Editing Andrew Carnegie (section)

===Keystone Bridge Company===
[[File:Eads Bridge from Laclede's Landing, Sep 2012.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Eads Bridge across the [[Mississippi River]], opened in 1874 using Carnegie steel ]]
In 1864, Carnegie was one of the early investors in the Columbia Oil Company in [[Venango County, Pennsylvania]].<ref>Story Farm, Columbia Farm, Columbia Oil Company

* {{cite web |last1=Randolph |first1=Amy |date=2001 |title=Columbia Oil Farm of the Oil Creek Valley, Venago County, Pennsylvania : 150 Years of Petroleum Legacy |url=http://archives.datapages.com/data/phi/v10_2009/randolph.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726034651/http://archives.datapages.com/data/phi/v10_2009/randolph.htm |archive-date=July 26, 2020 |access-date=March 10, 2019 |publisher=Petroleum History Institute}}
* {{cite web |title=Andrew Carnegie and the Columbia Oil Farm |url=http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Columbia/Columbia.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315005832/http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Columbia/Columbia.html |archive-date=March 15, 2019 |access-date=March 10, 2019 |work=Oil History |publisher=petroleumhistory.org}}
* {{cite web |date=2001 |title=William Story Farm |url=http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Columbia/Story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316042637/http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Columbia/Story.html |archive-date=March 16, 2019 |access-date=March 10, 2019 |publisher=Petroleum History Institute}}</ref> In one year, the firm yielded over $1 million in cash dividends, and petroleum from oil wells on the property sold profitably. The demand for iron products, such as armor for gunboats, cannons, and shells, as well as a hundred other industrial products, made Pittsburgh a center of wartime production. Carnegie worked with others in establishing a steel [[rolling mill]], and steel production and control of industry became the source of his fortune. Carnegie had some investments in the iron industry before the war.

After the war, Carnegie left the railroads to devote his energies to the ironworks trade. Carnegie worked to develop several ironworks, eventually forming the Keystone Bridge Works and the Union Ironworks, in Pittsburgh. Although he had left the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, he remained connected to its management, namely Thomas A. Scott and J. Edgar Thomson. He used his connection to the two men to acquire contracts for his [[Keystone Bridge Company]] and the rails produced by his [[ironworks]]. He also gave stock in his businesses to Scott and Thomson, and the Pennsylvania was his best customer. When he built his first steel plant, he made a point of naming it after Thomson. As well as having good business sense, Carnegie possessed charm and literary knowledge. He was invited to many important social functions, which Carnegie exploited to his advantage.<ref>[[#Nasaw|Nasaw]], pp. 105–107.</ref>

Carnegie, through Keystone, supplied the steel for and owned shares in the landmark [[Eads Bridge]] project across the [[Mississippi River]] at [[St. Louis]], Missouri (completed 1874). This project was an important proof-of-concept for steel technology, which marked the opening of a new steel market.

[[File:Andrew Carnegie circa 1878 - Project Gutenberg eText 17976.jpg|thumb|upright|Carnegie, c.&nbsp;1878]]
Carnegie believed in using his fortune for others and doing more than making money. In 1868, at age 33, he wrote:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timeline: Rags to Riches {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-timeline-rags-to-riches/ |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref>
{{blockquote|I propose to take an income no greater than $50,000 per annum! Beyond this I need ever earn, make no effort to increase my fortune, but spend the surplus each year for benevolent purposes! Let us cast aside business forever, except for others. Let us settle in Oxford and I shall get a thorough education, making the acquaintance of literary men. I figure that this will take three years' active work. I shall pay especial attention to speaking in public. We can settle in London and I can purchase a controlling interest in some newspaper or live review and give the general management of it attention, taking part in public matters, especially those connected with education and improvement of the poorer classes. Man must have no idol and the amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of [[idolatry]]! No idol is more debasing than the worship of money! Whatever I engage in I must push inordinately; therefore should I be careful to choose that life which will be the most elevating in its character. To continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts wholly upon the way to make more money in the shortest time, must degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery. I will resign business at thirty-five, but during these ensuing two years I wish to spend the afternoons in receiving instruction and in reading systematically!}}