Posts Tagged ‘Clairton Works’
Bigly industry
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured in today’s post is the U.S. Steel’s Clairton Works, a gigantic industrial plant whose design and mission involves the transformation of coal into coke. The coke they process here fires the furnaces at other USS plants, notably the Edgar Thompson Steel Mill a few miles west of here.
Fleets of tugboats and railroads carry raw coal here (which does have the appearance of having been pre-processed, particle size wise, I’d offfer), where it’s them cooked in anoxic ovens which produces the coke. Or at least, that’s how I understand how their process works, as I’m still largely ignorant on the subject.
You can read about Coke, and its relatively short industrial history, at this Wikipedia page.
The Clairton Works is the largest manufacturer of Coke in the United States. The history of the plant and the town it is located in are wound up in each other, and this Wikipedia page offers a cogent history which I’d just be referring to over and over so – click here for the overview/scoop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had parked the Mobile Oppression Platform on the other side of the river, at a lot offered by the Montour Trail outfit, and then walked across the Clairton-Glassport Bridge to the north bank of the Monongahela River for these points of view. I had to shoot through tightly spaced fencing for some of the shots, which is a pain in the butt.
On this shoreline, several large properties were in the business of storing and sorting coal that had been brought using maritime barges. Stout pierage and docks were observed on both sides of the river, which also had impressive concrete bulkheads installed along their water facing edges. I’m sure that I was popping up on security cameras within the plant, and that were I to have crossed some imaginary property line I’d get to meet the local gendarmes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The owners of the plant, U.S. Steel, offer this overview document on their website – which describes the purpose, challenges, and environmental control systems of their operation – you can check that out here.
The economic engine of this part of the country used to revolve around this industry, and in many ways it was the industrial heart of the United States during most of the 20th century. Steel from Pittsburgh allowed Manhattan’s skyline to rise, Detroit to build automobiles, and the Navy was able to replace the Pacific fleet lost at Pearl Harbor due to the efforts of the workers at these plants.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is – of course – quite new to all of this steel stuff. The scale of things are positively cyclopean, dwarfing anything you’d encounter back in NYC or Northwestern New Jersey. The confluence of massive amounts of rail and maritime activity, everything about Clairton is amazingly large and it’s difficult to conceive of the scale of an operation this big even when you’re staring right at it.
There were about a dozen large material handlers, like the one pictured above, at work when I arrived but it must have been time for a shift change as their operators were all piling into pickup trucks and leaving their rigs behind while I was up there on that bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the view of the Clairton-Glassport Bridge which I walked over, looking back towards the south side of the river, and a residential section of the city of Clairton. The span is about a half mile long, and lined with an unfortunately small chain link fence. As I mentioned yesterday that it is virtually impossible to get a clean shot through this type of fencing.
I imagine that’s by design. I’ve had experience with this type of fence back in NYC at Sunnyside Yards, and it’s a real pickle to get a shot through. The larger chain link fencing, with a more conventional two inch diamond is a pain in the neck too, but the smaller one is nightmarish for photographers. There were a few surveyor holes cut into it here and there, but they didn’t offer salubrious view points.
I used my phone, whose lens is tiny enough to somewhat ignore the fencing, to record a couple of short videos from up on the bridge – check them out here and here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As a newcomer to Pittsburgh, I still haven’t discovered the points of view which the natives enjoy. I’m constantly looking at other people’s photos and videos, and trying to scry where they were shot from. The site linked to above is Fort Frick Photography, and I’m a fan.
Again, back in NYC at my beloved Newtown Creek, long experience created an absolute glossary of these POV spots. Climb this, walk there, stand on that – that sort of thing.
I’m still finding those things here, and my occasional encounters with other photo people have included conversation about visual access to the various points of interest around Pittsburgh. I didnt grow up here, so it’s all new to me, and I’m unsure of ‘the rules,’ or where it’s ‘kosher’ to shoot from. You have to worry about teenagers, cops, malign creatures of the street – all that. I’m never so vulnerable as when I’m on foot and using the tripod. Static target.
Back next week with something else, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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Coking up in Clairton
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the U.S. Steel Clairton Works pictured above and below, which manufactures Coke from Coal. Still can’t tell you all that much about the place, other than directing you to a Wikipedia page about the town it’s found in, and pointing out that this plant has its own sub-site at EPA.gov.
It makes for a nice picture, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I posted the first shot in one of the Pittsburgh Facebook groups, accidentally touching off a contentious conversation/argument amongst the Yinzers about the mill. One side was ‘how do you expect to have things and jobs and fund the county if…’ and the other argument revolved around ‘environmental justice and late stage capitalism…’
What if both sides of an argument are valid? What if we all climb down from the calcified positions of the respective political pulpits we inhabit to inhabit and solve problems instead of pointing fingers? Crazy idea, no?
