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121-671: The Salcha drains an area of 2,170 square miles (5,620 km), making it the second-largest tributary of the Tanana. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline crosses under the Salcha approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of the mouth of the river. Accessible by boat or on foot from the Richardson Highway , which crosses the lower river near the mouth , the Salcha River is a popular sports-fishing stream. The main species are king salmon , caught mostly near

242-596: A boomtown atmosphere in Valdez , Fairbanks , and Anchorage . The first barrel of oil traveled through the pipeline in the summer of 1977, with full-scale production by the end of the year. Several notable incidents of oil leakage have occurred since, including those caused by sabotage, maintenance failures, and bullet holes. As of 2015, it had shipped over 17 billion barrels (2.7 × 10  m ) of oil. The pipeline has been shown capable of delivering over two million barrels of oil per day but nowadays usually operates at

363-656: A $ 100 million contract for more than 800 miles (1280 km) of pipeline. At the same time, TAPS placed a $ 30 million order for the first of the enormous pumps that would be needed to push the oil through the pipeline. In June 1969, as the SS Manhattan traveled through the Northwest Passage, TAPS formally applied to the Interior Department for a permit to build an oil pipeline across 800 miles (1,300 km) of public land—from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The application

484-495: A 9 mm Luger handgun, reaches speeds of only 2,200 kilometres per hour (1,370 mph). Similarly, an AK-47 , has a muzzle velocity of about 2,580 kilometres per hour (1,600 mph). The first true gun evolved in China from the fire lance (a bamboo tube that fired porcelain shrapnel) with the invention of the metal hand cannon sometime around 1288, which the Yuan dynasty used to win

605-614: A French infantry officer, invented a breech with abrupt shoulders on which a spherical bullet was rammed down until it caught the rifling grooves. Delvigne's method, however, deformed the bullet and was inaccurate. In 1855, a detachment of 1st U.S. Dragoons , while on patrol, traded lead for gold bullets with Pima Indians along the California–Arizona border. Square bullets have origins that almost pre-date civilization and were used in slings. They were typically made out of copper or lead. The most notable use of square bullet designs

726-593: A cartridge) often leads to confusion when a cartridge and all its components are specifically being referenced. The sound of gunfire (i.e. the "muzzle report") is often accompanied with a loud bullwhip -like crack as the supersonic bullet pierces through the air, creating a sonic boom . Bullet speeds at various stages of flight depend on intrinsic factors such as sectional density , aerodynamic profile and ballistic coefficient , as well as extrinsic factors such as barometric pressure , humidity, air temperature and wind speed. Subsonic cartridges fire bullets slower than

847-456: A decisive victory against Mongolian rebels. The artillery cannon appeared in 1326 and the European hand cannon in 1364. Early projectiles were made of stone. Eventually it was discovered that stone would not penetrate stone fortifications, which led to the use of denser materials as projectiles. Hand cannon projectiles developed in a similar manner. The first recorded instance of a metal ball from

968-523: A discovery well. On March 12, 1968, an Atlantic Richfield drilling crew hit paydirt. A discovery well began flowing at the rate of 1,152 barrels (183.2 m ) of oil per day. On June 25, ARCO announced that a second discovery well likewise was producing oil at a similar rate. Together, the two wells confirmed the existence of the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field . The new field contained more than 25 billion barrels (4.0 × 10 ^  m ) of oil, making it

1089-479: A federal right-of-way for the pipeline and transportation highway was granted on January 3, 1974. The deal was signed by the oil companies on January 23, allowing work to start. Although the legal right-of-way was cleared by January 1974, cold weather, the need to hire workers, and construction of the Dalton Highway meant work on the pipeline itself did not begin until March. Between 1974 and July 28, 1977, when

1210-521: A fraction of maximum capacity. If flow were to stop or throughput were too little, the line could freeze. The pipeline could be extended and used to transport oil produced from controversial proposed drilling projects in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Iñupiat people on the North Slope of Alaska had mined oil-saturated peat for possibly thousands of years, using it as fuel for heat and light. Whalers who stayed at Point Barrow saw

1331-463: A hand cannon penetrating armor was in 1425. Shot retrieved from the wreck of the Mary Rose (sunk in 1545, raised in 1982) are of different sizes, and some are stone while others are cast iron. The development of the hand culverin and matchlock arquebus brought about the use of cast lead balls as projectiles. The original round musket ball was smaller than the bore of the barrel. At first it

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1452-675: A hardened bullet. The combined result was that, in December 1888, the Lee–Metford small-bore ( .303 ", 7.70 mm) rifle, Mark I, was adopted for the British army. The Lee–Metford was the predecessor of the Lee–Enfield . The next important change in the history of the rifle bullet occurred in 1882, when Lieutenant Colonel Eduard Rubin , director of the Swiss Army Laboratory at Thun, invented

1573-497: A harder alloy of lead and tin or typesetter's lead (used to mold linotype ) works very well. For even higher-speed bullet use, jacketed lead bullets are used. The common element in all of these, lead, is widely used because it is very dense, thereby providing a high amount of mass—and thus, kinetic energy—for a given volume. Lead is also cheap, easy to obtain, easy to work, and melts at a low temperature, which results in comparatively easy fabrication of bullets. Poisonous bullets were

1694-414: A high standard, as surface imperfections can affect firing accuracy. The physics affecting the bullet once it leaves the barrel is termed external ballistics . The primary factors affecting the aerodynamics of a bullet in flight are the bullet's shape and the rotation imparted by the rifling of the gun barrel. Rotational forces stabilize the bullet gyroscopically as well as aerodynamically. Any asymmetry in

