In 1859 a semi-retired train conductor named Edwin Drake engineered the world's first successful oil drilling operation.
All in Energy
Trinity Test
In the first successful test of an atomic weapon, the concrete and steel of the testing tower was vaporized instantly and the floor of the desert was turned into a bowl of glass 10 feet thick and 1000 feet wide.
Radioactive Boy Scout
A hazmat crew rolled into the suburban address and carefully dismantled a workspace that had been used by a 17-year-old Eagle Scout to create a primitive nuclear reactor.
The Lakeview Gusher
It would flow out of control for 18 months. Over 9 million barrels of crude oil were spilled before the well could finally be contained. At its peak, the spill formed a 60-acre lake of oil.
Spindletop Gusher
It ignited the Texas oil boom and within a year over 500 oil and land companies were created.
Exxon Valdez
Estimates are that as many 250,000 sea birds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles and billions of salmon eggs were killed.