Whale oil and camphene were costly, smoky, and dangerous. In 1846, Nova Scotian physician-geologist Abraham Gesner distilled a clean, clear lamp fuel he called kerosene -first shown in Charlottetown- then patented and mass-marketed from New York in the 1850s. After Drake's 1859 oil well, kerosene became refining's main product, building the petroleum market at home.