Category: News || By

Ron Gault remembers when U.S. Steel's Carrie Furnace plant was a lot cleaner and had a lot less graffiti. He also remembers when molten iron flowed through the sluices of its casting floors like lava "from a controlled volcano."

As an 18-year-old furnace helper in 1974, Gault helped work the manually operated levers that diverted the 2,600-degree liquid metal into railroad cars for transportation to U.S. Steel's Homestead Works, across the river.

The technology was ancient even then, he says: "It was 100 years old when I got here."

These days, when Gault, who lives in Baldwin, visits the darkened and rusty blast furnaces along the Monongahela River in Swissvale, he feels "like an archeologist finding a dinosaur."

"This needs to be saved and preserved," Gault says.

. . .

After 20 years of effort, that's finally about to happen. Later this month, Homestead's Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area will begin offering a limited schedule of tours of the blast furnaces --- the oldest standing furnaces in North America.

And as those tours get underway, Allegheny County officials will be seeking proposals from developers to construct a mixed-use residential, commercial and industrial development on 168 acres around Carrie Furnace.

The property also would be linked to the Great Allegheny Passage hiking-biking trail to create a new regional tourist attraction.

"We're making sure that we create jobs here," says Dan Onorato, Allegheny County Executive. "We also want to redevelop this prime riverfront property and preserve a piece of the steel industry that made this area great."

. . .

The parcel, which spans Rankin and Swissvale boroughs and touches Braddock, is the last, large brownfield parcel in the Mon Valley available for development, Onorato says.

Proposals will be accepted later this year. County officials envision a mixed-use development that would include houses and boat docks along the river's edge, along with retail stores and light industrial space.

An old railroad bridge that once connected the site to the Homestead Works would be converted for cars, bikes and pedestrians, similar to the "Hot Metal Bridge" that links Second Avenue in Hazelwood with Pittsburgh's South Side.

There is already "a lot of interest" from developers, according to Dennis Davin, the county's redevelopment director.

. . .

Most of the environmental problems left behind have been cleaned up by the county, which has also installed new sewer and water mains, Onorato says.

"I know you don't see anything 'coming out of the ground' yet, but there was a lot that needed to be done first," he says.

Because access to the site is blocked by railroad tracks, county officials are also studying the possibility of an exit ramp into the site directly from the Rankin Bridge, Onorato says.

"We are investing in infrastructure in the Mon Valley," says Onorato, who is running for governor. "Big money. And I will defend the use of federal money to anyone for the redevelopment of these old industrial sites that helped us win two world wars."

. . .

As the county pushes its redevelopment plan, U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, Forest Hills Democrat, is pushing legislation in Congress to get the site taken over by the National Park Service.

For Doyle, the fight has a special meeting. Doyle grew up in Swissvale, and two generations of his family worked at the Carrie Furnace.

"Steelmaking runs in the Doyle family, but when I talk to my four kids about it, they kind of scratch their heads," Doyle says. Pittsburghers and Americans need to rediscover their industrial past, he says.

They also need to remember that Mon Valley steelworkers led the fight "for decent wages and working conditions," Doyle says. "I would not have had the chance to go to college if it hadn't been for the labor movement. We need to make sure people remember that part of our history, too."

. . .

Doyle, Onorato and others credit Augie Carlino of Rivers of Steel with leading the effort to keep the blast furnaces from demolition. Blast furnaces in McKeesport, Duquesne and elsewhere were sold or scrapped, and the former owner of the Carrie Furnaces, Park Corporation, wanted to demolish them as well.

"I never thought I'd be working on this for 20 years," says Carlino, who serves as president and chief executive officer of the Steel Industry Heritage Corporation, which manages the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.

"Whatever else happens here, these blast furnaces will stand as a monumental testament to the men and women who worked throughout the steel industry in this valley," Carlino says.

The first blast furnace on the site opened in 1884. Eventually there were seven furnaces, belching smoke and flame 24 hours a day and feeding iron other mills, which turned it into steel. The Carrie Furnace plant closed in 1982 and only two furnaces --- built in 1906 and 1907 --- remain. They were designated National Historic Landmarks in 2006.

. . .

Left open to the elements and vandals for more than 20 years, the furnaces are cluttered with collapsed pipes and beams, and the roofs and walkways sag in places. Carlino estimates that it will cost more than $5 million to stabilize the remaining blast furnaces and prevent them from further deterioration. Some of the money has already been raised, he says.

It will be difficult to get the financially strapped National Park Service to take over preservation of Carrie Furnace, Doyle admits, but says that all of America owes a debt of gratitude to the Mon Valley for helping build the nation.

"We have not given up on this area, and we have to invest in these communities," he says. Doyle has introduced legislation to get Carrie Furnace accepted by the Park Service and expects the effort to take several years.

. . .

For Gault, who left Carrie Furnaces to join the Air Force and now works at Duquesne University, Doyle's enthusiasm for the project is a good sign.

"I was surprised to hear that Congressman Doyle's bloodlines run through this place," Gault says. "That's what it's going to take --- someone with passion."

(Additional photos at the "More" link)

All photos: © 2010 John Barna. Reproduction without permission is unlawful. For reprint information, contact John via email at janos mck at yahoo dot com.

You are previewing your comment. Be sure to click on 'Post Comment' to store it.