Titusville had just aroused the industrial interest of America in 1860 by demonstrating that crude oil could be located in pools under the surface of the Earth. By drilling in the proper places, it could be brought to the surface to be commercialized into a giant new industry. Men everywhere were dreaming of fortunes being made overnight.
At Cambridge, in Crawford County, part of an area known as Rockdale, certain traces of oil known as blossom were found. Doctor J. H. Grey, a medical practitioner, could dream of fortune as easily as the next man. He took a 16-inch 3/4 iron rod and went probing into the earth.
The Highlands produced nothing, and he turned to the lowlands. Quite by accident, he leaned on his rod while deciding on the next spot and noticed that the rod went into the earth without the exertion of much pressure. As a small boy might, he pushed the rod its full 16 inches into the ground to see if he could do it. But when he withdrew it, he did not expect the rush of clear spring water that followed the opening to the surface.
When this flow of water continued unabated, as if it might run forever, he returned to his home, found an old gun barrel, and went back to the hole. Then he practically forgot the incident, except he noticed that the water was highly charged with iron minerals. Workmen could come out of the hay fields in the following years and drink in the spring without any discomfort or harm.
Twenty-four years passed, and in April 1884, Doctor Grey was struggling with a baffling patient's lack of health. As a last resort, he took the patient to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where a report had it that many patients like him were finding remarkable health from drinking spring water. The benefits followed for his own patient.
Doctor Grey is said to have them wired back home that his Grey Springs had as much to offer his patients as the Arkansas Springs from which his patient had been drinking. He would return. He was reported to have wired. He would develop his spring, and Cambridge might repair for a boom. Doctor Grey was already an elderly man. He may have had a prophetic intuition, but his neighbors were reported to scoff.