Heading: (California - Los Angeles)
Author: Cross, photographer
Title: Santa Fe Springs Oil District
Place Published: Los Angeles
Publisher:Cross
Date Published: c.1920
Description:

Gelatin silver aerial photograph. Titled and credited in pencil on the verso. 33x43 cm (13x17").

Marvelous aerial photograph of the oil wells, storage facilities, pipelines, and other oil field paraphernalia, in Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles County, with orchards and dwellings squeezed between them. In addition to the photographer being credited on the back, his airplane logo is stamped in red at the top of the image, with his name across the wing.

In 1907, the Union Oil Company of California began drilling near the intersection of Norwalk Blvd. and Telegraph Road, locally known as "Four Corners," with the spudding in of the Meyer No. 1 well. That well, and a subsequent one, failed. In 1921 the Union-Bell well blew in as a 2,500-barrel gusher and set off an oil rush by major oil companies and fly-by-night producers. Within a year the Santa Fe Springs oil field was considered one of the richest pools in petroleum history. Santa Fe Springs became a promoters' paradise. Prospective investors were bused into the field, served a free lunch in circus tents, and told stories about the fortunes made in oil. In 1923 the state legislature limited the amount of stock that could be sold in a well.

Some fading and discoloration, speckles in the sky portion; very good.