The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-12
ACROSS THE lSTHMUS
OIL TYPED FR0M ATLANTIC To
 PACIFIC.
How CalifoSnia Cempany Gsts ts Mar kets-Ffrsf Test Was Win Wa
 ter Fron Weufern Sea.

On December IS. lsss, the watrss Of
 the Pacific Ocean for the f1rst time in
 all history. mingled with the waters of the Atlantic across the Isthmus of Panama. says the International Bureau of the American Republics. IL was not, however. through the great canal that this occurred. but through the oil pipe line of the Union oil Company, of California. which was being tested with sea water, under . pressure of 800 pounds. before being put in service The installation of the only oil pipe line connecting the two oceans has ex- cited considerable interest everywhere pipe line in the tropics at the time but because 1t opened the Eastern market for the first time to California oil and
 gave 1t an opportunity to compete with the products of the great oil combtna-
 ton. The Union oil Company of Cal
 tfornia was founded In 1890 by Penn sylvania oil mon who had been estar- Ushed in the business in California since is82. Its headquarters were at Los Angeles until 1908, and its direc- tors are Los Angeles business men or the highest character for probity ana conservative business energy. The president. Lyman Stewart. 10 vel
 known as 6 phllanthropist as well as a far-sighted business man, and to him Is due the entire credit for holding the company together and bringing It saie. iy through the rocks and shoals of the. early days of the oil business In Ceh'
 tornia and the great panic Of l8ss.
 The company has been doing . large business on the east coast in nign grade standardized asphaltum for many years, and as 1t was necessary to ship the products of their California refine. ries across the continent or around the
 Horn in order to get them to the mar ket they decided to lay a pipe inc across the Isthmus and send the crude oil down the coast from California In their steamers and then up the At lantic coast to New York and Phila- delphia. where it could be refined.
 The laying of the line and construe- ton of the pump stations was intrusted to R. W. Fenn. A S. c. E.. who had not only been with the company Dor many years, but had also lived In number of the South American Repub. lies and was accustomed to the health conditions and to handling native ana Jamacia labor. Six months' time was given the company under their conces- sion from the United states Govern ment, dating from January 10. 1908 MT. Fenn was given about fifty minutes to get ready for the trip and reached New York in time to take the boat sailing February 2, 1906. for Colon. without men or piens. but with plenty of mopey.
 On April 1s the pipe laying was com. menced .and the line was completed on October ls. S. T. McElfresh of Pitts burg. Pa, was in charge of the pipe laying gangs The gangs contained each about seventy men aud were di> yided into sections. First came the brushers, cutting all the grass and brush. followed by the stringers. who iaid the pipe in line, end to end. The next division removed the thread pro- tectors and painted the threads with a preparation of oil and graphite. The pipe laying gang proper consisted of the men who handled the lifting jacks. lack boards and chain tongs for hold ing the finished line in place. and twenty men on the pipe tongs, i've men on each of four pairs of extra heavy ionghandled lay tongs. Another sec tion lifted the next joint with pick" ups. and the pipe steerer lined it up so that the threads would enter poperty. while the joint was -twiried by the friction of q length of rope passed around 1t several times and drawn back and forth until the pipe would enter no farther in the collar with the aid of the t0ngs.
 The foreman then sat astride of the collar and beat time with his hammer while the tongmen broke out"-tvo ltongs up and two down, with the preci. sion of a military driii. After the joint work and put on the second coat of paint, the first having been applied when the pipe left the shops, to pre- vent rust forming while in transit. An important feature of the gang orGani- ration was the employment of conf