The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-05
SHOOTING A WELL.
The Danger and Excitement of Striking
Oil.

Oil.
Every body out of the derrickn'
shouts grimy figure. The warning
is familiar in the Pennsylvania oil re-
gions. A steep hillside is dotted with
tall oil derricks rising above the for
est trees Save for the derricks the
scene is purely one of primitive for
est. The soil is virgin. None of its
treasures have been sought except for
the oil. When the possibility of fur
| Their oil development has been ex-
| hauSted some farmer of another gener-
! alton will strip off the timber, giving
over the land to agricultural pursuits.
But no farmer of the present genera
ton will do this. He is called farm
er" for the same reason that ma
| tive Of Kentucky is called colonel
and is content to lease his land to the
oil producer for his eighth of the posi-
BILE production.
| The owner stands at a safe distance
from the derrick watching the opera
ton of shooting the well. Down 500
| feet the well has been drilled. 1t is
not an opening large enough for
man to fall into. He could scarcely
| get his foot into the opening. Down
| almost the entire depth an iron casing
runs. The we'll has the same diameter
in cross section clear to the bottom.
| Above the we'll is the derrick, through
whose floor the casing projects. At
one side are the giant wheels which
are in reality the reel for the cable
| running over the block at the derricks
top down into the derrick, where it
meets the heavy tools whose raising
and lowering, a half inch at a time,
has drilled the WELL At the other side
are the engine and boiler which have
furnished the power for the drilling
process. -
Oil will not flow into such small
cavity as that made for the pipe. 1t
must be enlarged by an explosion of
nitro-glycerine lowered in tin tubes or
| shells. When once the force of the
| underground explosion has been felt a
large cavity will be made, the sur
rounding rock will be crushed, and
streams of the crude petroleum will
| flow in. to be pumped out and refined.
| The little group of well-Ghde en-
| ployes is gathered at the derrick. I'm
| der the trees at a safe distance is
| wagon, from which two horses have
| been unhitched a large box is fitted
to the wagon with compartments, each
| holding a two-gallon can of nitro
| glycerine. From these the shooter"
has taken so quarts Three long sec
tons of tin tubing have been filled with
the fluid. Each shell, as filled, is low
cred to the bottom of the iron tube
The shooter has simply to light his
"squib' and drop it in the well. Con-
structed upon the principle of the tire
| cracker, it's explosion will set off the
nitro-glycerine. AS the squib strikes
the first tin tubing a cap will explode
it. Then will come the explosion. 'Ev-
arybody out >of the derrick" again
shouts the shooter, lighted squib in
hand. The little knot of spectators
breaks for shelter. They may be
drenched with the oil that always
gathers in a well prior to shooting,
and flying bits of rocks have been
known to strike people at a well shoot
| ing.
| The shooter waits for moment. then
hurting his squib into the open mouth
of the we'll, he runs for the wood. He
looks back. The gas in the mouth has
taken fire. When the oil comes derrick
and machinery will be destroyed He
hastens back. All this time the squib
is descending. Presence at the well
side at the moment of explosion means
! death. He throws his hat over the
opening. The gas flame is extinguisn-
| ed. He has saved his employer tidy
sum of money. He then seeks his own
safety. He is 20 feet away. A light
report, a roar then loud report fol-
lows. The ground is shaken. From
the mouth of the well a shower Of oil
|
air above the derrick. 1t hovers
moment, and then dies away. Frag-
| ments of rock and bits of tin tubing
have accompanied the rushing flood of
| oil.
Back comes the shooter to the der
rick. He gathers together the cans
| which once contained the glycerine.
| These he heaps together and eXplodes,
as the law requires, lest some incau-
tious wanderer should come to grief
through inadvertently kicking one.
His work is DONE With his team he
drives to the magazine in the remote
forest, where, taking on a new cargo,
he prepares to shoot another We'll The
we'll he has just left is now ready for
the pumping rig, which, when once fit
ted, enables the owner to add from
three to 10 barrels of crude OIL accord
ing to the capacity of the well, to mis-
| production.
A shooter driving along a lonely road
is frequently blown into space by his
load of tro-glyeerine. Shooters are
of only two kinds, the careless and the
careful The careless joke with death
at every turn. They knock the cans
together, laughing at the bystanders'
terror. they bump their wagons over
rocks and stones. A strict regard for
the truth compels the statement that
very seldom are they blown up. It is
usually the careful man, whose own
nervous fears make nightmare of bis
life, who gets killed. Yet the men in
general are SO accustomed to this life
! with its possibility of death at any mo-
ment, that they refer to it in matter
of-fact way.
Some oil men once stood upon a hill
top near a road along which a Shooter
was shortly expected to pass. Sud
denly there was an explosion from a
part of the road obscured by the trees
of such violence as to throw every mar
in the party to the ground.
We'll" remarked a driller, arising
and busting his clothes, that must
have been Bill Agnew. He was expect
ed bout this time. New York Sun.