Drake's Salt Works; Winn, Louisiana Contributed by Greggory E. Davies ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Greggory E. Davies 120 Ted Price Lane Winnfield, LA 71483 GULF OIL COMPANY SEES TO ESTABLISH WINN'S CLAIM TO WORLD'S FIRST ROTARY RIG DRILLING A local writer contributing to the Winn Parish Enterprise Centennial Edition last year has brought Winn Parish to the attention of a major oil firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the oil firm is making arrangements for one of its writers to visit here to do a research story on a Winn Parish "First." The interest of the Gulf Refining Co. has been attracted by the story written by Harley B. Bozeman stating that the first rotary drilling in the world was done by Reuben Drake at Drake's Salt Works in Winn Parish in 1841. On the same well, according to the claim, the first casing was used for drilling. Mr. Bozeman was contacted here Wednesday by Roy M. Dillon, District Land man for Gulf Refining Company in Lake Charles to determine his source material for making the claim, and to arrange for a research writer for "The Orange Disc", Gulf's house organ, to come to Winn and write a story on the first rotary rig drilling. The local man, who writes newspaper articles and has been a close observer of history of Winn Parish, and especially the oil history, states that Professor Williamson who made a historical collection at Northwestern State College, has in his museum the old drill bit and part of the log casing used by Drake in sinking his well. Mr. Bozeman's story in the Centennial Edition, published last fall on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Winn Parish, that after drilling his well in Winn, aimed at getting salt water, Drake went back to Pennsylvania, where he helped his relative, Colonel Drake, drill the first commercial oil well in America at Titusville. Bozeman's story states: "In 1895 a white man named Postelwaite was making salt at Drake's with the help of an old man and two boys. According to Milton Dunn, the historian, he was making about 6 bushels of salt a day. A few years later a Captain Burnett from Mississippi bought out Postelwaite and greatly enlarged the making. He is reported to have brought in 30 to 40 negro slaves and a large number of evaporating kettles and was soon making 30 to 40 bushels a day. The salt was sold from $2 to $3 a bushel delivered by keel boats to Rapides, Opelousas, Point Coupee and Natchez settlements, and occasionally as far away as New Orleans. "From about 1825 until the Civil War the salt production seems to have remained rather steady at about 30 to 40 bushels a day. Reuben Drake took over the salt business from Burnett some time in the 1830s and attempted to increase production by digging deep wells. In 1841, Drake sank a well to the then unheard of depth of 1,011 feet. This well was (drilled by using) the rotary method. He used oxen for motive power to turn the drill stem on which was a crudely fashioned fish tail bit. The drill stem was seasoned hickory squared timers, with iron bands and couplings. "Another first drilling of this well was the use of casing. The casing used was hollowed out cypress logs. It is my opinion that Drake in this well used for the first time the rotary method of drilling and protecting the hole by casing it against caving. Rotary drilling and using casing has largely been responsible for the world wide development of the oil industry. "In 1854 Reuben Drake sold out to J. E. Weeks and is reported to have gone to Pennsylvania, where he helped his relative Colonel Drake bring in the first commercial oil well in America at Titusville, in 1859." If the story is substantiated by the Gulf research, it will indeed be two historic "firsts" for Winn Parish. (The above article was copied from the Winn Parish Enterprise, published at Winnfield, LA, November 19, 1953. The submitter has been to the Drake's Salt Works in northwest Winn Parish on many occasions and the actual cypress well casing is still visible. Further, gas or sulfur is prevalent at the site, which is located on Saline Bayou on the Winn-Natchitoches border. Sadly, there is no historic marker present at this site and little attention has been brought to this area. Many of America's early explorers made trips to this site and traded with Indians, salt being a very necessary commodity of the period. During the Civil War, this settlement was an important trade center. According to The Journal of Kate Stone, Kate's mother and slaves traveled to the Salt Works from as far away as Vicksburg, Mississippi to purchase salt, having to wait in line for days, behind several hundred wagons there for the same purpose. Submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, LA.)