SPECIAL NOTE

Those readers who desire a somewhat more detailed view of the country covered by the reconnaissance than that given in the summary, but who do not wish to read the entire report are advised to read the following paragraph and then turn to strip maps No.2 and No. 3, These maps are marked with reference numbers to the photographs showing where they were taken, and an effort has been made to make the captions of the pictures reasonably complete by themselves.

SCOPE OF RECCONNAISSANCE

The reconnaissance covered by this reporto which was made by Oscar Wolfe and S. P. Johnson can be divided into two main parts. The first was a trip by automobile along the eastern 600 miles of the original route into Palestine, as vwell as a considerable portion of the alternate proposed route into Aqaba. The second part was a reconnaissance by air along the entire Aqaba route including the proposed connections from Aqaba to Suez, El Arish, and Gaza. Mr. W.R. Chandler participated with Wolfe and Johnson in the secornd, or aerial part of this reconnaissance, and he and Wolfe also made a preliminary survey of the pipe line routes from Suez to Alexandria and to Port Fuad by automobile after Johnson had left for New York to make a preliminary report. A third possible pipe line route into Egypt, south of the Great Nefud, (Route C on Map No.1) came up for discussion during the work and in actually the route favored by the Egytian Government, No reconnaissanceof this route was made by Wolf and Johnson, but Chandler and Bramkamp later examined a portion of the west end of this route by air and it will be referred to briefly in this report, although it will be covered more completely in an additional report by Chandler.

PURPOSE OF RECONNAISSANCE

In 1944 and 1945 an engineering committee headed by W. Burt Hull made a reconnaissance of the proposed Trans-Arabian pipe line mostly by air, and recommended that it be routed into Palestine or Lebanon. This route vas considerably shorter than any route into Egypt and appeared entirely feasible from a construction standoint. The findings of this cmommittee are incorporated in the pipeline "Prospectus" which was published on May 31, 1945. This engineering committee did not actually reconnoiter any line into Egypt, since available maps showed that it would be more difficult as well as longer.

In the early part of 1946, however, events brought the question of an alternate route for the line up for further consideration. In the first place, the Egytian Government, which previously not displayed any particular desire to have the pipe line terminate in their country, began to show an active interest in the project, and expressed willingness to make various concessions if the pipe line terminus could be secured for Egypt. In the second place, the management of the Trans-Arabian Pipe Line Company began to consider the possibility of building a short pipe line perhaps from the Gulf of Aqaba to El Arish on the Mediterranean, as a first step preceeding the construction of the main Trans-Arabian line. Such a line would, if feasible, imediately secure about half the saving in transportation cost offered by the main project and it was the thought that it could be completed much more quickly, If a route from Abqaiq or Dhahran to Aqaba was feasible the short line could ultimately be incorporated, into the main project. At the same