Oil Pipe Lines
a system of connected pipes used for the purpose of transporting oil-usually petroleum from the fields to the refinery or selling point.
The first successful pipe line was laid in 1865 by Samuel von Syckle, of Titusville, Pennsylvania, who placed in successful operation a line four miles in length. Although General S. D. Karns suggested a gravity line from Burning Springs to the Ohio River at Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1860, it was never constructed, and in 1862 a line of about three miles was laid by J. S.
Hutchinson, but was unsuccessful because of the excessive leakage. The success of this early line soon led to the construction of many others, in the face of much opposition, and actual interference, on the part of those people who made their livelihood by the transportation of oil in wagons. The tendency to locate the refineries at the seaboard soon developed, and these refineries were soon connected with their oil fields by pipe lines. A pipe line from cals, beet-root sugar, woolens, cottons, and lace (at Chantilly) were also made.
Capital, Beauvais. During the World War (1914-1918) the Department was devastated by the German armies and repeatedly fought over by the opposing forces.