With only a few weeks left before the short summer was over and temperatures of minus thirty degrees were about to descend on the drilling crew, Paul Thin, Drilling Chief for Endicott Exploration Company, was cussing a blue streak as the roughneck held the last of the diamond drill bits in his hands, broken in three places.

Paul Thin lifted one of the pieces and threw it as far into the swirling snow as he could heave it. It didn't make him feel any better, and the roughneck backed up a few steps waiting to see what his boss was going to do with the other two broken pieces. If the chief looked at him he knew he had better turn and run as fast as he could so as to outrun the lump of metal that would be flung at his retreating body.