6 



ers at work gradually pushing the 

 retaining walls in toward the center 

 of the blaze. Because of the intense 

 heat this was done under the greatest 

 difficulty. The circumference of the 

 wall was gradually tightened, thus 

 slowly reducing the area of the blaze. 



Pipes were led to the bottom of the 

 blazing area and oil was drawn as fast 

 as possible from the seepage. As it 

 was not fit for commercial use this 

 was pumped to a safe spot nearly five 

 miles distant from the blaze proper 

 and then burned, making in itself a 

 huge conflagration. 



Finally during the last part of De- 

 cember, the five walls had been pushed 

 in so far that the blaze was confined 

 to a relatively small area, and every- 

 thing was made ready for a last eftort, 

 greater than all previous attempts. 

 Tons of chemicals were piled near the 

 scene, and thousands of feet of extra 

 steam pipes were laid from the boilers 

 and pumps. This work lasted until 

 about the first of January. In the firs+ 

 days of the new year, the attempt was 

 made. Chemicals were heaped into 

 the fire area and boilers and pumps 

 poured a deluge of water and steam 

 upon the stubborn flames. For hours 



Popular Science Monthly 



this frenzied work continued, the re- 

 sult trembling in the balance. At last 

 the ingenuity of man conquered the 

 stubborn forces of nature, and the fire 

 was out. 



It seemed almost hopeless to attempt 

 to calculate the damage done by that 

 bolt of lightning. The estimated pro- 

 duction of the great well was one hun- 

 dred and fifty thousand barrels of high 

 grade oil a day, yet for more than 

 four months but twenty-five thousand 

 barrels were drawn. Thousands of 

 dollars were expended upon equip- 

 ment for the fire fighters, and other 

 thousands went for chemicals which 

 were fed to the flames. 



The fire was watched by the great- 

 est interest by the oil trade of the 

 world, who recalled another record- 

 breaking fire which occurred several 

 years ago not far from the Potrero del 

 Llano conflagration. The Dos ;Bocas 

 gusher, one of the largest in the world 

 at that time, caught fire before being 

 capped. For nearly a year the fire 

 raged, and only subsided when it had 

 consumed all the oil in the fertile pock- 

 et which it had tapped. At the pres- 

 ent time it produces only salt water 

 and gas. 



Pushing in the retaining wall which finally conquered the flames. The heat was so intense 



that streams of water had to be continually played over the workers, all of them Mexican 



peons, who are perhaps the most sensitive of human beings to extremes of heat and cold — 



except in their horn-like nether extremities, which were not affected in this case 