1815-489: A higher melting point , and greater specific heat capacity , and higher hardness , copper-jacketed bullets allow greater muzzle velocities. European advances in aerodynamics led to the pointed spitzer bullet . By the beginning of the 20th century, most world armies had begun the transition to spitzer bullets. These bullets flew for greater distances more accurately and transferred more kinetic energy . Spitzer bullets combined with machine guns greatly increased lethality on

1936-559: A legal dispute over pipeline tariffs generated a one-time payment of more than $ 1.5 billion from the oil companies. The Constitutional Budget reserve is run similar to the Permanent Fund, but money from it can be withdrawn to pay for the state's annual budget, unlike the Permanent Fund. Although the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began pumping oil in 1977, it did not have a major immediate impact on global oil prices. This

2057-490: A long series of rifle experiments and proved, among other points, the advantages of a smaller bore and, in particular, of an elongated bullet. The Whitworth bullet was made to fit the grooves of the rifle mechanically. The Whitworth rifle was never adopted by the government, although it was used extensively for match purposes and target practice between 1857 and 1866. In 1861, W. B. Chace approached President Abraham Lincoln with an improved ball design for muskets. In firing over

2178-482: A port at Prudhoe Bay, and more—were deemed to pose more environmental risks than construction of a pipeline directly across Alaska. Opposition also was directed at the building of the construction and maintenance highway parallel to the pipeline. Although a clause in Alyeska's pipeline proposal called for removal of the pipeline at a certain point, no such provision was made for removal of the road. Sydney Howe, president of

2299-635: A solution to the problem, and President Richard Nixon began lobbying for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as at least a part of the answer. Nixon supported the pipeline project even before the oil crisis. On September 10, 1973, he released a message stating that the pipeline was his priority for the remainder of the Congressional session that year. On November 8, after the embargo had been in place for three weeks, he reaffirmed that statement. Members of Congress, under pressure from their constituents, created

2420-558: A subject to an international agreement as early as the Strasbourg Agreement (1675) . The Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 prohibited the use of explosive projectiles weighing less than 400 grams. The Hague Conventions prohibits certain kinds of ammunition for use in war. These include poisoned and expanding bullets. Protocol III of the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons , an annexed protocol to

2541-575: A two pronged survey using bush aircraft , local Inupiat guides, and personnel from multiple agencies to locate reported seeps. Ebbley and Joesting reported on these initial forays in 1943. Starting in 1944, the U.S. Navy funded oil exploration near Umiat Mountain , on the Colville River in the foothills of the Brooks Range . Surveyors from the U.S. Geological Survey spread across the petroleum reserve and worked to determine its extent until 1953, when

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2662-770: A water pipeline with the same diameter of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which caribou were able to jump over. To those who argued that the pipeline would irrevocably alter Alaska wilderness, proponents pointed to the overgrown remnants of the Fairbanks Gold Rush , most of which had been erased 70 years later. Some pipeline opponents were satisfied by Alyeska's preliminary design, which incorporated underground and raised crossings for caribou and other big game, gravel and styrofoam insulation to prevent permafrost melting, automatic leak detection and shutoff, and other techniques. Other opponents, including fishermen who feared tanker leaks south of Valdez, maintained their disagreement with

2783-592: Is an 800-mile (1,287 km) long, 48-inch (1.22 m) diameter pipeline that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay , on Alaska's North Slope , south to Valdez , on the shores of Prince William Sound in southcentral Alaska. The crude oil pipeline is privately owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company . Oil was first discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968 and the 800 miles of 48" steel pipe was ordered from Japan in 1969 (U.S. steel manufacturers did not have

2904-542: Is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline , 12 pump stations , several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. The core pipeline itself, which is commonly called the Alaska pipeline , trans-Alaska pipeline , or Alyeska pipeline , (or The pipeline as referred to by Alaskan residents),

3025-415: Is from Early French, originating as the diminutive of the word boulle ( boullet ), which means "small ball". Bullets are available singly (as in muzzle-loading and cap and ball firearms) but are more often packaged with propellant as a cartridge ("round" of ammunition) consisting of the bullet (i.e., the projectile), the case (which holds everything together), the propellant (which provides

3146-463: Is not achieved, gas from the propellant charge leaks past the bullet, thus reducing efficiency and possibly accuracy. The bullet must also engage the rifling without damaging or excessively fouling the gun's bore and without distorting the bullet, which will also reduce accuracy. Bullets must have a surface that forms this seal without excessive friction. These interactions between bullet and bore are termed internal ballistics . Bullets must be produced to

3267-561: Is only time- and cost-effective for solid lead bullets. Cast and jacketed bullets are also commercially available from numerous manufacturers for handloading and are most often more convenient than casting bullets from bulk or scrap lead. Propulsion of the ball can happen via several methods: Bullets for black powder, or muzzle-loading firearms, were classically molded from pure lead . This worked well for low-speed bullets, fired at velocities of less than 450 m/s (1,475 ft/s). For slightly higher-speed bullets fired in modern firearms,

3388-440: Is partly because it took several years to reach full production and partly because U.S. production outside Alaska declined until the mid-1980s. The Iranian Revolution and OPEC price increases triggered the 1979 energy crisis despite TAPS production increases. Oil prices remained high until the late 1980s, when a stable international situation, the removal of price controls, and the peak of production at Prudhoe Bay contributed to

3509-529: The 1980s oil glut . In 1988, TAPS was delivering 25 percent of all U.S. oil production. As North Slope oil production declined, so did TAPS's share of U.S. production. Today, TAPS provides less than 17 percent of U.S. oil production. Bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile , a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel . They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constructions (depending on

