523 S. Roberts Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
July 3,4, 5,1976 saw an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 people take a
look into yesteryear. It was both a very fine display of antique
steam and gas engines and a tribute to an era of wooden rigs and
ironmen. This all took place at the Allen County Fairgrounds, Lima,
Ohio.
It all started back in December 1975 when the Allen County
Historical Society, along with the Allen County Bicentennial
Commission, hit upon the idea of an oil well, complete with wooden
derrick for a bicentennial project.
A distinguished, white-haired gentleman, seventy-seven years
young, having spent more than sixty of them in the oil business,
Mr. Jim MacDonell, president of the Historical Society, started the
wheels turning, and as he stated, ‘then the fun began.’
First, a lease on ten acres in the Northeast corner of the
Fairgrounds was obtained from the County Commissioners and a permit
to drill was issued by the State of Ohio. The wooden rig required
nearly twenty thousand feet of lumber. The main sill is 16′ x
16′ x 28′. The walking beam is 14′ x 24′ x 24′.
The timbers required were sawed from red and white oak, cut in the
woods on Jim MacDonell’s farm west of Lima, Ohio. The logs, one
which measured five feet at the base were trucked to the Bill
Lanwehr Sawmill at Ottawa, Ohio where the required lumber was
sawed.
The steam engine presented a problem that started a search from
Pennsylvania to Texas. Jim was not looking for just a steam engine.
Being a perfectionist that he is, he wanted an oil-well drilling
steam engine.
It was because of the steam engine that I first found out about
the oil well project. A phone call one evening from Mr. MacDonell,
whom I had never met, and because of my association with the
Northwest Antique Machinery Association at Bluffton, Ohio, Jim
asked if I had any knowledge as to where an oil well drilling
engine might be found. I was sorry but I could not help him, but
stated that I would ask around.
Two days later after a phone call to Bob Flick, president of the
Bluffton Association, Jim had his steam engine. It so happened that
Bob had an old Ajax steam engine, 10′ x 12′ sold by the Oil
Well Supply Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., out in his barn. Bob had cheated
some junk dealer out of his glory of cutting up this fine ‘ole
girl’, by taking her home with him. She had completed her last
job some years back on an oil well outside of Findlay, Ohio. It had
been abandoned and left to the elements.
The engine was a so-called basket case. The cylinder had to be
rebored, a new piston cast and machined, a new piston and valve rod
had to be made. The crank shaft bearings had to be cleaned and
reshimmed. Every bolt and nut was rusted tight. The elements had
done a good job on the ole girl. The job of rebuilding this ole
Ajax took place in the garage back of the Allen County Museum, by
Willis Lehmann, Duane Clegg, John Baldwin and myself.
The first week of June 1976, the new ole Ajax was moved from the
garage to the fairgrounds and set in position. The boiler had been
set in position around the last of May. We connected up the steam
line, fired up the boiler and when the steam gauge told us that we
had 50 lbs. we slowly opened the throttle valve. Steam started to
issue from the open cylinder cocks, then the flywheel starter to
turn an old engine that had once died, had come back to life.
The cable tools, pipe and many other items for the well came
from Mr. Red Fenner, Robinson, Illinois. The essential items such
as the band wheel, bull wheels, sand reel and crown block were
donated by the Waverly Oil Co., Newark, Ohio. All of these parts
along with bits, stems and balers are relics dating to the
1800s.
The steam boiler (oil field type) took us as far as Madison,
Wisconsin to Robinson, Illinois and back to Newark, Ohio where our
oil field type boiler was located. It was all that remained when a
nitroglycerine plant blew up some years ago. It was purchased,
hauled out of the woods and transported back to Lima. A new front
flue sheet and new flues had to be put in by Red Hollinger of the
Buckeye Boiler and Welding Shop of Lima, Ohio. A hydrostatic test
of 175 lbs. was applied and the safety valve set at 125 lb. The
boiler was ready for service.
The rig was completed to a height of 66′. The boiler and
engine set all cables in place. The 10′ bit was attached to the
stem – everything was GO July 2, 1976 cable tool driller, John
Baldwin, turned the wheel on his telegraph line (the line that runs
from the drilling floor to the throttle valve on the steam engine)
the engine started to turn, the bit raises and drops the well
is started just the way it was done back in the 1800s!
Drilling was resumed at 8 A.M. Saturday, July 3rd but was
stopped at around noon because of the man spectators wanting to
view the operation right from the drilling floor. To insure the
safety of all the people, no drilling was done the remainder of
Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The boiler was steamed up all three
days and the engine allowed to run at a very low RPM. The public
was allowed to inspect the entire operation first hand from the
drilling floor.
