Can You Dig It?

It's been said that English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was fond of burying his treasure. Active up and down the Atlantic coast in the 18th century, he is rumored to have hid his plunder in many spots from the Carolinas to Long Island - even in New Jersey. I'm sure the crew from New Jersey American Water wasn't thinking about pirates when they began digging on Route 206 near McDonald's on Thursday - and they surely didn't find any treasure!

What they did find, and accidentally rupture, was a two inch gas line - causing the closure of Route 206 and the evacuation of nearby businesses for several hours in the middle of the day. What happened? Wasn't their map marked with an "X"?

Small gas lines are only one of the many utilities buried all over New Jersey. Dig almost anywhere and you are likely to find water and sewer pipes, electric, cable television, and telephone lines, and even the new fiber-optic cables.

Hillsborough is unique because besides all of the usual pipes and wires we are also home to two major pipelines vital to the nation's energy supply. The Buckeye Pipeline carries oil from New Jersey's oil refineries westward to Pittsburgh and Buffalo. This pipeline runs right through the center of Hillsborough, paralleling New Amwell Road, and ironically is only several yards away from the small gas line ruptured by the water company.

The second pipeline is the Texas Eastern natural gas pipeline. In the map below it is easy to see scarred earth as the pipeline crosses the Sourland Mountain, heads for Mountainview Road, crosses Route 206 and continues eastward.


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This pipeline is part of the system of Big Inch and Little Inch pipelines that were originally built during World War II to carry crude oil from the Texas oil fields to the New Jersey refineries. This was far safer than shipping by tanker, where there was a major risk from German submarines. After the war, the pipeline was re-fitted to be used for natural gas - and still serves that purpose today.

No, Blackbeard never visited Hillsborough - and never buried any treasure here. But I think it's safe to say that the oil and gas flowing beneath our feet is worth considerably more than any old chest filled with silver or gold - even if there is no "X" to mark the spot.