Sketches in Crude-Oil. Some Accidents and Incidents of the Petroleum Development in All Parts of the Globe

Blowouts, fires, fortunes made overnight. In this classic historical nonfiction oil book, John J. McLaurin gathers vivid sketches of the early petroleum industry, tracing its hazards, hopes and upheavals across 19th century oilfields from Pennsylvania to distant frontiers. Part industrial history narrative, part human drama, Sketches in Crude-Oil explores oil well accidents, daring speculation and the makeshift technologies that powered a new era of global petroleum development. Written at the height of the Pennsylvania oil boom era and the wider Gilded Age industry history, it captures the raw immediacy of a world learning, often painfully, what crude oil could do to landscapes, communities and fortunes, making it an important document of the early petroleum industry. For readers of industrial revolution energy history, this oil industry history book offers a contemporaneous voice, alive to mechanical detail and to the personalities who drove exploration and refining. Energy historians and oil industry researchers find first-hand colour on practices, perils and attitudes, while general readers encounter a fast-changing frontier where luck and risk went hand in hand in the making of modern petroleum-driven industrialisation. Out of print for decades and now republished by Alpha Editions. Restored for today's and future generations. More than a reprint - a collector's item and a cultural treasure. A heritage title for casual enthusiasts of narrative non-fiction and for collectors of classic works on global petroleum development.