Oil History and Racing Make-up

Saturday, June 2, 2018

When visiting the Drake Museum, we saw an announcement about Wildcatter Day at Pithole City.  With a name like that, we had to check it out.  On our way there we passed a sign that caught our interest.

We arrived at the site of Pithole City.  We were remembered from our visit to the Drake Museum and made to feel welcomed.  This was basically a local event.  There were demonstrations by Blacksmiths, a civil war re-enactor with all his gear, a women cooking stew in an iron Dutch Oven and an old-time organ grinder.

We got there just in time to watch a baseball game between a vintage baseball team and the local fire department.  Nothing like baseball today, it was a "gentleman's" game. No gloves, no protective gear at all.  Only one umpire,  called a judge, determined if you were delaying the game.   The pitcher was a hurler and a batter was a striker.  The striker could request where he wanted the hurler to throw the ball.  No sliding, stealing or foul language.  It was a hoot.  Those poor firemen ran their tails off.

Afterward, we toured the museum and received a personal tour by one of the volunteers.

Pithole City was established in January 1865 when the wildcat Frazier Well struck oil along Pithole Creek starting an oil frenzy.  By September, 15,000 people were living and working in Pothole City.  Just as quickly, the oil ran out and the city declined.  In just 500 days it was almost gone.  Because everything was built quickly and of local green lumber there was nothing left of the town.  Buildings were torn down to harvest the nails, some buildings were dismantled and moved to other locations and there were some fires that destroyed areas of the town, so it never even became a ghost town.  All that is left are the street names.  Volunteers mow where the streets were and there are signs where certain hotels, banks, saloons, brothels, theatres, etc. were.

Our tour guide, Jerry, was able to tell us about the people that lived there.  He had some really great stories to tell.  This historic site was a passion and you could tell he loved researching the people.

This was indeed a full day.  Last Saturday we went to Stateline Speedway and got rained out.  Since we now had rainchecks for tonight's race, off we went.  This time Mother Nature left us alone and the race went off without a hitch.

 The feature race was an 80 lap.  So much dirt in the air, but that is the fun of a dirt track.

.