When, as a result of the Pennsylvania discoveries, petroleum became a commercial commodity, and opened up sources of untold wealth to the people of this continent, little thought was at first given to the transportation problem. The earlier wells on Oil Creek were situated so close to the navigable water that barrels of oil could without difficulty be loaded upon barges or smaller craft and floated down the river. In periods of drought when the water was too low to float such craft, oil boats would be assembled on a mill pond near the wells and the water dammed back while the loading was in progress. Then the gates would be opened, and the fleet, carried on the flood and guided by pilots, would be rushed down Oil Creek to the Allegheny River. As production increased, and new districts without convenient water transportation were successfully drilled, it was necessary to devise new methods. The production of some wells, inaccessible by water, became a drug on the market and in 1862 crude oil prices at such wells fell as low as 10 cents a barrel. To meet the difficulty, a system of teaming was adopted and great caravans of the oil wagons became a familiar sight in inland oil regions. Such a caravan in the days before the pipe-lines would sometimes consist of no less than 6,000 wagons drawn by two horses each, and carrying from five to seven barrels of oil. Travellers of the early sixties encountering this spectacle were amazed at the endless stream of vehicles. Work was thus provided for a large number of men, who, with a team, could earn from $10 to $25 per day conveying petroleum from the wells to the nearest point of shipment. Roads were in many cases so bad that they tore down fences and made new thoroughfares to suit their convenience and they were a lawless set, as later events proved.