One of the richest men of all time, Andrew Carnegie was a poor immigrant from Scotland whose family traveled the Atlantic when he was just a boy and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He ended up becoming worth more than $320 billion dollars although he donated 90% of his wealth to charity by his death. Carnegie has several towns named after him, and the music hall in New York City, among many other things. Andrew also had a dinosaur named after him, when he sponsored the expedition that found the creature. At a young age Andrew Carnegie was employed as a telegraph messenger boy with the Ohio Telegraph Company earning $2.50 a week. Quickly he became proficient at his job and within the year he became a telegraph operator. Later in 1853 …show more content…
The next year the farm gave over $1,000,000 in cash dividends. With this money, along with the help of others, started a steel rolling mill. This was his first venture into the steel industry. Once the civil war ended, he left the railroad business and went full time into the steel industry. He was still close to Thomas Scotts and with his help acquired the contracts for the Keystone Bridge Company. While being a great businessman he was also a great philanthropist. At one time Carnegie could be quoted as saying, “I propose to take an income of no greater than $50,000 per year.” Andrew believed in giving a great deal of his wealth to charity and gave most of it away before his death. Carnegie had achieved the majority of his wealth through the steel industry. He controlled the most extensive steel operations ever owned by one individual within the United States. Andrew Carnegie also adopted the Bessemer process in the steel industry. These achievements shaped all of America as we know it. Carnegie helped to expand the rail road industry with steel rails, buildings could be built higher and bigger, and bridges could be constructed that would span further distances and could hold more weight. Carnegie became one of the largest steel manufacturers in the