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Show Juggies and shakers look for oil they pass through in the exploration process. This has been a bit easier job here than ir some areas, he said adding that the local people have been very good to work with him. "The local people, the farmers and ranchers, are very ! friendly." the subsurface," said Matt Garrett, party manager. This is then given to the oil company, and it decides if it is worth the risk of drilling a well. "We're not a sure thing. The only thing we can do is tell the oil company that there's a good possibility of oil and gas," he continued. "It's a gamble." "Anytime any well's put up there's some risk," added Dennis Coleman, permit agent. It is Coleman's job to gain oil and gas leases or permits from all the people over whose land tm "::::iV : -:S "V-jJ -k : W i " i : A E. '.: r : ' - - s "- v i t . te!f,i Til P- ESC AL ANTE VALLEY - "The migrant workers are moving into a new section now." "The shakers are coming." "Juggies are now clear for the next section." It sounds like some peculiar form of life has invaded the Escalante Valley in western Iron County. It sounds as if things are not all right. In reality, however, it is an exploration crew from Western Geophysical communicating com-municating via two-way radios while they take seismic tests of the Escalante Valley substructure. sub-structure. The migrant workers and juggies are those who move the vibraphones, sensitive listening devices which pick up tremors in the earth and relay them to computerized com-puterized monitoring devices. The shakers are the five huge trucks that lower hydraulic pads to the ground and shake the earth, creating the tremors. It is all a system of "taking pictures" of what is under the ground. This information is sent to oil companies to allow them to determine if the area is worth drilling in for the elusive black gold. The operation of the crew, which has been in Iron County working for Hunt Oil Co. for five months, is really quite simple in some ways. The company which is employing the crew tells where and what they want tested. A survey crew then goes on the site and shoots a line across the valley or part of the valley. Next, the "juggies" move in and place the "jugs" or vibrophones in the ground, connecting them all by cable and to a "doghouse" or data collecting station. Next, the vibrosize crews, driving the huge trucks, move in and shake the earth, sending the sound waves into the ground and bouncing back to the vibrophones. These soundwaves are recorded and analyzed, thus mapping the structures under the ground. "Basically, all we're doing is taking a picure ol jfcy-"' j ' Marta Hopper, one of two on the all-women survey crew at work for Western Geophysical in the Escalante Valey, moves a surveying rod. The sites the seismic crew examines are very carefully . surveyed. I A bit of dust rises around the hydraulic pad used to send sound waves into the earth. The action of the sound waves is recorded and helps map out the rock : structures under the ground. |