LARGE OIL FIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 284, 25 November 1908, Page 4

LARGE OIL FIRE.

A VAST SUA OF FLAMES. AN AWE-INSPIRING SPECTACLE. Fifteen miles north-west of Tamiahua, in the Slate of Vera Cruz, Mexico, the greatest oil lire in history has been burning for two months. To be exact, it started on July 4. Ignorant -Mexicans living within » 200-mile radius of the scene view it with awe and tear, >or many of theme believe that unless quenched it may spread internally and so consume the world. They blame the oil prospectura for it all. What right nail they to go about boring holes in the earth, tapping the tires of the inner hell ■» No volcano in time of its violent eruption ever presented a more thrilling and inspiring spectacle. Added to the terrible fury of the winding and lashing llamcs is the dense column of black smoke which mounts upwards for thousands of feet, and then slowly settles over the whole surrounding country like a pall. NIGHT TURNED INTO DAY.

There have been days at a time at Tafnialiuu when the sun was shut completely from view and the day tnnr.'d almost into darkness by this thicl; blanket of smoke. At night the smoke is lifted from the earth and carried sea ward hy strong winds Then In,. grc a lire shines forth in all its brilliancy. The nights are turned into the hrigi)'. uoss of the most sunshiny day. It was known that tlie ill'-f;tu-ii wll was Hearing the old strata, ami Lisle id of making the Fourth of July a hulWay, it was decided to continue the boring. The boring machinery was run by steam, the boiler being situated within a few yards of the well. Within a few minutes after the drill was set in motion on the morning of July 4, it was observed that it was working in hard shale. This formation was known to be the cap-rock of the o'l-pooi. Jt was a few minutes after !) o'clock in the morning when this drill finished penetrating this cap-rock and suddenly dropped into the reservoir of oil. Tlie instant this happened a dense column of oil spout>d out of the hole. It was accompanied by a terrific pressure of gas. WOIiIvJIEN 11U.X K)K THE It! LI VMS.

The twelve-inch casing and heavy drill was blown skyward out of thehole, mid the derrick (hoisting machine) was wrecked. A moment later an explosion occurred, ahukiajj the country for miles around. Tlki workmen stood manfully by '.!.0 v.'fii, and made every cll'ort to ■\\\iS W* die tire iiu.ler the boiler. The oil was pouring forth in such tremendous volume that the depression ar.K'iid the well was quickly tilled to a iVcptli of three or four feet. Suddenly the gas or oil was ignited by the lire under the boiler, and a column of llame ir.stantly 'mounted (hiljb the hcavcns.| The workmen Hud for their livs. They had to wade through the oil pools' waist deep, and behind them the roar- j ing llames were rnpidlv covering the surface of the lake. That was the beginning of the great lire." Jtar.'ily had the drillers and helpers gained a position of safety when another terrilie explosion occurred, and tlie derrick, engine, boiler and all disappeared into the bowels of the earth. The llamos were given an impetus by the enlargement of the orifice that led downwards to the subterranean reservoir of oil, and they seemed to mount skyward as far as the eye could reach. Extending away from the well vns n depression covering an area about live miles long by two miles wide. This low ground is not uniform in its width, and at places the higher ground approaches within a few hundred feet ot the well. The oil which .poured forth from the well soon Idled this hollow and converted it into a lake of huniiag oil. The Haines overspread the surface of this newly created reservoir, and during the lirst few days of the fire it .seemed that the forest and plantations of the sin rounding country would be destroyed. SUBTERKANEAN EXPLOSION'S.

A series of subterranean explosions has increased the opening around the well until it is now more than 300 feet in diameter. The original well -.ras JS32 feel deep when the oil How was struck, and it is supposed that the wider opening also reaches to that depth. The -force, of oil and gas has been so great that a rim of rock and earth several feet high has funned around the opening. o\ei the sides of this crater the binning oil Hows into the surrounding depression. This oil lire has many of the characteristics of a volcano. 'The Humes risj to a height of 1-100 to INOO feel, and ave lost ill the dense smoke that si/r----moiiiits them. The smoke on clear, still days rise- upwards from the top -if the Names to a height of 00011 feet, and upon tile top of the black smoke is ;■ great fan-shaped white cloud, <-losi.r!v ' .Mined, which rises to a stilt further i height of more than IiOOO feet, making the total height of the llnmes. smoke and while, sulphurous cloiul something tike 17.U110 feet. - To view the speelacle hv ilav or night 1 , brings a civepv iVe|n,e t,', t|,e man of I sonmlo-l 111i11.i nml steadiest nerves. ••What will be the outcome'.'" is tin i|iiestion that is beiii" a-ked not onlv by the natives but by experiem-ed oiiboring engineers. I'crhaps the infernal regions liiive been tapped, the Mexican -av-. What then '.' Nobodv ventures to predict the re-nil. The opinion is expressed by exports that it may be impo-sible In extinguish the names and Ihaf (hey may burn for an indefinite | period.