Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Odessa Record subscriber Larry Fisher of Spokane continues his series of articles on the history of the Batum/Lauer area (where his wife, the former Joyce Kiesz, grew up).

Hi, here I am again.

At Batum, the first work will be the drilling of wells and lots of site work. One of the wells will be a 30-inch one, sunk to a depth of 90 feet, from where it will continue as a 24-inch well, the largest well ever to be drilled in this area. It will be an extra deep well, intended to go at least 1,000 feet in depth. The 30-inch well is large enough so that if tool trouble is encountered in drilling, a man can be sent down with a jackhammer to break the units loose, and can also go down in the 24-inch portion. (NOTE: Mike “Gus” Kiesz reported to me that three wells were drilled. One turned out to be dry. One had some water. The other supplied water to the site, was drilled 500 feet. He does not believe it to be 30-inches in size.)

6/25/1959 – TOR – Odessa named as site for unit of Titan missile installation – As drilling of the huge well at the Stanley Oliver ranch nears its finish, the air force has announced the site is pin pointed as one of three Titan intercontinental missile installations to surround Larson air force base. An early report in an engineering magazine said a Titan installation will require 3 underground silos, each 14 stories deep.

The missiles will be stored ready to be brought to ground level on hydraulic elevators, will be fired from ground level. At each site, there will be three silos (two for radar and command equipment, one for the missiles), a propellant fuel terminal, power house and control center. Much of the activity at the site will be underground in a series of tunnels a half mile in length and averaging nine feet in diameter. Operators of the equipment will live underground when they are on duty.

8/27/1959 – TOR – It was announced that work on the Titan pad at Batum would begin as soon as a “super-highway” with a 30 foot roadway can be built between Schrag and the site. Bids for resurfacing 9.1 miles of road work will be called for about September 1. The road will follow the present Nappel road, then continue north on the present Batum road that runs adjacent to the site. The present Batum road is gravel surfaced.

Until next time.

Your Relative,

Spokane