Elsmere Canyon Historic Photos

This is oldest photo of Elsmere Canyon that I have seen. It was taken in 1899. We are looking at the steep south face of the canyon. The west is to the right. The wells visible are Elsmere 7 (spudded in 1898), Elsmere 2 (spudded in 1890), Elsmere 5 (spudded in 1898), Elsmere 6 (spudded in 1898), and Elsmere 9 (spudded on 2/16/1899). What's missing here is Elsmere 18 (above Elsmere 9 on same diagonal ridge below the top) spudded on 7/10/1900 and Elsmere 15 (on top of canyon way above Elsmere 5) spudded on 1/4/1900. This puts the date of the photo between 2/16/1899 and 1/4/1900. You can also see the tank at the top of the canyon to the right. That same tank is visible in Arnold's 1905 photo (see bolow). The little red "v" is above a distinct light layer in the rocks.

Copyright Note: This image is NOT in the public domain and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States.

American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Here is about the same view in June, 2008, also showing the little red "v".

This photo shows Elsmere 8 and was probably taken about the same time as the previous historic photo

Copyright Note: This image is NOT in the public domain and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States.

American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

With all the growth, it was impossible to get the same view as above. Here is the best I could do (in May of 2012), although I had to get much close to even see the cliff above the well site. There has been a lot of erosion to the cliff above and below the site.

This picture was taken between 1902 and 1904 showing Newhall Creek in the Tunnel Area looking north. It was first published in Production and Use of Petroleum in California, California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 32, 1904, by Paul Prutzman. It later showed up in Petroleum in Southern California, California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin 63, 1913, also by Paul Prutzmen. Unfortunately, the California Geological Survey could not find the photo for me. They had a fire in the 1950's that, along with the water to put out the fire, destroyed a lot of important historical documents. However, they were able to scan the plate from Bulletin 32. The smoke is coming from boiler smokestacks. The boilers were powering at least two of the five oil derricks barely visible in the picture. The left two high areas right of center in the far distance are part of Elsmere Ridge with Elsmere Canyon on the other side. You can barely see a road that runs horizontally beneath them. That road still exists and was built by 1902 (see Eldridge 1902 geologic map on geology page). The road at the bottom of the picture goes up to Beale's Cut.

About the same view on June 23, 2007. The hills where I am standing have been greatly altered by the Newhall Refinery (now defunct - operated from 1930 - December of 1989) so this is about as close as I could get to where the original picture was taken. Highway 14 has also obviously altered the landscape.

Elsmere Canyon looking southwest (photo taken in 1905 by Ralph Arnold).

From U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 309: The Santa Clara Valley, Puente Hills, and Los Angeles oil districts, Southern California, by George H. Eldridge and Ralph Arnold, 1907 (Plate 7B Left)

Right section of above photo looking more toward the west (Plate 7B Right).

12-24-2006

Both sections pasted together.

Here are all the visible wells

Elsmere Canyon from above south tributary looking southeast. Main canyon to left of photo. (Taken 1-23-1928 by Lynne M. Correll).

Photo caption: "In Elsmere Canyon. A small area of Quercus agrifolia in the draw to the extreme right. Chamise, Ceanothus, manzanita in the background."

Images from the Wieslander Vegetation Type Mapping Collection are courtesy of the Marian Koshland Bioscience and Natural Resources Library, University of California, Berkeley, http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/BIOS/vtm/

About the same view almost 80 years later (Taken 2-17-2007)

There are more historic photos on the Los Angeles Aqueduct page