 Brian Dunleavy in the story of the tremendous triple on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, but first here is Gaine Whitman. Before our play begins tonight, here's a brief item of interest to you about the poultry industry because it affects the supply of eggs and chickens. It's more important than ever these days to have healthy baby chicks. Limitations on feed due to reduced wheat supplies will necessarily reduce the size of the flocks and make it necessary to become more efficient in raising each chick. DuPont supplies cellar glass, plastic coated wire mesh, the ideal material for poultry house windows and other buildings. Cellar glass protects chicks from damp cool spring weather but does not shut out the passage of the health-giving ultraviolet rays of the sun. That is why many poultry farmers use cellar glass, one of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. The DuPont Company presents the story of the tremendous triple starring Brian Dunlevy as Edwin Drake on the Cavalcade of America. Tonight, the Cavalcade of America brings you the story of the beginning of a mighty industry, one which has helped bring America prosperity and greatness. But this is also the story of a man who had faith, who never gave up. His name is Edwin L. Drake, perhaps you've never heard of him, but the citizens of Titusville, Pennsylvania will never forget him or what he did. Or will a grateful industry forget Edwin L. Drake? The story begins really in the office of Mr. George H. Bissell, one of the pioneers in the petroleum industry. But it's the year 1857 and there are troubles and worries confronting Mr. Bissell and his associates. Now look here, Evelyn, kerosene, coal oilers, they call it, is catching on with the public. They're using it for an illuminant. I know all that, Bissell, but what can we do about it? Well, Rake should be back any time now with his report. Hey, whatever made you hire him, Bissell? Well, because he sold himself to me. There was something about him. Well, let's hope his report is favorable. Somehow I've got a hunch, Evelith, a hunch that tells me to stick with it. Well, we can't do anything until Drake gets back from Pennsylvania. Drake, come in, come in. Hello, George. Well, sit down, sit down. Now, what have you got? George, it's wonderful. I knew it. I knew it. All right, let's have the story. I looked over the property and there's oiler, all right, George? Well, we knew that, but can we get it in large enough quantities? All right. Or large enough to compete with kerosene and coal oil? We can, if we dig for it. Dig? But, man, alive, you know what happens. Yes, yes, I studied salt well drilling operations near Syracuse and Pittsburgh. George, I'm convinced we can get oil that way. But look, Edwin, every time that's tried... I know, I know. Every time the shafts pulled up, the whole cave's in. That's right. And you still think digging's the only way? Yes. How did you do it before? Well, we... I'll tell you, you dug trenches. You siphoned the oil out when it came to the top, passed it along to the distillers, and, well, you can't get it fast enough that way, can you? No, that's what the trouble is. Well, then there's only one way left. Now, now, wait a minute. I'll admit you have a point when you say we can't get it fast enough the old way. But what do you know about it? You were a railroad conductor. You hired me, didn't you? Well, of course I did. Well, I just told you what I think. George, I want to go back there again. I want you to let me oversee the operations. But you've only seen salt wells, Doug, and we're not in the salt business. No, you're in the oil business, and you're not getting oil fast enough. Look, George, people are ready for a new illuminant. Coal oil smells. Whale oil was dirty. I'm not arguing those points with you, Edward. I admit them. I'm just questioning your qualifications. I like you, Everlif likes you, but how do you know what you'll run into? Did Columbus know what he was going to run into? Well, I... Oh, right, all right, go ahead. But we've got to have results, or we'll have to dissolve our business. I think, George, you'll stay in business. You said you run the oil business, Trey. Yes, I am. Coal oil? No, just oil. Oh, boy, have you got a surprise coming. Or maybe you know already. What are you talking about? Well, I know what I'm talking about. I lost every penny I had in that business. Why, uh, why did you lose? Well, because we couldn't get the oil fast enough. Well, I know that too. You know, and yet you're going to... To wherever you're going, and... I am. Oh, look, give it up. You can't take oil off the surface fast enough. There were days, weeks, when we didn't get a drop. But this oil is better than coal oil. There's a market waiting for it. Oh, listen, Drake, do you know that 15 out of 16 oil men went broke time to