Underground Construction - April 2021 - 15

and increasing use of polyethylene tape coatings, extruded
polyethylene coatings and fusion-bonded epoxies.
Also, this decade is when horizontal directional drilling (HDD)
became a household name.
In 1970, Leo Barbera founded American Augers, which
started by building hydrostatic drive auger machines with a
built-in slip clutch.
The next year, Martin Cherrington completed the first
river crossing (about 500 feet), using HDD, under the Pajaro
River to install a 4-inch gas line for Pacific Gas & Electric
Co., in Watsonville, Calif. While many considered the project
impossible, Cherrington and HDD capabilities completed the
underwater bore in one month with only a few difficulties.
Cherrington's Titan Contractors continued to complete
impressive crossings throughout the decade, including the
1979 largest-diameter crossing ever attempted (at that time) -
to install a 40-inch-diameter pipeline in Houston.
The year 1972 marked by the first major hot oil pipeline
system, built to serve two electric generating plants in Maryland.
In the mid-1970s, improvements to the pipe bending machines
of the early 1950s, which were limited to 20-inch diameter, were
critical to the Alaska Pipeline's 48-inch pipe.

In that same timeframe, Shell Oil received a contract from the
Russians to construct a dual 56-inch, 1,300-mile pipeline from
Siberia to Eastern Europe and the first successful bending of
60-inch diameter pipe was unveiled place in Tulsa, Okla.

Personal touch
Pipeline & Utilities Construction also stayed true to its personal
touch during the 1970s, with articles on influential and
interesting people.
On Nov. 1, 1971, H.C. Price Company, celebrated its 50th
anniversary. Founded by Harold C. Price Sr. on a $2,500 loan, the
company began as Electra Welding Co. in Bartlesville, Okla. Price, a
pioneer in electric welding of pipelines, was the ninth president of
the PLCA and in 1971, Harold C. Price Jr. became the first secondgeneration pipeliner to become president of the association.
In 1973, the magazine marked the 40th anniversary of what
is now CRC Crose International, Inc. and reported the Feb. 10
death of Ellis E. Dunn, 67, who began the newsletter some
30 years earlier that formed the genesis of The Pipeliner and
today's Underground Construction magazine.
The January 1979 issue honored 30 years of service by
PLCA Managing Director Richard A. Gump. *

OUR COMMITMENT
TO SAFETY
IS PERSONAL.
At Miller Pipeline, safety isn't an afterthought.
In fact, it's the most important of our core values.
We make it personal because of the things in our
lives that matter most: our friends, our families,
and our well-being. When we make safety a
priority, you can trust that we'll provide the quality,
commitment, and reputation we're known for.

www.millerpipeline.com

BUILD YOUR CAREER. #JOINOURMILLERTEAM
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UCONonline.com | APRIL 2021

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Underground Construction - April 2021

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