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UER Forum > Archived US: South > LEP (Viewed 858 times)
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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LEP
< on 4/11/2012 9:36 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Kind of slow lately. Thought I would throw out something only slightly less boring than nothing.


When you fire up your propane grill this summer, tip your beer back and give a toast to this place. If you flick your Bic, you might want to as well. LEP, which began operation in 1922, was one of the multiple refineries in the Burbank field. Once most of the refinery capacity in the U.S. was in the center of the country, but migrated to the coasts as the U.S. became more of an importer than a producer. The trend is reversing again with "fracking" bringing new life to the old fields, oil production in the Dakotas, and the Canadian oil that will be piped down. Many of the ageing plants on the coasts are slated for closure.

LEP was the name given to the gasoline absorbtion plant built west of the of Webb City in 1922. It took the title of the worlds largest refinery from the oil boom town of Pershing, Oklahoma, which had just claimed it a few months before. Originally, the plant could handle up to 20,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day and was built at a cost of one million dollars. Powered by Ingersoll-Rand compressors and fourteen 165 horsepower gas engines, it was designed to be easily expandable. Many of these camps surround the plants became communities. LEP itself became a township, with its own post office, businesses, and school. Housing was originally tents, called "rag town", but as time progressed, more permanent housing was built, some of which still stands today.

"Rag Row" in 1921




LEP was the primary reason the the Osage railway was extended from Shidler, OK to Lyman, OK, beginning in 1923 and completed in early 1924. A depot was constructed at LEP using a converted passenger car as a station and housing for the station managers family. At it's peak, six to ten trains a day made the journey, delivering materials to the oil fields and transporting gasoline to market. The Osage railway was never a passenger line, though people did "hitch" a ride.




With the oil bust, LEP went into decline in 1929. The school consolidated with nearby boom town of Shidler, and many of the camps were semi abandoned. There was a resurgence during WWII as the country needed every bit of refining capacity it could find for the war effort. When the war ended, the aging plants were decommissioned and dismantled. The Osage railway was closed and abandoned in 1953. Little remains of the refinery, just some bits and pieces of what once was. A small community still exists at the location.

This is all I could find of the plant. The buildings are older than the equipment inside, though a few bits, like the old boiler, probably date from the early days. Not sure when this last piece was abandoned. It looks to have been mothballed and then stripped for any usable pieces later on.
























































Kind of nice to find one of these somewhat intact. The structure is basically the same as this one from Carter Nine in 1921.




They called propane "Philgas", which actually stuck for awhile. but in the end, the name never really caught on. The first commercial use of propane in transportation was in a converted locomotive, which successfully made a run from LEP into Kansas. Phillips pioneered the processing, containment, and delivery of Propane/Butane for a variety of uses and it all started here.





Ruins, the fate of all cities.
fatwax4 


Location: somewhere i shouldn't be
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Re: LEP
<Reply # 1 on 4/12/2012 12:13 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Nice, I've always been a big fan of old industrial equipment and the place looks like its in half way good shape!


thanks for sharing!

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TexasMike 


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Re: LEP
<Reply # 2 on 4/12/2012 1:43 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Amazing good shape all things considered ... looks like a fun crawl.

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RevSM 


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Re: LEP
<Reply # 3 on 4/12/2012 1:21 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I disagree with your comment "slightly less boring than nothing". I explored a place quite a bit like this near Corpus Christi and thought it was awesome. This place looks slightly smaller but still really cool. Thanks for keeping up the good work.

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Frogster 


Location: Mississauga ON
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Re: LEP
<Reply # 4 on 4/12/2012 1:42 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
wow taylor, i didnt find this thing boring at all, I actually think it looks really cool. Thanks for sharing eh!

Captain_Slow 

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Location: Dallas, Tx
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Re: LEP
<Reply # 5 on 4/12/2012 3:18 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 

[last edit 4/12/2012 3:20 PM by Captain_Slow - edited 1 times]

dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Re: LEP
<Reply # 6 on 4/13/2012 2:13 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
LOL

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
Joel 

RED DRAGONS!!!!


Location: Katy, TX
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Chilling on a wall

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Re: LEP
<Reply # 7 on 4/13/2012 2:17 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Captain_Slow
http://img.imgcake...llHDRemixpnged.png


Love it!


Nice post dwtaylor! Always enjoy and appreciate the history you post up!

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lunchboxface 






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Re: LEP
<Reply # 8 on 4/13/2012 10:17 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I agree with the post above, nothing boring about this at all. Love the history/uer combination and some great pics

The Anti-Paradigm 


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Re: LEP
<Reply # 9 on 4/21/2012 7:36 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Business card:

"DWTYALOR-
Explorer/UER South Historian


Research Fee: $X per paragraph
$X per page"

History wiriting Sidebusiness??? I give you locations and pics, you do my research and make me look like a badass. lol. Jk

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UER Forum > Archived US: South > LEP (Viewed 858 times)



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