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One-hundred-fifty years ago, a man named Samuel Van Syckel built the nation's first commercial oil pipeline in the rugged terrain of northwestern Pennsylvania.

His pipeline transformed how oil is transported — and it would change the modern world, too — but not before a battle that makes the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline look meek by comparison.

In January 1865, the place where this all happened, called Pithole, was nowhere, really — just a patch of wilderness in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Then drillers struck gushers at three wells and everything changed.

Obama Vetoes Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Feb. 24, 2015

By September, an estimated 15,000 people moved to Pithole. And soon, Van Syckel had constructed his 5 1/2-mile pipeline.

A Place Called Pithole, And An Opportunity

Walking the snowy grounds of what used to be Pithole City, Sue Beates, curator of the nearby Drake Well Museum, points out the sites where old Methodist and Presbyterian churches once stood.

But there was more to Pithole than religious devotion, she explains. "There were hotels, a jewelry store, drug stores, houses of ill repute, lots of saloons, parlor dens of all sorts, billiard parlor dens — that sort of thing."

Before Van Syckel's pipeline, transporting oil cost as much as, or more than, the oil itself. He eventually lost his pipeline to the bank after making several unwise bets. Drake Well Museum/Courtesy of PHMC hide caption

itoggle caption Drake Well Museum/Courtesy of PHMC

Van Syckel had come to the region as an oil buyer, a middleman. Like everyone else, he was there to make his fortune. But there was a big obstacle to the Pithole boom.

"Once people were there, they discovered it was one thing to bring oil out of the ground — but it was an entirely different thing to try and get it to market," says Christopher Jones, a historian at Arizona State University.

"The main way oil was transported during the first several years of the industry was by teamsters," he says. But this was long before the labor union by the same name.

"These were men driving wagons pulled by horses, and they would collect the oil in large barrels — 300-pound barrels of oil — that they would load up on their wagons, and drag them over the various roads," Jones says.

Roads filled with up to two feet of mud, Beates notes. The work was incredibly tough, but the teamsters made it pay.

"They definitely had a monopoly on it," Beates says. "Oil was selling for maybe $5 a barrel, [$3] of which went to the teamsters."

So the cost of moving the oil was as much as, or more than, the oil itself. Van Syckel saw an opportunity.

"He had a mechanical aptitude and a vision for doing things that exceeded most of the other people who went there," Jones says.

By the summer of 1865, Van Syckel had raised $100,000 from a bank. Within five short weeks, he had built the nation's first pipeline.

Or to be more exact, the first oil pipeline that "didn't leak like a sieve," Beates adds.

Van Syckel's pipeline was wrought iron and 2 inches in diameter. That's tiny by today's standards, but it was an engineering marvel. One challenge, Jones says, was preventing ruptures.

"Making sure that the joints were securely enough welded that, even with the pressure to push the oil through the pipelines, that that pressure didn't split the pipes apart and ruin the pipeline," he says.

The topography along the route was also a challenge, Beates says.

"You can see the steep hills that it had to go over, which is why there were steam pumps to help push the oil up over the hills," she says. "Then it could gravity feed down the next [hill] and then steam-pump-pushed back up the next hill all the way to Miller Farm, to the railroad."

Sabotage, Threats And Fistfights

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Miller Farm, the terminus of Van Syckel's pipeline, in 1868. The oil was pumped to Miller Farm and then transported by railroad. Drake Well Museum/Courtesy of PHMC hide caption

itoggle caption Drake Well Museum/Courtesy of PHMC

Miller Farm, the terminus of Van Syckel's pipeline, in 1868. The oil was pumped to Miller Farm and then transported by railroad.

Drake Well Museum/Courtesy of PHMC

The engineering worked fine. But the teamsters — those rugged guys who hauled wooden barrels of oil with teams of horses — weren't too happy with Van Syckel's pipeline.

"So as soon as the pipeline was completed, several of the teamsters in the middle of the night went to various sections of the 5-mile pipeline and ripped it out of the ground and pulled the pipe apart so it stopped working," Jones says.

Beates adds, "They took pickaxes and horses and chains and pulled the pipe apart."

There were threats and fistfights, but Van Syckel rebuilt his pipeline. And this time, he enlisted the sheriff and his own security team.

"By hiring his own armed force to patrol the line, he ended up defeating the teamsters — and they stopped trying to sabotage his line," Jones explains.

And just like that, a new technology would make an entire line of work obsolete.

"It's estimated that 500 teamsters were put out of business in five weeks," Beates says.

