in 1653. On October 23, 1784, the Iroquois, which included the Seneca, ceded the land to Pennsylvania in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. Venango County was formed from portions of Allegheny and Lycoming counties on March 12, 1800. Cornplanter Township was settled in 1795 and was incorporated on November 28, 1833. In 1859, Edwin Drake successfully drilled the first oil well along the banks of Oil Creek, outside of Titusville in Crawford County. Within a half year, over 500 wells were built along Oil Creek, in the corridor from Titusville to the creek's mouth at the Allegheny River in Oil City. Other wells were drilled down the Allegheny towards Franklin and upriver to Tionesta in Forest County. Pithole Creek did not attract the same attention from speculators and investors, who preferred to risk their money on the tried-and-true method of drilling on flatter terrain near large rivers like the Allegheny and Oil Creek, rather than gamble on rougher terrain. In January 1864, Isaiah Frazier leased two tracts of land, totaling , from Thomas Holmden, a farmer along Pithole Creek. Frazier, James Faulkner Jr., Frederick W. Jones and J. Nelson Tappan formed the United States Petroleum Company in April 1864 and started drilling what was dubbed the United States Well, or Frazier Well, in June. On January 7, 1865, the Frazier Well struck oil. Boom Two weeks after the Frazier strike, the Twin Wells, just to the south of the Frazier Well, also struck oil. In May 1865, A. P. Duncan and George C. Prather purchased the Holmden Farm, including the portions still leased to United States Petroleum, for $25,000 and a bonus of $75,000. The wooded bluff overlooking the Frazier and Twin Wells was cleared and a town was laid out. The town was divided into 500 lots, which were put up for sale on May 24. By July, the population was estimated to have been at least 2,000. The population of Pithole rose to 15,000 people in September and 20,000 by Christmas. Pithole was incorporated as a borough on November 30, 1865. As many residents were temporary, Pithole had a total of 54 hotels ranging from simple rooming houses to luxury hotels like the Chase and Danforth Houses, or the Bonta House located in Prather City on the bluff on the opposite side of Pithole Creek. The Astor House, Pithole's first hotel, was built in one day. Construction of