get the stuff out of the ground fast enough to compete with coal oil? You hear that? Broke, busted flat. And I'm one. Well, you might have gone at it the wrong way. No, we tried every way. Digging too? Digging. Oh, well, get that out of your head, Drake, while you punch a hole in the ground, pull up the shaft, and before you know what's happened, the whole cave's in. Yeah, I know. And you're still willing to take a chance. Mister, there's nothing in this world that amounts to a hill of beans if you don't have to work for it. I don't expect anyone to come to me and hand me barrels and barrels of oil. I know what to expect. And you know how to lick it, I suppose. No, not yet. Well, there you are. Well, I guess I'll catch an app. Got a hunt for a job tomorrow. I only hope you're not tying everything you've got up in oil, Drake. Good night. Good night. Any news, dear? Sure. Letter from Bissell. Oh, bad news. Laura, maybe I shouldn't have come. Maybe everyone's right. Edwin, don't say that. You will find a way. I love you, not because you're my wife and not because you married a man who's still half a kid, but because you fill up the gaps in my face. Edwin, now sit down, dear, and tell me all about it. Laura, I've been working day and night. Yes, dear. I know you have. But what does Mr. Bissell say? He wonders if we're getting results. He wants oil, Laura. Oil and lots of it. The coal oil's outselling us now 20 to 1. It's killing our business. Oh. But mind you, Laura, only because I can't get enough oil to compete. I can't get oil enough to the distillers. But the digging. Ah, they're right about that, too, Laura. The soil is spongy. Every time we drive a shaft, it goes down, all right. But pull up the shaft to see what we've got in the hole, closes in like, like sawdust. Yes, but there must be solid ground that won't do things. Sure, sure. There is. We've driven shafts in solid ground, and then we hit salt water about 65 feet. And that finishes us. Then, no matter what you do, you're beaten. It looks like it. Should I give up, Laura? You know what you always say, Edwin? Remember what they said about Columbus. And Columbus just kept sailing. He was bound to hit something. Look, darling, why don't you get some rest first? Think about it in the morning. That's all I've been doing, thinking about it. Dreaming, eating, sleeping oil. I can taste the stuff when anyone mentions it. Well, then what are you going to do? There must be a way. Drive a shaft in the spongy ground in the hole cave. Drive in solid ground and you get salt water. Now, how can I lick both those problems? Please, come to bed. You've got to get some rest. Laura, I'm going out tomorrow and find the best well-digger in this part of the country. I'm going to lick this thing. Lick it to a stand still. I'm looking for a man named Uncle Billy Smith. Yes. I wonder if you could tell me where to find him. What might you be wanting with him? Can I come in? Yep. Would you be Uncle Billy Smith? Could be. Well, if you are, I've got a proposition that might interest you. Yeah. I've been in Titusville five weeks now and everywhere I go, I hear that Uncle Billy Smith never brought in a tainted salt well. Always brings in clear salt water. Yep. Are you Uncle Billy? Sit down. Thanks. Now, what is the share of proposition, Connell? Oh, you know me. Well, folks in little place like the share, you don't pass up strangers without finding out who they are and what they're doing. Now, you are looking for oil. Right. Are you Uncle Billy Smith? I have been for almost 75 years. You recognize my name. Good. Now we can talk business. Yep. All right. Uncle Billy, I want you to help me find oil. Oh, but Connell, and my job for 50 years has been a digging and bringing in salt well. I know, I know. And you never had one tainted with oil. Nope. That's why I want you to help me find oil. Now, wait a minute. You're looking for oil and you come to me because I never hit none? That does sound crazy, doesn't it? Well, I don't know. I had an uncle once, touched in the head, he was. But he ended up better than any of us. Well, I figured you never hit oil because you weren't looking for it. Yep. But you knew where it was and you stayed away from it. You're right. Smart, Connell. Yep. Well, Connell, I... Hey, wait a minute. What's the matter? Everybody calls you Connell. That's right. What do you kind of love? Uncle Billy, between you and me in the lamppost, the closest I ever got to a uniform was being conductor on the New York, New Haven Railroad. Then why is everybody calling you Connell? Well, maybe because it sounds impressive. Well, can't impress me none, but I'll tell you what did. You being smart. Now, what about the proposition, Connell? Interested? It depends, Connell. It depends. Go ahead. Talk. All right. Now, I've come down here to get oil. Oh, I know men have failed one