JOHN B. SMITHMAN.
T. PRESTON MILLER.
These early shipping-times developed many men of exceptional ability and character. T. Preston Miller was long a familiar figure on Oil Creek and at Franklin, as buyer for the Burkes and later for Fisher Brothers. “Pres” was generous, popular and most accommodating in his dealings. The snows of a dozen winters have blown over his grave in the Franklin cemetery. The late Isaac Reineman was another of Oil City’s trustworthy pioneers. He bought oil, operated in the lower districts with William M. Leckey, served three terms as prothonotary and died in January, 1893, from the effects of slipping on the icy porch the night before Christmas. He had charge of Captain Vandergrift’s oil properties in Washington county and, with Charles Ford, held blocks of land in West Virginia. Ford was found dead in bed last year. John B. Smithman, who came to the Creek to buy oil for John Munhall & Co., has been enriched by his operations in Venango county and the northern fields. He built a beautiful home in Oil City and overcame stacks of obstacles to give the town a street railway. He has provided a delightful park four miles down the Allegheny, built a steel bridge across the river and positively refused to be ruled off the track by any opposing element. “People do not kick a corpse.”
JOHN EATON.
Progression is the unchanging watchword of the petroleum-industry. The three-pole derrick of yore has given place to the plank-giant that soars eighty or ninety feet. The spring-pole is a shadowy memory. The first drilling-tools weighed ninety-eight pounds; a modern set weighs two tons. Instead of spending weeks to “kick down” a well a hundred feet, a thousand feet can be bored between Monday morning and Saturday night. Ten-horse portable engines and boilers are well-nigh forgotten. The first iron-pipe for tubing wells, butt-weld ready to burst on the slightest provocation, was manufactured in Massachusetts and sold for one dollar per foot. Now lap-weld tubing of the best material brings a dime a foot. So it is in methods of transportation and refining. Bulk-boats, leaky barrels and long hauls through fathomless mud are superseded by pipe-lines, which pump oil from the wells to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and Chicago. The rickety stills and dangerous devices of former times have yielded to the splendid refineries that utilize every vestige of crude and furnish two-hundred merchantable commodities. For much of this important advance in tools, appliances and machinery the great Oil-Well Supply-Company is directly responsible. From small beginnings it has grown to dazzling proportions. It is the only concern on earth with the facilities and capacity to manufacture everything needed to drill and operate oil-wells and artesian-wells and equip refineries. Its nine enormous plants at convenient points employ thousands of skilled workmen and acres of the latest machinery. They turn out every conceivable requisite in steel, iron, brass or wood, from engines and complete rigs to the smallest fittings. John Eaton, the founder and president of the company, may fairly claim to be the father of the well-supply trade. His connection with it dates back to 1861 and has continued ever since. He started business for himself in 1867 and the next year took up his abode in the oil-region. In 1869 he and E. H. Cole formed the partnership of Eaton & Cole, which the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company of New York succeeded. Several rival firms organized the Oil-Well Supply Company, Limited, in 1878, with Mr. Eaton at its head. The present corporation succeeded the Limited Company in 1891. Mr. Eaton’s enterprise and experience are invaluable to the company. All new inventions adapted to wells or refineries are examined carefully and the most valuable purchased. Branch-offices and factories have kept pace with the spread of oil-developments. The Company’s wares find a market in every civilized land. Vice-President Kenton Chickering, first-class clear through, manages the large establishment at Oil City. Pittsburg is now Mr. Eaton’s home. He is genial and courteous always, prompt and sagacious in business, broad in his ideas and true to his convictions, and his Oil-Well Supply-Company is something to be proud of.
GEORGE KOCH.