Show pa P aa ati ri aco lu till 6 14 N NDe december cember 15 1 5 1908 the waters of 0 the pa cefic ocean for the first time in all his tory mingled with the waters of the at dantic lantic across the esth mus of panama it 41 was not however through the great canal that tl ti is oc burred b it tt rough the oil pipe line of the union oil corn pany ot of california which was being tested with ith sea ra a ter under a pressure of pounds before being put in service the installation of the only pipe in lit e connecting the two oceans has excited confide able interest every where not only because it was the only large larg e p pe line in the tropics tropic s at the time but because it opened the eastern marbet market for the first time to california oil the union oil company of califor nia afa was founded in 1890 by pennsyl vania oil men who rho bad had P been een etab lisha in the business in california vali california fornia since 1882 its headquarters were at los angeles until 1908 and its diorec tors are los angeles business men of the highest character for probity and conservative conserva tilee business energy the president mr lyman stew art is well known as a philanthropist as well as a far farsighted sighted business man and to him is due the entire credit for holding tl e company together and bringing it safely through the rocks and shoals of the early days of the oil business busi nesa in california and the great panic of 1893 the compary company has been doing a large business on the east coast in high grade standardized asphaltum for many years and as it was necessary ec essary to ship the products of their call fornia refineries across the contin continent glit or around the horn in order to get them to the market they decided to lay a pipe line across the isthmus and send the crude oil down the coast from california in their steamers and then up the atlantic coast to new I 1 lork ork or philadelphia Ph iladell djs it could coul be refined k av A i J the laying of the lire and can c n ruction of or the p imp mill stations pas was inan sted to mr R 11 W fenn A 9 C I 1 who had not only been with the corn coin pany for many man years vears but had also li ll ed d in a num her of the south american republics and was ac customer cus tomed to the health conditions and to handling native and jamaican labor six months time w s given the company under their concession from the I 1 cited states government dating from january 10 1906 mr air fenn penn was ghen glien about 50 minutes to get ready for the trip and reached new york in time to take the boat sailing febra ary 2 1908 1906 for colon without men or plans but 9 with plenty of money on april IS 16 the ppe pape laying was commenced and the line mas as completed on october 16 six months to a day but the time had been extended by the govern government in order to allow tor for nary arrangements mr air S T mcelfresh of pitts burg pa was in immediate charge of the pipe pire laying gangs the progress of the work was ras watched with great In interest by all who saw it so much complaint had been made about the worthlessness of jamaican laborers that the laying of this pipe line was as an object lesson lesso n on the subject the gangs contained each about 70 men and were divided into sections first came the brushers cutting all the grass and brush followed by the tanger tn nger who laid the pipe in line end to end the P dext ext division re moved the tl ti read protectors and painted the threads with a preparation of oil and graphite the pipe la gang proper pr op er consisted of the men who handled the lilting lifting jacks jack jaek boards and cl ain tongs five men on each of four pairs of extra heavy long handled lay tongs another sec see tion lifted the next joint with pick pickups ups and the pipe lined it up so that tha thread would enter properly while the joint was twirled by the friction of a length of rope pas passed ed around it ev eral times ind drawn back and forth until the pipe would enter no further in the collar without the aid of the tongs the foreman then sit astride the collar and beat time with his hammer while the tongs men broke out two tongs up and two down dorn with the precision of a military iry drill after the joint vas in place the painters did their work rork and put on the second coat of i 1 aint the first having been applied when tl e pipe left the shops to prevent alt forming while in transit an important feature of the gang organization was the employ ir ent of a confidential iban man who pent spent all I 1 is time going from one gang to another and watal ing to see that the orders covering the treatment if lf the blacke black were properly carried carrle out by tiie foremen As the jamaicans are re simply great overgrown chil childr drei ci they are easily discouraged by hazing or injustice and quite as easily encouraged by jollying one may swear at them all he wants provided he be has their confidence and on the other hand a big well trained gang can be scattered in two days by a foreman who has bas a mean streak in him and lets it crop out it is also nece necessary sary to make each man repeat every order bedfor pending him to do anything in order to be sure he understands as their intel lect elect Is not well weil de eloped and tl ti ey are so anxious to please that they ft ill always answer yes sah and start off without knowing what they are going to do it is hard to realize all of the difficulties which presented themselves during the vork work the pa bama railroad lail road was in the act of double trucking tricking its line and canal lanai construction going on ev ery where steam shovels were at work in various places on sides