A landmark tool in man's conquest of energy. This compressor went into use in Culberson County, Tex., on Oct. 1, 1931, and served until 1969, aiding in the rise of the southwest as an industrial empire. This was the first compressor transmission engine at the number one transmission station of El Paso natural gas company, founded in 1928 by Paul Kayser, a Houston attorney. The pioneer transmission station of the El Paso natural gas company was one of the earliest in the permian basin. A cooper-bessemer type 19, this machine is an 800-horsepower horizontal tandem reciprocating compressor engine. Equipped with two 10 1/4-inch by 24-inch gas compressor cylinders, it weigh about 173,000 pounds. It served under load for 152,064 hours, compressing more than 144 billion cubic feet of natural gas in its working lifetime. It conveyed production from fields at Jal, N. M., and in Winkler County, Tex., to city of El Paso and southern New Mexico and Arizona. It was the first machine of its kind in a system that expanded into 22,000 miles of forwarding lines furnishing low-cost energy for industries and households in eleven western states.
El Paso Natural Gas Company's First Compressor Transmission Engine
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El Paso Natural Gas Company's First Compressor Transmission Engine is a historical marker in Odessa, Ector County, dedicated in 1970. It is one of 37 historical markers documented in Ector County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 39 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 31.8853, -102.3885 near Odessa. The nearest cataloged historic site is Permian Basin (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Cable Tool Rig, Odessa College, and Mrs. John L. Morris (Marjorie).
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5135001434. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
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