“SINCLAIR’S HIDDEN HIGHWAY” 1965 SINCLAIR OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION OKLAHOMA TO INDIANA XD17844

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This 1965 film produced and directed by Bud Woods looks at the construction of a new oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to East Chicago, Indiana by the Sinclair Oil Corporation (most likely what is now called the “Enbridge Spearhead pipeline”). The film begins by showing old infrastructure such as pumping stations and a pipeline network that will be replaced by the new one. This is followed by detailed footage of the construction of the pipeline in different environments and the challenges and engineering specificities that came with them. This includes transportation, welding, and sealing of pipes to form the pipeline. Some of the geographic challenges include different types of terrain like rivers, rocky ground, roads and railroad tracks, and forested areas.
0:08 Directed by Bud Woods, 0:15 Produced by Bud Woods Productions, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 0:18 overview of different Sinclair refineries, 1:00 Sinclair Research Laboratory in Harvey, IL, 1:19 a steam powered oil pump in operation, 1:37 a diesel powered pumping station, 1:50 a new modern electric pumping station, 2:08 a map of existing and planned Sinclair pipelines in the US, 2:55 bulldozers clearing land at the start of construction, 3:10 lumberjacks removing trees in wooded areas, 3:47 a freight train full of pipes with some being lifted off the train and stacked next to the tracks, 5:00 pipe being strung where the ditch will be dug, 5:31 a ditching machine digging up dirt, 5:46 crews welding pipes together and then bending them, 6:53 contractor x raying the welded sections to ensure that the pipes were sealed properly, 7:12 pipe cleaning unit travelling along the new pipeline while applying protective coating, 8:45 close up of the coating process, 9:09 inspector checking the coating and marking spots to fix, 9:26 a technician attaching a rectifier, 9:48 construction workers working near a road and rail line, 10:06 a casing enclosed auger used to burrow under a road, 11:12 construction crew preparing the pipe section and then pushing it through the new casing under the road, 11:57 construction process of one of the pipeline pumps, 12:30 farm drainage lines being move to make way for the pipeline, 13.03 boreholes being dug for dynamite to clear ground in rocky areas, 13:26 crew preparing dynamite sticks and placing them in holes, 13:50 dynamite being ignited, 14:33 river weights and wooden slats being attached to pipeline before it is lowered into a river, 15:35 approach channel being dug near a river, 15:57 weighted pipe being lifted across the river and then lowered, 17:21 river section being joined with the remainder of the pipeline, 17:55 a pipe section being arched over a river levy, 18:13 workers joining a custom made pipeline piece, 19:26 pipe being advanced over another river section with a nose cap, 20:21 weighted pipe being lowered into the ditch and river, 21:46 ditch being filled right after lowering, 22:30 fence crews restoring fences that were destroyed during the pipeline construction, 23:00 retraced land on a special farm, 23:10 different sections of where pipeline construction was after cleanup crews were there, 23:30 overview of a construction section and different hazards such a stream and a bluff, 24:52 a back hoe removing debris after dynamite explosion, 25:10 equipment struggling to get up a steep hill, 26:08 overview of the site from the top of the hill, 26:37 river dredger working for the Mississippi section of the pipeline, 27:11 pipeline being weighted, placed on barges, and slowly lowered into the water, 28:22 new tanks being constructed at a pumping station, 28:13 workers preparing an area for water draining near East Chicago, 29:50 road crossing gang digging under a railroad track, 30:26 Missouri river being crossed by the pipe, 31:04 the whole assembled pipe being pushed and pulled across the river to be lowered, 33:54 landscape where construction had taken place covered in snow, 34:12 Roy J. Trippetts cutting off the last surplus piece, 34:36 pipeline reclaiming machines digging up the old pipelines, 35:05 control panel board in the pumping station, 35:18 overview of the pipe network at a pumping station, 35:57 a radio tower, 36:12 headquarters of pipeline supervision in Independence, Kansas, 36:48 summary footage of construction so far, 37:47 “The End”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@richarddodds9326]

When I was a little child in the 60's I remember the green dinosaur in town and they dissappeared, then when I drove OTR all 48 states there was still a Sinclair truckstop at Salt Lake City back in 2000

[@rayrussell6258]

They are still in a few places in Missouri, and in Flagstaff, Arizona I bought gas at a travel store selling Sinclair, around about 15 years ago. Not sure if it's still sold there, I haven't traveled back there.

