PETROLEUM PIPE-LINES. 



191 



of the pipe at the joints would cause a leak, and to this 

 cause was due the failure of the scheme. Mr. Hutch- 

 inson was a firm believer in the eventual success of this 

 manner of transporting oil, but although he continued 

 his experiments two years longer he was unable to over- 

 come the mechanical difficulties. 



The first successful pipe-line was laid by Samuel Van 

 Syckle, of Morris co., N. J. Early in the history of 

 petroleum developments he went to Titusville. He 

 struck an important well at Pithole, and as he was 

 compelled to pay the teamsters $1500 dollars per day 

 to haul his oil to Miller's farm, a distance of five miles, 

 he determined to improve on Hutehinson's experi- 

 ments with pipes as a means of transporting his oil. 

 In 1 865, having conceived the idea of joining the pipes 

 with a screw and thimble, he carried it out on a line of 

 four miles in length from Pithole to Miller's farm. The 

 pipe was laid two feet under ground, and as an ascent 

 of 600 feet had to be overcome the feat was declared 

 impossible of accomplishment. When all was com- 

 pleted the pumps were started, and soon a steady 

 stream of oil was pouring into the tanks at the other 

 end of the line, proving the pipe-line theory a success 

 and marking the beginning of a new era in petroleum 

 transportation. The teamsters realized that pipe-lines 

 would prove the ruin of their business and, determin- 

 ing to resist the encroachments of the new invention, 

 tore up the pipe-line as fast as Van Syckle could relay 

 it. but he placed armed watchmen along his line, and 

 after many sanguinary conflicts between the teamsters 

 and the pipe-line men the former finally abandoned 

 their hostile endeavors to check the march of progress. 

 In the fall of the same year Henry Harley, a civil en- 

 gineer, a graduate of the Troy Polytechnic School, 

 began the construction of a pipe-line from Benninghpff 

 run to Shaffer farm, which he completed in the spring 

 following, and secured control of the Van Syckle line. 

 Later, the firm of Abbot & Harley purchased enough 

 of the Western Transportation Company's stock to 

 control the charter, and organized under it the Alle- 

 gheny Transportation Company. 



The first effort to construct a pipe-line to the sea- 

 board was made by Henry Harley. In 1875 he pro- 

 cured a charter for a company known as the Pennsyl- 

 vania Transportation Company, which was authorized 

 to construct a pipe-line from the oil regions of Penn- 

 sylvania to tidewater. The plan was generally regarded 

 as the extravagant idea of a disordered brain, but was 

 pronounced feasible by eminent engineers, and ample 

 support being given, the transportation company built 

 lines in the producing regions, but later the company 

 was absorbed by a rival. As early as 1877 the oil re- 

 gions were traversed by ten pipe-lines belonging to as 

 many different companies, ana competition to secure 

 the carrying trade reduced the rates to such an extent 

 that the business was no longer profitable. The cer- 

 tificates issued by these companies to the producers, 

 which were equivalent to warehouse receipts, had only 

 a local value, while the solvency of some of them was 

 openly questioned. At this time the pipe-lines were 

 dealers as well as custodians and carriers of oil, and as 

 I were inevitable under the system then in vogue, 

 of the companies were crowded out, entailing 

 heavy losses on the producers. The situation became 

 more and more complicated and uncertain, and it ap- 

 jicared that the solving of the transportation problem 

 had but brought new difficulties. This was the situa- 

 tion when the United Pipe-Lines Company was or- 

 ganized, and relief followed quickly. The certificates 

 of' the new concern became known as representing the 

 oil actually held in stock, and became negotiable in all 

 the principal trade centres, where their value and 

 safety have never been questioned. At this time all the 

 crude oil transported from the oil regions to New York, 

 Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburg, and Baltimore was 

 by railroad in tank cars. Following the consolidation 

 and the organization of the United Pipe-Lines Com- 

 pany sprang up others in various sections of the oil 



regions, but most of these were later purchased by the 

 larger company or abandoned. At the end of 1888 the 

 principal pipe-line companies are the National Transit 

 Company, the successor of the United Pipe-Lines 

 Company, and the Tidewater Pipe Company. There 

 are several others having a local importance only, but 

 their certificates are not sold in open market. 