Within a couple of years, she says, hundreds of pipelines crisscrossed western Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the American oil industry. "Wherever there was a big oil strike, there would be a pipeline to transport the oil to a railroad," Beates says.

And what about Van Syckel? After making some unwise bets, Jones says, he lost his pipeline to the bank. Later, the ingenious Van Syckel developed some new methods of refining oil.

But within a decade, someone else would emerge to dominate refining, pipelines, rail shipments — almost the entire oil industry. His name was John D. Rockefeller.

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An 82-year-old celibate Buddhist abbot from Cambodia has been diagnosed with HIV. His doctor was the cause: He was re-using syringes and infected a reported 272 individuals, including babies and children.

This horror story resonates around the world. More than two million people were infected in 2010 alone, according to the most recent World Health Organization research, with hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV because of injections with previously used syringes or needles. While data are not available for transmission of all diseases, unsafe needle practices could also put people at risk for bloodborne illnesses, such as Ebola and malaria, according to WHO.

And it happens in rich and poor countries alike.

This week, WHO launched a global campaign to tackle the problem of disease spread because of the re-use of contaminated needles.

The organization is recommending that countries adopt the use of safety-engineered syringes, or "smart" syringes, designed to prevent re-use. "With one injection, the new-style syringes disable themselves," says Dr. Selma Khamassi, the head of the WHO team for injection safety. "Some have a metal clip that blocks the plunger and you cannot pull it back to give another injection. Some have a weak point, so if you try to pull it back, it breaks." And some have a device, like a spring, that automatically retracts the needle after the plunger hits the bottom of the barrel.

About 70 manufacturers are beginning to make versions of the smart syringes. In low-income countries, where the problem of re-use is greatest, affordability is crucial. The cost of traditional syringes without safety features is about 3 to 4 cents each; a syringe that automatically disables itself when used ranges from 4 to 8 cents each. "They are moving toward affordability. Once the demand increases, the price will decrease," says Khamassi.

Indeed, cost is one reason that health workers in poor countries re-use needles or syringes. "When workers lack equipment, they feel obliged to re-use the same syringe," she says. Or some healthcare workers have the misconception that changing the needle tip while keeping the same syringe (which holds the medicine) is safe. "It is not," says Khamassi.

A third reason in developing countries is that low-paid health workers can re-use syringes to pick up extra income by giving injections outside their clinics or hospitals in what might be called a private practice of sorts, Khamassi said.

Re-use also happens in wealthy countries, including the United States, because of ignorance of safety procedures, laziness, lack of equipment or simple greed."Please don't think injection safety is an issue only in poor countries," says Khamassi.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 50 outbreaks in the U.S. since 2001 of hepatitis B and C as well as bloodborne diseases because health workers re-used needles, syringes or vials designed for single use. In other instances of re-use, there was no transmission of disease but patients had to be notified for possible testing. Examples include a urology clinic in Nevada using the same needle for prostate biopsies on more than one patient; a pediatric clinic in Denver re-using syringes to administer flu vaccines; a pain clinic in Los Angeles re-using syringes that exposed patients to hepatitis C; and a health fair in New Mexico that re-used finger stick devices to test for blood glucose levels.

Adding to the problem in some countries is a demand by patients for injections when oral medications work as well. "Some patients believe injections are more effective or work faster," says Khamassi. "Some people demand an injection for a fever or vitamin or antibiotic injections." Part of the WHO campaign is to educate communities and patients in order to reduce the number of unnecessary injections.

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Jordan's King Abdullah has faced delicate balancing act ever since he ascended the throne in 1999 following his father's death. His country shares borders with Iraq, Syria and Israel among others, and there always seems to be trouble in the neighborhood.

His latest challenge has been to persuade Jordanians that it's in the country's interest to play a prominent role in the U.S.-led coalition against the self-declared Islamic State.

Many Jordanians were skeptical if not outright opposed. But when they saw their pilot Moaz Kassasbeh killed on video by ISIS, they rallied behind the king.

The monarch even found support from critics like Dimah Tahboub, the spokesperson for the Islamic Action Front, a political party allied with Jordan's wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. The brotherhood, an Islamic social and political movement, is big and legal in Jordan.

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"This is the phase where we should unite our efforts with the government and with the regime because we thought that our country is threatened, our Islam is threatened, so we should stand united in the face of that," says Tahboub, who was educated at the University of Manchester in England.

The phase that she spoke of lasted less than a month.

