The herald., 1894-05-23
WILL BUILD AN OIL REFINERY
Result of the Chemists Tests of
Los Angeles Oil.
The Finest Lubricating Oil Found in
California.
The New Field Is Now Producing Over
q Hundred Barrels of OIL and q
Refinery WIN Be Built as
Soon Possible.

The oil boom that has recently struck
this city is not going to die out; that
much is certain. 1t can now be stated
with certainty that an oil refinery will
be built at the oil fields back OF Second
street park, and that it will be in opera
ton just as soon as the machinery can
be brought here, the building be built
and the machinery be put in place.
This interesting piece of news comes
as the direct result of the Investigations
of 9. E. Shaw, chemist of Santa Paula
who arrived in this city yesterday and
Immediately commenced an investiga-
ton on scientific princi pies of the product
of the wells now in operation in the new
fields. Mr.. Shaw comes direct from the
oil fields at Santa Paula, and is perfectly
familiar with the nature of the product
of those wells as we'll as with the oil pro-
duced at Puente and other oil fields of
| California. Mr.. Shaw spent all of yes
terday in his investigation Of the nature
of the Los Angeles oil. and the result was
most gratifying to the owners of the
wells.
Turner Brothers, the gentlemen who
seem now to have the cream OF the
producing wells in the field. are the
gentlemen who brought Mr.. Shaw here,
and it is these gentlemen who propose
to establish the refinery upon the show
ing made by him. The resulta of the ex.
periments made yesterday convince
these gentlemen that the oil is more
valuable for luSricating purposes than
any other oil produced in California,
and therefore that refinery would be
not only practical but necessary in order
! to obtain the full value of the product.
Yesterday Turner Brothers were not
prepared to say what capacity the REIN
cry will have nor how much it will cost,
and could not say just when il would be
in running order, but they were not
backward in saying that it would be
built as speedily as possible, and that
it's capacity would be governed by the
product of the district and the extent of
the developments carried on.
Mr.. Shaw announced to the HERALD
reporter that he found that the oil pos
sessed gravity of 171a deg, and that
he mad no hesitsncy in saying no other
field in California produced 80 fine a
| quality of oil for lubricating purposes,
or oil which it would pay 80 we'll to re-
fine.
The scene presented at the oil field
yesterday was as though a very small
section of Washington county, Pennsyl-
vania, had been set down here in Los
Angeles. New wells are being started
everyw here. A new derrick was just
set in place yesterday. Not all of the
holes flow, however. and after going
down for certain distance il none Of the
pale green liquid appears the derrick is
moved to another location and down
goes the drill again.
There are now 81 holes in the ground
within the limits of the district.
Eight have just recently been started, 80
| that it cannot yet be determined
whether they will all yield oil or not,
but there are eight others which have
been sunk to a depth that decides their
quality, and these have been put down
as good, steady producers, while eleven
are classed as inferior, though they
yield some oil. Four of the eight oil
producers are owned by Turner Broth
ere, and it is estimated that the product
is about 100 barrels per day.
The fact that they are figuring on OPP
erations on much larger scale than
they are now conducting. ia sufficient
proof that they consider the business
| prohtable, ana the held paying one.
Ellsworth & Gregg have one of the eight
good wells, Bayer two and Berkelew one.
These eight produce about 80 barrels of
oil per day.
1t cannot be determined what results
deeper boring will produce until the
m achinery for this work arrives from
Pennsylvonia, but in the meanwhile
there will no doubt be many more new
holes bored, and it is possible that some
great strikes may be made.
Many visitors are seen around the
fields every day, drawn there largely by
curiosity but there is also great interest
being taken in the developments by
many citizens who realize what the find
may mean for Los Angeles. There is
also an evident desire to speculate in
property up that way, and prices are
tending upward.