Now for a little history.

Rocky Mountain Oil: 1875 - 1913

The company millions called Conoco began in 1875 as the Continental Oil and Transportation Co., one of the first petroleum marketers in the West. Isaac Elder Blake, Conoco's founder, observed that townspeople in Ogden, Utah, still used candles and whale oil to light their homes. Although kerosene was available, hauled by the case from a primitive refinery in Colorado, it was too expensive for the thrifty pioneers. Blake figured if kerosene were imported from eastern refineries by railroad tank cars and sold in bulk, prices would drop and demand would rise. Continental was formed to capitalize on this idea. On November 25, 1875, the Continental Oil and Transportation Company was born.
Two tank cars were purchased to transport refined kerosene to Ogden, and, later, to oil storage stations built along rail lines in several Western states. At the stations, the kerosene was measured into barrels, hoisted upon horse-drawn wagons and delivered to area general stores for sale. Business was brisk, and Blake invested the profits into more tank cars, wagons and bulk stations.
Looking for a way to sell kerosene in bustling San Francisco, Blake directed the construction of the first pipeline in California, from a railroad station in Pico (near Santa Clarita) to Ventura, where the oil was loaded onto steamers sailing to the Golden Gate. New products were introduced, including benzene to clean stoves, candles, ready-mixed paints, hoof oil for horses and even a popular medicinal ointment.
Continental later sold birthday candles, beaded and fringed kerosene lamps and paraffin chewing wax, bubblegum having yet to be invented. Blake was blessed with unmatched ingenuity. He even patented a five-gallon oilcan positioned on a rocker so customers needn't lift the heavy container - the first ergonomically designed dispenser!
Standard Oil took control of Continental in 1885, relinquishing it in 1913 upon order by the U.S. Supreme Court. By then, Continental was the top marketer of petroleum products in the Rocky Mountain region, much of its output refined into gasoline as automobiles took to the road in greater number. Continental built the West's first filling station in 1909, and invested in a fleet of delivery trucks, each with three tanks to deliver different types of fuel. Later fuel facilities even sported glass cylinders so customers could see the fuel as it was pumped.
Over the next 20 years, the company built more than 1,000 service stations in 15 states, each emblazoned with the trademark Continental soldier. It eased its way into the production and refining of crude oil, merging with several other producers, but always retaining the name, Continental Oil. One of them was an upstart company in the unlikeliest of places - Ponca City, Oklahoma. Together, they would take on the whole industry.


Wanted: Conoco, Marland, Eason, Cliff Brice, Speedway and Oval E stuff!