Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-15
SHOOTING OUT OILWELLS
THE OPERATORS DISPLAY cREAT
NERVE AT CRITICAL MOMENTS.


Everybody out Of the derrickp
shouts grimy figure. The warning
i. familiar in the Pennsylvania oil
regions. A steep hillside is dotted
with tal4 oil derricks rising above the
forest trees. Save for the derricks the
scene is purely one of primitive for
est. The soil is virgin. None of its
treasures has been sought except for
the oil. When the possibility of fur
ther oil development has been ex-
hausted some farmer of another gen.
Grafton will strip off the timber, Civ
ing over the land to agricultural
pursuits. But no farmer of the pres
ent generation will do this. He is
called "farmer" for the same reason
that native of Kentucky is called u
colonel" and is content to lease his
land to the oil producer for his eighth
OF the possible production.
The owner stands at safe distance
from the derrick watching the opera
ton of Shooting the well. Down
600 feet the we'll has been drilled. 1t
is not an opening large enough for o
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 diane
ter in cross section clear to the bot
tom. Above the we'll is the derrick,
through whose floor the casing pro-
jects. At one side are the giant
wheels which are in reality the reels
for the cable running over the block
at the derrick's top down into the der
rick, where it meets the heavy tools
whose raising and lowering, q half
inch at time, has drilled the well.
At the other side are the engine aud
boiler which have furnished the power
for the drilling process.
Oil will not flow into such small
cavity rs 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 explosion has been felt large
cavity will be made, the surrounding
rock will be crushed, and streams OF
the crude petroleum will flow in, to
be pumped out and refined.
Tie little group of well-side em-
ployes is gathered at the derrick. I'm
der the trees at safe distance is a
wagon, from which two horses have
been unhitched. A large box is
fitted to the wagon, with COM
partments, each holding q two
gallon can of nitro-glycerine.
From these the shooter" has taken
eighty quarts. Three long sections
of tin tubing have been filled with the
fluid. Each shell, as filled, is lowered
to the bottom of the iron tube. The
shooter has simply 10 light bis
"squlb" and drop it in the we'll. Con-
structed upon the principle of the fire.
cracker, its explosion will set off the
nitro-glycerine. As the ''squib'
strikes the first tin tubing cap will
explode it. Then will come the ex-
plosion.
Everybody 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 we'll prior to
shooting, and flying bits of frocks have
been known to strike people at a we'll
shooting.
The shooter waits for o moment,
then, hurting his squib into the open
mouth Of the well, he runs for the
wood. He looks back. The gas in
the mouth has taken fire. When the
oilcomes, derrick and machinery will
be destroyed. He hastens back All
this time the squib is descending.
Presence at the well side at the mo-
ment of explosion means death. He
throws his hat over the opening. The
gas fame is extiuguished. He has
saved his employers tidy sum OF
money. He then seeks his own safety.
He is twenty feet away. A light re-
port, roar, then q loud report fol-
lows. The ground is shaken. From
the mouth of the we'll shower of oil
spouts. 1t grows. 1t is thirty feet
in the air above the derrick. 1t hovers
moment, and then dies away. Frag-
ments OF rock and bits Of tin tubing
have accompanied the rushing oil.
Back comes the shooter to the der
rick. He gathers the cans which once
contained the glycerine. These he
heaps together and explodes, as the
law requires, lest some incautious
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 new cargo, he pre-
pares to shoot another well. The we'll
he has just left is now ready for the
pumping rig, which, when once fitted,
enables the owner to add from three
to ten barrels of crude oil, according Z
to the capacity of the well, to his pro-
duction.
A shooter driving along lonely
road is frequently blown into space
by his load of nitro -glycerine. Shoot
ers are of only two kinds, the careless
and the carefnl. 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 1t is usually the
careful man whose own nervous fears
make nightmare of his life, who gets
killed. Yet the men in general are
so accustomed to this life, with its
possibility of death at any moment,
that they refer to it in q matter of
fact way.
Some oilmen once stood upon hill
top near road along which shooter
was shortly expected to pass. Sud-