by Paul R. Spitzzeri
As 1884 dawned, the project for petroleum prospecting at Petrolia, a grandiosely named camp in Soquel Canyon in the northeast corner of what is now Orange County, but which was then at the eastern fringe of Los Angeles County, continued to attract a good deal of attention in the Los Angeles Herald, which even took to investing in the area at what it called Herald Canyon, likely Telegraph Canyon, now within the bounds of Chino Hills State Park.
In its edition of 10 January, the paper reported that Burdette Chandler, Petrolia’s prime mover, struck gas and oil at the third well he and William R. Rowland dug at the latter’s land on the Rancho La Puente near the summit of the Puente Hills, in what the Herald previously referred to as “Upper Petrolia.” Meanwhile, it continued, “at Petrolia the Chandler & Bower well is going down 15 feet daily and has been in oil for 100 feet,” this being not long after a terrible gas explosion did significant damage, as noted in part four of this post.
A second Petrolia well in Soquel Canyon was the Snow and this was said to be “going down rapidly” in its drilling. This led the paper to state that “these elements of progress are permanent and important” and that “the good time coming seems to show its auroral glow already.” Unfortunately, another problematic incident soon took place as the Herald of 17 February reported under the headline of “A Bold Bandit.”
A Petrolia laborer, H.F. Hubbard, who “proved to be a good worker and was considered a valuable man about the place,” went to Los Angeles with two other employees, Kelly and Snow, and received their pay, presumably from Chandler, of $80 each. On returning to the oil field, however, Hubbard entered the cabin that comprised their lodgings and stole Kelly’s gun and followed this by asking Snow what the serial number on his pistol was and then seized that when it was produced.
Telling his co-workers that he wanted to hightail it to Arizona and that he’d killed before, Hubbard demanded their newly procured wages, which he received. Emptying the pistols of the bullets, he took out a Winchester rifle and, uttering another warning, and headed out. At the time, a voluminous amount of rainfall caused significant flooding that remains the heaviest on record for a full season since official documentation began in 1877, so there was a delay in Chandler getting to Los Angeles to report the crime.
The Anaheim Gazette of 1 March, however, reported that the crime actually took place at the Puente field and, in the same issue, it covered an important announcement from the San Francisco Chronicle concerning the latter’s report that “a project is on foot to develop and work the oil territory situated east of Los Angeles, in the Puente and Santa Ana hills . . . the plan is to develop a stock company, to which the present plant, with about 1000 acres of oil-bearing country will be sold.”
The Chronicle continued that payment for the land was in the new company’s stock and additional shares were to be sold to raise funds for more well drilling. It was observed that “the wells which have been sunk so far have all struck oil, for the lands and rocks of the whole district are saturated with the fluid.” To this, the Gazette added,
The facts of the case are that a corporation, known as the Chandler Oil Company, the stockholders of which are the Chaffey Bros. of Ontario, Mr. Chandler and others, have purchased the interest of all the other owners in the wells; and as the incorporation has plenty of that most necessary factor in the development of all mines—money—there is reason to hope that the vigorous application of that potent lever will result in finding a profitable flow of oil. Preparations are now being made to sink a new well, and the drilling in the old well will go on continuously. They have now on hand 140 barrels of oil worth $12 per barrel.
Prior posts here have presented some of the history of the brothers George and William Chaffey, who, just prior to their involvement with Chandler (George Chaffey was also a Boyle Heights resident of many years), established the towns of Etiwanda (now part of Rancho Cucamonga) and Ontario. Clearly, the Chaffeys entered into the Petrolia project with some funding to boost Chandler’s ongoing efforts there.
Another interesting element of the work being conducted during this period came in the 6 March edition of the Herald, which remarked that the citizens of Anaheim, the nearest town to Petrolia, “are a very careful, frugal people,” whose investments in vineyards were such that they “now have the richest settlement per capita of any town in California.”
One example of the “watchful care” practiced by the viticulturists was “shown in the recent purchase of a quantity of crude petroleum oil from the Chandler & Bower well at Petrolia, for the purpose of burning in the vineyards in case a cold wave should follow this very warm and wet period.” The weather cycle might have been an “atmospheric river” during what is often called the “Pineapple Express,” while the use of the oil was much like the smudge pots later used in citrus groves.
