f broke leaving their tools in the well; and the well was abandoned. By this time they had drilled a total of six wells, and had yet to pro- duce their first barrel of oil. They had exhausted all their cap:i:-ta1-,=~a.-r1CI ____ the dnly assets they had left were their drilling rigs, plus their courage and opti·mism which seems to go with "oil fever . " In desperation they moved to the Santa Paula Creek area. To their great disappointment, "Santa Paula Number One" was another dry hole, their seventh. At that time Hardison and Stewart sat down and took inventory. They were entirely without capital; and Hardison who had organized two banks, one in Kansas and the other in Pennsylvania, had borrowed to the maximum from these banks. In desperation, Stewart went to his old friend, Mr. Blake, and laid their troubles before him, pointing out that they had drilled all their wells on unproved territory. He requested permission ' to drill on land that had been tested. Blake was sympathetic with their problem and arranged for them to drill again in Pico Canyon, but this time quite some distance from the original five "dusters" they had drilled earlier in the area. This was their last chance. If this well failed they were finished. Here they began to sink "Star Number One." At a depth of only 1,620 feet, the drill bit struck oil. When the pumping equipment was installed the well produced 75 barrels per day, a good well for that day in California. However, because of a lack of capital with which to develop '. other leases, they were forced to sell "Star Number One" outright. As it turned out, this proved to be a blessing in disguise because a short time later the well's production dropped to one half, and it was discovered that the well was on the outer fringe of a large deposit of oil. Had Hardison and Stewart drilled additional wells in this fringe area, they would have gone broke again. After the sale of "Star Number One," Hardison and Stewart shopped around for land they could purchase with the profit derived from the sale. The broad valley of the Santa Clara River reninded them of the Venango Valley
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