sacrificing the well, was a mooted one. It was decided that not until every effort had failed should we drop that string of six inch. Our next conference, after trying the steam, resulted in a course which was adhered to from that time on, although we modified our methods of handling the material somewhat. Between the next hood, which was destroyed, and the one which was finally successful, there was no difference in design. The second hood was made of 4-inch boiler plate riveted and made in the shape of a cone. It was three feet in diameter at the base and probably six feet high. At about four feet from the base a break in the cone occurred, and from that point the cone narrowed more quickly toward the center. Actually the hood consisted of the frustrums of two cones of different angles, one placed upon the other. Into the top of the smaller cone was riveted a short piece of 12-inch screw pipe, and on this was a 12-inch tee, placed with the length of the tee in a ver tical position. Above the tee was a nipple, a 12-inch gate valve, and another short piece of pipe. Into the side of the tee was secured a 12 x 10 swedge nipple, about three feet long, and from this was carried a number of joints of 10-inch screw pipe. To handle this hood and its long tail of 10-inch pipe, we built a crane made of 6-inch steel pipe. The crane consisted of a mast fifty feet high and a boom of approximately the same length. Both the mast and the boom were heavily trussed to give strength, and everything about the crane was made either of steel or of iron. Within two days and a half from the time the hood and the crane were decided upon they were both on the ground ready for the work; but to accomplish this a boiler shop and two machine shops were kept working day and night and two special trains were chartered to deliver the material as soon as it was ready to leave the shop. On account of the cumbersome string to the hood, consisting of one hundred and fifty feet of ten inch pipe, it was thought that it would be necessary to fix the boom of the crane so that it would not swing in a lateral direction. A grade was established and about one hundred and twenty feet of track laid toward the mouth of the well. A car was built and the mast of the crane mounted upon it. It was proposed to lift the hood from the ground with. the boom and then to advance the entire outfit, mast, hood, tailpipe and all until the hood was directly over the mouth of the well, when the hood would be quickly lowered. We were able to advance in this manner for a distance, but the downward thrust on the track. was very great. Our road bed was new and therefore not well. packed. The result was that a wheel jumped the track and we broke an axle. Our hood was then probably forty feet from the well and our mast ninety feet away. It was, however, uncomfortably warm working even at the greater distance from the well, and we decided that it would be impossible to build a suitable track to the necessary distance from the well. It was. also a difficult matter to keep the mast in a vertical position and at the same time advance it, as that meant a slacking off on our rear guy lines and a tightening on our forward ones. It was decided to place the mast in such a position that it could be permanently located. This necessitated the swinging of the boom sideways and the swinging of the tail pipe. To accomplish this a swing joint was inserted in the line. This necessitated the introduction of several ells and considerable friction resulted. These ells were later taken out. It was on Sunday, March fourth, that the plans for the second hood and crane were decided upon. On Tuesday morning at five o'clock our special train started from the siding of the boiler shop at Independence, with the hood on board, and on Tuesday at midnight the completed crane was placed upon a special train at Chanute. By Thursday the crane was erected, the hood in place on the track which had been built and the entire apparatus was moved forward as above described. It was after advancing a considerable distance that our wheel jumped the track and the axle broke. At this time the movable truck was abandoned and the mast made stationary at such a distance that the boom would be able to successfully land the hood over the well. The boom was then sw ung to one side and preparations made for the first trial. Accurate measurements were made so that when swung into position the centre of the hood might be directly over the center of the well. The exact measurement from the well to the mast was fifty-seven feet. The boom was only forty-nine feet long so that it was necessary to fasten from the end of the boom to the ten inch pipe and allow the hood to extend about eight feet further out. This was an advantage, as the weight of the hood balanced the weight of the ten inch pipe and made it easier to swing around. There was considerable suppressed excitement as the final preparations were made to "cap the well." There was more or less speculation as to what the effect would be when the hood came into the current of the gas as it shot with its irresistable force from the pressure reservoir lying hundreds of feet below the surface. The roar of the well was terrific and all communications had to be either written or yelled at the top of one's voice into the ear of the person spoken to; and even to do this it was necessary to withdraw to a considerable distance from the well. At last the various crews were placed and instructions given them as to what their duties were to be. A code of signals was adopted and one man was to be stationed at some point from which he could direct the movements of the others. One crew was placed on the "crab" used for raising or lowering the hood. Another crew was to pull the hood into place by means of a guy line attached to it. Another crew was to hold back on the hood by another guy line in the opposite direction, to prevent the first crew from pulling too fast and to stop the hood when it was in position. A signal to the crew at the "crab " lifted the hood gradually from the ground, and a second signal started it slowly and cautiously towards the well. Everything worked beautifully. The crowd of spectators was ordered back to a safe distance. Instructions had been given that the hood should be carried to within fifteen or twenty feet of the well and there held for a final signal to proceed, as it was thought that it might be necessary to take some further precaution to insure its successful landing. There seemed to be nothing further to do. The apparatus was working smoothly, and as planned. The final signal was given to go ahead. The tension was great. What was about to happen could not be predicted. Whether our hood would be tossed into the air by the force of the gas and landed somewhere, a bent and broken mass, or whether it would settle gently down into position as we hoped, we could only surmise. Eagerly we watched the result, but our hopes for success on the first trial were not to be realized. As the edge of the hood was caught by the ascending column of gas, notwithstanding the fact that we had 2,000 pounds of steel billets attached to the outside of the lower rim of the hood, it swung from side to side very much like the bell of a locomotive. Several times it did this, pivoting around the thread of the pipe into the tee until the thread gave way, and our hood hung in a disabled condition in the flow of the gas. The chains from the boom still were attached, and we were enabled to drag it to one side. Thus ended our first unsuccessful attempt. A consultation followed at the hotel that evening. We were not discouraged. We could not be. We must try again. A plan was devised which would prevent a similar recurrence. Braces were made. and in a day or two we were again ready. By Monday, March 15, two days after the first attempt and failure, we had put a harness on the hood which would hold it as we wanted. Monday afternoon, at about four o'clock, we had our hood squarely over the well. Our apparatus worked perfectly, and we were very much elated over our apparent success. On account of the unevenness of the baked ground close to the well, and also on account of those troublesome secondary flames which hissed out at us from every side we were unable at first to confine all the gas to the hood, and we had to fight a fire coming from the bottom. A large gang of men was put to work piling gumbo and dirt around the base of the hood. By this means we were enabled to stop the leak round the bottom, and at about nine o'clock that evening, when we decided to call it a day's work well done and to go home for our dinners, and a night's rest, the scene which we left was one of the most satisfying I ever witnessed. Where but an hour or two before, from a piece of pipe extending a few feet above the ground, had hissed forth lurid tongues of flame, apparently beyond the control of any human agency, we now saw a huge mound of earth covering our hood, from the top of which there rose majestically, seemingly under perfect control, a huge column of fire. Now |