Howard Hughes Sr. & The Two-Cone Rotary Drill Bit

Before Howard Hughes Jr. was flying airplanes and making movies, his father Howard Hughes Sr. was revolutionizing the drill bit market. Though his father was a judge, Hughes Sr. dropped out of Harvard and the University of Iowa College of Law. Instead, Hughes became an entrepreneur with many failed endeavors before he stuck on a winning…

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Hathaway Ranch & Oil Museum

Nestled in the middle of a block of industrial buildings in Santa Fe Springs is a time capsule of ranching and oil life from the yearly twentieth century. The Hathaway Ranch & Oil Museum is 5 acres of historic buildings and artifacts from the Hathaway family’s work in cattle ranching, water, and oil drilling. Artifacts…

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Understanding Townships

This entry focuses on a part of our earlier discussion, Understanding Location Data. For greater context on what we will be addressing, please read that post first. One of the more confusing aspects of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the concept of “townships.” A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of…

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