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SHOULD We Keep Drilling, Baby? THE DISTRIBUTION OF OIL WELLS IN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES7/31/2020 SHOULD We Keep Drilling, Baby? THE DISTRIBUTION OF OIL WELLS IN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES Los Angeles County (and Southern California in general) is rich in oil, and as such is home to a vast overlay of oil fields. Angelenos may have seen them driving through the South Bay, Santa Clarita, or Long Beach. Others may be familiar with the smaller fields hidden in plain sight amongst developed urban areas throughout Los Angeles County. In fact, as we will learn, Southern California is home to some of the largest oil fields in the United States. Los Angeles County by itself contains over 20,000 oil wells disseminated over 70 oil fields and 4,753 square miles. Most of these oil wells are out in the open, but many are hidden in plain sight within developed urban areas. CLICK "READ MORE" TO TURN THE PAGE! V V V V There are many online resources with a wealth of information about the dozens of oils fields inside Los Angeles County. Paul Wycoff Prutzman and F.M. Hamilton’s 1913 chronology Petroleum In Southern California is a valuable resource for the names, dates, and locations behind early oil wells in Los Angeles. There are hardback 1st Editions available for between $80 to $150. The book has been preserved and reprinted, first through the Hathi Trust, and then through Palala Press. Many contemporary resources, however, turn up one recurring factual inaccuracy that is the basis for this month’s piece: the claim that “only one oil well remains active in the Los Angeles Oil Field at 4th Street and Mountain View Avenue.” The wording of this claim is misleading for a few reasons. Firstly, there are several remaining wells in the oil field formally referred to as the “Los Angeles Downtown Oil Field.” Secondly, the wording may lead some to think that there are no other wells operating within the City or County of Los Angeles. Lastly, many contemporary sources conflate active, idle, inactive, and abandoned oil wells. This article contains some GIS maps I generated illustrating the wide-level and micro-level distribution of oil wells in Southern California. The article also contains information on some oil fields that are most central to the City of Los Angeles. Later, there will be commentary on maintaining oil fields in developing urban areas, and the implications that this has on the health of its inhabitants and upon the environment. Distribution of Oil Wells and Oil Fields in Los Angeles County: Central Los Angeles The two largest oil fields near Downtown Los Angeles are the "Los Angeles City," "Los Angeles Downtown," "Las Cienegas," and "Salt Lake" oil fields. Oil fields located further away but with much larger land areas include the "Beverly Hills," "Cheviot Hills," "Inglewood," "Playa Del Rey," "San Vicente," Sawtelle," and "Union Station" oil fields. Oil fields that were abandoned at the time the 2016 shapefile was created are the "Boyle Heights," "Potrero," "Sherman," and "Venice Beach" oil fields. The Los Angeles City Oil Field is bound roughly by Temple Street (north), 6th Street (south), Figueroa Street (east), and Vermont Avenue (west). It is four a polygon that is four miles at its longest (east to west) and about 3/4 of a mile at its deepest (north to south). Los Angeles oil deposits were discovered, first, by the Tongva and their predecessors the Chumash, as seepages of crude oil that they used to waterproof their roofs and boats. The first actual "well" was dug by a one M.R. Dryden on Coronado Street, just south of 3rd Street. Dryden landed himself a steady gig providing crude oil to the city for street paving. It is unclear whether Dryden knew the extent of the field, but a tract and a street were named after him anyway (Dryden Tract and Dryden Place, respectively). A second well came in the 1860s at the intersection of Temple and Figueroa Streets (now Temple and Boylston Streets) but this one was abandoned to the overwhelming sulfur gas coming from the sources; technologies were not available to cap these leaks, which later in the 20th century would have disastrous consequences (search: 1985 Ross Dress-For-Less explosion). In 1890, the Ruhland Oil Co. and Maltman Drilling & Gas Co. became the first developers to produce clockwork quantities of oil. The tremendous extent of the field still appeared to be largely unknown. Finally, in 1892-93, Edward Doheny realized both the immense potential of the Los Angeles City Oil Field and the optimal methods to tap into the anticlinial formations of the Los Angeles Basin. His first well, completed in 1893, was built for $1,500 on a plot of land that cost him $400 at the Trisection of Lake Shore Avenue, State Street, and Patton Avenue (now the trisection of Glendale Boulevard, Colton Street, and Patton