The Newtown Pentacle

Friday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Recent endeavor found your humble narrator casting shadows in Pennsylvania’s Bridgeville, part of the larger Pittsburgh metro area and found just a few miles from HQ.

Pictured is a section of Chartiers Creek, which has been mentioned before in connection to massive environmental remediation efforts that various governmental entities have been working on in order to ameliorate an acid mine runoff condition. Bridgeville used to be a center for coal mining, and processing, at the end of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. They also mined Vanadium, and a few other elements and minerals hereabouts.

Basically, and as I understand it, when you’re operating a mining operation the two biggest problems you’ve got involve the pumping out of ground water, and then piping in air for ventilation.

When the business shutters, nobody is performing those functions anymore. The mine fills with water, the volume of which in turn gets incorporated into the subterrene patterns which ground waters flow through, down below, which then migrate back up to the surface.

Hydrology, yo.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Again – as I understand it – the thing that makes Coal a great fuel choice is that it’s a rapid oxidizer. That’s why it alights fast, and burns hot.

The post facto of the mining process exposes left behind or non harvestible coal to the atmosphere, and to ground water, which causes it to oxidize in place. Iron pyrites, amongst other compounds, are found in the Appalachian layer cake that forms the coal’s firmament. The pyrites rust, and leech out of the flooded mines, entering the ground water/aquifer.

The pH of this leachate water is altered by the carrying of these dissolved metals, and thereby it leans towards acidic. No bueno for the bugs, turtles, or fish.

Less than a mile away from the first shot in today’s post, and that’s the Chartier’s Creek tributary McLaughlin Run pictured. As you can see, the running water here is a bright orange. That’s rust from those iron pyrites.

It’s the 1941 vintage ‘Bridge No. 1 McLaughlin’s Run,’ that’s pictured above.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As is my habit, I photographed the bridge’s signage – click here for that.

I’ve read that Bridgeville has experienced severe storm flooding in the not so distant past, and lots of built accommodations for high water events were observed around this structure. Notice the chain on the manhole cover above, securing it to the raised pipe.

One had a bit of time to kill, on this particular morning, and a few new toys I wanted to play with.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Your humble narrator was in ‘full kit’ mode, as I had the car with me for this effort. Both a tripod and that ‘super clamp’ mentioned a few posts ago were deployed. I was also experimenting with a set of magnetic lens filters which I had just received.

These things are magic – btw – you can just snap a polarizer or Neutral Density filter onto your lens, in seconds.

As you’ve likely noticed, there is a rail trestle/bridge here, which belongs to the Wheeling and Lake Erie outfit.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

McLaughlin Run is containerized behind masonry retaining walls, and forms the back yard border for several commercial properties and homes.

My time grew short, and there were other things that didn’t concern me which I wanted to stick my nose into, so the gear began to go back into the bag as I prepared for departure. One more shot, though…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This one (and several others in today’s post) used a 10 stop ND filter, and the superclamp tripod setup. Bucolic, no?

Back next week, with something different.

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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.