Remnants of the La Vida Mineral Springs Resort

Mid-November's Triangle Complex fire not only charred most of the Brea side of Carbon Canyon, but it also revealed much of the remnants of the historic La Vida Mineral Springs resort, which opened in 1924 and closed in the early 1990s.

The complex consisted at various points in its history of individual mineral bath units, a larger bathhouse, cozy cottages, a motel, a restaurant (or two), playgrounds, swimming pools, and other elements.

I had tried to explore the property on Labor Day, about four months ago, but it was so overrun with weeds, shrubs, bushes and trees that it was hard to get anywhere. In the aftermath of last month's fires, however, I was able to walk much of the property.

Included in this post are some of the images (as always, double-click on any image to see a magnified view) I took on 26 November 2008 (descriptions from top to bottom):

1. This was a surprise as I thought this might be a hot spot from the fire that was burning on the hillside, not unlike one I discovered a couple days later in Soquel Canyon. When I got closer, though, I realized that this was a steam vent from the hot mineral water below the surface, the same water used by the resort for almost 70 years and certainly by native Americans for thousands of years!

2. In the same hillside, a short distance from the steam vent, was a dripping pipe, which could have been to gather rain water from higher up the hill for use in the resort.

3. This is a view of the surviving water tanks at the west end of the property. The larger tank still has the faded logo with the words "La Vida" on the side.

4. Here is a shot on Carbon [Canyon] Creek running through the parcel.

5. This is a concrete footing for what might have been one of the old cottages on the grounds. Check earlier posts on this blog for a circa 1930s real photo postcard showing these cottages in this location.

6. The footing in photo 5 is to the right of the red-tinted sidewalk. The walkway and the scorched eucalyptus trees are in some of the old postcards posted on this blog. Note how the sidewalk almost directly corresponds with the dip in the hills in the background.

7. Toward the east end of the property the creek turns from the hillside (at left) and bends closer to Carbon Canyon Road (to the right). In the distance you can see the piling for the old footbridge which crossed the creek and led to the flat area at the upper left, where the motel and swimming pool, also seen in postcards from earlier posts, once stood.

8. More footings, but right up against the hillside, so the purpose is not clear.

9. This is the red-tinted sidewalk seen in view 6, but leading eastward toward the location of the footbridge.

10. Here is another, but partially-buried, footing for a building--again, just adjacent to the sidewalk and the creek/hillside, corresponding to the structures in the historic postcards.

11. This shot shows debris in and around the creek as it winds through the La Vida property.

12. A view from the far west end of the parcel showing the sidewalk and eucalyptus trees. Carbon Canyon Road is at the far right.

13. A fairly large concrete pad for a building that once stood on the property.

14. Another view, from further east, of the old water tanks.

Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #10

Here is another old real photo postcard of the La Vida Mineral Springs resort, probably dating to the early 1930s.

The view looks west from what would be the motel location across Carbon [Canyon] Creek from the cottages (some of these can be seen through the small trees at the lower right corner) and bathing facilities. At the bottom center of the photo is a concrete sidewalk, the remains of which are still on the site today, leading to the steel bridge that crossed the creek and led visitors to the motel. That bridge is almost certainly the same one from the first of the historical artifact postings (from 7 July) on this site. Moreover, the large trees in the photograph are almost certainly eucalyptus, of which several trees are still standing, although they were charred in last month's Triangle Complex fire and who knows whether they will survive. The caption at the lower right reads "Picnic Grounds at La Vida Mineral Springs" and there are tables and benches underneath the trees. The black lines at the upper corners are the remains of the old mounting corners used to secure photos in the album.

As with any other image on this blog, double-clicking on it will give an enlarged view for better seeing detail.

This item is 2008.9.1.3 of the Carbon Canyon Collection.

Olinda Oil Field History: Other 1920s Sources

Although not nearly as detailed as the other references that have been highlighted in recent posts on this blog, there are three other 192os era sources of information about the Olinda oil field that I know of that add to the stock of historical material.

