Main entry:

Black, Brian, 1966-

Title & Author:

Petrolia : the landscape of America's first oil boom / Brian Black.

Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, ©2000.

Description:

xii, 235 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Series:

Creating the North American landscape

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-225) and index.
Introduction: The Persistence of Oil on the Brain -- Ch. 1. "A Good Time Coming for Whales" -- Ch. 2. "A Triumph of Individualism" -- Ch. 3. The Sacrificial Landscape of Petrolia -- Ch. 4. Oil Creek as Industrial Apparatus -- Ch. 5. "What Nature Intended This Place Should Be" -- Ch. 6. Pithole: Boomtowns and the "Drawing Board City" -- Ch. 7. Delusions of Permanence -- Epilogue: The Legacy of Petrolia.

Summary:

"In Petrolia Brian Black offers a geographical and social history of a region that was not only the site of America's first oil boom but was also the world's largest oil producer between 1859 and 1873. Against the background of changes in attitudes toward consumption and the growing demand for petroleum throughout and immediately following the Civil War, Black describes Oil Creek Valley's descent into environmental hell.
Known as "Petrolia," the region charged the popular imagination with its nearly overnight transition from agriculture to industry. But so unrestrained were these early efforts at oil drilling, Black writes, that "the landscape came to be viewed only as an instrument out of which one could extract crude." In a very short time, Petrolia was a ruined place - environmentally, economically, and to some extent even culturally.
Black gives historical detail and analysis to account for this transformation."--Jacket.

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ISBN:

0801863171 (alk. paper)
9780801863172 (alk. paper)
0801877326 (pbk.)
9780801877322 (pbk.)

Subject:

Petroleum Pennsylvania Oil Creek Valley (Crawford County and Venango County, Pa.) History.
Petroleum industry and trade Pennsylvania Oil Creek Valley (Crawford County and Venango County, Pa.) History.
Ecology
Petroleum
Petroleum industry and trade
Erdöl
Erdölgewinnung
Exploration pétrolière.
Industrie pétrolière.
Pétrole.
Histoire.
Impact environnemental.
Oil Creek Valley (Crawford County and Venango County, Pa.) Environmental conditions History.
Pennsylvania Oil Creek Valley (Crawford County and Venango County)
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvanie (État)
Oil Creek Valley (Crawford County and Venango county, Pa.)
Petroleum industry United States Pennsylvania Oil Creek Valley (Crawford County and Venango County, Pa.) 1860-1880.

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

Creating the North American landscape.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 212128
Call No.: TN872.P4 B5 2000
Status: Available