Arizona republican., 1907-09-15

That is the property of the Aliso oil and Asphaltum Co, of which l. T. Ho- sey of this city is president. MT. Hosey. Neil Sinclair, L. H. Landis, F. A. Tharaidson and s. w. Higley. all of Phoenix. comprise the board of direct ors, Mr.. Sinclair being the superin- tendent and personally in charge. That. too. it may be stated. is the entire oil field in that immediate vicinity. though in the ranges on either side of the Santa Clara valley for many miles, oil fields have been developed in years gone by. some have bee, abandoned, and several are still being worked quite extensively. Tho union oil com pany, a well known competitor of the Standard on the coast owns the great
 CT number of tbese oil fields. and also owns the ground leased by tn Aliseo. IL is probably the most reputable of all oil companies and proudly boasts that it has had no trouble with its leasers and finds it to its interest to help them in their difficulties rather than to hinder them. It is corporation with a widening field. in need of every gall
 lon of oil it can produce to fill its con- tracts. The nearest working oil prop erty to Aliso canyon, is two miles to the east in Wheeler canyon. where the Union Oil company has number of leasers at work, with many flowing wells, and a pipe line from the canyon to the railroad station at santa Paula. The Union Is a selling. rather than a producing. company. It owns the fields and leases them. taking the entire product of the wells whatever it may be. at the market price. and building the pipe lines itself to tn. respective wells. These facts are mentioned that the reader may grasp the general oil situation in that part of California.
 Returning to the property of the Aliso oil company, as one reaches its southern line on the road that winds up the creek. he notes the little can yon fork into five smaller ones like the fingers of the hand. These can yons are not boxed, yet they would be rather steep for horseback riding. Here and there the rocky formations. mainly the shales and oil sands. jut out through the grass. weeds and soil but for the most part the surface of the hills is covered with soil and veg citation. Along the creeks are found an occasional sycamore and many live oak and butternuT trees ana the weeds alternate with brambles and black berry bushes. Strange as it may seem the main canyon is apparently the center of the geological formation thereabout, the auticline dipping both ways. best illustrated by assuming the backbone of a COW to represent the creek while the ribs on either side represent the stratLfication, inclining in opposite directions. In the simileI how ever, one would necessarily have to build a mountain on each of the cows sides, the stratifica1ion being paral- Tel with that of the ribs below. It is contended in theory from the indica- tions and seepages shown. that prob ably the greater deposit Of oil will be found on the east side of the canyon. though oil has already been developed by wells on either side.
 The first indication O. oil i,. noted by the ssepages in the creek which runs constantly perhaps fifty or a hundred inches of water. sometimes more. These seepages are found first prob ably a hundred yards apart, then grad ually closer together until after three hundred yards they are encountered every few yards. Further up on the hillside they are found sometimes ev- cry five or ten feet. then every ten or twenty yards, etc. Little pools of oil form on the surface of th,. water be- tow each seepage. Only a few yards above the lower line of the property there is noted on the east side Of the creek and a hundred yard. away a big bank of asphalt through which the oil is seeping to the surface hundred yards or so further up is a similar phenomenon and just above that point the visitor comes to the cahp site Here there is a comfortable bunk and cook house. a good barn. a trough for the watering of stock, etc. A hundred yards above on the same or east side of the creek. is a well equipped oil rig cable. etc. and not far away is anoth- CT well over which there is no rig Across the creek to the west. two or three hundred yards. is aiother well equipped with a rig. Near this also is a 30 horse power boiler in first class con- ditiOn while at various places around the camp and derricks. are found bor- ing tools and other mechanical equip ment, forming the principal part of a good working outfit on the ground.
 The oil seepages referred to are found every few yards clear up the main canyon. In the canyon to the west of this the Seepages are fewer in number and not so large, though they are forced through the solid forma- tion in many places. The writer did not visit that canyon. There was too much else to see and he wasswilling to take anybody's word for what might be there after seeing the rest of it.
 The first derrick referred to stands on the little mesa between the juno tion of the main creek bed and the one to the east of it, or third. enumeratinC from the west end of the property. Two or three hundred yards up this third gulch, and on the bank fifty yards to the right, is a huge deposit of asphalt. II was formed first low down toward the creek by the oil running out As the flow woS cIogged by the oil mixing with the dirt. it kept break ing out further mp and repeating the performance until the whole side of the mesa or creek bank was an asphalt formation for many yards back One could take a knife and cut it as he could the warm asphalt on newly constructed pavement. In this and in each of the other similar beds mem