Oil and gas were first found in West Virginia in the 1700s in the Kanawha and Little Kanawha river valleys. In the early 1800s, families like the Ruffners discovered oil and gas while drilling for salt. The Ruffners used salt-well tools to help extract oil.

By 1819, George Lemon was successfully producing oil in Wirt County. Later, railroad builders found more oil nearby and in 1857 built a station called Petroleum in Ritchie County, named after the oil found there.