In the early morning hours of 02 Feb 1975, 8 members of the Patton family and Steve Sparger, an oil field worker, succumbed to the fumes from a deadly hydrogen sulfide gas leak and died. The tragedy shocked the community and spurred regulations to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.
This memorial stands at the gateway to Denver City near a pumpjack erected to commemorate the town's first half-century.
It reads as follows:
"DENVER CITY 1975
H2S MEMORIAL
This memorial is dedicated to the nine individuals who quickly perished from H2S poisoning Feb 2, 1975. The morning was cold and foggy. Conditions were ideal for the accumulation of poison gas. A leak from Willard Unit Well #66 began at 2:16 A.M. on CR 330 near the Patton home about three miles north of Denver City, Texas. The gas vented for five hours. These are the individuals who are deeply missed by family and friends.
J. R. May
Evelyn Grace May
J. C. Patton
Glenda Fern Patton
Delores D’Lynn Patton
Alma Lee “Pete” Amerson
Edith Amerson
Clara V. Peevy
Steve E. Sparger"
From the Lubbock TX Avalanche-Journal, a story on the tragedy and the memorial dedicated to it: (
visit link)
"Denver City remembers H2S tragedy
Posted: September 14, 2010 - 11:27pm
By Alyssa Dizon and Shelly Gonzales
DENVER CITY — Thirty-five years ago on the morning of Feb. 2, a city of about 4,100 people awoke to the biggest oil field-related tragedy it had ever experienced.
A very small leak of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) — a poisonous, pungent gas — took the lives of nine people when an experimental gas injection well pipe connection ruptured.
Denver City will commemorate those nine individuals at 11 a.m. Saturday with a morning rose granite monument that will stand at the intersection of Texas 214 and Texas 83.
Skip Rodgers of the Denver City Church of Christ will officiate the dedication, and Mayor David Bruton will unveil the memorial marker.
“It bothered me for a long time,” said Jack Watkins, a Denver City volunteer fireman who responded to the 1975 gas leak. “It’s a shock to you when you walk in on something like that.”
He and Larry Rasco, another volunteer fireman, were some of the first people to arrive on the scene.
Although both men are now in their 60s, they could still recall several details about that early morning call, especially the weather. It was a damp, foggy morning with barely a breeze — conditions that proved to be deadly.
Rasco said he and three others were the first to drive up to the Patton house — located about three miles north of Denver City. Donning masks and air packs, the men stepped onto the scene, hoping to save the Patton family and their house guests.
They heard an engine running and saw the headlights of two vehicles, but when the men peered inside each, they knew they were too late.
Seven victims — Glenda Patton; her daughter Delores “Dee Dee”; their relatives, Edith and Alma Lee “Pete” Amerson, Evelyn and J.R. May; and Delores’ friend, Clara Peevy — were in running vehicles. Five were in a car and two were in a pickup; Glenda’s husband, J.C., was lying on the ground nearby.
The ninth victim, Steve Sparger, was an Atlantic Richfield Company pumper, who went to check on the oil well upon hearing an alarm of a gas leak. Authorities later found him in his pickup in a ditch on the side of the road.
The Pattons and their guests were wakened by the “rotten egg” stench of hydrogen sulfide and had attempted to escape. They were still wearing pajamas or were only partially dressed.
“Those things you don’t forget,” Rasco said. “It’s kind of implanted in your mind. It was a tragedy that should not have happened.”
The Merrill family, who lived 50 yards from the Patton’s house, barely evaded the toxic fumes by speeding away in their car.
As the volunteer fireman searched the Patton and Merrill houses, Atlantic Richfield Company went to work repairing the rupture. This particular operation had hydrogen sulfide being injected into the well to recover more oil, which added to the natural concentration of the toxic fumes, the Avalanche-Journal reported in 1975.
Oil company officials later determined a combination of the leak and the weather killed the nine victims that morning.
Watkins said he could see a visible cloud of the gas five or six feet tall hovering at the front of the house.
The leak in a wash nipple was so miniscule it did not trigger the device responsible for automatically preventing the release of the gas, the Avalanche-Journal reported.
Because of the misty, windless conditions, the Patton house was engulfed in a cloud of hydrogen sulfide that did not dissipate.
Low amounts of hydrogen sulfide are not usually deadly, said Lloyd Heinze, Roy S. Butler Chair professor in the Texas Tech department of petroleum engineering.
As one drives by oil fields in West Texas, he said, it is common to smell the sour odor, but the wind helps disperse the gas so it does not collect in one area. Since the gas is heavier than air, it can collect in low-lying, poor-ventilated areas.
Hydrogen sulfide and a mixture of gases are naturally found in crude petroleum and natural gas, and the oil wells use an iron sponge to filter out the sulfur part of the gas, Heinze said.
Although people can initially smell hydrogen sulfide, the gas causes one to lose the ability to smell and attacks the respiratory and central nervous systems. Low to moderate level exposure causes difficulty breathing, headache, eye irritation, nausea and dizziness, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Not only is hydrogen sulfide harmful to human health, but it is also corrosive to steel and elastomers, which leads to gas leaks, Heinze said.
“A prudent operator needs to make sure that there’s a reasonable amount of maintenance going on, quality control and checking,” he said, “(and) ... know by looking at the prevailing winds and the terrain where that gas may escape to.”
Since that fateful day, Rasco said, there was a greater awareness and understanding of the danger surrounding hydrogen sulfide.
The Denver City tragedy spurred a state resolution calling for the Texas Railroad Commission to investigate recent hydrogen sulfide deaths and warn residents living near gas injection wells.
Those like Rasco and Watkins, who have witnessed the dangers of hydrogen sulfide firsthand, hope the country will remember the Denver City tragedy and strive to prevent another one."