The Image Maker

In 1860, just a year after Drake's historic first oil well, photographer John Mather arrived in Titusville, Pennsylvania, determined to capture the burgeoning oilfields, one glass negative at a time. From his makeshift darkrooms - one on a creek barge, another strapped to his wagon - he risked life and limb to preserve the history of the nascent petroleum industry.General Charles Miller, alongside his wife, Adelaide, tirelessly cultivated relationships with the titans of this new era, becoming a major player himself. Even Andrew Carnegie took notice, only to withdraw when Miller's personal indiscretions threatened his reputation.Former cavalryman Patrick Boyle, a natural storyteller, chronicled the region's explosive growth as editor of the Oil City Derrick. His experience as a roustabout in the oil fields and later as a daring oil scout after the Civil War made him uniquely suited to report on this worldwide source of oil production statistics and news.Through the eyes of John, Patrick, and Charles - their families and their stories - a vivid portrait emerges of the oil boom and life in late 19th-century America. This is the story of how a rough-and-tumble stretch of Oil Creek in rural Pennsylvania fueled the world's oil lamps, machinery, trains, and, eventually, automobiles.