Expanding Industry

Natural Resources Oil reserves accessed via steam-drill  Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas all have reserves  Petroleum refineries emerge in Cleveland and Pittsburgh – transform oil into kerosene  Originally dispose of gasoline, byproduct of the refining Iron also valuable  Converted to steel via “Bessemer process”  Inject air into molten iron to remove carbon and impurities  Steel crucial to expanding railroads as well as other industrial uses  Also for city construction – bridges, invention of skyscraper

Inventions Incandescent light bulb – Thomas A. EdisonThomas A. Edison Electricity – George Westinghouse (AC power) Typewriter – Christopher Sholes Telephone – Alexander Graham Bell  Phone and Typewriter are instrumental in bringing women into the workplace

Railroads Transcontinental rail lines being constructed Many immigrants and desperate Civil War vets put their lives on the line to build the rail lines  Accidents, disease, treacherous terrain, and hostile natives injure/kill thousands With fast travel now available, need to synchronize the watches of people in various locations (so noon would no longer necessarily be exactly when the sun was directly overhead wherever you were)  establish “railroad time” – current system of time zones Expansion promotes trade and specialization – much like National Road and steamboat travel did previously Promotes the growth of new communities/cities along the busy rail routes

Big Business Andrew Carnegie – Steel  Vertical integration – control each stage of the industry (raw materials, manufacturing, distribution)  Horizontal integration – control as many companies in the same industry as you John D. Rockefeller – Oil  Standard Oil – operates as a trust – Standard Oil and other oil producers operate as a de facto corporation (without formal merger) Frederick Weyerhaeuser – Timber  I threw him in because I used to work at a lumber yard, so he’s near and dear to my heart

Responses to big business Sherman Antitrust Act – makes formation of trusts (like Rockefeller’s) illegal  Interferes with fair trade  Virtually impossible to enforce Labor Unions  Factory work = long hours, dangerous conditions, low wages  Workers only real power is in uniting together and striking for better conditions