Buckeye Pipeline Company (Mermill, Ohio) records

The records of the Buckeye Pipeline Company division located at Mermill, Ohio provide information on local petroleum production in areas of Wood and Hancock County, Ohio in the early 1930s through the Depression to the first years of World War II. Although the memos, telegrams, work reports, and time records are scattered and arranged only in rough chronological order, the information provides a glimpse of the widespread network of working wells, storage tanks, and pipelines long after the petroleum boom of the late 19th century in the area.

In addition, information on employees can document work conditions in the period from 1932 through 1937, including jobs performed and rates of pay (both hourly and monthly salaried workers), repairs and maintenance of tanks and pipelines, and transportation of petroleum products. The documentation from the daily operating record books and the material report forms also give some insight into the operation of a vital industry in a wartime economy where gasoline was strictly rationed.

Use of the material to document the work of particular workers or of petroleum production on individual farm sites in the area would be much more difficult. There is a lack of any direct access to records by location of the wells, employee name, or by farm ownership. However, worker and owner names are listed on the individual work sheets, so sifting through the volume of material would yield data on a very specific level for researchers willing to put in the effort.