Feb 07, 2008 - Sale 2135

Sale 2135 - Lot 40

Unsold
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
MATHER, JOHN (active 1890s)
Mather's Historical Oil Region Views of Western Penn. Parts I and II. Together, 2 volumes containing a total of 24 photographs. Printing-out paper prints, 10x12 1/2 inches (25.4x31.7 cm.), linen backed, with Mather's caption in the negative. Oblong folio, gilt-lettered green cloth. John A. Mather: Titusville, PA, 1895
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Additional Details

From Swann Galleries in 1998; to the present owner.

Long before the Middle East was the epicenter of the oil industry, or before Texas was associated with big oil money, western Pennsylvania was known for its active oil seeps. Native Americans had been soaking oil from water with linen cloth and using it as a source for lamp fuel for hundreds of years. European settlers often found the oil by accident when drilling wells for drinking water.

In 1859, Col. Edwin L. Drake successfully drilled the first oil well in Titusville, north of Pittsburgh. Almost overnight, the region boomed in much the same manner as the gold rush towns of the Wild West. Dozens of wells were drilled while towns sprang up around them and a once quiet farmland community was transformed into a bustling industrial region.

Mather's artful photographs serve up a visual narrative of this transitional period, documenting the rapid growth of the region from 1864-1880s, when it emerged as the first site of substantial oil wealth in the U. S. Mr. Drake is shown along with his first oil well. Mather also depicts the early days of Titusville and the effects of this new industry on its physical and cultural landscape. The Oil Exchange Hotel is set amidst rolling hills marked with numerous erector-set-like vertical structures. Laborers of all ages, including child "oil dippers," are chronicled along with the burly men who drilled and operated the giant rigs.


JPGs are available upon request.