business grew until in
1901, when he retired, his payroll exceeded eighteen million dollars a
year, and he received two hundred and fifty millions for his share of
the business.

But, I hear you ask, "How could he earn so much money? How did he get
the money to start these great enterprises?" From the first he was
economical and saved every penny possible; and fortunately for him his
investments were always profitable, as the following examples will
show.

When he was a telegraph operator, his friend, Mr. Scott, urged him to
buy ten shares in the Adams Express Company for six hundred dollars.
As Mr. Carnegie was able to get together but five hundred dollars, Mr.
Scott lent him the extra hundred, and the investment was made. Soon
these shares were yielding large dividends, which Mr. Carnegie
carefully saved.

Already I have told you how Mr. Woodruff, the inventor of the sleeping
car, came to Mr. Carnegie to get him to try out these cars. So
enthusiastic was Mr. Carnegie over the invention, that he organized
the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, and borrowed money from every
possible source to finance the enterprise. Here, too, he met with a
degree of success that was far beyond his fondest expectations.

Suppose we invite Mr. Carnegie to tell us about his third investment.
He says: "In company with several others, I purchased the now famous
Story farm, on Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, where a well had been bored
and natural-oil struck the year before. This proved a very profitable
investment. When I first visited this famous well, the oil was running
into the creek where a few flat-bottomed scows lay filled with it,
ready to be floated down the Allegheny River on an agreed upon day
each week, when the creek was flooded by means of a temporary dam.
This was the beginning of the natural-oil business. We purchased the
farm for forty thousand dollars, and so small was our faith in the
ability of the earth to yield, for any considerable time, the hundred
barrels per day which the property was then producing that we decided
to make a pond capable of holding one hundred thousand barrels of oil,
which we estimated would be worth, when the supply ceased, one million
dollars.

"Unfortunately for us, the pond leaked fearfully. Evaporation also
caused much loss, but we continued to run the oil in to make the loss
good day by day, until several hundred thousand barrels had gone in
this fashion. Our experience with the farm is worth re