Christian Hill - Well History and its Exploration
ca 1883 photo of "Christian Hill". This is a view looking northeast from PCO Hill. I believe that the derrick in the far distance on Christian Hill is Hill 1, drilled in 1883 and shut down in December of 1883 after no commerical deposits of oil were found. This was the first well drilled in Pico Canyon by Hardison and Stewart. The well below that, in the foreground, may be Hill 3. That is about the correct location for it. I can't really identify the other wells. There were too many wells drilled in this area of PCO Hill, where the photo was taken.
Copyright Note: This image is NOT in the public domain and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States.
Courtesy of the California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California.
View on 3/21/2012
Christian Hill is the next hill east of PCO Hill in Pico Canyon. But where did "Christian" come from? First, let's start with a little history of the wells on Christian Hill and the Hardison and Stewart Company.
The complete story is best told in White (Note 1) - this is a condensed version.
In mid-1883, Lyman Stewart of the Hardison & Stewart Company (H & S) obtained leases from Pacific Coast Oil Company (PCO) for parcels in the Pico Oil District and Dewitt Canyon. The leases were never executed because of disagreements between the two parties. Stewart's partner, Wallace Hardison, proceeded to obtain capital, men, and equipment in Pennsylvania. Drilling started later in 1883 without signed leases. H & S drilled three wells in Dewitt Canyon. In the Pico District, two wells were drilled on Christian Hill (Hill 1 and Hill 2) and one well to the west on the east end of PCO Hill (Hill 3). Unfortunately for them, the three Dewitt wells and the two Christian Hill wells were dry (no oil). The Hill 3 well only gave 5 barrels a day and, in 1887, would be ruined by water entering the well.
A disappointed Stewart wrote to Felton that they could not continue in the Pico District unless they could lease a sure location. In late May of 1884, Felton leased H & S a small site on CSO Hill above well CSO 5 and near well CSO 4. The site required the construction of a bridge over the creek that would need to be 105 feet long and 45 feet high. This bridge would later be called the "Long Bridge." The well was named Star 1. They struck oil on November 26, 1884. The money they obtained from the crude helped save H & S from going broke. Stewart and Hardison, along with Robert Bard, later formed the Sespe Oil Company in 1886 and then the Union Oil Company in 1890. After Star 1, H & S never drilled in the Pico Oil District again.
PCO drilled three wells on Christian Hill - PCO 15 (1889), PCO 16 (1889?), and PCO 31 (1899). No oil was found. There is also another unknown well site that I found. This is probably a PCO well. All these dry wells proved that the eastern edge of the Pico Oil District was along Hughes Canyon, the canyon between PCO Hill and Christian Hill. This is the canyon that ends in Johnson Park where it joins Pico Canyon.
Now, back to Christian Hill. Lyman Stewart was a very religious man. There is no doubt about that. He did not believe in working on Sunday and probably didn't like it when his oil worker's talk turned "dirty." His religious beliefs were so strong that in 1908, he and the Rev. T.C. Horton founded the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It still exists today in La Mirada, California, and is known as the Biola University.
The first Santa Clarita Valley historian, Arthur B. Perkins, wrote (Note 2) in 1958 that "Stewart was almost fanatically religious. In no time at all, their lease was known as 'Christian Hill.'" Perkins notes that the book Black Bonanza (Note 3) was his source. However, Black Bonanza does not say that. It actually says (Page 30) that "Stewart picked a promising drilling site on Christian Hill in Pico Canyon." Then is says (Page 31) that "But hopes were high, late in May, 1883, when the heavy-mustached Pennsylvanians starting punching down Hill No. 1, so named because of its location on Christian Hill." Perkins also wrote (Signal newspaper of January 25, 1962) that "Lyman Stewart is said to have detested profanity, and the facts of life as regaled entertainingly by his employees on his derrick floors, hence the name, Christian Hill." No source was given for that statement.
Going back in time from Perkins looking for a source of the "Christian" name for the hill proved unsuccessful:
The Signal of March 17, 1949:
"They [Stewart and Hardison] drilled four wells on Christian Hill, just east of Pico."
Los Angeles Times, December 4, 1931:
"The first Hardison and Stewart wells were drilled on Christian Hill in the Newhall district."
Geology and Oil Resources of a Part of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, California, by William S. Kew, Bulletin 753, United States Geological Survey, Washington , 1924, p. 146:
"The Hardison & Stewart Oil Co. also drilled three wells in this vicinity [Pico Canyon] on what is known as the Hill tract."
