Pico Canyon Oilfield
Encyclopedia
Well No. 4, Pico Canyon Oilfield, located about seven miles (11 km) 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. Drilled in 1876, it turned nearby Newhall into a boomtown and also spawned a smaller boomtown called Mentryville
adjacent to the drilling site. Well No. 4 continued in operation for 114 years until it was capped in 1990. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, and the Mentryville ghost town
is now open to the public as a historic park.
, were known and used for centuries by the local Tataviam
and Tongva Native Americans
for medicinal and healing purposes. Various accounts exist about the Spanish-Mexican era rediscovery by non-indigenous people of oil in Pico Canyon. Some accounts credit Andrés Pico
with discovering oil there in the 1850s, but the Los Angeles Times reported in 1882 as follows:
, where a Dr. Gelsich recognized it as petroleum and at once formed a company to stake out claims. Perea was granted an ownership interest in an oil company for making the discovery, but he reportedly traded his interest in the company for a barrel of spirits and a $20 gold piece. After the discovery, claims were staked out, but it was not until almost five years later that the first well was struck and later still before the first commercial success.
In 1875, the Star Oil Works, later reorganized as the California Star Oil Works Company, hired Charles Alexander Mentry (1846 - 1900) to supervise its drilling operations in Pico Canyon. Mentry was born in France
, moved to Pennsylvania
at age seven, worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields, and moved to California in 1873.
" came with the fourth well. Mentry began drilling Well No. 4 in July 1876 and struck oil on September 26, 1876, at a depth of 370 feet (112.8 m); the well immediately began producing 25 oilbbl/d. Well No. 4 was drilled with great difficulty, as "the railroad had not then been completed, there was no road into the canyon, water was almost unattainable, and there were no adequate tools or machinery to be had." Mentry used his mechanical skills to create improvised tools, including a drill-stem he built out of old railroad car axles, which he purchased from the Southern Pacific and welded together. When Mentry drilled the well to a depth of 560 feet (170.7 m) in 1877, the oil spurted to the top of the 65 feet (19.8 m) derrick, increasing the production to 150 oilbbl/d. After Well No. 4 proved to be a success, Mentry constructed the first oil pipeline in California from Pico Canyon to the refinery in Newhall, later extending it 50 miles (80.5 km) to the ocean at Ventura, California
.
Well No. 4 continued producing oil for 114 years before it was finally capped in 1990. It was the longest continually operating oil well in the world. When a reporter from the Los Angeles Times visited the site in 1962, the caretaker's son took the reporter to old Well No. 4, turned the valve and reported: "Still producing after all these years ... only about a barrel a week, but look how rich the oil is."
in 1966. Along with the Rómulo Pico Adobe
in San Fernando
, Well No. 4 has the distinction of being the first site in Los Angeles County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and one of only two sites in the county to be so designated during the 1960s.
In 1882, the editor of the fledgling Los Angeles Times traveled on horseback to see the celebrated Pico Canyon oil wells. As he approached the camp, he noted that his horse refused to drink from the canyon's rivulet, which he found was "about half crude oil and half water." The editor described the booming oil region as follows:
By 1883, Pacific Coast Oil Company (which later became Standard Oil of California) had bought out the competition in Pico Canyon and had 30 wells said to be producing 500 oilbbl/d. When the Times sent a reporter to do a follow-up story in 1883, he found a camp with its engines being run day and night, employing 80 to 100 men, mostly "robust, healthy young men from the mountain districts of Pennsylvania."
In 1895, a pamphlet issued by the State of California stated that the Pacific Coast Oil Company had 40 wells operating in Pico Canyon producing 500 oilbbl/d, and one well which had produced 1500000 barrels (238,480.9 m³).
A boomtown named Mentryville
was built a short distance from Well No. 4. The town was named after Charles Alexander Mentry, who lived in the town and served as the superintendent of the Pico Canyon operations until his death in 1900. He reportedly treated the workers at Pico Canyon with dignity, and the operation never suffered a strike. 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.
