Early Texas Oil Pipelines

This marks route of Texas' first oil pipelines to Tidewater, constructed 1901 to transport oil from famed Spindletop gusher (7 mi. north), which came in on Jan. 10, and flowed at rate of 75,000 barrels a day.

A group later to become the Gulf Pipeline Company laid 11 miles of line to the railroad in two weeks' time, extending the line in 1902 to Port Arthur; by 1904 the area had 513.5 miles of pipelines.

Earlier lines had been built in Nacogdoches, 1889, and Corsicana, 1898. Pipelines were made necessary by heavy production, meager storage facilities, and poor roads for freight wagons hauling out the oil.

Mountains are ripped open, river beds tunneled, and continents spanned by pipelines. The "Big Inch" line laid from Texas to the Atlantic in World War II was a decisive factor in victory for the Allies.

Pipeline mileage still increases daily; the work employs thousands. Besides interstate lines, oil fields use miles of pipes leading to railroad and barge docks, refineries and processing plants.

Within Texas today are more than 146,000 miles of pipelines transporting petroleum and its products, enabling the natural resources of the state to be shared by other people of the world. (1966)

Incise in base:

Early travel, communication and transportation series

Erected by the Moody Foundation.