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Oil Well Supply Company in Petrolia -
Receipt dated 1883 from James Joyce's blacksmith business which he merged with Hector McKenzie's machine shop in 1890 to form the Oil Well Supply company.
The Oil Well Supply Company, which continues to operate today on Robert Street in Petrolia, was originally founded in 1865 by Hector McKenzie, a machinist who built the first machine shop in Petrolia. In 1870, James Joyce, a blacksmith, began his own company and in 1890, the two men joined forces and named their amalgamated firm the Oil Well Supply Company.
The oil men of Lambton County were pioneers of the oil business. New tools and equipment had to be invented as new challenges arose. The Oil Well Supply Company emerged from this need for specialised equipment and they developed and perfected the tools for drilling and pumping oil wells, including the Canadian pole-tool drilling rig.
As the local oil men began to travel to open oil fields all over the world, they took the equipment with which they were most familiar with them, and when more supplies were needed, it comes as no surprise that they placed their orders with a company that they knew and trusted. As a result, the manufacturer in Petrolia began shipping their tools and equipment to Austria, Russia, Sumatra, Java, Egypt, Persia, and anywhere else the Lambton oil men could be found. The Oil Well Supply Company brand was soon known all over the world.
Today, the company is the oldest manufacturer of cable drilling tools still in operation. The oil properties in the oil heritage district of Lambton County still rely on historic methods for pumping oil and the Oil Well Supply Company continues to produce the tools and equipment that are integral to this industry.