Sometimes I remember the Indiana Gas Boom, in which they discovered a giant reserve of natural gas and oil under Indiana in the 1880s, and then burnt so much of it in displays like the one above, that the natural gas was tapped out by 1910 which also meant there was no longer enough pressure to extract the oil.
Some of these displays ran 24/7/365 for 20 years. Just burning natural gas to atmosphere. For y'know, pizzaz.