THE WELL THAT STILL WORKS

If the oil industry had a birthplace – you would be standing right here when you ordered your cheeseburger.
In front of you is the image of Cline Well No. 1 – one of the first oil wells in the Bradford area.

It was drilled in 1865.
And here’s what’s truly amazing:
it still pumps oil.

Now.
Today.
Right this moment.
More than 150 years later.
Very few things can say they’ve been doing their job for a century and a half – and are still needed.
And the most beautiful part?

It stands right next to a McDonald’s drive thru.
Imagine this:
you’re ordering a Big-Mac, and a few meters away – living history of the Industrial Revolution.
This is Bradford in its purest form:
past and present standing in the same line.
Notice how modest the well looks.
No skyscrapers.
No neon signs.
No high tech.
And that is the whole point.
History doesn’t always look loud.
Sometimes it just keeps quietly working day after day, decade after decade.
Not shouting about its importance.
Just pumping oil.

The Cline Well No. 1 is a reminder that:

•  big industries begin with simple decisions
• technology can outlive generations
• and even the most ordinary things in our lives were once radical innovations