Excerpt from A Description of the Petroleum Region in California: With a Report on the Same The report of Prof. Silliman, herewith appended, fully. Confirms his first impressions, and presents more com; plete details of the wonderful resources of this property. According to his advice and that of other competent judges in California, arrangements were made to purchase, the estate by parties in New York in October, 1864. But before effecting this, it was deemed expedient to obtain from Professor Silliman a decided statement, that the oil was in his opinion fully equal to that of Oil Creek, Pennsylvania; and from able counsel in San Francisco, a professional opinion as to the' validity of the title. Instructions were accordingly sent to close the purchase provided the oil was pronounced by Prof. Silliman equal to the best Pennsylvania oil, and the title perfect. Prof. Silliman telegraphed confirming his letter above quoted, and the title being pronounced by counsel undoubted, the property was purchased and is now vested in trustees Charles H. Russell and Henry M. Alexander, Esqs., of New York, and will be conveyed by them to the Corporation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In light of the importance of oil and gas in California, perhaps the discovery of gold there should be viewed as just a flash in the pan. By 1938, the cumulative value of all the gold found in the state stood at something more than two billion dollars, while the cumulative value of the oil and gas produced was more than double that sum--well over five billion dollars. The story of California oil deserves to be told, and pictures tell it best.