Lakeview Gusher: Largest Oil Spill ever in the United States

San Francisco (GaeaTimes.com) After the deepwater horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico everyone seems to get interested in the oil spills. While the gulf spill is one of the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States, the Lakeview is still the biggest oil spill ever. The Lakeview Gusher is one of the largest recorded oil well gusher in the U.S. and in 1910, a hundred years ago, it exploded for its high pressure to create a geyser of crude oil on land that spread across 30 miles. It blew in March 14, 1910 and the initial flow of oil was 18,000 barrels per day. It later reached an uncontrollable peak of 100,000 barrels each day. The derrick was completely destroyed and the spill came under control after 18 months. The difference between the gulf spill and the Lakeview Gusher oil spill is that the later happened on land located about a half a mile east of the Taft Maricopa Highway which is also known as the State Route 33. The site is marked by a Caltrans guide sign and a bronze plaque in the Midway Sunset Oil Field in Kern County, California. The remarkable thing about the Lakeview Gusher is that during its 18 months of blowing out, it did not catch fire as it was under supreme vigilance. The crews contained the crude oil with a system of improvised sand bags and dikes. Though most of the oils soaked into the soil or evaporated, the Union Oil Company produced nine million barrels of oil in 18 months.