Wallace Libby Hardison (August 26, 1850 – April 10, 1909) was a co-founder of the Union Oil Company of California, later known as

Unocal Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

. He later founded the Inca Mining Company and its subsidiary, Inca Rubber Company. Hardison was born in

Caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

Aroostook County, Maine Aroostook County ( ; ) is the northernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maine. It is located along the Canada–United States border. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 67,105. The county ...

, the youngest of eleven children. He followed his brother, James Henry Hardison, to the oil fields of

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...

. At first, they worked as field hands, but eventually befriended Milton and Lyman Stewart. Wallace Hardison also co-founded Limoneira a lemon processing company.

Union Oil Company of California

After

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

had effectively taken control of the Western Pennsylvania oil fields, Hardison and Lyman Stewart went to Santa Paula in

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

in 1883 to develop newly discovered

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...

s there. The original venture was called Hardison & Stewart Oil Company. A few years later, Stewart and Hardison joined forces with Thomas Bard and Paul Calonico to form the Union Oil Company of California. Hardison eventually sold out his share of Union Oil and invested a portion of the proceeds to form Inca Mining Company, which controlled a

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian gold mine called the Santo Domingo. This new company had a subsidiary named the Inca Rubber Company, which collected rubber on land granted to them by a concession.

Death

Wallace Hardison was killed when his car was struck by a train in Roscoe near Sun Valley, Los Angeles.Porter, Florence Collins & Trask, Helen Brown, eds. (1913)
''Maine Men and Women in Southern California''
p. 78. Kingsley, Mason & Collins Company. in 1909.

References

American businesspeople in the oil industry Businesspeople from California Founders of the petroleum industry Union Oil Company of California 1850 births 1909 deaths People from Caribou, Maine {{US-business-bio-1850s-stub 19th-century American businesspeople Railway accident deaths in the United States Road incident deaths in California