March 1, 1946
February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.
The next morning we left Ventura and drove south on highway 101 through Oxnard, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Long Beach. Saw many oil wells in operation here and could smell them too. Came through Huntington Beach and Newport Beach where we stopped to see some beautiful boats. Had been considering the idea of a deep sea fishing trip but the calm ocean didn’t look calm enough to me so we didn’t go.
Went through Laguna Beach and drove over to San Juan Capistrano and saw the Mission but didn’t go through it as it had just closed to visitors for the day.
We drove down to San Clemente and stayed there at a motel – got the trailer stuck in some sand, had a horrible dinner, a breakfast even worse and were glad to leave.
Walt’s Comments
It didn’t sound like a great day. Which is a shame, given that their route was one of the most iconic roads in America. But, that’s how trips go. Some days are great, some disappoint, and sometimes the best thing about the day was something totally unexpected.
Oil in California?
I was quite surprised to hear about oil wells in California. I guess I just never thought about there being oil there. So I did a little digging. Sure enough, California has produced a lot of oil. Oil seeps were found by non-natives in 1855, and by 1865 wells were being drilled. In 1903 it was the leading oil-producing state in the nation, and it traded honors with Oklahoma until around 1930. Currently, California is ranked third.
As you might imagine, given California’s reputation for stringent environmental rules, oil production is a contentious subject. It seems that many of the oilfields are depleted, and what remains is akin to tar. In order to extract it, the oil first has to be heated by injecting steam down the well to make the oil runny enough to pump. This raises the cost of the oil, as well as increasing the carbon footprint of the process. As a result, many wells are sitting idle as it isn’t economical to pump them.
Unfortunately, the uncapped, idle wells are emitting a number of harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses. Local residents want the wells capped if they aren’t going to be used, but many of the companies that own the wells are on shaky financial ground, and are unwilling to spend the money.
Even as rabbit holes go, this is a pretty deep one. We’ll stop here for now, but suffice to say, the future of oil production in California is going to be heavily constrained by environmentalism. Which sort of closes the circle on this dive down a rabbit hole.
Digging Deeper
The American Oil and Gas Historical Society has some history of the first oil wells in California.
The Yale School of the Environment discusses the some of the issues with the California oil in this article.
The Los Angeles Times also discusses the problems here.
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