The development of pipelines to transport petroleum began soon after the discovery of the first oil well near Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. Samuel Van Syckel of Titusville laid the first successful pipeline in 1865; it ran for a distance of four miles and was buried two feet underground. The first pipeline company was organized in the late 1860s by Henry Harley, a Pennsylvanian, who supervised the construction of a two-inch line from the Pennsylvania oil fields to the Atlantic seaboard. It was not until the discovery of the prolific Glenn Pool field in Oklahoma in 1906-07, however, that the first long pipelines were laid. The remarkable output of the Glenn Pool resulted in the Texas Company, Gulf Oil, and Standard Oil (under the name of Oklahoma Pipeline Company) completing pipelines which reached from eastern Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast by 1910.

It was during these three companies' operations that many of the skills and customs associated with the work of pipe liners reached fruition.