INDUSTRIAL AGE CH.6 SEC.1

NATURAL RESOURCES FUEL INDUSTRIALIZATION • Post Civil War the U.S. was

primarily agricultural • By 1920s it was the leading

industrial country in the world • Natural resources• Government support for

business• Growing urban population =

labor force & market

BLACK GOLD • Native Americans were the 1st to use

crude oil for fuel/medicine • 1840s- Americans used kerosene (refined

from oil) to light lamps• Edwin L. Drake

• Used steam engine to drill for oil (Pennsylvania)

• Spread to KY, OH, IL, IN and TX

• Refining industries near Pittsburg & Cleveland • Transformed oil to kerosene

• Gasoline was by-product thrown away initially until the automobile

BESSEMER STEEL PROCESS

• Oil wasn’t the only resource to be found • Also rich in iron ore & coal

• Bessemer Process- 1850 • Henry Bessemer (British) & William Kelley

(American) • Injecting air into the molten iron to remove

carbon• 1880- used to produce 90% of world’s steel

NEW USES FOR STEEL • Industries• Railroads- largest customers• Barbed wire• Farm machinery

• New construction• Completely changed the construction

industry • Brooklyn Bridge (1883)- spanned 1,595 ft.

• William Le Baron Jenney----skyscrapers----Home Insurance Building in Chicago

POWER OF ELECTRICITY • Thomas Edison • Established the world’s first research

laboratory (1876---NJ)

• Invented light bulb (1880)

• Invented a system for producing/distributing electricity

• Effects• Ran numerous machines

• Cities spread outwards

• Manufacturing grew---no longer had to be near power sources

CHANGING LIFESTYLES • Christopher Sholes- invented

typewriter in 1867• Changed world of work• More jobs for women

• Alexander Graham Bell- invention of telephone• Opened door for world wide

communication