3630-601: The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced an oil embargo against the United States in retaliation for its support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War . Because the United States imported approximately 35 percent of its oil from foreign sources, the embargo had a major effect. The price of gasoline shot upward, gasoline shortages were common, and rationing was considered. Most Americans began demanding

3751-524: The Potomac River , where the Chace ball and the round ball were alternated, Lincoln observed that the Chace design carried a third or more farther fired at the same elevation. Although Lincoln recommended testing, it never took place. Around 1862, W. E. Metford carried out an exhaustive series of experiments on bullets and rifling, and he invented the important system of light rifling with increasing spiral and

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3872-582: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act , which removed all legal barriers from construction of the pipeline, provided financial incentives, and granted a right-of-way for its construction. The act was drafted, rushed through committee, and approved by the House on November 12, 1973, by a vote of 361–14–60. The next day, the Senate passed it, 80–5–15. Nixon signed it into law on November 16, and

3993-582: The United States Department of Agriculture set aside 16,000,000 acres (64,750 km ) of Southeast Alaska as the Tongass National Forest . Tlingit natives who lived in the area protested that the land was theirs and had been unfairly taken. In 1935, Congress passed a law allowing the Tlingits to sue for recompense, and the resulting case dragged on until 1968, when a $ 7.5 million settlement

4114-677: The United States Department of the Interior to begin geological and engineering studies of a proposed oil pipeline route from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, across Alaska. Even before the first feasibility studies began, the oil companies had chosen the approximate route of the pipeline. Because TAPS hoped to begin laying pipe by September 1969, substantial orders were placed for steel pipeline 48 inches (122 cm) in diameter. No American company manufactured pipe of that specification, so three Japanese companies— Sumitomo Metal Industries , Nippon Steel Corporation and Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha—received

4235-715: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia , ordered the Interior Department to not issue a construction permit for a section of the project that crossed one of the claims. Less than two weeks later, Hart heard arguments from conservation groups that the TAPS project violated the Mineral Leasing Act and the National Environmental Policy Act , which had gone into effect at the start of

4356-813: The Wilderness Society , Friends of the Earth , and the Environmental Defense Fund in their Spring 1970 lawsuit to stop the project. The injunction against the project forced Alyeska to do further research throughout the summer of 1970. The collected material was turned over to the Interior Department in October 1970, and a draft environmental impact statement was published in January 1971. The 294-page statement drew massive criticism, generating more than 12,000 pages of testimony and evidence in Congressional debates by

4477-424: The angle of incidence , and the velocity and physical characteristics of the bullet. Bullets are generally designed to penetrate, deform, or break apart. For a given material and bullet, the strike velocity is the primary factor that determines which outcome is achieved. Bullet shapes are many and varied. With a mold, bullets can be made at home for reloading ammunition, where local laws allow. Hand-casting, however,

4598-453: The copper-jacketed bullet — an elongated bullet with a lead core in a copper jacket. It was also small bore (7.5 and 8 mm) and it is the precursor of the 8 mm Lebel bullet adopted for the smokeless powder ammunition of the Lebel Model 1886 rifle . The surface of lead bullets fired at high velocity may melt from the hot gases behind and friction within the bore. Because copper has

4719-429: The speed of sound —about 343 metres per second (1,130 ft/s) in dry air at 20 °C (68 °F)—and thus can travel substantial distances to their targets before any nearby observers hear the sound of the shots. Rifle bullets, such as that of a Remington 223 firing lightweight varmint projectiles from a 24 inch barrel, leave the muzzle at speeds of up to 4,390 kilometres per hour (2,730 mph). A bullet from

4840-522: The Alaska Legislature and governor Jay Hammond proposed the creation of an Alaska Permanent Fund —a long-term savings account for the state. This measure required a constitutional amendment, which was duly passed in November 1976. The amendment requires at least 25 percent of mineral extraction revenue to be deposited in the Permanent Fund. On February 28, 1977, the first deposit—$ 734,000—was put into

4961-535: The Alaska Pipeline, engineers faced a wide range of difficulties, stemming mainly from the extreme cold and the difficult, isolated terrain. The construction of the pipeline was one of the first large-scale projects to deal with problems caused by permafrost , and special construction techniques had to be developed to cope with the frozen ground. The project attracted tens of thousands of workers to Alaska due to high wages, long work hours, and paid-for housing, causing

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5082-450: The Alaska economy during the construction effort and the years afterward. In addition, the taxes paid by those companies altered the tax structure of the state. By 1982, five years after the pipeline started transporting oil, 86.5 percent of Alaska revenue came directly from the petroleum industry. The series of taxes levied on oil production in Alaska has changed several times since 1977, but

5203-481: The Conservation Foundation, warned: "The oil might last for fifty years. A road would remain forever." This argument relied upon the slow growth of plants and animals in far northern Alaska due to the harsh conditions and short growing season. In testimony, an environmentalist argued that arctic trees, though only a few feet tall, had been seedlings "when George Washington was inaugurated". The portion of

5324-457: The Greener bullet in 1836. Greener fitted the hollow base of an oval bullet with a wooden plug that more reliably forced the base of the bullet to expand and catch the rifling. Tests proved that Greener's bullet was effective, but the military rejected it because, being two parts, they judged it as too complicated to produce. The carabine à tige , developed by Louis-Étienne de Thouvenin in 1844,

5445-418: The House and Senate committees with oversight of the project, Hickel was given the authority to lift the land freeze and give the go-ahead to TAPS. TAPS began issuing letters of intent to contractors for construction of the "haul road", a highway running the length of the pipeline route to be used for construction. Heavy equipment was prepared, and crews prepared to go to work after Hickel gave permission and

