The Expansion of Industry How does industry boom

The Expansion of Industry How does industry “boom” in the US?

Transcontinental Railroad Clip • Using immigrants, Union Pacific & Central Pacific race to finish a coast to coast railway - comp. 5/10/1889 in Utah • Positives: RR’s allowed westward expansion, development & standard time • Negatives: Monopolies & Credit Moblier Scandal in which RR companies added extra miles of track to make more $, kickbacks to gov officials

Wealth of Natural Resources - US possessed many natural resources to fuel industrialization 1) water 2) coal 3) oil 4) iron ore

Black Gold • 1869: Edwin L. Drake developed a steam powered drill, could now reach oil underground • Oil business boomed in Cleveland Pittsburgh • Patillo Higgins thinks there is oil in Beaumont, Texas, gets investors to join search for oil they strike it rich in Jan 1901 • Oil industry now centered in Texas

The Steel Boom iron ore coal • Production of steel requires coal and iron, lots on east coast Pittsburgh • Methods of purifying iron were expensive and inefficient • 1850: Henry Bessemer develops easier method to purify iron • Bessemer process is cheap & easy way to produce steel – “steel boom” begins

Inventions Expand Industry • 1876 : Thomas Edison sets up research laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ - 420 patented inventions • 1890: Edison & George Westinghouse design a system to produce and distribute electricity called a powerhouse • Sig: Power can be delivered anywhere in country