Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0404Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a field of oil wells and power lines. Above the image "64" is printed, below the image "V23264 - Operating Oil Wells in the Pacific, Showing Master-power Distributor, Summerland, Calif." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyright, Underwood & Underwood Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Portland, Oregon, London, Eng., Sydney, Aus." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
V23264
OPERATING OIL WELLS IN PACIFICA, SUMERLAND, CALIF.
Lat. 34 (Degrees) N.; Long. 120 (Degrees) W.
The United States is the world's greatest oil porducer and consumer. Sicty years ago the first oil well in America was drilled near Titusville, Pa. For over half a century this country has produced more than half of the oil the world has used, and California has now become one of our greatest oil producers. The oil fields of this state contribute about one-third of the total production of the country.
One of the chief oil fields of the state is located near Bakersfield ; another is at Summerland, Santa Barbara County, in Southern California. Some of the oil is found in the rocks extending far beyond the shore under the Pacific Ocean. Wells are sunk in the land near the shore, others beyondd the shore line, to a depth of 300 feet below sea level. A pipe is driven down into the ground under the ocean, by means of which the oil is brought to the surface and thence to a master power distributor. This picture shows one of the distributors of the famous Summerland field.
The natural oil, as it came from Drake's old well, was thick and dark green. Oil varies greatly in color, thickness and composition in different parts of the world. Much of the California oil is dark, and contains more asphalt than the old Pennsylvania oils.
There are more than 300 petroleum products, the most important of which are oil for fuel, gasoine, and the oil used for making machinery run easily. There are six million pleasure cars in this country, and more than one-third million farm tractors. Each depends on petroleum prodcuts for its usefulness. While we have burned only one per cent of our coal in the last century, we have used forty per cent of our known oil supply in the last sixty years.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection