Alamitos Discovery Well

Although California is not typically thought of as a petroleum-producing state, it was actually the seventh-largest in that category as of 2022. Even more impressively, the state was the largest oil producer in the US for much of the early 20th century. A significant portion of this extraction actually occurs hidden within urban Greater Los Angeles, with wells discreetly hidden away to avoid being an eyesore on the landscape.

Oil history in this area dates back to the 1920s, when several wells and oil fields were discovered, starting an oil boom. The most famous of these is Alamitos Well #1, located on Signal Hill in the Long Beach oil field, one of Southern California's largest. However, thanks to some rather pessimistic and disapprobatory supervisors, this well was almost not successful!

Previous attempts to find petroleum on Signal Hill, then rural farmland, had come up dry, with one well being ridiculed as the "expensive dry hole." Oil geologists were divided as to whether there was anything waiting to be discovered. In 1921, Royal Dutch Shell began drilling their own exploratory well on this spot. Upon learning about this, an executive geologist at Shell was outraged and planned to travel personally to shut down the well. Despite this, the well struck oil at 3,114 feet below the surface, proving doubters wrong and ushering in an oil boom.

A land grab soon occurred on Signal Hill, with over 270 wells appearing by 1923. For a time, Signal Hill was home to a giant array of oil derricks. Although the area is now residential, drilling still occurs more discreetly, producing 963 million barrels to date. Likewise, although the original derrick at the discovery site is gone, another pumpjack can still be seen at the site. Also present are two plaques explaining this location's historical importance.