5566-611: The Interior Rogers Morton allowed 45 days of comment after the release, and conservationists created a 1,300-page document opposing the impact statement. This document failed to sway Judge Hart, who lifted the injunction on the project on August 15, 1972. The environmental groups that had filed the injunction appealed the decision, and on October 6, 1972, the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., partially reversed Hart's decision. The appeals court said that although

5687-486: The Minerals Leasing Act did not cover the pipeline's requirements, Alyeska and the oil companies began lobbying Congress to either amend the act or create a new law that would permit a larger right-of-way. The Senate Interior Committee began the first hearings on a series of bills to that effect on March 9, 1973. Environmental opposition switched from contesting the pipeline on NEPA grounds to fighting an amendment to

5808-576: The Navy suspended funding for the project. The USGS found several oil fields, most notably the Alpine and Umiat Oil Field , but none were cost-effective to develop. Four years after the Navy suspended its survey, Richfield Oil Corporation (later Atlantic Richfield and ARCO) drilled an enormously successful oil well near the Swanson River in southern Alaska, near Kenai . The resulting Swanson River Oil Field

5929-551: The Permanent Fund. That deposit and subsequent ones were invested entirely in bonds, but debates quickly arose about the style of investments and what they should be used for. In 1980, the Alaska Legislature created the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to manage the investments of the Permanent Fund, and it passed the Permanent Fund Dividend program, which provided for annual payments to Alaskans from

6050-566: The Richardson Highway. The Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation manages the 61-acre (25 ha) site, about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Fairbanks. Amenities include six campsites, water, toilets, picnic sites, a boat launch, and a public-use cabin. Cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are among the possible winter activities near the site. The park is known to be crowded on holiday weekends. Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System ( TAPS )

6171-628: The Sagavanirktok River forced workers to come up with solutions for unforeseen problems. Faulty welds and accusations of poor quality control caused a Congressional investigation that ultimately revealed little. More than $ 8 billion was spent to build the 800 miles (1,300 km) of pipeline, the Valdez Marine Terminal, and 12 pump stations. The construction effort also had a human toll. Thirty-two Alyeska and contract employees died from causes directly related to construction. That figure does not include common carrier casualties. Construction of

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6292-471: The Senate. The amendment declared that the pipeline project fulfilled all aspects of NEPA and modified the Mineral Leasing Act to allow the larger right-of-way for the Alaska pipeline. Upon reconsideration , the vote was tied at 49–49 and required the vote of vice president Spiro Agnew , who supported the amendment; a similar amendment was passed in the House on August 2. On October 17, 1973,

6413-470: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Hearings in both the U.S. Senate and the House continued through the summer of 1973 on both new bills and amendments to the Mineral Leasing Act. On July 13, an amendment calling for more study of the project—the Mondale-Bayh Amendment—was defeated. This was followed by another victory for pipeline proponents when an amendment by Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel was passed by

6534-710: The U.S. Armory at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia , improved the Minié ball further by eliminating the metal cup in the bottom of the bullet. The Minié ball first saw widespread use in the Crimean War (1853–1856). Roughly 90% of the battlefield casualties in the American Civil War (1861–1865) were caused by Minié balls fired from rifled muskets. A similar bullet called the Nessler ball was also developed for smoothbore muskets. Between 1854 and 1857, Sir Joseph Whitworth conducted

6655-435: The United States. These reserves were areas thought to be rich in oil and set aside for future drilling by the U.S. Navy. Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 was sited in Alaska's far north, just south of Barrow, and encompassed 23,000,000 acres (93,078 km ). The first explorations of NPR-4 were undertaken by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1923 to 1925 and focused on mapping, identifying and characterizing coal resources in

6776-408: The addition of "ball grooves" which are known as " cannelures ", which moved the resistance of air behind the center of gravity of the bullet. Tamisier also developed progressive rifling: the rifle grooves were deeper toward the breech, becoming shallower as they progressed toward the muzzle. This causes the bullet to be progressively molded into the grooves which increases range and accuracy. Among

6897-417: The aerodynamic shape changed little for centuries. Generally, bullet shapes are a compromise between aerodynamics, interior ballistic necessities, and terminal ballistics requirements. Terminal ballistics and stopping power are aspects of bullet design that affect what happens when a bullet impacts with an object. The outcome of the impact is determined by the composition and density of the target material,

7018-471: The area's remoteness and harsh climate. It was estimated that between 200,000,000 barrels (32,000,000 m ) and 500,000,000 barrels (79,000,000 m ) of oil would have to be recovered to make a North Slope oil field commercially viable. In 1967, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) began detailed survey work in the Prudhoe Bay area. By January 1968, reports began circulating that natural gas had been discovered by

7139-411: The battlefield. Spitzer bullets were streamlined at the base with the boat tail . In the trajectory of a bullet, as air passes over a bullet at high speed, a vacuum is created at the end of the bullet, slowing the projectile. The streamlined boat tail design reduces this form drag by allowing the air to flow along the surface of the tapering end. The resulting aerodynamic advantage is currently seen as

7260-446: The beginning of time. Alaska historian Terrence Cole Since the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1977, the government of the state of Alaska has been reliant on taxes paid by oil producers and shippers. Prior to 1976, Alaska's personal income tax rate was 14.5 percent—the highest in the United States. The gross state product was $ 8 billion, and Alaskans earned $ 5 billion in personal income. Thirty years after

7381-444: The bullet is largely canceled as it spins. However, a spin rate greater than the optimum value adds more trouble than good, by magnifying the smaller asymmetries or sometimes resulting in the bullet breaking apart in flight. With smooth-bore firearms, a spherical shape is optimal because no matter how the bullet is oriented, its aerodynamics are similar. These unstable bullets tumble erratically and provide only moderate accuracy; however,

