The Tidewater Pipeline was built in 1886 as a long-distance line carrying crude oil 109 miles from western Pennsylvania to refineries in New Jersey, where the oil went on to fuel factories and lubricate the machines of the world’s burgeoning industries. Its story reflected both the creativity and ruthlessness of American industrialists, as independent oil companies used the pipeline in an effort to bypass railroads dominated by John D. Rockefeller and move their oil to market. Although the pipeline idea succeeded, the companies did not, because Rockefeller cut prices, forced out his competition, bought the pipeline, and then raised prices again. Extended into Illinois, the line carried an average of 11,000 barrels of oil a day through two six-inch pipes. Samuel Rice worked as a watchman after it was built, able in an emergency to turn off the valve at either end of the bridge from his house, which stood five miles from the nearest house, and Ethel Rice Jenkins recalled crossing the creaking 365-foot bridge to catch the train for school in Mauch Chunk, a trip made especially dangerous in winter by ice and snow. No longer used for oil, the line now carries fiber optics for modern communication technologies.