h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Actors, Petroleum, and History: John Wilkes Booth and the Dramatic Oil Company - A87852081
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

This month's Create challenge is to find a local claim to fame. Yesterday, I took a trip over the county line to Franklin, PA. A little online research turned up this odd connection between Venango County and Lincoln's assassin.

I can't help wondering what the series 'Dallas' would have been like if it had been set in the northern Appalachians...

Anyway, here's a brief and, I hope, amusing tale about some would-be oil tycoons.

Oh, and I failed to notice this while writing, but today is the 150th anniversary of the fatal attack... Mr Lincoln died the next morning.

An interesting bit of history. I wonder if it might be worth mentioning that 'shooting an oil well' was an early form of 'fracking'? http://aoghs.org/technology/hydraulic-fracturing/ With the current controversy it might be worth a mention.

It would also be worth knowing the price of a barrel of oil at the time, and maybe a mention that the only other source of oil was hunting whales (but that might just be me).

Will try to comment more later.

F S

Yeah, that would just be you.

I'll see if I can find out how much a barrel of oil sold for - even though that looks too much like what I do for a living...

Good idea about the fracking.

Okay, in Venango County in 1864, oil prices soared to a whopping $8.13 a barrel.

And I'm still not nattering on about whales in this Entry. The subject is John Wilkes Booth's attempt to get rich quick.

The history of petroleum will no doubt yield many interesting topics for *other* Guide Entries.

The subject's a gusher.

I tried to help you out with a cost comparison, no luck yet, but I did find this link http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Whale/whale.html which goes a long way to explain the success of the Pennsylvania oil fields during the Civil War.

No need to mention any large marine mammals, just thought it interesting

F S

I put in the price, and that's as far as it will go. Enough petroleum economics.

Another highly enjoyable entry that I can't contribute to.

Except, of course, to play the Isle of Wight game in which I try to come up with a tenuous/tedious link to the Isle of Wight. No-one knows why I do this (least of all me) but if I didn't I know how disappointed Dmitri would be

So – did you know that John Wilkes Booth was named after John Wilkes, who was one of the first people who wasn't either a fisherman or soldier to live in my home town of Sandown? (His house, Villakin, is gone – they have a big blue plaque outside 'Ladies Realm', a women's underwear shop located on the High Street).

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I knew John Wilkes Booth was named for the admirable John Wilkes - but I had no idea there was an Isle of Wight connection! Amazing!

This is more fun than Bacon numbers.

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well done