The Men Who Built America: A New War Changes the Countr… — Transcript

[Shouting] Narrator: Just five days after the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln is the final casualty of the 600,000 deaths in America's bloodiest conflict.

The country is divided, and the world looks at American democracy as a failed experiment.

But what most don't realize is that a new era has dawned. The nation is entering an age of advancement. And from the void left by the death of perhaps the greatest statesman we will ever know, a new breed of leader will emerge. The Rockefellers, the Fords, the Carnegies were the first generation of what we now know as the entrepreneurial rock stars, or what today are the Buffets and the Jobs and the Gates. They were the ones that set the standard for the American dream.

They owned a new frontier, literally and figuratively, of who we are as a culture.

Narrator: Men of insight, innovation, and ingenuity, the likes of which the world has never seen. And over the next five decades, this small group will change history, propelling the United States of America to greatness. These were great men with a vision that nobody else had. And that's why in the last century, that 50-year period, we built the world.

[Theme music] Narrator: For the first time in the country's short existence, the man most capable of leading America was not a politician. He's a self-made man who, through sheer force of will, turned a poor upbringing on the docks of New York Harbor into an empire.

At 16, Cornelius Vanderbilt buys a small ferry boat with a $100 loan. He quickly earns a reputation as a cutthroat businessman, willing to use any means necessary to get ahead.

Back then, it was just pure competition, my brain against your brain, my effort against your effort. You just competed.

That's the way they looked at business. It was the wild, wild West, and by hook or crook, that was just win or lose, and the best win.

He was a tough guy, getting into scraps with other men, beating the hell out of them and knocking them unconscious. That competitive streak and that toughness very much defined his character.

Narrator: His single ferry soon becomes a fleet of ships, transporting goods and passengers to every corner of the growing country.

Vanderbilt will become so synonymous with shipping that his nickname becomes the Commodore. I think Vanderbilt recognized that what was going to be important is transporting goods from one place to another. And he had this idea that required infrastructure, and not infrastructure the government was going to provide but that he was going to provide.

Narrator: Over the next 40 years, Vanderbilt builds the largest shipping empire in the world. Then, at the peak of his power, just before the Civil War, he does the unthinkable.

Work is underway on the first transcontinental railroad, and the Commodore realizes that its completion will transform America, slashing cross-country travel time by months. Railroads were absolutely liberating, because the railroads allowed cheap and efficient transportation from one corner of America to another. Narrator: Vanderbilt sees his future. He sells all of his ships and invests everything he has in railroads. You talk about seeing around corners as an element of success, that's what differentiates the good leader. Not many people have it. Not many people can predict that corner. That is a characteristic of great leaders.

Narrator: His decision to invest heavily in rail pays off. By the end of the war, Vanderbilt is the richest man in America, with a net worth of over $68 million, the equivalent of $75 billion today. But all that money can't buy his escape from the war's devastation.

[Horn blowing] In the wake of the Civil War, the country mourns publicly, while Vanderbilt does so privately.

The first card is the past, the second, the present, and the third is the future.

There has been an unexpected loss, someone close to you. My son, George. He died in the war.

What about the future? Chariot, there will be a war. War's over. No, your war is about to begin.

Hey. Watch it, man. Narrator: Tormented by the loss of his favorite son, Vanderbilt's empire is more vulnerable than ever before.

For Vanderbilt, this was a great tragedy. He had one son who had that same sense of physical strength and ability, and he had died when he was still quite young. It was deeply troubling for the Commodore. Narrator: For years, Vanderbilt groomed George to take over the family business. Now the Commodore is forced to rely on his less accomplished son William.

I'm making you operations director of the Hudson Railroad. Narrator: Vanderbilt places William in the midst of negotiations with the owners of a rival railroad. So name your price.

If you give us your freight year-round, we will give you the privilege of allowing your passengers access into Manhattan for 200,000. That privilege is not worth 200,000. Then let us settle on 100,000? I believe that to be a fair and generous offer. I'm not really interested in your generosity. I'm only interested in getting the best deal for my shareholders. And that does not include handing over $100,000 or even $1. My father wants only what he believes is right.

The trouble is, your father doesn't know what is right. Your man should be put out to pasture.

Narrator: The message is clear. The competition no longer sees Vanderbilt as a man to fear. People are always rooting for very successful people to fail. The day people are not taking shots at you, it means you're not on top anymore. Narrator: But where they see weakness, the Commodore sees an opportunity to assert his dominance and teach William what it means to be a Vanderbilt. They want a war, I'll give them a war.