[@dpelpal]

I see Sinclair service stations all over northern California!

[@thargis122]

One in Springfield Missouri. On South Glenstone.

[@rustedfriend]

They are still at multiple normal gas stations in Salt Lake as well.

[@redmesa2975]

We have many Sinclair stations in Colorado. I haul fuel in Western Colorado. We pull out of the Sinclair terminal in Wyoming, and Denver Products Terminal ( DPT) north of Denver.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Jeez, and to think the huge East Chicago oil refinery is now long gone. Nice, old film by Sinclair Oil Corp. ("A Great Name in Oil") and thanks for sharing!

[@jeremysmith6905]

It’s in Gary, indiana

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@@jeremysmith6905 Actually, the refinery was indeed in E. Chicago, Indiana. In fact, just down the block, across the street from where the BP oil refinery is today in Whiting, IN. I took 35mm Kodak slide film of it along Indianapolis Blvd. back in the late 1970s knowing that it would soon be demolished as it was already shut down. The 1966 published book, "A Great Name in Oil" (Sinclair through fifty years), also lists the location of the refinery as East Chicago, Indiana. There you have it! Perhaps you're mistaking the present-day U.S. Steel Gary Works for the long, gone Sinclair refinery that was in East Chicago, Indiana (gosh, I miss that industrial facility!).

[@josephthomas8318]

Thats for the info. I honestly just assumed that the current BP refinery was part of or an expansion of the old Sinclair refinery. Seems wastefull to tear it all down and build another but I guess the technology moved on and they needed something newer amd more advanced.

[@josephthomas8318]

​@WAL_DC-6B also a lot of NWI locals refer to anything in the most northwest quadrant of North west Indiana as "Gary" Parts of Merrillville, Lake Station, Miller, East Chicago, and Whiting are sometimes referred to as "Gary" on occasion because of their proximity to Gary city limits and the fact the areas are similarly ghetto and poor.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@@josephthomas8318 I always heard of the industrial area of northwest Indiana and south Chicago referred to as "Da (Calumet) region." In fact, I have a t-shirt I purchased at the Indiana state welcome center along I-80 that has an image of a rat sitting on a brick wall, holding a cigar in one hand and a beer stein in the other with some blast furnaces in the background and it reads, "The Region Rats Rule!"

[@jetfixer8198]

I worked for a small pipeline construction company in Oklahoma when I was much, much younger before I went into the Navy and for a few years after my service. Many of the techniques in this video we still employed, except for the 'hot doping and wrapping' of the pipe. Nowadays, the pipe is pre-doped and wrapped except for the weld ends. Being wet from the waist down or melting under the Oklahoma sun or freezing during the windy winters made me a tougher person. Now all too often, I hear kids of the younger generation complain about 'hard work or being too hot or cold'. All I can do is tell them 'Ya need to get tougher', which is sometimes returned with a smart ass remark. I have been inches away from being buried alive in 'bell holes' or being decapitated by a swinging loose wire rope .... we would just laugh it off, take a 15 minute break and then get back to work. Our crew even encountered the quick sand of the mighty Cimarron River mentioned in the video ... but only once! The hard rock formations we also had to battle. We rented a Vermeer Trencher with a 'rockwheel' attachment - no blasting required. I learned a lot about overcoming nature and mechanical obstacles during my youth ... and I still apply them to todays life. Nice video of hard work.

