I 
96 OIL DISTRICTS OP SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
WILEY CANYON WELLS. 
The wells of Wiley Canyon lie 200 or 300 feet south of the anti¬ 
clinal axis. The Pacific Coast Oil Company drilled 13 wells in this 
canyon ranging from 600 to 1,626 feet in depth®. Only 3, however, 
were found productive. The gravity of the oil is reported to be 30° B. 
At the time of the writer’s visit to the locality the Wiley Canyon wells 
were idle. 
RICE CANYON WELLS. 
The producing wells of Rice Canyon include 2 of the Pacific Coast 
Oil Company and 6 belonging to W. P. Rice. The Pacific Coast wells 
are in the bottom of the canyon, the Rice wells on the hill to the east. 
All are in brown shale bearing gray-yellow concretions of limestone. 
These wells lie on the south limb of the Pico anticline, comparatively 
near the axis. The dip on this side is 22° to 35°, on the north side 
25° to 75°. The crest of the anticline over an area 100 yards wide is 
considerably crumpled. The Rice wells vary in depth from 825 to 
1,600 feet. They yield gas, oil, and water. In No. 5, the deepest 
well at the time of the writer’s visit, oil sands are reported at 800 and 
1,550 feet. The yield of the wells is small. 
Farther up Rice Canyon, one-half mile above the sharp turn from 
east to north, is the Newhall well, 1,500 feet deep, but without oil. 
The strike of the beds is here N. 65° W. and the dip 60° S. The well 
is only about 100 feet north of the axis of the Pico syncline, which 
lies parallel with the anticline at a distance of half a mile. The 
strata penetrated by this well are sandstone, with some shale. The 
horizon is considerably higher than that of the Rice wells. 
EAST CANYON WELLS. 
There are only a few wells in East Canyon, and but little informa¬ 
tion is available concerning them. Of the two observed by the 
writer, one is about 400 feet south of the axis of the Pico anticline, in 
heavy brown shale; the other about an equal distance north, in strata 
much the same. The southern well is known as the Bradshaw and is 
said to have yielded a small amount of black oil. The one north of 
the axis is reported dry. 
ELSMERE FIELD. 
LOCATION. 
The Elsmere field comprises that portion of the Newhall district 
lying east of Newhall Creek and extending as far east as Los Pinetos 
Canyon. The productive territory is confined to the northwest end 
of the San Gabriel Range, which terminates at Fernando Pass and 
Newhall Creek. 
a Watts, w. L., Oil and gas yielding formations of California: Bull. California State Mining Bureau 
No. 19, 1900, p. 69. 