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7502-408: The bullet, allowing it to cut through the air more easily, and improves terminal ballistics by allowing the bullet to act as a jacketed hollow point. As a side effect, it also feeds better in weapons that have trouble feeding rounds that are not full metal jacket rounds. Bullet designs have to solve two primary problems. In the barrel, they must first form a seal with the gun's bore. If a strong seal

7623-540: The capacity at that time). However, construction was delayed for nearly 5 years due to legal and environmental issues. The eight oil companies that owned the rights to the oil hired Bechtel for the pipeline design and construction and Fluor for the 12 pump stations and the Valdez Terminal. Preconstruction work during 1973 and 1974 was critical and included the building of camps to house workers, construction of roads and bridges where none existed, and carefully laying out

7744-658: The city of 15,000 people. Trouble was incited sometimes by prostitutes' pimps , who engaged in turf fights . In 1976, police responded to a shootout between warring pimps who wielded automatic firearms . By and large, however, the biggest police issue was the number of drunken brawls and fighting. On the pipeline itself, thievery was a major problem. Poor accounting and record keeping allowed large numbers of tools and large amounts of equipment to be stolen. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1975 that as many as 200 of Alyeska's 1,200 yellow-painted trucks were missing from Alaska and "scattered from Miami to Mexico City". Alyeska denied

7865-799: The demand, a Fairbanks high school ran in two shifts: one in the morning and the other in the afternoon in order to teach students who also worked eight hours per day. More wages and more people meant higher demand for goods and services. Waiting in line became a fact of life in Fairbanks, and the Fairbanks McDonald's became No. 2 in the world for sales—behind only the recently opened Stockholm store. Alyeska and its contractors bought in bulk from local stores, causing shortages of everything from cars to tractor parts, water softener salt, batteries and ladders. The large sums of money being made and spent caused an upsurge in crime and illicit activity in towns along

7986-420: The disruption caused by the pipeline would scare away the whales and caribou that are relied upon for food. In both the courts and Congress, Alyeska and the oil companies fought for the pipeline's construction amidst opposition concerning the pipeline's EIS (environmental impact statement). The arguments continued through 1971. Objections about the caribou herds were countered by observations of Davidson Ditch ,

8107-458: The end of March. Criticisms of the project included its effect on the Alaska tundra , possible pollution, harm to animals, geographic features, and the lack of much engineering information from Alyeska. One element of opposition the report quelled was the discussion of alternatives. All the proposed alternatives—extension of the Alaska Railroad, an alternative route through Canada, establishing

8228-522: The environmental debate with the biggest symbolic impact took place when discussing the pipeline's impact on caribou herds. Environmentalists proposed that the pipeline would have an effect on caribou similar to the effect of the U.S. transcontinental railroad on the American bison population of North America. Pipeline critics said the pipeline would block traditional migration routes, making caribou populations smaller and making them easier to hunt. This idea

8349-564: The fall of 1969, the Department of the Interior and TAPS set about bypassing the land freeze by obtaining waivers from the various native villages that had claims to a portion of the proposed right of way. By the end of September, all the relevant villages had waived their right-of-way claims, and Secretary of the Interior Wally Hickel asked Congress to lift the land freeze for the entire TAPS project. After several months of questioning by

8470-629: The field, the Boeing RC-1 . General Dynamics proposed a line of tanker submarines for travel beneath the Arctic ice cap , and another group proposed extending the Alaska Railroad to Prudhoe Bay. To test this, in 1969 Humble Oil and Refining Company sent a specially fitted oil tanker, the SS ; Manhattan , to test the feasibility of transporting oil via ice-breaking tankers to market. The Manhattan

8591-475: The first barrel of oil reached Valdez, tens of thousands of people worked on the pipeline. Thousands of workers came to Alaska, attracted by the prospect of high-paying jobs at a time when most of the rest of the United States was undergoing a recession. Construction workers endured long hours, cold temperatures, and brutal conditions. Difficult terrain, particularly in Atigun Pass , Keystone Canyon , and near

8712-516: The first pointed or "conical" bullets were those designed by Captain John Norton of the British Army in 1832. Norton's bullet had a hollow base made of lotus pith that on firing expanded under pressure to engage with a barrel's rifling. The British Board of Ordnance rejected it because spherical bullets had been in use for the previous 300 years. Renowned English gunsmith William Greener invented

8833-522: The high salaries paid to pipeline workers, who were eager to spend their money. The high salaries caused a corresponding demand for higher wages among non-pipeline workers in Alaska. Non-pipeline businesses often could not keep up with the demand for higher wages, and job turnover was high. Yellow cab in Fairbanks had a turnover rate of 800 percent; a nearby restaurant had a turnover rate of more than 1,000 percent. Many positions were filled by high school students promoted above their experience level. To meet

8954-604: The impact statement followed the guidelines set by the National Environmental Policy Act, it did not follow the Minerals Leasing Act , which allowed for a smaller pipeline right of way than was required for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The oil companies and Alyeska appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in April 1973, the court declined to hear the case. With the appeals court having decided that

9075-475: The intended applications), including specialized functions such as hunting , target shooting , training, and combat. Bullets are often tapered, making them more aerodynamic . Bullet size is expressed by weight and diameter (referred to as " caliber ") in both imperial and metric measurement systems. Bullets do not normally contain explosives but strike or damage the intended target by transferring kinetic energy upon impact and penetration . The term bullet

