Page 3 - standardoiler195308pico

Guy inspects the old Newhall Refinery, the first practical commercial refinery in the State. It was reconstructed several years ago

Bull wheels and calf wheels, the boil- taken to the prodigious depth of 300
ers and drill stems, casing and rope- feet! There, on September 26, 1876,
all were lugged laboriously up hill and 77 years ago next month, C.S.O. No. 4
down dale. Rattlesnakes and wasps, was completed for 30 barrels a day and
mud and underbrush-all had to be a fair amount of gas.
contended with. Soon, squat 30-foot wooden derricks
They used the primitive spring pole sprouted all through the canyons and
method of drilling. In this, the weight ridges of the territory.
of two men was the force that sent the Now the problem of refining the oil
bit into the ground, and the springy into kerosene and benzene came up.
strength of a sapling raised it out again But Scofield had foresightedly built a
for the next stroke. three-still refinery at Newhall, six miles
It took them a month to drill the first southeast-the first practical commer-
well, C.S.O. No. l (Pico No. 1), to a cial refinery in the State-and another
depth of 120 feet ,,.,-here 11 barrels a at Ventura ( then called San Buenaven-
day of 32 gravity oil were recovered. tura). Together they had a capacity of
But it was abandoned because of the 60 barrels a day. The crude oil was
small flow. transported by horse and wagon over
C.S.O. No. 2 was the same sort of ,the rough trails to the refineries.
producer and it, too, was abandoned. Then came the problem of how to
The remains of an old steam engine. At left,
the cylinder, flywheel and sprocket. This The third hole was dry. A steam engine get the product to market. The rail-
may have been used to drill No. 4 was brought in and the fourth hole was road had not been finished yet, and the
10 THE STANDARD OILER