During the 1930s, most of Mentryville's 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."
In 1995, Chevron donated the Mentryville site and the surrounding 800 acres (323.7 ha) in Pico Canyon to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
for the Mentryville and Pico Canyon Parks. A group called the Friends of Mentryville was organized to restore the buildings and open the old town as a historic park.
Newhall, California
Newhall is the southernmost and oldest district of Santa Clarita, California. Prior to the 1987 consolidation of Valencia, Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, and other geographically proximate settlements into the conglomerate city of Santa Clarita, it was an independent but unincorporated 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...
, was the first commercially successful oil well in the Western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
, and is considered the birthplace of California's oil industry. Drilled in 1876, it turned nearby Newhall into a boomtown and also spawned a smaller boomtown called Mentryville
Mentryville, California
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...
adjacent to the drilling site. Well No. 4 continued in operation for 114 years until it was capped in 1990. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, and the Mentryville ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
is now open to the public as a historic park.
Early history of oil drilling in California
Following the oil strike at Drake Oil Well in Pennsylvania in 1859, there was a short-lived oil drilling boom in California, but this was wiped out in 1867 when eastern oil could be sold cheaper. At the end of the first boom, 75 companies had drilled 60 wells in California, spending $1 million to produce $60,000 worth of oil.Discoveries of oil in Pico Canyon
Oil seep locations, in present day Pico Canyon area of the northern Santa Susana MountainsSanta 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...
, were known and used for centuries by the local Tataviam
Tataviam
The Tataviam , were called the Alliklik by their neighbors the Chumash , are a Native American group in southern California...
and Tongva Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
for medicinal and healing purposes. Various accounts exist about the Spanish-Mexican era rediscovery by non-indigenous people of oil in Pico Canyon. Some accounts credit Andrés Pico
Andrés Pico
Andrés Pico was a Californio who became a successful rancher, served as a military commander during the Mexican-American War; and was elected to the state assembly and senate after California became a state, when he was also commissioned as a brigadier general in the state militia.-Early...
with discovering oil there in the 1850s, but the Los Angeles Times reported in 1882 as follows:
"The Pico Oil Spring was discovered in January, 1865, by Ramon Peria, a Mexican hunter. One day while hunting for deer he wounded a buck. He followed the trail and found it dead near the spring. The quality of the oil in the spring attracted his attention, being of a dark, green color and very thin, and so different from anything that he had ever seen, that he concluded it must be valuable. So he notified a friend of his, Jesus Hernandez, and they located the oil claim."According to a later account, Peria gathered some of the oil in his canteen and brought it to others who recognized its value. Yet another account indicates that Perea brought a small amount of the curious substance to the Mission San Fernando
Mission San Fernando Rey de España
Mission San Fernando Rey de España was founded on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary" , 1797. The settlement is located on the former Encino Rancho in the Mission Hills community of northern Los Angeles, near the site of the first gold discovery in Alta California.-History:Mission San Fernando Rey de...
, where a Dr. Gelsich recognized it as petroleum and at once formed a company to stake out claims. Perea was granted an ownership interest in an oil company for making the discovery, but he reportedly traded his interest in the company for a barrel of spirits and a $20 gold piece. After the discovery, claims were staked out, but it was not until almost five years later that the first well was struck and later still before the first commercial success.
Charles Mentry hired as field superintendent
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, moved to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
at age seven, worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields, and moved to California in 1873.
California's first commercially successful well
Mentry drilled three wells in 1875 and 1876 that showed promise, but the "gusherBlowout (well drilling)
A blowout is the uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural gas from an oil well or gas well after pressure control systems have failed....
