there were twenty-seven independent refineries in this section.
Archbold began buying and leasing these establishments for his
Acme Company, and in about four years practically every one had
passed under his control. The Acme Company was merely a
subsidiary of the Standard Oil. These rapid purchasing campaigns
gave the Standard ninety per cent of all the refineries in the
United States, but Rockefeller's scheme comprehended more than
the acquisition of refineries. In the main the Rockefeller group
left the production of crude oil in the hands of the private
drillers, but practically every other branch of the business
passed ultimately into their hands. Both the New York Central and
the Erie railroads surrendered to the Standard the large oil
terminal stations which they had maintained for years in New
York. As a consequence, the Standard obtained complete
supervision of all oil sent by railroad into New York, and it
also secured the machinery of a complete espionage system over
the business of competitors. The Standard acquired companies
which had built up a large business in marketing oil. Even more
dramatic was its success in gathering up, one after another,
these pipe lines which represented the circulatory system of the
oil industry. In the early days these pipe lines were small and
comparatively simple affairs. They merely carried the crude oil
from the wells to railroad centers; from these stations the
railroads transported it to the refineries at Cleveland, New
York, and other places. At an early day the construction and
management of these pipe lines became a separate industry. And
now, in 1873, the Standard Oil Company secured possession of a
one-third interest in the largest of these privately owned
companies, the American Transfer Company. Soon afterward the
United Pipe Line Company went under their control. In 1877 the