baltimore, Md., and the date, 1866.

The news is that we transported one of the tank cars to Burning Springs and it is displayed in the back corner of the parking area. The further news is that these cars are unique, in that they are the earliest known steel cars - the previous ones were known to have been made in 1871. So we are sure that these are unique and the earliest known. The problem is, how to handle and display a giant tank car l8' long and 6' in diameter. Believe me, it is easier to collect stamps!

However, because it is so rare, it truly is worth the effort. It took a giant crane and lowboy truck to get it to the park. To see the original ID plate you have to go in the museum at Burning Springs or in Parkersburg.

PETROLEUM HISTORY INSTITUTE

Several years ago a group of well known historians formed the above organization. Their first convention took place in Oil City, Pennsylvania. I was fortunate to have been invited and made a presentation about the Burning Springs anticline in West Virginia, giving the dates of the early activity without referring to Pennsylvania's claims. Most of the group was familiar with what we were doing but were not familiar with the magnitude of the story. After the meeting was over they asked that we have a meeting in Parkersburg sometime in the future.

The next scheduled meeting was at Shreveport, Louisiana, and we were to follow.

Larry Woodfork, retired West Virginia head of the Geological Survey, and one of the leaders of the group, organized the convention and tour held at Morgantown, with a two day field trip to Parkersburg and Burning Springs. It took place this past April. The first day of the convention was for the presentation of papers at the new Radisson Hotel in Morgantown, then the next day to Sistersville for lunch and on to Parkersburg. Yours truly gave the field tour first to Petroleum and California, then the evening at the museum in Parkersburg and a late evening walk through the historic district of Parkersburg, where many of the homes of the original oil barons and statehood politicians still stand from the 1860s.

The following day we went to Wirt County and visited the remains of the Palestine Lock and dam, built by the oil barons to get the oil out of Burning Springs and equipment to Burning Springs. Then we traveled to Burning Springs and toured the new park, using our new Kawasaki mule to give trips up the hillside to see the park and oilfield.

Lunch was cooked with gas from the Rathbone Well.

In attendance were several of the premier oil historians in the world. I can tell you that they were impressed with the museum and park, and said so!

Needless to say, I was thrilled that we were so favorably viewed by such a group, and I have gotten several letters of thanks for the great time. Attending were members from many states including California, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and London, England. There were supposed to be representatives from the Ukraine, but they couldn't get their visas cleared in time. Even the premier Pennsylvania historian Sam Pees was impressed.

NEW CONFERENCE ROOM

Several years ago we reported that volunteer Larry Nutter had taken on the job of organizing our magazines and papers in the new George Grow technical library. After finishing that chore, Larry took a well deserved break, but in anticipation of the History Institute meeting, I asked him to undertake redoing the remainder of the bay on the third floor into a meeting/conference room. I needn't tell you what a mess it was since it had previously had floor to ceiling shelves that had to be ripped out. The walls had to be repaired, spackled and painted. The original tin ceiling had to be cleaned and painted and there were major holes where the ceiling had to be replaced. Larry took on the job and in the mornings, several times a week for several months, he gave his time to the restoration. With new drapes, lights, and fans, we now have a huge conference room 24' wide and about 60' long. The only thing left to do is sand and refinish the floor, which still shows the results of 100 years of being a hardware store - spilled paint, chewing tobacco stains, nail holes and all manner of marks. It will have to be sanded and refinished, but that must wait.
Larry got the job done in time for the History Institute meeting and we had a wonderful catered meal in the new banquet/conference room. What a wonderful job, Larry! Thanks!

MARBLES

As you probably know, West Virginia was once known as the marble capital of the world, mainly because of the cheap and abundant supply of natural gas. One of the major companies in this industry, the Vitro Agate Co., was in Parkersburg. They became a major world producer of marbles. They closed in the 1980s. Ironically, their plant was in one of the old Camden Refinery buildings along the Little Kanawha River. Well, one of our local board members, Gary Traugh, owner of Kom Pak stores in Parkersburg, starting collecting Vitro marbles several years ago and amassed a huge collection of marbles and papers.
The collection outgrew his living room so he donated them, or most of them, to the museum, giving us a huge collection and wonderful display of marbles - by the thousands! Every color, size and variety. Very impressive.

