Sources


This list includes a majority of the sources used for the geology, paleontology, history, and oil history of all the canyons covered on my website. I have tried to use primary sources for all the information. Where I was uncertain of the truth, I tried to say that. Even with all these sources, the history of the canyons is very limited. Even worse, some of the information is incorrect. Walling's 1934 report and White's Formative Years in the Far West (1962) were the most important source for the oil history of all the canyons.


1998 Annual Report of the State Oil & Gas Supervisor, Publication No. PR06, 1999: Sacramento, Department of Conservation, p. 23-24.

FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com - these sites have been invaluable in locating information about the people who played a role in the history of the canyons.

Arnold, Ralph and Kemnitzer, William, 1931, Petroleum in the United States and Possessions: New York and London, Harper & Brothers Publishers.

Bacon, Raymond Foss and Hamor, William Allen, 1916, The American Petroleum Industry, Volume 1: New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 446 pp.

Boston, J., Shake, Rattle & Roll: Santa Clarita Valley's Earthquake History: Newhall Signal, August 28, 2003.

Brantly, J. E., 1971, History of Oil Well Drilling: Houston, Gulf Publishing Company, 1525 pp.

Brown, A. B., and W.S.W. Kew, 1932, Occurrence of Oil in Metamorphic Rocks of the San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, California: AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 16, No. 8, p 777-785.

California Oil and Gas Fields, Maps and Data Sheets, Part 2, Los Angeles-Ventura Basins and Central Coast Regions, State of California Division of Oil and Gas, 1961.

Catalogs:
Fairbanks, Morse & Co., Chicago, Ill., 1914.
National Supply Co., Toledo, Oh., 1917.
Oil Well Supply Co., Oil City, Pa., 1884, 1892, 1916.
Union Supply Co., Los Angeles, CA.,1912.

Crawford, J.J., Twelfth Report of the State Mineralogist, Two Years Ending September 15, 1894: Sacramento, California State Mining Bureau 1894, p. 352-358.

Dames & Moore, 1995, Draft Environmental Report/Environmental Impact Statement: Proposed Elsmere Solid Waste Management Facility

Davis, T.L., J.S. Namson, and S. Gordon, 1996, Structure and Hydrocarbon Exploration in the Transpressive Basins of Southern California. In Field Conference Guide, ed. P.L. Abbott and J.D. Cooper, p. 189-283. Los Angeles: Pacific Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Guidebook 73. Pacific Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists.

Dibblee, T.W., Jr., 1996, Geologic map of the Newhall Quadrangle, Los Angeles County, California, The Dibblee Geological Foundation map DF-56, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000. Dibblee geologic maps can be purchased online here.

Dibblee, T.W., Jr., 1992, Geologic map of the Oat Mountain and Canoga Park (North 1/2) Quadrangles, Los Angeles County, California, The Dibblee Geological Foundation map DF-36, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000.

Dibblee, T.W., Jr., 1992, Geologic map of the Santa Susana Quadrangle, Los Angeles County, California, The Dibblee Geological Foundation map DF-38, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000.

Eldridge, G.H. and R. Arnold, 1907, The Santa Clara Valley, Puente Hills and Los Angeles Oil Districts, Southern California: United States Geological Survey Bulletin 309, 266 p.

English, W.A., 1914, The Fernando Group near Newhall, California: University of California Publications, Department of Geology Bulletin, v. 8

Ford, W.E., 1941, Geology and oil reserves of a portion of the Newhall district, Los Angeles County, California: University of California, Los Angeles M. A. thesis (unpub.).

Franks, K. A. and P.F. Lambert, 1985, Early California Oil, A Photographic History, 1865 - 1940: Texas, Texas A&M University Press, 243 pp.

George, H. C., 1925, Surface Machinery and Methods for Oil-well Pumping, U. S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 224, Washington: Government Printing Office, 148 pp.

Grant, U.S., IV, and H.R. Gale, 1931, Catalogue of the Marine Pliocene and Pleistocene Mollusca of California and adjacent regions: Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History, vol. 1, 1036 p.

Gray, Paul Bryan, 2002, Forster Vs. Pico - The Struggle for the Rancho Santa Margarita: Spokane, Washington, The Arthur H. Clark Company, 256 pp.

