Dorchester Times: Pipeline Nearing Saline County

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Pipeline Nearing Saline County

Reminiscent of the grand public works projects of the Great Depression era, the $5.2 billion Keystone Oil Pipeline is an impressive private-sector investment that will ultimately stretch from Alberta, Canada to Pavoka, Ill. And it will soon be passing through Saline County. According to a story in today's Beatrice Sun, the project is helping create local Nebraska jobs in the struggling economy -- and Dorchester-area businesses may benefit from the large crews coming our way.

The Sun reports: "Keystone spokesman Jeff Rauh said the Nebraska-based crew (with 500 workers), headquartered in Lincoln, is in the process of heading south into Saline County and Jefferson County in the upcoming weeks. 'At this point, we’ve got the leading crews who are installing temporary gates and fences and doing some clearing of trees and brush,' Rauh said." According to the story, "earlier summer rains had slowed progress somewhat, but recent dry weather has allowed the pace to quicken."

The amount of workers in the area is bound to make an impact economically, Rauh said.“With a crew of 500 based out of Lincoln, some of these folks are traveling every day, but others are staying closer,” Rauh said. Rauh said workers may be staying in hotels, eating at restaurants or stopping at convenience stores -- all of which stimulates the local economy.“It certainly is a significant, temporary workforce in the local area,” Rauh added.

4 comments:

Mrs. CASPJuly 14, 2009 at 8:26 PM
Not everyone is happy with the pipeline. Please read the July 8th edition of the Wilber Republican. A local attorney representing "Landowners for Fairness" appeared before the Saline County Commissioners on June 24th. Concerns ranged from people who are not real estate agents obtaining easements from landowners to possible pipeline leaks. The article is on the back page.
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Mrs. CASPJuly 14, 2009 at 9:18 PM
I have to add a follow-up to my previous post. Another article on the last page of the Wilber Republican outlines the findings of a study published in the Canadian Journal of Soil Science. Crop yields and heights as well as soil chemical properties on and immediately adjacent to an oil pipeline right-of-way were monitored over a 10 year period. With the exception of alfalfa-field crop yields on the row were reduced by an average of 28% 10 years after installation.
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AnonymousJuly 15, 2009 at 9:41 AM
I strongly suggest those landowners, most of who got the land given to them by their daddies and are getting paid by the pipeline company, should quit complaining. They are a bunch of NIBY types. If they don't like oil pipelines and they money they are getting, they should do the following:

1.) Give back the money they get from the pipeline company.

2.) Pay more property taxes to the county since this project is reportedly going to bring more to the county coffers.

3.) Start walking everywhere and quit using oil (for driving, irrigation, farm chemicals, etc.)
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AnonymousJuly 15, 2009 at 4:17 PM
I could not agree more with Anonymous!!!!!
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."