And the country responded spontaneously to Drake's success.

For anything approaching the sudden rush to the oil-fields we shall have to go to the discovery of gold in California ten years before.

Men flocked into western Pennsylvania by the thousands; fortunes were made and lost almost instantaneously.

Oil flowed so plentifully in this region that it frequently ran upon the ground, and the "gusher," which threw a stream of the precious liquid sometimes a hundred feet and more into the air, became an almost every-day occurrence.

The discovery took the whole section by surprise; there were no towns, no railways, and no wagon roads except a few almost impassable lumber trails.