The letter was forgotten as, on Aug. 29, 1859, Drake and Uncle Billy and his sons got feverishly busy pumping oil and filling wash tubs and whiskey barrels (why we speak of "barrels" of oil today) with the black liquid.

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Thanks to the efforts of experts who defended the use of dispersants, hopes are high that no further oil will wash up on beaches or the precious marshlands off the Gulf coast.

FORBES: Oil Gone, Plumes Of Bad Policy Remain

Fresh, green grass has begun growing again in some of the hardest-hit marshes of southern Louisiana, but oil continues to wash ashore in places.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

While some beaches contain remnants of the spill (Louisiana's Elmer Island still has tar balls), any oil that does wash ashore is quickly removed by BP crews.

BBC: The Gulf coast, one year later

And because of the spill -- even in places where oil didn't necessarily wash ashore have, because of the environment around the spill, seen a huge contraction in their own business.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing