Pico Canyon Historic Well Photos - Then and Now

There has been a lot of changes in the more than 100 years since most of these photos were taken. The road has been expanded and re-aligned in some places. The river bed has naturally changed its course or has been forcibly changed by man. Cameras have changed. Therefore, it has been difficult to exactly reproduce the old photos. Luckily, we know the exact position of CSO 4 which pretty much pinpoints where any photo with that well was taken.

We are very fortunate that in 1877 Carleton Watkins journeyed into Pico Canyon and took some of the following photos. These must have been the very first taken here. Check out the Stereoviews of Carleton Watkins website for more information on him. We are also fortunate that the California State Mining Bureau (now the California Geological Survey) took some early photos of the canyon.

Then: This image was scanned from "Oil and Gas Yielding Formations of California", by W. L. Watts, 1900, Cal. State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 19. That is CSO Hill to the right with the derricks on it. Not only does the image show at least 10 derricks, but also a few buildings. The actual photo in the bulletin was 3.5 x 4.5 inches in size so this scan is not as detailed as I would have liked. The derrick in the middle of the picture is CSO 24, spudded in 1896. That places the date of the photo between late 1896 and 1900 (the date of the publication).

Note that you can see the so-called "Long Bridge" in the middle left of the photo. The bridge was reportedly destroyed, and never rebuilt, during the Pico earthquake of 1893. Based on reports at the time (see the 1893 earthquake page) and this photo, the bridge was not destroyed by the earthquake. Just past the far end of the Long Bridge at about the same level is CSO 5.

The building in the lower left hand corner is the Walton Young home. In addition to being a home, one of the buildings supposedly doubled as a boarding house. Young became the superintendent after Mentry died in 1900 and remained the superintendent until 1922. According to Darryl Manzer (who lived in the canyon from 1960-66 and benefitted from many old-timers who returned to the canyon and told their stories), the two-story building opposite the Young home is a boarding house. After sleeping there, the single men would walk across the road for their meals in the Young house. The two-story building only lasted about four years.

Now: With a couple of hikers on the road

Then: Here is closer image of CSO Hill from the road. It shows (from bottom to top) CSO 5 (spudded in 1880), Star 1 (spudded in 1884), CSO 21 (spudded in 1893), and CSO 15 (spudded in 1888). It does not show CSO 24, shown in the previous historic photo, spudded in 1896. Thus, this photo must have been taken between 1893 and 1896.

The "Long Bridge" was built in 1884 for access to Star 1. It was 105 feet long and 45 feet high. The bridge" was reportedly destroyed, and never rebuilt, during the Pico earthquake of 1893, but, as I have previously stated, this could not be true.

Photo used by permission of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society

Now

Then: The rig in the middle of the image is Star 1 (spudded in 1884). CSO 15 (spuddded in 1888) is in the upper left. The actual date of the photo is unknown, but it was taken no earlier than 1888.

Star 1 was on land leased from PCO (the owners of CSO) by Hardison and Stewart on CSO hill. At 1620 feet they hit oil. After drilling another 30 feet they pulled out the equipment and put the well on the pump. It produced 75 barrels per day. They continued to receive profits from this well until 1888 or 1889 when they sold out to PCO.

Now: This picture was taken slightly farther away then the older one because the creek has eroded away much of the older road plus there are a lot of trees and bushes in the way.

Then: This image shows (from front to back) CSO 5, 4, and 1.

Now

Then: 1877 photo by Carleton Watkins showing CSO 4 on the right and CSO 1 on the left. A small derrick is just behind CSO 4. This derrick is probably CSO 3. From the records of CSOW, CSO 3 was drilled with the spring-pole to 170 feet, but was never deepened because it was too close to CSO 1 and 2. Therefore, it still has either a smaller spring-pole derrick or a derrick set up for pumping. After about 1 1/2 years, the derrick was taken down. CSO 1 and 4 originally had smaller derricks, but they were replaced with the larger standard derricks shown in this photo so that they could be drilled deeper with steam engines.

This image is NOT in the public domain and is used by permission of The Society of California Pioneers. All rights are reserved by the Society of California Pioneers. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Now

Then: Almost the same 1877 photo by Carleton Watkins with a wider view. The smoke is from a steam boiler smokestack.

Now

Then: This 1877 Carleton Watkins photo shows the distinctive early shape of CSO 4 on the right with the smaller derrick of CSO 3 behind it. CSO 1 is on the left. By zooming in on the smaller CSO 3 derrick, I can make out an engine which must have been used for pumping that well.

This image is NOT in the public domain and is used by permission of www.carletonwatkins.org. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Now

Then: 1877 photo by Carleton Watkins showing CSO (or Pico) 4. On the left is the smaller derrick of CSO 3.

