Brief History of Oil Development in Pico Canyon

There is a lot of confusion concerning the early oil history of Pico Canyon. The following is what I have pieced together from many different sources, but the story still doesn't totally make sense until about 1876 when the California Star Oil Works Company takes over. "Formative Years in the Far West: A History of Standard Oil Company of California and Predecessors Through 1919" by Gerald White, 1962, is the best source of information, covering all the events before 1919.

The Tatavium were probably the first humans to use petroleum seeping from Pico Canyon. As early as 1850 Andres Pico (and Francisco Lopez of Placerita gold fame according to Worden, 2004) was collecting the seepage and distilling it for burning oil for the San Fernando Mission. However, Orcutt (1924) calls this Pico story a Mission legend and according to White (1968), except for the building Pico occupied, the mission was already in ruins by then.

The following popular story is rather suspicious considering Andres Pico supposedly already knew about oil in the canyon, but in 1865 a Mexican, Ramon Parea (or Parero or Pereida), was hunting a deer (or bear - Salvator, 1929) in Pico Canyon. He noticed an oily substance. For some reason he thought it was important so, leaving one man behind to guard the spot, he hurried off to the San Fernando Mission (or straight to Los Angeles or he showed it to del Valle in Camulos depending on the source of the story) to inform some of the most influential citizens. Parea stopped at the San Fernando Mission where Andres Pico lived and showed it there. There is another story that a Mexican was just taking out the seepage (no hunting involved) and took some to San Fernando (see Leon Worden's story of Perea here). As an alternate story, two vaqueros of Pico, Hernandez and Perea, found the oil and brought some to Pico at the San Fernando Mission (White, 1962).

Ex-Civil War surgeon Dr. Vincent Gelcich, who was married to a niece of Andres Pico and who happened to be at the Mission, recognized the stuff as oil seepage from his previous experience with oil in Pennsylvania. Pico, Gelcich, and the other men of the story decided to stake claims in the various canyons. How and why the other men got involved is not explained. In 1865, placer mining claims were filed by Andres Pico, Henry C. Wiley (also related to Pico by marriage), Dr. Vincent Gelcich, Christopher Leaming, Sanford Lyon, General Edward F. Beale, Colonel Robert S. Baker, and Rice. Later, in 1873 and 74, Gelcich bought the claims of Rice (Salvator, 1929).

The first claims were named Canada Pico, Wiley, Moore, Rice, Leaming, Gelcich, and Todd (Salvator, 1929). However, little work was actually done on the claims.

The canyons were on public lands and placer claims were not really designed for oil. Also, homesteading was designed for agriculture and grazing, not for mineral rights. Earlier, Mother Lode miners had set up mining districts which were protected by the state and federal courts. So in 1865 the Los Angeles Asphaltum and Petroleum Mining District was formed by Beale, Pico, Gelcich, and others. Three months later (June 24, 1865), the San Fernando Petroleum Mining District was formed, headed by Christopher Leaming. These districts were formed to legalize the staking of claims for oil. Still, the claims remained in a confused state of affairs for many years to come.

The Fourth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for 1884 states that in 1866 "Mr. Hughes bored for oil in Pico Canon, and struck a flowing well at 140 feet, but the tools became fast in the well and could not be extricated." This information was obviously taken from Stephen Peckham's report of 1866 (See 1866 Oil Description of the "Other Canyons" webpage). Peckham spells the name "Hewes". He also places the Hughes claim east of, and 800 to 1000 feet above, Pico Springs. The Hughes claim may have been up the canyon that starts at Johnson Park and climbs south up the mountain. That canyon is called Hughes Canyon on one map (see map at bottom of this page).

At Pico Springs, Peckham reports that only a basin had been excavated to collect oil as it flowed from cracks in the canyon. The flow was an estimated 20 to 25 gallons per day, which sounds like too much.

Further on, the Fourth report states that "In 1867 Lyon and Jenkins returned to the claims they had examined ten years before. Jenkins went to Sespe and Piru; Lyon remained at Pico. Lyon's Station was named from him; he died in 1883."

According to Ripley (1948): "Mr. Lyon commenced operations by driving a tunnel into the hill near the level of the stream at a point where gas and oil where escaping. He drove a distance of 20 feet and he was forced to abandon it by gas. A well was then dug to collect the seepage which averaged about two barrels a day. This was all that was done (at that time) to develop the Pico oil springs." The well was dug using the spring-pole method.

Another source says that in 1868 Francisco Lopez showed H. C. Wiley, Sanford Lyon, and William W. Jenkins an oil seep deep in Pico Canyon, they obtained a lease from Beale and Baker, they formed a partership in 1869, and began drilled a successfull spring-pole well obtaining emerald green petroleum (Reynolds, 1985). There was no further drilling until the 1870's, but oil seepage was still collected and sold.

