Posts Tagged ‘Chartiers Creek’
America’s deadliest wild animal
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, one had a bit of time to wait until a CSX Freight train cleared through, an interval spent organizing his immediacies.
Camera straps, backpack stuff, straightening out my shirt so the buttons descend in a neat fashion rather than being pulled over to one side by the camera strap – all that sort of stuff. I exist in a web of straps.
Once the train passed through, I was free as a bird again. Hooray.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
America’s deadliest wild animals, however, had wandered onto the vehicular road bridge over Chartiers Creek. Traffic had halted as these two rather confused fawns were trying to figure out how to escape the pickle they found themselves in.
I helped by waving my left hand in the direction they should go and yelling something like ‘Bip, bip, bip’ at them. It doesn’t work with Moe the Dog, but I figured I’d give it a shot here.
One can report from a scientific ‘trial and error’ experiment, on two distinct species of animal, that yelling ‘Bip, bip, bip’ and gesturing does not translate well into either the doggish or deermerican languages.
As an aside, I am increasingly convinced that whomever it was that took care of Moe when he was a puppy, way before we adopted him, spoke Spanish around him. He always responds energetically when I tell him ‘tu estas un loco perro’ or say ‘Oye, tu estas un Moe.’
Maybe that’s the answer… my lunatic dog might be bilingual.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I always think to myself that deer look like giant mice. I’m an idiot.
Luckily, these spirits of the forest decided to skedaddle, and ran down the shoreline to Chartiers Creek, which is kind of where they belong.
Deer don’t attack humans, necessarily, and they certainly aren’t predating us. Instead, the 400 Americans who die (on average) every year due to interacting with these deer, the country’s most dangerous wild animals, do so due to car crashes.
Not bears, mountain lions, or even ticks. Deer. Deer kill more Americans than any other critter.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot looking back at McKees Rocks.
Now, I was in the grip of a familiar problem. The section of Carson Street between McKees Rocks and my next destination is a de facto highway, and ‘no bueno’ as far as walking it. There are sidewalks for most of the way, but with heavy traffic moving along it, often at double the speed limit. Last time I was here, I summoned a cab.
This time…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I finally rode a bus in Pittsburgh, lords and ladies.
Nothing extraordinary about it, it was just a ten minute bus ride, but it ‘got me out of dutch’ and deposited the physical firmament at a spot where I wasn’t quite as likely to get squished by a pickup truck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The particular bus stop I debarked the vehicle at was the one found alongside the Duquesne Incline, whereupon a pedestrian ramp over Carson Street was utilized for this chicken to get to the other side of the road. My day was just getting started, after all…
Back tomorrow with more.
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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.
Chartiers Creek and a ‘Hey Now!’
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with an interesting scuttle perpetrated in McKees Rocks, a Borough of Allegheny County found directly across the Ohio River from Pittsburgh’s ‘North Side.’
The blue bridge carries vehicular traffic to and from McKees Rocks’ romantically named ‘Intermodal Way’ to Carson Street, which is the main drag of the Monongahela River shoreline that allows traffic to flow to the east through the ‘South Side,’ where Carson Street eventually devolves into a de facto highway.
Additionally, the Newtown Pentacle time warp is still very much in effect, with these photos having been captured in middle June, and these words being written early in July.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Off in the distance, St. Mary’s RC church, which had served as my landmark from the Wind Gap Bridge and then in the industrial zone found along Thompson Avenue and Furnace Street Extension.
One maneuvered himself to a certain spot, where I could wait for it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Chartiers Creek itself, looking back at the vehicle bridge that I had been standing on in yesterday’s post. After shooting this one I headed over to that certain spot, and checked my camera settings.
It’s a lot like fishing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, I caught a bite!
Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s CSX #5419, and it was pulling a long line of tanker cars behind it. There was a secondary ‘DPU’ locomotive in the line, which adds extra horsepower to the equation. The train was traveling easterly.
Yeah, I was in a safe spot and all that. Zoom lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you see, I had a few minutes to wait before I could resume my activities. The opportunity was taken to drink a glug of water from that bottle I’ve added to the pack, adjust the various straps attached to the bag and camera, and straighten out my clothing. Got to stay organized.
Back tomorrow with America’s Deadliest Wild Animal.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
Get a lil bit lower now…
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McKees Rocks’ Thompson Avenue ends suddenly, and there’s an intersection leading back out towards the Monongahela River side of the municipality that I followed instead. Heck yeah, I’ll be coming back here, but next time around I’m going to drive so I don’t have to shlep 30 pounds of camera gear on my back.
I really, really would like to get a shot of train coming around that bend.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d also like to get a shot of train moving past St. Mary’s RC church nearby that bend. The church had been acting as my landmark, while moving around an unfamiliar corridor. My predetermined path, which had been decided on using the Google Maps app in advance, was sketched out in a turn by turn manner in a document on my phone’s ‘Notes’ app. The directions demanded a right turn here, onto ‘Furnace Street Extension.’
