The town of Oil Springs experienced an enormous influx in population during the oil boom. However, it did not become a civilized city like nearby London or Hamilton. It was more akin to an old west frontier town. It was dirty, covered in oil and grease, and smelled of oil. People began coming from further and further away to cash in on the oil.John Henry Fairbank first came to Oil Springs as a surveyer in 1861. He fell in love with the area and put all his savings into drilling for oil. He is often credited with inventing the jerker line system, a more economically effiecient method of drilling. This allowed for an entire field of wells to be produced from a centrally located power source.