This image is NOT in the public domain and is used by permission of The Society of California Pioneers. All rights are reserved by the Society of California Pioneers. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Now

Then: Another 1877 photo by Carleton Watkins. This must have been taken on the same day as the previous photo. Note four of the same people in both photos.

Now

Then: 1877 photo by Carleton Watkins shows a nice close-up of CSO (or Pico) 4.

This image is NOT in the public domain and is used by permission of The Society of California Pioneers. All rights are reserved by the Society of California Pioneers. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Now: The differences in the brush between 1877 and 2008 is amazing. It looks like it was so much drier in 1877.

Here is a 1918 image of the first steam engine in Pico Canyon. It was originally used at CSO 4. (From "Natural Gas and Gasoline Journal", Volume 12, No. 11, November, 1918.)

Then: CSO 4 in 1918. Those are jackline supports on the hill in the background. (From "Natural Gas and Gasoline Journal", November 1918.)

Then: CSO 4 on June 1, 1928 similar to the 1918 photo. The jackline supports are still there.

Now

Then: This image again shows CSO 4 with the machine shop area in the background. The road on the right still exists but is covered with brush. To the right of the top of the derrick you can see the bottom of another derrick. This is CSO 29, spudded in 1898. The photo is dated March 11, 1931.

Now: The flat area for CSO 29 is hidden by the tree.

Then: The busy machine shop area at the bottom of the canyon. CSO Hill is on the right and PCO Hill is on the left. This area was south of CSO 4 up to the hill, where today's hairpin curve is. The machine shop was built in 1879. (1883? photo)

Now: There has been a lot of changes here so this was the best I could do.

Here is the machine shop in 1918 (From "Natural Gas and Gasoline Journal", Volume 12, No. 11, November, 1918)

Then: Looking down to the north from the site of CSO 29 showing the machine shop area, CSO 4 on the left with CSO 5 just above it to the right. CSO 1 is in the lower right. CSO Hill is on the left and PCO Hill is on the right. The 20,000 barrel capacity tank must be the cylindrical object On the right. It was constructed in 1893. Based on the 1910 photo of the hairpin curve (see below), this photo was taken between 1893 and 1910 and probably closer to 1893 than 1910.

Now

Then: 1904 photo showing CSO 2 in the background and CSO 1 in the foreground. There are also some wells visible on top of PCO Hill. The machine shop area is behind the photographer. This image was scanned from "Petroleum and Use of Petroleum in California" by Paul Prutzman, California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 32, 1904.

Now: Right at the hairpin curve.

Then: 1905 photo by Ralph Arnold showing CSO 2. Note the little white sign on the derrick near the top. It says "CSO 2". You can see the same sign in the previous historic photo. This photo is from "The Santa Clara Valley, Puente Hills and Los Angeles Oil Districts, Southern California", by Eldridge and Arnold, United States Geological Survey Bulletin No. 309, 1907.

Now: Besides showing where CSO 2 used to be, this photo also shows the "break" (see geology page).

Then: This photo is from "Sixth-Three Years in the Oilfield" by W. E. Youle and the quality is very poor. The derrick in the foreground is probably CSO 19, spudded in 1889 so the photo is from no earlier than 1889.

Now: The historic photo was tough to duplicate, but this is pretty close. This shot is to the northeast from CSO Hill with PCO hill in the background

Then: This photo is from "Production and Use of Petroleum in California", California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 32, by Paul Prutzman, 1904. The view is about east looking at PCO Hill. Based on positions, the four nearest derricks are (from lower right to upper left) CSO 32 (lower right), CSO 22, PCO 4, and PCO 23 (upper left).

Now: The small hill on the left has been cut back for the new alignment of the road.

This 1910 photo of the is from "The Turbulent Romance of Oil" by W.C. Jenkins in the National Magazine of Aug - Sept 1910. This is a view of PCO Hill toward the east. The hairpin curve is in the lower right. The original photo in the magazine was very small so the quality here is poor. If the quality was better, you could see the three derricks by the road, but you can only really see the one on the lower road (probably CSO 32 drilled in 1903). Note that the machine shop area at the hairpin curve is not as built up as it was in the earlier photo shown a few photos above. By 1910, Pico Canyon was dying down.

This 1910 photo is also from "The Turbulent Romance of Oil" by W.C. Jenkins. This is on the road above the hairpin curve looking northeast. The two derricks visible here on the right (probably CSO 7, the lower derrick, drilled in 1881, and CSO 22, drilled in 1892) are also in the previous photo but not really visible due to the poor quality of the photo. Like the previous photo from the magazine, this was a very small image.

Then: This is CSO 4 in 1961 way past its prime. It was taken by the National Park Service during a survey of historic sites and buildings they were conducting. This small pump looks like the same pump laying on the ground in Johnson Park.

Now: The base of the marker has obviously been buried