Alaska Pipeline Was a Feat of Engineering

The Alaska Pipeline is more than big. At 48 inches in diameter and over 800 miles long, it stretches from Prudhoe Bay, well north of the Arctic Circle, to Valdez, AK, on the south, a Pacific Ocean that remains ice free even in winter. In 1968, the Atlantic Richfield Company struck it rich, discovering an oil field on Alaska's North Slope. The shortest route to get the oil to market would be the 800-mile pipeline, much of which would run through pristine wilderness that had never before been mapped.

Pipeline construction faced many challenges, not the least of which was environmental advocates who sharply opposed construction. Equipment needed to build the Alaska Pipeline required use of a welding machine with the ability to not only operate, but also efficiently withstand the sub-zero conditions of the area. At one point, as many as 17,000 experienced welders worked on its construction. Crossing three mountain ranges and more than 800 streams and rivers, the Alaska Pipeline is a feat of engineering and also a testament to those who operated each welding machine that created it.

Pipe welders working on the project were supervised by the pipeline welders union Local 798, of Tulsa, OK. While all were seasoned welders able to perform perfect welds, all were challenged by the need to perform for 10 hours per day to complete the pipeline.