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A guide to the Avon Refinery Crude Oil Shipping, Receiving and Handling Study and Utah Construction Company Dredge specifications,
1957, 1956
HDC1662 (SAFR 23819)
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Title: Avon Refinery Crude Oil Shipping, Receiving and Handling Study and Utah Construction Company Dredge specifications
Date: 1957, 1956
Identifier/Call Number: HDC1662 (SAFR 23819)
Originating agency ||Utah Construction Company:
Tidewater Oil Company
Utah Construction Company
Physical Description:
2 items
Repository:
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123
Abstract: The Avon Refinery Crude Oil Shipping, Receiving and Handling Study and Utah Construction Company Dredge specifications (SAFR-23819,
HDC 1662) consists of a report produced by the Bechtel Corporation, Refinery Division of San Francisco for the Tidewater Oil
Company about the feasibility and strategies for lightering deep draft super and hyper tankers in order to accommodate their
transit to the Avon Refinery located upstream of the Carquinez straits, and a specifications document produced by the Utah
Construction Company for a 30 foot hydraulic dredge driven by a steam turbo-electric plant.
Physical Location: San Francisco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department
Language(s):
In English.
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[Item description], [Location within collection organization identified by Collection Number/Series Number/File Unit Number/Item
Number], HDC1662 (SAFR 23819), Avon Refinery Crude Oil Shipping, Receiving and Handling Study and Utah Construction Company
Dredge specifications, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
SAFR-02213
Field Collection
Historical or Biographical Note
The Tidewater Oil company operated the Avon refinery in 1957, and the Utah Construction company purchased dredging machinery
in 1956.
In 1913, the Associated Oil Company, a small drilling and pipeline manufacturer owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad, built
a refinery at the point where the railroad crossed the Carquinez straits and where the Suisun bay empties into the larger
San Pablo bay, near the city of Martinez, California. The refinery was named the Avon refinery because it was located within
the Avon section of the Southern Pacific Railroad track system. The refinery was acquired in 1920 by the Pacific Oil Company
which expanded the operations in 1923 and 1924 to include the manufacture of gasoline. In 1931, the Avon refinery was purchased
by the Tidewater Oil Company, which was a subsidiary of J. Paul Getty's Standard Oil of California. In the mid 1950's, Tidewater
Oil needed a plan to deal with the advent of supertankers and hyper-tankers to transport oil and gasoline in and out of the
Avon refinery. These much larger draft vessels could enter San Francisco Bay, but not the shallower waters beyond the Carquinez
straits. The
plan involved a system of "lightering" the ships by offloading a portion of their cargo into smaller tankers thereby raising
the draft of the super-tankers sufficiently to allow them to continue to the wharf. This system, developed in 1957. is still
in effect and supertankers that have too deep a draft are "lightered" to this day.
The Utah Construction Company was founded in 1900 by Edmund Wattis and his three brothers to support the building of the Western
Pacific Railroad through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After the completion of the railroad route from Salt Lake City to Oakland,
California the company expanded to other construction projects and in 1931 was the leader of a six company conglomerate that
built the Hoover Dam. In 1942, the Utah Construction Company with US Army and contractor help built the 1,500 mile Alaskan
Highway in just seven months. In the early 1950's the company diversified into mining and dredging operations, and in 1955
signed a contract with the city of Alameda to fill in the tidal mud-flats beyond the old sea wall and created the area now
known as South Shore. In 1971 the company changed its name to Utah International, merging with General Electric in 1976. In
1984 the company's assets were sold to a multinational conglomerate (BHP) and the company ceased to exist.
The Avon Refinery Crude Oil Shipping, Receiving and Handling Study and Utah Construction Company Dredge specifications (SAFR-23819,
HDC 1662) consists of a report produced by the Bechtel Corporation, Refinery Division of San Francisco for the Tidewater Oil
Company about the feasibility and strategies for lightering deep draft super and hyper tankers in order to accommodate their
transit to the Avon Refinery located upstream of the Carquinez straits, and a specifications document produced by the Utah
Construction Company for a 30 foot hydraulic dredge driven by a steam turbo-electric plant.
The Avon Refinery study, produced in 1957, was created at a time when the Tidewater Oil Company was considering expansion
options at the plant and contains maps, charts, tables, drawings, foldouts, economic data and narrative studies of recommendations
for the problems of lightering ships in the channel prior to their transit up to the existing wharf facilities. The 117 page
report is contained in a three posted cardboard binder with seven tabbed sections labeled as follows: (1) General; (2) Shipping;
(2.6) Charts; (3) Receiving; (3.7) Drawings & Charts; (4) Handling Facilities; and (4.7) Drawings & Charts.
The Utah Construction Company Dredge specifications is a 133 page document created in 1956, that lists in detail the company's
requirements for a dredge to be built by a contractor. The document was bound at the top margin with an Acco clip and a cover
and is divided into 15 tabbed sections labeled as follows: Addendums; Dredge Hull; Turbo Generator; Condenser; Small Pumps;
Machinery; Boiler; Heat Exchanger; Deaerator; Distilling Plant; Duplex Fuel Oil Pumps; Electrical Equipment; Pneumatic Controls;
Swing and Spud Hoists; and Gear Reducers.
Each report in a single folder
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Dredging.
Associated Oil Company
Tidewater Oil Company
Utah Construction Company
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
Official reports
Corporation reports
Economic development