The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-07-03
VIII


VIII
Scattered here there were derricks and
drilling racing be the first tap precious
ue By day YOU saw white pufs from the and
by night you lights cleaning day and
night heard the sound heavy machinery turning turning
ported the results hundred thousand spectators
wouldbe spectators read the reports got
where the syndcate had their tents or
thronged the boardrooms prices up
ON backboads and units sold to people who would
know on-derrick from "chute the chutes."
Who you think newspaper reports? You
would need to make but guess-Ross- Dad
was right there day and night encouraging them scong them
need beand Dad had not had single accident
lost day night The well down thirty-two
feet and in the first stratum of oisand
They using eghtnch Bit and for some time they
had been taking Dad strenuous about core-drng
ne insisted that you must know every inch of the hole and he
would tell stories of men who had drilled through paying
and never knew it. So the drill brought cylinder rock
exactly like the you would APPLE and Bunny
learned to tell shae from sandstone and congomerae
either He learned the tilt of the strata what
that told the geoogt about the shape of things down below
the probable direction of the antcne When
of OIL there had to be chemical analyses and
interpret these reports Every opoo the world
each riddle with colossal prizes for the who could
guess it,
Dad that he right pool he had
ordered his tankage There going to be rush this
for everything else, and Dad had the
important the reputation for having the cash. He would
ankage the lease disappointed in hopes
Ito take the "tankage stream of
heavy trucks and stacked up the field
You be the buyers of units" did fail
note of hat They hanging round the derrick
night trying to pick hints they followed the
homes and tried bride Them get conversation with
their wives AS for Bunny, he popular boy
in Beach City, wonderful how many gentlemen
kind ladies there anxious buy him cecream
feed him candy! say word
to strangers have anything them presently
Dad banned discussions the family abebcause
chatterng in the ladies' clubs and the ladies telling
their husbands besides gambling ION their own!'
The showed more signs and Dad orders build
the foundations the tanks then he put up
and the catter of rveng machines heard magcay
there three ten thousands barrel tanks newly with
flaming red lead then-hush!-hey the real oil
a
pipe ne and the easehounds
that and the town wild In middle night
routed out of bed and he called Bunny they jumped
he ola clothes ana went racing out to the We'll and there were
the first signs Of the pressure the mud beginning jump
and bubble in the hoe The drilling had stopped and the
were hastily scewng on the big casing that Dad had
provided He wasn't satisfied with thahe
fastening heavy Jugs to the head and he hustled up couple
cement men and built great blocks of cement the ugs to
hold her down in spite of There wasn't going
be blowout RossBanksde No l, bet whatever
came through that hole was going into the tanks and from there
Ito Dads bank account
time the "cementingon" to the well water
proof and protect the precious osands Down there under
ground pool of OIL caught under layer mpermeabe
rock exactly line inverted wash-bashn The oil
gas which made the pressure Now had drilled hole
through the washbasn the oil gas to you
but only condition that you did let any water
down to kill the All the down you had tap
underground streams and pools
to big block of bottom hole solid and
tight filling every crevce both inside and outside casing
Having this tight you would drill through it, and on
down into the oil sands thus making channel through which
the oil could now up and no water could leak down. This
the critical of operation while going on the
whole crew was keyed and the and his
Ito say
First put down your casing water-string
II careful like Dad you String" all the
up your derrck-hoor you began pumping down
clean water for hours pumped you
the dirt and oil out Of the hoe you ready the
cement-men Ihey came with a truck complete outfit
wheels ready to travel WELL Another brought
sacks OF cement couple of hundred of them the job called
pure cement no sand They got everything ready before they
started and then they worked like many fends-for this
whole job had be through less than the
cement began to set.
tTO cOnInued)