Last week, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood was sentenced for remarks he posted on Facebook, attacking the United Arab Emirates. He was convicted of insulting a friendly government and received 18 months in prison.

"Our king speaks well, he promotes Jordan very good in Western communities," she says.

But for domestic opposition groups like her party, she says, things are not so good.

For example, the electoral system makes it impossible for a party to win many seats in parliament. In a more representative system, the Islamic Action Front could have real political power.

Some defenders of the status quo fear that if the front won power, Tahboub's party would reverse Jordan's pro-Western alignment.

So what does the party stand for?

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Dima Tahboub is the spokesperson for the Islamic Action Front, a group aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. The front is legal, but Jordan's political system limits its clout and the king has the final say on important matters. Art Silverman/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Art Silverman/NPR

Dima Tahboub is the spokesperson for the Islamic Action Front, a group aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. The front is legal, but Jordan's political system limits its clout and the king has the final say on important matters.

Art Silverman/NPR

"Our belief is not that radical. We believe in moderate Islam. There has to be a social contract between people. Making a woman wear the headscarf or preventing people from drinking liquor is not going to be our priority at that time," she says.

"Our priorities will be educating people, empowering people to rule themselves, to be free in their own countries," she adds.

She acknowledges that the party would like to see social measures, like a ban on alcohol, put on the ballot.

"If people agree to that, if we put that to the vote, and the majority of the Jordanian people say, 'OK, we want to prevent liquor in the country,' then that's democracy, that's their decision," she says. "Why does democracy [here] have to be different than democracy in the United States? If people agree and there's a consensus, well, let it be."

Asked about polygamy, a policy sanctioned by the Quran and practiced by some traditional Muslims, she says: "Polygamy is like other issues. They're not our priority to handle now. We should be interested more in human rights. We're suffering from all kinds of injustices."

"The West should appreciate that the Arab countries and the Muslim countries have their uniqueness," she adds. "If we meet, we meet as equals, but we have our differences."

i

Jordanians marched in the streets of the capital Amman on Feb. 6 to show solidarity with the family of a pilot killed by the Islamic State in Syria. Jordanians also expressed support for the king's decision to take part in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. Muhammad Hamed/Reuters/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Muhammad Hamed/Reuters/Landov

Jordanians marched in the streets of the capital Amman on Feb. 6 to show solidarity with the family of a pilot killed by the Islamic State in Syria. Jordanians also expressed support for the king's decision to take part in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

Muhammad Hamed/Reuters/Landov

As for the battle against ISIS in Syria, Tahboub's party supports retaliatory airstrikes against ISIS, provided they don't kill innocent civilians. But when it comes to Jordanian troops entering Syria, the party is against that, as are most Jordanians.

"We have to face the ideology of ISIS in Jordan to protect the minds of our youth from what ISIS presents," she says. "They are hijacking Islam to us."

She compares ISIS to fanaticism in Christianity.

"Should we blame Christianity for that, should we blame the churches for that. Each church has its problems. Each church has it's alien offspring," she argues.

In her view, Westerners as well as Arab rulers need to distinguish between Islamic political parties and extremists. Arabs in many countries are, she says, "being handcuffed by our governments, by our regimes. They are treating us as an equal problem to these radical fanatics."

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Jordan

Interview Highlights

On his childhood relationship with his brother

I was very close to my brother in part because we were fairly isolated. We lived out in the country, we were essentially all the other had as far as human entertainment, and so we did what farm boys have always done: We made up games; we played in the woods; we fished in the river; we spent all day every day together making forts and building snowmen in the winter. I can't remember being bored for even a second of my childhood.

On the last time he saw his brother

In 1995 ... I went to visit my brother in Albuquerque because he was engaged to be married recently. So I made a trip, a long drive in fact, to Albuquerque and just hung out there for several days ... kind of seeing his world.

I had never been to the Southwest before, never stepped foot in the state of New Mexico, and during that visit something extraordinary happened, which was that he took me up in a hot air balloon. It had been his passion, his newfound passion after he moved to Albuquerque. At the time I was 22 years old, my brother was 21, and I had never even been on a commercial flight before, so this was my first time up in the air. ...

And even as it was happening, I knew that this was a memory that was going to stay with me forever because it was such an extraordinary experience. And I still, to this day, 20 years later, I can remember it quite vividly. ...

That was the last time I saw my brother. ... He lived another year-and-a-half, but we were brothers in our early 20s living on opposite sides of the country. I was going to college — and he was working full-time and had been engaged to be married, that ultimately broke off.

