Crude Oil Stills and Can Factory, Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur is located on Lake Sabine, Texas, near the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the great oil exporting ports in our country. Oil pipes connect it with the large oil-producing fields. One of these pipes is shown plainly here. Formerly the usual method on conveying oil was in oil cars. These were large boiler-like tanks fastened on freight car trucks. This method has been largely displaced now by pipe lines. The oil fields of Pennsylvania are connected by pipe lines with New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cleveland. These have been extended to the oil fields of Indiana and Oklahoma. Now Chicago and other cities on the Great Lakes, certain cities on the eastern seaboard, and cities on the Gulf are interlinked by pipe lines. Pumping plants are located at distances apart along the line so that the flow of oil in the pipes is constantly kept up. The oil so carried from the wells is in its crude form. The large tanks that you see here are receiving stations. The oil may be taken from the tanks and refined here, or it may be put on board oil steamers in its crude form. The large building in the background is an oil canning factory. This building receives sheet tin and makes it into cans. These cans are filled with oil, sealed, and labeled. We are likely to forget that for the entire twenty-four hours of the day this flow of oil continues in the pipe lines. It takes thousands and thousands of wells to produce so much petroleum. The digging of these wells keeps an army of workmen busy. Originally petroleum was used chiefly for lighting purposes. Now it furnishes power for ships, locomotives, automobiles, and factories. Keystone ID: 20354 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.