Narrator: Vanderbilt owns the only rail bridge into New York City. It's the gateway to the country's largest port, supplying the entire continent. Vanderbilt knows this is the hammer he needs to beat his rivals into submission.

Sit down. I want you to close the Albany bridge. Narrator: Without the bridge, every other railroad is shut out of New York City. Vanderbilt, in essence, single-handedly erected a blockade around the nation's largest city, cutting it off from contact with the rest of the country. He was now asserting his dominance. Ladies and gentlemen, this train will not be going any farther.

We're going to watch them bleed. Narrator: The Civil War has left America in ruins. For the first time in its history, the nation must rebuild.

Over 50,000 miles of railroad track have transformed the country. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt grew up poor, but has created a railroad empire, making him the richest man in the country.

At 72, he's 30 years past the average life expectancy, and his competitors see him as weak. It's a mistake they'll come to regret. Locked in a battle for control of the rail lines east of the Mississippi, the Commodore is holding nothing back. I want you to close the Albany bridge.

We're going to watch them bleed. Narrator: Vanderbilt controls the only bridge into New York City, America's busiest port. Seizing an opportunity, he sets up a blockade.

This train will not be going any farther. What do you mean? Narrator: Shutting the bridge leaves millions of pounds of cargo unable to reach the rest of the country, and slowly bleeds his competitors dry.

Before their stock is worthless, the presidents of the rival railroad try to sell all their shares.

Word quickly reaches Wall Street, triggering a massive sell-off. [Shouting] Come on, put some money in there. Come in.

New York Central shares are dropping fast. How low? $20 a share. Buy everything you can.

[Shouting] Vanderbilt was buying all of that stock that suddenly flooded the market at rock bottom prices.

Three aces. Narrator: In just days, Vanderbilt takes control of the rival railroad, creating the largest single rail company in America.

The New York Central Railroad became the centerpiece of his empire, and it came to him as the sudden result of a skillfully executed campaign to get revenge. Narrator: Railroads soon c

The New York Central Railroad became the centerpiece of his empire, and it came to him as the sudden result of a skillfully executed campaign to get revenge. NARRATOR: Railroads soon criss-cross America, tying together the country in a way that just 15 years earlier was unimaginable, and providing over 180,000 jobs. Laying tracks becomes America's engine for unprecedented growth. Railroads allowed the industrial economy to boom in ways that it couldn't have before.

One advance after the other, which essentially was led by the railroads largely because there was a need to close the gap between those east of the Mississippi and those on the West Coast.

NARRATOR: Vanderbilt has made himself the undisputed king of railroads. And now he wants the world to know it. He envisions a monument that will symbolize his immense power.

Work will begin on building a new station that will bring together the three railroads, the Harlem, the Hudson, and the Central. It shall be in the heart of New York and be called the Grand Central Depot.

NARRATOR: Thousands of workers labor over the next two years on the most ambitious urban construction project America has ever seen.

Grand Central is the biggest building in all of New York City, and the biggest train station in the country, covering some 22 acres.

This enormous building towered over every other building in New York at the time. And it was a physical symbol of the size and power of Vanderbilt's railroad empire. Its importance as a physical symbol, as a physical capital of his empire, cannot be underestimated. And it still stamps New York's geography to this day.

NARRATOR: Vanderbilt may be on top of the world, but his blind ambition will soon make him vulnerable to a challenge coming from the most unlikely pair imaginable. Mr. Vanderbilt's money! [laughter] NARRATOR: The growth of the railroads thrusts America into the biggest building expansion the country has ever seen, led by a new breed of leader. The story of America isn't just the story of the patriots that helped build the democracy. The reason the United States is the leading economy in the world is because of the work of entrepreneurs, who create entire industries that propel the United States to be the leader of the free world. NARRATOR: One man, Cornelius Vanderbilt, through brute force

and intimidation, has made himself the undisputed king of the railroads. He now owns 40% of America's train lines.

But he wants them all. To me, it's always what's next. And I think that's what drives most very successful people. It's never about the money. I mean, that's a way of keeping score. It's about achievement, and it's about winning a game, and it's about upping the ante.

NARRATOR: Chicago is America's fastest growing city. The line connecting it to New York is the most traveled and valuable in all the world. And it's not Vanderbilt's.

