Oil on the Pigtail: The Union and Titusville Railroad 1865-1928 - Hardcoverby Rexford G. Wiggers (Author) Until the fall season of 1859, naturally occurring seeps of crude oil in rural Northwestern Pennsylvania were considered a local oddity. The locals who lived near the seeps would often skim off the oil that collected on the surface of ponds and streams. The skimmed oil was used as a cure all medicine, as a fuel for torches, or as a crude lubricant for neighborhood sawmill and gristmill machinery. Crude oil in