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Population growth due to immigration (8 mil from 1870-80 and 15 mil from
1890-1914) led to expanding markets
State, local and federal governments were supportive of industry and economic
growth
Technology doomed some industries (small crafts and small farms) while creating
others (kerosene, factory-made goods)
Railroads connected consumers, producers, and suppliers throughout the country
35,000 miles of track at end of Civil War
193,000 by 1900
$4.5 billion was spend on creation of railroads by 1880
Federal govt provided 65 mil plus millions of acres of land
Local govts provided $300 mil, states $228 mil
*Credit Mobilier scandal was infamous
Early railroads were short and unconnected—built for local markets
Used different gauges and depots
1886 railroads adopted standards gauges and depots
Consolidation led to integrated rail networks
Four major trunk lines in the Northeast connected major lakes and rivers
to seaports
--Baltimore and Ohio reached Chicago in 1874
--Erie Railroad connected NY to Chicago
--New York Central (Vanderbilt) competed with the Erie
eventually connected NY City to Buffalo and Chicago
comprised 4500 miles of tracks
--Pennsylvania RR connected Philadelphia to Pittsburg
owned by J. Edgar Thompson and Thomas A. Scott
eventually expanded to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis,
Chicago, and Washington
Inventions that improved railroads included
Automatic couplers (1867)
Air Brakes (1869)
Refrigerator cars (1869)
Dining cars, sleeping cars led to passenger travel
Railroad companies devised four time zones and standard time in 1883
During the Civil War, Congress decided to build the Transcontinental RR
Union Pacific built from Omaha NE to the West
Central Pacific built from Sacramento CA to the East
Each company received 20 square mi of right of way
Also 30 yr loans to finance the costs
Both sides raced to build the most track
UP was led by General Grenville Dodge (1086 mi of track)
Had 10,000 + workers
Used ex-soldiers and Irish immigrants
Fought natives
Had advantage of flat prairie land
CP was led by merchant Charles Crocker (689 mi of track)
Hired 6,000 workers from China
Had to build through the Sierra Nevadas in CA
Consider Chinese workers to be expendable
Met at Promontory Point, Utah on 5-10-1869
Overbuilding
Rebates and rate wars
Pooling
Consolidation
Order imposed by the banker/financier J. Pierpont Morgan
Reorganized RRs
Settled competitors turf wars for a hefty fee
Steel was the key
By 1890, the US was the leading steel producer in the world
Andrew Carnegie and Steel
Iron ore found near Lake superior and the Mesabi range of MN
Carnegie Steel Co produced more than 1 mil tons per year by 1890
Carnegie went from bobbin boy to RR superintendent by age 24
Invests in oil, then steel
Hires Henry Clay Frick and Charles Schwab
Carnegie's profits topped $40 mil in 1900; had over 20,000 employees
Sold to Morgan in 1901 for $500 mil to devote time to charity
Did donate over $500 mil to charity in his lifetime
Morgan combined this w/other steel companies to form US Steel
First $1 billion corporation
First oil well in PA: Drake’s folly (1859, Titusville)
Chemists quickly found many uses for this black gold
JD Rockefeller of Cleveland OH founded Standard Oil (1863)
Priced and extorted competitors out of business
Not above the occasional bribing of politicians
Controlled 90% of refineries by 1879
Practiced vertical integration
Owned oil wells, refineries, distribution centers, tankers,
warehouses, pipelines, etc.
Eliminated competition in all aspects of the oil business
Led to formation of other trusts in other industries by greedy
robber barons
American Sugar Refining, Northern Securities
Corporation and National Biscuit Company
The many inventions of this time include:
Transatlantic telegraph cable/Cyrus W. Field (1866)
Typewriter (1867)
Adding machine (1888)
Kodak camera/George Eastman (1879)
Dissembled canned meats/Gustavus Swift (1870s)
Telephone/Alexander Graham Bell (1876)
Thomas Alva Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park
Quadruplex telegraph, phonograph, light bulb
Westinghouse/Tesla alternating current motor
Stores were opened to sell these products
Macy, Marshall Field, Ladies Home Journal, A&P Groceries,
Montgomery Ward, JC Penney, Sears and Roebuck, etc.
Wage: $400-$500 per year for a man (usually skilled worker)
Cost of Living: $600 per year
Poor women worked outside the home, Black women most often (25%+)
No minimum or fair wage; no equal work for equal pay
Employers preferred women, children, minorities or recent immigrants
More desperate for work
Less likely to form or join unions
Worked for lower pay, complained less about conditions
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 showed discrimination in the West
Knights of Labor
Founded by Uriah Stephens, greatest under Terrence V. Powderly
Admitted all workers, no matter sex, trade or race
Powderly did not favor the use of strikes
Gained fame and membership after RR strike against Jay Gould
in Missouri
Defeats against Gould and blame for Haymarket Square caused the
end of the union
American Federation of Labor
Founded by Samuel Gompers
Wanted membership restricted to skilled male (white) workers
Gained nearly 1 mil members by 1901
Achieved modest gains for white, male workers
Strikes
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Haymarket Square (1886)
Homestead Steel Strike (1892)
Pullman Strike (1894)
In re Debs (1895)
Holden v Hardy (1898)
Lochner v. NY (1905)
Muller v. Oregon (1911)
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