Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Odessa Record subscriber Larry Fisher of Spokane continues his series of articles on the history of the Batum/Lauer area (where his wife, the former Joyce Kiesz, grew up)

Hi, here I am again.

9/10/1959 - TOR - The Odessa Chamber of Commerce has instituted action to get an extension of the present oiled road from Odessa to connect the missile site, a short distance.

12/3/1959 - TOR - Work started at Batum. Site is called "1A." Excavation will go down 165 feet. The number of men employed at the site should be between 150 and 200 at the peak of construction, expected next June. Project will take 28 months to complete, 15 months for the excavation and structural work. After that will come the installation of specialized mechanical equipment. This will be the second Titan installation ever built. The first is in the Denver, Colorado area, on which work began last April.

TOR - 4/7/1960 - Work continued - "round-the-clock" basis. Excavation work completed, second stage started. Some 350,000 yards of earth had been removed to allow the construction to be underground to start, all to be covered over when the project is completed.

The contractor who will start installing the equipment when the second stage work is completed, reported - the Equipment Contractor plans to place its men on the job for the three sites in 1961, starting with 106 in January, 184 by February, 230 by March, 299 by April, climbing to 1,069 in August. The peak will be reached in October 1961 with about 1,305 employed. In January, 1962, it is anticipated there will be 1,225 on the jobs, dropping to 467 by May, and by September a crew of 14 will be closing the company's work.

Until next time.

Your Relative,

Spokane