john d. rockefeller. standard oil company was an industrial empire that controlled 90% of america's oil production and 85% of its sales. standard bought pacific at the turn-of-the-century. in 1901, the richmond refinery in san francisco bay was completed. now the west coast had its own supply of gasoline, lubricants, and petroleum products. in 1907, standard oil opened its first drive-in gas station in seattle. but the u.s. government dubbed standard oil too powerful and accused it of running an illegal monopoly. a supreme court ruling in 1911 broke it into 34 parts. one, standard oil of california, or socal, borrowed three v-shaped stripes from a sergeant's uniform and turned them into a brand -- chevron. in the 1930's, socal discovered oil in bahrain and saudi arabia. they formed a marketing venture with texaco called caltex. this was the pre-opec era, when seven private oil companies, the seven sisters, controlled most of the productions. in 1984, with big players starting to consolidate, socal bought

john d. rockefeller made their fortunes and started monopolies but we could do it. we could envision that big project because we were envisioning the growth of the u.s. >> yes. >> from coast to coast. and how do you use that coast to coast territory? you're not going to connect it by stagecoach. >> no. >> the railroad connected it. it made it possible for farmers to shift their products east to get foods many. coming back west, it made it possible for settlements to spring up. you know that well as your time as secretary of transportation. >> yes. >> every time you put in a transit stop you get economic growth. >> yes. >> people build around that. so we did it then, as i was going to say, it has lessons for today, it wasn't all that easy. it did take a leader who managed to forge coalitions and get political will. we had other big interstate highways were big, really big. like the transcontinental railroad. it had a defense rationale and it was a big, bold project. it was 41,000 miles of highways and a huge price tag. >> that's right. >> it opened up all kinds of op