after another. Yep. Failed because they couldn't get enough oil. Now, I'm convinced there's only one way to get it in big enough quantities. Dig for it? That's it. Mm-hmm. Hey, how about the hole to cave it in? That's what we'll have to lick. Well, can you? I can try. How? Well, I want you to dig for me. Dig in the place you wouldn't dig to find a salt well. Then what? Well, if we can get deep enough, we should hit oil. Well, dig and salt well is a good business. I don't know if your proposition suits me. Why not call it having faith? Huh? Faith in the country, faith in the new industry, Uncle Billy, if we succeed where others failed, we'll be the pioneers. How about it? Doesn't that appeal to you? Mm-hmm. Let me see. Connell, you got yourself a man. When do we start? You doing anything this afternoon? Nope. I ain't. Yep. You are. How about this place, Uncle Billy? Man, I don't know. Let me sniff around a bit. Again, but we've cramped all over. Connell, you asked me to find oil for you. Ain't that it? That's it. Well, you said something about having faith. Now, you got to start off by having faith in me and what I know. All right. I guess I am a little impatient. Sure, sure. Now, let me see. Connell. Yes? Look down there where you stand. What? Right here? Yeah. There's oil out on your seat. Uncle Billy, are you sure about it? Can you be certain? This is a good place to dig. For a 50 year, I've been thinking salt wells in the chair part of the country. For a 50 year, I dug more holes in a crazy gopher on a tar. And this, Connell, this is the kind of land I shied away from cause I noted that oil in it. Oil that would have tainted my salt wells. We've got to be right, Uncle Billy. Connell, when I young fell in the business, I hit my share of tainted wells because I didn't know oil from a year. But I learned this is oil land. That's what I wanted to hear. We'll start digging. How many good men to help us? Well, I got two boys. Both of them good. That's good enough for me. You go get them. Get all the equipment you need and bring it here and I'll wait. Yes. You're going to take them out of time or get back in town. Well, that's all right with me. We'll start as soon as you get back here. Yes. It's going to be dark for that time, Connell. Oh, lighter dark, Uncle Billy. We start as soon as you get back with the men in the equipment and we'll keep on until we hit oil. You're listening to Brian Dunlevy as Edwin L. Drake in the story of the tremendous trifle on the capital of America sponsored by the U-Pond Company, where there are better things for better living through chemistry. As the second part of our story opens, Edwin L. Drake is hired Uncle Billy Smith to help him dig for oil. Drake has two problems to solve. First, he must sink a shaft deep enough to hit oil. Second, he must prevent the hole from caving in when the shaft is removed. Just now, the second problem is the most pressing. How's she going, Uncle Billy? No, Connell. We're going to see you in a minute. We've got about 20 feet down. Share us out now and we'll have to hook on another suction to go deeper. How about the hole? This ground looks loose and spongy. We might get a cave in. Could be. But there's a reason we've got to get another suction hooked on. Yeah, you're the boss on that. Oh, there she goes. The hole's caving in. Oh, go on it. And we didn't even get the water. Now, ain't that the kind of sand it is? No, it's all right. We'll just have to start all over again. Three days would have been a digging down and for what? Uncle Billy, isn't there some way to stop the hole from caving in when the shaft's pulled out? Don't know of any, Connell. All right. Let's start again. You ain't going to give it up? Give up? Look, that shaft is going right back in. We're going to keep punching holes in this sawdust until we get one that stays. I came here to hit oil. Lots of it. And I'm going to hit it if I have to drive that shaft clear through at the other side of the world. Now, let's go, boys. Ready on the engine? We're going again. Keep it going. Oh, take no use, Connell. She'll cave in again like she did the other 12 times. I said we're going to keep going. Dear, you're driving yourself too hard. It's a nice and day rain and shine for two months and for what? For oil. It's there, Laura. I'm going to hit it. Not if you don't take care of that call. Connell, three months is a long time to be punching holes and caving in as soon as we get them down. Uncle Billy, I'm going to stay with it if I have to do it by myself. No, Edwin, no. The doctor says you can't go out. I don't care what the doctor says. I'm too close to what I came here for, and I don't care if I never make a nickel. I'm not going to let it lick me. Hey, Ed Rock, stop the engines. Rock, all the way down to 69 feet and we hit rock. Now we are finished. Yeah, and I guess that does