PETROLEUM RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 

 years; the average probably will be 20 years or more. 

 The California fields as a whole probably will have 

 a life of from 50 to 75 years more, depending on the 

 rate of development and the effect of the water 

 troubles. 



HISTORICAL. The oil industry in California owes 

 its origin to asphaltum mining, the first definite 

 effort at development being in the Ojai Valley, Ven- 

 tura County, in 1867, when a shallow well was 

 drilled near one of the numerous brea or asphaltum 

 deposits of that region, which had been worked 

 for some time previously. Owing to the lack of 

 proper tools for operation and insufficient knowl- 

 edge concerning the handling of the heavy oil ob- 

 tained, this well was not a success. Several years 

 later, more determined development work was 

 carried on in the region of Pico Canon, in western 

 Los Angeles County, where light oil suitable for 

 refining was obtained, and a little later, develop- 

 ment work south of Santa Paula, in Ventura County, 

 and in the Puente Hills, southeast of Los Angeles, 

 was rewarded by the finding of refining oils. 



The discovery of the Los Angeles and Summer- 

 land districts in 1894 marked the beginning of the 

 fuel-oil production in California. The Coalinga 

 field was the first commercially productive district 

 in the San Joaquin Valley, producing about 14,000 

 barrels in 1896. The Kern River district was dis- 

 covered in 1900, this discovery marking the begin- 

 ning of important development and the initiation of 

 California as a factor in the world's oil production. 



There are at present nearly 300 oil-producing 

 companies operating in the State, with a combined 

 production of about 103,000,000 barrels yearly. 

 Nearly 90 per cent of this production is now con- 

 trolled by the first three groups of companies to 

 be mentioned below. The first group comprises the 

 Southern Pacific Company and its subsidiaries, the 

 Kern Trading & Oil Company and the Associated 

 Oil Company, and controls the greater portion of 

 the undeveloped land in proved territory which con- 

 tains the bulk of the fuel-oil supply of the State. 

 It also controls from 30 to 35 per cent of the pres- 

 ent production of the State. The Standard Oil Com- 

 pany early entered into the transporting, market- 

 ing, and refining of oil in California and has pipe 

 lines in every important district in the State, with 

 refineries near San Francisco and Los Angeles. It 

 controls over 30 per cent of the production of the 

 State and the greater part of the refining industry. 

 A group of companies, including the Union Oil Com- 

 pany, the General Petroleum Company, and the 



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