Edward L. Doheny

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Edward Laurence Doheny (August 10, 1856 – September 8, 1935) was an American oil tycoon who drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field in 1892.

His success sparked a petroleum boom in Southern California and made him a fortune when he sold his houses in 1902. He then started highly profitable oil production in Tampico, Mexico's "golden belt," fracking the first well in the country in 1901.

During the Mexican Revolution, he widened operations and opened large new oil fields in Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela).

Pan American Petroleum & Transportation Company, one of the world's largest oil companies in the 1920s, expanded as the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company. Doheny was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal and accused of offering a $100,000 bribe to United States Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall.

Doheny was twice disapproved of giving the money, but Fall was found not guilty of accepting it. Doheny and his second wife and widow, Carrie Estelle, were among Los Angeles' most prominent philanthropists, especially in Catholic schools, churches, and charities.

In Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil, J. Arnold Ross portrayed J. Arnold Ross. (the inspiration for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood) is loosely based on Doheny.

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Early career

In the 1880 United States Census as a painter living in Prescott, Arizona, Doheny is listed as a painter. He was in the Black Range in western New Mexico Territory's southwest, living in the blustery silver-mining town of Kingston (about ten miles (16 km) west of Hillsboro), prospecting, mining, and trading mining claims. He worked in the famed Iron King mine, just north of Kingston, which attracted men to the area. He met two men in Kingston who later played significant roles in his life: Albert Fall, the Interior Minister of the Interior, and Charles A. Canfield, who became his business partner.

Mount Chief Mine in Doheny and Canfield were unsuccessful together. Canfield pushed forward in the Kingston area, leasing and constructing with a great deal of success the Comstock Mine (not to be confused with the Comstock Lode of Virginia City, Nevada). Doheny refused to join him in this venture, but Canfield made a modest profit from it. To help his family, Doheny was eventually limited to doing odd jobs (including painting) until he was able to help his family.

Doheny married Carrie Louella Wilkins, his first wife, in 1883, in Kingston, New Mexico Territory. Eileen's daughter, Eileen, was born in December 1885.

Doheny left New Mexico and migrated to Los Angeles, California, after Canfield's popularity in real estate there. Canfield had previously left New Mexico with $110,000 in cash from his Comstock Mine venture, which he later converted into substantial real estate investments during the Los Angeles boom of the late 1880s. Canfield lost his fortune and land holdings, and by the time Doheny arrived in Los Angeles in 1891, he was deeply in debt.

The two men briefly tried prospecting in Southern California's San Diego County area, where they established the Pacific Gold and Silver Extracting Company, but the men soon returned to Los Angeles after achieving success. Doheny was so poor he couldn't afford to pay for his boarding room by 1892.

Eileen, Doheny's daughter, died on December 14, 1892, at the age of seven. She died as a result of heart disease caused by rheumatic fever as well as a lung infection. Edward and Carrie's marriage was fragile due to the harsh reality of mining life and their numerous financial challenges. The death of Eileen brought the marriage even more complicated. Carrie gave birth to their only son Edward Jr., nicknamed Ned, nearly a year after Eileen's death on November 6, 1893.

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