The Allegheny Transportation Company was a
pipeline company that operated in the 1860s and 1870s as a bulk distributor of
crude oil. It became the Pennsylvania Transportation Company in 1872 upon merger with Commonwealth Oil & Pipe Company. The company gathered crude oil from the oil fields in
Northwest Pennsylvania and transported it via pipelines to railheads. It was the largest such company in the oil regions during this time, and was operated under the administration of Henry Harley. By 1871, it controlled 500 miles of pipelines in Northwest Pennsylvania.
State charter
A charter from the State of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
in 1864 gave the company a unique right to carry oil via pipelines to railroad yards.
Jay Gould's involvement
In 1868,
Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him ...
bought control of the company for $250,000 in an effort to gain increased rail traffic over the
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...
via the
Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad began as three separate railroads: the Erie and New York City Railroad based in Jamestown, New York; the Meadville Railroad based in Meadville, Pennsylvania (renamed A&GW in April 1858); and the Franklin and ...
. The Erie Railroad was competing for traffic with the
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
via the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...
and with the
Pennsylvania Railroad.
In a contract signed on June 4, 1868,
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
's firm (
Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler
Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was a business concern formed in 1867 in Cleveland, Ohio which was a predecessor of the Standard Oil Company. The principals and namesakes were John D. Rockefeller, William Rockefeller, Samuel Andrews, and Henry M. ...
) along with Cleveland's other two largest oil refiners - Clark, Payne & Company; and Westlake, Hutchins & Company - were given a 25% of the interest in the Allegheny Transportation Company in return for $1. This stock was worth $62,222.
On July 2, 1868, Jay Gould took control of the Erie Railroad. Gould's gift would help finance Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler through the next two lean years.
See also
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Oil City, Pennsylvania
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{Portal, Energy, Companies
Defunct oil companies of the United States
Standard Oil
Crude oil pipelines companies
Erie Railroad
Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania