Then and Now: Inland Empire Refinery

As trains gave way to automobile travel and truck shipments in the 1920s and ’30s, and the demand for gasoline grew, an oil refinery was constructed north of Hillyard. William McIntyre of the Wasatch Oil Refining Co. of Salt Lake City and investor Joe Drumheller of Spokane put up $500,000 for the facility on land owned by the Great Northern Railway.

After delays caused by negotiations with the pipefitters union, construction began in 1938 and the refinery began operating in early 1939. Driving the project was the burgeoning oil field in Cut Bank, Montana, and Spokane’s central location for distribution. Crude also came from Wyoming.

By the end of 1939, the plant was on pace to process 6,000 train cars of crude a year. The fuel would be marketed locally under the brand Washington Chief gasoline, and as Idaho Chief and Oregon Chief in neighboring states. At the start of World War II, production ramped up to more than 11,000 train cars a year.

More than half of all production went to the armed forces. “That may explain why, even with the increased production here, there is frequently a gasoline shortage in the Spokane area,” plant superintendent A.G. Coppins said in 1943. The furious production of the war years led to new exploration and behind-the-scenes wrangling for control of oil wells, refineries and other facilities.

Inland Empire Refineries bought Montana Headlight Oil Refinery, also in Hillyard. Outside investors tried to buy enough stock to take over Inland but couldn’t quite pull it off.

There was talk of a pipeline from Cut Bank to Spokane. Wasatch Oil, already associated with the Inland Empire ownership, took over the Hillyard operation in 1947. Wasatch, which had dozens of facilities around the region, merged with Phillips Petroleum in 1949.

Two events dealt a blow to the Spokane refinery: CIO International Oilworkers union staged a strike in 1952, and interstate shipping rates went up 12 cents a barrel. Phillips shuttered the plant in 1953, laying off 75 employees.

Over the years, oil, gasoline and chemical additives were leaked or spilled at the site, and some reached the aquifer 150 feet below ground. After state and federal investigations, the refinery and other oil and railroad-related parcels were on the Superfund cleanup list of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Soil at the site was removed or capped and monitoring wells were installed. The refinery property is now a tank farm operated by Holly Energy Partners.