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R.L.W.

Pioneer Oil Refinery: California Star Oil Works kit #RLW-1680

HISTORY:
Oil was discovered by two Mexican hunters in the
Santa Susana Mountains, north-east of Los Angeles, in
February of 1865. The first commercially producing
well - Pico Canyon No. 4 – began pumping oil in
1875. In 1876 stills were set up in the town of Lyon to
refine the oil from this and other wells being sunk in
the canyon. These stills were moved to a site in
Newhall Ranch in 1877 because of the availability of
“an abundant supply of water from nearby springs”

California Star Oil Works ca 1877 – photo courtesy the Santa Clarita Valley Historical
Society (This is the only know image which shows the Tail House – in the background)
and – more importantly - access to an adjacent Southern Pacific railroad spur
called Andrew’s Station. Originally, oil was brought by wagon in wooden
barrels from the wells, but by the summer of 1879 two-inch pipes were laid to
bring the oil the seven miles from the canyon to the refinery.
Two additional stills, a “tail house” or “receiving house”, a pump house, a
warehouse, and several tanks were added to this refinery. (See diagram from an early book on refining below to see relationships of
structures in refining process.) It continued refining oil from Pico Canyon into benzene and high grade kerosene (some sources say “low”
grade) until April 1885, after which it concentrated on light refined products which were either sold directly from this location as fuel, or
shipped to Alameda for further refining. By the late 1880’s advances in refining technology had rendered it obsolete, and refining operations
were shut down in 1888 (1890 according to some sources).
However, the site remained active as a shipping point for the
crude oil coming out of Pico Canyon with the construction of
a tank car loading platform (RLW kit 1681) on the Andrew’s
spur. This remained active until sometime in 1943. For more
historical information, see “References”.

(from Hager, 1921)
Although only stills 3 and four, the pump house, and a few tanks remain of
the original plant, this complex is a California Historical Site, regarded as
the oldest existing oil refinery in California. In creating this model kit,
numerous historical resources were investigated, the site visited and
measurements of existing structures taken. The historical record is sketchy
on some details, incomplete on some, and includes conflicting information
on others. While every effort has been made to create a reasonably faithful
representation of the facility, some assumptions and some compromises

The existing site; the Tail House, railroad spur and Warehouse had to be made:
locations are approximations.

© 2016 Republic Locomotive Works 1680 – pg. 1