72 
OIL DISTRICTS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
Piru creeks. Nowhere, however, is the fold more perfectly and sym¬ 
metrically developed than at the head of Modelo Canyon, nor is the 
lower Modelo sandstone anywhere more typically represented than in 
this region. The exact horizon of the sandstone that outcrops at the 
divide between the east and west drainage is probably in the lower 
half of the sandstone member, but owing to the steepness of the dip on 
both limbs of the anticline, amounting to 70° or 80°, it is questionable 
if the wells have penetrated to the base of the formation, although a 
depth of 1,500 feet has been attained. 
The length of the Modelo anticline is somewhat uncertain; to the 
west, beyond Hopper Canyon, it may pass into one of the folds of that 
region, while to the east it may prove to be continuous with the anti¬ 
cline that lies immediately south of Holser Canyon. The Modelo 
wells are located about the middle of this fold and on either side of its 
axis. This is one of the few instances in the Coast Range where oil 
wells have been developed midway of a fold or in such close proximity 
to its axis. It may be worthy of note that the Modelo anticline lies 
but a short distance north of a line of sharp crushing and folding, thus 
repeating a relationship between the productive anticlines and faults 
that has been established in several of the California fields, notably 
those of the Puente Hills. The developed area of this district is thus 
far confined to the lower Modelo sandstone, but the structure is con¬ 
tinued eastward into the overlying shale and the upper sandstone. 
The relative positions of the wells along this anticlinal fold in 
Modelo Canyon, considered with the depths at which oil is obtained, 
are of interest; for instance, between the lowest and the highest well 
there is a difference in altitude of nearly 800 feet; between well No. 
18, the lowest, and No. 19, at an elevation slightly below the highest 
well, there is a distance of perhaps 700 feet; in No. 18, with a depth of 
1,090 feet, the lowest oil occurred at 930 feet; in No. 19 the lowest oil 
was found at 805 feet, at the bottom of the well. This would indicate 
a curve of the oil table, which corresponds somewhat with the slope 
of the present surface along the anticline. 
The general trend of the axis of the Modelo anticline is but 3° or 4° 
north of west, although in approaching Hopper Canyon and the val¬ 
ley of Piru Creek the direction becomes N. 80° W. 
The wells of the Modelo Oil Company number 24. One is drilled 
directly in the divide between Modelo and Hopper canyons, two a 
short distance west of this divide, and the remainder east of the divide 
for half a mile down Modelo Canyon. The accompanying three logs 
from the records of the company have been selected to show the com¬ 
position of the Modelo sandstone. Well No. 14 lies near the middle 
of the group, No. 24 is about 500 feet west of the divide, and No. 18 
is the easternmost well in the proved area. 