After all these years of wandering analysis, I’ve developed a certain perception about urban spaces which allows me to ‘ball park’ their age. How the streets are designed, the sorts of sidewalks (or presence of sidewalks at all) which are offered, HVAC systems or lack thereof. A big ‘tell’ is also whether or not an employee parking lot was part of the plan, when the place was built.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Furnace Street Extension in McKees Rocks, where the building stock I encountered suggests – to me at least – the 1970’s and 80’s with a smidge of ultra modern 2010’s investment thrown in. Saying that, the pathway itself is ancient by Pittsburgh standards. There used to be a number of Iron Mills found here historically in the 19th and early 20th centuries, hence the name ‘Furnace Street.’ They called iron mills ‘furnaces,’ back in the day.
Most of the land use in modernity is light industrial and warehousing. There’s a huge self-storage facility nearby, and a nightlife venue at the far end of the street called the ‘Roxian Theatre.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I tell you, New Yorkers, Pittsburgh is like heaven when and if the subject of public lavatories comes up. You can just ask people in shops to use the ‘terlet’ here, and they’ll let you. They look at you like you’ve got two heads for being grateful about it, too. You encounter Porta-Potties at every public event, and park, and sometimes there’ll just be a line of them sitting there and ready for use on the street. Nepenthe.
Amazing that it doesn’t cost Pittsburgh millions to build a single park bathroom, which is only open for a couple of non contiguous hours every third Tuesday in months that begin with a ‘J’.
Looking directly at you, NYC Parks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One found himself back ‘out’ onto the more conventionally travelled sections of McKees Rocks, and soon I was standing on a fairly stout vehicle bridge overflying Chartiers Creek. A bunch of people were doing some sort of construction job that was centered around a utility pole.
A quick street crossing of a disconcerting intersection occurred, and I got to the other side of the bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Chartiers Creek again, with a vehicular (blue) and rail (rusty brown) set of bridges spanning it in the distance. Just on the other side of the rail bridge is Chartiers Creek’s outfall into the Ohio River.
Back tomorrow with some Hey Now!
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
McKees Rocks and the Wind Gap Bridge
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in McKees Rocks, a Borough of Allegheny County found directly across the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, today.
Last time that I scuttled about in this general area was a few months back, and it involved a walk over the gargantuan McKees Rocks bridge on the other side of the town. This time, I was in a different ‘corridor,’ and started my efforts nearby the Wind Gap Avenue Bridge.
Over the next few posts, you’ll follow the walk through a nearby industrial zone, see a waterway called Chartier’s Creek, there will be trains – and also – America’s most deadly wild animal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As a note – the Newtown Pentacle time warp is getting deeper and deeper. These shots are from June 15, and I’m writing this post on the morning of the 4th of July. If my scheduling is correct, you’re seeing this in mid-August. How’s the future? I wonder…
Anywho, it seems that what was likely the oldest building in the Pittsburgh area, a hotel which Washington actually did stay at, was demolished to make way for the modern (1985) version of the ‘Wind Gap Avenue Bridge – CC02.’
As is my habit, a shot of the plaque affixed to the structure can be accessed here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also, entirely by accident, I started this walk at the exact location of the former ‘Mann’s Hotel,’ which is the one that hosted George Washington.
As it turns out, the intersection I was standing at used to be colloquially known as ‘The Five Points.’ Serendipity, lords and ladies, serendipity.
There’s a great YouTube channel called ‘Time Travel with Tim’ which showcases a lot of historical photos, and ‘tells the tale’ of the Wind Gap Avenue Bridge. I’ve learned a lot from this Tim fellow, I’d mention.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down under the Wind Gap Avenue Bridge, there’s Chartiers Creek.
This waterway has been popping up here a lot lately. Specifically, there have been a few recent posts about its course in nearby Bridgeville, discussing the consequences of abandoned coal mines regarding flowing water.
Chartiers Creek is a tributary of the Ohio River, flows from Washington County to the south in a north westerly direction towards McKees Rocks, and it carries a whole lot of solute that it picks up along the way. Yucky water, which gets a pretty decent amount of combined sewer input, but it’s still a living waterway. I see people fishing in it all the time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given my recent proclivities towards walking in the wrong direction, multiple consultations with the little compass hanging off my camera bag were made. That church pictured above became my polestar for this part of the day, and it would aid my navigation.
I’m of the belief that this building is ‘St. Mary’s Church’ Archangel Gabriel Parish. It appears to be Roman Catholic in terms of religious focus, but when I don’t know something for sure… best not to presume. What it was for me was a landmark which I could walk towards and then away from.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down below, there’s a smallish industrial area on the flood plains surrounding Chartiers Creek. Corrugated steel walls for the structures, a set of rail tracks, unpaved roads. I hung around for a few minutes in case a train might be coming through, but it was dead quiet.
Onwards and upwards, or really across and down… your humble narrator leaned into the day’s scuttle. Come with?
Back tomorrow with more…
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
Bridgeville’s Bridge No. 1
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.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
The Newtown Pentacle 