KELSEYVILLE – The prominent landmark in Kelseyville known as Gas Hill has a long and colorful history that includes fact, folklore, and Native American legends.

Occupying a few acres near the present-day intersection of Main and State streets, this bare, rolling mound rises about 20 feet above the surrounding area.

In recent years the property has been graced with little more than a sign noting its name, “Gas Hill,” with no additional information.

About 15 years ago, a community effort resulted in the planting of daffodil bulbs that bloomed for a few years, until the current practice of burning the hill annually commenced.

This year, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid-November, a group of community members partnered to transform this barren plot into a “welcome to Kelseyville” greeting for the Lake Family Resource Center, now located in new administrative offices adjacent to Gas Hill.

When wildflowers and bulbs bloom next spring, the welcome and beautification will be complete.

Contributing to the recent effort were Lola Helms, owner of the Gas Hill property; Marilyn Holdenried and Wilda Shock, who conceived the idea and coordinated the logistics, funding and volunteers; Kelseyville Business Association with insurance coverage; donations of seed from Rainbow Ag, Big Valley 4-H Club, Brent and Debbi Holdenried, John Puccetti, Wilda Shock, Myron and Marilyn Holdenried; soil conditioning by Holdenried Ranches; Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture with bulb donations; and rice straw bales contributed by the Kelseyville Pear Festival.

Volunteers to plant the wildflower seeds and spring bulbs came from the Lake Family Resource Center staff and families, Big Valley 4-H Club members and families, Kelseyville Business Association and Lake County Chapter of CWA.
 
“Stories of Gas Hill,” from the files of Henry Mauldin, Lake County Historian, written in 1967, include the following mentions.

– Of all the curiosities in the county, or in the state, this takes precedence. In 1868, John Gard, who chose Gas Hill for a building site, proceeded to dig a well. When they got down about twelve feet, the man at the bottom complained of a queer feeling. When he came up out of the well, a doctor at the site lit a match, attempting to hold it down into the body of the well. To his surprise, an immense volume of methane gas was lighted and a suffocating blaze enveloped his head and shoulders, singeing almost every hair off his head and shoulders. Thus was discovered Gas Hill.

– During the 1870s and 1880s an experimental steam engine ran off the ignited gas.

– John Kelsey set up a chicken hatchery using the gas from one of the natural openings for heat. In dry weather there was considerable cracking of the ground which allowed a very low pressure of gas to escape. When it rained the soil would run together forcing more gas through the natural outlet. One rainy day the force of the gas was greatly increased, cooking his eggs and burning the hatchery down.

– About 1888, W.G. Young had a well bored. It went through blue clay and some gravel. At 157 feet a sandstone formation was encountered which gave forth gas under a fairly high pressure. After a day or so water started to come up with the gas and of such volume to be thrown some 30 to 40 feet in the air. This was methane and carbon dioxide gas mixed with carbonated water and had a temperature of 78 degrees. Young set up a small bathhouse which he tried to commercialize, but it did not succeed.

The gas makes a non-luminous flame in daylight and a pale blue flame at night. In order to sell the gas, Young installed purifiers and ran it through slaked lime. A gas line was laid down Main Street to some of the businesses and houses. Many problems arose. Some complained that the gas burned out the mantles; the pressure control was poor; as moisture had not been not been removed, acid corroded the lines. Part of the gas works burned down; Young died and the project stopped.

– Other enterprises were attempted over the years: water was piped from Gas Hill to Young’s home in Kelseyville, for the first water works system; it was also a failure. A company was formed to go into gas production on a large scale; a number of wells were bored, but problems were found with both shallow and deep wells; finally some of the gas works burned and this project was ceased. A Chinese man once tried to raise a commercial garden with water from Gas Hill, but it was not successful. It was thought that the mineral content of the water was too great. In the late 1940s William Benson heated his upholstery shop from gas collected in a pit alongside Gas Hill.

– In the early 1950s water showed up and started flowing some 300 gallons a minute. Subterranean pressure eased and the flow stopped.

– According to an old Indian legend, Gas Hill was the home of Koyote, the God. This was his home and Mt. Konocti was his place or land. The mountain was considered holy ground and had much power. If one wished to increase his luck or to be blessed, it was first necessary to fast. Then a trip was made to the mountain where the visitor could talk to it as if it were another being. This was a prayer to Koyote, the Indian God. One old Indian, in telling the legend of Gas Hill, voiced his opinion that as it was the home of Koyote, it should be left alone. He was sure that anyone attempting to make anything of the Gas Hill would have only bad luck

With the Native American admonition in mind, it seems appropriate that flowers will be the only current activity on Gas Hill.