Big Inch and Little Big Inch Pipelines

The Big Inch and Little Big Inch pipelines (Inch Lines) were constructed in 1942-1943 for the United States government by War Emergency Pipelines, Inc. (WEP). The purpose of these pipelines was to transport crude oil and refined petroleum products from the Gulf Coast region to refining and distribution areas near New York City and Philadelphia. The Inch Lines served as alternatives to tanker deliveries, which had experienced major disruption because of attacks by German submarines during German Admiral Karl Dönitz's Operation Drumbeat (Paukenschlag). The Inch Lines also supplied large volumes of export petroleum to the East Coast. This allowed the limited number of surviving tankers, spared the longer route across the Atlantic from the Gulf Coast, to meet the demands of the European war fronts by using the shorter route from the East Coast. In the face of a serious oil crisis, both at home and on the war fronts overseas, the Inch Lines represented creative and efficient technology applied on an unprecedented scale.

Because of the significance of the Inch Lines, the Louis Berger Group, Inc. was asked to conduct an inventory to identify original World War II-era features and associated above-ground facilities remaining along the Lines. Today the remaining features and facilities retain sufficient historical integrity to be considered contributing elements of this multistate, linear historical resource, and to serve as a reminder of "the most amazing Government-industry cooperation ever achieved."

Petroleum pipelines ran from Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, to Linden, New Jersey. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 208-LU-37C-1.