Steel+2

=**The Steel Industry** =

Andrew Carnegie in 1884 began to devote himself to the iron business in Pennsylvania fully. He began to get contracts to build iron bridges instead of wooden ones. Carnegie was inspired by by Henry Bessemer in Europe to open his first steel mill in 1875. By 1900 he controlled one fourth of the nation's steel plants. He even kept growing as a business during the Great Depression even when other businesses went bankrupt.
 * Birth of Industry:**

The Civil War fueled the iron industry. When the war was over he saw potential in the field and decided to quit working on the Pennsylvania Railroad. He went to Britain and he met steel markers and it inspired him to be as wealthy as them and to be successful. They needed to find a new resource instead of Iron because it was too expensive. They began to use steel.

He began his career at age 13 in a cotton factory. Began to meet many wealthy people and it inspired him to start his own business. In his younger ages he started to work hard on a low pay. He joined many different business's to start off and he gained enough money to start his own steel industry.

Andrew wanted to become wealthy quickly so he wont struggle anymore. He started to study and do work on the steel industry to get on the right path. While joining different businesses he started to get more money to start his own steel company. He started little than became big all at once.

Links: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h981.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande01.html http://econ161.berkeley.edu/tceh/andrewcarnegie.html

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**Labor Relations:**
Working conditions in the steel mills were very hazardous. There was many chemical explosions, extreme heat, and unshielded equipment. These working conditions were very dangerous to the men who worked in these mills.

Steel mill towns of Pennsylvania helped to give an industrial society. Too many steel mill towns were suffocated by all the smoke and overpopulated by foreigners. More people came for jobs and they took advantage of the workers and paid very low to make money.

The Homestead Strike of 1892 was a very big deal during this era. Henry Clay Flick was beginning to lose control of his company's stock to Andrew Carnegie. Flick offered the employees a pay cut and told them that he was not negotiating with the union. The employees did not like this and so Flick began to shut down operations and surround the mills with a tall board fence with barbed wire. 300 strikebreakers from Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency of New York were hired to protect the company and equipment. Workers began to set freight train cars on fire and and pumped oil onto the Monongahela River. Many people died and a very small percentage of workers returned to work after it was over.

http://www.mahoninghistory.org/wdyk27-millwork.htm http://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyld=27&chapter=3 http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~mk247899/info-pub.htm

**Evolving Industry:**
Andrew Carnegie controlled the steel industry. At age sixty-five, Andrew Carnegie sold the steel company to J.P. Morgan for $480 million. J.P. Morgan formed U.S. Steel in 1901. He controlled the industry by being able to put up with the changing economic conditions. His industry was so powerful that the government had to turn to him for help during the depression of 1895.

**Industry Today:**


In 2007, U. S. Steel made two value-building acquisitions. They purchased Dallas, Texas-based welded tubular products maker Lone Star Technologies, Inc. and its related companies. This deal made U. S. Steel the largest tubular goods producer in North America, with total capability of 2.8 million net tons annually. Today, there are about 26 U.S. Steel producing plants throughout the world. Unfortunately, it is not the top steel maker in the world anymore. The top two industries are Arcelor Mittal and then POSCO.

**Questions:**
1. Who started the steel industry? 2. What year did it start? 3. Why did they want a steel industry? 4. Did anyone else ever take over the industry? 5. Is it the main steel industry in the world today?


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