 For years, many believed that oil and natural gas was under Sistersville, because natural gas and salt water had been bubbling up in Burning Springs since before 1836 (in what became Wirt County and development there became an oil boom beginning in 1860).However, the drill Philo Stocking used in 1865 became stuck before it reached oil, but he made sure to retain oil and gas rights to land he sold, which later made him rich.The large Sistersville Oil Field was only confirmed in 1891, with the "Joshua Russell Pole Cat No.