Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-29
PIONEER In OIL FIELDS
TELLS OF EARLY STRUGGLE
Burdette Chandler Came to Southern California
in 1877 and Is Now One of Many Oil
MillOnaires-Losses and Gains

The Father of Oil"' in California Is
Burdette Chandler, one of the many oil
magnates in Southern California. He
is the owner of thousands of acres Of oil
land In Santa Barbara and other coun-
ties. and although he became interested
as the pioneer in the industry as far
back as 1877. he is still actively engaged
every month.
Reads Like a Romance
Over forty years ago Mr. Chandler
first became interested in oil in Penn
in the California field, Mr.. Chandler
says:
"The story Of oil in California Is not
an easy one to tell There is so much
to 1t, so much that sounds almost too
strange to be true, so many people in
volved and all in so short a time that
a connected account which in any way
covers the field Is almost impossible.
at is fully thirty years since l first
came to California In quest of the fluid
which is now used as fuel by every
great railroad running into the state, by
every great industry, large building,
mill or extensive plant of any sort.
Hopeful as I was had no idea, nor did
any one else dream at the time, that
} anything like that which followed would
result.
Land which l baught at from 81 to
$3.50 an acre, and only paid twenty per
cent down at that which l tried re-
peatedly to sell for a similar sum
simply in the hope of getting enough
to allow me to live and keep on work.
ing, is now worth anywhere from $780,
000, 900 to $50,000,000 and still growing in
value. The fields of asphalt beds which
everyone looked upon with contempt
and they called me a fool for paying any
attention to, have made hundreds mil
lionaires and thousands rich; the stuff
that 1 tried so hard to sell at almost
any price, which was deemed only fit
to grease car tracks and dip pipes in, is
now being sent out in millions of barrels
yearly and is bringing vast sums daily
into the state.
1T was forty-six years ago that dug
my first well. 1t was the third in the
United States and was sunk in the
mouth of Oil creek in Venango county
in Pennsylvania. The first well was
sunk by Drake in 1850 and the great
possibilities of the venture attracted me,
In 1860 / went to the Canada oil fields
and sunk twenty wells which now have
an output OF 0U,UUU DdTIelS ii udy. NeGu-
less to say / do not own them now. l
spent eight years in Canada, went to
West Virginia, where l sunk more wells
in the Burning Springs district and at
White Oak, near Parkersburg and after
spending some time in the fields of
Pleasantville, Pa, to which state l
returned. l came to Los Angeles. That
was in 1877.
Dug First Well
"I found, upon my arrival, that there
were large beds of asphalt similar to
Canada in the vicinity of this city, and
I went to work. The first well / dug
was sunk near where the Baptist col
lege now stands. 1t was impossible to
get tools and / sunk a, shaft 105 feet
deep with nothing but a pickand shovel.
1t took Inc nearby three months TO do
ii. No one would help me. Everyone
seemed to think was crazy to think /
should find oil there. In fact everyone
in the neighborhood of this city looked
upon asphalt beds, or brea beds, as they
are known, as a detriment to the soil
which nevep would amount to anything.
zone of my curious finds in sinking
the well was the backbone of whale,
a huge monster with a Vertebra
eighteen inches in diameter, some fif-
teen feet beneath the soil. This proves,
to my mind, that the site of the Baptist
church was once the bottom of the
ocean, but of course that must have
been centuries ago.
But 1 was not in search of whales,