4/19/2009
4/19/2009
4/19/2009
4/19/2009
Landmark information
- Location:
W Pico Canyon Rd, 3.3 mi W of I-5, Newhall. Site is 1.35 miles from parking area inside park - Plaque:
Other Plaque - Site:
Existing - Date First Visited:
4/19/2009 - Date Most Recently Visited:
4/19/2009 - GPS Coordinates:
N 34 22.224, W 118 37.757 - Other Designations:
National Historic Landmark
National Register of Historic Places
About this landmark
Plaque text:
First Commercial Oil Well in California
On this site stands CSO-4 (Pico No. 4), California's first commercially productive well. It was spudded in early 1876 under the direction of Demetrius G. Scofield, later to become first president of Standard Oil Company of California, and was completed at a depth of 300 feet on September 26, 1876, for an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil a day.
Later, in the same year, after the well was deepened to 600 feet, using what was perhaps the first steam rig employed in oil well drilling in California. Upon this second completion, it produced at a rate of 150 barrels a day, and is still producing after seventy-seven years.
The success of this well prompted formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, a predecessor of Standard Oil Company of California and led to the construction of the state's first refinery nearby. It was not only the discovery well of the Newhall Field, but was, indeed, a powerful stimulus to the subsequent development of the California petroleum industry.
Dedicated June 6, 1953. Standard Oil Company of California, Petroleum Production Pioneers, Inc.