Underground Construction - February 2021 - 14

UNDERGROUND CONSTRUCTION THROUGH THE DECADES

1950s Pipeline & Distribution
Construction: Record-Setting,
Booming Business
Underground Construction's first incarnation as the " Pipeliner "
continued with booming growth throughout its first full
decade of publishing - the 1950s. By the end of the decade,
the magazine had broadened its coverage of underground
infrastructure and was renamed Pipeline Construction and
Oliver Klinger Jr. became the new publisher.
The robust pace of pipeline construction in the late 1940s
intensified throughout the 50s decade, repeatedly setting
records on its way to becoming a billion-dollar business.
By the end of the 1950s, construction plans in the
United States and Canada totaled $2.2 billion.
That included nearly 14,000 miles of crude oil pipeline -
dominated by big-inch, long-distance trunklines - more than
in any other decade and about double in future decades.

With equally active pipeline construction, natural gas
became a major fuel in the U.S. for the first time. In 1954,
utilities were reporting gains of 800,000 customers a year
and by 1957, the American Gas Association reported natural
gas was providing 23.1 percent of the nation's energy,
versus 12.6 percent in 1945.
At the end of the 1950s, more than 1 million miles of natural
gas distribution pipelines had been installed, compared to just
over 25,000 miles the previous decade.
There were so many projects, in fact, that the steel industry
couldn't keep up with the demand for new pipe. Shortages that
existed from the beginning of the decade were exacerbated
by the nation's heavy involvement with the Korean War. As a
result, the Petroleum Administration for Defense established

1951

1954

International Harvester (Chicago) and
Superior Equipment (Bucyrus, Ohio) used
pipebooms to slide 800-foot sections
of 22-inch pipe on project bringing
Canadian oil to market through the
swamps of Minnesota

McElroy Manufacturing Inc.
founded in Tulsa, Okla.

1952

With the passing of his father,
Oliver C. Klinger, Jr. became
publisher of Pipeliner magazine

With the shortage of steel pipe, due to
a high volume of projects, exacerbated
by the Korean War, the Petroleum
Administration for Defense set up an
allocation system, with first priority
given to oil, then natural gas

1953
M.J. Crose Manufacturing started
producing a pipe bending machine with
a vertical, versus horizontal, plane that
accommodated larger than 20-inch pipe

14

FEBRUARY 2021 | UCONonline.com

1956
Pipeliner was
renamed Pipeline
Construction
magazine

A Transco loop program marked the first
use of 36-inch pipe in long-distance
transmission

1955
New pipe coatings, using hydrocarbon
polymers, improved performance in
the underground environment and
advancements in application boosted
production and laying pipe.
Introducing ditching equipment that could
be operated by one person, Ditch Witch
Power was equipped with a patented
" endless conveyor digging chain "

M.J. Crose Manufacturing introduced the
first pipeline ditch-filling and pipe-padder
machine for pipelines

1957
Jim Cummings invented the dragline
ditch padder attachment
Case Construction Equipment produced
the first fully integrated backhoe loader
Representatives of 17 major American
and European oil companies planned
a 1,500-mile crude pipeline, from the
Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean via
Iraq and Turkey
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Underground Construction - February 2021

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