President of the Empire Transportation Company. Leader in the struggle between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Standard Oil Company in 1877. Entered as a civil engineer; superintendent of the PRR's Mountain Division and eventually controlled the line's Philadelphia and Erie Rail Road. In 1861, appointed to Governor's Curtin's staff as a Lieutenant-Colonel and chief of Pennsylvania's transportation and telegraph departments. After the Civil War, he became president of both the Empire Line, a fast freight business owned by the PRR, as well as the Erie and Western Transportation Company, a large fleet of Great Lakes steamers. -The History of The Standard Oil Company. The Empire Transportation Company: Organized in 1865 to build up an east and west freight traffic via the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad.