by the reception I met with when I
returned to my division. The men of the eastern end had gathered
together with a cannon and while the train passed I was greeted with a
salvo. This was perhaps the first occasion upon which my subordinates
had an opportunity of making me the subject of any demonstration, and
their reception made a lasting impression. I knew how much I cared for
them and it was pleasing to know that they reciprocated my feelings.
Working-men always do reciprocate kindly feeling. If we truly care for
others we need not be anxious about their feelings for us. Like draws
to like.

CHAPTER IX

BRIDGE-BUILDING

During the Civil War the price of iron went up to something like $130
per ton. Even at that figure it was not so much a question of money as
of delivery. The railway lines of America were fast becoming dangerous
for want of new rails, and this state of affairs led me to organize in
1864 a rail-making concern at Pittsburgh. There was no difficulty in
obtaining partners and capital, and the Superior Rail Mill and Blast
Furnaces were built.

In like manner the demand for locomotives was very great, and with Mr.
Thomas N. Miller[24] I organized in 1866 the Pittsburgh Locomotive
Works, which has been a prosperous and creditable concern--locomotives
made there having obtained an enviable reputation throughout the
United States. It sounds like a fairy tale to-day to record that in
1906 the one-hundred-dollar shares of this company sold for three
thousand dollars--that is, thirty dollars for one. Large annual
dividends had been paid regularly and the company had been very
successful--sufficient proof of the policy: "Make nothing but the very
best." We never did.

[Footnote 24: Mr. Carnegie had previous to this--as early as
1861--been associated with Mr. Miller in the Sun City Forge Company,
doing a small iron business.]

When at Altoona I had seen in the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's
works the first small bridge built of iron. It proved a success. I saw
that it would never do to depend further upon wooden bridges for
permanent railway structures. An important bridge on the Pennsylvania
Railroad had recently burned and the traffic had been obstructed for
eight days. Iron was the thing. I proposed to H.J. Linville, who had
designed the iron bridge, and to John L. Piper and his partner, Mr.
Schiffler, who had charge of bridges on the Pennsylvania line, that
they should come to Pittsburgh and I