The Fourth Report also states that on January 28, 1867 "twelve barrels of crude oil were shipped from Pico Canon." The report later says that "among the specimens from California sent to the Paris Exposition of 1867 was petroleum from ... Wiley's Spring, San Fernando Mountain (Pico Canon), Hughes' Spring, and Pico Spring, Los Angeles County."

To further confuse the issue, the Fourth Report then says "In 1869, the first work was done at Pico Canon by Mr. Hughes, who put down a spring-pole well called the Pico Well." This is two pages after the report said that Hughes sunk a well in 1866. Also from the Fourth Report: "In 1874 Messrs. Temple, Moore, and Pico worked in Pico Canon. The oil they obtained was sent to the refinery at Lyons Stations..."

In 1875 Charles Mentry, an experienced Pennsylvania oil driller, leased the Baker and Beale claim at Pico Springs, and put together a partnership with Denton C. Scott and John G. Baker. Baker would later sell out to Christopher Leaming. Mentry put down the first well with a spring pole and got a good flow of oil. The partnership also drilled two other wells.

From the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) records (with data they copied from the original California Star Oil Works records written by Charles A. Mentry):

CSO 1 - Commenced drilling August 22, 1875, Completed drilling September 1875 - "Well was drilled to 120 ft. with spring-pole rig. At 30 ft. produced about two bbls. per day by sand pumping. This oil was in shale. At 120 ft. pumped 10 to 12 bbls. per day. In 1877 got an engine and deepened well to 600 ft. At 175 ft. it pumped 30 bbls. per day. In 1882 deepened again to 735 ft. but without any benefit. The best sand-rock was at 170 ft."

CSO 2 - Commenced drilling Oct. 13, 1875, Completed drilling Nov. 29, 1875 - "Well was drilled to 140' with a spring pole rig. Struck first oil at 73'. At 85' pumped six barrels per day. At 140' pumped 13 barrels per day but did not pump all the time as there was not sufficient market for the oil, so well was permitted to flow about a year. Deepened with a large rig in 1877. At 250' had the best sand rock encountered and well flowed 20 to 25 bbls. per day. At 525' pumped 40 barrels per day. In 1882 deepened to 830' but no more oil."

CSO 3 - Commenced drilling December 1875 - "Well was drilled with a spring-pole rig to 170'. Got a little oil at 28'. Struck first oil at 65'. At 90' pumped 4 bbls. per day. At 145' pumped 8 bbls. per day, and at 170' 11 bbls. Well never deepened as it was too close to wells 1 and 2. After about a year-and-a-half, production dropped to a barrel a day when pumping was discontinued and rig taken down."

In February of 1876, Lyon (a minority owner of the Beale and Baker claim) drilled a 170 foot well near the three Mentry wells (from White, 1962). In June or July of 1876, the Mentry partnership sold out their interests (the Pico Spring lease from Beale and Baker) to the newly formed California Star Oil Works Company of San Francisco headed by Demetrius G. Scofield. CSOW also bought out the claims of Pico, Wiley, Gelcich, and Lyon. This became the nucleus of the new company, which Scofield had organized with the backing of his firm of Frederick B. Taylor and Company. Mentry was hired as the superintendent, a position he held until his death in 1900. CSOW obtained permission to drill on the Pico lease from Beale and Baker.

In July of 1876, Mentry started CSO 4 with a spring-poled. In August, 1877, it was deepened to 610 feet using the first steam engine in the canyon. (In the Fourth Annual Report Felton states that the first use of steam power was in 1877 confirming the year.) CSO 4 would became the first commercially successful oil well west of Pennsylvania and eventually the longest running oil well in the world (1876-1989, 113 years).

Again from DOGGR records (with data they copied from the original California Star Oil Works records written by Charles A. Mentry):

CSO 4 - Commenced drilling August 1876, Completed drilling Sept. 26, 1876 - "Caved badly at 270'. First oil at 250' in shale. Tubed and pumped at 370', producing 25 barrels daily for some time. In August, 1877, commenced to deepen well. At 560' the well was flowing 70 barrels daily, and was still flowing in April, 1879 when it was rigged for pumping. In 1885 it was deepened from 610 to 1030' but it is thought the only good attained was in consequence of cleaning it out."

