Caldwell, Ohio

Caldwell is the seat of Noble County, the last and youngest county formed in Ohio. But the ground under it has a far older claim to fame. In eighteen fourteen, two settlers named Silas Thorla and Robert McKee were sinking a well near here in search of salt brine.

They found it, but the brine came up fouled with a dark oily substance. They soaked it off the surface with blankets, wrung out the oil, and sold it in bottles as a digestive remedy they called Seneca Oil. The Thorla-McKee Well is now recognized as the first oil-producing well in North America, drilled forty-five years before Edwin Drake's famous Pennsylvania well.

A historical marker stands within a mile of Caldwell, and parts of the original wood casing are still visible on the site.