21 NOVEMBER 2026 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Drilling in Plain Sight Adapted from Information by the American Oil & Gas Historical Society In 1921, oil was discovered in Signal Hill, California, which launched a drilling boom, with many homeowners in the area wanting to profit off the discovery. Much of Signal Hill’s land was sold and subdivided into lots with their size described as big enough to raise chickens; this transformed the quiet residential area into a bustling oil town. By 1923, oil production reached more than 250,000 barrels of oil per day. At the time, the law of capture for petroleum production ensured the formerly scenic landscape would be transformed. Competing exploration and production companies crowded around newly completed wells and chased any signs of oil to the Pacific Ocean. Onshore and offshore tax revenues generated by the production of more than one trillion cubic feet of natural gas and one billion barrels of oil helped underwrite much of the Los Angeles area’s economic growth. However, this came at a cost. By the early 1930s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported the ground of Long Beach was subsiding due to the extracted fluids from underground. Californians had a lot of experience dealing with groundwater-induced subsidence and the building damage it caused, but by 1951, Long Beach was sinking at the alarming rate of about two feet each year. Scientists noted that between 1928 and 1965, the community sank almost 30 feet. After decades of prospering from petroleum production, the city prohibited “offshore area” drilling to slow the subsidence as the community looked for a solution. The Texaco (now Chevron), Humble (now ExxonMobil), Union Oil (now Chevron), Mobil (now ExxonMobil), and Shell Oil Company islands were the answer. Not only did these man-made islands extract gas and oil beneath Long Beach, five injection pumps with 1750-horsepower motors were also installed on White Island. These pumps drove down water to offset the extracted petroleum; they sustained reservoir pressures and stopped the city from sinking. Most people simply do not realize the islands are petroleum production facilities. From the shore, the man-made islands appear occupied by upscale condos and lush vegetation. This creative disguise came courtesy of Joseph Linesch, a pioneering designer who helped landscape Disneyland. Not only were these disguises meant to please the eye, they were also designed to soundproof the drilling rigs and aboveground equipment, diverting the noise that would come with such an operation away from local residents. THUMS Island White, named for Edward White II, the first American to walk in space, who died in 1967 with astronauts “Gus” Grissom and Roger B. Chaffee. A fourth island was named for test pilot Ted Freeman, a fellow astronaut who died in 1963. Photo courtesy of the University of California at Los Angeles Library Digital Collections See us at GROUNDWATER WEEK Booth 543
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