West Kern Oil Museum, Taft California

I took a trip and never left the farm tonight. One of our regular readers in California, GSC, recently visited the West Kern Oil Museum at Taft, CA, and linked me to a stack of photos he took while he was there. I worked in the Southern Illinois oil fields for several years when I was between better jobs, so it was pretty interesting looking at this old machinery.

This little engine would not have powered an oil well, but would have been used to power shop equipment, pump water, or some other oil field task. It resembles the International Harvester Famous engines, which were built a century ago. It helps date the development of this oil field.

Here is a single well pump jack, and a one lung engine to power it. These ran off of natural gas from the well head until the gas production dwindled. In Southern Illinois you will see lots of rigs similar to this still in use. When the gas is no longer sufficient to run the engine, an LP tank will be set next to the well to keep it running.

This hefty sideshaft engine probably was in a powerhouse that ran rod-lines to pump several wells. These were used in Illinois, and also in the eastern oil fields. I saw operating powerhouses in Eastern Kentucky when I worked there thirty some years ago. There is still a small oil field near Oblong, IL that uses rod lines to pump the wells.

This neat old truck has a well pulling unit on its back. It was used to pull the rods and tubing out of wells when a rod was broken, the tubing leaked, or the pump needed service. Its not a whole lot of fun working behind one of these, but it is better than being a tubing tester.

I think this is a Fairbanks 346 cu. in. engine. Fairbanks is the most common brand of engine you see on pump jacks in the Illinois oil fields.

This is an eccentric drive that would have been in a powerhouse. A large engine would be belted to this machine, and rod lines are pulled by the hookups on top. A bell crank would be at each well head to change the motion from horizontal to vertical. It was a pretty good system in its day.

This is a two cylinder Bessemer engine. Bessemers are 2-stroke engines. This might have been in a powerhouse pulling rod lines, or powering pipeline pumps.

This is a newly built standard derrick. Building these kept a lot of oil field carpenters busy all over the country. The well drilling rigs that worked with these were cable tool rigs, not rotary rigs. Cable tools are raised and lowered by a spudding arm, and the drill bit would pulverize rock every time it came down. The tools would be pulled out, and a bailer would be used to bring out the cuttings. Large pipe would be set at the top of the well, and progressively smaller pipe would be run in when it became necessary to case the well.

An old driller I knew in Illinois told me of a bizarre tale about working on one of these rigs in Kansas, many decades ago. A holdup man began hitting rigs on payday, and after being robbed of their pay once, a crew kept a shotgun handy in the shed over the rig's machinery. The robber showed up again one payday, but met an untimely end with a load of buckshot. The crew reached a quick decision on the dead outlaw's fate, and shoved him down the large surface pipe of the well they were drilling. They pushed him to the bottom with the tools, and drilled him up. If you know of a missing outlaw in Kansas about seventy years ago, he may be your man.

Here is another very old engine that probably was in a powerhouse. GSC linked me to a video of this one running, and it is a hit and miss engine; very unusual for an oil well engine, at least from my experience.

Here is a smaller Bessemer; a single cylinder. I have seen these at engine shows, and in Eastern Kentucky powerhouses.

Cable tool rigs had to have tools dressed regularly in a blacksmith forge in order to cut right, and cut the right size hole. These shops were busy 24 hours a day during the war years.

You have to wonder how effective this old fire truck would have been against an oil well fire. From the looks of the paint, it must have spent most of its life inside.

I haven't been to California for many years, but if I am out that way I know that I will have to visit this museum. Thank You GSC, for sharing these great photos.

UPDATE!

This is the machine that GSC asks about in his comment. It is a centrifuge, which would have been used to separate oil from water, or other impurities. I do not know if this was part of the treating equipment or if it was used for testing. Comments are welcome from anyone who can tell us more.