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Built by Julian I. Hathaway, circa 1928
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Julian I (Doc) Hathaway standing alongside
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Editor's Note: The forerunner and basis of this web page was an article that appeared in the Hathaway Ranch Museum Newsletter issued in autumn of 1997 (the newsletter was published quarterly beginning in 1991 up through the autumn 2000 issue—publication stopped due to health issues for HRM founder Nadine Hathaway). At the time the 1997 newsletter was published, Julian I. (Doc) Hathaway, born on June 17, 1912, was the only surviving son of Jesse and Lola Hathaway, and he still worked in the declining Santa Fe Springs oilfields every day. He was affectionately known as "Doc," due to his attentiveness to injured animals as a youngster.
The miniature oil-drilling rig pictured in this article was once famous. It and its young builder, Julian I. Hathaway, was featured by General Petroleum Company in its advertising for Violet Ray Gasoline at the Sacramento State Fair, and then again during the Los Angeles County Fair at Pomona in 1928. A Sacramento newspaper estimated that the little working oil-rig increased Violet Ray Gasoline sales by 50,000 gallons per month. During the State Fair the Standard Oil Company of California asked to buy the display from Hathaway, Standard Oil wanting it to become part of their advertising campaign. When construction on the miniaturized rig began the Hathaway Ranch was being drilled for oil by Oscar R. Howard, a prominent oil operator of the 1920s. Today, the little rig rests quietly at the Hathaway Ranch Museum and is on display for visitors to see and enjoy, although it is no longer operational.
The Whittier oilfields, located in the Whittier Hills adjacent to the town of Whittier, dated from the 1890s. However, oil was not discovered in the Santa Fe Springs area until much later by a well drilled in 1919 on the Marius Meyer property in Sunshine Acres. The Meyer well produced some oil but was not considered a good well. The first real oil boom began in 1921 with Bell #1, when it blew in for 2500 barrels a day. This early oil drilling activity not too far from the Hathaway Ranch had sparked enough interest in young Julian Hathaway to construct a small wooden derrick made out of lath (narrow strips of wood used as a backing for plastering walls). He was only eight-years of age at the time, which suggests that the construction of the little derrick and rig occurred circa 1920-21. The derrick stood about five-feet high and was equipped with a crude hand-cranked draw-works and rotary table (see the Hathaway Company page for a photograph). He, along with his two brothers, Elwood and Richard, managed to take turns at the crank and drill a 1-1/2 to 2 inch diameter hole some ninety-feet deep. It was drilled out back of the original ranch shop, which today puts the drilling site somewhere toward the backside of the small yard situated between the flat-belt operated machine shop and the milking barn.
By late 1921 the exciting Santa Fe Springs oil boom reached as far south as the Hathaway Ranch. The 10 to 11 year old boy, Julian I. Hathaway, was fascinated by the oil rigs now punching down holes on and near the Hathaway Ranch itself. Julian would hurry to finish his daily irrigation and other chores so that he could spend time around the oil drilling operations. Spurred on by a growing interest in the oil industry, he set his mind to the construction of a detailed working replica of an actual combination cable tool and rotary drilling rig. It was dubbed Hathaway No. 2, with Hathaway #1 probably being the earlier built five-foot high wooden derrick fitted with hand-cranked machinery. The “new” model, however, would be complete with an elaborate and realistic looking steel derrick, standing approximately nine feet high, and steam powered mud pumps and a powerful little "twin" drilling engine to power the miniature draw-works and rotary table. The miniaturized drilling engine, which was affectionately named "The Hathaway Twin," and the handcrafted patterns, casting and machining was done by Julian Hathaway using resources on the Hathaway Ranch. The wood patterns used to make the various castings, along with an unfinished twin engine and a few other extra but incomplete parts still exist and are currently in the possession of one of Julian's daughters. Although he occasionally talked in some detail about his work in building the derrick and rig there is little doubt that his father, Jesse Hathaway, was available for advice and pointers when asked. His little rig could drill holes a hundred feet or more deep and it faithfully replicated the operation of the full-scale oil rigs operating nearby on the ranch. As a result, in 1928 the General Petroleum Company, one of the oil companies active in the Santa Fe Springs oil field, commissioned young Julian to tour various fairs and trade shows and demonstrate his unique drilling rig as an advertisement for the Company.
From here Julian went on to become a well known innovator and inventor in the development of oil and gas related technologies, doing pioneering work in many areas such as the Down Hole Free pump, Drain Hole Drilling techniques and the K-99 Dublin Drilling Bit. He loved his association and work with many well known and successful oil industry giants, including Fluid Packed Pump Company, Kobe (high pressure pumping systems), Sergeant, Dublin Engineering, Bowen Oil Tool Company (helping to invent and improve down-hole fishing tools) and Baker Oil Tool (helping in the design and improvement of down-hole cementing tools and surface equipment).
