Notes

Back in the 1800's many families were very rich and powerful. Tons of people were gaining wealth and had big businesses. They made new technology and got super rich off of this. This time period was known as "The Gilded Age". Some of these families built huge mansions on the east cost. These homes were so massive they were referred to as "Camps". One "camp" was called Santanoni. It had 50 buildings, and one mine lodge. There were cabins. barns, and a gatehouse. These buildings over time decayed and started to fall down, due to the lack of restoration. Then someone made a difference. A group was setup to restore and replace the buildings. Today still people are working hard to make sure these buildings stay up and wont come down. People can visit and tour these grounds. They learn more and more about these "camp grounds" everyday. Though these mansions were nice and all, and the gilded age made people very rich, not everyone became rich. Many people were very poor and lived in company grounds/homes. New technologies were being rapidly created. These changed steel oil, farming, and businesses forever. The changes allowed the people who ran these corporations to make a lot of money. People who worked for them, well, didn't. During this time you were either rich or not rich; no in between. At this time the U.S. was growing. People were moving to the West, but eastern cities also grew. Immigrants from all over the world were coming over for job opportunities. Factories from big business owners needed workers to make their product. And people needed jobs. So many city people went to work for these owners and factories. They owners made tons of money. Enough for them to never have to work again. They had more than wealth though. They had time. They went parties all over. They were always having a good time the matter what. They had more money then they knew what to do with it. This allowed them to just relax and live life the way they always wanted to. Many if not all of the owners were like that way. They didn't want things to change. Government didn't really make things change, they're only a few laws telling them what to do. Otherwise they ruled government. Companies could make workers work for 10-16+ hours a day. They did this 6 days a week, and were paid little. This was basically abuse towards all workers and unfair rights. There were only two groups. No between, there were the business owners and the people who worked for them. They lived in huge mansions while workers had to live in unfair and unsafe workers homes, or their work station. Many children worked in these factories and were killed.