The+Oil+Industry



Drake Oil Well (left) J.D. Rockefeller (center) Sherman Anti-Trust Act (right)

Shelby Priester & Steven Merchant The Oil Industry

1850~ Oil form hand-dug pits in California at Los Angeles id distilled to produce lamp oil by General Andres Pico. 1859~ First oil well in the United States is drilled 69ft deep at Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin drake. Known as the Drake Oil Well.

__J.D. Rockefeller__: Best known as the Standard Oil Tycoon and big-time philanthropist. - One of the wealthiest man in history - Was the founder of the Standard Oil Company - To some, he was known as an entrepreneurial hero, but to others, he was a greedy friend. - He started in the oil business, and by the end of the century, the Standard Oil Trust controlled so many other interests that it fell a foul of anti-trust laws. - In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court called Standard oil a monopoly and forced the trust to seperate into competing companies. - By that time Rockefeller was no longer involved in running the business, having devoted himself completely to philanthropy since 1896. - The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was named after John Sherman and was passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. - J.D. Rockefeller, together with his brother William, Henry M. Flagler and Samuel Andrews, established the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. This occurred while the petroleum refining industry was still highly decentralized, with more than 250 competitors in the U.S.

http://www.answers.com/topic/john-d-rockefeller http://www.sjgs.com/history.html http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/rockefeller/bio2.htm http://www.us-highways.com/sohist1999.htm http://www.linfo.org/standardoil.html

Questions: 1.) Who was J.D. Rockefeller? 2.) What was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act? 3.) How do you feel about the Standard oil monopoly? Was it a good thing or a bad thing? 4.) How deep was the first oil well? 5.) What year was the Standard oil monopoly banned?