To make his empire complete, he must gain control of the Erie Line. The Erie was one of the relatively early publicly traded corporations. Vanderbilt had the advantage of millions and millions of dollars. Deep pockets are always an advantage when you're trying to gain control of a corporation.

[shouting] NARRATOR: Vanderbilt instructs his agents to buy up as much stock as possible. Buy Erie, buy Erie! NARRATOR: Demanding control of the company by the end of the week. Erie at 45! NARRATOR: It's a vintage Vanderbilt move, one he pioneered, known today as a hostile takeover. Erie 50!

NARRATOR: But his attempt will be thwarted by an even more ingenious idea, cooked up by two unknowns, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. All right, the mistake that the Erie board had made is that they have telegraphed where they need to expand without securing the land first. NARRATOR: Gould and Fisk are stuck in middle management at the Erie, but they represent the new America that Vanderbilt is helping to create, one of self-made men with ruthless ambition.

And after years of watching the Commodore dominate, they're eager to build their own empire. They recognize Vanderbilt's plan to buy the line and see the opportunity they've been waiting for. Competition, I think, it's good for the system. And it's really, I think, what most business is about. It's doing a better job on out-hustling your competitors.

NARRATOR: Gould and Fisk begin printing new shares of stock, using a printing press they set up in the basement of the Erie offices. Each share they print dilutes Vanderbilt's stake in the company, and they print over 100,000. There was some fine print in one of the clauses of the Erie's charter that allowed the board of directors to issue new stock unbeknownst to the shareholders. Go. And so the more shares that Vanderbilt bought, the more he had to buy in order to approach that magic majority.

NARRATOR: Their plan is known as a watering down stock. Highly illegal today, at the time it had never been imagined. Its simplicity is brilliant.

And Wall Street is never the same. The only rule was, there were no rules. Whatever it took to put your competition out of business, they were going to try to do it.

NARRATOR: Unaware, Vanderbilt continues to buy. Think of the look on his face. Oh, God, I wish I could be a fly on that wall. [laughter] NARRATOR: The freshly printed shares are hand-delivered to Vanderbilt. Here are the Erie shares. I assume we control the company now.

A toast, a toast! To money. To Vanderbilt's money! NARRATOR: Vanderbilt has bought $7 million of watered down stock from Gould and Fisk.

Today, worth over $1 billion. [laughter] Gah! NARRATOR: Vanderbilt has been underestimated before. But if you come at the king, you shouldn't expect to win.

The greatest growth explosion in America's short life is underway. Rail lines now connect huge expanses of the country. Controlling them means having power that just five years earlier was unimaginable. Many are staking their claim.

I think there are people in every generation that have a vision that transcends their moment and their time. NARRATOR: Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt owns more miles of rail than anyone in the World but like all men of power, he faces constant challenges. Gah!

Competition gets very aggressive. People have no idea how aggressive it is. And sometimes you don't even hear, because what goes on behind your back is not a pretty picture. NARRATOR: At the height of his power, Vanderbilt is outsmarted by a pair of unknowns. To Vanderbilt's money! NARRATOR: Jay Gould and Jim Fisk have fleeced the Commodore out of millions.

And they want the world to know it. Thank you. Don't mind if I do.

It is no secret what Vanderbilt has been trying to do. He owns more railroads than anybody else. Well, Gould and me, we have struck a blow for the little guy. Now, sure, he may be rich, and sure, he may be powerful, but somebody had to stand up to the old bastard! [laughter] It was a humiliating defeat for the Commodore, a man who was so fiercely competitive, who wanted to win at absolutely everything, to whom money was so important, and here he was defeated and insulted publicly

by Gould and Fisk. NARRATOR: Gould and Fisk maybe on top of the world, but they've awakened a sleeping lion.

Vanderbilt vows to never be beaten again. They don't think in terms of money. They think in terms of winning. Now, naturally, if you win big in business, money follows. But that shouldn't be your objective. Your objective should be to win. To win, win. Win all the time. Not sometimes, every time. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt immediately begins looking for a new edge.

He realizes that the railroads have been overbuilt, and the future of the industry isn't in building new lines, but in transporting new cargo.

Innovation is not a big breakthrough invention every time. Innovation is a constant thing, but if you don't have an innovative company coming to work every day to find a better way, you don't have a company. You're getting ready to die on the vine.

NARRATOR: If Vanderbilt can corner the market on a new source of freight, one that can keep his trains constantly full, he'll be able to control the railroad industry. And the Commodore knows just where to look.

