Edwin Drake was born in March 29, 1819.

Died November 8, 1880.

He was also known as Colonel Drake.

He was raised on farms in New York and Vermont, Drake worked as a hotel and dry-goods clerk before becoming an agent for the Boston and Albany Railroad. In 1850 he became a conductor on the New York and New Haven Railroad, but a few years later he had to retire for health reasons. In 1857, while living in New Haven, Connecticut, Drake met stockholders of the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, which claimed a lease on land near Titusville , Pennsylvania, where oil had been gathered from ground-level seepages for medicinal uses.

He was the first to successfully drill for oil.

Drake drilled two more wells for the Seneca company, but he failed to patent his drill-pipe methods and never became a success in oil speculation. He worked at various jobs in Titusville, then moved to New York City, Vermont, and New Jersey. In 1870, after years of poverty, he returned to Pennsylvania, where he was eventually awarded a pension by the state legislature.

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"First Roller Coaster in America Opens." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

"Early Twentieth Century Inventors and Inventions: EnchantedLearning.com." Early Twentieth Century Inventors and Inventions: EnchantedLearning.com. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.