“There once a derrick like those in the background at the
point where you see the gas escaping from the pipe in this 65-foot crater. And
the derrick was on the surface. The pressure, 2,500 pound per square inch and
the heat from the blazing gas caused the ground to break into fine dust and
blow away. For more than two years this process continued as engineers
attempted to estinguish the blaze and failed. The steel in the derrick and
other well equipment became a mass of glowing metal sinking lower and lower as
the crater was formed.
This pictures shows
the wild Rumanian well, tamed by M.M. Kinley, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, American
fire-fighter after the blaze was estingushed and before the gas was put under
control. Imagine blowing out a fire, in a crater filled with hot metal, a
furnace heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. He had to get a few feet of the flame
to do the job.
This is a very poor picture – Kinley failed to bring back
any good pictures excepting tiny Kodak snaps which were not clear. This is an
enlargement and it is very bit as good as the smaller print. Perhaps, the
artist can touch this up so that it shoe up properly.”
By courtesy of Jeff Spencer,
President of the Petroleum History Institute
President of the Petroleum History Institute