Manhattan Beach Area Oil Exploration History
by
Bonnie Beckerson, President
Manhattan Beach Historical
Society
I just finished a research
project that took six months and part of it was to see if oil had been
discovered on the old Duncan Ranch.
As
far as I know and I have asked others to confirm my findings, there have
been six oil wells drilled in what is now the City of Manhattan Beach, California.
The original owner of the
Duncan Ranch was Colonel Blanton Duncan from Louisville. He was the first
to purchased a large piece of Rancho Sausal Redondo which is part of what is
now called Manhattan Beach. Between 1895 and 1896, he purchased 186 acres
of sand dunes. He bought a house on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles where
he and his wife lived. In 1900, he decided to lease part of the land for
oil speculation to some of his friends. He worked a deal out where he
would receive a large portion of the profits if they struck oil. For some
reason, they never drilled and in 1902, the Colonel died. His daughter
dissolved the lease due to lack of performance and sold the property.
The property changed hands
several times and just before 1920 was sold to a George Martin who leased
it out for oil drilling. The property was now referred to as the Martin
Ranch. In 1926, a well was dug by the Julian Petroleum
Company for G.W. Johnston. It was referred to as the
Julian well. Salt water invaded the well.
In 1926, a well was sunk by
H.A. Bardeen, president of the Bardeen Oil
Company
a thousand feet away from the Johnson well. Salt water invaded the
well.
In 1926, a well was sunk at
Marine Avenue and Poinsettia Avenue by Julian Petroleum.
They hit gray water
sand at 5530 feet. They abandoned the well.
In 1934, between 31st
Street and Blanche Road, the Centralia Oil Company
sunk a well and
hit salt water. They had drilled down more than 7000 feet.
In 1935, a wild cat oil
well was drilled by the Bethlehem Exploration Company in the same hole as the
1926 Julian well.
The reasoning being that 1930s technology was better than 1920s
technology. They drilled down to a depth of 6920 feet and hit salt
water. They tried cementing a wall to block the water invasion but the
cement wouldn't set. They took the well down.
In 1941, a permit was given
to the Dominguez Extension Oil Company.
The well was sunk 1,050 feet east of
Sepulveda Blvd. and 400 feet south of Marine Avenue. Salt water invaded
the well.
Developers wanted to build
houses and they couldn't if the property was tied up with an oil lease.
The city passed an ordinance against oil drilling.
The city did not have their
own water supply and sunk several water wells. Salt water invaded
the wells. The city has a map giving the location of the water
wells. They have no record of the oil wells.
Chevron in El Segundo has no
record of the oil wells probably because they weren't their
wells. The only records are from the newspapers which followed the
progress of the wells with interest.
Oil was discovered in the nearby cities of El
Segundo, Lawndale and Hermosa Beach but not in Manhattan Beach.
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In 1892, Doheney struck
oil in Los Angeles at a depth of 160 feet. Los Angeles became
cluttered with oil wells. They were in people's front yards, backyards
and on the beach in Venice and Santa Monica. There were hundreds of
them. The royalty checks were welcome but the tranquility of
the land was destroyed. By 1901, there was a glut on the market and crude
oil dropped from $1.80 a barrel to $0.15 a barrel. Possibly this is why
they did not drilled on the Duncan property in the very early 1900s.
Manhattan Beach might have
become an industrial city much like El Segundo if they had struck
oil while drilling in the 1920s and 1930s. The
community was spared of industrialization because of the invasion of salt
water.
