Lubbock Company Purchases Equipment for Alaska Line

From our archives.... 1977

Machinery Purchase C.L. Siewert left, chairman of Great Plains Construction Co., Inc. presents a check to R.M. Kirkpatrick; president of Kirkpatrick & O'Donnell, for equipment to be used in the construction of a segment of the Alaskan pipeline. Great Plains Construction is a member company of Arctic Constructors, a company formed to build 223 miles of the line. 

Great Plains Construction Co., has purchased approximately $2 million in equipment from the Dallas-based firm of Kirkpatrick & O’Donnell for use in Constructing a portion of the Alaska Pipeline.

C.L. Siewert, - Great Plains chairman, presented the check recently at the firm's Lubbock office.

R.M. Kirkpatrick, president, said that Arctic Constructors, of which Great Plains Construction Company, will lay approximately one-fourth of the pipeline.

Kirkpatrick said the Alaska pipeline is probably the costliest, privately financed project ever undertaken. It is scheduled to be on steam by late 1977.

"There is probably more equipment which will be used on this project than was used in either the Panama Canal or Aswan dam projects," Kirkpatrick said.

Construction contracts have been awarded for the six spreads which will be involved in the pipeline work. Arctic Constructors will be responsible for segments five and six, a total of 223 miles of line. The company is made up of William Bros. Alaska, Inc., Great Plains Construction. Brown and Root, Inc. Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc. and H. B. Zachary Co.

When completed, the 48-inch diameter pipeline is scheduled to carry 1.2 million barrels of oil per day. Capacity is expected to be eventually 2 million barrels daily. 

Kirkpatrick & O'Donnell will furnish a portion of the project's swing machines, with backhoe, dragline, clam and crane attachments. 

"We are in the process of winterizing the equipment and getting it ready for the extreme conditions in which it will be used," Kirkpatrick said.

The temperature variation to which the equipment will be subjected ranges from 60 degrees above, to 60 degrees below zero. 

Port facilities already are becoming taxed by the project's supply requirements. Kirkpatrick said his firm planned to use all methods of shipping the equipment to Alaska.

"We will get it there any way we can, by ship, barge, truck and rail," he said.

"The logistics for the project are fantastic," he added. 

It is necessary for much of the equipment to be transported by helicopter, he said. Great Plains Construction and Williams Bros, will be responsible for the actual pipeline construction. Other members of the joint venture will perform the civil engineering phase of the work, such as road building and surveying operations.