Maps in the News: Maps of Pipelines before Keystone XL

Maps in the News:  United States Crude Oil Pipelines

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has a collection of maps detailing the history of oil and natural gas pipelines in the United States.  Most of the maps were published by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earliest maps showing natural gas pipelines in the collection were produced by The Oil and Gas Journal in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1947.  The top map (above, click to enlarge) shows the routes from Indiana to the clustered area near the Gulf of Mexico and was published by The Oil and Gas Journal in 1953.  The red triangles depict the locations of refineries.  Gray and black lines show crude oil lines, and red dots show the locations of product lines.

The second map above was published by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1976 and is part of a set of 19 maps displaying the national energy transportation systems and flows.  This set of maps was commissioned by the Committees on Commerce and Interior and Insular Affairs of the U.S. Senate as part of a study of U.S. energy transportation.  The green lines are the locations of crude oil pipelines.  Brown depicts natural gas pipelines, and black lines are petroleum products.  The red lines depict coal slurry transportation.  The dashed black lines as seen in Indiana indicate pipelines that are proposed or under construction.

The last map and legend shows crude petroleum movement by all modes in 1974 published by the U.S. Geological Survey.  Green shows flow by pipeline, and blue shows flow by water.

Researchers may also be interested in a set of geological maps available in the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository.  The Indiana Natural Resources Maps collection includes maps of natural gas, coal, and petroleum deposits and the locations of stone quarries, pipelines, and wells dating from the 1880’s to the early 1900’s.

For more information about any of the maps, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.