Mentryville, California
Encyclopedia
Mentryville was an oil
drilling town in the Santa Susana Mountains
in Los Angeles County, California
, USA. It was started in the 1870s around the newly discovered oil reserves in that area. The first oil strike was on September 26, 1876. The town is located at the terminus of Pico Canyon Road, four miles west of the Lyons Avenue exit from the I-5 in Santa Clarita.
", a short distance up the canyon from Mentryville, was the first commercially successful oil strike in California http://www.chevron.com/products/learning_center/history/time/1876-1911/, and the longest running well on record http://lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=35, finally being capped in 1990. The Pico Canyon oil field proved to be the richest in the state's history to that time, and Mentryville became a boomtown from 1876 to 1900. The town was named after the superintendent who was in charge of the oil field, Charles Alexander Mentry. Mentry lived in the town until his death in 1900 and built the 13-room mansion that still stands there. In 1900, the Los Angeles Times described Mentryville as "an ideal community of modest homes," where families were reared and a schoolhouse, social hall, bakery, boarding houses, bunkhouses, blacksmith shop and machine shop were built. There was also a gas-lighted tennis court, croquet fields, and a main road paved with local asphalt. One thing the town lacked was a bar. Mentry had reportedly "imbued the town with his puritanism as well as his name," prohibiting drinking and the use of foul language. When Mentry died, the entire town of more than 200 persons, except for three individuals left behind in Mentryville, traveled to Los Angeles for his funeral, bringing with them a large floral arrangement in the shape of an oil derrick.
Mentryville was eventually abandoned, partially because the amount of oil slowed over time, and partially because of changes to the oil industry. During the 1930s, most of Mentryville's remaining residents left, many tearing down their houses board by board and nail by nail, and taking it all with them. By 1962, Mentryville had become a ghost town, with only a caretaker family living in Mentry's old 13-room house. A visitor to the camp that year reported that "rusted oil equipment cluttered the canyon," toppled derricks lay rotting, and the cemetery was "choked with weeds, hidden and forgotten."
The last caretaker of Mentryville was Francis "Frenchy" Lagasse, who moved into the old Mentry mansion with his wife and children in 1966. The property's owner, Standard Oil of California, wanted to raze the remants of the ghost town, but Lagasse persuaded the company to allow him to restore the town. With help from the Santa Clarita Historical Society, Lagasse eventually began offering tours of Mentryville. Lagasse was forced to leave Mentryville after the 1994 Northridge earthquake
damaged the house, and in 1995, Chevron (which had become the owner upon its acquisition of Standard Oil of California in 1977) donated the Mentryville site and the surrounding 800 acres (3.2 km²) in Pico Canyon to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
. A group called the Friends of Mentryville was organized to restore the buildings and open the old town as a historic park with docent-led tours.
A fire nearly destroyed Mentryville's historic structures in 2003, and a storm in 2004 washed out the visitors parking lot and also flooded the historic buildings.
's "The Color Purple
" and "Walking Tall Part 2
", and in television series, including "The X-Files
", "The A-Team
", "Murder, She Wrote
", and "Highway to Heaven
.". The site is also the setting for the fictional FLDS Mormon
Polygamist compound in the HBO series Big Love
.
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
drilling town in the Santa Susana Mountains
Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south, from Santa Clara River Valley to the north, and Santa Clarita...
in Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
, USA. It was started in the 1870s around the newly discovered oil reserves in that area. The first oil strike was on September 26, 1876. The town is located at the terminus of Pico Canyon Road, four miles west of the Lyons Avenue exit from the I-5 in Santa Clarita.
History
"Pico Number 4Pico Canyon Oilfield
Well No. 4, Pico Canyon Oilfield, located about seven miles west of Newhall, California in the Santa Susana Mountains, was the first commercially successful oil well in the Western United States, and is considered the birthplace of California's oil industry...
