A Tulsa pipeline company found a second use for its empty pipes: it pulled fiber optic cable through them. The Williams Companies started doing this in 1985. By 1999 its communications arm planned 33,120 route miles of fiber linking 125 cities by the end of 2000. Carriers across America were racing to lay new fiber. Williams Communications went public that October to pay for its share of the race.

Pipes Full of Light

Pipeline rights of way were the hard part of building a long-haul network, and Williams already owned thousands of miles of them. The communications unit sold voice, data, internet and video services over its network. It also sold rights to unlit "dark" fiber to other carriers. Alongside the offering, SBC Communications, Intel and Telefonos de Mexico agreed to invest at least $725 million at the IPO price. Network centers in Tulsa and St. Louis watched the lines around the clock.

Seven Billion in Debt

The shares priced at $23 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as WCG in October 1999. The Williams Companies kept about 85 percent of the stock. Then the telecom boom turned to a glut of fiber and falling prices. Williams Communications filed for Chapter 11 on April 22, 2002, owing $7.15 billion. The old shares were canceled. The company emerged on October 15, 2002 as WilTel Communications, with Leucadia National holding about 44 percent of the new equity.

Cover: Central Pacific Railroad, California, from the series "Central Pacific Railroad, California", Alfred A. Hart. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a railroad line cut across the West (a long-haul route).