Archive for November 13th, 2023
Oil Creek
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Oil Creek pictured in today’s post, as seen from the property where the Drake Well site is found just south of Titusville, PA. The waterway itself is 46.7 miles long, and is a tributary of the Allegheny River. This was my first time visiting it.
Apocryphal stories which I’ve read over the years suggest it got its name from slicks of raw petroleum, which would seep out of the ground, floating along on its surface. Further legends suggest that the local Native American folk used the tar like natural petroleum found along Oil Creek for a variety of purposes, such as medicinal poultices and waterproofing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d ask you to scroll back and check out the mega post offered on Friday, which discussed the Drake Well site, and the Pennsylvania Oil Rush of the late 19th century. It was an exhausting one to write and research, and its length strays into territory which the kids would call ‘TLDR’ or ‘too long didn’t read.’
Today, it’s just pictures of the waterway itself for you, Lords and Ladies. My companion and I on this particular day trip had other spots to hit, places to visit, and things to wave the camera about at. Saying that, I couldn’t resist breaking out the tripod and getting busy for a few minutes. Tomorrow we get back to the travelogue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It should be mentioned how much I’m enjoying the novelty of seeing these things for the first time, especially locales such as this which I’d only read about back in NYC, while researching the early oil industry along Newtown Creek.
These days, it’s actually kind of pretty along Oil Creek, but contemporary descriptions of this area from the late 19th century described a despoiled and destroyed landscape filled with oil derricks and puddles of raw petroleum. Mordor, basically.
Back tomorrow with more, at your Newtown Pentacle.
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
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