142 
OIL DISTRICTS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
alone contains in epitomized form a number of the conclusions of this 
eminent authority regarding the California fields as a whole. A 
brief description of the Salt Lake field is given by the writer a in Con¬ 
tributions to Economic Geology for 1905. 
A most useful bulletin relating to the technical and commercial 
phase of the oil question by Paul W. Prutzman h gives maps and 
other brief data in regard to the principal oil districts, together with 
detailed information concerning the character of the oil and its uses 
for fuel, for oiling roads, etc. 
A short bibliography of the principal papers relating to the geology 
and technology of the Los Angeles and adjacent oil districts and to the 
oil industry of California is given on pages 199-202 of this report. 
LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY. 
The Los Angeles district, comprising the productive oil fields imme¬ 
diately north and west of the city, is located from 15 to 20 miles from 
the coast in the central part of southern California. Three transcon¬ 
tinental railroads—the Southern Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe, and the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake—pass 
through it, and steamers touch at Port Los Angeles, Redondo, and San 
Pedro, its ports of entry. 
The city of Los Angeles occupies an area of about 15 square miles, 
the greater portion lying west of Los Angeles River at its debouch¬ 
ment from the low hills, which to the west pass gradually into the 
Santa Monica Range and to the east and north into the San Rafael 
Hills and Verdugo Mountains. To the southeast are the Raphetto 
Hills, which with the Puente Hills farther southeast constitute the 
connecting link between the Santa Monica and Santa Ana ranges. 
The Elysian Park hills north of the city trend northeast and south¬ 
west. Their southwestern slope is gentle and extends into the great 
Los Angeles-Santa Monica plain. Their northeastern slope is abrupt 
and parallels Los Angeles River. Northwest of the Elysian Park hills 
is the eastern extension of the Santa Monica Mountains, somewhat 
isolated from the main range by Cahuenga Pass, which trends north¬ 
westward from Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles. The mountainous 
area east of Cahuenga Pass is cut into sharp ridges and deep canyons 
and culminates in Cahuenga Peak at an elevation of 1,825 feet. 
a The Salt Lake oil field, near Los Angeles, Cal.: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 285, 1900, pp. 224-226, 
fig. 9. 
b Production and uses of petroleum in California: Bull. California State Mining Bureau No. 32, 1904, 
pp. 230, 64 figs. 