[@stevenjm8001]

and your attitude is the reason why industry has a lack of truck drivers. Sure, we have 60 year old technology, harsh ride that gives you a bad back in a few year, no heat or air conditioning in the truck while sleeping, and even if you run the engine, there isn't heat produced, low money (yeah, I know they have raised the pay, and they can't find driver still) being insulted by every dock worker/company, never being home, etc., etc., and the much smarter generation responded to this " hear kids of the younger generation complain about 'hard work or being too hot or cold'. All I can do is tell them 'Ya need to get tougher', which is sometimes returned with a smart ass remark." by quiting truck driving, and working a higher paying job, with better enviroment, and no grief from dispatch. Like I said, much smarter.

[@bradbundy1471]

I learned how to work hard and toughing up from an old timer ( RIP Walter) He always told me at the end of the day, Look back at your work and have pride in saying " yeah, I did that work" with pride! A little sad these days that that work ethic is lacking. Thank you to the older generation for all you did! Thanks for uploading this video. 🤠🧑‍🦰🇺🇸🌲🌲 🎼

[@FRLN500]

@@stevenjm8001Cry me a river. The current generation are just to entitled to be willing to "work". I work in a fibercement plant and most "new hires" quit within the first week, some on the first day. We are having to roboticize the plant in order to keep running. Starting wage for base rate jobs is $19.00. Here in Southern Oregon that is a good starting wage but young people don't care about that because they are still living with their parents for free. I'm 71 years old and doing a job that 20-30 year olds complain about. They just can't believe an old man like me can still do the work. The difference is that I'm neither fat nor lazy and my parents taught me to give an honest days work for an honest days pay.

[@Wheelgauge-bt7ox]

I had the privilege to learn the piping trade as a union fitter in the 80s from a great man that worked as a welder on that line in the trenches. RIP JERRY

[@djavidianmx1832]

Love that opening musical score. I can tell it's going to be a swell moving picture when I hear that😊😊

[@Adoptpets833]

Me too❤

[@danorthsidemang3834]

Sometimes.

[@deepbludude4697]

My GF just said I should use it as a ringtown.

[@walterkersting9922]

Interesting how the lousy music used for bumpers back then is now lost on us.

[@anthonykusiak7961]

I was born in East Chicago Indiana in 1966 and I remember driving by the Sinclair oil refinery as a child,my mother was taking my father to work at the steel mills and we drove by the refinery every day. Industry was a huge part of my family’s life in East Chicago. East Chicago had some of the best tradesmen in the whole country. I am proud to be from East Chicago, it definitely helped build this country, with all the steel mills and oil refining that took place. East Chicago was a hard nosed steel town that produced more steel at one point in time than anywhere in the world 🌎.

[@65gtotrips]

This is a very cool film ! The level of detail they went into is neat !

[@christinebeck1848]

I live south east of Cushing and enjoyed this video. Cushing still has the big storage tanks and many of the old buildings and machinery that reflect oil glory days of past.

[@Padoinky]

I’ve recently come across a Sinclair branded station here in NW AR…. It was definitely a “flashback” moment in time for me

[@tommissouri4871]

Thanks for posting such a great historic film. My grandpa worked several years at the Sinclair Refinery in Hartford, IL which they referred to as the Wood River Refinery. Most people today have no idea that these pipelines exist where they do. This is nearly 60 years ago and those old enough to remember won't be around in another 10 or 15 years. Likely that everyone in this film is dead today. 5:31 - When I was a kid, a new pipeline went through the farm fields on the edge of town. We would watch a machine like this one, but it was larger, about the size of a small county fair Ferris wheel, as it moved across the field digging a deep trench. I remember we went to look after work was over for the day and the trench was probably 15 feet deep. We were real careful as we knew we'd never get out if one of us fell in. 10:30 - OSHA would have a fit today. No shoring on the walls of that trench can allow collapse of the walls onto workers and bury them alive. They'd be dead long before others can get them out. 26:35 - Wow, the old bridge at Quincy. It is still there. 29:30 - Anyone who remember their George Rogers Clark history of fighting the Indian Wars during the Revolutionary War would know they encountered swamps in northeastern Illinois in the area of today's Cook and Lake Counties. And when this was filmed, they still taught that in school.