Bah. As I learned to say it, and often stated, on Newtown Creek – it’s not bad, it’s not good, it just is. Are you working to maintain the status quo, trying to improve the situation, or striving to make things worse? Are you doing nothing at all and just sitting on the sidelines while telling people ‘why bother’?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had a friend in town for about a week, and she received a bit of a tour of all the cool spots and sights I’ve discovered so far in Pittsburgh. Clairton was one of them, which is how I ended up taking a picture and then accidentally setting off a debate on the internet. Pictured above is a community called Elizabeth, where I had a very nice plate of french fries with an ok burger for lunch.
Back tomorrow.
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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.
Monongahela, men will call thee
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One thing I’ve learned about living in Pittsburgh in these first weeks of doing so is that you need to pick your battles, as far as the weather goes. Blue skies and bright sun have been a fairly rare commodity so far, so when the forecast called for those conditions on the 9th of January, I hopped behind the wheel of the Mobile Oppression Platform and set off for several points of interest which had caught my attention along the Monongahela River.
First stop was Clairton, found about 13 miles (as the crow flies) from Downtown Pittsburgh. There’s a “rail to trail” opportunity to be found there which is part of the Montour Trail. What drew me here was U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, pictured above. I ran into a cop who seemed to be “cribbing” in the parking lot of the Montour Trail, and started a conversation with him about me being a photographer who is new to the area and who wanted to get the skinny on what’s considered ok or not as far as local law enforcement’s point of view is concerned. Best to ask, let the cop know you’re not some freak who’s going to cause trouble, as I always opine.
After telling me to take my hands out of my pockets, the officer informed me that were I to trespass onto the Clairton property he’d have an interest in me due to Patriot Act related security concerns, but his department would otherwise have zero interest in my pursuits and then he even mentioned my First Amendment right to self expression and a lack of desire to interfere with such things. I thanked the officer, cracked out the shot above, and hopped back into the Mobile Oppression Platform and continued with the exploring.
As mentioned in the past, it’s January and the light sucks this time of the year, so I’m largely scouting at the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I drove through a quite lovely semi-rural area, heading southwards, and crossed the river. There are a series of public boat launches and parklets which are set up in a fairly welcoming fashion on this stretch which had caught my eye while I was scrutinizing Google maps’ satellite views during one of the several rain soaked intervals recently experienced. The shot above and the one below were captured at one of these bits of aforementioned public waterfront access infrastructure found in the community of Speers Borough.
The colossal rail bridge, which was staggering to observe in person, is the Speers Railroad Bridge, whereas the blue colored vehicular crossing with the arch is called the Belle Vernon Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The boat launch in Speers Borough allowed me to securely park the Mobile Oppression Platform and head down to the water with my tripod setup to get a bit “artsy fartsy.” The Belle Vernon Bridge is a 1951 vintage span over the Monongahela which once carried trolley service in addition to automotive traffic.
While shooting, some dude was noticed walking towards me while carrying a bucket. “Here we go” thought this long time New Yorker, but as it turned out he was a lovely chap who used to work on the tugs that navigate the Monongahela delivering mineral feedstocks to the the steel mills. The bucket? He didn’t pay his water bill and needed to flush his toilet, hence the visit to a river with a bucket in hand.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My next stop was Monessan, PA., which is the hometown of cinematic makeup artist Tom Savini. Savini has a program named after him at a business school in Monessan. The Arcelor Mittal Monessen coke plant is pictured above, as seen from a supermarket parking lot bordering the mill. It wasn’t this plant, or Tom Savini (whom I’m a huge fan of, and even have an autographed plaster casting of a human skull he created sitting on my desk), instead it was another boat launch which would offer unimpeded water views which drew me here.
One negotiated the local street grid, as it were, and found his way down to the riverfront and the small park and boat launch ramp hosted there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the distance, that’s the Donora-Monessen Bridge, aka the Stan Musial Bridge, a 1972 addition to the Monongahela River. By this point, I had throughly gotten myself lost. My goals for the day started out with trying to find a few points of view to photograph the Clairton Works from, which ended up being a lot more difficult than you’d think. If there’s a bit of waterfront property anywhere near it, that land is super valuable for commercial exploitation. Get a few miles away from the plant where the valuation of the river facing properties drops and it becomes a liability to the town rather than an asset, and you might as well use the waterfront as a park instead.
I did spot a few locations which I’m going to have to return to on foot, after I figure out someplace convenient to leave the car, and during a season which is a bit less harsh as far as temperature. There’s a number of things which I need to work out, actually. Things are chaotic at the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wish I could tell you the name of the rail bridge above, which is about equidistant between Clairton Works and another steel mill called the Irvin Works which I haven’t laid eyes on yet. My understanding is that the teal colored pipeline moving through the shot carries gas generated by the Clairton Works coking operation that will be pumped over to and used to fire the Mon Valley Works over in Braddock.
More exploratory wanderings in tomorrow’s Newtown Pentacle.
“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 