My first jobs were to go inside the big buildings that had been set on piling the past summer. We had to start stripping out the shoring and bracing from the packing they did before these huge modular buildings were shipped by barge. When we opened the doors to the inside of these units it was the first time anyone had been in on since they were built and sealed up in Washington state. They built these big buildings in the main land, then put all kinds of different types of shoring and bracing to make sure they did not get destroyed in the trip. Everything was fastened down either by cable or in big boxes that was sealed up and tied up to the structure of the building. The doors were all inside these big wood crates and the hardware was in smaller crates beside them. Everything was marked. The grating for the cat walks was banded down in bundles on some of the framework. The stairs were all in place as was most of the piping and electrical. After we got the doors all on and the grating all set the trades began to do the hook up of all the parts in the modular building. Lots of electrical go the power rooms, and the piping needed to be connected to the different phases of the process. These buildings were very cold as there was no heat yet and everything felt frozen. Inside it seemed like there must have hundreds of miles of pipe and grading catwalks everyplace. We also saw some big vessels where the oil was going to be cleaned up before being pumped to the pipeline. We had to go inside a few of these big tanks and erect scaffolding so they could put more finish coats inside these tanks to keep the oil from eating trough the skin. Everything was so large I had never been around anything with piping like this before. They also had these huge electrical rooms and there was conduit that ran everyplace. The electricians also came in with us to get the power ready to start so we could warm these buildings up and get them ready to go online. These huge modular buildings were carried by a machine called a creepy crawler to where they were set. A creepy crawler was the frame of a huge track type crane and in the middle of the body was this huge piston that could lift or lower the buildings on to the pilings. Some of the buildings had 4, 5 or 6 of these creepy crawlers caring them from the Arctic Ocean to the site. (Picture of a creepy crawler setting a smaller building) The pilings had a gravel mound built up around them, and the crawlers climbed up the mounds and sat the buildings then drove off the mound on the other side. After the building was all set the laborers started clearing out the mounds of gravel so we had the clearance needed under the buildings. Before the put the stairs up to get in we climbed up ladders to open up the units. The reason they were put on high piling was when it snowed up there the wind would blow and blow (seems it blows 24 hours a day 7 days a week all year long) and the snow would build up and cover the buildings. So by putting them on the piling the snow would drop when it hits the side and blow away under the buildings. The buildings were full of huge tanks, piping and everything that a gathering center would need to gather the oil and clean it up some and add the additives to the oil and send it to the pipeline. The remainder of the buildings was to be set this coming year and finished the next year.

     The carpenter shop had been started the summer before last and we were going to make it bigger as we grew and started to do more. It was used the past year as shelter for the carpenter's that helped move the buildings here to be set on the piling. They kept the bottoms enclosed so the creepy crawlers could move and stay warm. They had to keep it contained in the dead of winter so they could get the buildings set so we could get them ready to operate the following year. They had the very first big building set and the shop was on one corner of this building and we were going to enclose the whole building for the shop. We enclosed the rest of the underside of this building that was going to be the operations building. That was where the gathering center operators would live and monitor the oil as it flowed into the center and then pump the crude to the pipeline just down the road. There was about 12 other men hired that week and we started to work in many places around the gathering center. The carpenter shop was finally completed and we got a huge shipment of big saws and drills for the shop. We also had to make our own lockers for the men who were going to be hired. Each man had a large toolbox that need to be locked up in his personal locker so we made lockers all around the shop area. The Lunchroom had picnic tables and a small oven to warm up food, it also had 3 coffeepots but one was just hot water for hot cocoa or soup. We always had a large supply of crackers and peanut butter, and some sardines. We installed some good heaters so we could dry out our gloves and facemasks when they got frozen. Gloves was the hardest things to keep dry as we had to touch everything and they would freeze then when they thawed out they would get wet and turn to ice. Most men had 5 to 8 pair of gloves that they would alternate all the time in order to keep their hands warm. Grabbing the nails was about the hardest thing we had to do while wearing gloves, as the gloves were pretty thick for the cold weather. But you could not touch anything with your bare skin in the winter or it would stick to you and instantly freeze you. Once we had a man turn a propane tank upside down because it sounded funny. It had become so cold the propane became liquid and it poured out on his arm and he got instant frostbite and ended up loosing his arm to just below the shoulder as it turned gang green.