9196-502: The interest earned by the fund. After two years of legal arguments about who should be eligible for payments, the first checks were distributed to Alaskans. After peaking at more than $ 40 billion in 2007, the fund's value declined to approximately $ 26 billion as of summer 2009. In addition to the Permanent Fund, the state also maintains the Constitutional Budget Reserve , a separate savings account established in 1990 after

9317-474: The largest in North America and the 18th largest in the world. The problem soon became how to develop the oil field and ship product to U.S. markets. Pipeline systems represent a high initial cost but lower operating costs, but no pipeline of the necessary length had yet been constructed. Several other solutions were offered. Boeing proposed a series of gigantic 12-engine tanker aircraft to transport oil from

9438-493: The leasing act or a new bill. By the spring and summer of 1973, these opposition groups attempted to persuade Congress to endorse a Trans-Canada oil pipeline or a railroad. They believed the "leave it in the ground" argument was doomed to fail, and the best way to oppose the pipeline would be to propose an ineffective alternative which could be easily defeated. The problem with this approach was that any such alternative would cover more ground and be more damaging environmentally than

9559-515: The legal injunction against pipeline construction. In October 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Under the act, Native groups would renounce their land claims in exchange for $ 962.5 million and 148.5 million acres (601,000 km ) in federal land. The money and land were split up among village and regional corporations, which then distributed shares of stock to Natives in

9680-503: The lungs. Bullets are not the only projectiles shot from firearm-like equipment: BBs are shot from BB guns , airsoft pellets are shot by airsoft guns , paintballs are shot by paintball markers , and small rocks can be hurtled from slingshots . There are also flare guns , potato guns (and spud guns ), tasers , bean bag rounds , grenade launchers , flash bangs , tear gas , RPGs , and missile launchers . Bullets used in many cartridges are fired at muzzle velocities faster than

9801-434: The majority of the energy to launch the projectile), and the primer (which ignites the propellant). Cartridges, in turn, may be held in a magazine , a clip , or a belt (for rapid-fire automatic firearms ). Although the word bullet is often used in colloquial language to refer to a cartridge round, a bullet is not a cartridge but rather a component of one. This use of the term bullet (when intending to describe

9922-403: The maximum tax rate on profits is 50 percent. The rate fluctuates based on the cost of oil, with lower prices incurring lower tax rates. The state also claims 12.5 percent of all oil produced in the state. This "royalty oil" is not taxed but is sold back to the oil companies, generating additional revenue. At a local level, the pipeline owners pay property taxes on the portions of the pipeline and

10043-404: The mouth, and Arctic grayling , caught mostly further upstream. Catch and release fishing for Chinook salmon averaging 20 to 25 pounds (9 to 11 kg) can be good on this river. Summer-run chum salmon and fall-run coho salmon also frequent the Salcha, as do smaller numbers of northern pike . The Salcha River State Recreation Site is next to the Salcha River at milepost 323.3 of

10164-497: The old smooth-bore Brown Bess and similar military muskets. The original muzzle-loading rifle , however, was loaded with a piece of leather or cloth wrapped around the ball, to allow the ball to engage the grooves in the barrel. Loading was a bit more difficult, particularly when the bore of the barrel was fouled from previous firings. For this reason, and because rifles were not often fitted for bayonets , early rifles were rarely used for military purposes, compared to muskets. There

10285-527: The optimum shape for rifle technology. The first combination spitzer and boat-tail bullet, named balle D by its inventor Captain Georges Desaleux, was introduced as standard military ammunition in 1901, for the French Lebel Model 1886 rifle . A ballistic tip bullet is a hollow-point rifle bullet that has a plastic tip on the end of the bullet. This improves external ballistics by streamlining

10406-444: The other fields on the North Slope since 1977 is worth more than all the fish ever caught, all the furs ever trapped, all the trees chopped down; throw in all the copper, whalebone, natural gas, tin, silver, platinum, and anything else ever extracted from Alaska too. The balance sheet of Alaskan history is simple: One Prudhoe Bay is worth more in real dollars than everything that has been dug out, cut down, caught or killed in Alaska since

10527-454: The overall form remains mostly the same. Alaska receives royalties from oil production on state land. The state also has a property tax on oil production structures and transportation (pipeline) property—the only state property tax in Alaska. There is a special corporate income tax on petroleum companies, and the state taxes the amount of petroleum produced. This production tax is levied on the cost of oil at Pump Station 1. To calculate this tax,

10648-415: The pipeline began operating, the state had no personal income tax, the gross state product was $ 39 billion, and Alaskans earned $ 25 billion in personal income. Alaska moved from the most heavily taxed state to the most tax-free state. The difference was the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the taxes and revenue it brought to Alaska. Alyeska and the oil companies injected billions of dollars into

10769-415: The pipeline caused a massive economic boom in towns up and down the pipeline route. Prior to construction, most residents in towns like Fairbanks—still recovering from the devastating 1967 Fairbanks Flood —strongly supported the pipeline. By 1976, after the town's residents had endured a spike in crime, overstressed public infrastructure, and an influx of people unfamiliar with Alaska customs, 56 percent said

10890-482: The pipeline facilities that lay within districts that impose a property tax. This property tax is based on the pipeline's value (as assessed by the state) and the local property tax rate. In the Fairbanks North Star Borough , for example, pipeline owners paid $ 9.2 million in property taxes—approximately 10 percent of all property taxes paid in the borough. The enormous amount of public revenue created by