But back to 1928, the miniature rig, with a little sign identifying it as Hathaway No. 2, was also featured in a local newspaper the same year. The text from that article is provided below in easy to read format for convenience, and is placed to the left of the facsimile showing the original newspaper clipping:
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Newspaper story about Julian Hathaway
and his |
BOY EVOLVES TINY BUT PERFECT DERRICK
Julian Hathaway, 16, of Norwalk, Has Built This Complete Drilling Outfit—Engine, Derrick and Drilling Equipment—With Which He Has Sunk a Hole Ninety Feet Deep in His Father's Citrus Ranch. The Equipment Is to Be Shown by a Large Oil Company at Many Expositions This Fall.
SCHOOL BOY BUILDS OIL DERRICK
Drills 90-Foot Well on Father's Ranch.
Norwalk, Aug. 16.—Julian Hathaway, 16-year old boy Norwalk boy, bears the distinction of having built with his own hands an oil well drilling outfit with which he has recently sunk a ninety foot hole on his father's citrus ranch on Little Lake Road [now Florence Avenue].
Born on the Hathaway ranch in the shadow of Santa Fe Springs oil derricks, and coming of a family through whose veins runs a strain of mechanical genius, young Hathaway at an early age felt the urge to create mechanical marvels. When fortune smiled upon his father through the discovery of oil on a part of his ranch, the latter fostered his son's abilities. He equipped a shop with a battery of precision tools that would delight an Edison or a Ford and gave Julian and his two brothers carte blanche to go ahead. His only demand was that anything attempted must be completed. The finished oil rig built by young Julian, probably the only one of its kind in America, is the present outstanding accomplishment.
Nine Feet High.
The miniature derrick stands nine feet high. In its building ninety feet of galvanized angle iron and 150 feet of galvanized girts and crossarms were used. All of this iron was cut, bored and bolted together by the boy. It is a true replica in every detail of the big derricks, even to the "A" frame through which pipe and tools are maneuvered.
There is a rotary engine house, a standard engine house and a mud pump house, all constructed and equipped to simulate the regular equipment of the big oil companies even to the corrugated roofs and walls.
The outfit is capable of performing all the operations of oil well drilling, including rotary drilling, mud pumping and fishing for tools. Power is furnished by twin steam engines hooked to a two horsepower boiler fired by gas.
Amazingly Complete.
The outfit is amazingly complete. Catwalks at strategic heights and steel ladders add to the realism of the miniature rig. Sixteen electric lights in engine house and derrick make night drilling practical.
Julian Hathaway and his two older brothers, Elwood and Richard, are all natural born mechanics and have built several miniature engines. It is nothing unusual at all, after seeing a new engine or other machine, for them to go home and duplicate it in miniature. Richard is working on a Corliss engine of complicated design to duplicate a big one used on a well at Santa Fe Springs. Julian is now a student in the Norwalk High School. He expects to spend some time in college in the study of engineering and will then enter the oil business.
His miniature rig is to be exhibited by the General Petroleum Corporation at numerous fairs this Fall.
Julian I (Doc) Hathaway standing alongside his homebuilt steel derrick with combination rig, circa 1928. |
 Julian Hathaway holding his little homebuilt "Hathaway Twin" steam engine, circa 1928. Behind him is the steam boiler used to power his "Perfect Derrick" and rig. |
 Julian Hathaway demonstrating his "Perfect Derrick" for the General Petroleum Corporation, 1928. The steam boiler (with hooded stack) used to power the rig is partially visible at the rear of the diaplay. Note the small wooden derrick with a cable tool rig front in the background (in front of the steam boiler). |
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| The colorful sign (shown
at right) located at the front of the display booth reads as follows: "This miniature rig, demonstrating all of the operations incident to actual oil well drilling by the rotary method, is erected and fabricated in its entirety, including the miniature engines, by Julian Hathaway of Norwalk (Los Angeles, California.) Mr. Hathaway is only seventeen years of age, and insofar as known has made the only practical working model that actually demonstrates oil drilling operations. This model is capable of drilling to a depth of 180 feet. Exhibited by the General Petroleum Corporation of California |
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An interesting adjunct to this story is the miniature REGAN Crown Block that sat on the fireplace mantel in the original Hathaway Company office, which is now used by the Hathaway Ranch Museum as its office. The story behind the Regan Crown Block was told in a July, 1998, interview with Julian I. Hathaway, in which he stated: "I made a double-decked crown for my little drilling rig, and a Regan Tool Engineer came out and looked at it and then made one for the big rigs. They made an aluminum model and gave it to me for the idea, and I’ve still got it. That’s how it originally got built."
Julian I. Hathaway (deceased), Helen M. Hathaway (deceased), Terry Hathaway and Kathy (Hathaway) Weber.
Terry Hathaway.
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