What Harry Sinclair had done was to take advantage of industry conditions to assemble bits and pieces of depressed properties, five small but profitable refineries, and many untested production leases.  But as an integrated operation it was more talk than fact. Whether the founder possessed managerial ability on a grand scale was unknown: he was a country boy who had never directed any enterprise which could not be tucked, along with sixty others, into a hip pocket. He had no organization, no technological skills, little administrative education. He needed specialized manpower at every level of a complex that was actually four huge businesses, each of which required special knowledge. His competition was sophisticated, entrenched and unsympathetic to his ambitions. Yet no publication predicted his failure, or even delineated the many weaknesses in both physical facilities and capital resources. With little except promises and options, his venture was a success.

Two factors greatly aided Sinclair to consolidate his blueprint. Huge over-production of oil forced many independent producers to sell their interests at a fraction of their true value. Sinclair's defiance of the established companies, which dominated the industry from production to sales, inspired many marginal operators to join and accept stock in the enterprise for their assets. Quickly Sinclair threw together a working concern.

Gaining refineries was most difficult. All of them were profitable, due to the automobile boom and World War I. Sinclair acquired five aging plants, three of which merely distilled the top fraction of crude oil into a gasoline.  All were located in the oil fields rather than in rich markets. None challenged the big three seriously.

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