All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

294 All About Inventions were 220 derricks on that field at the time, and the greater number vanished in the flames, together with millions of gallons of oil which had been hurriedly collected in tanks and open lakes. On one of the Louisiana oil-fields a frolicsome gusher suddenly caught fire, and the next moment was a roaring, waving fountain of flame. Twenty-five days passed before the fire was extinguished, and it is computed that £200 worth of oil vanished in smoke every hour it was burning. In the Baku fields fires were formerly of frequent occurrence, and the wells here, being invariably of the gusher type, many remarkable petroleum torches resulted. But the biggest and most notorious oil- fire of all was the “ Dos Bocas ” well, which, strange to say, ushered in the country of Mexico as a rich oil-producing country, owing to the unprecedented character of the conflagration. The oil rushed out of the earth with tremendous velocity, shooting high into the air. In fact, the flow broke loose and completely defied all efforts to bring it under control. Nine days after coming to life it was in full activity in more senses than one. The unexpected flow speedily exceeded all the arrange- ments which had been completed for the reception of the oil. It ran everywhere, and some of the run- ning liquid came into contact with some smouldering ashes. Instantly a terrifying sheet of flame leaped from 1,000 to 1,500 feet into the air, and as the foun- tain spread out in the form of a fan near its crest, the terrifying spectacle of a flaming sheet 90 feet in width was presented. At night the glare from the burning oil-well was plainly visible from 200 miles out to sea.