OVER MOUNTAINS, PRAIRIES AND SEAS: The Oil Trade

From the author of Men, Money and Oil: The Story of an Industry (1966), comes this more marginal work recounting transport developments from early tow-trippers to the modern pipeline. Although leak-proof barrels were an early success (and in some places the barrels were prized more than the oil), Butt Hull's underground network was much faster, much cheaper--and comprises much of this book. Titusville, Spindletop, etc. are just starting points; the trick was getting the vital fluid to the market, and most of the time that meant to all the ships at sea. Fanning concentrates on the American effort (The Big Inch, The Little Inch) but the rest of the world's supply lines are either mentioned briefly or not at all, and there is nothing at all about conflicting ownership claims except for a bit on Nasser and the Suez in 1956. A relatively dry geyser in a usually livelier series, unbalanced in emphasis.