Episode Two: John D. Rockefeller

born poor, father was a con man who travelled around the country swindling people out of their money.

Young John D. Rockefeller worked extremely hard, even as a child. He sold candy to kids in his neighborhood and made a profit, supporting his family in any way he could since his father was absent.

He started STANDARD OIL, a company with quite the ambitious name.

Kerosene lights up the world at this time, no lightbulbs yet!

As we learned earlier, Rockefeller makes a deal with Vanderbilt (after missing that train that would have most certainly killed him!)

Eventual Problem: Rockefeller has too much oil for Vanderbilt’s trains! (We see he goes from worrying about having TOO LITTLE oil to way too much!)

One time rivals Scott and Carnegie team up with Vanderbilt once Rockefeller becomes too powerful. They agree to pull the deal they made with him.

Rockefeller is angry, but does not let this defeat him. Decides he doesn’t need trains—he develops a pipeline that will transport the oil without the help of Scott, Carnegie, or Vanderbilt.

Rockefeller remains on top while the railroads take a tumble. On to the next episode!

Episode Three: Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, like Rockefeller, comes from humble beginnings.

He was born in Dunfermline, Scotland and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848.

He works hard as a young man and becomes Tom Scott’s secretary/telegraph operator. Scott is his mentor and he admires him a great deal.

Scott and Carnegie envision a bridge to cross the Mississippi. But how could anyone build something so strong, sturdy? What material could be used?

…STEEL!

Carnegie put everything on the line and it paid off. The bridge officially opened in 1874, less than a decade after the end of the Civil War.

Carnegie has an elephant cross the bridge to convince the nervous St. Louis residents that the bridge was strong and would not collapse. This is a HUGE success. (no pun intended)

Carnegie blames Rockefeller for the death of his mentor, Scott. He feels the stress because of the rails collapsing had a great influence.

Now that the railroads have gone under, Carnegie needs a new business and sees STEEL as America’s future.

To avenge Scott’s death, Carnegie believes he must become richest man in America and he needs a ruthless partner to help him get there—Henry Frick.

The dam is made much lower, causing it to be much weaker. This results in the worst man-

made disaster until September 11th. It is the first time the American

RedCross is engaged.

Andrew Carnegie is tortured over the deaths of over 2000 Pennsylvanian citizens.

Images of those who died will haunt him for the rest of his life.

He donates millions of dollars to libraries (Bellevue Ave. Library funded by Carnegie in 1903!

We are celebrating the centennial this year!) and eventually builds Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Our beautiful library, a gift fromAndrew Carnegie!

Despite beginning to donate portions of his fortune, Carnegie’s desire to become the richest and most powerful man in America is too strong.

He needs more money. He needs his company to be bigger and better. He cuts wages of his workers and increases their hours.

While Carnegie is vacationing in Scotland, his workers decide to strike, refusing to work because of unfair conditions. People have been injured, a man has died, and they cannot take much more of the injustice.

Carnegie is making money off the sweat and labor of the common man, and they are not going to take it anymore.

While striking, Frick hires men to control the crowd. Things get out of hand and nine employees are killed.

The public is furious. They need someone to blame—they blame Frick.

Carnegie, meanwhile, extends his stay in Scotland.

Carnegie sees Frick as a liability. After getting shot, Carnegie fires an angry Frick.

And now…to the next episode!