Just wondering. Hoping we can bring gas prices down in the Bay Area, I guess...
Black Gold . . . Texas Tea . . .
Question...... where is Los Gatos ? Maybe I should know but I don't...
This is a good thing if you are not a democrat.
Even if you don't have mineral and water rights -- check your deed to make sure -- your property is still valuable, because they would need to buy your property to drill.
The Gulf of California has more pollution coming from oil seeping up from the ocean floor than Texas has with all its drilling platforms. And the incredibly ignorant Californians are letting millions of dollars worth of crude go to waste when their state is broke. I guess when you are stupid enough to let the enviro-nazis run your state, you just have to suffer. Too bad Texas and Louisiana can't cut off the people of CA and FLA and make them ride bicycles to work. They certainly don't deserve our oil.
That oily stuff is going to be in the way if your parents ever want to install a cement pond.
This has the makings of a fun thread. Thread, go bump!
christ man! Go wash your friggin FINGER ASAP! Its most likely sewage/poop!
What is the County name where you parents live?
Not many people know this, but Los Gatos had a little oil field," relates Los Gatos historian William "Bill" Wulf, a former Los Gatan himself. "Around 1901, oil was discovered on both sides of Los Gatos Boulevard, including around what is now Live Oak Manor. Most of the land with the oil was owned by the Main family, a prominent family in town at the time."
"There was Orchard Tract One and Orchard Tract Two, and there were oil derricks spouting up over the fruit orchards," he continues, chuckling at the incongruity. "That's all they talked about in those years; there was a real madness about it. They thought the town was going to be rich."
"None of the wells produced much, though. They weren't commercially viable—only about five to 10 barrels a day," Wulf says. The remains of one well, he adds, can still be seen if folks know where to look—behind the gas station at the intersection of Los Gatos Boulevard and Garden Lane.
Do they have a seement pond in th' yard?
But seriously...
There could be a pipeline in the area leaking. Contact the County and ask them about pipelines in the area. Don't tell them that oil is "seeping" into the yard; say it's "leaking". (Ya gotta know what to say to get through to these civil servants!)
Tell your mom if she doesn't want her life to get very interesting, she should forget she saw it and say nothing to anybody. You likewise! It could be a lot of things but Spindletop it ain't!
Yeeeee Haaaaa!
Check and make sure you own the mineral rights.
Since it was discovered in California they will have to move to Tennessee, vice versa what the Clampetts did.
Maybe you did strike oil!
I think others here can direct you further.
While California is a major petroleum producing state, northern California has always been the poor step child when it comes to oil and gas discoveries and production. Nevertheless, there are deposits in the bay area that have been pumped as recently as the late 1940's. There was the Moody Gulch field that I mentioned, but also there is the Sargent oil field in Santa Clara Valley and the Halfmoon Bay oil fields in San Mateo County. I remember as a young Boy Scout camping south of Halfmoon Bay and finding the abandoned well head stubs still oozing and bubbling oil. Naturally occuring "tar balls" were always found on the local beaches.
After the Loma Prieta earthquake I observed in the mountains near Pescadero (east side of the San Andreas fault, about 8-10 miles from the ocean), new fissures and cracks created by the earthquake that were emitting so much natural gas that, for the sake of safety, the local residents has inserted pipes and had ignited the gas. The flames burned off the gas for months before quietly dying off.
Why not run some simple tests on that ooze you found? Petroleum is flammable, is your ooze flammable? Petroleum is lighter than water, does your ooze float? Petroleum is immiscible (it won't mix) with water, is your ooze immiscible? Petroleum on water will disperse into very thin layers that (in sunlight) will have a noticeable sheen or iridescence, does your ooze do this?
Let us know how your tests turn out.
Here are just a few of the many links referencing the Moody Gulch oil discovery, as well as other bay area oil fields...
Oil and Gas Production History in California (PDF)
Santa Clara Valley History, Part 15, Oilfields
The Story of Our Valley
Hope you find this information useful to you.
--Boot Hill
Can you get the stuff analyzed? I'd want to know what it was, especially if it wasn't crude. And are your parents on well or city water? If the former, they might want to have their well water tested, too.
I think I've found my long lost hill billy relatives that moved to Los Gatos.
I am your new best buddy....btw are you married?