Oil is revolutionizing life in America. Crude from the ground is being refined into kerosene, a safe and inexpensive source of light. And that access to light is completely changing the way Americans live. Before kerosene, the average American didn't have access to a consistent light source. When the sun came down, darkness ruled.

Kerosene is a phenomenon that will forever change the world, and Vanderbilt knows it's his next opportunity to cash in. The idea is to see what's missing. That's what a creative entrepreneur does. He serves people with things that they need. Some people can't find a new thing to do. But sometimes you see something that everybody has to have. Oh, man, I gotta give them this. And then you got to work on it, because they need it. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt sees the demand

for kerosene skyrocketing all across the country. He knows that to meet the demand, the makers of kerosene will need a new way to ship their oil.

If Vanderbilt can corner the market on those oil shipments, he'll propel himself back to the top of the railroad industry. All he needs to do now is find a supplier.

We're going to extend along the South shore to Cleveland. Why Cleveland? NARRATOR: Cleveland is a small city of just under 50,000, but it's sitting on top of an ocean of oil. Eastern Ohio is the Middle East of its day. And the area around Cleveland is one of the largest oil fields in the world. Vanderbilt learns about a refinery built near the railroads in Cleveland, the perfect mark for his master plan. He reaches out to the owner, a struggling young oil man

Vanderbilt is hoping to pluck from obscurity. That oilman is John D Rockefeller. Why are we paying so much on plumbers? We run a refinery. So we start making our own pipes.

At this rate, we'll be lucky if we break even this year. If you want to call it a day, John, just say. [baby crying] I should go.

Is everything all right? It's fine. NARRATOR: At the age of 27, Rockefeller is in the early stages of building his refining business, but his company is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Vanderbilt sees him as someone he can manipulate to his advantage.

An exclusive deal to ship Rockefeller's oil will guarantee that the Commodore's trains stay filled with cargo. Vanderbilt invites Rockefeller to meet with him in New York.

For the young oil man, the meeting is the opportunity of a lifetime, a way out of his troubles, and a way to save his company from complete collapse. Rockefeller, he respected Vanderbilt. He could see what he had achieved. Vanderbilt was setting the pattern and the archetype of what Rockefeller himself wanted to be. He wanted to be the Vanderbilt of petroleum. That's the way he saw himself.

NARRATOR: As Rockefeller prepares for his trip to New York, Vanderbilt's plan is set in motion.

[inaudible] NARRATOR: The train departs Cleveland at 6:25 AM. America is rising. The country is experiencing a period of growth like none it's ever seen. Railroads have United the States, and commerce flows with a speed never before thought possible. The man at the forefront of this explosive change is Cornelius Vanderbilt. But at 76, he realizes that the railroads have been overbuilt. To stay ahead of the competition, the Commodore turns to a new exploding industry and a struggling young oil man, John D Rockefeller.

Vanderbilt invites him to New York City for a meeting. Fate intervenes. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He restoreth my soul. NARRATOR: John Rockefeller narrowly missed the train, one that would have carried him to his certain death. The close call has a profound impact on the young oilman. He leadeth me into paths of righteousness for his namesake. Amen. NARRATOR: A man of deep faith, he becomes convinced that God has spared him for a reason. Without thinking that he himself in particular was chosen by God to become this great business success, Rockefeller believed that everything was divinely ordained.

So nothing happened in the world without God's will, without God's blessing. NARRATOR: Rockefeller once again heads to meet with Vanderbilt as a changed man. Where before he was intimidated and facing bankruptcy, now he's a man of destiny.

Cornelius Vanderbilt may be the richest and most powerful man in the country, accustomed to getting what he wants, but he has no idea what he's about to encounter.

Every business is about understanding people. Which people you have to get through, which people you have to embrace, which people you have to jump over, which people you have to push out of the way. That's the game. Do you play cards, Mr. Rockefeller? No. Shame. You could learn a lot about competition. I know all I need to know.

So I'm looking to do a deal with an oil refinery. And that could be you. I'm willing to do an exclusive deal. $1.65 a barrel. That's a discount of more than a third. There's several refineries in Cleveland. Why should I give you such a deal?

Because I'll fill all your trains with my oil. And if you don't do the deal, I'll fill someone else's trains.

Mr. Rockefeller. Do you trust him? I don't know. NARRATOR: Rockefeller may have gotten the rate he was looking for, but in return, he's agreed to provide Vanderbilt with over 60 train cars of oil every day.

