Highest Point in Venango County PA. Climb #45 of 67 trees on 67 mountains in 67 counties.

#45 Venango County
May 26, 2024
Elev: 1755’
41.364051, -79.522763
Oil country! Although Crawford county PA was the location of the world's first oil well, much of the historic exploration took place in Venango county (home of Oil City PA). Although the world's first well was 1859 humans knew of oil long before this. I once read about an archaeological site in Pennsylvania where a Native American wooden structure was found buried in creek mud that was used for skimming oil from the creek. These natural oil seeps were used for everything from medicine to paint. Oil wasn’t the only fossil fuel found in Venango county. My high point visit took me to private land owned by Jeff Schwab where his family had historically mined bituminous coal. His grandfather had worked a thin seam underground. More recently the area was strip mined. The family then mined shale from the mountain top. There was a healthy hardwood forest surrounding the hilltop. In fact, there was a nice pile of Oak logs at the high point ready to be shipped to the sawmill. Jeff and his sister helped me pick an ideal Black Oak tree for the climb. From the top I had a great view to the North. With Jeff’s permission, I picked up a big chunk of Venango county coal from the ground on my way home.