Rivers of Steel Boat Tour, part 1
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A former steel operation site in Pittsburgh, called the Carrie Furnace, is being preserved as a historic landmark. A non profit operates at the location, one which offers several interesting events for the public to take part in, and Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself were lucky enough to score boat tickets for their ‘Rivers of Steel: Hardest Working River’ tour navigating the Monongahela River from its terminus at the Ohio River all the way back to Rankin, where the Carrie Furnace still stands across the water from the Homestead Pump House site.
It was not exactly the best sort of weather for a boat tour, incidentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A historical narration was offered, discussing Pittsburgh’s somewhat epic history. I made myself busy shooting the entire time we were out, which had to be close to three hours. Shooting from a boat during inclement weather is definitively a skill I have, thanks to long experience with Working Harbor Committee and others back in NYC. It was cold, and raining intermittently. The Rivers of Steel peeps have their own boat, which docks alongside the Carnegie Science Center and as they informed us, normally takes out school kids to do science class stuff.
We proceeded in a generally eastern direction along the Monongahela, which flows in a quite serpentine manner that forms somewhat rounded peninsular landforms along its banks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s what that South Side section which I’ve been visiting recently looks like from the water. We were there on last week’s Friday post.
Shooting pics from a boat is a very complicated situation. You’re shooting static objects from a moving object, and it’s even more complicated when you’re pointing the lens at another boat. A moving object from a moving object, with all sorts of weird reflective stuff happing in the water. It’s more complicated than you’d think.
Back tomorrow with more from the Monongahela River.
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There will be rust
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As far as I’ve been able to discern, the flowing water in todays post is a waterbody called Robinson Run. Water is generally not witnessed as displaying an autumnal color scheme of orange, so it caught my eye and caused me to wave the camera around a bit at it during a constitutional walk along the Montour Trail.
I’ve got a couple of theories, regarding the coloration. One is that there might be orange clay or soil upstream that is being carried in the flow. The other involves a giant mound of slag that’s found here, in which case the oranges are rust from oxidant processes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I noticed the color when I was walking over the rail bridge at the start of my scuttle. As soon as I did, a resolve to ‘get down there’ suddenly materialized in the meat noodles found behind the eyes and between the ears.
After having walked a couple of miles one way and then back again, that’s what I set about doing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now, having lived in NYC my entire life, I should mention that I process stepping onto a suburban lawn as being ‘in the woods.’ Leaving the pathway and crashing through thorns and brambles like this is definitely outside of my comfort area. Give me a sewer plant and pavement, any day.
Saying that, I moved in a slow and deliberate fashion, finding a pathway through the mounds of deer poop which acted as guide posts for me to get to the shoreline.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I felt compelled to set up the tripod and get a few long exposure shots of the spot. Some sort of friggin thing stuck its head out of a hole to keep an eye on me. It looked like a giant mutated rat, but my Facebook friends assure me it was merely a woodchuck. I also saw a Chipmunk which I processed as ‘small pretty rat’ or ‘undersized Squirrel.’
There’s a reason our ancestors paved over everything, Y’know.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So odd. Even Newtown Creek never went orange on me. It was mainly ochres, greens, sometimes jet black.
At any rate, a humble narrator had burned out about five miles of walking over hill and dale, which was my exercise goal for the day. It was time to scuttle back to the parked Mobile Oppression Platform and head back to HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A schedule of exercise is part of the daily regime these days for me. I’ve put on weight, which is ruinous, and a humble narrator needs to get back down to his ‘fighting weight.’ Injuries, lockdowns, and laziness have all factored into this situation, but suffice to say that the best curative for this involves long walks and physical exertions. Also, no snacks.
Back tomorrow with something very different.
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Old McDonald
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now that the weather has turned to Spring here in Western Pennsylvania, one has resumed his long scuttles. I’ve had a few fantastic walks in the downtown area where the three rivers convergence occurs, but as I’ve told anyone who will listen – the network of ‘rail to trails’ public spaces here in Pittsburgh are absolutely fantastic.
I drove the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) from HQ to a town about 30 minutes away from HQ called McDonald. I was heading for the convergence of two former railroad right of way’s which have been converted over to trails – the Panhandle and Montour.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Rail bridges are incorporated into this rail to trail network, which offers one such as myself the rare opportunity to gain some altitude in an otherwise wooded and somewhat natural environment. When I say ‘somewhat,’ it’s because this entire area is post industrial. This used to be “oil country” back in the early days of the petroleum industry, and the engineers who worked for the rail companies that served the various industries in Pittsburgh did things in an expeditious fashion ‘back in the day.’ If there was a hill or a mountain in the way of your tracks, you’d blow them up with dynamite and use the rubble to fill in the next valley. The term ‘terraforming’ kind of applies.