The only problem is, Rockefeller has no way to produce that much kerosene. His capacity is less than half of that.

Rockefeller has over-promised, but he knows the deal with Vanderbilt will be the opportunity he's been waiting for. He just needs to find a way to produce more kerosene.

It's a daunting task, but John D Rockefeller has been beating the odds his entire life.

Rockefeller is raised in a poor Cleveland household. But even as a young man, he yearns for something more, something bigger. And he knows it isn't going to be handed to him.

As a young man, he shows a strong entrepreneurial streak, starting his own small business selling candy to local children. Thank you very much. Here's three pieces. NARRATOR: From an early age, Rockefeller helps to support his family, mostly because he was never able to rely on his father. It cures cancer. Folks, that is right. It cures cancer. Now, you're asking yourself, sir, I bet in your mind you're saying, Bill, is this true? NARRATOR: John Rockefeller's father is a con man.

Rebecca I met seven years ago, she had pneumonia. NARRATOR: Better known around Cleveland as Devil Bill. Who would like to buy some? $1.25 a bottle. Yes sir! NARRATOR: He disappears for months at a time, leaving his family without money to support themselves. I'm only here for one day. Once I'm gone, I am gone. I may not be back.

Never trust anybody, son. Not even me. NARRATOR: With his father gone, Rockefeller is forced to quit school and get a job to support his mother and siblings. His work ethic and intuition will become the building blocks for the American dream. My great-grandfather, John D Rockefeller, was an absolutely brilliant businessman. When he started out, he wasn't even in oil or anything. He worked at it very, very hard, and there's an ethic in the Rockefeller family of hard work. NARRATOR: Stuck in a dead end job,

he becomes fixated on finding a big idea and taking a chance. Be therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect.

Would you please rise? Let us sing hymn 89. (SINGING) Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, lord of love.

Get out. It's gonna blow. Get out! [rumbling] (SINGING) Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness-- Drive the dark of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day. [rumbling]

[cheering] I think entrepreneurs and certain business people just look at life, and look at things that are changing, and are able to see those things and say, I can create a business out of that.

NARRATOR: Rockefeller realizes oil has the potential to change the world, and make him rich in the process.

But Rockefeller knows that drilling for oil is a gamble, filled with uncertainty. And since he doesn't believe in luck, he starts looking for a way to make money from oil without the risk. He had a mind for efficiency. And there was probably something in him that looked at the production process and saw how wasteful that was. In the first place, you drill wells and they turn up dry. And then you drill wells and hit a gusher, and half that oil would be lost.

And that offended his sense of efficiency. NARRATOR: Rockefeller knows there's a better way. Today, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. They've heard these great stories about Apple. But you know what? When you start a company, you can think what the revenues are going to be, how much it's going to be worth to shareholders. But you always need a technical element. You need somebody who knows how to do it and build the things. You need the scientists.

NARRATOR: Refining oil turns crude from the ground into kerosene, a clean-burning fuel that can be used in lamps.

Once the oil gets to 350 degrees, the kerosene starts to vaporize. Then once it's cooled, you'll have a stable, pure product.

How much to produce a gallon? $0.50 $0.60. I don't know. NARRATOR: Rockefeller's insight puts him one step ahead of his competitors. He believes that while gamblers drill for oil, businessmen refine it. Whoever could control the refining process could very well have the whole industry.

NARRATOR: At 24 years old, Rockefeller invests everything he has, about $4,000, into building his first refinery. Go higher, higher! NARRATOR: But he struggles early on to find an edge in the industry. That changes when the most powerful man in the country comes calling. Mr. Rockefeller. NARRATOR: The deal with Vanderbilt gives him cheap shipping rates and the chance to corner the US oil market. But he's over-promised, agreeing to supply 60 barrels a day when his capacity is less than half that.

And when you've made a deal with the most powerful man in America, failure is not an option. You have to be smart. You have to have vision. You have to have all of these different things. But the most successful people are the people that had the right idea but never ever quit or gave up. The people that really succeed in life are those that don't quit. NARRATOR: Rockefeller needs to quickly expand his company. And to do that, he needs investors. The problem is, kerosene is getting a bad name.

Stories of the fuel exploding and burning down homes are on the front page of newspapers across the country, making potential investors skeptical. Due to high demand, many refiners are rushing to market with dangerous kerosene that's extremely volatile.

