GCJX4Q Wickedest Geocache East of the Mississippi (Multi-cache) in Pennsylvania, United States created by Mooch and Earl

This cache has been archived.

Mooch and Earl: Decided to archive this cache. thank-you to everyone who found it!

GCJX4Q ▼

A cache by Mooch and Earl Message this owner

Hidden : 7/5/2004

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: regular (regular)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

The above cords. are for parking. This cache is located in Oil Creek State Park. Bring sturdy hiking boots and water. Oil Creek State Park maps are located in office breezeway. Wear orange in hunting season.

Click Here for details

“The creek was covered with oil, the air was full of oil… we could see, hear, smell, nothing but oil.” Return to the oil boom era of the 1860’s. Let your mental time machine transport you to the noisy hustle and bustle of oil boomtown, Petroleum Centre. Imagine what you would see~ oil covers the creek like a black blanket, mud divides your attention with oil, wagons, men and animals are submerged in mud. Imagine what you would hear~ snorting horses, yelling men and sounds of wells pumping. Imagine what you would smell~ horse manure.. oil.. dead horses.. sewage.. oil smoke and the smell of dirt and mud. Petroleum Centre, with over 5000 residents, flourished from 1865 to 1873 on its twin livelihoods of oil and entertainment. Within a few years of its founding, it boasted a theatre, a bank, three churches, 12 dry goods stores, several hotels, livery stables, and an unknown number of brokerage offices, saloons, gambling dives, and houses of ill-repute. Because it was a company owned town, it had no municipal government, no law enforcement except for the country sheriff, and no sanitation or public works. With everything favorable to the growth of lawlessness, Petroleum Centre soon became “the headquarters of a horde of outcasts from both sexes” (The Golden Flood, 1941 by Herbert Asbury) Thus, the nickname “The Wickedest Town East of the Mississippi” came about. The number of dry goods stores plus 4 gives you G & H respectively.

Coy Coquette directs location of geo cache:

When oil prospectors poured into the valley in search of black gold, there were many ways used to decide where a good location would be to drill a well. Early in 1864, A.C. Kepler, dreamt he was in the woods with a charming young lady when he was attacked by an Indian with a bow and arrow. This lady friend, who had been considered somewhat of a coquette, advanced stealthily and handed him a rifle that she plucked out of the air. He fired at his foe and the Indian disappeared immediately. A river of oil gushed from the spot where the Indian had stood. Visiting his brother soon after, he recognized a place on the Egbert Farm as the scene of his dream, and pointed out the spot from where the stream of oil burst forth. His brother marked the spot and bored the Coquette Well, which commenced flowing fifteen hundred barrels daily.

Since such a romantic and intriguing story led up to the discovery of the Coquette Well it became an object of great curiosity. Many tourists would visit daily to gaze upon the well in wonder. Steps were created up to the well and visitors were charged 10 cents to watch the oil pour into the tanks. Perhaps they thought they would catch a glimpse of a flirtatious, beautiful woman guarding the well or an Indian sitting atop the derrick with a bow and arrow in hand. Nevertheless, a share in the Coquette Well was considered a moderate fortune.

* The 30’ tall wooden derrick behind the parking lot is the site of the Coquette well. As you are searching the derrick for a glimpse of a coquette or Indian count the number of horizontal boards on one side and that will give you D. From here you will walk past the office towards the bridge that crosses Oil Creek.

Petroleum Centre Bridge: Pay a toll to geocache?

Many men worked as teamsters, “have horses and team for hire”. Oil teamsters were the meanest fighters around. In saloon brawls a teamster often bit off an opponent’s nose, a portion of the upper lip, or a chunk of ear. Before barges and the train, the teamsters transported everything that came in or out of the valley. This bridge (replaced in the 1930’s although the stone foundations are original) was a toll bridge, and the teamsters used it to transport oil across the creek. Before the bridge was built, the teamsters would take their horses through the creek, which was very low. It was difficult for the horses to pull the heavy oil barrel laden carts across the creek, thus the need for a bridge. As you are crossing the bridge look up and count the number of Xs that span the length of the bridge. The first digit of that number is A. The second digit is E.

Bissel Bank: You won’t find your treasure here:

(located on the corner of the road) These old concrete steps are all that remain of the only brick building ever built in Petroleum Centre. Count the number of steps and substitute that number for letter C. George H. Bissell, part owner, was in on oil from the very beginning. He first recognized the possibilities of petroleum as an illuminant when he examined a bottle of crude oil in the office of Dr. Dixi Crosby at Dartmouth Medical School in 1853. Bissell and his partner, Jonathan G. Eveleth, organized the first petroleum company in 1854, The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. He built the bank in 1866 and it closed April 1874. The Titusville Herald reported that there was “not sufficient business to warrant maintaining a bank in that place.” Because such banks failed, an oil baron John Benninghoff kept much of his fortune in guarded safes in his home. Mr. Benninghoff was said to have held onto his money like a blood leach on a horse. His farmhouse, still standing a few miles north of Petroleum Centre, was the scene of the oil regions greatest robbery. In January, 1868, thieves from Saegertown PA, escaped with more than $200,000 of his money. One of them used his share to buy a beer factory. The last digit on the year that Mr. Bissel recognized oil as an illuminant is F. Follow Stevenson Road towards the train station. (newly paved)

Petroleum Centre Train Station: grasshopper sittin a railroad track-- along came a train and sqaushed him flat.

Since roads in the valley were described as “wholly unclassable, almost impassable, scarcely jackassable” from the amount of mud, people had to enter Petroleum Centre by train. It was said to "pull up your legs as they disappear from site, remembering that if you descend deep enough, you may strike oil." Count how many actual steps lead up to the train platform and subtract 3 from total to replace letter B. The train played an immense role in the transportation of oil out of the valley. Oil was placed in barrels and placed on the train. Count how many rings are on the oil soaked barrel,(large black barrel sitting in grass) subtract 2 and replace letter I.

A combination of productive fields elsewhere and fires gradually destroyed what was left of many boomtowns that existed in the once productive Oil Creek Valley.This narrow valley affected many lives. As one writer stated, “The oil rush changed the pace of the world and greased the wheels of the machine age. It lit up the future, fueled wars, speeded peace, and is still flowing strong."

Now you are ready to find the final cache.