Our Old Bookcase
The new book, “Oil and Gas Boom, Mercer County and Midwest Ohio,” by Joyce L. Alig, president of the Mercer County Historical Society, will be available to early customers for the pre-publication price of $45 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Mercer County Historical Museum, 130 E. Market, one block east of the courthouse. For those who are unable to pick up their copy on Sunday, the books will be available at the museum, for $45 on Oct. 4.
This 252-page book includes 60 color pages, plus a hardback gloss laminated cover, 24 chapters about oil and gas wells of Mercer, Auglaize, Van Wert and Darke counties in Ohio, Jay County, Indiana and on the reservoir of “Off Shore Oil Wells.”
“Off Shore Oil Wells” features never-before told history of the 1889 plat map of the Mercer County Reservoir (Grand Lake), with the plat map sections identifying the names of the owners of land in each section of land around this lake. Yes, you can easily find your own relatives who owned land along the shore … which first held the off-shore oil wells when the lake flooded during high water in February 1887. See the photographs of the oil wells and the lake shore and maps throughout this book. In the late 1880s, oil wells which had been drilled along the lake shore, followed by flooding when the level of water on the lake rose, those oil well derricks were under water.
The state of Ohio immediately recognized the opportunity to add money to their treasury and in 1888 ordered a detailed survey because it was a part of the “state-owned” Miami and Erie Canal system.
Next, on March 7, 1892, the state of Ohio began to hold court at the Fountain Hotel at St. Marys, against the owners of oil wells on the lake, without having leases for oil wells.
You will have to read the Senate Joint Resolution No. 8, which is about 47 pages long, to see what happened! This story is included in this important Ohio history book because it is a strong part of the history of Grand Lake!
The Petroleum History Institute gave permission for the “Early Drilling and Oil and Gas Production in and around Grand Lake, Ohio” (1886-1911) and “Trenton Limestone Oil and Gas Boom of Northwest Ohio,” by Jeff Spencer, president, for their Nov. 1, 2017 “Oil-Industry History,” academic publications to be a part of this historic book.
The American Oil and Gas Historical Society reviewed this story on the internet and in this book.
“Windfall Films, London,” requested permission for this story to be included in their 2009 film, “Big, Bigger, Biggest,” for their documentary that was part of National Geographic.
This history of the oil and gas wells is written within the context of local history, within the local communities. Local newspapers documented the events of the time period. Graduate and undergraduate history instructors will do well to learn about the influence of the oil and gas boom during the era of the railroads which crossed the midwestern states. Historians will better understand the rise and fall of the early post offices and the growth of the economy in business and industry within the communities. The bibliography of resources for information will help future historians.
Eight pages of index of local names in this book, “Oil and Gas Boom, Mercer County and Midwest Ohio,” is the quickest way for families to find their own names in this book.
The Mercer County Historical Society has published over 30 history books.
This book, “Oil and Gas Boom, Mercer County and Midwest Ohio,” is among the best!
[Mercer County Historical Society President Joyce Alig may be contacted at 3054 Burk-St. Henry Road, St. Henry, OH 45883, or histalig@ bright.net or 419678-2614.]