June 19, 1929
Mayor Thomason Shoots Roman Candle Into Gas Jet To Light Huge Beacon At Ascarate
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NEW FUEL WILL BE GREAT AID TO CITY
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Air Raid Shows Ease With Which City Could Be Razed; Steele Gives Nero Real Competition
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Bombs dropped from an airplane circling over El Paso last night heralding the turning on of natural gas here, revealed the possibilities of an air raid over the city and an imaginative mind could depict the destruction that might have been wrought had real bombs been used instead of toys.
Just before dusk last night the airplane, flying high above the city, made several circles over the city, dropping the bombs at will, causing flashes of fire and heavy explosions, though high in air. Tell-tale balls of smoke marked great areas over which the bombs were dropped, and exhibited the effectiveness with which El Paso could be destroyed from the air.
Had the detonators on the bombs been pulled on high explosives such as are used in real warfare, El Paso this morning would show wrecked homes, industries and building. Dead and wounded might be strewn about the streets as a result of the havoc wrought by one or two men, a highpowered airplane and high explosives.
This was not the case, however. Only tiny toy bombs were used in the “attack,” but they vividly illustrated how El Paso could be ravaged from the air.
Mayor Lights Beacon
Shortly after the air raid, Mayor R.E. Thomason, several miles down the valley at the El Paso Natural Gas company’s main gate plant, sent a tiny ball of fire from a Roman candle through a jet of new fuel, lighting a giant gas beacon as a part of the program arranged to celebrate the coming of natural gas to El Paso.
With a low rumble, almost like that of distant thunder, the beacon sprung to life, lighting the entire countryside with its brilliant glare.
Gas for the beacon was furnished from the newly completed pipe line stretching from El Paso to Lea County, N.M., a distance of more than 200 miles.
Hundreds of El Pasoans gathered at the beacon, located on the lower valley road at Ascarate, to watch the air raid and to see the mayor light the beacon. Automobiles filled with El Pasoans and visitors from the upper and lower valley, thronged the highway, while other cars were parked along the roadside to watch the memorable event.
Steele Is Nero
All state highway police officers were called out to aid in handling the crowds and to prevent a complete congestion of traffic. They did their work well under the direction of Officer Norman Chamberlain.
Nero didn’t have much on Ross V. Steele, director of the municipal band, who was at the ceremonies with the organziation. The only difference between Steele and Nero is that Nero played while Rome burned; Steele and his band played while El Paso was being bombed and that gas burned.
Natural gas was turned into the city mains at 4:45 o’clock last night, on schedule to the minute. There was a pressure of 47 pounds being maintained in the city mains last night. East of the main gates a pressure of 235 pounds was registered in the pipe line.
500-lb. Pressure Test
Completion of a 500-pound pressure test of the pipe line, constructed at a cost of $6,000,000 as made at 3:07 o’clock yesterday morning by H.G. Prost, of the gas company.
With the bringing of natural gas here, industrial and economic conditions are expected to be revolutionized. El Paso’s smoke nuisance will also be partially eliminated, and El Paso housewives are to have clean, cheap fuel.
Gas has been turned into the city mains, and El Pasoans will be notified when the new fuel reaches their home and district, officials of the Texas Cities Gas company, who will distribute the gas, announced last night.
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