Re: Gramps oil

During the time that I seemed welcome in Chama, I developed a fascination with the Gramps operation, and I enjoyed sharing this information with the RR visitors.

In 2001 Howard Bunte' and I spent a good part of a day emancipating the loading dock from a healthy growth of volunteer aspen and cottonwood trees.

It seemed natural for Doris Osterwald to convey her geologist perspective by sharing an interesting description of the Gramps enterprise in her TICKET TO TOLTEC writings.

The Gramps field was relatively small, about 100 acres, but very prolific.
Ms. Osterwald indicates that about 1200 to 1300 barrels per day were produced during the early 1940's. That would certainly create a lot of tank car loadings to take to Alamosa. She wrote that the refinery closed in 1963, so that no doubt would have been the end of the Chama rack car loadings.

I think that one of the more interesting aspects about the Gramps operation was the pipeline delivery system. The oil field was just NW of the Continental Divide, so the pipeline was designed to allow the product to gravity flow from the elevation peak, all the way to Chama. Reportedly the crude had a high asphalt fraction and lacking compression heating from pumping stations, the oil would congeal during winter temperatures, so to facilitate downhill flow, the pipeline was encased in a wooden box that was filled with sawdust for insulation.

I don't know how many miles of pipeline was enclosed. Perhaps Rich Muth can add insight.

In any event, this little tidbit of American ingenuity always seemed to be of interest to Chama visitors