Posts Tagged ‘Monongahela River’
Stairway to… heaven?
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Apparently, Pennsylvania’s highway planners reached out to Robert Moses for advice on transit planning ‘back in the day,’ and his unmistakable trademark of running high speed roads along urban waterways is very much in effect here in Pittsburgh. This is from the Golden Triangle side of the Monongahela River, and it’s one of the busier high speed roads you’ll encounter here in the Paris of Appalachia. It ‘carries,’ and ‘connects,’ and ‘leads to.’
There’s pay parking lots below the highway ramps and along the Monongahela River’s banks, which I’m told are colloquially known as the ‘bathtub’ given their propensity for flooding during the spring thaw. A hiking and bike trail forms the actual ‘water’s edge.’
Of course, that’s what I was walking on and what I was heading towards was the bathtub.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were a couple of sections of this flood prone underworld which host collections of tents, occupied by the unhoused and indigent. This population of unfortunates is causing the local landlord class to gnash their teeth, and are being blamed for all sorts of problems in the Downtown area.
The Landlords blame declining real estate valuations in Pittsburgh, affecting their nearby office and commercial properties they own on the tent people, rather than acknowledging that the post Covid trend towards remote work is the causal factor. Additionally, taxes are quite a bit lower in other counties, and businesses can also find a decidedly lower rent for more spacious in office parks found in outlying areas a half hour in any direction.
Instead, punch down and blame the homeless.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I found a set of those famous municipal steps that are found all over Pittsburgh to carry me back up to the street level. Unfortunately, these would ultimately put me on the shoulder of an on ramp to one of those highways in the first shot, which was pretty terrifying. A lapse in traffic allowed me to scuttle quickly across the ramp and onto a nearby sidewalk. Brr.
Back next week, lords and ladies.
“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.
Inclined towards the Mon
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My friend was in town, so how could she not take a ride on an incline when visiting Pittsburgh for the first time? Sheesh. I’m all goofy for funiculars, after all.
That’s the Monongahela River in the background, with the Station Square development in the middle, and the counterpart of the Incline car on the left was the one we were riding in to get down to the waterfront from the prominence of Mount Washington.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
We had purchased tickets for a Gateway Clipper boat tour, which offers the Pittsburgh equivalent of what you’d expect on NYC’s Circle Line. While waiting for the boat to leave the dock, I spotted this Tug towing a multitude of mineral barges down the Monongahela to its junction with the Allegheny where they combine and become the Ohio River.
Coal, it looked like.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Off in the distance, right at the junction point of the Ohio, another and far larger tow boat was at anchor. Given the presence of Lock and Dam facilities on both the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, I’d imagine they were waiting on some chronological window at the USACE locks upstream to proceed to wherever their destination was.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
I miss my Tonka trucks
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ok, one more from that long walk, an ‘odds and ends’ post. While walking off Pittsburgh’s Liberty Bridge towards the T Light Rail and my ride back to HQ, I noticed that the action at the concrete factory below me had ceased operations for the day and their equipment was sitting there lit up all pretty like by the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself. Couldn’t resist.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wouldn’t it be great to have a crane as your second car? Easy to park, when you think about it, a crane is. If you can’t find a spot, you can make one by hoisting somebody else’s wheels out of the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I was walking over to the T to get back to HQ, the light began to bounce around inside the steel of the Liberty Bridge which I had just walked over. Fun walk, this one was.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Rivers of Steel Boat Tour, part 3
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the community of Hays, found along the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, they’ve got a pack of Bald Eagles nesting in some sort of conservation area. I only had a 300mm lens with me, so a bunch of cropping had to be applied to the above POV. I was onboard a ‘Rivers of Steel’ narrated boat tour of the Monongahela, as described in the two posts preceding this one.
It was somewhat cold out, and the atmosphere was positively churning with moisture and low flying clouds.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘turn around point’ on the boat trip would be the actual Carrie Furnace site, a national historic landmark, which is where the Rivers of Steel outfit is based out of. The still active Mon Valley Works of US Steel is found one town over from the defunct Carrie site, and the corollary industrial ‘stuff’ – rail yards, truck depots, etc. – can be observed as you travel along the river.
