THE NORTH FIELD

A9

Oil exploration in the North Field was not without danger. A capped well blew mud from prairie dog holes and gas from a water well a quarter-mile away. In 1924 a gas well on W.W. Jones land blew out a gigantic crater which was ultimately sixty feet long, sixty feet wide, and fifty feet deep in the center. The edge of the crater resembled a volcano with the debris piled all around it. It is estimated that this well was producing gas at a 100 million cubic foot-a-day rate, and the roaring could be distinctly heard in Nocona eleven miles away. The well blew out of control

Billions of feet of gas were lost, and fine ranch and farm lands near the well were ruined for quite some time.

for over five months. The fact that the flow was finally killed was a tribute to the tenacity and ingenuity of these oil industry pioneers.