Finish up our Santa Clarita Valley sites with Libi's 3rd Grade Class - February 2 & 4, 2016

Acknowledgements

The Ippolito family would like to thank the California Office of Historic Preservation, a division of California State Parks. We would also like to thank David Schmitt, creator of Landmarkquest.com for blazing so many of these trails for us. When we get in a jam, we can turn to the adventurers who contribute to waymarking.com. We have also gotten historic information from: the Los Angeles Times and the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s who gave Depression-era Americans a job preserving the history of this beautiful state.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Finish up our Santa Clarita Valley sites with Libi's 3rd Grade Class - February 2 & 4, 2016

February 2, 2016 - Our Scouting Trip

Ron happily volunteered to be the guide for the 3rd Grade Santa Clarita Valley History field trip. In order to make sure that he was ready, he and Libi set off on a scouting trip.

Their first stop was to Pico #4 Well (CHL 516) that we couldn't find during our first visit to Mentryville.

They found both of the plaques and some of the other oil paraphernalia that is there.

The state says: On this site stands CSO-4 (Pico No. 4), California's first commercially productive well. It was spudded in early 1876 under direction of Demetrious G. Scofield who later became the first president of Standard Oil Company of California, and was completed at a depth of 300 feet on September 26, 1876, for an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil a day. Later that year, after the well was deepened to 600 feet with what was perhaps the first steam rig employed in oil well drilling in California, it produced at a rate of 150 barrels a day - it is still producing after 77 years (1953). The success of this well prompted formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, a predecessor of Standard Oil Company of California, and led to the construction of the state's first refinery nearby. It was not only the discovery well of the Newhall Field, but was a powerful stimulus to the subsequent development of the California petroleum industry.

Next they drove to Placerita Nature Center to see if they could find the Oak of the Golden Dream (CHL 168).

After a very short hike under the road (where the cool mural above is located) they found it!

The tree still exists AND there is a plaque right next to it!

The state says: Francisco López made California's first authenticated gold discovery on March 9, 1842. While gathering wild onions near an oak tree in Placerita Canyon he found gold particles clinging to the roots of the bulbs. The San Fernando placers and nearby San Feliciano Canyon were worked by Sonoran miners using panning, sluicing and dry washing methods. Lopez's find predated James Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill by six years.

Libi is excited to bring her her class here later this week!

February 4, 2016 - The Field Trip

Ron and the three 3rd grade classes boarded the bus, while I drove alongside them.

Our first stop was Oak of the Golden Dream.

I grabbed a quick photo of Libi and Ron before the lesson began.

Ron talked to the class about potential using a potato as a prop.

The kids were all excited to learn about the history of our little valley, but nobody was more excited than Libi!

We hiked to the tree and the kids shared what they knew about the Oak-- happily they knew a lot!

Our next stop was the Pioneer Oil Refinery (CHL 172). While the kids didn't get off the bus, they at least got to see the site that we missed on our trip the first time around.

The significance of the site is: California's first oil refinery operated on a commercial scale. Erected 1876. Restored by the Standard Oil Company of California in 1930 as a memorial to D.G. Scofield and his pioneer associates of the California Star Oil Works Company, a predecessor of the Standard Oil Company of California. In 1875-1876 Mr. Scofield and his associates obtained California's first commercial production of crude petroleum in Pico Canyon six miles northwest of this point and built this refinery for the manufacture of petroleum products.