I know very little about marbles, but I do know that this adds considerably to our local industrial collection.

Thanks Gary, for a wonderful gift.

OUR HISTORICAL IMPACT

The traditional historical emphasis in Parkersburg has been the Blennerhassett Island story. The Oil & Gas Museum has developed several local themes over the years through the Museum and in our two books. These themes, for both Parkersburg and West Virginia are as follows:

The birth and development of the Oil industry in the nation.

The birth of the State of West Virginia mostly engineered by the oilmen.

The excitement of the Civil War.

However, even with these new major themes, the local CVB spends almost all its resources (local hotel/motel tax receipts) promoting the Blennerhassett storyproject.

In addition, one of West Virginia's premier tourist attractions is left unpromoted. That attraction is a place called "Henderson Hall", just south of Williamstown. First built in 1830, by the original Henderson family from Alexandria, VA., it is a pristine example of the early history of the area, containing mostly original furniture and many rare and unusual artifacts, papers, etc. The original Henderson land, by coincidence, was across the river from Burning Springs. The Hendersons participated in the early drama of the oil industry, the statehood movement and the Civil War, and many items from that era are still at Henderson Hall.

Our local CVB, however, completely ignores this wonderful heritage asset and the Oil & Gas Museum and Henderson Hall, continuing to concentrate on the Blennerhassett story.

Currently we are attempting to correct this mistaken priority and feel that the state and Parkersburg would be better served if at least there was some balance in promotional programs.

At this point we have appealed to the Wood County Commission to reallocate funds for the promotion of the Oil & Gas Museum, Henderson Hall, our historic district and the new Fort Boreman development. We hope to get a favorable response which will allow us to run a separate promotion.

We are not putting down the Blennerhassett project, but simply asking that there be a balanced approach. We think that is reasonable. We will see!

KUDOS

We learned this spring that the museum had been recognized by Travelocity.com as one of the ten hidden treasures in West Virginia. They recommend such sites to travelers. We were excited about this designation and received state recognition.

Also, your editor received in the last year, as a result of building the museum, the park and writing the books, several awards and recognitions. First, Oil and Gas Man of the Year for 2004 by the Sistersville Oil & Gas festival; then Keeper of the Flame award by the Petroleum History Institute; distinguished Mountaineer Award from Governor Manchin and the 2004 West Virginia Preservation award by the West Virginia Preservation Alliance. All were much appreciated and provide more recognition for the Oil & Gas Museum. It is important to note that none of this would have been possible without your support over what is now 15 years! Wow! They have gone by fast.

TV DOCUMENTARY

West Virginia Public Broadcasting plans to air a documentary on the early history of the West Virginia Oil industry as shown in the museum and park. The material for the documentary was shot at the museum and at Burning Springs. Plans are to air the documentary on the WPBY "Outlook" program on September 22 at 9:00 pm and September 25 at 12:00 noon.

The shooting was done in July by Chuck Kleine from Morgantown and editing was done in the last three weeks. We have not seen the final product but we are sure that it will be a credit to our heritage and the oil and gas industry. We hope you can find time to watch one of the showings.

APOLOGY

We apologize for this long delayed newsletter. It is a problem in two respects. You are not informed of what we are doing and we lose the income that is generated by the memberships and donations - a major source of our income and the support of our progress and programs.

The reason for the delay is that we spent the year before last working on the new book which was published last November and the effort and time involved building and opening the park at Burning Springs. Add to that the difficulty in just taking the time to sit down and start writing - and quit procrastinating. Well, we have now gotten it done, helped by the rain from Katrina keeping us from other chores. I hope we will be successful in raising funds to keep building a premier Museum and park.

MUSEUM DISPLAYS

We are often asked "what is in the Oil & Gas Museum", so here is a list of our major displays:

General:

Bernard McDonough Room

Boy Scout/Don B. Lowe Room

Historical/Genealogical Library

Oilfield Artworks

Oilfield Office

Oil & Gas Equip. Mfg.

