Whoa! What a great day!

First, attending the great meeting of/with the south siders -- Steve Lackmeyer invited me to come along ... he said that I'd enjoy it, as I certainly did, but that was no surprise. I enjoy being around people who like to talk about Oklahoma City history, and these guys do. It was absolutely great meeting everyone who was there and I'm looking forward to attending more such meetings in the future.

But, the 2nd thing that happened, that being the topic of this thread, it caught me totally by surprise.

For quite a long time now, I've been wondering where a bunch of great vintage train photos, identified in the 1940s as being at the Phillips gas plant taken during World War II, were actually taken from by a WWII photographer whose last name is Vachon. Possible locations were speculated in these old threads, http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/14028-guessing-game.html but more at http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/13713-maps-again-1905-township-plats.html but, until today, I've not learned the answer.

Oklahoman articles described this as a huge project ... an early 1940s article described it as the largest gas plant in the world! Huge! Aircraft fuel for sure, maybe autos, I don't know. A few of the Vachon WWII pics of this area are shown below:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/loc_vachon_pipelinesystem01.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/loc_vachon_tankcars01.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/loc_vachon_fractionators01.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/loc_vachon_highpressurestorageta-1.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/loc_vachon_aviationfuel01.jpg

As mentioned in one of those earlier threads, the plant was constructed in 1930, according to a 1/29/1930 Oklahoman article, at/in the "NW NW SW 32-11-3W" which just made me scratch my head ... since that would place the plant's location here, more or or less:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation.jpg

And that made no sense to me at all, and I put down trying to figure out the location for many many months.

But, today, Generals64 gave the answer to the puzzle. The Oklahoman article had misstated the legal description -- the plant was located waaay east of the Oklahoman's description.

Today, following a delightful meeting of the south side group at which it was my pleasure to attend, he took me and mmm to the exact location of where he remembered that facility to be be ... east of Sunnylane, north of SE 86th ... he, mmm, and I drove right to it just like Generals64 had been there just yesterday.

Though the dilapidated roadbed was a bit waterlogged from several days', especially yesterday's, rain, my old car knows what is expected of it and it delivers even if it does so unwillingly -- but as a thank-you I treat it to a higher octane blend of gas now and then.

We entered the unmarked side road, hardly noticeable from Sunnylane, and drove into the area.

We encountered a gated fence. Generals64 said that he thought this was the main entrance shown in the early 1940s photo taken by Vachon located in the Library of Congress website below ... this was a high security area during WWII ...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/loc_vachon_securitygate01.jpg

Here are pics of that gate and the barbed wire fence we observed today when the guard was not there to block our entry ...

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-12.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-11.jpg

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-10.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-9.jpg

Looking Through The Fence

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-6.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-5.jpg

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-8.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-7.jpg

Barbed Wire Deterring Entry

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-2.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-1.jpg

Looking Though the Fence Looking at Gas Lines

Larger: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-4.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnyla-3.jpg

Ahhh ... how great it was to have this location tied down!

What? You say, "That's not enough proof?"

When returning home and using Google Maps to get a satellite view of the area to check it out, how absolutely charming it was to find that the unmarked side road we had turned in on from off of from Sunnylane actually had a name, at least on Google Maps ... and guess what it was ...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnylane2.jpg

Oh, yeah.

Here are a couple of closer-in shots of the Google Map showing places which are ripe for further walking exploration:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnylane3.jpg

Check out the lines that look like they may have been rail beds ...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_sunnylane4.jpg

I'll be going back when it's dryer. Anyone want to join me on a field trip? :elmer3:

> going back when it's dryer.

I think it would be fun, but it's hard for me to plan now for anything in 2014
8^(

this may be right, doug...

the description the oklahoman article gave was "nw nw sw 32, 11 3"... however, if you take those exact coordinates, but put them in boone township, 11 2, then that's pretty much exactly where we were at.

-M

It's gotta be right. Could Google have just made that up?

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsrefineryroad.jpg

Here's the assessor's aerial.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsrefineryroad2.jpg

The Okahoman article had its Range wrong ... should have been 2 west, not 3 west of the I.M., as you said.

Following up, here is the January 19, 1930 Oklahoman article:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/oklahoman_1_19_1930_phillips.jpg

Here are unedited county assessor drawings/aerials of the area we were at yesterday afternoon:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_assessor1.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_assessor2.jpg

Here are the same drawings/aerials showing the NW/4 of the NW/4 of the SW/4, Section 32, Township 11 North, Range 2 West of the Indian Meridian:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_assessor1a.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillipsgasolinelocation_assessor2a.jpg

So, what it boils down to is that the Oklahoman's article had the property correctly located within a hypothetical section and even township, but because of its error in identifying the correct range, it was 6 miles off the mark.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/trains/vachon/phillips_comparison.jpg

Of course, the legal description of the area was in 1930 ... Phillips may well have expanded its turf and I'd be surprised if it did not.

Anyway, all is right with the world, at least this little corner of it, tonight.

This is so cool. To think after all that searching we should have just tried Google map... I wonder if that would have worked for the old USO as well....

This is so cool. To think after all that searching we should have just tried Google map... I wonder if that would have worked for the old USO as well....
You are so dangerous with your elephant's memory (I assume you are talking about the USO north of the Skirvin). You and your then possessed (but me not, then) set of Vanished Splendor books which contained the answer -- which answer you well know would not have been found with a google map search.

So, on top of the dangerous adjective, I'll add this one: devilish.

What's up with that? :ohno:

Hey, I drove by this location the other day and they have gotten the thing completely locked up now.....I guess maybe the developers are fixing to work on the area....QUESTION TO DOUG:......Just how contaminated would this site be from the fuel that was stored or manufactured there?????

Any kind of development would probably have to be looked at by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. I'd imagine that unless Phillips did things right when they scrapped the plant, there's probably significant soil contamination, maybe some underground tanks which could be leaking God knows what, etc.

Any kind of development would probably have to be looked at by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. I'd imagine that unless Phillips did things right when they scrapped the plant, there's probably significant soil contamination, maybe some underground tanks which could be leaking God knows what, etc.
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That place was there in and around the Second War and even after I was in my teens (Long time ago)...It has to be contaminated to some extent wouldn't you think????

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That place was there in and around the Second War and even after I was in my teens (Long time ago)...It has to be contaminated to some extent wouldn't you think????

I would think so since real environmental protections didn't come around until the end of Pres. Nixon's term. If they pulled up stakes any time before Nixon's term, the place is probably unfit for just about any use. If not? Who knows.. Even if I was interested in developing a parcel of land for heavy industrial use, I probably would avoid that land because of the fact that subsequent occupiers of the land, pursuant to CERCLA, which is a statutory regime promulgated by Congress. After notification to the EPA or DEQ, they'd have to study the site and then go after anyone who previously owned the site or ever had possession of any of the hazardous waste.

Superfund - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Environmental_Response,_Compensation ,_and_Liability_Act)

I searched the EPA's list of Superfund sites and I couldn't find anything. That means this site has either never been reported or it isn't contaminated.