J.W. McKinley, writing to the Pittsburg _Dispatch_, gives the following
account of the California oil field at Newhall:
On the edge of the town is located the refinery of the company,
connected by pipe lines with the wells, a few miles distant. Leaving
Newhall, we drove to Pico Cañon, the principal producing territory of
the region. As we approached, we saw, away up on the peaks, the tall
derricks in places which looked inaccessible; but no spot is out of
reach of American enterprise and perseverance. In one of the wildest
spots of the cañon, about thirty men were making the mountains echo to
the strokes of their hammers upon the iron plates of a new 20,000 barrel
tank. Along the cañon are scattered the houses of the employes of the
company, most of whom have recently come from Pennsylvania. Near one of
the houses was a graded and leveled croquet ground, with a little oil
tank on a post, for lighting it at night. Farther up we came to a
cluster of producing wells, with others at a little distance on the
sides of the mountains, or even at the top, hundreds of feet above our
heads.
The first well was put down about eight years ago, but more has been
accomplished in the last two years than in all the time previous. One
well which we visited has produced 130,000 barrels in the last three
years, and is still yielding. There have been no very large wells, the
best being 250 per day, and the average being about 90 barrels, but they
keep up their production, with scarcely any diminution from year to
year. Drilling has been found difficult, as a great portion of the rock
is broken shale lying obliquely. The tools slip to one side very easily,
and a number of "crooked holes" have resulted. One driller lost his
tools altogether in a well, and finished it with new ones. The cost of
putting down a well is from $5,000 to $7,000, depending upon depth, etc.
Most of the wells are from 1,200 to 1,500 feet, but some have yielded at
a much less depth. One well of 270 feet depth produced 40 barrels per
day for about three years, has been deepened, and is now yielding even
more. Another one of 800 feet is said to have produced 200,000 barrels
in the last five or six years. Drilling has been very successful in
striking oil in paying quantities wherever there were indications of its
presence.
The Pacific Oil Company now has 27 wells producing or drilling, and
during the last two years has been rapidly widening the scope of its
operations. It has now from 30 to 40 miles of pipe lines, and is
preparing to lay 20 miles more, to connect its land with ocean shipping
at Ventura. The producers of California have a great advantage in their
proximity to the ocean, which gives them free commerce with the outside
world. Crude oil is now sold at $3 per barrel in Los Angeles, and the
oil companies are making immense profits. There is a very large amount
of oil territory as yet undeveloped, and a rich reward awaits enterprise
in these regions. In the Camulos District, which lies west of the San
Fernando, are even stronger surface indications of oil than there
were in the Pico Cañon. We first went up the Brea Cañon, in which are
numerous outbursts and springs of oil. Ascending the mountain west of
this cañon, we could plainly see the break in the mountains crossing
from the San Fernando through this district to those beyond which
have been developed. A couple of miles farther west, the Hooper Cañon
stretches back over two miles into the mountain, and is full of oil.
Great pools of oil fill its water courses, that are dry at present.
Hundreds of barrels of oil must be wasted away and evaporated during a
year. A well put down only 90 feet by horse power, struck light oil in
considerable quantity, and, had it not been for the death of one of the
owners and the consequent suspension of operations, would doubtless have
yielded in large quantities at the depth of a few hundred feet.
The mountainous territory between these two cañons will probably in a
few years be the scene of great activity. In the Little Sespe District,
a few miles west of Camulos, a 125 barrel well was struck at 1,500
feet recently. The Santa Paula region, a little farther west, is also
yielding large profits to the parties developing it.
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