On May 22, 1865, pioneers Ramon Perea and Jesus Hernandez sold off Pico Canyon, rich with oil, to Colonel Robert S. Baker for $300.

Ramon Perea, born August 31, 1838, immigrated from Mexico in the mid to late 1800s and owned and operated a ranch in San Francisquito Canyon. In the 1880s, Perea sold off the ranch to the Raggios family. Perea’s wife died at the age of 34 and was buried by Perea in 1888 in the graveyard known today as the Ruiz Cemetery in San Francisquito Canyon.

While working as a vaquero (cattle herder) for the Pico family, Perea and another vaquero, Jesus Hernandez, discovered a petroleum spring while on a hunting trip.

Rómulo Pico, son of the influential landowner Andrés Pico, swiftly filed a claim for the spring on January 24, 1865. He claimed under California’s Possessory Act of 1852, which was designed to protect the rights of the first persons to arrive on a specific piece of land. This piece of land would be known as Pico Springs, with Romulo submitting a formal claim to a share of the land.

Hernandez was mad over the Picos claiming his and Perea’s discovery, and hired a lawyer to file a claim under the Possessory Act of 1852 for Pico Springs. He was prepared to sell the rights to the spring to anyone except the Picos.

Both General Edward F. Beale and Colonel Robert S. Baker joined the dispute and convinced Romulo to adopt a plan in which they would buy out Perea and Hernandez and split the claim between themselves.

Perea and Hernandez filed on May 22, 1865, and sold their rights off to Baker for $300.

The oil drilling town of Mentryville became successful due to the oil discovery by Perea and Hernandez, as the Pico Canyon Oilfield, or Pico No. 4, was crucial to the town’s creation.

Named after Charles Alexander Mentry, the pioneering driller and future superintendent of the company that would evolve into Chevron, the town flourished in the late 1800s and housed more than 100 families until the early 1930s, when it was gradually abandoned as oil production slowed.

Pico No. 4 gained fame as the longest-operating oil well in the world until its closure in 1990.

The hidden discovery that Ramon Perea and Jesus Hernandez propelled Mentryville and the entire oil industry in California to success.

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click here.

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