Brief History of Oil Development in Wiley Canyon (with historic well photos)

Early Wiley Canyon oil wells. See below for more information on this photo.

This topo map shows all the well sites in Wiley Canyon. The red square in the middle is the location of the bench where the trail turns to the west. The red circle is the location of the oil seep that is right next to the trail and leaks across it.

The records show that Henry Clay Wiley filed the first claim in Wiley Canyon on April 21, 1865. In May or June of 1866 Stephen F. Peckham visited the canyon (see the 1866 Oil Description of the Other Canyons webpage). Peckham reported that the Wiley Springs Oil Company had been operating both this and the Towsley Canyon claim since August of 1865. Peckham reported that there was a 175-ft deep well producing a very small quantity of oil. There was also a 180-ft long tunnel and three others were just started. He also reported that the two claims had produced 260 barrels of oil since August of 1865.

The Fourth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist reports that in 1868 a Mr. Davis leased Wiley Springs and collected seepage oil which he shipped to the Metropolitan Gas Works in San Francisco. He dug two tunnels into the side of the canyon but these were unsuccessful.

In January of 1879, Charles N. Felton paid $1000 for the 92-acre Wiley claim. He had been obtaining leases since 1877 with the apparent intent of controlling all the California oil industry. On February 19, 1879, he, along with his partners, incorporated the Pacific Coast Oil Company in San Francisco with the intent of developing his growing oil interests. PCO then went after the California Star Oil Works in Pico canyon, which he eventualy obtained (see the Pico Canyon Oil History Page).

In early June of 1879, Charles Mentry started to put up rigs in Wiley Canyon. Drilling was slow and in between 1882 and 1883 only one other well was started. In 1884, the Wiley 4 well pumped 2 barrels per day from 1275-feet, becoming the first well with a record of production.

In 1889 PCO patented the 92-acre Wiley claim, as they had already done, or would do, to the Pico Canyon claims. This made them the land owners with the rights to do anything to the land. In the same year two of their six wells in the canyon yielded about 13 barrels per day (bpd) of oil. It was lighter than the Elsmere Canyon oil, but heavier than the Pico Canyon oil.

Between 1889 and 1893, a pipeline was run from Pico Canyon to Newhall.

In 1909, Standard (the owners of PCO since 1900) drilled Wiley 18 to 1528-feet. It produced 83 bpd during the the first 8 days. It was deepened in 1913 and pumped 89 bpd. In 1910, Wiley 19 had a record initial production of 109 bpd.

From 1910-1912 Wiley 25 was drilled to 3835-feet, the deepest well ever drilled in the canyon. No commercial oil was found and it was abandoned.

In 1934, Walling reported of the 29 wells drilled, 8 were still producing a daily average per well of 1.7 bpd.

In 1940 the wells were shut down. The 9 wells still producing averaged less than 1 bpd per well.

In 1956, Wiley 31 was drilled and abandoned.

The best year for Wiley Canyon was 1933 when production was 5,822 barrels of oil.

Table of the wells drilled in Wiley Canyon