Inside the Well: The Midland, Texas Rescue of Baby Jessica

On October 14, 1987, eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure fell into a well, igniting a 56-hour sprint to free her.

The oil boomtown of Midland, Texas, supplied a ragtag crew of rescuers. Firemen, policemen, roofing contractors, oil drillers, mining engineers, cowpokes, and nosy neighbors all worked together, improvising their way to the story's happy conclusion: when paramedics hoisted Baby Jessica into the limelight.

Also on the scene was fourth-grader Lance Lunsford, who craned his neck ove...