[@jfchonors8873]

Love the sign @9:45 “Danger Pipeling Crossing” LOL

[@rayrussell6258]

Great film and educational info that ought to be shown to all those pipeline protesters. Plus, there have been new innovations in containment since 1965.

[@Biokemist-o3k]

That would have been a good time to be a pipeliner. I found a Hobart twin cylinder 300amp welder that was used on the Alaskan. pipeline. I am looking for a Lincoln to build a truck around.

[@danorthsidemang3834]

What?

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@@danorthsidemang3834 Lincoln makes electric arc welding equipment.

[@phillipgarrow2297]

My father was a maintenance man for Sinclair out of grand rapids Michigan he was the youngest maintenance man hired out of the Chicago district

[@onebridge7231]

Our grandfathers were in great shape. All in this film were fit. Well except the Chairman holding up the image of the Rich Fat Cat! 🤗 All this was done without computer planning as well. Amazing job.

[@garypiont6114]

I enjoyed this feat of engineering and labor Thank for sharing

[@coreybrown3572]

I’ve worked on that pipeline in Cushing.

[@deepbludude4697]

Cool old info

[@stargazer5784]

Outstanding segment. Thx.

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-2025]

I still love those green dinosaurs 🦕

[@us1fedvet]

Sinclair making a comeback from Mississippi River and west.

[@trussell8510]

Very interesting piece of history, thanks for posting.

[@Nudnik1]

Excellent 👍 thank you

[@Gregorybridgewater]

I worked at CRC Evans, where they made the pipe benders and internal pipe welders. Really enjoyed working there for a time.

[@rcdoodles6214]

I love fossil fuels. Thank you for this fascinating video.

[@Chris_at_Home]

Me too. I worked in the oil field, along a pipeline line, a drill ship and oil platforms doing electronics and telecommunications work for 30 years. Just about all of it was above the Arctic Circle.

[@rcdoodles6214]

@@Chris_at_Home What an amazing career. All that you saw and experienced must have been incredible, especially in the Arctic environment. Wow!

[@SlurpJ]

You do realize the term "fossil fuel" was created by Sinclair to dupe people into thinking petroleum was not a renewable resource. It's even on their Wikipedia page.

[@millertime8835]

Amazing how little has changed in today's pipeline construction. Other than hdd for river crossings

[@jeffyankey7916]

My father had a Sinclair gass station in east Chicago when he met my mom,he sold it and worked in steel mills till he retired

[@lawless]

This is pretty amazing engineering for the time

[@Peter-Du]

Imagine all the red tape and regulations trying to do this now?

[@peterp1158]

That's what happened with the Keystone pipeline

[@rdwatson]

Those darn oil scientists refusing to take holidays, it's all their fault.

[@illumencouk]

This pipeline spans quite a few states and had many men working on it. How is it that I never saw a single coloured person 'anywhere' throughout this film, not one.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Good point. People of color were simply not filmed or if they were, they were often edited out. We have a number of films about the South that are devoid of Blacks.

[@terrykissell1633]

Interesting to see workers without any ppe. Hardhats ect. The equipment used currently pipeline work is so much better.

[@kennethjohnson9370]

I will always like Sinclair gas station the owner in Milwaukee who ran had 6 finger on each hand when I was 6 yrs old

[@rossbryan6102]

THIS IS VERY INTERESTING!!MUCH OF THE ORIGINAL EARLY PIPELINE WAS ADJACENT TO THE SANTA FE RAILROAD KANSAS CITY TO CHICAGO TRANSCON MAINLINE! TODAY REMNANTS OF THIS OLD PIPELINE SYSTEM PUMP HOUSES ARE STILL VISIBLE WHILE RIDING AMTRAK TRAINS #3 AND #4, THE SOUTHWEST CHIEF!!

[@stanthurman9008]

As a young kid we got a blow up , Dino the dinosaur , it was pretty big for a kid , and we’re fun at the lake .

