Andrew Carnegie…….Prince of Steel

In the early 1850’s Americans were caught up in the excitement of expansionism and railroads would aid them in this movement. Andrew Carnegie, a poor Scottish emigrant, worked in Pittsburgh Pa delivering telegraph messages throughout the city. He had memorized all the streets throughout Pittsburgh and became a very valued asset to the telegraph company. But the head of the newly formed Pennsylvania Railroad, having been impressed with Andrews keen abilities and work ethic, offered him a job as his assistant. Andrew felt he might have a chance at a managers position with the railroad, instead of the simple employee position he had with the telegraph company. It was around this time that the Civil War was gearing up and Andrew, being a strong “abolitionist”, who despised  the practice of slavery, and at the suggestion of his boss, Tom Scott, took a position with then President Abraham Lincoln as one of his civilian advisers that was in charge of all telegraph communications. Having witnessed the carnage of the first battle at Bull Run, Andrew would later say ” war must become as obsolete as cannibalism”. After the war he returned to work with the railroad. His interest in technology would lead to an investment an inventor brought him that showed how wooden bridges and trestles could be replaced with ones made of iron and would eventually become his passion with “iron” and eventually steel.  This passion would lead to the mass production of iron beds and a distinct increase in the quality of the materials Carnegie helped pioneer and refine. More than anyone throughout history, Andrew Carnegie had as much to do with the mass dissemination of iron beds beyond the previously established boundaries of the Mississippi River as anyone. His utilization of a new method, called the Bessemer Steel Processor , that made the production of steel much easier and in much larger quantities, and would lead to the production of steel in tons…….not pounds, as before and also make Andre Carnegie the wealthiest man in this country. This would also lead toward manufactured production line methods and away from the hand made character iron beds had been known for. So although Carnegie can be credited with more people having access to iron beds at a cheaper price……he can also be credited with being an initiator of the eventual downfall of what antique iron beds had become known for….. hand made craftsmanship.