11011-581: The pipeline had changed Fairbanks for the worse. The boom was even greater in Valdez, where the population jumped from 1,350 in 1974 to 6,512 by the summer of 1975 and 8,253 in 1976. This increase in population caused many adverse effects. Home prices skyrocketed—a home that sold for $ 40,000 in 1974 was purchased for $ 80,000 in 1975. In Valdez, lots of land that sold for $ 400 in the late 1960s went for $ 4,000 in 1973, $ 8,000 in 1974, and $ 10,000 in 1975. Home and apartment rentals were correspondingly squeezed upward by

11132-498: The pipeline project before 1970, the introduction of the National Environmental Policy Act allowed them legal grounds to halt the project. Arctic engineers had raised concerns about the way plans for a subterranean pipeline showed ignorance of Arctic engineering and permafrost in particular. A clause in NEPA requiring a study of alternatives and another clause requiring an environmental impact statement turned those concerns into tools used by

11253-427: The pipeline provoked debates about what to do with the windfall. The record $ 900 million created by the Prudhoe Bay oil lease sale took place at a time when the entire state budget was less than $ 118 million, yet the entire amount created by the sale was used up by 1975. Taxes on the pipeline and oil carried by it promised to bring even more money into state coffers. To ensure that oil revenue wasn't spent as it came in,

11374-433: The pipeline right of way to avoid difficult river crossings and animal habitats. Construction of the pipeline system took place between 1975 and 1977. It was important for the United States to have a domestic source of oil to offset the high rise in foreign oil and the Alaska Pipeline fulfilled that obligation. Building oil pipelines in the 1950s and 60s was not difficult in the contiguous United States . However, in building

11495-502: The pipeline route. This was exacerbated by the fact that police officers and state troopers resigned in large groups to become pipeline security guards at wages far in excess of those available in public-sector jobs. Fairbanks' Second Avenue became a notorious hangout for prostitutes , and dozens of bars operated throughout town. In 1975, the Fairbanks Police Department estimated between 40 and 175 prostitutes were working in

11616-403: The plan. All the arguments both for and against the pipeline were incorporated into the 3,500-page, 9-volume final environmental impact statement, which was released on March 20, 1972. Although Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens felt the statement "was not written by a proponent," it maintained the general approval for pipeline construction that was demonstrated in the draft statement. U.S. Secretary of

11737-412: The problem and said only 20–30 trucks were missing. The theft problem was typified by pipeliners' practice of mailing empty boxes to pipeline camps. The boxes then would be filled with items and shipped out. After Alyeska ruled that all packages had to be sealed in the presence of a security guard, the number of packages being sent from camps dropped by 75 percent. The wealth generated by Prudhoe Bay and

11858-504: The proposed route and plan. Max Brewer , an arctic expert in charge of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory at Barrow, concluded that the plan to bury most of the pipeline was completely unfeasible because of the abundance of permafrost along the route. In a report, Brewer said the hot oil conveyed by the pipeline would melt the underlying permafrost, causing the pipeline to fail as its support turned to mud. This report

11979-400: The region or village. The shares paid dividends based on both the settlement and corporation profits. To pipeline developers, the most important aspect of ANCSA was the clause dictating that no Native allotments could be selected in the path of the pipeline. Another objection of the natives was the potential for the pipeline to disrupt a traditional way of life. Many natives were worried that

12100-593: The rising prices and the demand from pipeline workers. Two-room log cabins with no plumbing rented for $ 500 per month. One two-bedroom home in Fairbanks housed 45 pipeline workers who shared beds on a rotating schedule for $ 40 per week. In Valdez, an apartment that rented for $ 286 per month in December 1974 cost $ 520 per month in March 1975 and $ 1,600 per month—plus two mandatory roommates—in April 1975. Hotel rooms were sold out as far away as Glenallen, 115 miles (185 km) north of Valdez. The skyrocketing prices were driven by

12221-599: The seepages in 1836. Similar seepages were found at the Canning River in 1919 by Ernest de Koven Leffingwell . Following the First World War , as the United States Navy converted its ships from coal to fuel oil , a stable supply of oil became important to the U.S. government. Accordingly, President Warren G. Harding established by executive order a series of Naval Petroleum Reserves (NPR-1 through -4) across

12342-450: The snow melted. Before Hickel could act, however, several Alaska Native and conservation groups asked a judge in Washington, D.C., to issue an injunction against the project. Several of the native villages that had waived claims on the right of way reneged because TAPS had not chosen any Native contractors for the project and the contractors chosen were not likely to hire Native workers. On April 1, 1970, Judge George Luzerne Hart, Jr. , of

12463-432: The speed of sound, so there are no sonic booms. This means that a subsonic cartridge, such as .45 ACP , can be substantially quieter than a supersonic cartridge, such as the .223 Remington , even without the use of a suppressor . Bullets shot by firearms can be used for target practice or to injure or kill animals or people. Death can be by blood loss or damage to vital organs, or even asphyxiation if blood enters

12584-412: The state takes the market value of the oil, subtracts transportation costs (tanker and pipeline tariffs), subtracts production costs, then multiplies the resulting amount per barrel of oil produced each month. The state then takes a percentage of the dollar figure produced. Under the latest taxation system, introduced by former governor Sarah Palin in 2007 and passed by the Alaska Legislature that year,

12705-588: The substance the Iñupiat called pitch and recognized it as petroleum. Charles Brower, a whaler who settled at Barrow and operated trading posts along the Arctic coast, directed geologist Alfred Hulse Brooks to oil seepages at Cape Simpson and Fish Creek in the far north of Alaska, east of the village of Barrow . Brooks' report confirmed the observations of Thomas Simpson, an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company who first observed