of the railway and tracks were being gifted hift ed and plans being constantly chat ed all along the line tl TI ere R was as no wagon r od d arn ass mss s tl e isthmus aid ai d it its is necessary to lia fl jt N na 4 k 70 Y ze f rr va rj I 1 z 16 rf P V Z I 1 I 1 4 1 WV J 11 r it r Y it II 11 dodge the heavy dirt train traffic continual ly first when dis tribu ting the pipe and later when rhen moving ma aerial besides this the work commenced with the beginning of the rainy beagon season and was corn com plated before it ended in one place the men worked gh the pouring rain for three weeks up to their waists in water in a swamp part of the time on a floating pat plat form or raft of boards raw jocys ay josy jW Sy W and laid the line in one place on a floating raft of logs a mile loi g as there was no bottom the following additional description of the line Is quoted from the canal record record the official organ rf the canal commission with a few slight corrections of errors in connection with ical teal features by the first of january 1909 practically all of the stationary boilers in the service of the I Ith canal commission win will be using crude oil as fuel it Is e estimated dimate d that the actual saving to the com commission mission by b substituting oil for coal will be at least 65 per cent coal is now delivered on the isthma by the panama railroad company for 6 aa a ten oa on p commercial basis a barrel of the 0 I 1 delivered to the commission will gen crate erate as in aub uh steam as a quarter ton of coal and as the oil costs 90 cents a barrel the saving from a fuel point alone will be 56 per cent in addition to this the fixed expenses such as wages of firemen etc are considerably less oil is delivered on the isthmus by the union oil company of california under a concession granted january 10 1906 for the construction and operation of a pipe line from the pacific to the atlantic Atlin tic side of the isthmus over land owned by the united states and the panama railroad company this company had previously ob gaind under date of october 30 1900 a similar concession from the government of panama for the constriction colstr and maintenance of a pipe line across the 1 lohmus for the purpose of conveying en crade de oil and for the erection of pumping stations and storage tanks in the cities of canama and colon the license granted by the secretary of war Is revocable revo cible at the will of tle tl e government of the united states and is conditioned upon the payment rent of united states currency a month beginning august 1 1900 into the canal zone treasury the fund chub created to be set aside tor for the support of the public schools of the canal aone it is further stipulated in the grant that it if desired the isthmian canal commission or the panama railroad company may purchase pui chase crude oil ell from the union oil company of Cili california fornia at 90 cents united states currency a barrel in ad to the monthly payment of to the treasury of the caral cared zone the unon union oil corn pany also pays to the government of panama ind is subject to the asual canal zone the oil delivered on the isthmus comes from santa barbara county cal iab consistency is about the same as water rater and it can be trin ported in a pipe line is readily it is piped from the field to port harford where it t f pumped into the union oil company a tank steamers which are erving points in oregon washington Vas hington har hawaii all chile and guatemala as well as panama there are seven storage tanks in the canal zone four at la loca at the pacific entrance and three at mt lit hope near colon fach jach ank has a capacity of 37 barrels an eighth tank of like capacity formerly located at alt at hope was detroyer de troyed by lightning on may 13 1908 the pipe line brough which the oil is pumped to the atlantic side of the isthmus follows the line of the panama railroad and Is about 48 milea miles long it Is made of open hearth steel pipe eight inches in diameter with gate valves at one mile intervals and without expansion joints the pipe holds 15 birrel of oil from sea level to f P US sisO satt at yli 0 the summit near culebra the total lift is about feet at the summit the line runs along the edge of the rio grande reservoir and at this point is encased in concrete so that it if the pipe should break the water would not be affected it Is tested to pounds to the square inch but a pressure of over pounds Is seldom used A dow compound pump driven by steam from boilers in which crude oil is used furnishes the pres bure ure to pump the oil across the isthmus and about 30 20 hours are consumed in the jo irney the oil is so inelastic that it can be ascertained by the pulsation in the plant at la boca at what moment the valve of the tank at mt hope has been closed As the pipe Is laid on the surface of the ground it follows rather a serpentine cou course arse and the many curves help 0 fo o overcome the expansion due to changes in temperature rhe company was given days in which to lay its pipe this was at a time when the work involved not only engineering features but also those of providing subsistence and quarters for the men engaged the laying of the pipe was begun in several places simultaneously and a large force of men was kept constantly at work so that the company was ready to deliver oil october 16 1906 although the line was not used throughout its entire length until november 14 1907 on account of changes in the line of the pa nama railroad nail road company and in that of the canal itself the pipes have been shifted at many places and according to the contract all this work Is done at the expense of the union oil company |