William Warren Orcutt (February 14, 1869 – 1942) was a

petroleum geologist A petroleum geologist is an earth scientist who works in the field of petroleum geology, which involves all aspects of oil discovery and production. Petroleum geologists are usually linked to the actual discovery of oil and the identification of ...

who is considered a pioneer in the development of oil production in California, and the use of geology in the oil industry. He is also known for his contributions to

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, which brought the fossils of the

La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' in Spanish) has seeped up from the gro ...

to the attention of the scientific community.

Life and career

Orcutt was born in

Dodge County, Minnesota Dodge County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 20,867 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat is Mantorville. Dodge County is part of the Rochester, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The area of presen ...

on February 14, 1869. His family moved west and settled in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

, when he was 12 years old. After graduating from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with a degree in geology and engineering in 1895, he was employed as a civil and hydraulic engineer and as a United States Deputy Surveyor until 1899. That year he joined the

Union Oil Company of California Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

as superintendent of its

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

Division; he would stay with Unocal, eventually becoming a Vice-President and a member of the board, until he retired in 1939. In 1901, when he was made manager of the geological, land, and engineering departments of the company, he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In 1904 Unocal instructed him to create a town to house the growing workforce needed for the booming Santa Maria oil field in

Santa Barbara County, California Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

. Over Orcutt's objections the company insisted on naming the new town,

Orcutt, California Orcutt is an unincorporated town and census-designated place located in the Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Orcutt is named for William Warren Orcutt, the manager of the Geological, Land and Engineering Depar ...

, after him. Before Orcutt, oil production in the Western U.S. had made little use of geological science; his work, which included making the first geological maps of the Coalinga, Lompoc, and Santa Maria oils fields and the application of geologic science and engineering principles to problems with oil production, changed this. Unocal became the first oil company operating in the state of California to have a department of geology, and his efforts led to the use of geology being a standard part of oil production in the West. In 1923 Orcutt wrote a paper tracing the history of oil production in California, which he presented to the

American Association of Petroleum Geologists The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with more than 40,000 members across 129 countries as of 2021. The AAPG works to "advance the science of geology, especially as ...

. Orcutt served in the

California National Guard The California National Guard is part of the National Guard of the United States, a dual federal-state military reserve force. The CA National Guard has three components: the CA Army National Guard, CA Air National Guard, and CA State Guard. ...

from 1895-97, was a Reserve Engineer during

WWI World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and during

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

served on the local draft board from 1940 until he died in 1942.

Discovery of La Brea Tar Pits fossils

Orcutt discovered fossils embedded in the

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

deposits on the Hancock Ranch shortly after he moved to Los Angeles in 1901. Fossils found in the

had been mentioned in the scientific literature as early as 1875, but it was not until Orcutt collected

saber-toothed cat Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until ...

dire wolf The dire wolf (''Aenocyon dirus'' ) is an extinct canine. It is one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores in North America, along with its extinct competitor ''Smilodon''. The dire wolf lived in the Americas and eastern Asia during the Late ...

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbe ...

and other fossils from the site that the scientific community recognized the value of the La Brea Tar Pits in understanding the late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

fauna and flora of North America. Orcutt eventually gave his fossil collection to

John Campbell Merriam John Campbell Merriam (October 20, 1869 – October 30, 1945) was an American paleontologist, educator, and conservationist. The first vertebrate paleontologist on the West Coast of the United States, he is best known for his taxonomy of ver ...

of the University of California.

Legacy

Because of his important role in developing the oil industry in the Western United States, in addition to

, the town of Orcutt, Colorado is named in his honor. Paleontologists named the prehistoric La Brea Coyote, ''Canis orcutti'', in honor of his discoveries at the La Brea tar pits. The 1920s residence, gardens, and orchards on the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

ranch he and his wife Mary used for vacations and their retirement estate was designated a

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cult ...

, and bequeathed to the city of Los Angeles as the

Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center The Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center, formally known as Rancho Sombra del Roble, is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #31) located in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, California, USA. William Orcutt's vacation home Orcutt Ra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orcutt, William Warren American petroleum geologists Philanthropists from California 1869 births 1942 deaths La Brea Tar Pits Petroleum in California Union Oil Company of California Businesspeople from Los Angeles People from Canoga Park, Los Angeles People from Dodge County, Minnesota People from Ventura County, California Scientists from California Stanford University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American geologists