Historical Markers
Marker Details
Name: Tidewater Pipe Co.
Region: Allegheny National Forest Region
County Location: Mckean
Marker Location: PA 446, .3 miles Southwest of Coryville
Dedication Date: August 09, 1949
Region: Allegheny National Forest Region
County Location: Mckean
Marker Location: PA 446, .3 miles Southwest of Coryville
Dedication Date: August 09, 1949
Marker Text
Opposite here was Station No. 1 of the first pipe line to carry oil across the Alleghenies. Built by an early competitor of Standard Oil, it began May 28, 1879, to pump oil 109 miles to Williamsport, Pa.
Opposite here was Station No. 1 of the first pipe line to carry oil across the Alleghenies. Built by an early competitor of Standard Oil, it began May 28, 1879, to pump oil 109 miles to Williamsport, Pa.
Behind the Marker
In Titusville in 1878, Byron Benson incorporated the Tidewater Pipe Company to build a pipeline to transport crude oil to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. An arrangement was made with the Reading Railroad to haul the crude in tank cars to Philadelphia and New York. By 1879 the line was completed. In 1882 it was extended to Bayonne, NJ. Benson's strategy was, in part, to bypass Standard Oil's dominance of the transportation market. The "Tidewater line", as it was known, was six inches in diameter, 109 miles long, and pumped oil over a mountain nearly 2600 feet high.
In Titusville in 1878, Byron Benson incorporated the Tidewater Pipe Company to build a pipeline to transport crude oil to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. An arrangement was made with the Reading Railroad to haul the crude in tank cars to Philadelphia and New York. By 1879 the line was completed. In 1882 it was extended to Bayonne, NJ. Benson's strategy was, in part, to bypass Standard Oil's dominance of the transportation market. The "Tidewater line", as it was known, was six inches in diameter, 109 miles long, and pumped oil over a mountain nearly 2600 feet high.
Beyond the Marker
Derrick's Hand-Book I (Oil City, PA: Petroleum Developments, 1898).
Harold F. Williamson and Arnold R. Daum, The American Petroleum Industry: The Age
Terry L. Hess, McKean County: Where the Gold is Green Pennsylvania Heritage
Derrick's Hand-Book I (Oil City, PA: Petroleum Developments, 1898).
Harold F. Williamson and Arnold R. Daum, The American Petroleum Industry: The Age
of Illumination, 1859-1899 (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1959).
Terry L. Hess, McKean County: Where the Gold is Green Pennsylvania Heritage
(9, 1 1983): 2-8.