Rockefeller sees the problem as an opportunity. He realizes that there's a need to calm the public's fears, and provide them with a product they can rely on. Oil refining, warehouses, barrel-making, and shipping facilities. Why the name? Because Standard Oil will be the only company in the industry to guarantee a uniform quality of kerosene.

Rockefeller and all these guys, they were all great salesmen. And at the end of the day, it's the salesmen who make the money. Well, you could certainly understand how Rockefeller could have named his oil company Standard Oil. Pretty ambitious, organic name. He was creating a standard, and it worked. NARRATOR: Rockefeller's Standard Oil quiets fears and immediately becomes the most sought after product in the country, bringing in investor after investor.

He meets his promise to provide 60 train cars of oil a day, but that level of output is only enough to supply a small segment of the country. The Ohio oilman knows that with oil on every train, criss-crossing the country, he can supply every home in the nation. But to make that happen, he'll have to take on Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.

America is expanding rapidly. Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroads have united the country, and commerce now moves faster than ever.

But America's newest obsession is light, clean, safe light, the kind provided by John D Rockefeller.

Oil is changing the world, and the Ohio refiner is leading the charge. The titans of that day revolutionized business in America. We became the dominant economic force in the world because we could make stuff, we could create stuff, we could build stuff, we could power stuff.

NARRATOR: John Rockefeller's Standard Oil is now the largest producer of refined kerosene in the country, and his exclusive deal with Vanderbilt allows him to ship his product to homes throughout the country at incredibly cheap rates.

But for Rockefeller, it isn't enough. He's outgrown his deal with Vanderbilt. Once unable to fill Vanderbilt's trains, now he has more oil than the Commodore can possibly ship, and Vanderbilt's biggest competitor knows it.

Tom Scott is the president of one of the largest train lines in the country. He wants to take Vanderbilt's place as king of the railroads, and he knows a deal with Rockefeller is the key.

Scott heads to Cleveland with his protege, a young up and comer named Andrew Carnegie. As Scott's most trusted lieutenant, Carnegie has helped craft the pitch.

What I'm proposing is an alliance between-- You want a cartel between oil and railroads. I prefer to call it by its-- Give me the numbers.

Standard Oil will receive a 40% rebate for every barrel it ships. We'll send papers over in the morning. No.

A verbal contract is fine. NARRATOR: Rockefeller gets a better deal from Scott than he ever could have gotten from Vanderbilt. A shyster.

NARRATOR: The Commodore has lost his competitive edge. To the great frustration of Vanderbilt, Rockefeller very skillfully played those railroads against each other. Oil was something the railroads couldn't afford to let go, and so they fought very hard to get that traffic.

NARRATOR: With the railroads in his pocket, Rockefeller can supply every home in the nation with Standard Oil kerosene. And with all that profit, Rockefeller begins to buy out his competitors. And We need to stand together. I'm offering all of you a way out, so you can hold your heads high. The opportunity to sell to Standard Oil will be a godsend to you all. If you take Standard Oil stock, you and your loved ones will never know want.

NARRATOR: His intent is simple. He wants to own every refinery in the country. It's a concept that's been impossible to execute. Today, we know it as a monopoly.

But Rockefeller isn't just expanding his company. He's also looking to maximize profit, by any means necessary. We've got another refinery. One more into the fold. Do you want me to take a look at it?

No, I want you to shut it down. The business of creating monopolies, crushing opposition, part of me says he did that because it was there to be done, and he could do it better than anybody else. And he made a bloody fortune out of it.

NARRATOR: By the time he's finished, Rockefeller controls 90% of the North American oil supply.

His company, Standard Oil, is the country's first monopoly. At 33, the Ohio oilman is now the most powerful man in the country.

The Commodore has created a monster. He realizes that the only way to combat Rockefeller is for the railroads to start working together.

He forms an unlikely alliance with his biggest rival, Tom Scott. And together, they agree to pull all of Rockefeller's deals.

Thank you. NARRATOR: To Rockefeller, the move is nothing short of a declaration of war.

America is emerging as one of the mightiest nations on Earth. The country is now crowded with rail lines, and kerosene lights most homes. The amazing evolution has been led by two men driven by a desire to create a world that few imagined. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D Rockefeller have sparked the modernization of the country. But the former partners' interests are no longer aligned.

Vanderbilt has formed an unlikely alliance with Tom Scott, aimed at forcing their biggest client to pay going rates.

John Rockefeller sees their actions as a declaration of war. And he's not going down without a fight. John Rockefeller had the ruthlessness that sometimes comes from utter conviction that what he was doing was right, and not just correct but divinely inspired. And the people who opposed him weren't really entitled to their point of view, because their point of view was wrong.

