[1][3] John Shaw was likely born in Port Huron, Michigan, and immigrated to Kingston, Province of Canada, before arriving in Enniskillen Township sometime in the early 1860s.
[4] According to reports at the time, on January 16, the day Shaw discovered the gusher, a local store refused to allow him to buy a pair of boots on credit.
[2][7] In the aftermath of Shaw's discovery, speculators rushed to Oil Springs, and there were an additional thirty-two wells drilled by the end of 1862.
[1][13] In fact, the articles he cited were written months before the gusher was struck and discuss Hugh Nixon Shaw's distillation process.
[13] Despite Harkness' mistakes, his research influenced the work of other historians and journalists, who began to cite Hugh Nixon Shaw as the one responsible for Canada's first gusher.