Orcutt History

History Editor: El Gringo

 

Orcutt’s Namesake Made his Mark in Archeology, Geology & Oil

This article by Pamela Waterman was first published in the January 1996 issue of Boys’ Life magazine, and speaks of William W. Orcutt, the person for whom many old-timers say Orcutt was named.

 

William Orcutt stood in the middle of a strange-looking area near Los Angeles,  California (owned by the Hancock family,

of Marian Hospital and Hancock College in Santa Maria). All around him pits of sticky tar oozed up from deep in the earth.

 

The young geologist’s job that day in 1901 was to look for oil in a place called Rancho La Brea. He knew that tar was a good sign of other oil deposits nearby (Brea is the Spanish word for tar).

 

But Orcutt spotted something that made him forget his search for oil. At the edge of a pond, he found bones that were different from any he had every seen. Orcutt did not realize it at the time, but he had stumbled across what would be the largest group of Pleistocene Ice Age fossils every found in a single place.

 

Just Old Bones

Whenever Orcutt found time to dig, he would hike to La Brea with his tools. He discovered fossils of early camels, elephants,

bison and several kinds of birds.

 

The animals he found lived during the late Pleistocene period, 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. The fossils preserved in the tar were a good scientific record of their Existence.

 

“Find anything interesting?” people would ask Orcutt after he had excavated all day in the hot sun. “Just old bones,” the

young geologist answered. He was afraid curious fossil hunters would invade the area if work leaked out about how old the

bones really were.

 

The Big Discovery

After five years of part-time digging, Orcutt found his most important fossil. It was an entire skull of a saber-toothed cat, the first ever found in the world.

 

With that discovery, Orcutt decided to call a paleontologist from the University of California at Berkeley. The professor immediately hopped on a train for Los Angeles, eager to see the fossils.

 

Once the university scientist told the newspapers about the treasures in the tar pits, people flocked to the area and carried away bones as souvenirs.

 

Orcutt’s Reward

After the paleontologists began their own excavations at La Brea, Orcutt continued his old job of searching for oil (in Orcutt, CA) until his death in 1942. He never received much credit for his discovery.

 

But as a scientist, Orcutt’s reward was knowing that he was the first to recognize “the Boneyard ” as a treasure chest of fossils. More than 600 species of mammals, plants, birds, reptiles and insects have been found in the tar pits since 1901.

 

Your Help is Needed!

 

If you have stories and/or photos that tell the Old Orcutt story,  please share them with our readers.  You may mail  them to 335 Pabst Ln., Orcutt, CA 93455; or email them to  orcuttpioneer@yahoo.com.

 

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