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Big Business and the West Timeline

  • First Oil Well is Drilled, Pennsylvania

    First Oil Well is Drilled, Pennsylvania
    George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake made the first successful use of a drilling rig on a well-drilled especially to produce oil
  • Transcontinental Railroad is Completed

    Transcontinental Railroad is Completed
    A golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah which signaled the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States
  • Rockefeller Founds Standard Oil

    Rockefeller Founds Standard Oil
    Formed the company with his brother William, Henry Flager, and another group of men. He was the president and largest shareholder.
  • Bell Patents Telephone

    Bell Patents Telephone
    Alexander Graham Bell’s invention revolutionized the way people talked to each other. The device would allow for people to instantly talk to each other over long distances.
  • First Telephone in White House

    First Telephone in White House
    President at the time, Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed to the White House in the telegraph room. Hayes liked the new technology and was happy about the installation.
  • Edison Perfects an Incandescent Light Bulb

      Edison Perfects an Incandescent Light Bulb
    Thomas Edison worked for years with over 3,000 designs of a light bulb before finally filing for a patent on this day.
  • Railroads Set Up Standard Time Zones

    Railroads Set Up Standard Time Zones
    Workers of the railroads needed a new time plan in order to create an organized train schedule. Four standard time zones were created for the United States.
  • First Electric Trolley Line, Richmond, VA

    First Electric Trolley Line, Richmond, VA
    This Richmond System was first designed by Frank Julian Sprague. After a lot of trial and error, it finally began regularly working with 10 streetcars. Electric power was supplied in the overhead of the streetcar.
  • Sherman Antitrust Act is Passed

    Sherman Antitrust Act is Passed
    This was the first Federal Act that did not allow large monopoly business practices. This was also the first act passed by Congress to ban trusts.
  • J.P. Morgan Forms U.S. Steel

    J.P. Morgan Forms U.S. Steel
    J.P. Morgan and attorney Elbert H. Gary founded U.S. Steel by combining Andrew Carnegie’s Steel Company with Gary’s Federal Steel Company and William Henry Moore’s National Steel Company, worth $492 million.