There are a lot of oil deposits in Alaska. Many years ago native people would cut chunks of tundra from the ground and burn it because it was soaked with oil and could provide fuel. Oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968. Because Prudhoe Bay is located north of the Arctic Circle, they knew that they would need to find a way to get the oil to a port that was ice free during the winter. They chose Valdez to be the end of the pipeline.

Before they could start building the pipeline, they needed to make a road because the pipeline was going to be built in the wilderness. They needed to be able to get to different places along the pipeline route. The road that they made was called the haul road. It is 360 miles long. It cost 150 million dollars to build the haul road. There were 29 camps along the road, and each was like a little city. 19 of the camps were major sites for the construction.

Building the pipeline was really hard because of the weather and the insects. The temperatures in the winter can get as cold as -60 degrees Fahrenheit. When the wind is blowing it can feel as cold as -115 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, there is no sunlight in the Arctic for 56 days. During the summer it can get warmer. It can get up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and it will be light for 24 hours a day. However, the mosquitoes and other insects can swarm around and annoy people.

Another problem that they had was the ground. The parts of the pipeline that go over permafrost had to have special supports to make sure that the pipeline wouldn't wiggle or move around when the ground thawed out in the summer. They also had to make sure that the parts of the pipeline under the ground would not freeze up. They made the pipeline in a zig zag design to help keep it from cracking in case of earthquakes.

The Alaskan pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez on Prince William Sound. The highest point is 4800 feet. The pipeline is 800 miles long. 11 pump stations were built to move the oil through the pipeline. There are 9.04 billion barrels of oil under the ground at Prudhoe Bay. Each part of the pipeline is 40 feet long. It weighs 1400 pounds. They are green and silver gray. The pipes were made in Japan.