Evening journal., 1910-05-07
LONELEEST JOB
in THE WORLD
Pipe Line Walkers in Gas
Fields Have Maddening
Task

The most monotonous existence in
the world is that led by the pipe line
walkers of Kansas, oklahoma and
Missouri. For a great many years
the army picket, the sheep herder and
the railroad track inspector have de-
bated the question of which led the
loneliest existence but their way is
gay compared with that of the pipe
line walker.
The pipe lines carry natural gas TO
the cities. where it is utilized in
lighting homes. heating them and sup
plying industries with cheap fuel The
pipe lines radiate in all directions
from the gas centers. II is absolutely
necessary that the pressure be main
tanned. The greatest menace of the
maintenance of proper pressure is the
possibility of leaks in the pipes and
to see that there are no breaks sew
eral hundre dmen are employed Their
business is TO get UP at daylight and
walk till darkness comes, hunting for
trouble.
The lines arc divided up into sec
tions Of 12 or 10 miles, and man is
detailed to watch each one. He must
walk from one end Of the section TO
the other and then back again during
the day. The job pays from $50 to
! 800 "A month, and there is nothing
10 do but walk and listen.
Most of the patrolmen are young
fellows, who think they have fallen
/ into a snap. A good many of them
/ are colleeg boys who go West 10 the
praries for recreation or TO regain
their health. They get Doth. but after
a few months of it the loneliness and
the nature of the work gels them and
they depart
Nothing To DO But Walk.
There is nothing to do but walk.
walk. walk, except when a break is
found. Then il is a hike to the near
est telephone and a hurry up call for
the repair gang. If nothing happens
then all the pipe line wake, need 10
do is TO fll out a blank report with
| Nothing doing" on il and mail it,
The sheep hcrder has his dogs and
his sheep the army sentry his fire.
| quent reliefs and the track walker
hears companionable sounds. and gets
many glimpses of life. Sometimes he
has a wreck to prevent or help to
scrape up but the pipe patrolmen
have little to break the monotony
The pipe line follows neither the
J railroad nor the wagon road. II
) strikes in a bee line across the coun-
try. allowing only for elevations, which
|, il usually skirts, but hills are few in
the broad, fat prairie region
: When man first tackles the ioh
? he is enchanted. Just to take the
, brisk tramp across the country in the
fresh air, smelling of the good green
earth, and to be paid 81 or So a day
for It, seems too good to be true. After
few weeks IL begins to pail. one
gets to dreaming about il. gets to see
waking and sleeping, only that same
blur Of trees and land, land and trees
, and then more land and moer trees
utnil he begins TO forget the rest o,
the world and the people and n,
things he has known. Some OF III,
patrolmen almost reach the point o,
forgetting their own names. but usu.
ally they quit before they get to tia
point.
Several former regulars in tn,
United States Army. men familiar
with the dreary routine Of Westeri
frontier posts have tried it and
thrown up the job after a few weeks
one Of them said: when 20 bug
house ! am going by the regular
route"