Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/33

Popular Science Monthly

which completely encircled the burning area. The earth itself seemed ablaze for the oil continued to seep through the soaked ground and furnished new fuel for the flames. The fire mounted hundreds of feet into the air, and at night a red canopy covered the sky, visible for many miles. Thousands of spectators watched the work.

A great battery of steam boilers arrived at the spot and pipes were led to the fire. The laborers worked under continuous streams of water from fire hose, for the heat was so great that without soaking themselves in water, their clothing would have burst into flames. Those playing the streams upon the workers had to direct the hose while crouching behind shields to protect themselves from the heat.

When the steam pipes were laid, the battery of boilers was fired up, and clouds of steam descended upon the fire. The effort was vain, for the area of the flames was too great for the steam to cover in order to smother the blaze. More boilers arrived until forty-three were coupled to the steam-pipes. These had no effect, however, so this method was temporarily abandoned.

A shaft was sunk into the ground, and it was hoped to fight the fire through this shaft with the aid of chemicals. This, too, proved unavailing. Spur tracks were laid from the main roalroad lines in order to rush materials more quickly to the scene. Experts were summoned from other mining and oil properties to aid in the work.

Weeks lengthened into months, and still the fire burned fiercely. Much to the surprise of experts the great well, although in the center of the conflagration, did not add its huge flow of oil to the blaze. The concrete cap withstood the intense heat and protected the main quantity of oil. One of the most remarkable features of the fire was the fact that during the time that the fire was burning, the managers were able to draw twenty-five barrels of oil daily from the well through the main flow line from the gate valve, which was well protected by concrete.

The mass of equipment that was brought to subdue the fire was truly enormous. During the four and one-half months that the fire raged, there were used forty-nine boilers of approximately fifty horsepower, twenty steam pumps, three air compressors, two centrifugal pumps, quantities of railroad tracks and ties, road building materials, tens of thousands of feet of steam pipes, etc., all of which took about three thousand men to install.

After attempting nearly every known method of subduing the flames, the engineers in charge set the