AAPG Bulletin, January 1924, Vol. 8, No. 1, "Early Oil Development in California", Orcutt, 1924, p. 65:
"In 1883, Lyman Stewart and W.L. Hardison, who had already been identified with the oil industry in Pennsylvania, arrived in California and drilled four wells on Christian Hill, just east of Pico Canyon. These wells were all dry holes. A fifth well [Star 1], which was a good producer, was drilled to the west of Pico Canyon. This well was sold to the Pacific Coast Oil Company to reimburse Messrs. Stewart and Hardison for their previous drilling losses on Christian Hill, and is still producing after forty years."
Petroleum in Southern California, 1913, Paul W. Prutzmen, Bulletin 63, California State Mining Bureau, 1913, p. 159:
"In 1882 or 1883 the Hardison & Stewart Oil Company leased what was known as the Hill tract, not now definitely bounded, but located generally south and east of the wells then existing. On this tract they drilled three wells, two of which were dry, the third a small producer, but soon ruined by water. This company also drilled Star No. 1 in Pico Canyon, and two or three wells in DeWitt Canyon."
Tenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, For the Year Ending December 1, 1890, California State Mining Bureau, Sacramento, 1890, p. 284:
"...Hill No. 3, while producing fairly well, was flooded with water through the action of some chemical in the water which ate through the iron casing."
Seventh Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, For the Year Ending October 1, 1887, California State Mining Bureau, Sacramento, 1888, p. 83:
"About four hundred feet northeast of San Francisco No. 2, and some fifty feet lower, is H. & S. Hill No. 3, which is one thousand six hundred feet deep and pumps five barrels per day. About eight hundred feet a little north of east from the last preceding well, and two hundred and fifty feet higher, is H. & S. Hill No. 1, which is eighteen hundred feet deep and is a dry hole. About five hundred feet southeast of H. & S. Hill No. 1, and some fifty feet higher, is H. & S. Hill No. 2, which is one thousand two hundred feet deep and is a dry hole."
Fourth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, For the Year Ending May 15, 1884, California State Mining Bureau, Sacramento, 1884, P. 299:
"This year (1884), Mr. Lyman Stewart, of the firm of Hardison & Stewart, informed the State Mineralogist that the Pennsylvania company of which he is a member has invested, in Pico Canyon and elsewhere in Los Angeles and other counties, $130,000, a large portion of which is a loss. They sunk six wells in Pico Canyon and one at Santa Paula, all of which are 'dry holes.' Mr. Stewart is from Titusville, Pennsylvania. He brought out thirty men, all skilled workmen. Some of the wells sunk by them were very deep. He said that if he could obtain oil in one well, the company would soon make up the loss. They are now boring [Star 1] in Pico Canyon, near the Pico [4] well."
W. E. Youle was a driller in Pico Canyon at that time, and his book (Note 4) would seem to be a good source, but it doesn't mention Christian Hill, although he did write a little about Hardison and Stewart. In 1996, James O. Henry wrote a history of Biola University (Note 5) that included a biography of Lyman Stewart, one of the university's founders. Henry had total access to the Lyman Stewart letters (stored at Biola), but only wrote that "Mr. Stewart selected a site for their first well, located on Christian Hill in Pico Canyon." As a history of a Christian university, you would think that the hill being named for Christian founder Stewart would have been mentioned.
In 1913, Prutzmen said that the lease was called the Hill tract. The first mention of Christian Hill was in 1924. Perkins 1958 article (Note 2) is the first to mention (at least the first that I could find) that the "Christian" was Lyman Stewart. What was Perkins' source? Did he just make it up because it made sense? And it does make sense since Stewart was a devote Christian. It is a very believable story. The next SCV historian after Perkins, Jerry Reynolds, had no qualms about repeating it. This is probably an over-kill of the topic, so let's continue with my exploration of Christian Hill.
NOTES:
Note 1 - Formative Years in the West: A History of Standard Oil Company of California and Predecessors Through 1919, Gerald T. White, New York, Meredith Publishing Company, 1962.
Note 2 - "Mining Camps of the Soledad, Part III", Arthur B. Perkins, Quarterly, Historical Society of Southern California, December 1958, Vol. XL, No. 4.
Note 3 - The Black Bonanza: The Fabulous Life And Times Of Union Oil Company Of California, Earl M. Welty and Frank J. Taylor, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 2nd edition, 1956.
Note 4 - Sixty-Three Years in the Oilfields, W. E. Youle, Fuller Printing Co., 1926, p. 35.
Note 5 - History of Biola University since 1908, James O. Henry, 1996, p. 25. Only available online at https://online.flippingbook.com/view/279056/.
