98 
OIL DISTRICTS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
It is particularly marked in the varying beds upon which the Fer¬ 
nando rocks rest, showing that the earlier beds of this formation were 
deposited across the upturned edges of the Vaqueros. 
The source of oil in the Elsmere anticline is in part, doubtless, from 
the sandstone and conglomerate immediately overlying the Vaqueros, 
but the numerous wells in Elsmere Canyon draw their supplies from 
Vaqueros strata. 
OIL WELLS. 
The Elsmere oil field is developed in the broad sweep of the strata 
about the west end of the Elsmere anticline. The companies operat¬ 
ing, named in order from south to north, include the Enterprise, 
Zenith, Eureka Crude, Pearl, Santa Ana, and Pacific Coast. The 
Pacific Coast wells are confined chiefly to the slopes and bottom of 
Elsmere Canyon, although a few are ranged along the crest and west¬ 
ern face of Elsmere Ridge. The Santa Ana Company has three wells 
high up on the north point of this ridge, while the wells of the other 
companies are ranged along a tributary of Newhall Creek, west of 
Elsmere Ridge, in proximity to the Los Angeles wagon road. Roughly, 
the wells are ranged concentrically about the anticline, the Enter¬ 
prise, Pearl, and Zenith lying farthest out and to the west, the wells of 
Elsmere Ridge in a circle somewhat within these, and those of the 
Pacific Coast Oil Company in Elsmere Canyon nearest the heart of 
the fold. In addition to the above Nettleton & Kellerman have a 
group of three wells a little farther north and the New Century and 
Freeman & Nelson oil companies a few wells in Placerita Canyon, 5 
miles east of Newhall. The well of the California Oil Company, high 
up on the slopes of the San Gabriel Range, is said to penetrate a few 
feet of still older beds of the Vaqueros and then to pass into granite. 
ENTERPRISE, PEARL, AND ZENITH WELLS. 
The Enterprise well and one of the Pearl Oil Company near by, 
both but a few feet south of the axis of the anticline, are said to be 
between 800 and 1,000 feet deep and to have failed to find oil. The 
Zenith Company, one-half mile north, has two wells which penetrate 
yellow sand of considerable stability; running sand, soft, blue, and 
bearing cobbles; blue shale or adobe, as it is called by the drillers; 
and at the bottom of the wells, 600 to 630 feet below the surface, other 
sands, together with a few “ hard shells.” The supply is derived from 
the lowermost sands of these wells, beneath about 230 to 270 feet of 
“ adobe.” The production of the wells was at first 15 barrels per day, 
but is now 10 barrels. The gravity of the oil is 19° B. 
Two other wells of* the Pearl Oil Company, adjacent to the Zenith 
wells, have a depth of 665 and 720 feet. The deeper is as yet unfin¬ 
ished. Adobe is reported in it from 370 feet down. In the other 
