“I own five stores, not one of which contains a thing anyone needs!” said an owner weeks before selling the stores for a considerable gain and retiring to Florida three years ago. This one man’s opinion may be a metaphor for extravagance. Nearly every early American family created wealth by cutting timbers to build homes, fishing from boats, hunting deer and turkey, making their own clothes. A large, preserved codfish is still displayed prominently in the state capital of Massachusetts. The cod represented survival and prosperity in the early 1700s. Fish heads were used to fertilize hills of corn in sandy soil where potatoes, cranberries, hay for horses and cattle were also grown. The hardwood forests of Pennsylvania were harvested in the early and mid-1800s. Men floated logs down the Susquehanna River. Railroad ties and trestles were cut for westward expansion and ships were built for whaling.