" came with the fourth well. Mentry began drilling Well No. 4 in July 1876 and struck oil on September 26, 1876, at a depth of 370 feet (112.8 m); the well immediately began producing 25 oilbbl/d. Well No. 4 was drilled with great difficulty, as "the railroad had not then been completed, there was no road into the canyon, water was almost unattainable, and there were no adequate tools or machinery to be had." Mentry used his mechanical skills to create improvised tools, including a drill-stem he built out of old railroad car axles, which he purchased from the Southern Pacific and welded together. When Mentry drilled the well to a depth of 560 feet (170.7 m) in 1877, the oil spurted to the top of the 65 feet (19.8 m) derrick, increasing the production to 150 oilbbl/d. After Well No. 4 proved to be a success, Mentry constructed the first oil pipeline in California from Pico Canyon to the refinery in Newhall, later extending it 50 miles (80.5 km) to the ocean at Ventura, California
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
.
Operation for 114 years
Historic designation
Well No. 4 was declared a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1966. Along with the Rómulo Pico Adobe
Rómulo Pico Adobe
Rómulo Pico Adobe, also known as Ranchito Rómulo and Andres Pico Adobe, was built in 1853 and is the oldest residence in the San Fernando Valley, and the second oldest residence in the City of Los Angeles. Located in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, the Rómulo Pico Adobe is a short...
in San Fernando
San Fernando, California
San Fernando is a city located in the San Fernando Valley, in northwestern region of Los Angeles, California, United States. The population was 23,645 at the 2010 census, up from 23,564 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, Well No. 4 has the distinction of being the first site in Los Angeles County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and one of only two sites in the county to be so designated during the 1960s.
Oil boom in Pico Canyon
The success of Well No. 4 was by far the greatest of any well drilled in California and led to the state's second oil drilling boom. As a result, the state's oil production rose to 568806 barrels (90,432.9 m³) in 1879, 1763215 barrels (280,328.8 m³) in 1880, and 4194102 barrels (666,808.9 m³) in 1881.In 1882, the editor of the fledgling Los Angeles Times traveled on horseback to see the celebrated Pico Canyon oil wells. As he approached the camp, he noted that his horse refused to drink from the canyon's rivulet, which he found was "about half crude oil and half water." The editor described the booming oil region as follows:
"There are eight wells now yielding oil, and three more in process of sinking, some in the canyon, some on the hillsides and some on the tops of the peaks, five hundred feet almost perpendicular from base to top ... Large boilers, heavy machinery, timber, and all the etceteras for oil mining and the comfort of the miners, have been hauled up these almost perpendicular roads ... The deepest well on the mountains is a little over 1,500 feet in depth, and none have yet been sank but what have yielded oil in remunerative quantities. A 2-inch iron pipe, about seven miles (11 km) long, runs from Pico canyon to the refinery in Newhall, and through this an average of one hundred and seventy barrels of crude oil is sent every twenty-four hours ..."
By 1883, Pacific Coast Oil Company (which later became Standard Oil of California) had bought out the competition in Pico Canyon and had 30 wells said to be producing 500 oilbbl/d. When the Times sent a reporter to do a follow-up story in 1883, he found a camp with its engines being run day and night, employing 80 to 100 men, mostly "robust, healthy young men from the mountain districts of Pennsylvania."
In 1895, a pamphlet issued by the State of California stated that the Pacific Coast Oil Company had 40 wells operating in Pico Canyon producing 500 oilbbl/d, and one well which had produced 1500000 barrels (238,480.9 m³).
Mentryville
Mentryville, California
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...
was built a short distance from Well No. 4. The town was named after Charles Alexander Mentry, who lived in the town and served as the superintendent of the Pico Canyon operations until his death in 1900. He reportedly treated the workers at Pico Canyon with dignity, and the operation never suffered a strike. 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.
During the 1930s, most of Mentryville's 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."
In 1995, Chevron donated the Mentryville site and the surrounding 800 acres (323.7 ha) 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...
for the Mentryville and Pico Canyon Parks. A group called the Friends of Mentryville was organized to restore the buildings and open the old town as a historic park.
See also
- List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Mentryville, CaliforniaMentryville, CaliforniaMentryville 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...
- 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...