Transcribed from attachment to photo: "TOUGH TEST - A hard formation drilling test is begun in the big laboratory at Hughes Tool Company, Houston, Texas, where any drilling condition found anywhere in the world can be duplicated. Here, where the vast majority of rock bits used in the U. S. and Canada are produced, is the cornerstone of Howard Hughes' industrial empire; it was principally the income from the oil drilling equipment company which enables Hughes to branch out into many other fields."

Howard R. Hughes, Sr., standing outdoors by a trench mining drill, which is underneath a tent-like canopy. Part of the Sharps-Hughes Tool Company's Second and Girard Streets plant is seen in the background.