The Gaines and Brown Families of Carbon Canyon, Part 8: Olinda Oil Field Photos, 1909

Here are another pair of interesting photos, courtesy of Joyce Harrington, showing members of her family, Argus, Maggie and Earl Brown, at the Olinda oil field in 1909.

Argus, a native of Missouri who also lived in Iowa during his younger years, and Maggie (nee McLeish), also from Missouri but who spent some of her early years in Ohio, married in Worth County, in the northwestern corner of Missouri on the Iowa border, in 1886.  They remained there (the county today only has about 2,000 people) until after 1900 when they relocated to California and came to Orange County.

Maggie and Argus Brown at the Olinda oil field, ca. 1909.  This and the other photo are courtesy of Brown descendant, Joyce Harrington.  Click on any image to see them in enlarged views in a separate window.

Their daughter Nora, born with her twin brother Ora in January 1898, recorded some of her memories of Olinda many years later and recalled that her family moved there in September 1907 and noted that her father built many of wooden derricks for the oil wells on several leases in the field.

At the time these photos were taken, in 1909 and thereabouts, he was working as a carpenter, the profession listed for him in the 1910 census.  However, Nora noted that he later worked as a pumper on the Santa Fe lease, where the Olinda Ranch subdivision is today.  Her recollections will be the subject of a post in the future, so check back for that.

Earl Brown, son of Argus and Maggie, at the right, who worked as a tool dresser with drillers Charles Nevin, left, and Charles Dale, right, on well #58, probably at the Santa Fe lease (today's Olinda Ranch subdivision), 25 August 1909.

Meantime, these images provide a notable look at oil well sites at Olinda over a century ago, especially as we are seeing the last of these remnants of once thriving industry gradually being removed and replaced with the usual trappings of suburbia in the form of houses, shopping centers, parks and schools.

The first photo show Maggie and Argus Brown standing in front of a rough wood structure that might have been a shop for carpentry, ironworking and other vital components of oil field work.  At the lower right are about a dozen pipes and other material.  A very simple ladder is behind Maggie.  The overall appearance is a reminder that wells came and went and associated buildings were not, clearly, designed to last.

The Brown family, at the bottom, as enumerated in the 1910 federal census at Olinda.

The second image is a great one of a trio of young men at a rig and is also notable because someone actually took the time to write information about it.  So, we know the view was taken by a Mr. Griffy and it was done on 25 August 1909 at oil well #58, perhaps at the Santa Fe lease though this was not stated.

Captioned "3 of a Kind," the photo shows Earl Brown, son of Argus and Maggie, at the right with his name conveniently written where he stood.  He was then about 19 years old and his occupation in the census showed him as a tool dresser, who worked to keep drill bits sharp and engaged in other tasks to make sure the material used on the rig were functioning property.  The dresser worked closely with the drillers, which is why the caption was written as it was.  At the left is Charles Nevin and in the center Charles Dale, both drillers in the census.

Charles Nevin and his family listed in the census.

Nevin and Dale were older, more experienced oil field workers.  The former was 32 and from Pennsylvania, where America's oil industry started in 1859.  He, his wife Frances, also from Pennsylvania, and their son and two daughters (ages 8 months to 8 years), were among the many families that rented company-owned houses on the lease.  Dale was a 28 year old native of Illinois, and his Kansas-born wife Lulu and their three sons (ranging from 9 months to 5 years) lived on Santa Fe Avenue on the lease of that name.

Charles Dale (his family were on the next sheet) from the census.

Working on the rig was noisy, dirty and physically demanding work and the "3 of a Kind" photo definitely reflects the blue collar labor that kept the oil industry humming during the boom years of the first few decades of the 20th century at Olinda, one of the earliest major fields in greater Los Angeles.

The Gaines and Brown Families of Carbon Canyon, Part Three

Here are some more great photos, courtesy of Joyce Harrington, of members of the Gaines and Brown families, who lived in the Carbon Canyon area for decades during the 20th century.

Ed and Fanny Gaines were owners of the Flying Cow Ranch, which is where the Olinda Village community is located, and their home sat where the Hollydale mobile home park is.  Argus and Margaret Brown resided in the Olinda oil fields area where the Olinda Ranch subdivision is now, and Angus was a longtime employee on the Santa Fe lease.

This 1911 photo shows Argus Brown, right, and Emil Haskel, left, who were neighbors and carpenters on the Santa Fe lease at Olinda posed with their handiwork at an oil well.  The photos are courtesy of Joyce Harrington, a descendant of the Brown and Gaines families.

The first photo shows Brown and Emil Haskel in 1911 at work on the construction of an oil well at Olinda.  The two men, who were neighbors as shown in the federal census of the preceding year, were carpenters and the image was obviously taken to show their handiwork in the building of the apparatus of the well.

Brown, a native of Missouri who also lived in Iowa and worked as a farmer, migrated to California in the first decade of the century and found a job at Olinda in September 1907.  He later was a pumper on the lease and remained working in the area for several decades.  He and Margaret stayed in the area until she passed away in 1935 and he died about a decade later in 1946.