It was almost as though they had turned aside God's grace. Well, if you turn aside God's offer of grace, then expect no mercy. NARRATOR: Rockefeller is determined to find another way to transport his oil.

He knows if he can't, the railroads will win. Rockefeller's solution, again, comes from the most unlikely of places. So we can increase the yield of the kerosene, but then we get more of the volatile waste. We can burn some of it off as fuel in the refinery, but its high flammability creates a storage problem.

If we get the higher temperatures, we can start creating the lubricating oils. I'll need to reconfigure the refinery.

NARRATOR: Oil in the refinery is moved using large pipes, and Rockefeller realizes if those pipes can transport oil over short distances, they could also be used over longer distances.

If Rockefeller can build a pipeline large enough, he'll be able to cut the railroads out of the oil business for good.

[chattering] The pipeline will require a massive investment and incredible risk. But if he gets it right, Rockefeller will be able to do what he loves to do most-- win. It probably comes early in an entrepreneur's life, where you realize you're willing to do things in the business world that other people aren't willing to do. Everybody has got ideas, and everybody's got ambitions, but most people aren't willing to cross that line. And I think an entrepreneur that's successful, that's your nature.

Wherever there's change, wherever there's uncertainty, there's opportunity. [chattering] NARRATOR: Rockefeller's workers labor around the clock, blasting through the countryside, and laying over a mile and a half of pipeline every day. Business, in the end, is understating the playing field. Tell me who's on it, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, and what is your checkmate play to top them and nail them? And so you're always in that competitive game. You're looking at innovation. You're looking at leapfrogging, trying to get a head of them. You're never complacent.

You're semi-paranoid about what they're doing. That's what the game is all about. NARRATOR: By the time the pipeline is complete, it's over 4,000 miles long, stretching across Ohio and Pennsylvania, and connecting thousands of the world's most lucrative oil wells directly to Rockefeller's refineries.

John Rockefeller has finally found his way to eliminate the railroads from the oil business. And in the process, he's forever revolutionized the way oil is transported.

For 25 years, the railroads have been the biggest industry in the country, the backbone of the American economy. No one has ever had the nerve to take them on until now. Rockefeller knows that without his oil, the railroads will struggle to stay alive.

It's a colossal blow to the industry. And with all that leverage, Rockefeller has Vanderbilt and the railroads right where he wants them.

The United States of America is changing like never before. In just a decade, the country has become one of the most advanced on Earth, and darkness no longer means the end of the day. Two men have driven this remaking of the country.

John D Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt are locked in a battle of wills. Commodore. Mr. Rockefeller. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt and his competitors are in drastic search of passengers and cargo to fill the trains running on their lines. In the 1870s, the country needed to be connected via railroads. And what happens then is, everybody who thinks they have an edge in the railroad business goes out and raises money, and they start their own railroad. And what happened then, as we've seen happened many a time since then, is it created a huge bubble.

NARRATOR: John D Rockefeller's oil makes up nearly 40% of the cargo shipped on the rails.

But when Vanderbilt teams with his biggest rival to push for a rate increase, Rockefeller takes it as a declaration of war. He builds a pipeline in response, and begins to pull his shipments. And since the railroads have been drastically overbuilt, losing cargo means losing money. Stocks plummet as investors run scared. When prices get out of control and smart people decide, wow, this thing is a bubble, I want out, then you can get a collapse very quickly.

NARRATOR: By the time the panic is through, 1/3 of the country's 360 railroad companies have gone bankrupt. Every crisis of this type, whether it's 2008 or 1873, it's got the same roots, namely that it was unanticipated. So a necessary condition for a crisis is, nobody expects it. NARRATOR: The crash is the worst America has seen in its short history.

Unsure how to prevent a complete collapse, the Stock Exchange shuts down and stays closed for 10 straight days.

The Panic of 1873 triggered the first full blown national depression, and nobody quite knew what to do about it.

For the first time, large, very large numbers of American workers were without jobs. Workers got laid off, but the owners, they still lived in the style that they were accustomed to. But no one was shedding any tears for John D Rockefeller.

People were saving their tears for themselves, when they found themselves out of work, out of their homes, out of food, out of hope.

NARRATOR: While many of the biggest companies in the country struggled to survive, Rockefeller sees opportunity. His belief in the survival of the fittest kicking in.

