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OverviewThe tapping of the first commercial oil well by Edwin Drake and Billy Smith in 1859 set off an exploitative boom of industrial development reminiscent of the California gold rush ten years earlier. Within a few short years, the farms and forests of northwestern Pennsylvania were obliterated and replaced with oil derricks, storage tanks, pump houses and shacks. Floods were intensified, fires were dangerous and dramatic, towns built and abandoned, and fortunes made, lost and stolen. An urban landscape was erected to service the industry. In this work, Brian Black offers a geographical and social history of a region that was not only the site of America's first oil boom but was also the world's largest oil producer between 1859 and 1873. Against the background of changes in attitudes toward consumption and the growing demand for petroleum throughout and immediately following the Civil War, Black describes Oil Creek Valley's descent into environmental hell. Known as ""Petrolia,"" the region charged the popular imagination with its nearly overnight transition from agriculture to industry. So unrestrained were these early efforts at oil drilling, Black writes, that ""the landscape came to be viewed only as an instrument out of which one could extract crude."" In a very short time, Petrolia was a ruined place - environmentally, economically, and to some extent even culturally. Black gives historical detail and analysis to account for this transformation. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Brian Black (Assistant Professor, Penn State Altoona)Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.539kg ISBN: 9780801863172ISBN 10: 0801863171 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 11 August 2000 Recommended Age: From 17 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of Contents"Acknowledgments Introduction. The Persistence of Oil on the Brain Chapter 1. ""A Good Time Coming for Whales"" Chapter 2. ""A Triumph of Individualism"" Chapter 3. The Sacrificial Landscape of Petrolia Chapter 4. Oil Creek as Industrial Apparatus Chapter 5. ""What Nature Intended This Place Should Be"" Chapter 6. Pithole: Boomtowns and the ""Drawing Board City"" Chapter 7. Delusions of Permanence Epilogue. The Legacy of Petrolia Appendix Notes Select Bibliography Index"Reviews<p> Although Black uses the development of Petrolia to make larger points about how resource extraction changes ecological interactions, he is also interested in the region as a specific place with a specific history... While other scholars have written about what happens when capital is used to extract a resource from one region for the benefit of another, Black tells the story of transformation in this oil-rich valley at a level of detail and care that is rich and interesting in its own right. -- Hugh S. Gorman, Historical Geography Author InformationBrian Black is an associate professor of history and environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona College, and editor of Pennsylvania History. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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