In 17th District Court, Los Angeles, California
Case No. 4437
R. S. Baker et al vs. The California Star Oil Works Company

Deposition of D. C. Scott

I now reside in Ventura County, California. In July 1865 I engaged in the oil business in the oil regions of Pennsylvania and was interested in the drilling, workings, and operating of oil wells both as workman and part-owner, have been interested in the drilling and working of a large number of oil wells and have had a large production of oil from the same, the wells being both flowing and pumping.

I was in this business in Pa. from the time I commenced it in 1865 until I came to Cal. in the fall of 1874 and I have been continually in business ever since. In fact, I have never in my life been engaged in any other business except in the working and operating of oil wells and the handling of oil and oil property and I have devoted my time to the same exclusively since I have been grown.

I have known C. A. Mentry since 1866 or 1867, and knew him by reputation previous to that time. He was regarded in Pa. as an unusually competent and careful driller and oil operator and I know he has had a very large and extensive practical experience in locating, drilling, and operating oil wells and handling oil. I regard him as by all odds the most thoroughly competent man now on this coast for the practical working and operating of oil wells.

In the spring of 1875 I went to the Pico claim under a verbal permission from R. S. Baker who represented to me at the time that he, Beale, Sanford Lyon, and several others owned the claim, but that as he had advanced the most of the money to work the claim, that he controlled the others. I went on to the claim, built roads, and made some excavations to collect the oil seeping from the Pico Spring and in Sept. 1875, commenced in conjunction with said Mentry, J. G. Baker and others to drill wells with spring poles. Under my arrangement with plaintiff Baker, we were to render to him and his associates 1/8 of the oil as royalty.

We worked under this arrangement for some time and then Mr. Denton became associated with us and a short time afterwards I, by personal negotiations with plaintiff Baker and Lyon and Leaming, got from them the Denton agreement described in the complaint herein. Some time was consumed in getting this matter arranged. Plaintiff Baker at the time represented to me that he and Beale owned together an undivided interest of 3/7 in the Pico claim and that Lyons and Leaming together owned an interest of 1/7 and if I could get Lyon and Leaming to unite in the lease, it would make 4/7 or a majority of the interests and he would lease the property described in said agreement. He explicitly informed me he didn’t claim for himself and Beal more than said undivided 3/7 interest and we were delayed some time in procuring the assent and signature of Lyon and Leaming.

Shortly after the execution of the agreement the interest of Denton was vested by assignment in the defendant corporation and the company commenced work vigorously to develop the claim.

Since that time, I have been upon the said claim very often and at short intervals and have very often examined the wells, their different characteristics, and the way in which they were operated and given these matters great and particular attention. I am convinced that said wells and each of them have been operated and used in a skillful and workmanlike manner and that nothing has been done to check or suppress the flow of oil there from and that no injury has resulted, or will result, from the operation and use of the wells as conducted under the present arrangement.

These are the only oil wells which are now in successful operation in the state of California. The statements in the complaint herein to the effect that the oil is and will be forced by the way the wells are operated to find an outlet elsewhere and that the field of oil is and will be greatly diminished I believe wholly without foundation and in view of all the facts, really absurd.

I have heard read the affidavit of Mr. C. A. Mentry herein and concur with him respecting the cost of tankage and deterioration of oil by evaporation. I have had experience with respect to this in both Los Angeles County and Ventura County. I know in one instance where crude oil was tanked last December in Ventura County and which within 4 months became totally unfit for illuminating purposes and. in fact, of but little value for any purpose. This was caused by evaporation. I am satisfied that crude oil tanked now near the Pico wells could not be sold after the expiration of 4 months for the cost of damages.

The pumping wells on the Pico claim are pumped by heads or at intervals. This is without doubt the proper method of operating these wells and is the method generally and universally adapted in Pennsylvania. The pumps in wells of limited capacity (as these wells are) soon exhaust the supply and after the well becomes dry or exhausted, but little oil can be produced and it is much better to stop the pumps for a time, the duration of such stoppage depending upon the character and capacity of the well and then, after the oil accumulates, commence pumping again. Experience has shown that as much oil can be obtained from a well of limited capacity when pumping at intervals as when pumped continuously and that a well is more apt to be preserved. The theory of such preservation being that where a well is kept continuously doing work, a thick crust or sticky substance forms on the crevices of the rocks and impedes the flow of oil.

D. C. Scott

June 11, 1878