1897 Fowler and Moyer Bird's-Eye View Map of Manington, West Virginia (Oil Wells)

West Virginia's Oil Boom.

This rare 1897 Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler and James B. Moyer chromolithograph bird's-eye view of Mannington, West Virginia, captures the town at the height of its oil and natural gas boom - a fleeting golden age when derricks, railways, and ambition filled the Appalachian hills. From the recently connected Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station to the Eureka Pipeline - one of America's pioneering natural gas systems - the view celebrates Mannington's emergence as a booming oil town.

A Closer Look

The view looks east on Mannington from a high point west of the city. Given the mountainous nature of the region, it is likely drawn from actual high ground rather than from a balloon or a fictitious elevated point. The view identifies some 15 sites and 4 churches, including the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station, Electric Plant, the Eureka Pipeline, and several local mills. The Eureka Pipeline, specifically, is important as one of the earliest natural gas transportation systems in the United States. Oil derricks pepper the surrounding hills, indicative of the town's brief but spectacular Oil Boom. The view is a 2-color chromolithograph.

Mannington Oil Boom

The 1890s oil boom in Mannington, West Virginia, transformed the quiet farming community into a bustling industrial center almost overnight. Following the discovery of productive oil and natural gas reserves -part of the greater Fairmont Field - Mannington became one of West Virginia's most active drilling hubs. By the mid-1890s, derricks and storage tanks dotted the surrounding hills, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad expanded service to transport crude oil to refineries and markets. The boom brought an influx of workers, investors, and speculators, leading to rapid urban growth, the establishment of supply firms, hotels, and machine shops, and a brief period of remarkable prosperity. Local landowners reaped royalties, while drilling companies, often backed by outside capital, competed fiercely for leases. Though the initial surge slowed by the early 1900s as wells depleted, the 1890s oil rush permanently reshaped Mannington's landscape

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn by Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler and published jointly with the Pennsylvania viewmaker James B. Moyer. Rare. OCLC notes just two examples, one at the Library of Congress, the other at the West Virginia Archives and History Division, Department of Culture and History. No market history.

Cartographers

Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler (1842 - March 17, 1922) was an American cartographer and the most prolific of all American city viewmakers. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Fowler enlisted in the Union Army in 1861. He was wounded at the Second Battle of Bull Run and was discharged in February 1863. After his discharge, Fowler made a living by visiting army camps and making tintypes of soldiers. He moved to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1864, to work in his uncle John Mortimer Fowler's photography studio. Fowler likely met Albert Ruger, the famous viewmaker, when he visited Madison in 1867 to work on a view he produced later that year. Ruger had recently lost his last assistant, Eli. S. Glover, who had opened his own publishing firm in Chicago. Ruger probably offered Fowler a job as his sales and subscription agent during this trip, but it is possible that the association between the two men started earlier. Fowler worked for Ruger for two years, as his canvassing and subscription agent in Iowa, Nebraska, and other Midwestern states. It is also likely that Fowler helped Ruger increase his output, since Ruger published around 40 views in 1868 and over 60 in 1869. Fowler struck out on his own in 1870 and published two views of towns in Wisconsin: Oconomowoc and Omro. Fowler drew the Oconomowoc view, but Howard Heston (H. H.) Bailey signed the Omro view. Fowler and Bailey would have a professional relationship until Bailey's death in 1878. Bailey's brother Oakley Hoopes (O. H.) Bailey, joined them in 1872. Between 1872 and 1875, the combination of three three names appears almost interchangeably, although Fowler and the Baileys parted ways in 1874. Fowler's name is the only one that appears on lithographs published in 1876. Fowler and O. H. Bailey resumed their professional partnership in 1879 and published several views together, although not all the works are attributed to both men. Between 1887 and 1906, Fowler concentrated on views of Pennsylvania, and produced over 200 lithographs of towns around the state, and his total output during these twenty years exceeded 280 prints. Some of these produced between 1889 and 1902 were issued in partnership with James B. Moyer of Myerstown, Pennsylvania. Over the course of his career, Fowler published over 420 prints, of which 248 were of Pennsylvania. Fowler suffered a Fallon an icy street in Middletown, New York, on March 1922 and died a week later on March 17. In his book Views and Viewmakers of Urban America John W. Reps proposes that Fowler was in Middletown promoting the updated view of that town he had recently published.   Further Details...

James B. Moyer (December 29, 1845 - March 16, 1920) was an American bird's-eye view maker and based in Myerstown and Morrisville, Pennsylvania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He issued views both on his own and in partnership with other well-known viewmakers Thaddeus M. Fowler (Fowler and Moyer), O.H. Bailey of Boston (Bailey and Moyer), and Albert E. Downs. Beyond his production and partnerships, knowledge of Moyer's life is extremely limited.   Further Details...

Condition

Good. Some uneven toning. A few margin tears, closed and stabilized on verso.

References

Library of Congress, G3894.M3A3 1897 .F6. Reps, John, Views and Viewmakers of Urban America, (University of Missouri, Columbia, 1984), #4225.