Shooters or Soup Haulers
Shooters had the most dangerous job in the oil patch. They hauled and used nitro glycerin. The shooter’s job was to get the oil to come out of the underground pockets where it was trapped. He did this by causing a powerful explosion at the bottom of the hole. He hoped that the explosion would blast open cracks through which the oil could flow.
The problem is that nitro will explode very easily if it is not handled just right. If you trip and fall while carrying nitro, if your car hits a bump in the road while you’re hauling nitro, it will probably be the last thing you will see. After one shooter was blown up, all that was found of him was a few pieces of clothing.
In the picture, the shooter is pouring nitro into a tube called a torpedo. Can you see the look of concentration on his face? After he has filled a torpedo, he lowers it carefully to the bottom of the hole. He might fill several torpedoes. The more nitro he used, the more he got paid. After he had sent the torpedoes down, he dropped a metal bar down into the hole. When the bar hit the torpedoes, it caused the nitro to explode.
Information provided by Walter Eskridge, Curator of Education