Pico (and Wiley) Canyon Engines

Before 1910, almost 75 wells were drilled in Pico Canyon. So, obviously, there were once a lot of old engines scattered about in the canyon area. Over the years, the engines probably were either moved to another location or scrapped. Today, there are five engines visible along the road and part of one rusting engine away deep in the canyon.

Many engines from Pico Canyon and at least one from Wiley Canyon have been restored. Greg Johnson restored the engine from the upper jack plant on PCO hill. Another engine is currently being restored by Mike Anderson and, in 2015, he purchased another Pico Canyon Farrer & Trefts steam engine which he is also restoring. Another restored engine has been found by Greg owned by a private collector somewhere in Southern California. Considering that Greg Johnson and friends salvaged 6 or 7 engines from Pico Canyon in 1974 and 1975, others must be out there somewhere.

The one known restored Wiley Canyon engine is owned by comedian Jay Leno.

Here is an early (date unknown) photo of the engine used at CSO 4. Based on comparison with the next photo, it looks post 1918. From the Eugene Swarzwald Pictorial, California and the Pacific Collection of Photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

From the Los Angeles Times of October 27, 1918. Caption is "The old steam engine [in Pico Canyon] was installed in 1879, and is still in service, being used for pulling tools, but no longer for pumping". This looks the same as the above photo.

This is also an early (date unknown) photo but of the engine used at CSO 5 and probably post 1918 like the first photo of CSO 4. From the Eugene Swarzwald Pictorial, California and the Pacific Collection of Photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

The most obvious engines are right by the school house among other old equipment and junk. The little building on the right was a TV show prop and has been removed. The engines are just rusting away. There are no plans to cover them for protection. (5/5/2013)

Here is the engine furthest from the school house. It is a Farrar & Trefts steam engine. The bottom side is up. (5/10/2013)

Another view of that engine (5/5/2013)

The middle engine is a Farrar & Trefts steam engine in pretty good condition. (5/10/2013)

Another view (5/10/2013)

And another view (5/10/2013)

Here is the engine nearest the school house. It is a gas engine manufactured by Union Tool Company in Torrance, CA, and was rated at 20 HP. It was originally located below the large flat area on PCO hill west of the jack plant. It was removed during the salvage efforts by Greg Johnson and others and taken to Santa Fe Springs to be restored. However, Frenchy Lagasse wanted it back, so it was returned to Pico Canyon to rust away with the others. (5/10/2013)

Another view (5/10/2013)

This is the steam engine at the Johnson Park replica rig. It was manufactured by the Ames' Iron Works Company in Oswego, NY. Darryl Manzer told me that this engine was originally on PCO Hill below the jack plant. He lived in Mentryville when the replica rig was constructed. (5/10/2013)

Another view (5/10/2013)

And another view (5/10/2013)

This is the engine at the Pico 4 well site. It is a 25 HP Commercial gas engine made in Los Angeles around 1912. The pulley was manufactured by Meese & Gottfried Company, S. F., California. According to Greg Johnson, this engine is not an original Pico Canyon engine. It (and the jack plant parts laying nearby) were last used in the 1960's on Court Street in downtown L.A. and were owned by the Manley Oil Company. Ken Manley donated them to Travel Town in Griffith Park in Los Angeles where they sat for many years. Travel Town decided to get rid of them and they somehow ended up in Pico Canyon. They were not in the canyon in 1974-75. (5/5/2013)

Another view of that engine (5/5/2013)

I found this engine body deep in the canyon on a steep slope. It was obviously just shoved down from above many years ago. Greg Johnson identifies it as a Farrar and Trefts steam engine. (3/22/2008)

Another view. (3/22/2008)

This is the restored engine from the upper jack plant on PCO hill. It is a circa 1899 35 HP Model 3 Klein gas engine with a 12 inch bore and a 24 inch stroke made by National Transit in Oil City, PA. According to Greg Johnson, it took him about 3 years to restore (and Greg had a full-time job during that time). There were quite a few parts missing that had to be reproduced. After restoration, he loaned it to the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, California, where it was displayed from about 1978 - 1985. The above photo (provided by Greg Johnson) shows the engine at the Vista Museum. In 1985, Greg traded it to Nathan Lillibridge of Voluntown, CT, for another early gas engine. After Lillibridge's death, the family donated it to the Coolspring Power Museum in Coolspring, PA.

Photo of the Klein at the Coolspring Power Museum in the Nate Lillibridge Station, where it is today. Here is a recent (10/2015) video (.mp4 format) of the running engine taken by Greg Johnson. He kindly allowed me to show it here.

Here is a still of the same Klein engine at the Coolspring museum from this youtube video. Greg is on the left. As you can see, the engine is quite large.

Here is a small photo of the sign for the Klein engine. It says:
Klein gas engine
Model 3
12 inch bore, 24 inch stroke
Circa 1899
Serial number 335
Designed by John Klein and made by National Transit Company, Oil City, PA.

The engine was running a central power (or Jack Plant as they were known in the west) pumping approximately 25 oil wells in the Pico Canyon Oil field new Newhall, California. The site of the power was on the top of a high ridge about 1000 feet above the canyon floor. The Pico Canyon field was first drilled in 1875 by California Star Oil Works Company which later became Standard Oil Company. It is unknown how this engine came to be in California as Klein engines were originally designed and made for use in pipeline stations pumping oil to refineries. This is the only Klein that has been found in its original place of use outside of Pennsylvania, Ohio or West Virginia. The engine last ran in 1937. A brush fire burned the area in the 1960's and destroyed the engine house. It was recovered in 1975 and restored to operating condition by Greg Johnson of Lakeside, CA. Information and parts to complete the restoration were supplied by Paul Harvey and John Wilcox in the late 1970's. The engine was traded to Nathan Lillibridge of Voluntown, CT. in the mid 1960's. After Nate's passing the engine was donated to the Coolspring Power Museum by the Lillibridge family.

