THE OIL WELL BLOW UP

By Marjorie Girard

It was right around dark around 5 o’clock or so

On October 1956 when that oil well did blow

Oh yes it was a dry well or so they had said

But it proved them all wrong when things came to a head

Yes that was the year that the well straight north of town

Blew up and lit the night sky for many miles around

The people working outside in the almost dark

Heard a whoosh and a bang as it made its mark

And though we lived over two miles away

Our bedroom at night was as light as the day

As the flames in the distance leapt higher and higher

It became quite apparent that the situation was dire

They tried to cap off that well and bring into order

But they had to enlist help from South of the border

They called Red Adair and his expert advice

Was to pump lots of mud down it and seal it off nice

Finally after many tries and not too much success

They were able to cap it off and clean up the mess

They used cats to pull the rig and deck off the well

That had buckled with the heat like an inferno from hell

Some of the pipe was dumped over the hill

And used over the years by the farmers at will

Esther returned to our quiet little town

The weeks were forgotten of its time of renown

But the people living there remembered and knew

That night in October when the oil well blew