The history of the Newhall Oil District would not be full without together with the Pioneer Oil Refinery. The Pioneer Oil Refinery is the oldest surviving oil refinery on the earth and certainly one of the primary (however not the primary – see under) commercially profitable refineries in California.
It is located about ?mile off of, and east of, Pine Road (south of Newhall Avenue) in Newhall on a dirt highway. It is completely surrounded by a fence. You can not enter the positioning and solely during enterprise hours are you able to even stroll utterly around the fence. There can also be a pump home on the property that was constructed to supply water to Pico Canyon.
In 1998, Chevron Oil donated the refinery site and four.5 acres of land to the town of Santa Clarita.
The proposed Gate-King Industrial Park challenge could have a serious impression on the refinery. The north nook of the mission surrounds the refinery (see map at the underside of this page). The ultimate Environmental Influence Report was revealed in June of 2003, but no construction has began due to authorized issues. The developer has agreed to contribute money for the preservation of the Pioneer Oil refinery. The EIR for the mission states that (in Desk ES-1):
CR-2(a) As provided in the event Agreement, the applicant shall make a cost to town which the town, at its discretion, might apply in the direction of the construction of a new fence that might be effective in preventing unauthorized people from coming into the Pioneer Oil Refinery site.
CR-2(b) Building contractors shall take precautions to both avoid utilizing heavy equipment within the vicinity of the acid tank on the Refinery property or stablilize the acid tank to forestall its collapse and potential destruction.
Hopefully, the future of the refinery might be considered one of preservation and protection. Nevertheless, today (July of 2010) scores of big rigs drive proper next to the site every day inflicting the ground to vibrate and the air to be full of dust. This can not be an excellent thing for the refinery.
From the Newhall Signal webpage of eight/27/2010 comes this article “City hopes to renovate Newhall oil refinery” Is this the beginning of better days for the refinery? $40K does sound like a lot of money for a research. Newer is this article titled “Oil-refinery tour reveals potential for the property” from the Signal of four/1/2011. Now the $forty,000 comes from the developer charges.
On July 12, 2011 town Council permitted a park and restoration venture that would cost up to $1 million dollars (see beneath for the plans). Nevertheless, there are isn’t any start date and the city does not have all the cash. Wasn’t the developer supposed help pay for the restoration or was paying for the study enough? See right here for more info. I think that they went manner overboard on this. A park and amphitheater? They should have simply restored the present constructions and fastened the fence. Now it looks like anyone may have entry each time the gates are open. In fact, who shall be accountable for unlocking and locking the gates? Who will ensure that no one will get too close to the stills and tanks? Will there be a guard on responsibility when the gates are open? In the event that they had been keen to spend $1 million dollars, would not it have been higher to revive the location to the best way it was in 1930 after the primary restoration by adding the missing two stills and boiler (see the historical photos)?
NEWSFLASH (four/eight/2016): THE Lacking STILLS AND BOILER HAVE BEEN Positioned BY LEON WARDEN. Customary OIL HAS THEM At the Outdated RICHMOND OIL MUSEUM SITE. SEE Right here FOR THE STORY WITH Photos.
Pioneer Oil Refinery Pages:
Refinery History
Historic Photographs
Latest Photos
The Refining Course of
Sources
California State Historic Landmark markers for the Pioneer Oil Refinery and the Oak of the Golden Dream on Lyons Avenue just east of the 5 freeway in front of Burger King
California State Historical Landmark #172 – Pioneer Oil Refinery. The marker says that it’s the primary industrial oil refinery however that statement is probably incorrect. The Buena Vista Refinery in McKittrick, California, shipped about 4000 gallons of illuminating oil to San Francisco between 1864 and 1867 before it went out of business. See here and right here for more information on that refinery.
There can also be a marker on the west facet of Sierra Highway as you go south just before the best-hand turn to Newhall Avenue
Model of the refinery site in the Santa Clarita Valley Historic Society on the outdated prepare station in Newhall. It was built by Michelle Watson and her father Walter as a college undertaking in 1997.
Closer view of the stills. The mannequin is coated by a glass or plastic cover, so it was onerous to get an excellent picture. However you possibly can all the time go right down to the practice station and see it for your self. There’s a slight error in the labeling. Stills 1 and 2 are literally a part of the same brick base and there was a steam boiler subsequent to them. The model incorrectly labels the boiler as still # 1, but does have the two stills in the same base, so the model is correct, but the label is fallacious.
There is also a painting above the mannequin. There’s a label on prime that says “California’s First Oil Refinery, 1876 in Newhall, Presented by, Newhall Ladies’s Club, C.F.W.C.”. Nonetheless, this was not California’s first refinery.
Map of Gate-King Industrial Park. The gray “PR” marks the Pioneer Oil Refinery property in the north part of the challenge.
On July 12, 2011, the Santa Clarita City Council approved this plan for the refinery site
The plan was revised to this on June 11, 2013. Parking lot and bus turnout enhancements proposed by the grasp plan for the refinery were on the fuel firm easement, where they don’t seem to be allowed.