The primary source used for Hardison & Stewart by White, Welty & Taylor, and Henry was:
The Lyman Stewart Papers, Biola (originally the Bible Institute of Los Angeles), La Mirada, California (The Bible Institute of Los Angeles was founded in 1908 by Lyman Stewart and the Rev. T.C. Horton. Stewart's wife donated them to this institute in the 1950's.)
In February and March of 2014, I explored Christian Hill. It was not going to be easy. The road system was indicated on an old map, but just finding the start was difficult. Erosion and cave-ins had destroyed the lower part of the road, but I found traces of it. The steep middle part was totally eroded away. Poison oak was everywhere. I had to just hike uphill where I could and hope that I would run into a road, which I did. The upper part was easier to hike, but dense plant growth still made it difficult. Levis and a long-sleeved shirt were a must. Gloves were worn most of the way.
The following trip is a condensed version what I really did. I made multiple trips up the hill and didn't visit everything each time.
This map shows the road system on Christian Hill, on the right of "Hugh[e]s Can[y]on." It is not as straight forward as the map shows because of all the new plant life and erosion that has occured after more than 120 years. I have added more readable labels for the wells.
The map was originally in the Tenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the Year Ending December 1, 1890, of the California State Mining Bureau in the Pico Canyon Oil Field article by Edward North. It was redrawn and clarified by E.L. DeGolyer (or one of his assistants) and his version (partially shown here) was found in the Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. papers at the SMU DeGolyer Library.
This is the start of the road system on Christian Hill. It is on the trail starting up from Johnson Park after the first steep part, the first gulley on the left. (3/21/2012)
The road after you get pass the confusion of the lack of road at the start. (2/21/2014)
Still on that road as you start to loop around the hill, Mentryville becomes visible in the distance. (2/21/2014)
Zooming in on Mentryville. (2/21/2014)
If you can find the cutoff road, you can hike down to PCO 16. This is the site. It is a flat area at the end of the road. I found scores of old nails there to confirm that. Looks to me like they gave up on the well, took down the derrick losing many nails in the process, and carted it all away. No evidence of any oil. (3/26/2014)
This is the road after you hike up the steep part of the hill where there are no traces of the road. There is a horizontal part where you can go either to the left (east) or right (west). If you go right, you soon find where a road from above joins with the horizontal road. If you keep going right on the horizontal road, you will end up at PCO 15. There is also a diagonal road that goes diagonally up the hill to Hill 1. The diagonal road is very hard to find and hike on. (3/26/2014)
Some pipes on the road. (3/26/2014)
This is well PCO 15 at the end of the horizontal road to the west. The outside diameter of the pipe is about 2 1/2 inches. (2/21/2014)
If you return east on the same horizontal road you came from to its end you will find another well head. Its outside diameter is 5 1/4 inches. I don't know the name of this well. There is no well on the old map here (except the one I added for this well) and there are no missing PCO well numbers that it could be. Is this the fourth well that Youle claimed Hardison and Stewart drilled? I don't know. The site is so covered with brush and trees that the sky was almost totally blocked out. The shows that the original road goes down around here, but I didn't see it. (2/21/2014)
This wellhead has an unusual pattern around the rim and the inside looks like it was closed at one time. (2/21/2014)
Going back west on the horizontal road to the junction with the road from up the mountain , I decided to turn left and take it up mountain to reach the Hill 1 site. I was successfull. Here is the site looking north. My black backpack is sitting on the ground in the right center. (2/21/2014)
The only thing I found was this 3 3/4 inch diameter pipe coming out of the slope. There was no wellhead. (2/21/2014)
This is the view from the Hill 1 site looking west. In the foreground in PCO Hill with the the main public hiking road running horizontal. In the background, starting out in the right center, is CSO Hill. You can see how many more abandoned roads are still on PCO Hill. There were a lot of oil wells there. The Hill 3 site was located somewhere in the lower left, off of the trail that winds down from the main road. That trail is the Hughes Canyon trail and it ends in Johnson Park. (2/21/2014)
From Hill 1, take the road to the east. There is also a road that returns diagonally to the horizontal road, but that was hard to hike. You will eventually run into the road that runs up to Hill 2 and down to the horizontal road. If you didn't go to PCO 15 in the first place, you would have taken the vertical road up the hill and either turned right (west) at the road to Hill 1 or straight up to Hill 2. (Look at the map) At the location of Hill 2 was this 5 inch diameter pipe. It may have been part of the well casing. There was no wellhead, but it looked like I was close to it. (2/21/2014)
A piece of hardware at Hill 2 site. (2/21/2014)
A pipe probably used as some kind of marker next to the road. (3/26/2014)
Oil stuff on the upper road system. (3/26/2014)
Christian Hill looking toward the south. The two well sites are just above the labels. (9/10/2014)
