Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Archives of the best of past topics Best of Shop Talk COTM JULY: UNION OIL COMPANY

GREAT REPORT HUBBA! SUPER HISTORY AND AWESOME PIECES SO FAR! NOW I'M GONNA HELP OUT AND POST SOME OF MY "76" ITEMS. UNION OIL CO WAS NOT VERY BIG HERE ON THE EAST COAST...MAYBE A TRUCK STOP HERE AND THERE. MY 6' SIGN CAME FROM AN AUCTION IN GEORGIA SOME YEARS BACK....


AND ONLY 6 MAPS IN MY PRETTY EXTENSIVE COLLECTION - ALSO SHOWING DETAILS FROM THE MAPS OF THE UNION OIL'S MINUTEMEN!




MORE IN NEXT POST...

DOC @ TAG/WEST
drcoke@optonline.net

[This message has been edited by THE AMERICAN GARAGE (edited 07-08-2004).]

2 MORE MINUTEMEN DETAILS....



GOTTA LOVE 'EM!

DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGES
drcoke@optonline.net

Thanks everyone for posting....there is plenty more but feel free to jump in. Doc tag...GREAT minuteman graphics on those maps...too cool.

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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

Dry Hole Charlies story

A Wildcatter named C.L. Woods had so many years of drilling bogus wells had earned him the reluctant nickname of “Dry Hole Charlie”. He briefly worked for Union as a driller in the early days. Charlies Luck changed and changed big in 1909 when after years of drilling dusters he got permission to drill on one of Unions properties in the san Jauaquin Valley. After expending all of their cash, Charlie and his crew sought help from Union. After breaking cables, bits and pumps, Union loaned the wildcatter a small crew and some equipment to fish for some of the bits that fell down a well hole. After losing Unions equipment down the same hole they were “fishing” in…Charlie pleaded with union to take over the operation because he had a hunch. Realizing the hole wasn’t deep enough yet to yield oil, but too deep to abandon, Union reluctantly agreed.. They sent crews there in their spare time to drill when their other operations were slow. Union now owned 51 percent of the dry hole wildcatters operation and they owned 49 percent. On March 15th 1910 Lakeview #1 came in and came in HUGE. Dry hole Charlie finally struck oil with the help of the Union Oil Company. Lakeview #1 after 18 months of production, ceased as quickly as it started but Unions officials estimate it pumped out9 million barrels of oil. Oil men for years to come would reminice about the famous well and say, “There never will be another gusher like old Lakeview”.
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a great no smoking sign w/minuteman.

white magic globe from 1932-35

another early globe from the 1920's

a porcelain dealer sign.


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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

Keep 'em coming guys! I'd like to see some more Union stuff that I don't have/ or have never seen!!!!!

This DUMMY [me] traded the 1st & 3rd off years ago !


[This message has been edited by Dick Bennett (edited 07-08-2004).]

a very cool 76 pennant

This unoco globe was used 1925-1932

detail of original Union sticker on globe.

this globe was used 1935-1946

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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

[This message has been edited by djhubba (edited 07-09-2004).]

Great info Hubba, and cool stuff from all.
I love that Union Ethyl die-cut pump sign!

Union and the dawn of the automobile

Many of the early decades of Union was oil rich and dollar poor. In the mid teens the Company pioneered a practice that has caught on quite well over the years. They opened their doors of the 6th street garage and sold tanks of gasoline to anyone who drove up. It can be debated by collectors and Historians whether the honor of “the first gas station” can go to Union Oil for this practice but it’s a fact by the 1920’s Union Oil stations began to appear throughout California. As the age of the automobile arrived so did its need for gasoline. Soon gas was the most important and profitable product of refinement. By 1920 Union oil was operating 56 strings of drilling tools and had bought or leased 274,414 acres of oil land. Union utilized top Geologists and arial surveyed, photographed, and mapped potential oil fields for expansion. In 1922 Union came close to being acquired by the British controlled Royal Dutch SHELL. Union successfully defeated the foreign grab and the infant oil giant stayed American owned and operated. In 1924 Shell unloaded its shares of Union oil stock and in November 1924, Union Oil Company of California was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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This union globe was used 1932-1935



some original Union a-38 ad glass

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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

pump plate

ad glass

some old cans..check out that cool gasoline can to the left.

gas can detail

lubricating oil can detail.

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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

an awesome life preserver that went on a Union tanker...too cool.

some old redline buckets.

a nice kerosene sign.

a great deisel pump plate.

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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

Chart of some of Unions most producing oil wells.

Hartnell#1 (Old Maude)….2,000,000 barrels in 6 years
Santa Maria #10…………1,700,073 barrels in 3 years
Santa Maria #5…………..1,662,000 barrels in 4 years
Folsum #2………………..1,635,000 barrels in 5 years
Columbia #1……………..l887,000 barrels in 4 years
Hobbs #6…………………581,000 barrels in 5 years
New Love #12……………255,000 barrels in 2 years
Lakeview #1…………….5,6000,000 barrels in the first nine months

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here are some original oil and grease dispencers.





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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

RIGHT ON HUBBA, GREAT JOB. LOVE ALL THE PHOTOS , REALLY ENJOYED SEEING THEM GLOBES DICK B. POSTED, KEEP THEM COMMING, WISHED I HAD SOMETHINGTO POST TO HELP OUT. CHEESE

Early 5gal. labels N.O.S.

Union Garden Sprayer




[This message has been edited by Dick Bennett (edited 07-11-2004).]

Two 4" & one 7" porceline signs

1 gallon bif [bugs, insects, flys], back & front. Also have a quart retangle can, same image.

KAYDOL [mineral oil]


[This message has been edited by Dick Bennett (edited 07-11-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Dick Bennett (edited 07-11-2004).]