STRUCTURE AND CONDITIONS AFFECTING PRESENCE OF OIL. 89 
the crest of the ridge between Canada del Gato and Solomon Canyon 
and for a considerable distance to the east is coincident with the 
highest topographic features. In general, the anticline plunges from 
the southeast toward the northwest, the lowest beds along its axis 
being exposed in the region of Canada Arena. The Fernando is the 
only formation exposed along the entire length of the anticline. 
\\ ith the exception of some diatomaceous beds which closely resemble 
and were at first mistaken for Monterey shale, the rocks exposed are 
sandstone and conglomerate. 
The northwestern portion of the fold, from the Howard Canyon 
road northwestward, is a gentle arch with dips on the flanks rarely 
more than 5°, except northwest of Los Alamos, where the dips of 
some of the youngest beds exposed change abruptly from 3° or 4° to 
15°. The northwestern extremity of the anticline fades off into the 
low slopes toward the Santa Maria Valley. From Howard Canyon 
eastward the southerly dip increases rapidly in steepness until in the 
region of Canada de los Coches it attains a slope of 25° to 35°, the 
steepest dip being at the junction of the canyon last named and 
Canada Arena. Although the southerly dip increases in steepness 
toward the east along the anticline, the dip of the northern slope 
becomes less, ranging from 12° or 15° in the region of Howard Can¬ 
yon to 3° or 4° just west of Canada Arena, and finally changing to a 
gentle southward slope in the region of Cuaslui Creek, thus fading 
into the southern flank of one of the folds emanating from the region 
at the head of Round Corral Canyon and Asphaltum Creek. In the 
region of Cuaslui Creek the flexure is therefore not a typical anti¬ 
cline in the regularly accepted sense, the horizontal being used as 
datum, but in every other way it conforms to the characters of such 
a structural feature. 
On the ridge north of the central portion of Canada del Gato and 
extending indefinitely northwestward out into the Santa Maria Val¬ 
ley a mile or so southwest of Gary is a low anticline, the southeastern 
end of which merges into the almost horizontal northern flank of the 
Gato Ridge anticline. At no place along its course is this structural 
feature well developed, although it appears to be fairly persistent 
for a considerable distance. 
Evidences of petroleum .—Very little surface evidence of the exist¬ 
ence of petroleum in the Gato Ridge anticline is to be had along its 
course. Near its axis in Cuaslui Creek and north of the head of 
Howard Canyon, however, the Fernando shale is slightly bitumi¬ 
nous. The Pezzoni well, in Canada Arena; the Williams well, near 
Canada del Gato, 1J miles west of the Howard Canyon road, and the 
Palmer Oil Company’s well No. 1, 1 mile west of the lower part of 
Canada del Gato, all approximately a mile north of the anticline, 
offer indisputable evidence of the presence of the oil-bearing rocks 
