page_title: Petrolia, California
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Petrolia, California / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of Petrolia from the hill to the east-northeast of the Square before the 1903 fire. Buildings still standing include: Ocean Berg’s/Watson-Cady house); Mary Day’s/Lucy Wright and Elias Hunter’s; Swaffords’/Jack and Vivian Susan Wright’s, called Briarcrest; the Leonard Cook/Mayme Hunter’s house on the southeast corner of the Square; and various sheds and barns that have survived. Buildings which burned and are gone include: The old Knights of Pythias hall where the Mattole Valley Historical Society museum sits in 2020 - on the Square. To the south/left, the original hotel; the John Mackey store, and other lost buildings on Front St., along the far left. On the hill behind the North Fork valley, you can see a house, about a third of the way from the left of the photo.
context_page_description: Petrolia is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California, 10 miles southeast of Cape Mendocino, at an elevation of 121 feet above sea level, within ZIP Code 95558, and area code 707. Petrolia was the site of the first oil well drilled in California.
context_section_description: The area was originally settled by the Mattole, a Pacific Coast Athapaskan people, who arrived at the Pacific Coast late in the first millennium from what is now Canada.
  The Mattole Indians were slaughtered by the Western settlers, mainly oil prospectors and ranching homesteaders. The last remaining descendants of the Mattole live today in Bear River on the Rohnerville Rancheria, but there are no remaining native speakers of the Mattole language.  There are estimated to be more than 80 archeological sites of significance in the Lost Coast area.
  Although it's often stated that Petrolia was first named "New Jerusalem," that area is 4-5 miles upstream; however, many people like the holy connotations of being called something like paradise. Petrolia was the site of the first oil well drilled in California.  The oil lay in small, fractured underground pools and ultimately, attempts to extract it dried up; the site is now registered as California Historical Landmark #543.
  The Mattole post office opened in 1863, and changed its name to Petrolia in 1865.  A 1903 fire wiped out many buildings around the town square.
  On March 9, 2020, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred 86 km West of the city.  The official time of the earthquake was 02:59:06 (UTC). 2660 people reported effects from the earthquake.
caption: A pre-1903 fire photograph of Petrolia town square.
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