Avenue). The completion of Doheney’s first wells coincided with Los Angeles' first major growth spurt. However, under the planning codes of the time, there were no regulations prohibiting the construction of oil wells--even on small residential parcels. Thus, from 1892 until the mid-1910s, hundreds of wells were built between Temple and 6th Streets, creating one of the most productive oil fields in all of California. The number of wells and level of production both peaked in 1901, over 1,100 wells produced 1.8 million barrels alone. According to R.E. Crowder in his 1961 report Los Angeles City Oil Field Summary of Operations, the hundreds of wells were owned by 200 separate individual and corporate parties, a unique example of a localized economy with many competitors and relatively few dominant producers. ___ Both the "Los Angeles City" and "Los Angeles Downtown Oil Fields" are anticlinial, and are the product of alluvium and terrace deposits from the Miocene, Pleistocene, and Pliocene eras. In Los Angeles, oil is relatively shallow to the surface, with average depths between 900 and 1,500 feet. Central Los Angeles County: Currently Active Oil Wells Accounts of Los Angeles' "Downtown" and "City" oil fields since 1890 document over 500 wells operating at some point or the other. The vast majority have been abandoned through filling or capping. This was out of necessity, as not all wells were "gushers" and dried up relatively quickly. In 1912, Prutzman reported more than three hundred inactive wells in the Central Los Angeles area. Using the "Oil Wells Inside Los Angeles County" shapefile (available at https://egis-lacounty.hub.arcgis.com) we can run a query that shows only the wells classified as "A" or "active." We can see active wells in the Los Angeles City Oil Field other than the 4th Street and Mountain View Avenue well. There are three active wells on Rockwood Street and one active well near Griffith Park Boulevard and Hyperion Avenue. As for the Los Angeles Downtown Oil Field, our query reveals 13 wells operating, mostly hidden, near Hill Street and 14th Street. I always wondered what those were. Two of the largest oil fields west of Downtown Los Angeles are the "Salt Lake" and "Beverly Hills" oil fields. Developed in response to nearby oil booms, the Salt Lake oil field predates much of the Westside by 30 years. The first oil seepages were discovered in 1890 along Wilshire Boulevard near present-day Fairfax Avenue. The productive range was eventually determined to be the area along Beverly Boulevard between Highland and La Cienega, stopping against the Santa Monica Mountains. Early proprietors were Amalgamated Oil, Arcturus Oil, Garbutt Oil, A.F Gilmore, Gradnor Oil, McDor Oil, Rancho La Brea Oil Co., and Wilson & Wheat Co. Many of these companies, like MacFarland Drilling and Gilmore Drilling, operated until very recently, and at least one, Arcturus Oil Co., is still incorporated. Among the remaining wells in the Salt Lake Oil Fields, there are 52 operating next to the Beverly Center. The Beverly Hills Oil Field was discovered in 1900 by W.W. Orcutt. In the spirit of "keepin' em' waiting," the Beverly Hills oil field has continued to reveal new sources as recently as 1966. The Beverly Hills Oil Field’s unusual location within an upper class urban area with little undeveloped space presents unique challenges. Concentrations of wells are located at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard at Heath Avenue (on the grounds of Beverly Hills High School), Pico Boulevard at Doheney Drive, Pico Boulevard at Genesee Avenue, and Pico Boulevard at Century Hill East. Since many of the residents of the area own the mineral rights to their properties, they are entitled to royalty payments from the oil produced from underneath their land. This 1,200 acre field, unlike the Salt Lake and Downtown Los Angeles Oil Fields, contains mostly "active" wells (as opposed to "idle," "inactive," or "abandoned" wells). Currently, 97 wells are registered with the Conservation as "active." The field is also noteworthy amongst locals for its drilling islands disguised as towers. These towers may as well be definitive of an architectural subtype in and of itself: Potempkin Oil Rig Vernacular. The Beverly Hills field is very productive, although the annual yield has dropped from 1,904,000 barrels in 2005 to the mid-hundreds of thousands in the past few years. Other Oil Fields in Central Los Angeles County The South Central Oil Fields: - The Washington Boulevard/4th Avenue island, containing 7 wells; - The Adams-Gramercy island, with 29 wells; - The Jefferson-Budlong island, also with 29 wells. Oil Fields and Oil Wells in the San Fernando Valley Oil Fields and Oil Wells in the San Gabriel Valley and Southeast Los Angeles County Oil Fields and Oil Wells in the South Bay, Harbor, and Gateway Communities of Los Angeles County
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