Corpus Christi; 1950
I love this photo for the Cletrac dozer in the foreground. In the absence of an athey wagon boom this would have worked just peachy. The blade as been taken off the front of it and the back of the tractor is wrapped in tin with sort of an overhang to keep the operator fairly cool. It has a widow cut in the tin so the dozer can back in and get a winch line on stuff to drag out. A well control hand could actually sit in the cab with the tractor operator and holler directions. You could literally back this puppy right up the well now and peak thru the window to get a good look at things.
This fire is a little too big, and HPHV pumps were scarce back in the day, to put out with water so it's going to have to be shot with a small charge of glycerin. THAT would have required Kinley. Or his young protegee, Adair.
There were some big blowouts around Corpus Christi back in the day. Coots Matthews told me one time about a Humble well down near Sarita that blew out, cratered, and the rig sank straight down 120 feet. They intersected the blowout well with a relief well and filled it full of cement, then backfilled the crater with the rig still in it. Over the years the fill in the crater settled some and to this day, somewhere, the crown of this rig sticks about 4-5 above ground level. It must be all grown up with mesquite by now but, man, would I like to know where that is. That'd make a cool photo.