Industrialists of the 19th Century
During the 19th century Industrialization was rapidly spreading throughout the U.S. During that time many factories were built led by men who were known as industrialists. Many of these industrialists were greedy men, with little regard of the workforce; others were considered good employers who took health and welfare of their workforce seriously. We have already discussed Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, but there were other great men who contributed to industrialization as well.
William Andrews Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. In 1856 he moved to Iowa with his family and began teaching and studying law at Iowa Wesleyan College. He was a mineworker in Colorado for quite sometime. He made his way to Montana to find his fortune in the gold rush. He soon changed careers from a mineworker to a banker in Deer Lodge, Montana. He then repossessed mining properties when owners defaulted on their loans, placing him in the mining industry. He made a great fortune with smelters, electric power companies, newspapers, railroads, and many other businesses. He became known as one of three “Copper Kings” of Butte, Montana along with Marcus Daly and F. Augustus Heinze. Between 1844 and 1889 he constructed a 34 room, Tiffany decorated, multimillion-dollar home with cutting edge technology in Butte, Montana. Today this home is known as the Copper King Mansion bed and breakfast and museum. He served as president of both Montana state constructional conventions in 1884 and 1889. Clark dreamed of being a U.S. Senator but was denied due to the 1899 bribery scheme in 1899. A later senate campaign was successful and he was able to serve a single, undistinguished term from 1901 to 1907. Clark died at the age of 86 in his mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City and he was one of the 50 richest Americans ever. He made great contributions to the mining industry making him a wealthy and great industrialist.
William E....