1

Walter Goodyear
1930

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The history of the Bothwell-Zone Oil Museum dates back to 1887 and a man named Walter Goodyear who owned a hundred acre farm near Bothwell. The Oil Museum is located on the front two and a half acres of a fifty acre piece of his land.

3

Hand Carved Door Sign
1896
Zone Concession 7, Bothwell, Ontario, Canada

4

In 1896, Goodyear discovered oil on his land and leased the fifty acres, on which the Oil Museum currently resides, to Frank Carman. The only condition of the lease was that Carman was to have one paying well up and running within thirty days of signing. Later in 1896, having met the condition Carman hired Charles Fairbanks to build a powerhouse and drill more wells. Carman and Fairbanks paid Goodyear royalty on the barrels of oil produced.

5

Hiram Walker
1896

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Goodyear leased his other fifty acres to Hiram Walker with the condition that if oil was found, Walker would purchase those fifty acres. Oil was indeed found and Walker kept his promise.

7

Most Recent Operators of the Oil Field, The Barnes.
2001
Zone Concession 7, Bothwell, Ontario, Canada

8

Over the years the property has changed hands several times and is now owned by Lonnie and John Barnes. They bought the property in 1989. The five wells that are still working on the farm are no longer operated using the powerhouse and jerker line system - instead they are individually powered electric pumps - but the history of the oil boom in Bothwell remains.

9

The Powerhouse in the 1980's
1980
Zone Concession 7, Bothwell, Ontario, Canada

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Although the powerhouse is over a hundred years old, much of the equipment is original and working as well as it did when the powerhouse was first built.

11

Electric Motor at the Powerhouse
1940
Zone Concession 7, Bothwell, Ontario, Canada

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The first room upon entering the powerhouse was built in 1918 when Ontario Hydro supplied power into the powerhouse for the advancement of the war effort. The electric motor starts at fifteen hundred revolutions per minute and operates the machinery in the powerhouse. This room also contains a cot for the operator to rest on and a wood burning stone that was added by previous owner Delbert Sitler.

13

Flywheel
1907
Zone Concession 7, Bothwell, Ontario, Canada

14

The second room of the powerhouse is known as the Engine Room. The Engine Room houses the steam cylinder which was used to power the machinery before the electric motor was installed. It also has in it the flywheel complete with an iron shaft that would generate power and keep the pulley system rotating, and the hand clutch, which was used to gear down the speed of the steam cylinder.
As previously noted, the electric motor starts at fifteen hundred revolutions per minute. A small to big pulley system is used to reduce the RPM to three hundred and create more power to drive more wells.