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          


©