Men working in the "operating room" of the Nasa Well Number 11 in the Signal Hill oil field near Long Beach, ca.1940

Photograph of men working in the "operating room" of the Nasa Well Number 11 in the Signal Hill oil field near Long Beach, ca.1940. "Workmen are adjusting the rotary drill as it bites its way into the earth". Three men in oil-stained work clothes and hats grasp the large drill at center with their thick, leather gloves. The drill is pushed through the ground at the center of a circular platform which is decorated with oil splatters. A rug lies over the concrete floor behind the men where a small, wooden broom leans against a lightly-colored wall which is also spotted with oil. Rope extends from a portion of the drill's outer accessories down to a lower floor of the refinery in the foreground.