Popular Science Mvnthly 



The battery of fifty-three steam boilers, which pumped immense clouds of steam in 

 a vain endeavor to smother the seething flames 



which completely encircled the burn- 

 ing area. The earth itself seemed 

 ablaze for the oil continued to seep 

 through the soaked ground and fur- 

 nished 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. Thou- 

 sands of spectators watched the work. 



A great battery of steam boilers ar- 

 rived 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 them- 

 selves from the heat. 



When the steam pipes w^ere 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 unavail- 

 ing. 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 confla- 

 gration, 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 pro- 

 tected 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 approxi- 

 mately fifty horsepower, twenty steam 

 pumps, three air compressors, two cen- 

 trifugal 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 thou- 

 sand men to install. 



After attempting nearly every 

 known method of subduing the flames, 

 the engineers in charge set the labor- 



