In his new book, "Pennsylvania Crude: Boomtowns and Oil Barons," Emlenton writer Paul Adomites takes readers on a journey through Pennsylvania's oil industry, which began in 1859 when Col. Edwin Drake drilled the first commercially successful oil well in Titusville. It sparked the settlement of dozens of boom towns in the region.

The 116-page coffee table book was a collaborative effort between the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau; Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau; Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau; Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry and Tourism; Warren County Visitors Bureau; and the Allegany County, N.Y., Office of Development.

Published by Forest Press, a division of the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau, the book covers important moments in the histories of Butler, McKean, Warren, Crawford and Venango Counties in Pennsylvania and Allegany County in New York.

Included in the book are historical images and present-day photographs by Ed Bernik, an Erie-based photographer.

The Pennsylvania oil boom lasted through 1901, with many important events occurring within "a very compact period of time," Adomites said.

The boom was unusually well-documented, Adomites said, which made the research especially enjoyable.Newspapers like the Oil City Derrick provide historians with a blow-by-blow account of the industry, Adomites said."When I first got the job, they gave me 45 books, and I read almost 100 books before I was done," he said."The stories are there and they're available and they're fun; I could pick and choose what I thought was the most fun to tell."Boom towns were typically short-lived as people moved from place to place, following promises of plentiful oil and easy money, he said."As new oil fields were discovered, the boom towns would come into existence and then go away," he said. "There were other places that sprang up overnight and then burned down, which was very common, or disappeared as people went on to the next place."To illustrate this mindset, Adomites shared an anecdote involving a man who arrived at a crowded boom town and could not find a place to sleep."He made up a story about a nearby town that had just hit a boom, and that day, people started leaving," Adomites said, adding the man eventually followed the crowds. "He made up his own story and then he followed it."Adomites also favors the story of Henry Rouse, a Warren County school teacher whose legacy continues to this day.Involved in the oil industry for less than two years, Rouse was seriously injured in an 1861 explosion. Before dying of the injuries shortly after, Rouse dictated a detailed will in which he provided for the establishment of the Rouse Estate in Youngsville, Pa.

The facility still provides social services such as an assisted living complex and rehabilitation center."It's an amazing story," Adomites said. "A school teacher becomes a millionaire, then loses his life, but creates something still in existence today.""This is the great history we should be talking about," said Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau. "It reminds people of all the hard work and dedication that people in our town worked for for so many years."Among Adomites' most notable interviews for the book were with the late Maridon Museum founder Mary Phillips and former Butler County Judge Martin O'Brien, whose families were both involved in the region's oil industry, he added."Some people are still in the oil business, of course, and there are people who have firsthand experience working for these companies," he said. "The oil industry is still very much here in peoples' mentalities and attitudes."A companion DVD, "Pennsylvania Crude: The Road Trip," outlines related sites in all of the counties, such as museums, parks and attractions.Adomites has written several other history books, including six about baseball.The book and companion DVD will be sold for $39.95 at the Maridon Museum, the Bottlebrush Gallery and Shop in Harmony, and the Book Place in Cranberry Township.

Author Paul Adomites, center, reviews his new book, "Pennsylvania Crude: Boomtowns and Oil Barons," top, with Dean McMillen, left, and Phil Hirschy on Tuesday at the Evans City Historical Society's museum.