I’ll admit that I was a little disappointed that we didn’t travel that extra half mile to observe the still active mill from the water. Next time I guess, but truth be told I’m quite desirous of obtaining that POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Carrie Furnace. I’ve obtained a ticket for a ‘photo safari’ event they’re holding next month and look forward to exploring the place a bit. It’s meant to be an early evening thing, if I recall correctly, so if it’s not raining it should be a pretty cool shoot for me.
It is overcast or raining at least half of the time here in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After the boat turned and began navigating back towards dock, the weather turned misty instead of ‘straight raining.’ This sort of atmosphere is called a ‘precipitating mist’ incidentally, meaning that at any second the low flying cloud can burst and release its moisture.
You need to pay some attention to keeping your lens clean, but this sort of foggy/misty thing always makes for nice photos.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself had purchased several tour and event tickets at the end of the winter. The Rivers of Steel people offer a lot of interesting programming, and there’s also an outfit called Doors Open Pittsburgh which is not unlike the Open House NY operation which I used to produce walking and boat tours with back in NYC. You’ll see the fruit of one of their efforts tomorrow.
You want to get educated about a place? You can read all the books you want (and you should), but there’s nothing like actually going to places with a local guide who knows the where’s and when’s and ‘don’t do that’s.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The boat we were riding on docks nearby Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center, and the Mobile Oppression Platform was sitting in a nearby parking lot waiting for our return. $6 for all day parking, if you’re curious.
Back tomorrow with something completely different, at this – your 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.
Rivers of Steel Boat Tour, part 2
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself attended a boat tour of Pittsburgh’s Monongahela River offered by the Carrie Furnace ‘Rivers of Steel’ outfit. The weather was ghastly, but… y’know, it’s Pittsburgh. We were heading roughly eastwards, but the Monongahela meanders along in a snake like manner through the hills and valleys of the foothills of the Appalachian range.
The shot above looks back west towards Downtown Pittsburgh and the Birmingham Bridge. This was shot just as we approached the Hot Metal Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A towing operation was delivering a barge while we passed by. I’ve seen a surprising amount of ‘port activity’ in Pittsburgh. Wasn’t expecting that, I must offer. Turns out that there’s a ton of maritime activity going on.
Those dark clouds in the first shot caught up with us somewhere around this point and the rain started really pissing down.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The barge delivery was being made to this concrete company on the shoreline, which I’d noticed from the landward side while walking the Eliza Furnace trail on the Monongahela’s northern shore a few months ago.
One of the things I’ve always liked about being on a boat tour is the way that it allows me to stitch together disparate experiences I’ve had while walking along waterfront areas, which aids in forming up a sense of geospatial awareness.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Mill 31, a former coking mill that was part of a long departed steel mill. The modern building is being used as a ‘technology industry incubator’ and I’m told that everything from prosthetic limbs to actual autonomous robots are being worked on within. Notice the solar roof?
Nearby this site, there’s a closed off driving range where multiple car companies test out autonomous driving vehicles. That includes semi trucks. You’re worried about ai driven chat bots? Wait till robot trucks have begun to populate the highway system in 20 years. Maximum Overdrive indeed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Maritime infrastructure from the age of industry is littered all over the Monongahela River’s shorelines. Some of it has been repurposed to modernity, but much of the stuff just sits there decaying while the uplands change around it. Newish residential development is spotted here and there between the trees.
The narration continued from the Rivers of Steel guide, detailing the history and circumstances of the Steel industry and the hundreds of corollary trades which supported it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Apparently, a kayaking outfit operates out of the spot pictured above, which used to serve the J&L Mill as their harbor master HQ. The red thing in the previous shot was more or less directly parallel to this building, and both it and the yellow things like the one at bottom right were used for tying off barges – back in the day.
Back next week with more from the Monongahela River and the Pretty City of Pittsburgh, at this, your 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 