As his competition collapses, Rockefeller picks them off, buying out bankrupt oil companies for next to nothing. I find that I do better in bad markets. I buy things in bad markets. And you can't do that in a great economy. You can't buy it. Either you're going to buy it very expensively or not be able to buy it at all. So there's a lot of opportunity, I find, in the bad times. NARRATOR: By the time the depression is through, Rockefeller has created the largest corporate empire in America.

He was playing the game of industry, and he was simply better at it than everybody else. He saw the industrial marketplace as a place for the survival of the fittest. And he was fitter than anybody else. Therefore he survived. Not only that, therefore he deserved to survive, and they didn't.

NARRATOR: While Rockefeller expands his company, his adversaries at the railroads are struggling to survive. Then, at the height of the depression, the king of the American railroads, Cornelius Vanderbilt, dies at the age of 82.

Vanderbilt leaves his empire, worth over $100 million, to his son, William. Rockefeller knows that without Vanderbilt, he would have never been able to build his empire.

But Rockefeller's last remaining adversaries refuse to go down without a fight. Tom Scott and his protege Andrew Carnegie have managed to survive. And since Rockefeller's pipeline doesn't extend to Pittsburgh, he's forced to continue to use their trains. But Scott knows if he and Carnegie don't diversify, they won't survive.

Scott devises an aggressive plan to expand his empire, one that's sure to catch Rockefeller's attention.

He's going to break into the oil business by building a pipeline of his own.

But if there's one thing John Rockefeller hates more than anything else, it's competition. Tom Scott is in for war.

I've tried to be friendly to the Pennsylvania. I've given you plenty of business, have I not? And now I find that you're invading my field. And that, my friend, is piracy.

We'll take your feelings into account, Mr. Rockefeller. 2/3 of the oil you carry comes from me. If you don't retreat, I'll take it to the other railroads.

As far as I'm aware, there isn't another railroad that runs from Pittsburgh to New York.

NARRATOR: America's growth after the Civil War is driven by railroads uniting the country and oil lighting the way. No one has capitalized on the growth more than John D Rockefeller, who now controls 90% of the US oil market.

With the death of Cornelius Vanderbilt, only one man stands in the way of Rockefeller's complete control of oil-- Tom Scott.

There was a sort of mutual admiration among the big capitalists, but it was an admiration that was accompanied by deep suspicion. The big capitalists of the day all eyed each other very warily. Rockefeller looked on Tom Scott of the Penn Railroad as a competitor.

NARRATOR: Tom Scott's trains transport oil to and from Rockefeller's refineries in Pittsburgh, where the Standard Oil pipeline doesn't reach.

With all that leverage, Scott is confident he has the ammunition to take on Rockefeller.

But Rockefeller isn't one to back down from a fight. I don't want one drop of our oil traveling on the Pennsylvania. But what about the Pittsburgh refineries? Shut them down.

NARRATOR: Shutting down his refineries will cost Standard Oil a fortune in lost revenue. But for Rockefeller, crushing his competition matters more than anything else.

Without Rockefeller's oil, Scott loses nearly half of his business, forcing him to lay off tens of thousands of workers and drastically cut wages.

Those workers take to the streets in protest. And as darkness falls on Pittsburgh, they turn violent.

A fire is set in Tom Scott's train yards. Before the night is over, more than 39 buildings and over 1,200 train cars are destroyed.

Tom Scott's company lays in ruin. This is how capitalism works. The railroads had been the big suppliers of transportation in the oil industry. And so the railroads quite naturally resisted. They dug in their heels wherever they could. Eventually they lost.

Come on. Let's go. NARRATOR: John D Rockefeller has replaced Cornelius Vanderbilt as the richest man in America. His net worth is now over $150 million, or $225 billion today. It's dazzlingly amazing that one individual was able to corner about 98% of all the kerosene and eventually oil production in the world. He was a brilliant business person. I can only give him credit for that. I don't have to give him credit for the way that he became that powerful.

NARRATOR: But all titans are targets. And now Rockefeller is about to come face-to-face with his biggest challenge ever.

The country grows at an unprecedented pace. Make it stronger. It's impossible. Nothing's impossible. NARRATOR: Driven by the birth of a new industry that changes everything. I am convinced that steel is the future.

NARRATOR: And Andrew Carnegie's quest for revenge has unintended consequences-- Fire! NARRATOR: --that threaten to tear the nation apart. Mr Carnegie-- Get out of my damned way!

Let's get out of here! Now!