Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1942-10-08

pump over some $4,000 barrels or
| gasoline and light oil day. 1t
will then go into barges (and many
news ones are being built or con-
verted) and start north on the in
! land waterway. This line will cost
about $3,O00,000, and will be ready
for use in November. Another line
is projected from near Yazoo,
Miss, to the Charleston-Savannah
region to cost some $13,000,O00.
| Pipelines will also connect the Tex
as fields with the Mississippi river,
| whence the oil will proceed on
barges as far as Pittsburgh. A
plan was also approved for extend
ing line from Greensboro, N. c.,
to Richmond, Va, making avail
able some 10000 barrels a day at
that place, to be partly trans-ship-
ped by barge to Washington, Balti-
more and other points. Another
! line under construction stretches
! 100 miles across Ohio, from Fos-
toria to Akron, which will connect
! western systems with one having a
terminus at Newark, N. j. This
latter line was built to carry oil to
! the west, but the direction will be
reversed and it will deliver $4,000
barrels day to the east.
Petroleum Coordinator Ickes an
nounced that the present pipeline
program will cost about $30,000,-
! 900; that it should be completed in
six months, and that majority Of
the projects should be in opera
tion within three months.
There are said to be about 150,-
900 miles of oil pipelines in this
country. The first was built back
! in the 1870's to carry Pennsyl-
yania's new ''black gold" to the
seaboard. Now they criss-cross the
country like young railroad sys-
tens, except that the general direc-
tion from southwest to northeast.
There is no transcontinental line; j;
the line farthest west with eastern
connections stops at Salt Lake City.
! On the Pacific Coast pipes run
north as far as San Fransisco from
the southern California oil fields.
| Putting down pipeline today is
highly developed modern opera
| ton First, the route is examined
and photographed from above by
means of the airplane Then engi-
neers and surveyors using that data.
go over the ground and map out
the route. These are followed by
claims agents seeking permission
from property owners to let the
line go over their land. They US
ually pay the owners a dollar for
every II feet of length and the
contract is permanent, binding on
all future owners. OF course some
owners try to stage a hold-up; 9TH
ers honestly object to the line over
their fields as nuisance, and there
come times when condemnation
proceedings or detours must be re-
sorted to.
When the route is pegged out and
contracts are let-usually at so
much a foot-the workers move in
with bull-dozers, trucks, scrapers,
ditch-diggers, picks and shoyels,
and the dirt starts to fly. The trench
is made about two feet deep, and
in the smooth soil of a level coun-
try the digging proceeds in a walk.
But the line must climb hills, may
be mountains, and sometimes go
under the bed Of a river. There
are nearly dozen crossing the
Mississippi-on the under side.
The pipes are shipped by rail to
the most convenient points, then
moved by truck. They regularly
come in 40-foot lengths, and they
are welded above-ground along the
ditch. Much depends on the kind
of soil the pipe is laid in, and tests
must be made. If it is a "sweet"
soil the pipe goes in bare, and it
has laid in such soil for 40 years
without appreciable deterioration.
But if the soil is "acid" the pipe
must be protected against corosion.
This is cone by coating it with tar
and wrapping it with rags, felt or
paper.
While one crew is making the
dirt fly and another is laying down
the pipe and covering it up a third
crew is building pumping stations.
These are put up at intervals about
40 miles apart, and are plugged in
on the line to furnish the pressure
to keep the Oil flowing. The more
pressure the faster the flow, so the
more pumps on line the more oil
Is delivered. II the line climbs
over hill pump is usually located
at the bottom of it to give a push
where it is most needed. The pumps
are automatic, and they move the
oil about three miles an hour. II
something goes wrong a bell rings
and summons an attendant. If it
cannot be promptly fixed it can be
cut out of the line temporarily.
But the whole system cannot be
depended On to take care of itself.
The pipes must be watched inside
and out. The inside job is done by
curious and efficient cOntriyance