The McDonald oil field was one of the largest and steadiest producers of petroleum in the United States during the early days of the oil industry, and operated right up until the 1960’s. Supposedly, there’s still productive well heads nearby. The market for 19th and early 20th century crude oil were refineries in the big cities along the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes, and it was shipped by various rail entities until the pipeline shipping method became more common. When the pipelines came along, the rail people began to go bankrupt. One of the pipelines leading eastwards from here went to Queens in NYC, where it fed the Standard Oil (later Mobil) refineries along – you guessed it – that fabulous ribbon of neglect called the Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had probably walked a couple of miles beyond the rail bridge on the trail, whereupon an enormous and quite modern truss bridge set upon concrete piers was encountered. Apparently, the Pennsylvania Turnpike runs on the road above, and it’s heading towards the airport here in Pittsburgh. I wasn’t alone at all on this walk. People were riding bikes and jogging, and there were all sorts of very happy looking dogs being walked on the trail as well. Hawks and other predatory birds were twisting around up in the sky looking for luncheon, and all sorts of mammalian critters were observed skittering about.
What made this walk really interesting will be discussed in tomorrow’s post, so be sure to come back to Newtown Pentacle if you want to find out ‘sup.
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Phipps Conservatory
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent Sunday saw Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself heading into Pittsburgh’s Oakland section for a visit to the Phipps Conservatory. The business partner of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Phipps Jr. – like many of the so called ‘Robber Barons’ of the late 19th century – decided to get philanthropic in his later years, and it had absolutely nothing to do with a guilty conscience because of their decision allowing the use of heavily armed troops to break Union strikes, and massacre the laborers. It was out of the goodness of their hearts, bless ‘em.
In 1893, Phipps endowed a conservatory and botanic garden as a gift to the city whose laboring masses had made him rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Hmm… 1892 – Homestead Strike and Massacre, 1893 – flowers and gifts to the public…
The Phipps Conservatory is found nearby the entrance of an enormous park that serves this section of Pittsburgh as a green space and playing field for a variety of sports and other outdoor activities. Botany ain’t really my bag, but Our Lady wanted to check this one out and part of getting to know a City involves visiting its cultural institutions, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The place is set up along a thematic scheme, with wings and sections devoted to various ecosystem biota. There’s a spectacular section right when you enter which sports Hawaiian and other Southeast Asian plantings, a tropical room which felt like I had stepped directly into late July, and a lot of flowering plants.
There was a desert room filled with cacti which appealed to me, pictured above. Glass sculptures are prominently displayed throughout, which are the work of Dale Chihuly. There’s one of his pieces in the shot above, and there’s an incredible example of his work displayed at the entryway to Phipps.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The conservatory was very well attended, I would mention. Lovely place, and if you find yourself in Pittsburgh it’s definitely worth your attention. Me? I shot a few macros of flowers which I passed by and waved the camera about a bit, but this sort of thing doesn’t light me up. I like sewer plants, bridges, and things that go ‘Choo choo.’
Our Lady, on the other hand, was absolutely electrified.
Back tomorrow.
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Winding down
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whew, that was kind of an epic walk I showed y’all this week, huh? Wait till you see the next one, which made this week’s one seem like a stroll. After descending down that crazy flight of stairs shown in yesterday’s post, a humble narrator scuttled across the Monongahela River using the South Tenth Street Bridge, and soon found himself back to the increasingly familiar South Side section for my transit connection.
To connect with the T Light Rail at the Station Square stop, I’d need to walk a fairly negligible distance – if it’s even a mile I’d be pretty surprised. I opted to use one of the rail trails to negotiate the distance. Our Lady of the Pentacle and I had a social engagement this particular evening back in Dormont, if memory serves.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s fairly obvious why I followed this particular path, ain’t it?
As you may have noticed, I’ve crossed a certain boundary in terms of how I’m looking at things in Pittsburgh, and beginning to get granular in my explorations rather than doing the broad stroke stuff. We’ve also crossed the six month point, in terms of leaving NYC behind. It’s become ‘normal’ – waking up and going to sleep here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was rewarded for my choice of path when a freight train came roaring through, which put the cherry on top of my photo sundae.
Back next week with more from the Paris of Appalachia, at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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The Newtown Pentacle 