Pico Canyon, Well No. "CSO" 4 ("Pico" #4).

Form 110-317
UNITED STATES
(Sept. 19S7)
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
NATIONAL SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND BUILDINGS
I. STATE 2. THEME(S). IF ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE. WRITE "ARCH" BEFORE THEME NO.
California XVII -b ~ Cogmaerce arid Industry
3. NAME(S) OF SITE 4. APPROX. ACREAGE
Pico Canyon, Well Ho, "CSO" k ("Pico" 850 Acres
5.
EXACT LOCATION (County, township, roads, etc. If difficult to find, sketch on Supplementary Sheet) JjQQ County, 9.6 Mi.north of San Fernando, via U,S.Bfcy.99 & to West of Hwy.^or 7 Ml of via Xyons Ave.

6.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRESENT OWNER (Also administrator ifdifferent from owner)

Standard Oil Company of California,, San Francisco_____
7. IMPORTANCE AND DESCRIPTION (Describe briefly what makes site important and what remains are extant)
The birth of California's oil industry occurred in Pi GO Canyon, which in the 70' s
early 8of s vas the principal oil region of California. Sphere the pioneers of the
industry received both training and substance, which enabled them to make California
the second oil producing state in the nation in the first tvo decades of the 2Oth
Century*
The successful completion of the Drake Oil Well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, in
August, 1859, sent a -wave of excitment across the continent and from l86l to 1867
California experienced the first of its numerous oil "booms. Wildcatting vas carried
out in a dozen widely separated regions of the state. By 1867* when the boom finally
collapsed, 75 companies capitalized at about 50 million dollars, had drilled 60 veils
in California. At a cost of one million dollars they sxicceeded in producing some
28,000 barrels of oil worth about $60,000. When, in 1867, Eastern "coal oil" began
selling in San Francisco at less per gallon than the costs of refining and isarketing
of inferior kerosene made from the California fields, the Pacific Coast oil boom vas
over.
As a part of this early excitment, Southern Californians turned their attention to the springs and seepages of Pico Canyon, fhe first claims vere filed in January 1865; the San Fernando Petroleum Mining District vas formed under the mining lave in June, 1865, and by June 1866 nearly 300 individual claims covering an area, if combined, of more than 7 square miles, had been entered on the books of the San Fernando district. Although some oil exploration was done, this activity vas largely of a speculative nature, ifp to 1873, Pico Canyon, consisting of a series of steep and rugged canyons cutting into the northern slope of the Santa Susana Mountains, had been bright vith promise but of little account othervise. The major efforts to find and produce oil had been made in Humbolt County of Northern California.
__________(Continued on next page)
8. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES (Give best sources; give location of manuscripts and rare works) Robt G.Cleland & OSgOOd Hardy HaTC
of Industry (los Angeles 1929), 169, 172-178; Frank J.Taylor & Earl M.Welty, Black Bonanza tflev York 1950), 38-4i, 4$*&j James W.Caughey, California (Eaglevood Cliffs,
H.J. , 1957) ,^l8-4l9; California-A Guide to the Golden State tAmerican Guide Series)
(lev York 195^5,83,452) Oerald 0?.White, Formative Years in the Far West; A History of Std.0il Co..of. California & Predecessors Throuf," - ~~~lIglgJ~irimcr t-tev York 1962), 2S8-58.
9. REPORTS AND STUDIES (Mention best repors a ; HJBS,
None
10. PHOTOGRAPHS* 11. CONDITION 12. PRESENT USE (Museum, farm, etc.) 13. DATE OF VISIT ATTACHED: YESJ NO Q OriR. Structures Oil Field Apr. 19, 1961
14. NAME OF RECORDER (Signature)^ / I 15. TITLE 16. DATE
Charles W. Snell Cx^ v #^ )\/ ,5^*-* ^ C Beg. Chief , Branch Hist. Sites March 12^ 1963
*DRY MOUNT ON AN 8 X tO& SHEET OF FAIfJLY HEAVY PAPER. IDENTIFY BY VIEW AND NAME OF THE SITE. DATE OF PHOTOGRAPH. AND NAME OF PHOTOGRAPHER GIVE LOCATION OF NEGATIVE. IF ATTACHED, ENCLOSE IN PROPER NEGATIVE ENVELOPES.
(IF ADDITIONAL SPACE IS NEEDED USE SUPPLEMENTARY SHEET, 10-3170, AND REFER TO ITEM NUMBER)
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 16 74016-1
Form 10-317a(sot. 1957) UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND BUILDINGS SUPPLEMENTARY SHEET
This sheet is to be used for giving additional information or comments, for more space for any item on the regular form, and for recording pertinent data from future studies, visitations, etc. Be brief, but use as many Supplement Sheets as necessary. When items are continued they should be listed, if possible, in numerical order of the items. All information given should be headed by the item number, its name, and the word (cont'd), as,
6. Description and Importance (cont'd) . . .
STATE NAME(S) OF SITE
California Hco Canyon, Well Ho. "CSO" k ("Pico"
7* Continued:
In 18T3 0.13. promoters of Los Angeles again "began to "puff" the merits of the potential oil field at Pico Canyon* As a result, a small refinery was erected at lyons Station, about a mile and. a half southeast of Bewhall, in 1873-74. This modest establishment, built at a cost of $3*000, included a single 15-barrel still with wooden flumes for running the crude oil from storage tanks, and a pipeline to supply water frou a nearby spring. It was hoped that oil would be found in sufficient quantities to keep the refinery operating. Drilling "began in July 187^ and by early 1875 one veil succeeded in producing a little oil, but not enough to keep the refinery in operation.
In early 1875 three migrants from the Pennsylvania oil fields, Denton Cyrus Scott, Robert C. McPherson and John J. Baker, arrived in Los Angeles, decided bo lease the
shut-down refinery at lyons Station, and to try their luck in the Pico area. Organizing the Star Oil Works for this purpose, they employed C. A. Mentry,, who was also from the Pennsylvania fields, to drill at Pico Springs in July 1875. At the depth of 120 feet Mentry got a production of 10 to 12 "barrels a day, which was the best showing yet made by any well in California, By the end of the year he had also completed Pico $fe and #3, shallower wells, both of which yielded some oil.
John A. Scott, a Titusville refiner, was then employed at the I$rons Station Hefinery, and in early 1876 he succeeded in turning out better oil than any yet made in California. Encouraged by these beginnings, the partners reorganized their company in June 1876 as the California Star Oil Works Company, with an authorized capital of 1,000,000 dollars; they acquired the lyons Station refinery, took leases in Pico Canyon, and received an additional financial backing from San Francisco capitalists.
In July 1876 Mentry began drilling Pico -$^-, ueing a steam rig, and on September 26, at a depth of 370 feet, it produced a flow of 25 barrels a day.
In the summer of 1876 the Southern Pacific Railroad laid the last of its track between Los Angeles and San Francisco, thereby opening the Pico Region to rail transportation and connecting it with markets.
These signs of progress were sufficient to induce two more oil professionals, the San Francisco veteran oil merchant Frederick B* Taylor and Demetrius G. Scofield, who

