John D. Rockefeller

    John D. Rockefeller had a tough childhood. His father couldn't support their family and had a boring, cunning personality. Because his father couldn't support the family, as a young man, he started looking for ways to make big money like Vanderbilt. He realizes oil is the answer, but realizes that oil is risky. He decides to refine oil into kerosene because it isn't as risky. he invests everything into his oil refinery. He needs someone to transport his kerosene and Vanderbilt sees this as an opportunity to take over a business and sees Rockefeller as a person he can easily profit off of. Rockefeller misses his train and the train he misses falls of the bridge and takes this as a sign from God and becomes a man of destiny instead of being intimidated by Vanderbilt. He strikes an exclusive deal with Vanderbilt. Unfortunately, kerosene is getting a bad name, because of the high demand, other companies are rushing to make profits, therefore taking shortcuts and in turn making unstable, dangerous kerosene. Rockefeller sees this problem as an opportunity to become rich. He creates "Standard Oil" promising stable, good kerosene and it soon becomes the oil most Americans buy. Now, Tom Scott, Vanderbilt's biggest competitor, wants to strike a deal with Rockefeller, knowing this would make him king of the railroads. With this new deal, he starts buying other refining companies and when he's done, he owns 90% of all refineries in America. He becomes the most powerful man in the country at only age 33. Vanderbilt realizes he has created a monster and strikes a deal with Tom Scott to stop him. They form an alliance pulling all deals from Rockefeller. Rockefeller is determined to find another was to transport his oil and does. He realizes pipelines are his answer and uses pipelines. Thus, the railroads were left without anything to transport and make a profit out of. The stocks plummet and the stock exchange closes for 10 days, this is America's first depression.Over this time, Vanderbilt dies, so now Rockefeller's only major competition is Tom Scott. He shuts down all refineries in Pittsburg to crush Scott. This is a big blow to Standard Oil, but Scott loses almost half of all his cargo and has to lay off tens of thousands of workers. Scott is completely crushed. Then, electricity is brought to America and Americans are turning to electricity to light their homes. You would think Rockefeller would be put out of business, but right around this time Henry Ford starts making automobile powered by gasoline. And hey, what's the waste product of refining kerosene? Gasoline!