USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -At age 14 Carnegie became a messenger in a telegraph office, where he eventually caught the notice of Thomas Scott, a superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who made Carnegie his private secretary and personal telegrapher in 1853.

Detailed explanation-2: -While still working for the railroad during the war, he organized a partnership to manufacture railroad bridges. Desiring greater autonomy, Carnegie left the railroad in 1865 to run his own enterprises. He marketed bonds and invested in oil and railway sleeping cars, but his primary business was iron-making.

Detailed explanation-3: -Carnegie worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. While working for the railroad, he invested in various ventures, including iron and oil companies, and made his first fortune by the time he was in his early 30s.

Detailed explanation-4: -He built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303, 450, 000 (equal to $9, 883, 973, 400 today); it formed the basis of the U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next several years.

Detailed explanation-5: -Because of his position, Carnegie had knowledge of the war machine during the Civil War and saw there was a large need for iron products. After the war he used this new knowledge to switch his business interests from railroads and telegraphs to the ironworks industry, eventually founding the Keystone Bridge Works.