My Best Shot

By Dave Toth

Around 1977 or so, my brother Steve Toth came home from Wyoming with pocket loads of money and telling outlandish stories of flying through the Rocky Mountains in helicopters, blowing up dynamite. Steve eventually went back and took my brother Greg Toth (George C. Colon as he became known) with him to work seismograph in the Wyoming.

In 1979, Greg’s CGG crew picked up a contract in Woodland, California. Before long brother Greg had our whole neighborhood from Roseville, California working seismograph. We all jumped at the chance to make some good money for a change. Although this was only a truck crew, in the flat farmland of the Sacramento valley, there was still lots of radical four wheeling and dynamite. What a cool job! I will never forget the first shot I ever heard. We had a “Ditchwitch” with a 4 foot knife blade that could plant 2 strands of primer cord 3 feet into the ground. Each shot was 110 feet long. We were working a weird array where we were pushing energy forward to record seismic reflections in the front of the line. This meant that the shots were taking place 2 stations (220ft) behind the back crew. When a shot would go off it would throw dirt clods 100 feet in the air and shake the earth!  Now the powder crew was supposed to make absolutely sure that the primer cord was separated every 110 feet so the blast would not continue up the line.

Well on one occasion the separated strands of primer cord must have been left too close together or just plain didn’t get separated and we had a shot blast over 220 feet of primer cord that was about the size of your index finger (2 strands!). The whole back crew got showered with dirt clods as the detonation came within 110 feet. This was excellent motivation for the back crew to pick up faster. Anyway, I went on to work for a number of different outfits doing everything from vibrator crew in California, to a portable service shot crew in North Dakota Bad Lands. I finally got the job of a lifetime; Shooter. Albeit, it was only a shot hole crew, I was still g That was my best shot ever!