198 
OIL DISTRICTS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
PRODUCTION. 
Owing to the large number of independent companies operating 
in the Los Angeles district, it has been impossible to obtain even 
approximately complete data concerning the annual production. 
However, the following figures derived from various sources are prob¬ 
ably as nearly correct as any that are available: 
Approximate production of petroleum in Los Angeles district, 1895 to 1905, inclusive. 
Date. 
Field. 
Produc¬ 
tion. 
1895 a . 
Central. 
Barrels. 
729,695 
900,000 
1,072,000 
1,168,000 
1,032,036 
1,500,000 
2,500,000 
1896 b . 
.do. 
1897 c. 
Largely from central. 
1898c. 
About 50 per cent central, 50 per cent eastern. 
1899c. 
43 per cent central. 30 per cent eastern, 27 per cent western. 
1900 b . 
Central, eastern, and western. 
1901 b . 
.do. 
1902 d .. 
Central, eastern, western, and Salt Lake. 
3,074,000 
2, 468,000 
1,199,850 
2, 672, 349 
18,315,930 
1903 d. 
.do. 
1904 e. 
... do. 
1905 c. 
.do. 
a Watts, W. L., Bull. California State Mining Bureau No. 19, 1897, p. 21. 
b Estimated by the writer. 
c Watts,~W. L., Bull. California State Mining Bureau No. 19, 1900, p. 53. 
d Estimate of central, eastern, and western fields by Charles A. Blackmar, city oil inspector; Salt 
Lake field estimated by the writer. 
* Statistics compiled by division of mining and mineral resources, U. S. Geological Survey. 
STORAGE. 
The storage facilities of the eastern, central, and western fields are 
largely confined to wooden tanks in the producing territory. Many 
of these are small, so that as a rule the operators are unable to hold 
their product for any considerable length of time. The storage capac¬ 
ity of the refineries in the city is also small, few of the individual 
refineries having a capacity of over 25,000 barrels. 
The storage capacity of the Salt Lake field, on the contrary, is 
about 390,000 barrels. Steel tanks, holding 20,000 to 55,000 barrels, 
are largely used in this field, although smaller wooden tanks are 
employed in a few instances. 
TRANSPORTATION. 
The oil from the city fields is in large part used locally, being deliv¬ 
ered in tank wagons. No pipe lines of any great length exist in the 
city. The largest is the Union Oil Company’s line, from First street 
and Lake Shore avenue, in the central field, to the Southern Pacific 
Railroad at Palmetto and San Mateo streets, a distance of about 4 
miles.® An 8-inch pipe line connects the Salt Lake field directly with 
Los Angeles, and smaller lines run from some of the properties to 
tanks and racks on the line of the Los Angeles Pacific Electric Rail¬ 
road immediately south of the fields. 
o Watts, W. L., Bull. California State Mining Bureau No. 11,1900, p. 109. 
