Orange County Almanac

Large underground petroleum pools remain in various parts of Orange County, and the county has had a long, colorful history of oil drilling.

Drillers hit oil as early as 1882 in the Brea Canyon area. Ten years later, the Chandler Oil Mining Co. put down several wells near Carbon Canyon, and the tiny settlement of Petrolia sprang up around them. The little town, which was renamed Olinda in 1897, had vanished by the early 1940s.

The biggest oil boom in the county came in Huntington Beach. The first gusher, on a well called Bolsa Chica No. 1, blew Aug. 3, 1920. Hundreds of other wells dotted Huntington Beach during the rest of the 1920s and well into the 1960s.

The American Cancer Society’s Orange-Villa Park chapter will throw a “Party with a Purpose” tonight.

This is a chance for residents to meet volunteers who work for the society and learn about its services.

A $20 fee covers the cost of dinner. The reception runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Yen-Ching Restaurant, 574 S. Glassell in Orange.

For information, call the St. Joseph Hospital Regional Cancer Center, (714) 771-8985.