by We like to learn about the places we visit, and nothing says “Pittsburgh history” like the iron and steel industry. We’d already seen the glamorous side of the city by touring The Frick Pittsburgh. Now it was time to visit the dirty underbelly.
The Carrie Blast Furnaces were built along the Monongahela River (which they completely polluted by dumping their waste in it) in 1884 as part of the Homestead Steel Works. At its peak, the site produced up to 1,250 tons of iron per day. The site closed in 1982 with the demise of the steel industry in the United States.
Now, just furnaces #6 and #7 remain on the site. They are massive industrial structures, reaching 92 feet into the sky. They are in a state of decay, yet we were allowed to walk all through them on our tour (we had hard hats and wore closed-toed shoes, so we were safe). The deteriorating structures were both sad for their history and hauntingly beautiful.
The tour, managed by the non-profit Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation, discussed technical production, but also attempted to create a picture of the hot, dirty, smelly, dangerous place it was to work. The descriptions closely aligned with the book I had just read, Steel: The Story of Pittsburgh’s Iron & Steel Industry. Men were paid a pittance to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, in very, very dangerous conditions. Today’s health/disability insurance, workplace safety, workers’ comp, labor regulations, environmental protections, etc. were completely foreign concepts to the iron and steel industry of yesteryear.