it. No, look. Have you got a shaft that'll punch through that rock? Well, sure, but we're going to have to fill that shaft out to get a different one down. And when we do, she'll cave in again. Yeah, that's the size of it, Connell. Well, it looks like we've done for her for sure now. Oh, but we've got to... I... Hey. Hmm? Billy. What's the matter? I'm an idiot. Those cast iron pipes over there, what are they for? Piping off salt water when we hit it. How much have they got? Well, I reckon more than a hundred feet. But why? Listen, we've got a chance. We'll sink that pipe and the ground down to bedrock. Then we'll put the drill through the pipe. Hmm? Don't you see, the pipe will be a casing to keep the walls of the hole from caving in. Well, I never hear that before. Neither did anyone else. Come on, get it done. It worked, Uncle Billy. It worked. It sure did. The pipe sure held the walls up. All these months, it took me to think of it. Of a trifle like that. It looks like it might be a tremendous trifle, Connell. And we... We're through. Through the rock. Yeah. And if there ain't oil under that bedrock, my name ain't Billy Smith. All right, boys. Work fast now. Get the shaft out. Come on, come on. Let's get going. There you are, Connell. Nothing coming up with salt water. Durn stuff. For 50 years, I've been trying to hit it. Then when I don't want it... It's all right, Uncle Billy. You couldn't know. I should have. I should have. Connell, I could have swore there was oil down there. Well, there isn't. So I start all over again. Now look, Connell. You're a sick man. I might have sick. It is all a work and a hope that kept you standing up all these months. Oh, I'm all right. I'll play off you and the boys and... Uncle Billy. Look. I thought it would bubble up in that pipe. Oil. Oil. We did it, Uncle Billy. We did it. Uncle Billy Smith, aren't you? Yep. I'm a reporter, Mr. Smith. I'd like to get your story. Story? About what? About the oil. Colonel Drake. Well, now, son. About the oil, I can tell you. About the Connell? I don't know. Well, but you know him, didn't you? You work with him. Yep. He was the finest man I ever know. Well, where is he? Where can I find him? Son, I'd give a good mic to know that himself. So do a lot of other people. It's not a great book to him. Yeah, but how could he just drop out of sight? We hit that first oil well in August, 1859. Remember the day, the year. Oh, even now? Yeah, yeah, I know all that, Mr. Smith. What I want to know is... Son, you want to hear this? Sure. Well, let me tell it then. After we hit the oil, and that case and idea was Colonel Drake's never patented. Well, after we hit the oil, Colonel stayed on here for about four years. I know, but what's become of him? Son, all I know is that one day the Colonel and his wife up and left. He took all of his savings, close under, say, $16,000. Yeah, and then? He said he's going to New York. And that's all anybody knows. Sure would give a heap to see him again. Finest man I ever know. Proud, but spunky as they come. Look, we've simply got to find Drake. Hey, we're doing everything we can, Bishop. We've traced him as far as New York, then to Vermont. And from there on, nobody knows a thing. If he'd only patented that casing idea. That's too late now. He probably thought it was such a trifling thing. He didn't realize its value. The first man to drill an oil well, the first man to tap all that wealth beneath the earth, and he loses every cent. Look, Abileth, Drake brought in a new era. The community, the industry, the nation must realize the worth of the gift he made toward the progress of the country. He's got to be found. We've got to do something for him. Excuse me, but does Colonel Edwin L. Drake live here? That's right. May I see him? Well, he's very ill. Oh, you're Mrs. Drake? Yes, I am. Well, may I come in? All right. Mr. Drake, my name is Conrad. I represent the citizens of Titusville. Now come here along, Branch, hoping to see Colonel Drake. I have good news. Yes. Come this way, please. Edwin? Edwin? Yes, Laura. I'm not asleep. There's someone here to see you. See me? Who knows? I'm in New Jersey. This is Mr. Conrad, dear. Perhaps you better speak to him, sir. Thank you. Colonel Drake? Colonel? Haven't heard that in seven years. And we've been looking for you for those seven years, eh? Looking for me? What for? Mr. Drake, we want you to come back to Titusville. We've received contributions from the citizens to support you until we can offer something in proportion to what you did. Charity? No, Mr. Conrad. I lost every cent I had, but I didn't lose my pride. This is not charity, sir. It's gratitude. Deep gratitude of a community and of a new industry. So please come back with me. Everyone's waiting for you, sir. Eh? They really are, remember? There isn't a person in the state who doesn't know about you and