Rockefeller’s Enormous Business Empire
The newly formed Standard Oil Trust was massive. It had control over 20,000 oil wells in the United States, shipping products through pipelines the company-owned, which exceeded 4,000 miles in length. It also evaded rentals on railroad equipment by owning 5,000 tanker cars, along with fleet boxcars, hoppers, and private passenger cars (for its executives).
John D. Rockefeller Sr. circa early 1930s. Photo by Everett Collection / Shutterstock
At its height, the company was responsible for 90% of the refined petroleum products around the world. That number began to decrease slowly during the 1880s and 1890s. At the turn of the 20th century, it dropped to about 80%. The transparency was due to Rockefeller’s growing awareness of the hostility and resentment his dominance of the oil industry was causing, and how he planned to alter the public depiction of his company.