Oil career
Williams entered the petroleum business on February 3, 1856, when he purchased 600 acres of land in Enniskillen Township from Charles Nelson Tripp, whose International Mining and Manufacturing Company had gone bankrupt.[6] Unlike Tripp, who boiled the bitumen to produce asphalt, Williams sought to distill the hydrocarbons into lamp fuel.[7] In the summer of 1858, Williams struck oil when he was digging for water during a local drought, becoming the first person in North America to establish a commercial oil well.[8][1] Initially, Williams refined the oil and bitumen on his property in Enniskillen Township, but by 1859, he moved his refining operations to Hamilton under the name of J.M. Williams and Co.[7][9] By 1861, William's refineries produced around 120 barrels of luminating and machine oil per week.[9] Pioneering geologist and physician Abraham Gesner might have acted as a consultant in the development of the Hamilton refinery.[10] Williams' discovery of oil and successful business venture helped kickstart the Age of Oil, incite the first oil boom in North America and demonstrated the viability of an Ontario petroleum industry.[3][11] His company produced, refined and marketed petroleum products, making it the world's first integrated oil company.[11]
In 1860, Williams reorganized his business as the Canadian Oil Company, with a capitalized value of $42,000.[12] Out of the five shareholders, Williams held the controlling interest in the company at $14,000.[12] By this time, Williams had amassed over 1,400 acres of land in Enniskillen township.[10] The company marketed its kerosene as 'Victoria Oil,' and successfully sold it in Europe, South America, and China.[13] In 1862, the Canadian Oil Company received two medals at the International Exhibition in London, one for "introducing important industry by sinking artesian wells in the Devonian stratum for petroleum” and the other for his refined oils.[14]
In late 1860, Williams, W.E. Sanborne and Andrew Elliot formed the Black Creek Plank Road Company to better transport crude out of Enniskillen Township.[15] Up until this point, the lack of a suitable road to transport crude to markets and refineries from Enniskillen township was a significant obstacle in the development of the local oil industry.[9] By early 1863, the company built a plank toll road to Wyoming, Ontario, and completed a road to Sarnia in 1865.[15]
In 1861, Williams and three others laid out the village of Oil Springs, which by 1862 had a population of 1600.[16]
In 1870, Williams joined John Henry Fairbank and other prominent Petrolia oil producers in forming the Home Oil Works Company, a producer group that sought to limit the production of oil to the market demand.[17] The company constructed an oil refinery near Petrolia that was capable of refining roughly 3000 barrels per week.[17] Imperial Oil purchased the refinery in 1881.[18]
