Name/Title
S06.02.048Description
Leroy G. Hetager and his crew with their drill rig at the site of a coal test for the Youghiogheny and Ohio Coal Company. The core sample was taken for a site next to Piney Creek in Wayne Township, Belmont County, Ohio. The Core Record File No. 1838 was logged by Horace R. Collins and David K. Webb on January 1, 1967.
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According to the website Pennsylvania Companies, Leroy G. Hetager, Inc., was incorporated on 2 August 1965 and dissolved on 19 July 1971 (entity number 159762). Address for the company was Rd 1, Box 363, Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania.
Lisa Long telephoned Leroy G. Hetager on 30 August 2016. Mr. Hetager is 87 years old and lives in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Lisa mailed him three images (S06.02.040, S06.02.041, & S06.02.048) for confirmation of his rig and anything else he might remember. Mr. Hetager telephoned Lisa on 7 September 2016 with the following information: His memory is that the drill rig was a Joy Global, Inc., rig (possibly model 70-C). He felt that the rig was a close copy to those made by Sprague & Henwood company, but he had the Joy Global version. He had bought six World War II, Ford 4X4 trucks from an Army Surplus store to mount the rigs on the flatbeds. He said that he did some work in Ohio (his memory is that his Ohio work was often in Harrison County). Mr. Hetager started working in the industry at the age of 13 years. He would work with his father during the summers when he wasn't in school. He ran the steam pump for his dad who was a driller. He went out on his own before the age of 21 to work in drilling and later start his own drilling company. When he sold his company in 1971, he had 45 people working for him. Leroy G. Hetager built his own drills throughout his life. He built more than one drill rig from scratch with his own machining knowhow. He received a patent for his Diamond Core Drill Wire Line Latch Assembly on 10 November 2015 (Patent # US9181758 B2). Mr. Hetager continued to work in the drilling business after his retirement until 2014. On 8 July 2014, two young men destroyed Mr. Hetager's business, V-King Corp. in Indiana Pennsylvania, by arson fire (see Indiana Gazette, Fire Destroys Drilling-Related Business by Chauncey Ross, 8 July 2014).
This slide image included in the USGS National Digital Catalog for NGGDPP Grant G15AP00115 in FY2015.Context
Aerial view of working crew with drilling vehicles in the woods. Site next to Piney Creek in Belmont County, Ohio.