The Expansion of IndustryThe Expansion of Industry

How does industry “boom” in the US?

Wealth of Natural Resources

- US possessed many natural resources to fuel industrialization

1) water2) coal

3) oil

4) iron ore

Black Gold

•1869: Edwin L. Drake developed a steam engine powered drill, could now reach oil underground

•Oil business boomed, centered in Cleveland and Pittsburgh

•Patillo Higgins believes there is oil in Beaumont, Texas

•Gets investors to join search for oil they strike it rich in Jan 1901

The Steel Boom

•Methods of purifying iron were expensive and inefficient

iron ore

coal

Pittsburgh

•Production of steel requires coal and iron, lots on east coast

•1850: Henry Bessemer develops easier method to purify iron

•Bessemer process is cheap & easy way to produce steel – “steel boom” begins

•1890: Edison & George Westinghouse design a system to produce and distribute electricity called a powerhouse

Inventions Expand Industry

•No longer have to be near waterway for power, industry expands

•1876 : Thomas Edison sets up research laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ - 420 patented inventions

Inventions timeline (pg 232)• Seat 1 & 3 find the dates for when the following

were invented and write them in your notes:– Photography, reaper, sewing machine, combustible

engine, dynamite, typewriter

• Seat 2 & 4 find the dates for when the following were invented and write them in your notes:– Light bulb, phonograph, telephone, electric motor,

radio, motion pictures, x-ray, airplane

1. How much time elapsed between the telegraph & the telephone?

2. How much time elapsed between the internal-combustion engine & the airplane?3. In which decade were the most new inventions created?

Abuses on the Railroad

•A Few companies have monopoly on RR, Grangers get state laws passed that lower RR rates & prohibit discrimination

•Munn v. Illinois: RRs challenge Granger Laws, go to Supreme Court. Sup. Court rules states can regulate RR for public benefit

•Problem: Supreme Court also rules states can’t regulate railroads crossing state lines (interstate commerce)

•Solution: Congress passes Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to allow federal government regulate RR between states

•Using Chinese & Irish immigrants,Union Pacific & Central Pacific race to finish a coast to coast railway (5/10/1889)

•Railroads bring the “dream of America” to the public