The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-08-05
MIGHTY FIRE FOUNTAIN
Burning Oil Wells in Mexico
Are Like Another Vesuvius.
IA LOSS OF $4,000 A DAY

Flames Leap Hundreds of Feet i'm
the Air, and Veil the Landscape
With Dense Volumes of Smoke by
Day. Visible Eighty Miles at Night.
Weird and awful, like another
NesuVius getting in action for the
destruction of a second Pompeii, is
the mighty fire fountain in Mexico.
where, at Dos BOcas, a gusher of
the Pennsylvania Oil Company has
| been burning now for many DAYS at
an estimated daily loss to the con-
Germ of $4,000. The flames lean
hundreds Of feet into the air, illumi-
mating a large expanse of territory
at night and yelling the landscape
with dense volumes of smoke by dav.
These fires have invariably oc-
CURED in new fields and in fields
that have produced gushers-tbe
first because the drilling is being
done IN an unknown ground, where
the drlllers do not know when the
OIL is to be encountered, and the
latter because it is impossible to ig-
mite a still or pump we'll, as the
oil will not burn without air, And
II is this latter fact that is the saliva
tlon OF well once it becomes fired.
When well catches because of an
uncontrolled overflow of oil into
some ire or flame, usually the very
furnace OF the boiler which has been
USED IN boring the we'll, there are
out two alternatives left for the own
ers. One is to smother the first NV
means OF a heavily weighted draw
! Whlch IS pulled across the mouth of
the well, shutting off both the air
from the outside and the flow of oil
from within. In this way the fire
) dles OF its own accord from lack of
fuel and the we'll is then easily CON
trOlled.
Failing in this expedient the on1v
nope is to allow the well to hurn
relying upon it to clog itself after
d TIME. Usually on low pressure
gushers the accumulation of SCOT and
Iampblack from the burning oil will
so clog the aperture of the well in
three weeks that the flow of oil is
cut on and the fire is automatically
SlhoIhered. Oil well fires are never
OF long duration.
80 intense is the heat generated
by the thousands of barrels of oil
mat go up in smoke every hour that
no one can approach within less than
ZOO yards Of the fire and remain for
more than a few minutes at a time
ADDED 70 this are the fearful fumes
ana gases generated by the burning
oil. '--'-9
The new oil well caught fire Tulv
4 from the furnace of the boiler used
IN boring the well. The oil in the
Wen had been struck some time be-
lore, and while preparations were
being made to break the can rock
and cap the well the pressure of oil
and gas from below blew out its can
ping and it became unmanageable
Inc Oil was shot to a distance of
800 feet into the air. carving the
Derrick and other machinery with it,
inc primary loss of the companv
boring the well is estimated at
100000, and it is expected that
before oil is taken from the we'll
after its subsection the total loss to
all parties concerned will foot up to
$1.00O,000. - ~
The oil has overlooked the entire
surrounding plain and is now prac-
tlcaIly a burning lake of oil, flood
ing the country with fame.
The shaft Of burning oil which
shoots up from the interior of the
well acts as huge torch for the
entire surrounding country. The
| flame is plainly visible for so miles
and one steamer captain has re-
ported having seen the fire at sea a
distance of 80 miles from the well
| C0TOTTTTVT EMC DTC crrrxn