SANTA CL ATI A VALLEY: PICO FIELDS. 
95 
productive as those on the north, yet other factors may enter into 
this difference besides the mere positions of the wells. The general 
strike of the beds in the Pico field is about N. 55°-60° W. The. dip 
north of the axis is about 55°, south of the axis 65°, though locally 
on each side it is 80°. 
The average production of the wells at the present time is from 12 to 
25 barrels, although a few yield but 1 to 5 barrels. At the start some 
wells produced as high as 80 barrels, gradually dropping to the steady 
average maintained at the present day. The oil is green in color and 
its gravity 38° to 40° B. It occurs in sandstone, conglomerate, and 
shale, but apparently the texture of the bed is without influence on 
the oil. The age of this held, or the life of its oldest well, is about 
twent - v-eight ye ars. 
DE WITT CANYON WELLS. 
The wells of Dewitt Canyon are but three in number. It is re¬ 
ported that although they afford a slight amount of oil, the yield has 
never warranted operating. The well in the main canyon is located 
immediately south of the axis of what is apparently a secondary fold 
thrown off to the north from the Pico anticline, midway between the 
Pico field and Dewitt Canyon. The other two wells were not visited 
by the writer, but probably lie somewhat to the north of the axis of 
this fold. The formation penetrated is principally the brown shale 
of the Vaqueros. The strike of the axis of the branch anticline is 
more nearly east and west than that of the main fold to the south. 
The beds south of the axis dip 40°, and those north of the axis 45° 
to overturned. The well in the main canyon is said to have pro¬ 
duced 1 barrel of black oil a day, of a gravity of 20° B. 
The subordinate anticline on which the Dewitt wells are located 
may be traced eastward as far as Wiley Canyon, but no further 
developments have taken place along it, and its appearance is in many 
places that of a mere crumple rather than of a well-formed fold. 
TOWSLEY CANYON WELLS. 
In Towsley Canyon 6 or 7 wells have been drilled, all but 1 being 
near the axis of the Pico anticline. Three of the wells lie on the 
southern slope of the fold, the remainder on the northern slope. The 
strike of the beds is about N. 55° W. The northerly dip varies from 
25° to 65°, the southerly from 25° to vertical and overturned. The 
wells near the axis of the fold yield oil, water, and gas, the 3 north of 
the axis producing somewhat in excess of those south of it; all, how¬ 
ever, are small. One well, at a distance of about half a mile south of 
the axis, is dry. Seepages of oil occur on the axis on both sides of the 
canyon. The strata in the heart of the anticline are brown shale 
interbedded with siliceous shale and carrying hard yellow silico-cal- 
careous beds more or less in the form of concretions. The gravity of 
the oil in this canyon is 26° B. 
