In 1859, Dr. R. W. Hazlett and his team from Wheeling drilled for oil along Oil Spring Run. Soon, others started drilling in the Little Kanawha area, including Charles Shattuck, Gen. Samuel Karnes, and Cass Rathbone. Karnes struck oil in an old salt well owned by William Rathbone. Cass Rathbone then drilled a 200-barrel well, one of the first oil wells in the U.S., along with the famous Drake well in Pennsylvania.