Contra Costa County, CA History

Transcribed by Sally  Kaleta

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SOURCE:  The History of Contra Costa County, California
Edited by: Frederick J. Hulaniski
Publisher: Elms Pub. Co., Berkley, CA 1917
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII
AVON
 
The Associated Oil Company's Plant
 
                   The Associated Oil Company was incorporated October 5, 1901, 
with a capitalization of forty million dollars, and consisted of some 
thirty-five oil companies, controlling about three-fourths of the Kern River and 
McKittrick oil-fields.
                   The company's policy of expansion soon after brought it into 
control of the Amalgamated and the West Coast oil companies and many other 
valuable holdings in the various fields. In 1905 the company purchased the 
property of the National Oil Transportation Company, and thereby secured 
pipe-line facilities from the Coalinga field to tidewater at Monterey, and from 
the Santa Maria field to its refinery at Gaviota, Santa Barbara County. In 1906 
the Associated Oil Company completed its first eight-inch pipe-line from the San 
Joaquin field to Port Costa, and shortly thereafter, this line being inadequate, 
another eight-inch line was built, giving a total capacity of about fifty 
thousand barrels a day. In 1906 the company constructed an eight-inch pipe-line 
from the Santa Maria field to its refinery at Gaviota, a distance of about 
thirty-five miles.
                   In 1911 the Associated Oil Company decided to erect a 
refinery on San Francisco Bay, and for this purpose purchased a 
six-hundred-and-twenty-acre site at Avon, Contra Costa County. This refinery, 
although not as large as some other refineries in the United States, is of the 
latest design. It was completed and put in operation in August, 1913, at that 
time having a capacity of about ten thousand barrels of crude oil a day. The 
high quality of its products was immediately recognized by the trade, and as a 
result almost continuous additions have been made, until at the present time 
this plant is capable of handling twenty-five thousand barrels of crude oil a 
day. This refinery has been pronounced by experts as one of the most modern and 
complete in the United States. The location of Avon refinery is ideal, having 
deep-water shipping facilities and being traversed by both the Southern Pacific 
and Santa Fe railroads. The company's two eight-inch pipe-lines from the Valley 
oil-fields serve as a source of supply.
                   The Associated Oil Company has established some thirty-five 
distributing stations and about twenty-five service stations in the principal 
cities of California, as well as stations in Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. It 
has a fleet of eight oil-tankers, having a combined capacity of about three 
hundred thousand barrels; also, necessary tugs, barges, and tank-cars.
                   It is estimated that the company has invested over two and a 
half million dollars in Contra Costa County, and furnishes employment to several 
hundred men. During the year 1916 the company expended over half a million 
dollars in improvements at its Avon refinery alone.
                   The refinery capacities of the Associated refineries at Los 
Angeles and Gaviota have also been increased in order to take care of market 
demands. This company is pursuing a policy of increasing its landholdings, and 
during the last year made heavy investments in oil-lands and developments.