", a short distance up the canyon from Mentryville, was the first commercially successful oil strike in California http://www.chevron.com/products/learning_center/history/time/1876-1911/, and the longest running well on record http://lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=35, finally being capped in 1990. The Pico Canyon oil field proved to be the richest in the state's history to that time, and Mentryville became a boomtown from 1876 to 1900. The town was named after the superintendent who was in charge of the oil field, Charles Alexander Mentry. Mentry lived in the town until his death in 1900 and built the 13-room mansion that still stands there. In 1900, the Los Angeles Times described Mentryville as "an ideal community of modest homes," where families were reared and a schoolhouse, social hall, bakery, boarding houses, bunkhouses, blacksmith shop and machine shop were built. There was also a gas-lighted tennis court, croquet fields, and a main road paved with local asphalt. One thing the town lacked was a bar. Mentry had reportedly "imbued the town with his puritanism as well as his name," prohibiting drinking and the use of foul language. When Mentry died, the entire town of more than 200 persons, except for three individuals left behind in Mentryville, traveled to Los Angeles for his funeral, bringing with them a large floral arrangement in the shape of an oil derrick.
Mentryville was eventually abandoned, partially because the amount of oil slowed over time, and partially because of changes to the oil industry. During the 1930s, most of Mentryville's remaining residents left, many tearing down their houses board by board and nail by nail, and taking it all with them. By 1962, Mentryville had become a ghost town, with only a caretaker family living in Mentry's old 13-room house. A visitor to the camp that year reported that "rusted oil equipment cluttered the canyon," toppled derricks lay rotting, and the cemetery was "choked with weeds, hidden and forgotten."
Preservation
Northridge earthquake
The Northridge earthquake was a massive earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 04:31 Pacific Standard Time in Reseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, lasting for about 10–20 seconds...
damaged the house, and in 1995, Chevron (which had become the owner upon its acquisition of Standard Oil of California in 1977) donated the Mentryville site and the surrounding 800 acres (3.2 km²) in Pico Canyon to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1980 and dedicated to the acquisition of land for preservation as open space, for wildlife and California native plants habitat Nature Preserves, and for public recreation...
. A group called the Friends of Mentryville was organized to restore the buildings and open the old town as a historic park with docent-led tours.
A fire nearly destroyed Mentryville's historic structures in 2003, and a storm in 2004 washed out the visitors parking lot and also flooded the historic buildings.
Film and television productions
Mentryville and Pico Canyon have also become popular shooting locations. They were used in motion pictures, including Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's "The Color Purple
The Color Purple (film)
The Color Purple is a 1985 American period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg's eighth film as a director , and was a change from the summer blockbusters for which he had become famous...
" and "Walking Tall Part 2
Walking Tall Part 2
Walking Tall Part 2 is the sequel to the crime/action film, Walking Tall. Walking Tall Part 2 was directed by Earl Bellamy, and produced by Charles A. Pratt. the film starred Bo Svenson as Pusser, who replaced Joe Don Baker who played Pusser in the first Walking Tall film...
", and in television series, including "The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
", "The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
", "Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
", and "Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven is an American television drama series which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.- Season 1 :- Season 2 :- Season 3 :- Season 4 :- Season 5 :...
.". The site is also the setting for the fictional FLDS Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
Polygamist compound in the HBO series Big Love
Big Love
Big Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
.
See also
- List of ghost towns in California
- Pico Canyon OilfieldPico Canyon OilfieldWell No. 4, Pico Canyon Oilfield, located about seven miles west of Newhall, California in the Santa Susana Mountains, was the first commercially successful oil well in the Western United States, and is considered the birthplace of California's oil industry...
- includes information on history of Mentryville. - Santa Susana MountainsSanta Susana MountainsThe Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south, from Santa Clara River Valley to the north, and Santa Clarita...
External links
- Pico Canyon - Mentryville stories and photos, at Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
- Friends of Mentryville web site
- Map and directions to Mentryville
- LA Mountains Guide to Mentryville and Pico Canyon Parks