El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-06
Gaping the Great
Texas Oil Geysel
Fascinating Story of How Lucas
Went to Work t0SaYe the
Valuable Fluid.
From the Dallas News.

From the Dallas News.
Everybody who reads the daily pa
pers knows that a big hole was sunk in
the ground near Beaumont; that a
mighty stream of oil rushed forth and
that the Lucas gusher was created.
Everybody knows that after several
days had elapsed the well was capped"
and the further waste of oil was pre-
vented. But everybody does not know
what great feat of engineering skill.
daring and endurance the progress of
Gaping" was, nor what an effort it
took to control and bring into Subju-
CATION that mighty belching of nature.
Right at the time the interesting fact
was that the stream had been controll
ed; that thousands of barrels of oil
would no longer be spilled over the
prairies and be exposed to fire; that this
valuable product of the earth could be
saved and turned into money. But
some weeks have passed: there has
been subsistence of the excitement
occasioned by the great oil discovery.
1t may interest some people to know
how the stream was controlled.
If the reader has ever come amuck of
the stream from fire nozzle. he can
appreciate something of the force of
the stream of oil that sprang upward
|
seen the stream of water thrown in hy-
draulic mining, he can better under
stand the force which had to be met in
capping this we'll. He can understand
that it was Herculean task to get
valve through that terrific stream, fix
it IN place and then close the valve
without having the pipe forced out of
the ground.
That it was a difficult task is further
I,-t 10. s.I,
was asked by numerous parties. sonnet
of the m skilled mechanical engineers,
for closing the we'll. That he ever Of
fered $4,000 for carping the well, Mr..
Lucas denies. He says he did offer
81 900 to anybody VINO would close it
on the day the oil appeared. The news
of this alleged offer of $40 900 went out,
and he was flooded with kilograms
from men and women all over the
country Offering to close the well for
$40 900 or more. A party of three ex
perienced men in Beaumont offered to
close the we'll for $4,000. but Mr.. Luz
cas- persistently refused to treat with
anyone who would not make his plans
known to him. promising. on his part,
to pay them if he used tho plan. His
terms were not agreed to, and with a
notice from these gentlemen that they
would want $780, 900 the next day, Mr..
to stop the rush of OIL
In order to an understanding of the
work a preliminary statement is nee
essary. On Jan. 9. the we'll had reach
ed a depth of 1.16o feet, and there were
four metal tubes in the hole. The first
casing, a pipe ten inches in diameter,
reached a part of the way: inside of
that there was an eight-inch pipe eX-
tending still farther down; and within
that there was a six-inch pipe reaching
almost 1000 feet down. All of these
pipes extended above the surface of the
ground. Below the end of a siX-inch
pipe was a rock formation through
which the contractors had been drill
ing for several days. The drill was
driven by four-inch pipe extending
through the others. The four-inch pipe
was merely used as tool. and was not
intended for casing. On the evening
of January the four-inch pipe was
drawn out in order that a new drill
had become worn. The pipe was left
out over night. The next day 2 new
bitw as affixed to it and the men be-
gan lowering it. 1t had gotten down
about 700 feet when the OF; gushed out
Of the rock. forcing the four-inch pipe
out hurling it 300 feet aloft. carrying
away the tackles, hydraulic pump con-
drilled into. The commotion in the |
bowels OF the earth broke thr ugh the |
rock seventee hours after the drill |
made its last turn. and the oil gushed |
forth and shot heavenward With ter
rife force. a belching, seethins, ungov-
erned monster.
To cap and curb and control this
great pillar Of orce, the upward pres
sure of which it was afterward deter
mined WAS los pounds to the square
inch, the men had to work under the
torrent of greasy. dirty oil as it des-
,ended to the earth. In order to do
his they wore goggles to protect the
eyes. and gauZe shields to protect the
nose. all the appertures around them
being closed with plaster. Speech and
hearing We're impossible and the work
was directed by a code of signals pre-
Fiously agreed upon.
Mr.. Lucas attempted to get split
is a valve made in two YER
,ical sections. with the intention of
these sections UP on either
side of the stream. and then pulling
hem together with clamps. Had he
)een able to get such a valve, the ter
'ific force of the stream would not have
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