158 ' Conservation Reader 



to the compressed air in an automobile tire. If the tire 

 is punctured by a nail, the air issues suddenly with a sharp, 

 whistHng sound until the pressure inside is gone and no more 

 will come out. 



For many years we have been puncturing the crust of the 

 earth, where oil has been discovered, and letting the oil and 

 gas escape. We have saved most of the oil, but nearly all 

 the gas has been wasted. The gas will finally stop coining 

 out when the pressure is gone, just as the air did in the auto- 

 mobile tire. 



On the opposite page is a picture of a "gusher" in the 

 Sunset oil field, California, which tells the story of how we 

 are permitting theValuable substances within the earth to be 

 wasted. In drilhng this well the oil men suddenly struck 

 a deposit of oil and gas under great pressure. The driUing 

 tools were blown out of the well and a column of oil and gas. 

 shot up 1 50 feet. For a time the well flowed forty thousand 

 barrels of oil each day, and an unknown quantity of gas. 

 Much of the oil was scattered around the surrounding 

 country, and all the gas was lost. Men worked for weeks 

 making reservoirs of earth in an attempt to save the river 

 of oil. 



Another well a few miles distant struck an enormous 

 quantity of gas. It blew off for days with a roar like that 

 of the steam from a giant engine. Then it took fire, and 

 the column of flame at night was a fearful sight. There 

 was gas enough lost from this one well to light a city for 

 months. 



Gas has been escaping during many years from hundreds 

 of wells in the Pennsylvania, Ohio Valley, Oklahoma, Texas, 

 and California oil fields. The gas from all these wells to- 