Oil & Gas Historical Displays

Victorian Parkersburg

WV Statehood

Local Industrial:

Acme Fishing Tool Co.

Ames Shovel and Tool Mfg.

Case Sewing Company

Donahoo Pottery

Lessel Pottery

Parkersburg Bottling

Parkersburg Steel/Dover

Porcelain Products

Union Insulating

Vitro Agate Marbles

American Viscose

Bently Gerwig Furniture

Demuth/Brockway Glass

Fenton Glass

Mountain State Steel Foundry

Parkersburg Rig & Reel

Parkersburg Tile

Seward Wire

Universal Glass

ARTIFACT DONATIONS

Hardly a week goes by that we don't receive artifact donations - books, papers, equipment etc. This last year was no exception and I want to mention a couple of outstanding examples.

Elizabeth Guinn, a retired Wood County teacher, called and said that her family had been in the oil business and that she had some stencils to donate. I thought that these were the typical letter/number stencils used for tanks and equipment. I went to get them and discovered we had been given a rare treasure. They were the round brass oil barrel stencils for applying the name of the company on the ends of the wooden barrels prior to shipment. Barrels for shipping oil were discontinued in the very early years of the industry, so these probably date from the 1860s or 1870s. They are from the Mount Farm Oil Company which had the leases between Volcano and Petroleum, West Virginia. Their symbol was a locomotive. Their property was located on a branch of the Laurel Fork and Sand Hill Railroad that went from the B & O line to Volcano.

We consider the Museum very fortunate to have been given such a gift. Thanks Elizabeth!

Another wonderful gift came from Ben Hardesty of Dominion. He had been President of Stonewall Gas and donated the building sign for Stonewall Gas - about 13' long and 24" high, as well as a sign for Dominion Appalachia. We have mounted both in a prominent place.

About every 6 months, Judy Mixer the widow of a long time Pennzoil employee, brings in either an artifact, map or picture from her husbands papers. This year was not an exception and we received several wonderful items. Thanks Judy!

I also want to mention a gift of several wonderful boxes of books and papers from Marietta College. Every time they clean up an area in the Petroleum Engineering School, Bob Chase calls me to bring a truck. This year, with the renovation of their building, we made a trip to Marietta to retrieve a wonderful collection of books, magazines, slides and artifacts. Thanks Bob.

In the name of her late husband, George Fye, Dorothy Fye donated a bookeeping machine and some great papers and pictures from Eureka Pipeline. George was the controller for Eureka and worked there for many years. Their daughter Sally arranged the gift. Thanks. The papers contained a rare Standard oil code book commonly used to communicate with telegraph using code words to ensure privacy in communications.

Don Connor, a local retired oil producer, also brought in some great items, both oilfield and Civil War. Don has come through several times over the years.

Frank Deem donated a set of General Grant's autobiographies for the Civil War Room. Frank has also been very generous to the museum.

PRESENTATIONS

We were asked to be the luncheon speaker in Morgantown for a national group of Energy researchers. The specific request was to make a presentation which puts West Virginia in a favorable light. The old image problem! I put together, with the help of my daughter Carolyn Blend of Buckhannon, my first Power-point presentation. What a challenge! Carolyn being a good teacher got the "ol' man" through it with flying colors. My subject was prominent West Virginias in the oil and gas industry, and believe me it is easy to put on a positive presentation with that subject. J. N. Camden, M. Benedum, Jack Rathbone, Bill Swales, etc.

We also were asked to make a presentation to the West Virginia Tourism Council on West Virginia Oil and Gas Heritage. We used the occasion put on another Power-point presentation on the Museum, Burning Springs and locations on the historic Burning Springs Anticline. Both presentations were a hit, thanks largely to my daughter Carolyn.

This newsletter will be posted on our website www.oilandgasmuseum.com , thanks to Blake Malkamaki who has studiously kept it up now about six years. Thanks Blake!