Susank, KS Co-Op Elevator
Side Street in Susank
Old House Location (House Gone)
Main Shop Bldg on Shell lease
In the early 50's, my Grandmother and Her new Husband moved to a house on the Shell Oil lease 3 miles west and a mile and a half north of Susank, Kansas. That is a few miles north of Hoisington, KS and right smack dab in the middle of "no and Damned" where. Miles and miles of farmland and oil wells. The pungent smell of fresh oil is in the air and a salty sulphur taste is in the water. Back then, most of the pumps were running on old John Deere one lung motors and day and night they went "Pumpety, Pump (wait a little while) Pumpety Pump. Over and over day and night those damned wells droned on and on and on. After a while you either got immune to the noise of went mad.
The lease House was located right near the pipe field where there were rack and racks of drilling pipe and back behind the house was what we called the bunk house. It had a shop and showers so the workers could clean up right before they went home. The only thing left today is some of the metal buildings and a couple of the pipe racks. Because of the really crappy water, they had an ice machine and that was the one thing that let you drink the water until you got so thirsty you just drank it anyway. Even though the company hauled in water from Hoisington, the water was nasty. It was in a water tank on stilts out behind the house and it was pretty darned warm most of the time. In spite of being told to stay off the tower, it was one place that I could hide and not be seen.
The one thing I remember the most was that Oil Field Workers consumed large quantities of booze. It was mostly beer but there was also a lot of whisky consumed. I can remember the last time I went hunting with Dad and Curly they had a quart of whisky and two pints of Peppermint Schnapps in a sack in the back seat of the car. I managed to drink enough of the schnapps that I didn't even get out of the car to shoot in the afternoon. I do remember one of the last times I did get out they flushed out four or five pheasants out of some high grass and between the two of them they didn't hit a thing. I didn't even shoot.
One of my favorite stories was the time Sue, Carol, Ricky and I went out into the pipe field to shoot rabbits. Curly let Sue shoot his .410 shotgun and up close it would kill a rabbit. I saw a rabbit hop into one of the racks of pipe and Sue asked me to see which pipe it was. I looked in and saw a pair of eyes looking back at me. I told sue to count over four pipes and up one and shoot in there. Bamn, and a tom cat came out the far end of the pipe dragging his ass trying to get rid of the buckshot. My sister was devastated that she had shot a cat and not a rabbit. When we got back to the house Sue told Curly what I had done and how because of my mistake she shot a cat. Grandpa gave me a dollar and said that one feral cat would clear out any pheasant nests in a section. He hated those damned cats.
We got out and walked around the old building hoping that we didn't find any snakes. The good news is that we managed to not be found by anything that made noise. I do have a few chigger bites but that's what I get for getting out of the car. Worth every itch.
More later about oil wells. I will try to describe the property tax on oil and gas as it was explained to me.
MUD
The lease House was located right near the pipe field where there were rack and racks of drilling pipe and back behind the house was what we called the bunk house. It had a shop and showers so the workers could clean up right before they went home. The only thing left today is some of the metal buildings and a couple of the pipe racks. Because of the really crappy water, they had an ice machine and that was the one thing that let you drink the water until you got so thirsty you just drank it anyway. Even though the company hauled in water from Hoisington, the water was nasty. It was in a water tank on stilts out behind the house and it was pretty darned warm most of the time. In spite of being told to stay off the tower, it was one place that I could hide and not be seen.
The one thing I remember the most was that Oil Field Workers consumed large quantities of booze. It was mostly beer but there was also a lot of whisky consumed. I can remember the last time I went hunting with Dad and Curly they had a quart of whisky and two pints of Peppermint Schnapps in a sack in the back seat of the car. I managed to drink enough of the schnapps that I didn't even get out of the car to shoot in the afternoon. I do remember one of the last times I did get out they flushed out four or five pheasants out of some high grass and between the two of them they didn't hit a thing. I didn't even shoot.
One of my favorite stories was the time Sue, Carol, Ricky and I went out into the pipe field to shoot rabbits. Curly let Sue shoot his .410 shotgun and up close it would kill a rabbit. I saw a rabbit hop into one of the racks of pipe and Sue asked me to see which pipe it was. I looked in and saw a pair of eyes looking back at me. I told sue to count over four pipes and up one and shoot in there. Bamn, and a tom cat came out the far end of the pipe dragging his ass trying to get rid of the buckshot. My sister was devastated that she had shot a cat and not a rabbit. When we got back to the house Sue told Curly what I had done and how because of my mistake she shot a cat. Grandpa gave me a dollar and said that one feral cat would clear out any pheasant nests in a section. He hated those damned cats.
We got out and walked around the old building hoping that we didn't find any snakes. The good news is that we managed to not be found by anything that made noise. I do have a few chigger bites but that's what I get for getting out of the car. Worth every itch.
More later about oil wells. I will try to describe the property tax on oil and gas as it was explained to me.
MUD
Great post I have this image of Sue with a gun, crazy.
ReplyDeleteMUD, my Daddy grew up in a "company house" on Old Minden Road in Bossier. His Daddy worked for Cities Services...I'm sure you remember that it changed to CITGO!
ReplyDeleteIt was a piece of crap that they finally tore down. They lived right by the storage tanks, and the old leakage.
It's all gone now. There is an office complex, a Raceway gas station/convenience store, and a Middle School there.
From what Daddy has told me, "Good Riddance!"
I actually grew up Susank. My grandfather, and then father, had the mobile station on the blacktop that ran south to Hoisington. You are right, it is in the middle of nowhere, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Those couple pics you posted bring back some memories of a quiet childhood where people still took care of each other. Thanks, made my day.
ReplyDelete