Grab your backpack and join us as our family Funday Monday Adventure takes us on a 4.5-mile round trip hike up the picturesque Pico Canyon.
Today we find ourselves transported back in time 146 years. Located just west of the 5 freeway near Stevenson Ranch, we begin our hike in the historic ghost town of Mentryville, California.
(See our previous blog dated June 6, 2022, “Mentryville, Hiking Back over 135 Years into Santa Clarita’s Past,” for the story of Charles Mentry and his town of Mentryville, California.)
Leaving Mentryville behind and hiking up the canyon, we follow a beautiful trickling stream. All along the hike, an old 4-inch rusted oil pipeline with Chevron painted in yellow lettering hints of our final destination.
Periodically we stop to rest and listen to the water peacefully cascade over the rocks as it descends.
At about the one-mile mark, we come to Johnson Park. Johnson Park is the site of one of the first oil wells drilled by Charles Mentry.
The park is complete with an original antique wooden derrick and machinery. Surrounding the park are massive picnic tables, old BBQ pits, and even smokers. Johnson Park is where the Standard Oil Company held their picnics and outings for over 60 years.
Our hike up the mountain continues under a canopy of enormous, four to five-hundred-year-old native California Oak trees. At one point, we stop and take a picture of Colleen standing on a stump that stretches over 7 feet.
The hike then takes us through a canyon with sheer vertical walls of granite. We continue following the creek as it cuts deeper into the canyon.
We plateau at about the 2.2-mile mark and come to our destination. Here we find the Pico Canyon Oil Field Well No. 4, complete with its Historic Landmark monument.
Designated a Historic Landmark in 1966, Well No. 4 was drilled in 1876 by Charles Alexander Mentry and became the first successful commercial oil well in the Western United States.
Charles Mentry and Well No. 4 were responsible for the boom of nearby Newhall, California, and the founding of his namesake Mentryville near the drilling site.
Well No. 4 holds the record as the first successful oil strike in the Western United States. It is also the longest-running well on record, having started pumping in 1876 and pumped continuously for 114 years until it was capped in 1990.
It was so exciting to find such a picturesque canyon hidden right here in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Who knew we could have so much fun exploring and learning about the Santa Clarita Valley’s role in California’s historical oil boom.
Mentryville in Pico Canyon Woodlands Park is maintained and operated by the MRCA, Mountains Recreation, and Conservation Authority. For more information on Mentryville, Pico Canyon, and Oil Well No. 4, visit https://mrca.ca.gov.