your casing idea. Every oral man in the business thanks you every time he sinks a whirl. And they really want me to come back. More than anything in the world, Colonel. I am. Laura, what do you say? You decide because you stayed with me. It's your decision, Laura. But it's your pride. Eh? You know what they said about Columbus? We'll go. Gratitude and deep appreciation for what he did for the nation, for what he did for a new and grateful industry, that we of the Pennsylvania State Legislature grant a substantial annuity for the rest of his life to Edwin L. Drake. There won't be any doubt about it, Edwin. I don't know what to say. You don't have to say a word, Edwin. It's what you did in August 1859 accounts, and we remembered it. The industry remembers. Edwin, we'd better go now. You look tired. Tired? Oh, nonsense, Laura. You know what they said about Columbus? No, dear. What did they say about Columbus? They said, they said, I don't know. I guess I never did know. We will return in a moment. But now, here is Gain Whitman. The first production of kerosene, which is still called coal oil in some parts of the country, was a great triumph. And so was the first production of gasoline. But you wouldn't think so if you had to use that early gas in your car today. A motorist in the early 1900s usually had to strain his gas with a chamois skin to filter out the water and dirt. And while he was doing it, the neighbors could smell the stuff a block away. The engine in a modern automobile can be better and is better because of better gasoline. We say the gas today has a higher octane rating and better volatility characteristics. Today's gasoline is improved by never-ending chemical research. DuPont antioxidants, for instance, are chemical compounds added to gasoline in extremely small quantities, not much more than a couple of thimble-schooled with 1,000 gallons, to prevent the formation of gum, gum that would do exactly what its name implies, and gum up your motor. Modern gasoline may also contain compounds known as metal deactivators to eliminate the harmful effects of metals, especially copper, which speeds up the formation of gum. Lubricating oils, too, are highly refined products nowadays, far removed from the black oil that is pumped from the ground. A great deal of the efficiency of modern lubricating oils depends upon the chemicals added to it. When oil gets hot and reacts with the oxygen of the air, it may become corrosive. Without the addition of compounds, such as DuPont Ortholium 202, it would attack the copper-led alloy bearings widely used in automobile and truck motors. Ortholium 202 adds a protection to check the corrosion. All told, the DuPont company manufactures more than 20 compounds, which improve the qualities of gasoline and other petroleum products, as well as the colored dyes, which enable you to identify your favorite brand. The colors you can see, the other compounds you can't, but they're there, unseen, doing important work, like so many other products of chemical science, that are DuPont, better things for better living, through chemistry. Our star, Brian Dunleavy. Thank you. Brian, just about this time, we thank our star for being with us. So please accept our sincere congratulations on doing such a swell job tonight. That's very nice of you, Gaine, and may I return the compliment by saying it's always a pleasure to do a cavalcade show. The next best thing to me is listening to one. We'll enjoy next week's then, Brian. We're going to star Edward G. Robinson, in a tense, exciting story of surgery called The Doctor with Hope in His Hands. That sounds like a great show, Gaine, and it's a title that fits right in with something that's on my mind. Hope in His Hands. You know, all of us today have hope in our hands for the hundreds of thousands in our military hospitals for whom the war is still going on. There is a way that each of us can help them through our own Red Cross. We can guarantee our hospitalized veterans skilled in sympathetic care by a staff of trained medical workers. We can make sure that needed loans or grants of money are available for them or their families. This month, the Red Cross is asking for at least $100 million to carry on its vital services during 1946. It's up to each of us to help meet that need. Won't you all give and give generously? Brian Donlevy will be seen shortly in the forthcoming paramount technical production of The Virginian. The music for tonight's DuPont Cable Cade was composed and conducted by Robert Ambruster. In tonight's cast with Mr. Donlevy were Betty Arnold as Laura and Horace Murphy as Uncle Billy. This is Tom Collins inviting you to listen next week to Edward G. Robinson in The Doctor with Hope in His Hands on The Cable Cade of America brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is MVC, the national broadcasting company.