The Eight-Hundred-Mile Gamble — Building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

In 1974, America bet eight billion dollars on an impossible idea: a hot-oil pipeline across 800 miles of frozen Alaska. Three mountain ranges. Permafrost that swallows steel. A road built in 154 days. Then came faked X-rays, an explosion eighteen days after first oil, and an earthquake that moved the earth eighteen feet. This is the story of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System — the largest privately funded construction project in history, told through real archival photos and films. Chapters: 00:00 The Convoy 01:06 The Find at Prudhoe Bay 05:12 One Hundred Fifty-Four Days 08:33 A Pipeline on Stilts 14:57 The Faked X-Rays 18:12 Eighteen Feet of Moving Earth 22:28 The Gamble Held If you love forgotten engineering history, subscribe to The Construction Archive for a new documentary every week. #EngineeringHistory #TransAlaskaPipeline #AlaskaPipeline #Megaproject #TAPS