Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-03
A PROMISING opBNISG FOR CAPITAL.

The growth Of the oil interests of Los
Angeles county and of Southern Califor-
MIA has not perhaps been as rapid as it
ought to have been, but it has neverthe-
less been gratifying. In 1876 the total
yield of petroleum in the whole Of
Southern California amounted to about
eighteen barrels day. The probability
is that, taking into the count the yield
of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, it
now foots up two thousand barrels day,
and this is but bagatelle compared to
the yield which will be chronicled three
or four years from this current year of
grace. 1t is a singular thing that our
own capitalists never seem to care about
developing the natural riches that
abound on all hands in the immediate
vicinity of this city. They were indif-
ferent to the opportunities for profitable
investment in the. gold and silver mines
Of Arizona, although, fortunately for US,
the Girds and Schieffelins who made
money in the sunkissed land to a great
extent settled here, or in territory tribu-
tary to Los Angeles. If the oil wells of
the Pice district had waited for devel-
opment until Los Angeles capital
could have been enlisted in
their exploitation they would doubtless
have been lying perdu today. They
were developed by San Francisco capi-
tai. 1t was the money of Senator @. N.
FELTON, and of the Messrs. Scofeld &
Tevis, San Francisco capitalists, that
made ii possible to create reliable pro-
ducing oil district in Los Angeles county.
An advance in annual production from
five or six thousand barrels of petro-
leum in Southern California to seven or
eight hundred thousand barrels, in ff-
teen years, is pretty creditable prog
ress, and yet it is as nothing to what
would have been witnessed here if our
local capitalists had cordially taken hold
of the matter and co-operated with the
enterprising capitalists from abroad who
have accomplished the grand results
that have already been recorded. There
is scarcely the shadow of a doubt that
enormous deposits of petroleum under
lie the city of Los Angeles, and there is
equally little doubt that natural
gas in paying quantities can be had here
if the proper energy and liberality were
shown by our people. Petroleum wells
up to the very surface of the earth
have been discovered in at least
two portions of the city of Los An
.geles. The existence of natural gas
within and Immediately outside of our
city, limits has. been known for years.
At Santa F6 Springs, thirteen miles or
SO south of the city, natural gas exudes
from the ground in great quantities.
The probability is extreme that de-
termined effort would develop in the
immediate neighborhood of Los Angeles
supply of natural gas as large as that
found in the vicinity of Pittsburg, and
which has been an untold source OF
wealth to that place. 1t was years
after the discovery OF petroleum before
natural gas was thought of as either a
fuel or an illuminant in that city. 1t is
an accompaniment OF petroleum, and all
that is needed to discover and utilize it
here is energy and money.
While we have some doubts as to our
own capitalists undertaking the develop
ment of natural gas, Los Angeles is
filling up with people possessing grit
and money, and we have hopes from that
quarter of the development of this
splendid source of wealth.