[@bobdelano6746]

Retired IUOE local 49 here God bless you ❤

[@jhonsiders6077]

Note how good shape those workers are no shredded tatted or top knots The boys of today could never match those Men for stamina !

[@sadgeee]

that was back when men where men and didn't go crying to HR when screamed at for being stupid, slow or stupid!

[@jhonsiders6077]

@@sadgeee I worked in the oilfield as a young guy the thing was back then every one had respect for one another never heard a boss call any one stupid if a person did that something big would had fell on them ! or at the least would have slipped on the soap .

[@SonsoftheEagle]

🤣🐉🤣 You are a very special kind of stupid.

[@batemanjo9]

"send in the pipe bending unit!" 😂

[@kenbyrd9076]

Still a Sinclair or two in OK.

[@Nanan00]

HollyFrontier and Sinclair merged in 2022 into HF Sinclair, they own 8 refineries and a few other processing plants.

[@brucelytle1144]

I drive by one in B'ville on Highway 75, once in awhile. Going there tomorrow.

[@nothanks1627]

Nuckin futz👍🏻🇺🇲

[@kingmike40]

Pipeline crossing 3000 privately owned properties. Imagine all the outrage now days to do this. People would be saying "Not in my backyard." Then they complain about the prices of gas because of the inefficiency in transporting oil.

[@russellsmith5056]

Now the pipe comes coated from the mill. And now we bore using HDD.

[@Chris_at_Home]

I’ve seen impress current put on a 48” oil pipeline.

[@scottpecora371]

Tthe steam pumps installed in 1905 ran continuously for 50 years. I noted the steam engines had Corlis valves. In a brief shot you could see the valve arms snapping closed the steam valves.

[@malcolm2587]

It makes those french fries much more crunchier

[@manhoot]

A pipeline for prosperity

[@davenone7312]

How many gallons of oil was needed just to fill the pipes?

[@yakacm]

Standing in knee deep in water while arc welding, well ok.

[@brucelytle1144]

They weld underwater all the time!

[@robpeters5204]

OSHA? What is that back then??? People use good old common sense. Something that has been lost somehow in today’s society!

[@danorthsidemang3834]

I lay pipe.

[@djavidianmx1832]

Rosy Palms don't count

[@tombeck2792]

those "big cats" are IH TD25's....

[@DavidJones-me7yr]

In the beginning I think those were td6s or nines? We have a TL 6 with a Bucyrus Erie bucket on it,, it is essentially a W6 International, we have a super w6ta besides. We we don't use the loader for 5 years at a time,, but just give me an hour or two to fill everything up and she'll be running??😮😂❤😊

[@bingosunnoon9341]

Wood River Illinois had air quality so foul that it made your eyes burn. There were no birds there. Odd.

[@MrGGPRI]

That was LA back before 1970 after air pollution controls finally reduced eye/lung burning smog..

[@3406Accert]

28:21 the skinny looking truck mounted crane looks super hazardous without any stabilizer outriggers that the camera vantage point provided & would never be used today,a true stupidly fine balancing act by the person in the Socalled crane cab and I'll bet flopped over more than once on unstable ground and conditions. definitely a worker killer those things are.

[@walterkersting9922]

The narration is written differently than modern language

[@danthompson1467]

This runs a few miles from where I live

[@jimrob4]

34:00 of course the CEO comes out when all the work is done to get in the “hey look what I did” photos

[@jimw7ry]

That was not likely the attitude in those days. As other have said. There was allot more respect for others in those days.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

At 37:17, the film mentions Roy J. Tibbets. I wonder if he was related to Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay who flew over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945?

[@ienjoylife]

Different spelling- a google search will show you.

[@WFG59-KE8YPO]

A few stations around Rochester Mn

[@walterkersting9922]

One of the often repeated comments about the wall at the southern border was how do you build a wall on a hill or a mountain? This country could build a wall on the surface of Mars are at the bottom of the Mariana trench, if they only had the will.