Just over a week later, the Herald reported on the formation of the Chandler Oil Company, noting that George Chaffey was its president, while Charles H. Howland of the Los Angeles Electric Company—which Chaffey established and which introduced electric light masts for city streets—was secretary and Chandler the superintendent.
Observing that demand for oil much outpaced supply, the paper lionized Chandler for successfully bringing in four wells and noted his 19 years of experience in the industry in Canada, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, as well as locally. After identifying the bright future for the company and its Soquel Canyon wells at Petrolia, the paper concluded by remarking that the firm’s officers were shared with the electric utility and that it “is likely to become one of the great elements of prosperity to the city of Los Angeles.”
In its edition of 13 April, the Herald stated that “the Chandler Oil Company . . . has completed its financial arrangements with capitalists” and that the first well was having new tubing installed, while the second was drilled down to 150 feet, with “machinery and everything necessary to continue drilling night and day now being on the ground” so that “work is to be vigorously pushed.” Separately, it was noted that Chandler and Rowland were working to fix flood-damaged roads at Puente so they could ship oil from full tanks.
Likely as a way to raise cash for the further development of the Petrolia project, Chandler issued, two days later, an advertisement offering nearly 650 acres of lands in that area with half of that in Telegraph Canyon at $45 an acre, 240 acres in Soquel Canyon at $80 an acre and 80 acres in Brea Canyon (though whether this was the original one in what is now Tonner Canyon or the current is not known) at $60 per acre.
Chandler, who provided his post office box address as well as noted that interested parties could go to his Boyle Heights house (no address apparently needed) or the Herald office, added,
These lands are in the heart of the petroleum oil belt, with acres of asphaltum or brea beds and numerous oil springs. Near these lands is one producing oil well with two more being drilled [presumably these were at the Puente field].
Shallow wells of heavy lubricating oil can be obtained at slight depths on all of these lands.
In the Herald‘s 28 April issue, the paper mentioned that Chandler hoped to have an engine hauled from Chaffey’s Ontario townsite to Petrolia, but the roads were in terrible condition, likely because of the winter flooding, while work on the first well was being done with a spring pole, yielding some 20 barrels of oil over two days.
A few days later, the paper informed readers that ” a new use for petroleum is to spread it on the shingle roofs of buildings” to enhance the durability of the material (though surely also increasing the risk of the devastation of fire!) It added that “the heavy oils of Petrolia are specially adapted to this purpose” and that this “should add value to the oil products of Los Angeles.”
In its edition of 13 May, the Herald remarked that the second Petrolia well hit gas and oil at 240 feet and added “it is needless to say that he is happy and will put down another well.” Four days later, the Gazette observed that a visitor to the field was Lyman Stewart, who was largely unknown at the time though invested in wells in Newhall and Ventura, but who went on to be the enormously successful president of Union Oil Company.
Just over a week later, in its “Notes from Petrolia,” the paper stated that the situation there “appears to have settled down to a steady and permanent business that is encouraging and will soon be very rewarding,” noting that storage tanks were filled with crude from the first well with more on order. The second well was down to 250 feet and contained ten feet of oil with the expectation that a lighter grade would soon be encountered with further drilling.
Meanwhile, a third well site was located and a portable rig was to join the existing pair of engines so that shallow wells could be sunk throughout the 1,000 acres owned by the Chandler firm. It was expected that there would be fifty such wells “and the greatest center for lubricating and fuel oil in the United States will be established at that place and La Puente adjoining.”
Moreover, a still and refining apparatus were acquired and it was expected that, within days, lubricating oil would be processed and increase the value per barrel from $5 to five times that amount. This led the Herald to claim that “with these steps accomplished the oil industry will stand on its feet as one of the permanent sources of wealth and prosperity of this county.”
While Puente did not yet have an engine for pumping at the wells, meaning there was “not enough vigor displayed in pumping the wells and shipping it,” the paper commented that “at Petrolia the case is different.” With the Chandler company moving aggressively, there was a movement “to establish a great and permanent productive and manufacturing industry, and [it is] already assured of success,” so that “Los Angeles will be hereafter known as the great oil center of the Pacific slope.”
