Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

332 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. A TEXAS OIL “ GUSHER.” terrific discharge of oil, gas, and sand, which sometimes ejects the whole string of tools from the well, and hurls them Power of through the top of the derrick. Large Oil ~ , ,, . ~ On occasions such as these and Gas Wells. much damage may be done to the casing by the sand and stones that are forced up. The combined action of the sand and oil is analogous to the artificial sand blast, and is so destructive that slabs of chilled cast-iron many inches thick, placed a few yards above the well mouth to deflect the oil, have been pierced in a few hours. Incredible as this may sound, samples of such sand-bored plates are to be seen in the Tiflis Museum. In another way sand may cause serious damage. A large fountain may throw out many thousands of tons of sand in a day, converting the mouth of the well into a seething crater, and engulfing machinery and tools. A “ gusher ” out of control is somewhat of a white elephant. In the spring of 1901 one was struck in the Romany field of Baku. Its roar was audible for miles around. The derrick was Uncontrollable “ Gushers ” wrecked in the first few min- utes by the column of oil and sand which rose vertically several hundred feet into the air, and fell in torrents on the surrounding properties. Streams of oil ran in all directions along the roadways, and fell like rain off the roofs of the dwelling-houses in the district. The interior of these was soon flooded to a depth of several feet, and had to be vacated in haste. The oil from another spouter, at Bibi-Eibat, was driven by the winds over the suburb of Baieloff towards the city of Baku, and fell in