Very rare Haselton Petroleum Company stock certificate -1865. Signed by Haselton

Description

This beautifully preserved certificate is dated April 6, 1865, over 150 years old.  The Haselton Petroleum Company was one of the very early oil drilling operations, located in an area near the
western
side of Walnut Bend, PA near the Allegheny River. The certificate is signed by the President, A (?). Haselton.  It is number 18, and is for 180 shares at each of the 100,000 shares offered, which would be about ,000 today, no small amount for an investor in 1865, whose name suggests was a female.
This was one of hundreds of oil
operations
not too far from Pithole City which is where the oil boom started during the
Civil
War. Pithole City is notoriously known in the Pennsylvania oil region as the oiltown that vanished as quickly as it appeared. The city was the first to be fully illuminated by petroleum, was home to the world’s first pipeline, and had the first daily paper in Venango County. It was during the oil boom when the Frazier Well, the first well drilled along Pithole Creek, struck oil on January 7, 1865, just 4 months before the date of
this
certificate
.
However, the large amount of oil produced from the early wells negatively impacted the price of oil.  Other events plagued Pithole as well. There were seventeen major fires that totaled around just over ,000,000 in property and production losses. City blocks were destroyed, wells burned, and families suffered injuries and death. In December 1866 the population had fallen to less than two thousand and in 1867 the total oil production for the Pithole area was below one thousand barrels a day. Businesses moved to other towns and cities that had stable success. By 1870 the population was two hundred eighty one and in February 1877.
The vignette includes some workers and four oil rigs with barrels scattered about.  While this engraving is common for some of these early certificates, this may be one of the few that shows a map of the geography of the oil boom area.  There also is an etching of the Alleghany River with Pit Hole Creek entering the river.
The certificate includes an embossed revenue stamp for 25 cents, dated the same date.  There is also a raised seal that lists the company name and the date1864.  There may not be another certificate like this one anywhere.