12826-603: The western portion of the reserve and petroleum exploration in the eastern and northern portions of the reserve. These surveys were primarily pedestrian in nature; no drilling or remote sensing techniques were available at the time. These surveys named many of the geographic features of the areas explored, including the Philip Smith Mountains and quadrangle. The petroleum reserve lay dormant until World War II provided an impetus to explore new oil prospects. The first renewed efforts to identify strategic oil assets were

12947-411: The year. Hart issued an injunction against the project, preventing the Interior Department from issuing a construction permit and halting the project in its tracks. After the Department of the Interior was stopped from issuing a construction permit, the unincorporated TAPS consortium was reorganized into the new incorporated Alyeska Pipeline Service Company . Former Humble Oil manager Edward L. Patton

13068-471: Was Alaska's first major commercially producing oil field, and it spurred the exploration and development of many others. By 1965, five oil and 11 natural gas fields had been developed. This success and the previous Navy exploration of its petroleum reserve led petroleum engineers to the conclusion that the area of Alaska north of the Brooks Range surely held large amounts of oil and gas. The problems came from

13189-522: Was a distinct change in the shape and function of the bullet during the first half of the 19th century, although experiments with various types of elongated projectiles had been made in Britain, America and France from the first half of the 18th century onwards. In 1816, Capt. George Reichenbach of the Bavarian army invented a rifled-wall musket using cylindro-conical ammunition. In 1826, Henri-Gustave Delvigne ,

13310-481: Was an improvement of Delvigne's design. The rifle barrel has a forcing plug in the breech of the barrel to mold the bullet into the rifling with the use of a special ramrod . While successful in increasing accuracy, it was difficult to clean. The soft lead Minié ball was first introduced in 1847 by Claude-Étienne Minié , a captain in the French Army. It was another improvement of the work done by Delvigne. The bullet

13431-467: Was by James Puckle and Kyle Tunis who patented them, where they were briefly used in one version of the Puckle gun . The early use of these in the black-powder era was soon discontinued because of the irregular and unpredictable flight patterns. Delvigne continued to develop bullet design and by 1830 had started to develop cylindro-conical bullets. His bullet designs were improved by Francois Tamisier with

13552-408: Was conical in shape with a hollow cavity in the rear, which was fitted with a small iron cap instead of a wooden plug. When fired, the iron cap forced itself into the hollow cavity at the rear of the bullet, thus expanding the sides of the bullet to grip and engage the rifling. In 1851, the British adopted the Minié ball for their 702-inch Pattern 1851 Minié rifle . In 1855, James Burton, a machinist at

13673-612: Was escorted back through the Northwest Passage by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the CCGS John A. Macdonald . Although the Manhattan transited the Northwest Passage again in the summer of 1970, the concept was considered too risky. In February 1969, before the SS Manhattan had even sailed from its East Coast starting point, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), an unincorporated joint group created by ARCO, British Petroleum , and Humble Oil in October 1968, asked for permission from

13794-409: Was exploited in anti-pipeline advertising, most notably when a picture of a forklift carrying several legally shot caribou was emblazoned with the slogan, "There is more than one way to get caribou across the Alaska Pipeline". The use of caribou as an example of the pipeline's environmental effects reached a peak in the spring of 1971, when the draft environmental statement was being debated. In 1902,

13915-589: Was fitted with an ice-breaking bow, powerful engines, and hardened propellers before successfully traveling the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Beaufort Sea. During the voyage, the ship suffered damage to several of its cargo holds, which flooded with seawater. Wind-blown ice forced the Manhattan to change its intended route from the M'Clure Strait to the smaller Prince of Wales Strait . It

14036-465: Was flatly rejected. The Alaska Federation of Natives , which had been created in 1966, hired former United States Supreme Court justice Arthur Goldberg , who suggested that a settlement should include 40 million acres (160,000 km ) of land and a payment of $ 500 million. The issue remained at a standstill until Alyeska began lobbying in favor of a Native claims act in Congress in order to lift

14157-443: Was for a 100-foot (30.5 m) wide right of way to build a subterranean 48-inch (122-centimeter) pipeline including 11 pumping stations. Another right of way was requested to build a construction and maintenance highway paralleling the pipeline. A document of just 20 pages contained all of the information TAPS had collected about the route up to that stage in its surveying. The Interior Department responded by sending personnel to analyze

14278-415: Was loaded into the barrel just resting upon the powder. Later, some sort of material was used as a wadding between the ball and the powder as well as over the ball to keep it in place, it held the bullet firmly in the barrel and against the powder. (Bullets not firmly set on the powder risked exploding the barrel, with the condition known as a "short start".) The loading of muskets was therefore easy with

14399-552: Was passed along to the appropriate committees of the U.S. House and Senate , which had to approve the right-of-way proposal because it asked for more land than authorized in the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 and because it would break a development freeze imposed in 1966 by former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall . Udall imposed the freeze on any projects involving land claimed by Alaska Natives in hopes that an overarching Native claims settlement would result. In

14520-647: Was put in charge of the new company and began to lobby strongly in favor of an Alaska Native claims settlement to resolve the disputes over the pipeline right of way. Opposition to construction of the pipeline primarily came from two sources: Alaska Native groups and conservationists . Alaska Natives were upset that the pipeline would cross the land traditionally claimed by a variety of native groups, but no economic benefits would accrue to them directly. Conservationists were angry at what they saw as an incursion into America's last wilderness. Although conservation groups and environmental organizations had voiced opposition to

14641-477: Was reached. Following the Native lawsuit to halt work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, this precedent was frequently mentioned in debate, causing pressure to resolve the situation more quickly than the 33 years it had taken for the Tlingits to be satisfied. Between 1968 and 1971, a succession of bills were introduced into the U.S. Congress to compensate statewide Native claims. The earliest bill offered $ 7 million, but this

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