The really sad part about that visit — it was both exalting and then sort of sad at the end, because he made just a little passing comment that I took to be racially insensitive at best. And while I had had this incredible experience with him and saw him in a new light, saw him truly as an adult for the first time, not just as my kid brother, that one little remark really soured me. And I left thinking, "You know, maybe he hasn't quite grown up, and maybe when he does we can reconnect again. But I don't have time for that sort of racist nonsense." And we never spoke again, which I'll be honest, haunts me to this day — that I sort of wrote him off like that. We never talked again.

On calling an amateur phone sex line

It didn't necessarily have to have anything to do with sex. There were people I talked to about all sorts of things under the sun on that line. I think if they had been dedicated to truth in advertising they might've called it a "loneliness line," rather than a "phone sex line." Yes, there were people calling and looking for phone sex, there were also people just desperately lonely looking for some voice to connect with, someone to talk to who would make them feel less alone.

There were nights where I would try to connect with people and fail and not connect with anyone. There were other nights where I would talk to someone for a half an hour, 45 minutes or longer about their work or where they lived in the city and what they liked to do. Then there were also a couple occasions where I had really interesting conversations with people that ended with people saying, "Gosh, maybe we should meet in person?" A couple of times I actually did do that with people. ...

[They were] people who were going through very difficult things in their lives and I felt like we could talk to each other with a degree of honesty and candor that you're probably never going to be able to achieve on your standard first date. The way we had met already signaled to both of us, respectively, that we were a little bit weird and we weren't using the usual channels to try to achieve romantic love, so why not be totally honest with each other?

On why he wanted to see the police photos relating to his brother's suicide

Part of the reason I wanted to see them was for years after my brother's death I would have occasional dreams in which I was searching for him. Or, a couple of times, I remember a very vivid dream in which he was in a casket and being buried and yet he was still alive. And I was trying to bring attention to this fact to everybody around like, "No, don't bury him, he's still alive. Stop!"

I think those dreams had something to do with the fact that there was no viewing of the body for obvious reasons — he had killed himself with a gunshot to the head, so at the wake and at the funeral the casket was closed. I never got to see him deceased.

My last memory of him was a moment in which I felt more alive perhaps than I had ever felt flying in that hot air balloon with him and I felt like maybe I could put a stop to the dreams if I confronted the fact of his death, the literal, visual fact of it. And in fact, that was the case. I stopped having the dreams after I confronted the police and autopsy photos. ...

In order to face up, finally, to what he had done, and face up to what his suicide had done to my life, I just felt it was very important to look at it, face on, head on, and not have any illusions about what he had done to himself.

On learning his brother's most closely-held secret

The one thing I ultimately tracked down was a little piece of information offered [to] me by the woman he had been engaged to be married to, and she ... said toward the end of the night, "You know, your brother had a secret, I wonder if he ever told you about it." And I thought, "Gosh, I don't know of any secret. If he had had some secret he had chosen to share with me, I would certainly remember that."

"I was so sad and so angry to learn that something like that had happened to him. And at the same time, it was almost like the lost piece of the puzzle that finally explained perhaps why he had been a tormented young man."

- Philip Connors

It took some coaxing because it became clear to both of us that she was probably the only person on earth that he had ever shared this piece of information with. When she told me what it was, it sort of unlocked the mystery of his suicide for me — or at least provided a context for it that I hadn't had before. Perhaps in some way it even allowed me to forgive him in a way I hadn't been able to before. ... It put his life and his death in a new light. ...

The secret was that one night when they were still engaged to be married he had been drinking. He felt that he was probably losing her because she was pulling away, she was concerned about certain things with him, including his drinking, and one night he confessed to her that as a child he had been raped.

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It was not long after that that she broke off the engagement, not because of that fact, there were lots of things in play. But I've always wondered whether that doubly hurt him, that he confessed the darkest secret he held ... perhaps as a way of trying to hang on to someone he felt he was losing — and he lost her anyway. That's almost less interesting than the fact that the poor guy had something horribly violent happen to him when he was a child.

He was never able to tell anyone about it. He carried it with him his entire life, shared it only with one person. And you start poking around into studies of child sex abuse, studies of suicide and you find there's a link there. To be sexually abused or attacked as a child multiplies your risk of eventually attempting or achieving suicide. So, that little piece of information was sort of a double-edged sword. I was so sad and so angry to learn that something like that had happened to him. And at the same time, it was almost like the lost piece of the puzzle that finally explained perhaps why he had been a tormented young man.

Read an excerpt of All the Wrong Places