2 MEN INJURED IN EXPLOSION-Dykstra, Schneider 1938

DYKSTRA, SCHNEIDER

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 1/22/2016 at 22:10:05

Dubuque Telegraph Herald, May 5, 1938

2 MEN INJURED
IN EXPLOSION
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Huge Oil Tank
Explodes at Sheldon, Ia.
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Sheldon, Ia. – (AP) Firemen early Wednesday afternoon held under control the raging flames which followed an explosion of bulk gasoline storage tanks on the southwestern edge of the business district here and for a time threatened nearby business structures. The amount of loss was not immediately determined.

The explosion, which rocked a large part of the town, originated in a measuring gasoline tank in a frame pump house for the Farmers’ Co-operative Oil Company. It came while gasoline was being pumped from a railroad car to the measuring tank.

Two employees of the company, Peter Dykstra and Darrell Schneider, were in the pump house at the time. Dykstra was blown through the open doorway where he was standing and he received severe burn about the left hand, head and face, but he was not confined to a hospital. Schneider was sitting in a rear room of the house when the explosion blew open a locked door and upset him from his chair. He received minor burns on his hand and head.

Five bucket storage tanks adjacent to the pump house immediately burst into flames and a raging an inferno of black smoke and flames threatened nearby tanks of the Standard Oil Company, the Sioux Oil Company, and the Western Wholesale Grocer warehouse across the street. About 5,000 gallons of gasoline were consumed.