One is Petroleum Resources of California, a bulletin issued by the California State Mining Bureau in 1921. Because it is a general survey of the entire state, descriptions of specific fields are, by necessity, quite brief. There is a paragraph devoted to the "Whittier, Brea Canyon, and Olinda Fields." Author Lawrence Vander Leck wrote that "The method of accumulation and origin of the oil is practically the same in all of these fields" in terms of the type of shale and sandstone formations which characterize the geological basis for the region. Notably, Vander Leck offered that "all of these fields have passed the flush day of their production and their limits are practically set." This can be contrasted with the 1964 federal report highlighted in a post yesterday, which stated that, from 1918-1928, production was low in the Olinda and surrounding fields. After 1928, however, there was an improvement in technology that allowed for deeper drilling and the tapping into pools of crude at these lower levels. In the 1921 report, it was observed that "In March 1921, the total proven acreage in this region was . . . 2073 [acres] in the Brea Canyon-Olinda district [note the combination of the two previously separate fields, a point also raised in the 1964 report]." Moreover, in December 1920 "the total daily average production in the Brea Canyon-Olinda district was 17,756 barrels of oil. The average number of producing wells was 372, with an average daily yield per well of 47 barrels of oil and 10 of water."

Another source is a report called American Petroleum: Supply and Demand, published in 1925 for the American Petroleum Institute by a committee of eleven men selected from its Board of Directors. Notably, the Institute was created six years before as an outgrowth of a National Petroleum War Service Committee, dealing with the use of petroleum for the World War I deployment by the United States. There are two brief references to "Brea-Olinda," the first coming in a section titled "Future Promise in California" and reading "production is obtained at Brea-Olinda from a fault-contact structure, rather than a closed fold. The sustained production and large undrilled reserves make this field of importance. Geologic correlations suggest possible deeper productive horizons which, if proven, will add large reserves." This is an interesting counterpoint to Vander Leck's 1921 contention that the heyday of Brea Canyon/Olinda had passed and to the 1964 report's recap that, after 1928, matters changed greatly in the area. Indeed, the 1925 report seems to anticipate what did happen by 1930, which was the change in drilling technology that allowed for deeper drilling. It is also worth repeating the uniqueness of Olinda, in particular, with respect to its condition as a fault contact zone, specifically the location of oil pools along the Whittier Fault. The second reference comes from quoting the December 1923 issue of Standard Oil Bulletin, a monthly publication issued to stockholders in the Standard Oil of California company, a giant in the oil business. Here, it was stated, as part of a discussion on the importance of rapid drilling and an equally fast period of recovering crude, that Brea-Olinda was yielding just under 100,000 barrels per acre. The significance here was the fast drilling would mitigate the loss of crude through drainage.

Finally, in 1930, a geology professor from the University of Wichita in Kansas, Walter Ver Wiebe, published Oil Fields in the United States, which included a short description of Olinda: "In 1897, Olinda and Fullerton . . . were discovered and reached their peak of production about 17 years later." In discussing geological structure, it was noted by Ver Wiebe that all Los Angeles basin fields were located in domes or anticlines, except the Los Angeles City, Whittier, and Brea-Olinda fields, in which "faulting has played a large part in trapping the oil." The Whittier fault, of course, ran through both of the latter fields, although Ver Wiebe stated that "in the Brea-Olinda pool the long Puente [meaning Whittier] fault, and some minor associated faults, seem to have exercised a controlling influence in trapping the oil as it migrated up the dip from southwest to northeast." Ver Wiebe also provided a table of data, in which the Olinda field [elsewhere described as Brea-Olinda] had a productive area of 1,500 acres, the seventh largest listed in the Los Angeles basin, with a degree of gravity falling about in the middle of the range. Total production of barrels as of 31 January 1930 was, combined with the Fullerton field, over 133,000,000, making these two fields the fourth most productive on the list, after Long Beach (386 million), Santa Fe Springs (267 million), and Huntington Beach (164 million).

There is one other report I have to locate, which is an 1897 California state report that might be the first published source on the then-new Olinda field.

The maps above come from the period 1900-1964 and show details of the Olinda field.

Sources: Petroleum Resources of California, Bulletin 89, Lawrence Vander Leck (San Francisco: California State Mining Bureau,) 1921.

American Petroleum: Supply and Demand (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.,) 1925.

Oil Fields in the United States, Walter A. Ver Wiebe (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.,) 1930.