Scofield realized that his California Star Company was under-capitalized. He was able to interest Senator Charles N. Felton, Lloyd Tevis, and others, into forming a new company. On September 10, 1879, the Pacific Coast Oil Company was formed with Felton as the president and Scofield as the vice-president. At first, they began drilling on the claims (Menlo and Belmont) just east of the Pico claim. After a court battle (starting on March 22, 1878 and ending on June 28, 1879) between PCO and Pico claim holders Beale and Baker, who claimed CSOW violated the terms of their lease by failing to operate the company in a workmanlike manner, CSOW was split, with PCO owning 4/7 of CSOW and Beale and Baker owning 3/7. Since there were two separate companies (and Beale and Baker were entitled to CSOW profits), the well numbering was separate. Hence there are both CSO wells and PCO wells. In fact, before 1883 the PCO wells were either named "San Fernando" or "San Francisco Petroleum" and were later changed to PCO numbers, probably after PCO owned most of the Pico claims.

The success of CSO 4 led to the construction of the state's first refinery at Lyon's Station stage stop 9 miles from Pico Canyon in 1874. In 1876 it was moved to Andrew's Station so that it could be near the Southern Pacific Railroad train stop. There, it could be refined and shipped out to San Francisco, where the demand for oil was.

In 1879, California's first oil pipeline, 2-inches in diameter and about 7 mile long, was laid from Pico Canyon to the refinery. Oil flowed by gravity. Evidently, the pipeline was also used to carry water, using a pump, to the canyon until the end of 1881, when a new 4 mile long pipeline was laid for water from the Santa Clara River northwest of Pico Canyon. At the same time, a 1300 barrel water tank was built on the "rim" of the canyon where water could be distributed to the area. As more wells were being drilled, more water was needed for the boilers that created the steam for the well engines.

In 1880, PCO built a new, larger capacity refinery at Alameda in the San Francisco area. Both the Newhall and Alameda refineries were used. In December of 1893, PCO paid the widow of Dr. Gelcich $7000 for a quitclaim to any rights he still had for his Pico claims. They were evidently still a little nervous about their ownership of the claim.

In 1883 the Hardison and Stewart Oil Company leased land from PCO east of the existing wells and drilled three wells, only one of which produced any oil. However, it was ruined by water. In 1884, they also drilled Star No. 1 which was located on a small lease on CSO Hill above CSO 5. The lease location required the construction of a bridge 105 feet long and 45 feet high - the "Long Bridge." The first oil flowed on November 26, 1884 and became very successful, but the terms of the lease with PCO was in question. In February of 1885, Hardison and Stewart agreed to $1.50 a barrel for the Star and one Hill well from PCO. However, they never drilled on the Pico claim again. They keep their interest in these two wells until 1888 or 1889, when PCO bought them out. Wallace Hardison and Lyman Stewart would move to Santa Paula, join up with Thomas Bard, and later form the Union Oil Company in 1890.

In July 1885, PCO believed they were paying too much for railroad transportation costs from Newhall to Alameda. When the Southern Pacific refused to lower rates, they began to build a pipeline to Ventura where the oil could be shipped to their refinery in Alameda. After reaching Santa Paula, the railroad agreed to a rate reduction, so that pipeline was not used.

In March of 1890, the Newhall refinery was shut down and all the Pico oil was shipped to the Alameda refinery. In 1895-96, a 44 mile pipeline was laid to the wharf at Ventura as a way to decrease expenses. The explosive growth of the Los Angeles City Oil Field was flooding the market with crude oil, causing its price to decrease. PCO also constructed two steamers each with a capacity of 6500 barrels to do the shipping. PCO was also able to enter an (often disputed) agreement with Union Oil to ship some of Union's oil to San Francisco (White, 1962).

The well records (from the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal) show that on August 11, 1889, PCO 17 was started using the first diamond bit in California. The Western Prospecting Co. of Denver was contracted to drill at $3.50 a foot. Unfortunately, at 60 feet the hole they could not continue. The diamond bit could not handle the cobbles in the surface formation and the well had to be completed with cable-tools. On September 23, 1889, the Western Prospecting Co. tried their diamond bit again on CSO 19 and completed the well on November 30. However, the production of about 6 bpd was not good enough. Evidently the shale drillings were being forced by water pressure (which was being constantly pumped into the well for the diamond drill method) into the oil sands cementing the sand. After re-drilling with cable-tools, production rose to about 21 bpd. The Catalogue of the State Museum of California reports that they received the core of a diamond drill from Well No. 19 in Pico Canyon on October 14, 1889. In 1892, CSO 21 was straightened using the diamond drill at 765 feet.

