Edward L. Doheny
Edward Laurence Doheny (August 10, 1856 - September 8, 1935) was a U.S. oil tycoon, who in 1892 drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field, setting off the petroleum boom in Southern California and making a fortune in 1902 when he sold his properties. He began highly profitable oil operations in Tampico, Mexico, drilling the first well in the nation in 1901. He expanded operations during the Mexican Revolution and opened large new oil fields in Mexico's "golden belt" inland from Tampico. His holdings developed as the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company, one of the largest oil companies in the world in the 1920s. In the 1920s, Doheny was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal and was accused of offering a $100,000 bribe to United States Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. He was twice acquitted of offering the bribe, but Fall was convicted of accepting it. Doheny and his second wife and widow, Carrie Estelle, were noted philanthropists in Los Angeles, especially regarding Catholic schools and charities. The character J. Arnold Ross in Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! (the inspiration for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood) is loosely based on Doheny.
Personal facts
Birth date | August 10, 1856 |
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Birth name | Edward Laurence Doheny |
Birth place | |
Date of death | September 08, 1935 |
Place of death |