Made in the 1920s, this silent film describes the search for natural gas, and details its production and distribution. The film begins with the sinking of a gas well at ::43, with water streaming out of a well and into the sky. At 1:40 a gas field is shown with multiple wells and towers visible. At 2:05 a map of the USA shows some of the nation’s gas production areas. At 2:41 there is a brief discussion of the geology that produces natural gas (the Appalachian gas field is shown as an example). At 3:40 some of the drilling equipment used is shown including a drill head at 3:47. At 5:00 animation shows the work of the drill rig. At 5:11 water and sand “blows” out of the well under pressure. At 6:40 a title card notes that it cost $75 million dollars to lay a 1000-mile pipeline from Texas to Chicago. A trainload of pipe is seen at 6:40. At 7:00 trucks rumble into the field carrying the pipes. At 7:40 a trenching machine digs for the pipeline and at 8:24 pipes are moved into position and coupled and finally at 9:07 welded together. At 9:27 pipes are weatherproofed with rubber coatings before being lowered into the trench. At 10:33 a trench is laid in swampland. At 10:50 blasting operations are undertaken to clear a river bottom for pipeline laying. At 11:35 a pipeline is placed across a river. At 12:11 a tunnel is dug underneath a river for a pipeline. At 12:45 compressor stations are seen along the pipeline which propel the gas towards customers. The vast network of pipelines is shown at 13:15.
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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 http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
