The Robber Barons Trivia Quiz

Answer: American Fur Company

John Jacob Aster's American Fur Company is considered to be the first American business monopoly. He amassed his fortune by monopolizing the fur trade in the central and western states and territories of the U.S. He cheated the Native Americans with whom he dealt, treated his workers poorly, and with his wealth bought and bribed judges and politicians. When he died in 1848, he was the richest man in America.

Upon his death he bequeathed almost half a million dollars to build a library, the New York Public Library.

Answer: Central Pacific Railroad

Leland Stanford was a U.S. senator from California and one of the builders of the transcontinental railroad. He was president of the Central Pacific Railroad and directed its movement eastward to join the Union Pacific Railroad in Utah in 1869.

He and his wife founded Stanford University in 1885.

Answer: New York Central Railroad

Vanderbilt started out as a ferry operator. He soon acquired a fleet of steamboats and then had the foresight to put his money into owning and operating railroads. He founded Vanderbilt University and was a builder of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, the largest privately owned home in America.

Answer: New York and Erie Railroad

Jay Gould was a director of the Erie Railroad. Along with several others he conspired to sell fraudulent stock in the Erie Railroad. Gould paid exorbitant bribes to New York state legislators to Cornelius Vanderbilt from gaining control of his railroad.

Gould devised a scheme to control America's gold supply. Gould's plan would only work if the Treasury Department cooperated by not selling gold reserves, so Gould bribed several officials, including a relative of President Grant. September 24, 1869, became known as "Black Friday" as a panic ensued on Wall Street as gold prices rose. The plan fell apart when the government began to sell and drove the prices down.

Answer: Standard Oil Company

John David Rockefeller got into the oil business by investing in a small Ohio refinery in 1863. In 1870, he established Standard Oil and a mere ten years later controlled over 90% of America's refineries and pipelines. He was accused of manipulating prices and conspiring with the railroads to eliminate competition. In 1911, Standard Oil was found in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust laws and ordered dissolved.

John D. Rockefeller gave approximately $550 million dollars to charity during his lifetime.

Answer: Great Northern Railway

James Jerome Hill was president of the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railroad. He was also active in banking. He presided over the Northern Securities Company which was found in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1904.

Answer: New York and Liverpool Mail Steamship Company

In the early and mid-19th century, Edward Knight Collins began by buying packet ships that ferried goods along the east coast of America and to and from Mexico. In no time he had a monopoly on such shipping and used various methods to deter competition. Through his shipping company, the New York and Liverpool Mail Steamship Company, he tried to compete with the British Cunard Lines for trans-Atlantic shipping, but his efforts met with failure.

Answer: New York and Erie Railroad

James Fisk, also known as "Big Jim" and "Diamond Jim," was a relatively well-thought of businessman and financier until he became partners with Jay Gould and became involved with Gould's scheme to corner the market on gold.

While married, Fisk carried on a romantic relationship with Josie Mansfield. Mansfield subsequently fell in love with Edward Stokes, a business associate of Fisk's. Stokes and Mansfield attempted to extort money from Fisk. When Fisk refused to pay, Stokes shot and killed him.

Answer: United States Steel Company

Andrew Carnegie migrated from Scotland to Pittsburgh, PA, with only a few years of schooling and started working as a bobbin boy at a cotton factory for $1.20 a week. He went on to hold a number of jobs, including one for the Pennsylvania Railroad where he soon succeeded his boss as superintendent. He began to make investments in coal, iron and coal companies. At the age of 30, he left the railroad and an iron bridge building company and a telegraph firm. In the early 1870s, (now 35 years old) he co-founded his first steel company.

In 1892, the Homestead Strike occurred which resulted in the PA National Guard being brought in to quell the rioters. The strike was broken and the steel union in Pittsburgh was ineffective for decades to come. In 1901, J. Pierpont Morgan bought Carnegie Steel for $480 million dollars, then merged it with some other steel businesses to form U.S. Steel.

Andrew Carnegie gave over $350 million dollars to charity during his lifetime.

Answer: North River Steamboat Company

Fulton, an aspiring painter, invented the first commercial steamboat. He and a business partner obtained a contract from New York for a monopoly on the state's canals. Fulton spent much of his time and money in litigations involving the pirating of patents relating to steamboats and in trying to prevent development by rival steamboat builders who found loopholes in the state-granted monopoly.