In a piece titled “Progress at Petrolia” in its 26 June edition, the Herald commented that Chandler was in Los Angeles and stated that he’d been refining crude and converted a dark brown and green substance into “a beautiful colorless lubricating oil, with an inoffensive odor,” though after processing 20 barrels soldering melted in portions of the pipe. The superintendent was in town to get those repaired. Notably, the article continued,
It appears that the refinery was for distilling grapes into brandy, which did not require the same heat as the distillation of oil, so the soldered joints that answered the requirements of distilling brandy could not stand the heat required for oil, and brazing [with brass and zinc] has been required to take the place of solder. The experiment appears to have been entirely successful, and shows that Petrolia can produce a fine quality of refined lubricating oil.
Moreover, the paper stated that a windmill was used to operate the well pump, taking advantage of sea breezes said to blow from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. over five months in fall and summer. While this was considered cost-effective, it is a reminder of the primitive stage of petroleum prospecting in those days, as was the idea of using a brandy distiller for crude oil!
Not quite a month later, the Herald briefly noted that Chandler “has commenced a new oil well in the mouth of HERALD Cañon at Petrolia,” suggesting that the location was where Telegraph Canyon terminates at Chino Hills State Park. A 15-inch hole was down some 65 feet with a 13-inch hole to be added below, the idea being to stave off any problems with caving.
The 13 September edition of the Gazette reported that
A considerable quantity of oil has been pumped at the wells of the Chandler Oil Company near town. Upwards of a hundred barrels now await transportation to the railroad, and during the week trucks loaded with casks of oil have been a common sight passing through [Anaheim] to the depot. One car is now loaded for shipment to the Los Angeles Electric Light Company, [with] more to follow as fast as the oil can be hauled from the wells.
While two wells yielded crude, a third proved more problematic as drilling kept producing considerable amounts of water, a common enough problem. The prior week, however, a significant amount of gas was encountered, which led the paper to comment that “it appears to be a pretty well-settled fact that there is plenty of oil in the Anaheim [Chino] hills.”
The following day’s Herald put a more positive spin on these developments, suggesting that the outflow of gas from the third well was “enough to light the whole town of Anaheim” and that because “this gas is a source of wealth itself” this meant that it “appears to be a forerunner of petroleum farther down.” The paper added that “the Chandler Oil Company appear[s] to be in luck all the time,” including the the windmill-driven first well “yields a constant supply of excellent oil.”
It went on that it was two carloads of oil heading for the Angel City and the electric utility and its steam engine, and, while the company was praised for its use of wind power as “a triumph in harnessing the powers of nature to work for man without expense,” with more of these needed, the Herald ended its commentary with “the amount needed is immense, and as it is in the rocks beneath us the problem is how to get it out.”
The 24 October issue made a rather striking statement in asserting that
The region about the oil wells at Petrolia, north of Anaheim, is strikingly like the oil fields of Baku, near the Caspian Sea [the capital city of what is now Azerbaijan]. The soil is impregnated with oil, gas and asphaltum, so that the whole earth might be burned deeply down by igniting the asphaltum. The Baku region is up on the mountains overlooking the sea, like the mountains of Petrolia, and the yield of oil is enormous.
Just under a month later, the Herald reported that Chandler was in Los Angeles to inform the paper that the third well was down 450 feet “with 100 feet of oil in the same” and water shut off, as well. The goal, of course, was to get to lighter gravity oil deeper down, but it was noted that “the work of sinking wells at Petrolia is a very particular business” because of the looseness of the material which fell and damaged the tools used to drill the well.
Despite this hazard, it was offered again that “there are now three wells at Petrolia, from which petroleum could be pumped in paying quantities, which is a very encouraging showing.” Moreover, Chandler told the paper that his namesake firm was preparing a variety of oils from the site to display at the World’s Fair in New Orleans, held from mid-December until the first of June 1885.
With the heavy crude, refined lubricating, light crude, and raw and roasted asphaltum, the idea was to show the variety of oil products to be had at Petrolia and, the paper concluded, “this exhibit will be an object of much interest, and doubtless attract capital to Los Angeles to be invested in the oil development of our opulent county.”
Having come to a close for 1884, we’ll return tomorrow and continue with the post, so check back with us then.