Pacific Intermountain Express (P.I.E.) Rolling In At Sunset

Pacific Intermountain Express (P.I.E.) got their start in 1927 when the Lilenquest brothers began providing freight service in Idaho, running two Model A trucks between Pocatello to Idaho Falls. The company grew steadily, but P.I.E finally took shape after procuring three other firms and consolidating them in 1940. By 1946 P.I.E had 535 employees and was growing rapidly through ongoing acquisitions in the late 1940s and 1950s. With the purchase of West Coast Freight and System Tank Lines in 1954, P.I.E became the largest hauler of petroleum products in the world. Service now extended from the West Coast all the way to St. Louis and Chicago. By the mid 1960s, P.I.E extended service to the East Coast through more acquisitions, giving them 67 terminals in 29 states. In 1973 the company was purchased by IU International, and in 1983 merged with another carrier, forming P.I.E Nationwide. By 1989, loses were staggering, and the company was sold again. Loses continued, and in 1990 P.I.E. filed bankruptcy and an attempt to scale back operations failed, leaving one of America’s most famous common carriers closing their doors forever.