Trans-Canada Oil Pipeline Construction near Regina, August 1950.
To carry western oil to eastern Canada it was decided in 1949 that a pipeline would be built from the oil fields to Superior, Wisconsin, and that oil tankers would carry the oil from there via Lakes Superior and Huron to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario. Since an all-Canadian oil pipeline was not perceived to be economically warranted, only the first section of the line from Edmonton to Gretna, Manitoba (1,218 kilometres) was built by Interprovincial Pipelines, and the next section from Gretna to Superior (525 kilometres) by its American subsidiary. Imperial Oil built the lake tanker, Imperial Leduc, to transport the oil stored at Superior to Sarnia. In 1953 Superior and Sarnia were connected by a 1,100 kilometre pipeline, thus eliminating the need for lake transport.
Several feeder lines or "loops" were constructed off the main line (as in photo) to feed refineries in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Later "looping" was also constructed between Edmonton and Regina to give the line out of Edmonton a carrying capacity of 39,500 cubic metres per day in the largest section. The main throughput in the line was absorbed by Sarnia and Toronto (connected in 1957) at 22,120 cubic metres per day, Saskatchewan and Manitoba at 15,200 cubic metres per day, and Minnesota- Wisconsin at 102,700 cubic metres per day.
The rate of construction in 1950 for the first phase of the pipeline from Edmonton to Superior was 50 kilometres per day, with the men usually working from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. American firms, which had gained considerable technical expertise and equipment through their experiences in the American Midwest, largely built the pipeline, even the Canadian section. Here, the firm of Williams Brothers of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is at work near Regina.
Courtesy: Provincial Archives of Alberta, H. Pollard Collection (P 1362)
