William Warren Orcutt

[1] He is also known for his contributions to paleontology, which brought the fossils of the La Brea Tar Pits to the attention of the scientific community.

That year he joined the Union Oil Company of California as superintendent of its San Joaquin Valley Division; he would stay with Unocal, eventually becoming a Vice-President and a member of the board, until he retired in 1939.

[2] In 1923 Orcutt wrote a paper tracing the history of oil production in California, which he presented to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

[2] Orcutt discovered fossils embedded in the asphalt deposits on the Hancock Ranch shortly after he moved to Los Angeles in 1901.

[2] Fossils found in the La Brea Tar Pits had been mentioned in the scientific literature as early as 1875, but it was not until Orcutt collected saber-toothed cat, dire wolf, ground sloth and other fossils from the site that the scientific community recognized the value of the La Brea Tar Pits in understanding the late Pleistocene fauna and flora of North America.