One of the projects that extended beyond Peterson's borders in the 1970s was the support of the Alaska Pipeline. A coalition of oil companies set up a special construction company called SOHIO to furnish housing for the people that would run the oil operations on the North Slope once the pipeline was done. The company built prefabbed buildings at their facilities in Seattle and Alameda, CA. During six weeks each fall, they would transport the prefabbed structures by barge to Prudhomme Bay. That was the only time the ice melted long enough for them to get in there.

Peterson built the transport systems that SOHIO used to move their prefabbed buildings into place. Peterson reconditioned the under-carriage assemblies and built new bolsters - the oscillating part that goes between the transport and the building. The buildings were placed on 2 tracked module trasporters each, the largest capable of carrying up to 2,000 tons.

Pictured: Machinist Glenn Handley bores out the giant tracks on Peterson's G&L Mill in the San Leandro shop.

Every year, the machines came back down for maintenance until the next fall when they moved the next series of buildings out. Peterson would take the undercarriages apart and refurbish them because the application was so harsh.

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