Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1901 — A Plunge in Oil. [ARTICLE]

A Plunge in Oil.

There is a story told of Mr. Rockefeller’s first venture in the oil business. Indeed, he has been known to tell the story himself, with evident appreciation of its humor. It was away back in the early sixties, when he was engaged in the grain business in Cleveland, Ohio. One of his customers, a Mr. Breed, was the owner of an oil well at Titusville. Mr. Rockefeller became interested in the account of the well, and consented to go to see It with a prospect of purchasing. The next week he appeared. Mr. Breed tells of his visit. “The w«ll was about eight miles below Titusville, on Oil Creek. The roads were very had, and w-e rode horseback. We left the horses tied to a tree, and went the last half-miie on foot. The path led over a sort of bayou six feet across. The oil men threw the sediment from the oil tanks into the bayou, and the mixture of oily mud and water was inky black. “To cross the bayou we had to walk a log, which was slippery from the snow of the previous night. I crossed safely, and was about to offer Mr. Rockefeller a helping hand when he slipped and fell into the bayou. “He sank into the tarry mud nearly to his hips, ruining his clothes, which happened to be new and light-colord. It took us half an hour, working with barrel-staves, to scrape off the tar, so that he could walk. His first remark after he was out of the bayou was: ‘Breed, you’ve got me into the oil business head and ears.’ “He bought the oil and a new suit of clothes before he left Titusville. Mr. Rockefeller and I rarely meet, but when we do we always have a laugh over his ‘first plunge into the oil business.’ ”