[@philgiglio7922]

Don't forget mountains of money and maybe a decade or 2 to build. Mostly MONEY

[@BernardBouchard-qq9kq]

I have a Sinclair pipeline in my backyard

[@eddiegirvan2394]

wine um dine um pipline um

[@andrewwilliams8704]

19:15 “…asbestos shields…” 😅😅

[@billsimpson604]

There are hundreds of thousands of miles of asbestos cement water lines still in use throughout the USA. The stuff lasts for hundreds of years.

[@toddsmith1617]

What happened to the pipe line in 2024? Does it still exsit?

[@izzynutz2000]

I wonder if any of the still exist today pieces or remnants

[@gregjames5070]

It’s still fully operational.

[@Bitterrootbackroads]

22”-24” pipes buried in a trench 50” deep? Careful with those shovels & post hole diggers folks!

[@65gtotrips]

Who manages this same pipeline today in 2024 ?

[@ironiczombie2530]

I think HF Sinclair does, after HollyFrontier acquired Sinclair

[@gregjames5070]

Enbridge

[@GBACH1]

Funny how you can’t even tell where the line goes and now the landscape is littered with wind towers

[@markmiller2263]

I wonder how many died from trench cave in??😢

[@smplyizzy]

Back when a private company could complete a pipeline without the overreach of the crazy federal government.

[@jimw7ry]

You mean the crazy environmentalist wackos!

[@freedomforever6718]

Proof that you can't "Just Stop Oil"!

[@billsimpson604]

You could, but billions of people would starve to death.

[@freedomforever6718]

@@billsimpson604 Billions of people would starve, freeze and/or die of heat related illnesses. But as long as oil is in existence the consumption of it will not stop.

[@AllRightsReservedNoSurndr]

Imagine when everyone finds out oil can be made from pulling carbon from the air.

[@65gtotrips]

Can you just imagine doing this major project today in 2024 with all the environmental knuckleheads in the way ?

[@bdblazer6400]

The tar coating was applyed more to the soil than to the pipe

[@williamking6306]

Apparently you went to sleep and didn’t see them wrap that with a reinforced paper cover right behind the tar was sprayed on.

[@ArmpitStudios]

And the applicator has a catch pan under it so they don’t waste any of it.

[@Mlgraham22]

The video’s cheery and optimistic tone is jarring in relation to the current often dystopian rhetoric. Belief and respect for technology, workmanship and government regulations seem almost quaint today. Sad.

[@clintwilde1048]

When the US was free, refiners of all kinds had their gas and oil products, All those stations now lumped under Exxon, or American, or Shell, or some foreign entity, bought up and consolidated companies into now we only have a hand full of options, and the largest refinery in the US is owned by Saudi Arabia. The US has gone from an island nation to one where we can't even make a can opener in this country, either because the factory was sold to China, or the EPA shut them down.

[@operatorjeffdeathstar7759]

The damage to the environment is so obvious Ray...Lol

[@Chris_at_Home]

In a couple years you won’t know there is a pipeline there except for signage. Farmers raise crops right over it.

[@MCW1955]

Ahhh, energy independence. FJB

[@anastasiszaroliagis5066]

Where...?

[@brucelytle1144]

I live in the (general) area of Independence and Bartlesville and think I know where this pipeline is. You wouldn't know it's there, as it runs right along side a railroad track and Highway 75. There are pumping/valve facilities all along that stretch. Side note is that it is about a mile from the Laura Ingalls "Little House" on the Prarie.

[@lovedadonald.]

Pipeline ? And then came biden. Fjb/letsgobrandon

[@davidbehnke4417]

Nonsense….he stopped one pipeline shipping Canadian oil to china….ever wonder why the Canadian people didn’t want the same pipeline on their soil?

[@lovedadonald.]

@@davidbehnke4417 you need to back away from the crack pipe Davie, AND HURRY ! Fjb/letsgobrandon

[@davidbehnke4417]

And you may actually state facts instead of insults ….

[@lovedadonald.]

@@davidbehnke4417 what do you know about facts biden bot boy ?

[@davidbehnke4417]

@@lovedadonald. apparently a lot more than you since all you have provided is insults.