Chapter 3 Reading the Rocks - Saudi Aramco

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64 energy to the world : Volume one reading the rocks 65 After living in the field for about one month, Henry and Hoover packed up their tent camp at the Dammam Dome and relocated to the newly designated headquarters in Jubail, arriving there on December 7, 1933. Hoover described the Jubail move in a December 10 diary entry that painted a picture of the compound as the lap of luxury compared to tent life: “The home is big enough, covers a city block easily, each bed room [with] its own crude bath room and a balcony on the roof—enormous servants quarters, etc.” There, the men were joined by Hugh L. Burchfiel, the sixth geologist to arrive in Saudi Arabia that first season. Meanwhile Allen C. White, an engineer who had surveyed the entire Bahrain concession and had the most detailed knowledge of Arab culture among the group, arrived from Bahrain with an interpreter originally from Peshawar, Ajab Khan, a cook and three pickup trucks. J. W. “Soak” Hoover, Schuyler B. “Krug” Henry and other members of their field party pose for a photograph outside their walled compound in Jubail in the fall of 1934. Hoover and Henry were on their way to conduct a detailed geological survey of the Dammam Dome. On December 23, Miller took a boat to Bahrain to meet Dr. Jorgen “Doc” Nomland, chief geologist from Socal headquarters, who had arrived to review the geologists’ progress. Miller returned to Jubail on January 2, 1934, with Nomland and Felix W. Dreyfus, a mechanic. Dreyfus’s job was to set up shop in Jubail for repair work on the motorized equipment and to train local Saudis as his assistants. Dreyfus was a welcome addition to the crew, which had been making stop-gap repairs to machines and equipment so they would not lose days or weeks while waiting for crucial replacement parts. Nomland remained with the Casoc team in al-Hasa Province for roughly a month before he continued on to Jiddah to meet with William Lenahan, the company’s liaison with the Saudi government, about whether Socal should compete with IPC for another concession in western Arabia. Until the first pier was completed at al-Khobar in the spring of 1935, many of Casoc’s supplies entered Saudi Arabia through the ancient port of al-‘Uqayr. Camels or trucks then brought the shipments 80 kilometers northwest to Dhahran.
66 energy to the world : Volume one reading the rocks 67 Miller used the car odometers and Brunton compasses to plot findings and directions so geological reconnaissance maps could be created. He devised a larger than usual sketch board for the geologists to use in the cars. It held drafting paper on rollers so that continuous mapping could be done. According to an internal company review of the fieldwork in the initial years of the concession, “Several of the sketch boards were made up in Bahrain and their use during the first two years in Arabia made for remarkable accuracy.” Hoover described the geologists’ routine that first season, recalling years later the first trip he and Henry took after moving off the Dammam Dome in November: Krug and I started operating on the East Coast and we sketched and worked out as far as a little town named Hinna [85 kilometers due west of Jubail] on our sketchboards, taking a Brunton compass for our direction and our speedometer registering in kilometers for our distance. We had two chronometers. My chore was to wind them up every night just at sunset so we could know what the time was in London, because when we started shooting the stars and getting our latitude and longitude we wanted to be right on the money. We took what we called the mean sea level and went on out as far as Hinna and made a supply depot there. Field Parties A well-equipped field party during the first few years of exploration typically consisted of the items below: Workers at Jubail carry cargo through shallow waters from dhows to the shore, circa 1934. Personnel: Geologists 2 Interpreter 1 Cook 1 Cook’s helper 1 Houseboy 1 Mechanic 1 Mechanic’s 1 helper Driver 1 Soldiers 15–30 Camel drivers 3 food: Bran Cranberry sauce Rolled oats Pancake flour Grape-Nuts Spices: cinnamon, cloves, curry, paprika, pepper Dried fruit: apricots, peaches, apples, pears Canned peaches Raisins Asparagus tips Sliced beets Carrots Clam chowder Canned corn, mixed vegetables Canned olives Canned oysters Sweet potatoes Succotash Spinach Heading for the Rub‘ al-Khali in January 1938 are, left to right, Jerry Harriss, geologist; Shauby and Ibrahim, drivers; Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Latif, houseboy; Salih, cook; Husain, soldier; Khamis ibn Rimthan, guide; Muhammad ibn Sulayman, soldier; and Tom Barger, geologist. The first exploration camp was established amid the jabals of the Dammam Dome in late October 1933. Geologists named the site Dhahran after the nearby jabals. By June 1934, the year this photo was taken, the detailing of the Dammam Dome was complete. Equipment: Ford V-8 touring car 1 Ford V-8 half-ton 1 pickup Collapsing tables, 2 chairs and cots Short-wave radio set 1 misc. Equipment: Food supplies for all but the soldiers Cooking utensils Ford V-8 2¾-ton 1 Express body truck (where possible to use trucks) Baggage camels 12 carrying 400 pounds each 10 foot by 20 foot 3 native tents with grass mat floors 16 foot by 8 foot 1 silk tent Chronometer 1 Transit (a surveying 1 instrument) Sketch board for 1 use in the car Brunton compasses 2 6-gallon water cans 8 Water skins holding 6 6–10 gallons each Water bags 3 Gasoline stoves and lamps Gasoline and oil for the cars (usually carried to first camp by extra camels) Drafting equipment Tools and spare parts for car repair
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Chapter 3 Reading the Rocks - Saudi Aramco

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