The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1910-08-25
HAS LONESOME JOB.
Men Who Watch Tubes Convey
ing Natural Gas Disguised.
Task at First Appears Pleasing, But
Soon Becomes Monotonous in Ex-
IRENE and Loneliness Often
Leads to Insanity.

ICCHnS anu Loneliness OIten
Leads to Insanity.
Lincoln. Neb.-The most monot-
onous existence in the world is that
led by the pipe line walkers of Kan
Eas, Oklahoma and Missouri. For a,
great many years the army picket, the
sheep herder and the railroad track
Inspector have debated the question Of
which led the loneliest existence, but
their life 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 b gas centers. It Is absolute
lyf necessary that the pressure bel
maintained. 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
several hundred men are employed.
Their business is to get up at day!
Aohs anu Wd1h I'LL udIhuSSS COlQ6S,
hunting trouble.
The lines are divided up into sec1
lions of IL and Is miles, and a man is
detailed to watch each one. He must
walk from one end Of his section to-
the other and then back again during
the day. The jobs pay from $50 to-
500 a month, and there is nothing to-
do but walk and listen.
Most of the patrolmen are young fell;
lows. who think they have fallen into
a snap. A good many Of them are
college boys, who come west to the,
prairies for recreation or to regain
their health. They get both, but after
a few months of it the loneliness and
the nature of the work gets them and
they depart.
There is nothing to do but walk,
walk, walk, except when a break Isl
found. Then it 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 walker need toi
do is to fill out a blank report with
nothing doing" O it and mail it. :
The sheep herder has his dogs and
his sheep, the army sentry his FREE
quent reliefs and the track walker
hears com~panionable sounds and gets
many glimpses of life. Sometimes bel
has a wreck to prevent or to help to|
scrape up, but the pipe patrolmen have
little to break the monotony. :
When a man first tackles the job heI
Is enchanted. Just to take a brisk.
tramp across the country in the fresh
air, smelling of the good, green earth
and to be paid two or three dollars a.
day for 1t seems too good to be true.
After a few weeks it begins to pail.
one gets to dreaming about it, gets to,
see, waking and sleeping, only that
same blur of trees and land, land and,
trees, and then more land and trees
until he begins to forget the rest oil
the world and the people and theI
things he has known. Some of the pa;
trolmen almost reach the point of for.
getting their own names, but usually
they quit before they get to that point
Several former regulars in the United!
States army, men familiar with the
dreary routine of western frontier
posts, have tried it and thrown UP the
Job after a few weeks. One of them,
said: when I go bughouse l am go4
ing by the regular route"
The fact that the ear is kept con,
stantly strained for leaks that betray
their presence through a kissing sound
Is another feature of the work that
adds to the uncanniness of it. The
men are employed for just one pur-
pose, to look for breaks in the pipe linei
and when n has but one thing to.
do and the accident he is always ex-
pecting seldom happens, it gets on
the nerves. The nervous anticipation
is what breaks them down.
Every time a grasshopper in the
fields or a cricket in the creek bot
toms or a locust in the trees starts his
machinery at full speed the fear that
the line has gone to smash seizes
Every time the trees rustic" said
a patrolman, you think there is a
leak ahead. Every heavy drone of the
insects startles with it's suddenness.
You start out in the morning with the
fear of disaster and If a twig cracks
under your feet you get the. jumps. II
a break would come along once in
awhile 1t would not be so bad.
Often the loneliness that gets into
your bones inspires one almost to the
point of stealthy going out with an ak
and smashing a section of pipe SO as
to break the monotony. The thing not
only gets on your mind, but it stays
there. The perpetual introspection
grows oppressive.
Finally you begin pinching yourself
to see If you are alive, Then you
begin talking to yourself SO that you