In 1899, Rogers set up the Amalgamated Copper trust, based in Butte, Montana, that dominated an industry in high demand as the nation needed wire to build its electric networks.

Except for a brief move to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, during Rogers' early childhood, the family lived in Fairhaven, a fishing village across the Acushnet River from the whaling port of New Bedford.

When Pratt met Rogers at McClintocksville on a business trip, he already knew Charles Ellis, having earlier bought whale oil from him back east in Fairhaven.

With its combination of clever market manipulation, and hard-nosed dealings with the powerful Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), the South Improvement scheme was an example of the type of business tactics which Rockefeller and his associates used to become successful.

Working with the Pennsylvania independents, Rogers and the New York delegation managed to forge an agreement with the railroads, whose leaders eventually agreed to open their rates to all and promised to end their shady dealings with South Improvement.

But, the South Improvement incident prompted growing public sentiment to support governmental oversight and regulation of large businesses, including the railroads.

Congress passed new antitrust laws, the administration created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), and the courts eventually ordered the breakup of the Standard Oil Trust in the early 20th century.

Although they were teetotalers personally, distilled spirits were a byproduct of the handling of corn, and both embraced the business opportunity that they presented; making money was clearly paramount.

By all accounts, Rockefeller was an extraordinarily talented manager and financial planner, Flagler was an exceptional marketer, and Andrews had the know-how to oversee refining aspects.

By this time, the three main men of Standard Oil Trust had become John D. Rockefeller, his brother William, and Henry Rogers, who had emerged as a key financial strategist.

During the winter of 1898–99, the National Transit Company built a 10-inch wrought iron pipeline that stretched from the Pipe Creek on the Ohio River to Akron, with branches to Canton, Massillon, Dover, New Philadelphia, Uhrichsville, and Dennison.

In 1884, with associates, Rogers formed the Consolidated Gas Company, and thereafter for several years he was instrumental in gaining control of great city plants, fighting terrific battles with rivals for some of them, as in the case of Boston.

In 1899, with William Rockefeller, and Thomas W. Lawson, he formed the first $75,000,000 section of the gigantic trust, Amalgamated Copper Mining Company, which was the subject of much acrid criticism then and for years afterward.

In mid-1890s, Rogers became president of the Ohio River Railroad, founded by Johnson Newlon Camden, a United States senator from West Virginia who was also secretly involved with Standard Oil.

Initially, Rogers' involvement in the project began in 1902 with Page's Deepwater Railway, planned as an 80-mile (130 km) short line to reach untapped coal reserves in a very rugged portion of southern West Virginia, and interchange its traffic with the C&O and/or the N&W.

Page was the "front man" for the Deepwater project, and it is likely the leaders of the big railroads were unaware that their foe was backed by the wealthy Rogers, who did not give up a good fight easily.

However, the time and enormous effort Rogers expended on the project continued to undermine his already declining health, not only because of his Herculean work but also because of the uncertain economy of the period, exacerbated by the financial Panic of 1907 which began in March of that year.

Management of the funding Rogers was providing was handled by Boston financier Godfrey M. Hyams, with whom he had also worked on the Anaconda Company, and many other natural resource projects.

However, almost all of the former VGN mainline trackage in West Virginia and about 50% of that in Virginia is still in use in 2006 as the preferred route for eastbound coal trains for Norfolk Southern Corporation due to the more favorable gradients while crossing the Allegheny Mountains' continental divide and the Blue Ridge Mountains east of Roanoke, while most westbound traffic of empty coal cars uses the original Norfolk and Western main line.

When the newly formed Mutual Alliance Trust Company opened for business in New York on the Tuesday after June 29, 1902, there were 13 directors, including Emanuel Lehman, William Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Rogers.

Rogers funded the draining of the mill pond to create a park, installed the town's public water and sewer systems, and served as superintendent of streets for his hometown.

For the final ten years of his life, Rogers entertained friends as they sailed on cruises mostly along the East Coast of the United States, north to Maine and Canada, and south to Virginia.

With Mark Twain among his frequent guests, the movements of the Kanawha attracted great attention from the newspapers, the major public media of the era.

Earl J. Dias described the relationship in these words: "Rogers and Twain were kindred spirits—fond of poker, billiards, the theater, practical jokes, mild profanity, the good-natured spoof.

Twain returned to Norfolk, Virginia with Rogers in April 1909, and was the guest speaker at the dedication dinner held for the newly completed Virginian Railway, a "Mountains to Sea" engineering marvel of the day.

Although Rogers had died suddenly a few weeks earlier, in June 1909 Dr. Washington went on a previously arranged speaking tour along the newly completed Virginian Railway.

Washington said Rogers had urged the trip to explore how to improve race relations and economic conditions for African Americans along the route of the new railway.

Washington told about Rogers' philanthropy: "funding the operation of at least 65 small country schools for the education and betterment of African Americans in Virginia and other portions of the South, all unknown to the recipients."

During World War II, on February 21, 1943, it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic Ocean 600 miles (970 km) off the coast of Ireland while en route from Liverpool, England to the United States.

It carries a VGN Class 10-A caboose, built by the company and restored by members of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) chapter in Roanoke.