The Gilded Age - Growth of the Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad...
1
Travel time...
2
What will happen thanks to the growth
of technology and transportation?
5
New national markets...
4
People and goods were...
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The Gilded Age - Oil Boom
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During the First Industrial Revolution, the face of
industry changed from making items in the home (domestic)
to making items in a factory. Machines, first powered by
water then by steam, churned out finished products at an
increasing rate over time. By the mid-1880s, factories turned
to coal production to fuel the steam engines that powered
the machines. One of the major issues with factory
production was keeping the multiple moving parts of the
machines well lubricated so they did not overheat, crack and
fracture. While animal and vegetable substitutes worked,
they had their issues and those in the industry business were
looking for better solutions.
For years, farmers and salt miners were plagued by a black oily substance that
would sometimes surface when digging wells or establishing new mines. It wasn’t until
the process of refining, converting crude oil into usable products, was improved that
people took an interest in oil. In 1859, George Bissell and Edwin Drake had an oil rig
built in Titusville, Pennsylvania. While not the first oil well in the United States, it was
the first well created for the sole purpose of drilling for oil. Its success would lead to
great commercial interest in using petroleum products ranging from city lighting to the
lubrication of the factory machines.
The interest in oil and petroleum products allowed
several entrepreneurs and companies, such as Gulf,
Texaco, and Astral oil to turn what was once a
annoyance into a profitable business. The largest oil
company in the United States, and even in the world,
was known as Standard Oil. Standard Oil began as a
small company in Ohio soon controlled all means of
production of oil, from the ground to the tank, in the
United States. The major shareholder, John D.
Rockefeller became the first American to be worth one
billion dollars.
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Soon “Oil Fever” exploded in the United States and the early innovators and
pioneers of the industry set up drilling sites all over the Appalachian region, pumping
thousands of gallons daily. At the beginning of the 20th Century, oil was discovered in
Beaumont, Texas. The discovery in Texas, known as Spindletop, would lead to an oil
boom in Texas, outstripping the production in
Pennsylvania!
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The Gilded Age - Fueling Industrialization
The development of the oil industry would lead to...
The development of the railroad industry would lead to...
The distribution of electricity would lead to...
The distribution of light would lead to...
The combination of all four would...
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The Gilded Age - Big Business and Competition Chart
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The Gilded Age - Big Business Debate
Topic
Supporter
Detractor
Free
Enterprise
LaissezFaire
Competition
Monopolies
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The Gilded Age - Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
Who?
Made made money
in...
Would be worth
today...
John Jacob Astor
Real Estate / Fur
Estimated at
$1.3 Billion
Andrew Carnegie
Steel
Estimated at
$4.8 Billion
John Warne Gates Barbed Wire / Oil
Estimated at
$1.2 Billion
Jay Gould
Railroads
Estimated at
$1.8 Billion
Andrew W. Mellon
Finance / Oil
Estimated at
$9.1 Billion
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The Gilded Age - Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
Who?
Made made money
in...
Would be worth
today...
J.P. Morgan
Finance / Industry
Estimated at
$1.3 Billion
John D.
Rockefeller
Oil
Estimated at
$663 Billion
Charles M.
Schwab
Steel
Estimated at
$1.0 Billion
Cornelius
Vanderbilt
Railroads / Water
Transport
Estimated at
$3.1 Billion
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The Gilded Age - Child Labor
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