The 1910 federal census listed the Argus and Margaret Brown family just below Emil and Minnie Haskel at Olinda.  From Ancestry.com

Joyce Harrington provided some reminiscences from her great-aunt, Nora Brown, daughter of Argus and Margaret, and these will be shared in future posts.

Edward Gaines and his wife Fannie Atwater married on Christmas Eve 1889 and farmed in Clearwater, later Paramount, in southeastern Los Angeles County, as well as had the Flying Cow Ranch in Carbon Canyon, to which they later moved.

Fannie Atwater (1861-1947) and Edward F. Gaines (1868-1956), owners of the Flying Cow Ranch, at what is now the Olinda Village area, ca. 1900s.

The couple not only had the ranch, but were also involved in the early use of the La Vida Mineral Springs just east of their home.  Ed Gaines was well-known for his breeding of foxhounds and hunting, as well as for his ownership of a rare original stagecoach which he rode at parades and other functions.

Fannie Gaines died in early 1947 and her husband passed on just under a decade later in April 1956.  Eight years later, in 1964, the Gaines Ranch became the site of the new subdivision of Olinda Village and the construction of the Hollydale mobile home park and an adjacent church removed the Craftsman-style residence the family used for many decades.

Ed Gaines with one his cows (though it doesn't appear to be the breed that could fly) on the ranch, ca. 1940s.

Again, more history of the Gaines family, much of which has been presented in this blog in the past, will be shown through photos.

A View of the Olinda Oil Field, ca. 1910

This post highlights an interesting cabinet card photograph of part of the Olinda oil field taken about 1910.

Given the topography of the hills and similar views, as well as the likelihood that the dirt road in the foreground is Carbon Canyon Road, it is apparent that the image shows a portion of the Santa Fe lease.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, under its subsidiary, the Southern California Railway, obtained land in the Olinda Ranch and partnered with Edward Doheny, whose Los Angeles City oil field project with Charles Canfield, was a major success in 1892 and afterward.

In 1897, Doheny drilled a well that became a major producer (and still is "on the pump" today as part of the Olinda Oil Museum) and inaugurated Orange County's first oil field.

Known as the Santa Fe lease, the property at the foothills of the Chino Hills range along the north end of Olinda was a successful field for many decades, and is now the location of the Olinda Ranch housing subdivision.  Santa Fe Road, a main road through the tract, is a reminder of the oil heritage there, along with the museum, which is located at 4025 Santa Fe Road in the upper reaches of the development.

The image shows a few dozen wells, associated pump houses and other structures.  The road is a simple dirt one with piles of dirt forming the shoulder.  Around this time, as noted in the last post, the roadway was fully built through to Chino and opened on 9 January 1915 and so has reached its centennial year.

The term "cabinet photograph," refers to a paper photo mounted (or glued) onto a stiff paper board--which were often stored in cabinets.  They were popular from about the 1880s through the 1920s.  This image was provided courtesy of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum in the City of Industry, which collects material relating to the oil history of the Los Angeles region because the Workman and Temple families had oil-related projects in the 1870s and 1920s in the area.

Here is a circa 1910 cabinet card photograph of a section of the Olinda oil field, most likely the Santa Fe lease with Carbon Canyon Road in the foreground.  Click on the image to see it in an enlarged view in a separate window.  Courtesy of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, City of Industry, California.

Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #46: Olinda Oil Field postcard

A postcard with a colored photograph of "Oil Fields near Fullerton, Calif.," published by M. Kashower Company of Los Angeles and showing the Santa Fe lease at Olinda.  The date is circa 1910.   Click on the image to see it in an enlarged view in a separate window.

In 1897, the discovery of oil by Edward Doheny on land leased on the Olinda Ranch by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad ushered in the Olinda field, the first oil-producing area of Orange County and, at the time, one of the major fields in California.

Yet, for years, this area was known instead as the "Fullerton Oil Field," almost certainly because of the fact that the nearest town to the site was Fullerton.  This unused postcard, probably dating to around 1910, reflects that through its title of "2.  Oil Fields Near Fullerton, Calif." as well as the short description on the reverse, which slightly amends the title to "2.  VIEW OF A SECTION OF THE FULLERTON OIL DISTRICT,' and adds the observation that "the wells of which have returned untold millions to their owners."

Why these riches had to be "untold" is an interesting semantic question, but the fact is that the earlier producers did quite well, including Doheny, the Santa Fe railroad, and other players like Graham and Loftus, the Fullerton Oil Company and the Bailey family, whose Olinda Ranch was considered a failure as a subdivision project until black gold was located a decade after they bought the land.

In any case, the card shows the hillside location north of Carbon Canyon Road and east of Valencia Avenue where the Santa Fe-held area, much of which was known for years as the C.C.M.O. (Chanslor-Canfield Midway Organization) lease, was located.  Wooden derricks, sheds, storage tanks, what may be homes as well as outbuildings, and power lines are in view.

Once the wells were basically played-out and operations shuttered, the site, which underwent an extensive cleaning operation, became the Olinda Ranch subdivision.  The original Olinda oil well, brought in by Doheny nearly 120 years ago, is still operating and the Olinda Oil Museum exists to tell the story of the field.