Carbon Canyon Road Mudslide Threat #2

This morning as I drove west on Carbon Canyon Road into Brea it was obvious that the estimated 1.5 to 2 inches of rain that largely fell overnight on Sunday/Monday and into late Monday morning had caused some fairly substantial amounts of mud and debris to be carried onto the highway by the rainfall. There was no evidence of major sliding, but it can be easily seen just how significant the Freeway Complex fire's scorching of the canyon was in terms of removing any major barriers to the erosion of top soil during rain episodes. Total rainfall for the season stands at around 3.5 to 4 inches and, if we get a normal year of precipitation, we are only 1/3 of the way there. Once again, there is a certain amount of water the hillsides can hold and slides are not necessarily going to happen during a storm but very well can occur afterwards. The essential point is that slides can occur anytime between now and the end of the major period of rainfall, extending to at least the end of February, but quite possible afterward. It can be expected that CalTrans will shut the road down when the forecast calls for heavy rainfall, but, again, slides can occur at any time, even when it is not raining. We'll just have to see what happens, but it could be a long winter in the Canyon in the aftermath of the fires and the coming of rain.

Olinda Oil Field History: 1964 United States Geological Survey Report

So far, much material has been given in this blog pertaining to the pre-1930 history of the Olinda Oil Field. It is interesting (hopefully), then, to compare and contrast a "professional paper" on what was then referred to as the "Eastern Puente Hills Area," including Olinda, published by the United States Geological Survey in 1964 with its forebears.

Naturally, most of the report concerns the stratigraphy, relative to rock formations, fault structures, physiography and the like. The specific reference to Olinda comes mainly in the section labeled "Economic Geography."

In it, authors D. L. Durham and R. F. Yerkes wrote that "The Brea-Olinda oil field, which is about 5 miles long and averages 0.8 mile in width is along the Whittier fault zone northwest of the village of Olinda. . . Tar seeps in steeply dipping strata of the Fernando formation prompted exploration that led to the discovery of commercial oil production in the Olinda area in 1897 and in the Brea Canyon area, 2 miles farther northwest, in 1899."

As was discussed in previous reports discussed in this blog, the authors noted that "at the time of their discovery, these two areas were considered to be separate fields, but the intevening area [including Tonner Hills] was proved productive by 1913 . . . Except for the years between 1918 and 1928, development of the Brea-Olinda field has been fairly steady." It isn't explained, but the assumption is that the existing technolgy in the 1920s was limited in terms of what could be extracted from the field. After 1928, better drilling technology and equipment and a stronger understanding of the geological issues allowed for deeper drilling and tapping into pools of crude further than the 3,000-4,000 feet range that was typical previously.

Notably, Yerkes and Durham point out that "in the mid-1950s, drilling activity was concentrated in the western part of the field," whereas before 1930 the emphasized areas were further east. Moreover, "of 7 companies active in the field during 1957, 2 had about 75 percent of the production and did nearly all of the development drilling." While there were always bigger players in the earlier years, as well, including the subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railway, the high percentage of producers by thesee two unnamed companies indicated a consolidation of control of the field by 1960 that was not found decades earlier.

Of special interest is a table that shows that production and reserves of the seven oil fields located within the broader "Eastern Puente Hills Area." These included: Brea-Olinda (founded 1897-99); East Coyote (La Habra/Fullerton), discovered 1911); Richfield (Placentia area, 1919); Yorba Linda (1937); Chino-Soquel (in Soquel Canyon east of Olinda, 1951); Mahala (located a mile northwest of Prado Dam in Riverside County near Corona, 1955); and Esperanza [now Yorba Linda, east of Imperial Highway, 1956).

What is striking is that, of the three oldest fields, only Brea-Olinda had its most productive year after 1922, that year being 1953. In 1957, the field accounted for a little over half (just under 7,000,000 barrels) of the crude in the entire distrct and three times more than Richfield and East Coyote, the next two highest producing fields. Total production up to the end of that year was 257,000,000 barrels, almost double its next highest competitor (Richfield) and accounting historically for over half of the entire output of the area. Proven reserves were estimated at about 80,000,000 barrels, more than three times that of East Coyote and Richfield and, again, well over half of the entire area. The number of producing wells was 632 with Richfield in second at 429. Of course, the field was also much larger, accounting for more than 2,400 acres, roughly double that of Richfield or East Coyote and well over a third of total area acreage. It is also important to note that the Brea-Olinda field's rating of oil gravity was, at the upper hand, far superior to that of any other field in the Eastern Puente Hills region, although its lowest ratings were also the poorest.