The well records also show that there were a lot of problems with crooked holes. These were caused by the steep dip of the Pico anticline. The drill bits would tend to follow the dip of the beds. Sometimes the whole cable-tool string (which could be 20 to 40 feet in length) would get stuck in the hole and would have to be "fished" out. Sometimes the tools could not be retrieved and the hole would have to be abandoned. There were also a lot of problems with cave-ins and water flooding the hole. In January of 1888, the drilling of PCO 9 was interrupted for 15 days due to a landslide. In 1897, while pulling the casing from the hole of CSO 26, somehow the rig caught fire and burned down. In 1892, while drilling CSO 22, gas ignited at the boiler, burned down the rig, and badly burned many men. On July 25, 1940, a brush fire burned down 10 old wooden derricks (PCO 2, 13, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 29, 34, and 36).

The development of Pico Canyon continued on. By the end of 1884, the boundary limits to the Pico field had been established. Under Mentry, about 70 wells were drilled between 1876 and 1900 (the year of his death).

In December of 1900, Standard Oil (New Jersey) bought Pacific Coast Oil Company for about $761,000. In 1901, PCO bought out CSOW, totally taking over the Pico claim. In 1906, PCO and Standard Oil (Iowa) were consolidated and on July 23 their names were changed to Standard Oil (California). On November 15, 1906, the US Government filed suit under the Sherman Antitrust Act against Standard Oil (New Jersey), its subsidiaries (which included Standard Oil of California) and affiliates, and John D. Rockefeller. After a long court battle, on May 15, 1911 the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government and ordered the breakup of Standard Oil. In December of 1911, Standard Oil of California became a separate company. In 1977, Standard Oil changed their name to Chevron. In 2001, they became ChevronTexaco, but in 2005 they dropped the Texaco and again became Chevron.

By 1910, development in Pico Canyon was virtually done. From 1876 to 1910, 79 wells had been drilled. From 1910 to 1960, 12 wells were drilled. After 1960, 8 wells were drilled. In May of 1940, Standard Oil of California officially shut down most of its operations in Pico, Towsley, and Wiley Canyons.

Shut down or not, in 1944, Standard drilled PCO 42 near the axis of the Pico anticline in the eastern part of the field to a depth of 8258 feet with poor results. In 1948, CSO 101 was drilled (why they skipped CSO 33 - CSO 100 I don't know). In the 1960's, CSO 102, 103, 105, 106, and 107 were drilled, mostly as part of an unsuccessful water injection program. In 1969, CSO 108 was the last well drilled in Pico Canyon.

After Mentry's death in 1900, Walton Young took over as superintendent until 1927. From 1927 - 1937 Charles Sitzman was the superintendent. After Sitzman, John Blaney took over for one year. After Blaney, there were no more superintendents, only or foreman or caretakers.

The last production of CSO 4 was 1 bpd in 1989, after a world record of 113 years of production. In February of 1990, CSO 4 was officially abandoned. So as to not affect the well's status as a National Historic Landmark, Chevron received special permission from DOGGR to leave pipes on the surface at the wellhead, although the pump was removed. See the CSO 4 Area webpage for photos.

The best year for Pico Canyon was 1933 when production was 23,600 barrels of oil.

In 1995, Chevron sold over 3000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. This included portions of Pico, Towsley, Wiley, Leaming, Rice, and East canyons. All the Pico property was sold including CSO 4 and Mentryville.

Pico Canyon Claims (from Wallings 1934). The Pico Oil Spring Mine was patented on April 19, 1880 to Robert S. Baker and E. F. Beale. The Menlo Oil Mine was patented on October 8, 1890 to Occidental Asphalt Company. The Belmont Oil Mine was also patented on October 8, 1890 to Occidental Asphalt Company. Occidental Asphalt was a company incorporated in Nevada in June of 1883 by Charles N. Felton (the president of PCO) and Lloyd Tevis (one of PCO's co-founders). For some reason they did not want to use PCO directly to patent the claims.

A note on patents: A patented claim is one for which the federal government has issued a patent (deed). The owner of a claim must prove to the federal government that the claim contains locateable minerals that can be extracted at a profit. A patented claim can be used for any purpose by the owner. With a patented claim you own the land as well as the minerals. Since October 1, 1994, the BLM has been prohibited by Acts of Congress from accepting any new mineral patent applications.

This map showing the Pico, Menlo, and Belmont claims is from Petroleum in Southern California, California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 63, 1913, by Paul Prutzman. CSO 4 is circled in red. What I find interesting about this map is that the tributary canyon that flows into Pico Canyon at Johnson Park is called Hughes Canyon (underlined in red). Stephen Peckham mentions a Hughes (or Hewes) Claim in 1866. Poor Mr. Hughes and his spring has disappeared from all historical accounts except Peckham's report, the the 4th Annual Report of the State Mineralogist (which used Peckham), and this map. Maybe he just gave up and left after the drilling bit got stuck in the well.