This is an old photo of the restored 15 HP Farrar and Trefts steam engine from Pico Canyon on display at the Vista Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum. It was bought around 1970 from Frenchy Lagasse (Standard Oil) by Carl Bergman of Lancaster, CA. It was subsequently sold to Larry Thomson, who still owns it. He loaned it to the museum where it now resides.

This is a photo of the engine at the museum taken on October 20, 2013, by Greg Johnson during a show there. Here is a short video (.mp4 format) that Greg took of the engine running. Windows Media Player will run it. Greg was one of the equipment salvagers in 1974-75 and has been restoring old engines for over 40 years.

This is a photo of the engine at the museum taken by Mike Anderson during the same show that Greg was at.

Another photo by Mike. He says that the engine "has a bolted on reversing arm attached to the cylinder, in black paint, that would move the Stephenson’s link up or down to change direction. The plaque says that the cylinder has an 8” bore, but I think it would match mine at 9”.

Mike also took a video of the engine running. See here for that video.

Here is the plaque for the engine. Here is Greg Johnson's comment about the plaque:

"I notice they think this engine came around the horn by ship. The transcontinental railroad was going by that time. I bet it came by railroad! Also they say it had the rotary valve for quick reversal. I think they did it as a selling point as it did nothing to make the reversal of the engine quicker than a normal D valve. The engines only needed reversing when they were pulling the cable tools out of the well. It did not have to be done quickly! The Vista museum rarely gets their facts correct and have no idea how the engine was used to drill or pump a well."

This Farrar & Trefts engine was salvaged in 1974-75 by Greg Johnson and others. Two of the the others included Bob and John Hughes. John was Bob's father. The engine was owned by Bob originally but ended up at his fathers place. After John passed away 2-3 years ago, Ron Haskell ended up with it. Ron had no interest in the engine so he sold it to Mike Anderson in 2012. Here is the engine just after Mike brought it home on 11/24/2012. The Stephenson's valve linkage and crank rod are disconnected. Mike plans to restore the engine and I have a webpage that will follow his restoration project (photo courtesy of Mike Anderson).

Here is another view, with the Stephenson linkage in place. (photo courtesy of Mike Anderson)

In 2015, Mike Anderson bought another Farrar & Trefts steam engine that was salvaged from Pico Canyon. This one was in better shape then his first one, so he has shifted his restoration emphasis to this engine, although any machining of common parts will be done for both engines. Here it is in 2018 partially restored. (photo courtesy of Mike Anderson)

Here is another view. (photo courtesy of Mike Anderson)

Advertisement for a Farrar & Trefts steam engine, quite popular in Pico Canyon. The two men were Chilion M. Farrar, 1830-1907, and John Trefts, 1818(France)-1900. Here is Farrar's 1871 engine patent and Farrar's 1872 patent, an improvement on the 1871 design.

This is the 20 HP Superior gas engine from Wiley Canyon (photo provided by Greg Johnson). It was salvaged in 1974-75 and restored to running condition by Dick Bouma of Ontario, CA. It was sold to comedian Jay Leno an is now in his large collection of engines in Burbank, Ca. Hopefully, one day Jay will create a short movie of this engine running like he has of many other old engines. (Jay Leno's Garage on Facebook.)

Here is a photo of the Superior engine in Jay Leno's Garage (photo taken by Greg Johnson)

This image is NOT in the public domain and is used by permission of Jay Leno

Another view of the engine (photo taken by Greg Johnson)

This image is NOT in the public domain and is used by permission of Jay Leno

This working steam engine is owned by a private collector somewhere in Southern California. It was originally removed from Pico Canyon by David Druery during the 1974-75 salvaging by Greg Johnson and friends. David was one of the friends. Greg said that David didn't restore it, but doesn't know who did.

The five photos of this engine were taken by Greg Johnson and used by permission of him and the owner of the engine. Thanks, guys.

Closer view

The 1875 date is not the date it was first used in Pico Canyon. The first steam engine was used in 1876 on the famous CSO 4 and I really doubt that this is that engine. CSOs 1-3 were originally drilled by a spring pole in 1875. In 1877, the spring poles were replaced by steam engines, so that is the oldest that this steam engine could have been used. CSO 5 wasn't drilled until 1880, so I suspect that this engine was first used in the 1880's in Pico.

This is a Farrer & Trefts steam engine

It is a 15 HP steam engine made in Bradford, Pennsylvania

Greg Johnson: "The engine in the photo was removed from Pico Canyon before we got there by a scrap guy from Bakersfield. He sold several of the F and T steam engines to collectors around 1970-71. The engine in the photo was restored by Jim Bove and displayed at local engine shows during the mid 1970’s. He traded it to someone many years ago. I have not heard of it since that time. I took that photo circa 1974-76 while the engine was at a show in Costa Mesa, CA." Photo used by permission of Greg Johnson.

In February of 2021, Greg Johnson provided this and the next two photos of two Farrer and Trefts engines that were originally in Pico Canyon. They were removed by a scrap company from Bakersfield before Greg and his group were there in 1974 and 75. After that, the engines were sold to a collector in Le Grand, California, named Arthur Bright. They sold again at an auction of Bright's collection sometime prior to 2000. Nothing has been done to preserve or restore them. They are likely to be for sale in the future as the current owner's health is not good.