In a section titled "Outlook for Future Development," it was pointed out that "production is declining in most of the fields" but that there were some new areas being tested and some production resulting. This was especially pointed out in the Mahala field, which was first opened in 1921 and then lay dormant until the mid-1950s. There was also some mention of "the eastward-trending Diamond Bar fault," but neither proved subsequently to be very substantial. Nowadays, however, there is much talk about returning to old fields, when financially feasible, and introducing deeper and angled drilling to tap into even deeper pools believed to be present.

Finally, there was a great aerial photograph of the area eastward from Olinda including parts of Carbon, Soquel and Telegraph canyons, which is reproduced (with details, as well) above.

Photos:

Top) Detail showing the intersection of Carbon and Telegraph canyons and eastward;

Second to the Top) Detail showing the area from the Carbon and Telegraph canyon confluence and west to what is now Carbon Canyon Regional Park. Note Carbon [Canyon] Creek winding through the photo;

Second to the Bottom) Detail showing the area that is now the Olinda Ranch subdivision and was a main area of the Olinda oil field;

Bottom) The entire aerial view showing the Olinda field and points eastward.

Source: Geology and Oil Resources of the Eastern Puente Hills Area, Southern California, Geological Survey Professional Paper 420-B, D. L. Durham and R. F. Yerkes (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office,) 1964. Courtesy of the Homestead Museum, City of Industry, California.

Stonefield Tract Planning Commission Hearing Delayed?

At an October public meeting concerning the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for Stonefield, a proposed gated 28-unit executive housng tract slated to go in north of Carbon Canyon Road and east of Fairway Drive in the Chino Hills section of Carbon Canyon, it was stated that there might be a Planning Commission hearing on the project in mid-December. A glance at the calendar of public meetings from the Chino Hills city web site, however, does not show any such meetings nor does the posted information about Stonefield have anything yet.

So, we can assume that there won't be any further action about the project by the Commission until the New Year. Just because, though, the project only has 28 houses is no reason to be unconcerned about its impacts. The DEIR very clearly states that there is no mitigation for this project when it comes to unavoidable, signficant and adverse impacts such as aesthetics. And, as has been stated before enough times (at least here!) the addition of any more traffic, pollution and, in the light of the recent fires, more structures that will need to be evacuated and protected in the event of a major wildfire, is an undesirable outcome for an already overburned canyon area.

A house or two (maybe three!) here and there in the canyon is one thing, but the prospect of 367 homes, the economy providing, someday springing up in Carbon Canyon is only really a pleasing one for developers. Keep your eyes and ears open!

The above photo shows the project site from the top of the S-curve on Carbon Canyon Road looking west, shortly after a fire from a power pole surge burned the area in May 2008. The aesthetics issue is because some of the proposed houses would actually be above the grade of Carbon Canyon Road and the general appearance of the project would conflict with the surroundings. Exchanging the fire-scarred landscape with a restored natural one, imagine what the view would be like with houses clustered here!

Carbon Canyon Road Mudslide Threat

As of this morning, Carbon Canyon Road was closed because of a potential mudslide threat from the heavy rains that came through the area overnight last evening and into the morning hours today. It appears, however, the road is open as I'm hearing traffic pass by as I'm typing this. There is the possibility of more rain up to and, perhaps, including Wednesday, so who knows whether another closure may be on the horizon. Moreover, canyon hillsides can hold a certain amount of water for a period of time before unstable slopes give way. In those areas of the Canyon on the Brea side that are already steep and given to falling rocks and soil during heavy rains, the fire-blackened sections torched in the Triangle Complex fire are that much more vulnerable. The above photo shows one such candidate near the La Vida Mineral Springs site, but on the opposite (southern) side of the road. So far, so good, but there is an entire winter to go yet.