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Furnace
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Environs
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When we took discharge samples at the Carrie Furnace complex in 1970, it was already 63 years old. Actually, the property as a whole was much older. What came to be known as the Carrie Furnaces began in 1883, with the first furnace. A second furnace followed in 1900. The two furnaces that are still standing in the midst of what is now an industrial desolation were built in 1907 by the Carnegie Steel Company.[1] [2] The mill was to become much larger before it closed in 1978.
This was also the mill that provoked my initial interest in a project to thwart brazen water pollution by United States Steel and other local corporations.
This was also the mill that provoked my initial interest in a project to thwart brazen water pollution by United States Steel and other local corporations.
Having spent most of my life in Colorado, I had only recently moved to the area. Sometimes I would cross the Rankin Bridge on my way to and from work and could look down on huge, continuous discharges into the Monongahela from this mill. The rivers of Pittsburgh I likened to the Rockies of my home and the idea that they were being used as open industrial sewers was more than I was willing to accept. One day I discovered the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and at once recognized it to be the tool I could use to have some impact on this situation.
The images from 1970, seen here and elsewhere on this site, come from that project.
The person seen to be taking a sample in the photo below is my intrepid partner, John Zavodni, then a biologist at the Penn State campus at McKeesport.
[1] Survey of Industrial Burdock, Hugh P. Meese
[2] Rivers of Steel Heritage Area website
The person seen to be taking a sample in the photo below is my intrepid partner, John Zavodni, then a biologist at the Penn State campus at McKeesport.
[1] Survey of Industrial Burdock, Hugh P. Meese
[2] Rivers of Steel Heritage Area website
Looking north from the Homestead, PA, end of the bridge toward the other side of the Monongahela and the site of the Carrie Furnace property.
A Walk Across the Hot Metal Bridge in 2008
In Pittsburgh, if you mention the "Hot Metal Bridge," most people will think you mean the one that used to service the J.&L. Steel Pittsburgh Works and now carries road traffic and pedestrians to and from the shops and restaurants on the South Side. In fact, the United States Steel mill of which Carrie Furnace was a part, spanned both sides of the Monongahela. This bridge – a few miles upstream from its counterpart at J&L – made it possible to pass materials and steel product from one part of the mill to the other.
The big difference between the two bridges is that this one is no longer in use. Formerly, two sets of tracks crossed the span. Today only one remains, the upstream side of the bridge having no flooring, leaving the support substructure – and the river below – open to view.
While I was making arrangements with Allegheny County, the current owner of the site, for access to the furnace area, I had an opportunity for a photo shoot on the bridge. The bridge is now owned by the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area. On a sunny day in the middle of May, 2008, Ron Baraff, the Director of Museum Collections and Archives, and I started at the south end of the bridge and took our time crossing the Monongahela and returning. I had the camera firing away the whole time. Several of those shots are presented on an attached page.
While I was making arrangements with Allegheny County, the current owner of the site, for access to the furnace area, I had an opportunity for a photo shoot on the bridge. The bridge is now owned by the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area. On a sunny day in the middle of May, 2008, Ron Baraff, the Director of Museum Collections and Archives, and I started at the south end of the bridge and took our time crossing the Monongahela and returning. I had the camera firing away the whole time. Several of those shots are presented on an attached page.
Ron Baraff
