"Christmas Trees" are used to cap an oil well. The photograph is of ARCO's Prudhoe Bay Drill Site Number 1, among the first drilled by ARCO in the early 1970s. Each "tree" represents a pipe that draws oil from a 160-acre area. They are drilled straight down through 2,000 feet of permafrost, then are drilled at an angle. They go as deep as 9,000 feet.
© Sam Kimura