Form 10-317
(sept. 1957) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
NATIONAL SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND BUILDINGS SUPPLEMENTARY SHEET
This sheet is to be used for giving additional information or comments, for more space for any item on the regular form, and for recording pertinent data from future studies, visitations, etc. Be brief, but use as many Supplement Sheets as necessary. When items are continued they should be listed, if possible, in numerical order of the items. All information given should be headed by the item number, its name, and the word (cont'd), as,
6. Description and Importance (cont'd) . . .
STATE NAME(S) OF SITE
California Pico Canyon, Veil No. "CSO" 4 ("Pico"
7. Continued:
years later became the first president of the Standard Oil Company of California, to enter the company, and the firm thus underwent further enlargement. As more oil vas found, it became clear that I^rons Station Refinery, by-passed by the railroad, "would be inadequate. In 18TT a new site vas selected at Andrev Station (at the edge of Nevhall today) on the Southern Pacific Line and a new and larger refinery (now called the "Pioneer Refinery") was constructed during the summer. 0?his izsprovement was none too soon, for in November, 1877> Mentry deepened Pico $4 to 5&0 feet, and oil spurted to the top of the 65 foot derrick, and then flowed oil at about 70 barrels daily. This production "was the most spectacular yet knovn in California and revived what had "been a collapsing industry. To handle the increased production, the Nevhall refinery and Pico field, located 7 miles apart, wre connected in 1579 by means of a tvo-inch cast-iron gravity-feed pipeline, the first to be used in California.
From the Pico oil field in the vicinity of Nevhall, oil explorations -wore extended to the Ventura fields in 1877-78. California oil production rose from 18,000 "barrels in 1876 to 4l,98l barrels in i860.
In November 188^-, the second future giant of the California oil industry, the Union
Oil Company of California, then knovn as Hardison and Stevsxt Oil Ccaspany, also made
its start in Pico Canyon. Here they "brought in their first successful veil, "Star
Ho, 1," and vith funds obtained from this strike, they were able to secure land in
Ventura County around Santa Paula, inhere they "brought in a succession of successful
wells in 1885, thus launching the firm on a successful career.
Condition of Site
Pico Canyon includes about 850 acres of land on which are located the folio-wing historical features:

1. Well No. "CSO" 4 ("Pico" #4). The 1876 discovery well of the Newhall Field. This well still produces about one barrel of oil a day and is marked as California Registered State Historical Landmark No. 516.

2. The remains of abandoned oil derricks.

3. A two-story frame hotel, erected in 1880 for use of the oil men and now utilized as a residence.

4. A one-story frame school, erected in 1880, for use of the oil men's children.

These features are little altered and are in a good state of preservation. The area is not opened to the general public because of the high danger of fire to the Canyon.