OCR Text |
Show Wet Road Halts Oil Drilling Preparations for oil drilling southwest of Boulder were halted Saturday, February 15, by action of the state highway department Heavy loads of equipment were causing damage to the thin-bedded, oll-and-chip-coated road, a section of U54, made vulnerable by continued warm, wet weather. Loffland Drilling Company, employed by Mountain Fuel Supply Company, had hauled much of the needed equipment to the drilling site on Home Bench before the prohibition was imposed. Wallace J. Stephenson, district engineer of the highway department, and Clem Church of the state road commission inspected the road Tuesday and had a sign placed at a point east of Escalante limiting loads to 20,000 pounds. Officers stationed at the point turned back loads said by drivers to weigh 103,000 pounds. These might have been reloaded to conform to requirements, but drilling would require constant travel by heavy water tanks over a part of the road. An employee of the highway department said the prohibition would be lifted when the road dries out. Workers for Loffland Company left for Rawlins, Wyoming, to begin a job that will last about 45 days, after which it is expected that the Boulder-Escalante road will be dried out and they ran start drilling on Home Bench. |