Page:The Mexican Problem (1917).djvu/147

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EXPANDING ENGINEERING
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ing than in crawling and cutting their way through the jungle. They announced they would pay five pesos to anybody pointing out the location of "tar spots." They were inundated with "tar spots" and readily took leases on thousands of acres. So pressing were the Mexicans to realize money that royalties were sometimes paid several years in advance, and when they would no longer pay extended advance royalties, titles were forced upon them.

EXPANDING ENGINEERING

The same forces that engineered the construction are still engineering the company's expansion in and out of Mexico. How successful this engineering has been to date may be illustrated by the fact that Manager Wylie estimated for the first eight-inch pipe line a capacity of twelve thousand five hundred barrels a day, with pumping stations twenty miles apart. By putting the pumping stations fourteen miles apart, the pipe line capacity was advanced to twenty thousand barrels a day; then the pumping stations were improved and the oil was a little thinner than expected and the eight-inch pipe line was soon carrying thirty-five thousand barrels a day. But improvements and expansion continued.