Blowing Up the Outhouse

Vern was so busy he was not involved when Atlantic No. 3, drilled by General Petroleum, blew wild. He gave credit to lOL's Tip Moroney, a physics and science graduate from Washington's Georgetown University with previous blowout experience, and Drilling Superintendent Charlie Visser for their skill and endurance in bringing the well under control on September 9,1948, just a few days after it caught fire. "Those two fellows worked 12-hour shifts all summer and their plans finally paid off," Vern said. Vern always chuckled about the following incident that almost went unnoticed amidst the noise, smoke and general confusion at the site. "One of the roughnecks had to use the crapper," he recalled. "Because of the escaping gas and oil there was strictly no smoking anywhere, so while out of sight, this guy lit up a cigarette and threw the lighted match down the hole. Natural gas had collected down there. The explosion blew the door off the outhouse and the man out the door. The last anyone saw of him, he was humping across the field like a hobbled horse, his pants down around his knees. He didn't even come back for his pay check."

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