Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
> PICO CANYON/MENTRYVILLE
CSO No. 4 Petroleum Production Pioneers Plaque
Pico Canyon


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PICO-4 PLAQUES

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1953 Story

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Plaque placed in 1953 next to the CSO No. 4 oil well by Standard Oil of California and the Petroleum Production Pioneers. Photograph no later than 1963.

Plaque reads: "First Commercial Oil Well in California / On this site stands CSO-4 (Pico #4), California's first commerically productive well. It was spudded in early 1876, under the direction of Demetrius G. Scofield, later to become first president of Standard Oil Company of California, and was completed at a depth of 300 feet on September 26, 1876, for an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil a day. / Later in the same year, the well was deepened to 600 feet, using what was perhaps the first steam rig employed in oil well drilling in California.[1] Upon this second completion, it produced at a rate of 150 barrels a day, and is still producing after seventy-seven years.[2] / The success of this well prompted formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, a predecessor of Standard Oil Company of California, and led to the construction of the state's first refinery nearby.[3] It was not only the discovery well of the Newhall Field, but was, indeed, a powerful stimulus to the subsequent development of the California Petroleum Industry. / Dedicated June 6, 1953 / Standard Oil Company of California / Petroleum Production Pioneers, Inc."

After CSO No. 4 and Mentryville became a two-part State Historic Landmark (516 and 516-2, respectively), a small bronze plate was added immediately below this 1953 plaque, reading: "State Registered Landmark No. 516."

1. Perhaps. It is believed a steam rig was used in nearby Towsley Canyon two years earlier.
2. Update: The well was capped in 1990.
3. The Pioneer Oil Refinery on Pine Street in Newhall.


AP2014: 9600 dpi jpeg from copy print.
PICO OIL CAMP

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CSOW Time Book
1887-1889

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CSOW Stock Certificate 1901

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SCV History Moment

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Early Oil & Gas Production in Calif. (Video 1985)

Standard Oil Co. History to 1929


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Description Jan. 1877

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Description May 1877

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Description 9-26-1882

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Oil Tank Const. & Death 1883

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Mentryville 1885-1891

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CSO Hill 1883

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Oil Works ~1885

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The Pico Field 1890

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PCO Hill ~1890s

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CSO Jackline Plant

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Farrar & Trefts Boiler

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New Boiler 1893?

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Mentryville 1890s-1900s

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Reamer Patent 1900

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Machine Shop 1910

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Machine Shop 1910s

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Natural Gas-to-Gasoline 1913/14

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Mentryville ~1920

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Pico No. 4, 1931

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CSO Jackline Plant

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PCO Jackline Plant Remnants

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Darryl Manzer at Firehouse ~1961

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Darryl Manzer at Field Office ~1961

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Pico No. 4, 1961

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Darryl Manzer, L.A. Times Story 1962

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National Survey 1963

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PCO Jackline Plant Removal 1974-75

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CSO Jackline Plant 1974-75

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A.C. Mentry Blacksmith Forge

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