With Glowing Lamps
We See Thee Rise
The Global Oil Industry Started in Canada in 1858
By Gregory DL Morris
Venerated or vilified, the worldwide
oil business is arguably the largest indus-
try on the planet, and has had the most
profound effect on human society and the
environment. It all started 160 years ago.
In Canada.
The first documented commercial oil
well in North America, and for all intents
and purposes in the world, was dug in
August 1858 by James Miller Williams in
Oil Springs, Ontario, southeast of Sar-
nia. The more widely known, and heav-
ily promoted oil well by Edwin Drake
near Titusville, Pennsylvania, was drilled
almost exactly a year later, in August 1859.
Boosters of the Drake well once dis-
missed the Williams well as a hand-dug
affair little different from the techniques
First Nations had been using for centuries
to gather oil and tar to use as medicines,
adhesives and coatings. That was true of
the log crib that Williams used to sup-
port the sides of the excavation. But the
cable tools used to dig, and the rest of the
operation to collect, process and distrib-
ute the oil were the epitome of Victorian
industrialism.
More to the point, the regional industry
that grew from that first well was a fully-
integrated commercial enterprise. Most
of the small companies were vertically
integrated from crude production and
gathering to processing and distribution.
Some specialized in one aspect or another.
Many sold shares, while others were pri-
vately held. Markets were sought not just
in Canada and the United States, but in
Europe as well.
30 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Fall 2018 | www.MoAF.org
In short, the Williams well broke
ground for a full-fledged industry that
was commercial, and profitable, from the
start. Fairbank Oil Properties started with
a well on land acquired from Williams.
The company still exits and is the oldest
continuously operating oil business in the
world. To this day, there are refineries and
chemical plants in Sarnia, the nearest big
town to Oil Springs. The same was true
of Drake in Pennsylvania. Williams was
just first.
The first to be commercially successful
on an industrial scale, that is. Through the
first half of the 1800’s there were many
efforts in the United States, Canada and
Fairbank Oil Property in Oil Springs, Ontario,
Canada. The company still exists and is the world’s
oldest continuously operating oil business.