You will find a new feature in next month's edition - the first of a continuing series of articles covering some fascinating aspect of our industry's history. The first article deals with attempts to induce fractures in productive formations by detonating a nuclear device downhole - really. It was tried more than once with, as you might guess, less than notable success.
Perhaps the genesis of the idea was the old practice of "shooting" a well. Highly volatile nitroglycerin was the charge of choice. According to Max Ball in This Fascinating Oil Business, "a well shooter may arrive in a day or two, in a car with a box or cupboard where the rear seat used to be...that car of his may contain enough 'soup' to demolish Wall Street."
Well shooting was a dangerous business. "A hard bump in the road or a slip at the well head and the well shooter could not be found or assembled for burial." Indeed, Mody C. Boatright noted that, in the early days, Gib Morgan (Gib Morgan: Minstrel of the Oil Fields) once came upon a nitroglycerin accident and all that could be found of the shooter were his lips and mustache.
Now, for all that danger, most would not expect to find a woman in the business. That would be a mistaken expectation according to The Petroleum Age published by The American Oil and Gas Historical Society (AOGHS). In the December issues are interesting details of Mrs. Byron Alford, "the only woman in the world who owns and operates a dynamite factory." By 1899, Mrs. Alford, who took over the business from her ailing husband, was producing 3,000 lb of nitroglycerin a day, in addition to 6,000 lb of dynamite. Her factory was 12 unpainted wooden buildings; brick have been too expensive to risk its loss in the inevitable explosion. In fact, her factory buildings and house were obliterated in an explosion that buried the family under debris. Neighbors dug them out and found them with no serious injuries.
An 8-quart can of nitroglycerin weighed 26 pounds and sold for US $8 dollars, says The Petroleum Age - not a lot of money for the risk involved.
Whilst on the subject of history, I would like to beat the drum a little for the AOGHS. This nifty organization is taking a leading position in the preservation of American oil and gas heritage. Member driven and non-profit, the organization, under the direction of Bruce Wells, publishes The Petroleum Age, holds conferences and collects histories and memorabilia and, most importantly, encourages scholar and lay person alike to contribute to the growing push to save our heritage. It's a noteworthy effort and worth supporting. Together with the Petroleum History Institute, another worthy organization, AOGHS is sponsoring the International Oil History Symposium in April in Wichita, Kan. If you are interested in our history, and in taking the story to the public, you might want to attend. For information, contact Bruce Wells at bawells@aoghs.org.
I am not unmindful that the world, not just the United States, is full of oil and gas history. There are a number of other oil and gas history initiatives afoot worldwide. If you believe that our heritage is important, please support them. If you don't find them, consider helping found one, please.
If you have any ideas for interesting oilfield histories, please let us know.