The construction of the long distance pipe-lines was 

 commenced in 1 880 by the United Pipe-Lines Company. 

 The principal lines constructed were the Seaboard line, 

 which extends from Olean, N. Y., to Saddle River, 

 N. J., a distance of 300 miles ; the Pennsylvania line, 

 extending from Colegrove, Pa., to Philadelphia, the 

 distance Deing 280 nifles. The Baltimore line extends 

 from Milway Station, on the Pennsylvania line, to Bal- 

 timore, the distance being 70 miles. The Cleveland 

 line begins at Billiards, Pa., and extends to Cleveland, 

 0., a distance of 100 miles. The Pittsburg line ex- 

 tends from Carbon Centre, Pa., to Pittsburg, and is 60 

 miles long. The Buffalo line runs from Four Mile, 

 Oattaraugus co., to Buffalo, and is 70 miles long^. 

 There are also several shorter supply lines in the oil 

 regions which convey the oil to the several stations as 

 required. The Seaboard line is a double conduit of 

 6-inch pipe and extends to the refineries at Bayonne, 

 N. J., while a branch line crossing the Hudson River 

 to Nsw York city passes through Central Park at 64th 

 street, across the city to the East River, and across 

 that stream to the refineries at Hunter's Point and 

 Newtown Creek on Long Island. There are in the oil 

 regions of Pennsylvania and New York between 3000 

 and 4000 miles of iron pipe, which form a complete 

 network of feeders to the mains or trunk-lines, taking 

 the oil from the tanks at the wells and delivering it at 

 the several stations. At the termini of the trunk- 

 lines, and at the numerous stations, there are immense 

 storage tanks with a capacity varying from 10,000 bar- 

 rels to 38,000 barrels. Some of these huge tanks are 

 of wood, but by far the greater number are made of 

 boiler-iron. The standard adopted a few years since 

 has a capacity of 30,000 barrels, is made of best 

 boiler-iron, weighing about 80 tons, is 30 feet high and 

 has a diameter of 86 feet. 



The principal pipe-lines have no marked or important 

 features differing the one from the other, although the 

 topography of the country traversed varies greatly. A 

 description of one only is therefore sufficient. The 

 most important line has its oil region terminus at Olean, 

 Cattaraugus co., N. Y., which has an elevation of 

 about 1 500 feet above the sea-level. The line consists 

 of two 6-inch wrought-iron pipes, tested to bear a 

 pressure of 2000 pounds to the square inch. These 

 pipes are screwed together at the joints with couplings 

 as are the ordinary gas pipes. In order that the pipes 

 and the oil shall not be affected by every change in 

 temperature and to partially overcome the extremes 

 of heat in summer and of cold in winter, the pipes are 

 buried under the surface of the ground to an average 

 depth of about two feet. The pipes are laid in as 

 nearly a straight line as possible, and follow the con- 

 tour of the country, up hill and down, through forests, 

 across swamps, through the streets of towns and vil- 

 lages, under rivers, across cultivated fields in a straight 

 line to tide-water. At one point in Alleghany county 

 the line overcomes an elevation of nearly 1300 feet 

 within a distance of 4 miles. The route is along the 

 southern boundary of the State of New York, through 

 the counties of Cattaraugus, Alleghany, Steuben, Che- 

 mung, Tioga, Broome, Delaware, Sullivan, and Or- 

 ange, and across the north-eastern portion of the State 

 of New Jersey through Sussex, Morris, Passaic, Ber- 

 gen, and Hudson counties. At central points in the 

 valleys along the- line the pumping stations are located. 

 These stations consist of permanent buildings, a boiler- 

 house and a pump-house, which contains the necessary 

 machinery for pumping the oil, also a telegraph office. 

 At each station are also located two or more of the 

 immense iron storage tanks already described. In the 