Hager, Dorsey, 1921, Oil-Field Practice, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 310 pp.

Hanks H.G., Fourth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the Year Ending May 15, 1884: Sacramento, California State Mining Bureau 1884, p. 278-308.

Higgins, J.W. (ed.), A Guide to the Geology and Oil Fields of the Los Angeles and Ventura Regions: Los Angeles: Pacific Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, For Annual Meeting, March 10-13, 1958.

Hodgson, Susan F., 1985, Early Oil & Gas Production in California, California Department of Conservation: Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) DVD. The complete video can be viewed here.

Holloway, J.N., 1940, Areal geology and contact relations of the basement complex and later sediments, west end of the San Gabriel Mountains, California: California Institute of Technology M. S. thesis (unpub).

Hutchinson, W.H., 1965, Oil, Land and Politics: The California CAreer of Thomas Robert Bard: Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 743 pp. (in two volumes)

Irelan, W.,Jr., Seventh Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the Year Ending Oct. 1, 1887: California State Mining Bureau, 1888, p. 79-85.

Irelan, W.,Jr., Eighth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the Year ending Oct. 1, 1888: California State Mining Bureau, 1888, p. 341-342.

Irelan, W.,Jr., Ninth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the Year ending December 1, 1889: California State Mining Bureau, 1890, p. 204-206.

Jeffery, Walter H., 1931, Deep Well Drilling: Texas, The Gulf Publishing Company, 816 pp.

Jenkins, W.W., History of the Development of Placer Mining in California: Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume VII, Annual Publications of 1906-1907-1908, p. 69-77

Jenkins, W.C., The Turbulent Romance of Oil, National Magazine, XXXIII (Aug, Sept 1910) 533-548, 696-705.

Keller, R., 1992, Downhold Repair Permits Kickoff Probe From Old Hole: Oil & Gas Journal, April 20, 1992, p. 90-92.

Kern, J. P., 1973, Early pliocene marine climate and environment of the eastern Ventura basin, Southern California: University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, v. 96, 117 pp.

Kew, W.S.W., 1924, Geology and Oil Resources of a Part of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, California: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 753, 202 pp.

Kew, W.S.W., 1943, Newhall Oil Field: Geologic Formations and Economic Development of the Oil and Gas Fields of California, State of California Division of Mines Bulletin 118, p. 412-416.

Latta, Frank F. 2006, Saga of Rancho El Tejon: Exeter, California, Bear State Books, 293 pp.

McLaughlin, R. P., 1914, Petroleum Industry of California: California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin 69, 519 pp.

Miller, W.J., 1934, Geology of the western San Gabriel Mountains of California: Publications of the University of California at Los Angeles in Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Volume 1, No. 1, 114 p.

Moody, C. L., 1916, Fauna of the Fernando of Los Angeles: Univ. Calif. Pub. Geol. Sci., v. 10, no. 4, p. 39-62.

Newmark, H., 1916, Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853-1913, Containing the Reminiscences of Harris Newmark: New York, The Knickerbocker Press, 744 pp.

Oakeshott, Gordon B., 1958, Geology and Mineral Deposits of San Fernando Quadrangle, Los Angeles County, California: California Division of Mines, Bulletin 172, p. 121.

Orcutt, W.W., 1924, Early Oil Development in California: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, January 1924, Vol. 8, No. 1, p 61-72.

Peckham, S. F., 1882, Examination of the Bituminous Substances Occurring in Southern California, in J.D. Whitney, Geology of California. Volume II, The Coast Ranges. Appendix, 1882: Geological Survey of California, Cambridge, Mass., John Wilson & Son, University Press, 148 p., Peckham extract pp. 67-68.

Perkins, A.B., The Pico Ghost Camp, Parts 1 and 2: Newhall Signal, January 18, 1962 and January 25, 1962.

Perkins, A.B., The Story of Our Valley: Newhall Signal, September 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Oct 7 1954.

Perkins, A.B., Mining Camps of the Soledad (Part III): Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, December 1958, p 373-392.

Pressler, E. D., 1929, The Fernando group in the Las Posas - South Mountain District, Ventura County, California: University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, v. 18, no. 13, p. 325-345.

Prutzman, P.W., 1904, Production and Use of Petroleum in California: California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 32, 237 p.

Prutzman, P.W., 1913, Petroleum in Southern California: California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin 63, 430 p.

Reynolds, G.G., 1985, Pico Canyon Chronicles: Newhall, California, The Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, 57 p.

Redpath, Lionel V., 1900, Petroleum in California: A Concise and Reliable History of the Oil Industry of the State: Los Angeles, Lionel V. Redpath, 300 pp.

Rintoul, William, 1990, Drilling Through Time: 75 Years with California's Division of Oil and Gas, California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil and Gas, 178 pp.

Ripley, V.S., The San Fernando Pass and the Pioneer Traffic that Went Over It (Part IV): Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, June 1948, p. 111-160.

Ross, Philip W., 1996, Allegheny Oil: The Historic Petroleum Industry of the Allegheny National Forest, West Virgina University, 96 pp.

Salvator, L.L., 1929, Los Angeles in the Sunny Seventies: A Flower From the Golden Land: Los Angeles, Bruce McCallister-Jake Zeitlin, 188 p.

Squires, R.L., 2008, Eocene Megapaleontology, Stratigraphy, and Depositional Environments, Elsmere Canyon, Los Angeles County, Southern California, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science 517, 19 p. PDF (2.5MB)

Squires, R. L., L. T. Groves, and J. T. Smith. 2006, New Information on Molluscan Paleontology and Depositional Environments of the Upper Pliocene Pico Formation, Valencia Area, Los Angeles County, Southern California: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science 511:1-24 p. PDF (2.2MB)

Stockton, A.D., 1973, Lyon Canyon Oil Field, Los Angeles County, California: Summary of Operations of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, California Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, Vol. 59 No. 1, p. 21-28.

Uren, Lester Charles, 1939, Petroleum Production Engineering: Oil Field Exploitation: New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 756 pp.

Walling, R. W., 1934, Report on Newhall Oil Field, Los Angeles County, California: California Oil Fields, Summary of Operations of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, California Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, Vol. 20 No. 2, p. 5-57. PDF (14.9MB)

Waterfall, L. N., 1929, A contribution to the paleontology of the Fernando group, Ventura County, California: University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, v. 18, no. 3, p. 71-92.

Watts, W. L., 1897, Oil and Gas Yielding Formations of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties California: California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 11, 94 pp.

Watts, W. L., 1900, Oil and Gas Yielding Formations of California: California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 19, p. 56-57.

Welty, E. and F.J. Taylor, 1958, The Black Bonanza: New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 255 p.

White, G.T., 1962, Formative Years in the Far West: A History of Standard Oil Company of California and Predecessors through 1919: New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 694 p.

White, G.T., 1968, Scientists in Conflict: The Beginning of the Oil Industry in California: California, The Huntington library, 272 p.

White, G.T., 1984, Baptism in Oil: Stephen F. Peckham in Southern California 1865-66: San Francisco, The Book Club of California Publication No. 177, 138 p.

Winterer, E.L., and D.L. Durham, 1962, Geology of Southeastern Ventura Basin, Los Angeles County, California: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 334-H, 366 p.

Worden, L., Ramon Perea: A Forgotten Name at Pico: Newhall Signal, February 17, 2004.

Worden, L., 1996, The Story of Mentryville: The Friends of Mentryville, 10 pp.

Youle, W.E., 1926, Sixty-Three Years in the Oilfields, California, Fuller Printing Co., 122 p.

Ziegler, V., 1918, Popular Oil Geology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 200 p.

Zulberti, J.L., 1966, Towsley Canyon Area of Newhall Oil Field, Los Angeles County, California, Summary of Operations of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, California Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, Vol. 52 No. 1, p. 53-65.



Gerald Taylor White (1913-1989) wrote three important books on the oil history of Southern California. They are "Formative Years in the Far West - A History of the Standard Oil Company of California and Predecessors Through 1919" (1962), "Scientists in Conflict - The Beginnings of the Oil Industry in California" (1968), and "Baptism in Oil - Stephen F. Peckham in Southern California 1865-66" (1984).