Show california OIL RESOURCES SPECIAL correspondence san francisco cal june 25 the early history of the oil industry of california dates back a number of years when the great commercial use of crude oil as a fuel was unknown knox of pennsylvania hearing of oil indications in ventura county sent thomas bard afterwards S senator from california to sink a well on one of the so termed Alis mission sion tracts and this well known as number one was the first to be drilled in this state while the first effort did not produce the expected flow of oil the company being composed of enterprising men determined to continue drilling and resumed sinking a short distance north of well number one and met with better success this company drilled a number of wells and at the same time securing large tracts of land but portions of its holdings were sold to the agriculturalist the com az my reta retaining inin all mineral rights this land is good for farming purposes especially for beet raising as well as for oil the oil is of high gravity about 2632 degrees and commands a price of per barrel at the well at the present time a number of companies are making preparations to install drilling rigs and it is rumored that the union oil co will commence operations soon and it will have fifty rigs operating in this field the sespe cespe section or oil belt of ventura county has been the scene of a sensational strike of high gravity oil recently and the scarab oil company is producing barrels per day from a shallow depth another company in this section at a depth of feet struck a good flow of oil which is now running over the floor of the derrick the deepest well is feet with a splendid production the montebello oil co with producing wells and the scarab oil co are the operators at present in the sespe cespe the union oil co controls considerable sid erable land in this belt and when it begins drilling this region will prove to be worthy of more attention than is realized by oil men at present and splendid returns should be obtained thirty two years ago senator felton a pioneer in the oil game drilled the first well in the newhall district and it was through his efforts that the stewarts of pennsylvania invested in california oil lands Fel tons land af afterwards ter wards became part of the holdings odthe of the union oil company that oil existed in kern county was ra 0 o l vc esa es 3 D aw 4 couric co 0 tn T o 4 t at r Y 0 7 z s 50 vr r s scra as C 1 2 6 0 wela vve s 0 0 0 00 oo 00 0 0 o 0 70 sa 0 0 0 0 0 S za 0 CS fl fd F d es S 0 jr s 1 0 0 j achta CH ta ori ww ir 1 known to the inhabitants of that section in which oil seepages see pages appeared many years before any drilling was attempted the oil could be seen floating on the surface of the kern river the kern district last year was the largest producer of crude oil in Cali fronia and kern countes coun tys production amounted to 40 barrels more than one half the production of the entire state of california and more than one fifth of the total production in the united states in fact it was one eighth of the output of the world the annual production of petroleum in this state during the past five years has grown from froin to the oil valuation for 1910 exceeds that of gold by following is tile the output of oil b by dis tracts during the month of february 1911 number of production district producing wells barrels coalinga corlinga Co alinga midway kern river 1578 santa maria me kittrick sunset whittier coyote fullerton brea canyon newhall los angeles lompoc compoc 18 summerland puente santa paula 76 cat canyon 76 salt lake 5 55 5 2800 watsonville Wat sonville 3 1960 arroyo grande 2 1000 ventura co sespe cespe etc 3 not given total note ventura county fields not included in the above crude oil is being shipped to the following countries panama salvador chili hawaii and alaska and is handled by means of large freighters As a number of new oil fields are now being developed it would appear as though california oil resources are destined to continue for many years it is claimed by experts that the supply is good for fifty years G CHESTER BROWN E al |