A 10 inch hole was punched down 37 feet and then a like about
8′ casing put down. The drilling continued to a depth of 446
feet with 7′ casing put down. From 446 feet to 1,317 feet to
where oil was struck November 12, 1976, it is what oil men call an
open hole (no casing). NO! It is not a gusher, nor are all
concerned going to become millionaires over night.
As Jim MacDonell stated from the very first, ‘Most of the
areas wells played out years ago.’ (Oil was first discovered in
this area in 1885, after which Lima became the largest oil field in
the world. Hundreds of wells were drilled. Lima remained the center
of the petroleum industry with the turn of the century when the
wells started to play out). Jim, went on to say, ‘We probably
won’t get any great amount of oil, but I expect we’ll get
enough to grease the tools. We’ll do what we set out to do, and
that’s preserve a piece of history and show people for years to
come the kind of equipment and skills that started it all.’
I am sorry to say that at this time a very small amount of oil
is being produced from this well.
A hearty thanks and a job well done goes to the following
Iron-Men, who made it possible to turn back the hours of time and
give us all a look into the past. James A. MacDonell, who made it
all happen; John Baldwin, chief driller; Fred Owens, fireman who
fed the hungry boiler and Walter Vossler, driller. Just to add a
note, all of the above men mentioned are in their seventies.
The wood drilling rig, the oil field boiler, the Ajax steam
engine and all the cable tools will remain and will be a permanent
historical exhibit to commemorate for all time, an era of the
Nation’s past.
As I started out ‘The show with an Oil Well’ well, we
had a show! Last April a few letters were sent out to engine buffs
inviting them to come to Lima July 3, 4,5 with some of their
engines and help us get this well started. As it turned out, over
sixty enginemen and their families showed up. Each brought along a
great number of beautiful restored gas and steam engines. They came
from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and our own state of Ohio.
The oil well almost had to take second place in this show
because of our man and his wonderful wife, Mr. & Mrs. Vern
Tilton, Lima, Ohio. Vern transported his two beautiful traction
engines to the Fairgrounds. One was a big engine and the other was
even bigger. The big engine is a 16-55 HP Heck Gonnerman. The
bigger is a 140 HP Colean engine. The Colean tips the scales at 22
tons a lot of iron horse. Both engines were in operation all three
days and all day long each day. I think that every young boy and
girl in this area had a chance to ride on a steam engine and at
times some of the boys and even the girls were at least sixty years
of age. Just to show you how much these engines were run, we
started out the show with a little short of having four tons of
coal. There were three other steam engnes in the show: Russell Sams
scale model, Charlie Maxson and his model steamer, and our
stationary steam-electric rig. None of the above boilers required
much fuel. The coal was all gone by Monday morning July 5th. In
fact, Vern Tilton had to bring some coal from his farm in order to
run in the parade in down town Lima on Monday.
Our many thanks go out to Mr. and Mrs. Vern Tilton and his two
engineers that operated the engines. Russell Sams, also put on a
good show with his half scale Geiser engine and Baker fan. Charlie
Maxson, as usual had trouble getting up steam each morning. He said
the trouble was caused by the location that we put him in we had
put Charlie under a big shade tree. He said this caused a bad down
draft in his smoke stack Now Charlie! Ronald Gebby also put on a
good show with his 10-20 McDeering.
We lost count of the gas engines that were on display all three
days. The last count taken showed that there were over 175 all the
way from a HP Ideal to a 25 HP Reed oil well engine.
Ike Eyler had his half scale oil well pump jack set up and
operating, powered by a rod from one of his gas engines. Ike’s
pump looked so realistic pumping water in which Ike had put some
black dye in, out of a pump and back into it, around and around. A
lady that resides just a short distance from the Fairgrounds said
that in all the years that she had lived there, she did not know
that there was an oil well there that could pump the oil from
it.
It is impossible to name each and every exhibitor, but our
thanks go out to each and every one. Without you, we could not have
had a show. My thanks go out also to my wife, Cleo (Babe) Clegg,
who worked very hard all three days getting each and every
exhibitor to sign the register and made sure each one received a
plaque. The plaques were furnished by Jim MacDonell.
A big thanks to Willis Lehmann and my son, Duane, who made sure
that the steamers had plenty of fuel and water and the gas engines
and tractors had plenty of gasoline.
In all, a wonderful time was had by everyone. The weather was
better than anyone could ask for and the people in the Lima area
are still talking about the terrific Bicentennial Celebration that
was held at the Fairgrounds.
The engine show is over. The well is completed, but the wooden
drilling rig stands. If at any time you are on I-75 and want to
take a look into the past, take U.S. 309 East off of I-75, go East
about one half mile to the Allen County Fairgrounds where you will
find this mighty oak giant of the past.
