Burning Springs, West Virginia

Burning Springs
Unincorporated community
Burning Springs
Burning Springs

Location within the state of West Virginia

Coordinates: 38°58′52″N 81°18′50″W / 38.98111°N 81.31389°W / 38.98111; -81.31389Coordinates: 38°58′52″N 81°18′50″W / 38.98111°N 81.31389°W / 38.98111; -81.31389
Country United States
State West Virginia
County Wirt
Elevation 643 ft (196 m)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes 26139
GNIS feature ID 1549617[1]

Burning Springs is an unincorporated community in Wirt County, West Virginia, United States.[1] It takes its name from the natural gas which bubbled up through the spring and would burn when lit.[2]

In the early 19th century, wells were drilled at the springs to produce brine which was evaporated to produce salt. Some petroleum was produced along with the salt brine. By 1836, the salt wells were producing 50 to 100 barrels per year of oil that was sold as illuminating oil.[3] The wells at Burning Springs produced and sold petroleum many years before the Drake oil well at Titusville, Pennsylvania. The first well at Burning Springs drilled to obtain oil rather than salt was begun in 1859, after the Drake well. The Burning Springs Complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.[4]

The Ruble Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Burning Springs". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  2. ↑ Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 142.
  3. ↑ Edgar Wesley Owen (1975) Trek of the Oil Finders, Tulsa, Okla.: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p.10.
  4. 1 2 National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.


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