50 Years Ago in Venice
March 13, 1956 (Santa Monica Evening Outlook)
– Mud and salt water was still shooting skyward from an old salt water
well which turned into a gusher yesterday when workmen set off an explosive
charge 886 feet below ground level to seal the well prepatory to its
abandonment.
Officials of the Dow Chemical Company, on
whose property the freak gusher occurred, explained that the well had been used
to draw up salt water from which iodine was
extracted.
They said a contractor had
been ordered to seal off the 3300-foot-deep well, located near 43rd Avenue and
Dell Street.
The explosive charge
apparently released a pocket of gas resulting in a 500 ft. high gusher. Silt
covered a two-block radius.
Posted: Wed - March 1, 2006 at 10:28 AM