This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Hewitt, McClanahan, Mc Clanahan, Guy, Gorham, Melvin, Pugate, lamv, Whittekind Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/DFC.2ACE/105.167.399 Message Board Post: Source: WI Rapids Daily Tribune - July 20, 1931 Mt Pleasant, MI - Jul 20 (AP) - 8 Dead, 7 Badly burned in Michigan Oil Field Fire - An oil field fire, which climazed the shooting of a gusher 13 miles from here Saturday had taken 8 lives today, while 7 other victims, terribly burned, were in a critical condition in a local hospital. The 2000 barrel well whose shooting attracted the victims and 200 other spectators to the scene of the tragedy still was burning. Storage Tank Explodes - The well came in as a gusher shortly before a storage tank exploded from a cause as yet undetermined, showering the spectators with flaming oil. The heroism of Buck Hewitt, a tool dressesr, in completing the capping of the well at the risk of his own life was credited with preventing greater loss of life, for the well did not catch fire immediately. There were other acts of heroism. Many of the men who rolled to safety from the sea of fire, dashed back into the flames to rescue women who had not escaped - some of them to their deaths. Four of the victims died early yesterday and four more last night. One of the first fatalities was Mrs Walter L McClanahan, wife of the principal owner of the gusher. McClanahan, know in the Mt Pleasant field as "King of hard-luck promoters" and a veteran of oil operations in the Kansas and Kentucky fields, was among the seven for whom hope has been all but abandoned. It was the first paying well he had brought in this field. List of fataties Mrs Mary McClanahan, 35, Mt Pleasant Mrs Lola Guy, 45, wife of E J Guy, superintendent of the Roosevelt oil refinery Mrs Henry Guy, 17, daughter in law of E J Guy A E Gorham, 50, Mr Pleasant manufacturer Ruby Melvin, 13, daughter of John Melvin, field superintendent Marion Pugate, 38, brother in law of McClanahan Mrs Anna D Lamb, 25, Mr Pleasant, wife of Thomas D lamb Mrs H E Whittekind, 35, Mt Pleasant +++++ On-line sources to check: Stevens Point Area Obituary Index http://library.uwsp.edu/depts/archives/obits/osearch.htm Cemetery records at: http://library.uwsp.edu/depts/archives/Cemetery/ Census records at: http://library.uwsp.edu/depts/archives/Census/ Portage County Historical Society http://www.pchswi.org/index.htm Portage County Courthouse: http://www.co.portage.wi.us/ UW-St Point Archives http://library.uwsp.edu/depts/gen/genealog.htm#ARCHIVES Where to write http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiportag/links/portadd.htm Recent obits can be obtained from WI Newpapers On-line - http://www.wisinfo.com/ I am not related to nor have any additional information on these surnames. If there is a question of error in this transcription, please consult the original documents. R/S MAK http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiportag