Nodaway County could not have anticipated the furor now occurring over the prospects of a $4 billion AI Data Center opening near US 71 in rural Barnard when the Michigan-Wisconsin Natural Gas Pipeline (now owned by TC Energy) opened in 1949.
The above image is an AI colorized/enhanced forum photo associated with a 1951 article in the Forum about the biggest and most visible pipeline infrastructure — Compressor Station No 6, four miles northeast of Graham
Caption: The Maryville Daily Forum, July 12, 1951, Page 1. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-compressor-sta/196654125/
Main buildings, lower right, of Compressor Station No. 6 of the Michigan-Wisconsin pipeline are located on a plant site northeast of Graham. Although the plant is still undergoing final construction work, it went into operation in January. Scrubber units, middle right, remove impurities from natural gas as it enters the station and before it enters the compressors in the main building, upper right. Arched pipes in the lower left carry the gas to the compressors at 675 pounds of pressure. Horizontal pipes return the gas to the 12-inch main line at 975 pounds of pressure. Six huge compressor units, upper left, are inspected by Jim Davis, a representative of the Worthington Pump and Machinery Company, who supervised their installation, and Jack Cornils, the district electrician for the pipeline company.
The pipeline is still the only major natural gas line in northern Missouri, and access to it is driving the push to use it for the data center, which would require massive amounts of natural gas and electricity.
The pipeline was intended to be the main conduit for transporting natural gas from the Hugoton Gas Field in Oklahoma/Texas to Milwaukee and Detroit. The 26-inch wide $85 million ($1.3 billion today) pipeline was built only after the Federal Power Commission, in 1947, in a 3-2 vote, approved it on the basis that it would also serve Missouri, and Maryville was the very first community north of Texas to get access to its gas. The pipeline was considered an even more remarkable pipeline than the Big Inch Oil Pipeline built during World War II to ship petroleum from Texas to the Northeast to avoid using ocean-bound tankers.
The pipeline is labeled ANR on both the official Missouri state pipeline map as TC Energy’s Map , The Michigan-Wisconsin Pipe Line Company’s name was changed in 1984 to the ANR Pipeline Company, in order to identify the company more closely with its parent, American Natural Resources. In 1985, American Natural Resources was acquired by Coastal Corporation. El Paso Energy acquired Coastal Corporation in 2001. El Paso Energy sold ANR Pipeline to TransCanada Corporation in 2007.
Booster Unit Pushes Gus Through Pipeline Number 6 Is One of 15 Stations Extending from Texas to Michigan By Bob Griffin
The Maryville Daily Forum, July 12, 1951, Page 2. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-gas-booster-un/196653429/
With little fanfare, a $1,750,000 plant has been quietly constructed in Nodaway County within the last 9 months and is currently operating. A gravel road running north from County Road A, three miles east of Graham, leads to Compressor Station No. 6 of the Michigan-Wisconsin Pipeline Company,
One of 15 similar stations planned by the Monroe Interstate Gas Company, the plant serves as a booster station for natural gas being pumped through the pipeline from Texas to Michigan. Thirteen stations have been completed to date. When the overall project is completed, booster stations will be located in Guyman, Oklahoma; Meaue, Kansas; Greensburg, Kansas; and Sterling. Kas., Havensville, Kas., Lineville, la., Birmingham, la., North Windsor, Illinois, Sandwich, Illinois, Crown Point, Ind., Bridgman, Michigan, Hamilton, Mich., and Big Rapids, Mich., in addition to the plant here.
Stations 85 Miles Apart
The stations will be located 85 miles apart along the entire line. While the Nodaway county station is nearer to Graham, the post office address there is Maitland. The gas company is now pumping natural gas from a well just across the Texas-Oklahoma line from Guyman, Okla., to Sandwich, Ill., where the line has branches leading to Milwaukee, Wis., and Detroit, Mich.
The company is a wholesale dealer in natural gas, selling only to individual metropolitan consumer companies. The compressor stations along the line are needed to keep the gas moving through the 12-inch steel pipe.
L.H. Young Superintendent
Nodaway County Station’s unofficial start came with the arrival of L.H. Young, plant Superintendent, and Ernie Phillips, clerk, in October 1950.
The 36-acre site is part of an 80-acre farm that was purchased from Dick McDowell near Graham.
The plant site itself is surrounded by a wire fence. A large compressor building and several smaller structures make up the business end of the operation. Built by Ford. Bacon and Davis Construction Company of Monroe, La., completed the plant and put it into operation on Jan. 21, although minor work is still being done there.
Plant Almost Self- -Sustaining
At present, the plant is almost a self-sustaining community in itself. In a small auxiliary building, two 350-horsepower Ingersoll-Rand engines run General Electric generators, which furnish power for lights and motors. The plant has its own heating system, and all buildings are steam-heated.
A watersoftening plant is also located in the auxiliary building.
A second small building houses the station office, warehouse, machine shop, and employees’ shower room.
Four “scrubber” units, a 210,000-gallon water tank, and an 11 water-cooling system are also located on the grounds. Topping off the project is a six-room prefabricated house for Superintendent Young and his family.
Gas Is Cleaned
The business end of the station is contained in a large building standing on a slight rise overlooking the entire site. Six 1400-horsepower two-cycle Worthington engines push 344,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas through the compressors every 24 hours, according to Young.
Upon arriving at the plant, the gas first passes through the scrubbers, which remove impurities, serving the same purpose as the filter in an automobile, Young says. From the scrubbers, the gas goes through the huge compressors, where the pressure is increased from 675 to 975 pounds, and is sent on to the next station at Lineville, la, where the process is repeated.
Rain Prevents Landscaping
While Young, Phillips, seven engineers, and a repairman were assigned here from other localities. The station offers employment to about 20 additional county residents. The station employs a total of 28 men at present, but the complement will be reduced to 22 to 23 when all construction is completed, Young said.
While excessive rain has prevented landscaping work so far, Young said grass will be planted across the entire site, and that Compressor Station No. 6 may eventually become an industrial showcase for Nodaway County.
Maryville First City To Be Served on Pipeline North of Texas
Valve is Turned to Natural Gas
The Maryville Daily Forum, November 9, 1949, Page 1. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-maryville-gast/196658381/
Mayor Clyde Roberts turned the large wrench on a valve this morning that gave the city of Maryville natural gas for the first time. The ceremony took place at the border gate station of the Maryville division of the St. Joseph Light and Power company on South Hester Street at the city limits.
Mayor Roberts’ action allowed natural gas, extracted from the Hugoton gas fields in the Texas Panhandle, to enter the city gas mains and replace the manufactured Butane gas that had been used for the last few decades. Within two weeks’ time, the entire city will have natural gas in its mains.
Several Attend Ceremony
The ceremony this morning was attended by many local citizens, executives, and engineers of the gas company. Gas was taken from the Michigan-Wisconsin pipeline.
The local gas mains were the first to be cut in on this side of Texas. T. H. Mooberry, local manager of the St. Joseph Light and Power company, said that Maryville “was very fortunate in having natural gas. luxury usually found only in large cities or in gas-producing areas.”
The line was originally built to serve Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wis., and Grand Rapids and Detroit, Mich., but will also serve Keokuk and Burlington, Ia., and other large cities along the way. Maryville is the first city to have it on the 1000-mile pipeline. The second city on the line is Mount Pleasant, in southeastern Iowa.
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It comes across the Oklahoma Panhandle, crosses the plains of Kansas, and travels across the Missouri River under the floor of the Rulo bridge. The main pipe crosses Nodaway County and goes under Highway 71 five miles south of town. At this point, the main pipeline enters Iowa, but it passes through a transfer point where gas to Maryville is taken. At this point the pressure is cut to 500 pounds and piped to the Michigan-Wisconsin company’s border station on South Hester street where it is reduced in pressure from 500 pounds to 175 pounds and travels a few feet into the border gate station of the St. Joseph Power and Light company, where Mayor Roberts turned the wrench.
At this station, over which a prefabricated sheet metal shed is to be built, the gas is stepped down from a pressure of 175 pounds to 50 pounds, and a machine injects a chemical called ethyl mercaptan, also known by the trade name of Pentalarm, into the gas before it goes into the pipes. Since natural gas is odorless, colorless, and tasteless, it must be given an odor as a safety precaution. This enables the resident to say “I smell gas,” and see what the trouble is before the gas gets him and he drops dead. From the border gate station, the gas enters the city mains for distribution, and the pressure is reduced from 50 pounds to 4 pounds. At each home, the pressure is. reduced to four ounces, at which pressure it enters the gas jets on the stove or hot water heater
Gas Pipeline Explodes on Ralph Winslow’s Farm
Ravenwood Gazette, March 13, 1952, Page 1. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/ravenwood-gazette-pipeline-fire-ravenwoo/196663403/
An explosion on the 24-inch Michigan• Wisconsin natural gas pipeline about 5 miles east of Ravenwood on the Ralph Winslow farm drew hundreds of people to the scene Saturday night after the explosion at about 7:15.
A muffled report that tore up 240 feet of the big line. sent a 100-foot blaze into the sky for almost an hour before pipeline employees used cut-off valves to bring the flame under control.
The huge tower of flame could be seen as far away as Maryville, 16 miles to the west, and at Bethany, 30 miles to the east.
The roar of the burning gas could be heard from several miles away. Muddy roads hindered many of those who drove to the vicinity of the fire. The State Highway Patrol assigned three troopers to the area to an• ravel the traffic tangle. The flames burned freely until about & o’clock when employees extinguished the fire. The explosion was on the first line, which is buried four feet beneath the surface, and was constructed four years ago.