Los Angeles County
Biographies
C. F. WHITTIER
WHITTIER, C. F., Oil Operator, Los Angeles, Cal., was born at Caribou, Me., April 30, 1869, the son of C. G. Whittier and Ruth (Keech) Whittier. He married Mattie Weller, April 24, 1906, at Los Angeles, and to them have been born two children, Evelyn Lucile and Julian Clyde Whittier. Mr. Whittier spent his early days on the farm of his father and attended the country schools of the district, being compelled in the winter months to walk several miles daily through snowdrifts.
Many years of hard work on the farm gave Mr. Whittier an exceptionally strong constitution, and when he left home, at the age of 21, he was equipped almost solely with physical strength and a determination to succeed. He worked at various occupations for a brief time, but, having an ambition to go into business for himself, he saved his money and in a comparatively short time he embarked in the general merchandising line at Caribou. His venture proved successful while it lasted, but Mr. Whittier, through his faith in some friends, met with a business misfortune which cost him everything he owned. He had indorsed a number of notes and he was forced to sacrifice his business to satisfy the paper, the real borrowers failing to take it up.
After this experience Mr. Whittier had to begin all over again, and turned to the Maine woods for a livelihood. For two yeas he engaged in logging and lumber business, but at the end of that period abandoned the work and went West. He arrived at Los Angeles in 1898, a short time prior to the Klondike rush, and when the news of the gold discoveries came he joined the stampede to the Frozen North. He prospected there for a year, but with indifferent success, and he returned to Los Angles.
It was here that his luck turned. The oil boom was taking hold of the Southern California metropolis, and Mr. Whittier turned his attention to the petroleum industry. He began in the fields as a driller, but the business instinct was in him, and it was not very long before he was buying lands and options for oil hunting. His success inspired confidence in others and they readily joined him in forming a company to operate on a large scale. This first company proved a success from its inception, and from that time Mr. Whittier’s life has been one of big accomplishments. He has been the moving spirit in the formation of a number of other successful oil companies, and he has aided in the development of the country around Los Angeles and in other parts of California.
In less than ten years Mr. Whittier, who arrived with only 35 cents, was rated as one of the wealthy men in the State. Today he is known internationally as one of the greatest oil operators in the United States.
His interests cover a wide territory, extending to a number of states, and even into South America. He is president of the United Oil Co., a corporation with $2,000,000 capital, which pays its stockholders 3 per cent dividend quarterly; president of the Midway Central Oil Co.; president of the Middle West Oil Co., operating in Oklahoma; president of the Midnight Oil Co. of California, and a director in the following: Bulldog Oil Co., of Oklahoma; Titicaca Oil Co., of Los Angeles; Colon Oil Co., of Oklahoma.
Most of these enterprises are paying propositions, and to Mr. Whittier’s ability is due much of the credit for their success.
Mr. Whittier has never sought public office, nor taken an active part in politics, but he has always been ready to aid in the upbuilding of his adopted city and is regarded as one of the most generous and public spirited citizens in los Angeles.
He is a member of the B. P. O. E., the Gamut Club of Los Angels, and the Bakersfield Club, of Bakersfield, California.
Transcribed by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 830,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2012 Joyce Rugeroni.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES