Welland, ON: ASW/Valbruna/Atlas Steel

(Satellite)

Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton posted seven photos with the comment:

I was asked recently if Atlas Steel in Welland, Ontario, was ever owned by Stelco. The short answer: No. Here's the ownership history of Atlas Steel:

Year         Owner

1918 Dillon Crucible Steel Alloy Co. (original plant)

1920 Atlas Crucible Steel Company

1928 Purchased by Roy H. Davis and associates; became Atlas Steel Company

1963 Acquired by Rio Algom Ltd.

1985 Spun off as Atlas Specialty Steels

1989 Purchased by South Korea's SAMMI Corporation

2000 Purchased by Slater Steel

2006 Purchased by MMFX Technologies

2010 Became ASW Steel

2016 Acquired by Ampco-Pittsburgh (now operating as ASW/Valbruna)

Stelco's major Welland operation was Page-Hersey Tubes.

1965 – Stelco acquired Page-Hersey.

1985 – The operation became Stelpipe Ltd.

2005 – During Stelco's CCAA restructuring, the Welland pipe mill was sold to Lakeside Steel, later becoming JMC/Energex.

So Welland had two completely separate steel companies:

Atlas Steel – specialty steels, stainless steels, tool steels, alloy steels.

Page-Hersey/Stelpipe – welded pipe and tube products owned by Stelco.

Atlas specialized in specialty and stainless steels, while Stelco concentrated primarily on carbon steel. They served different markets and generally complemented rather than directly competed with one another. (Text from ChatGPT.) Photos courtesy of the Welland Tribune.

D Eric Davis shared

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Shawn Aulbrook: This is the 10-2 Rod Mill...I worked on that mill as a Rougher and Strander...

Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton: This Atlas Rolling Mill looks quite similar to Stelco's 'Old Mill' - the 10-9 Mill, which closed in the late 70s ...

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Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton: Atlas Steel's EAF Furnace - Electric Arc Furnace

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Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton: Atlas Steel's EAF Furnace - Electric Arc Furnace

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Evan Adam Kitchen commented on the above post
I was recently inside ASW. This is the at the Melt Shop, where the ARC Furnace melts the raw components into steel, inside these laddles. I was using an excavator with hammer to knock out the port holes in the bottom.

Evan Adam Kitchen commented on his comment

Street View, Jan 2012

Photo, Jul 2020

Milwaukee, WI: 1867 Illinois Steel/North Chicago Bay View Works

(Satellite, this is the location of the historical marker. The mill was north of here and the company town was south of here.)

wuwm, Courtesy of Ron Winkler
"In 1867, Eber Brock Ward chose an area south of Milwaukee to open his newest rolling mill. That area is now known as Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood."

I knew that Brock Ward had a mill on Goose Island. I did not know he had a mill in Wisconsin. This was his third mill.

"Many small manufacturers had sparked considerable industrial energy in Milwaukee by the end of the Civil War. But Eber Brock Ward, a wealthy Detroit industrialist and former Great Lakes shipping magnate, sparked new area growth when he opened the Milwaukee Iron Company in 1868 with 185 employees on twenty-seven acres in Bay View. Brock owned iron companies in Detroit and Chicago, was a pioneer manufacturer of steel rails, and was lured to Milwaukee by easy access to rich iron ore deposits in Michigan and nearby Iron Ridge in Dodge County. He built homes and boarding houses, donated lots for churches, and recruited skilled English puddlers and other artisans. The company produced re-rolled iron rails; metal bars called fish plates, which joined two rails together; merchant bar, which customers reshaped for other products; horse shoes; nails; and pig iron, a durable product made from smelting iron ore with coke and limestone in blast furnaces. By 1870, the company produced half of Wisconsin’s pig iron. By the early 1870s, Milwaukee Iron employed one thousand workers and was a national leader in iron production." [uwm]

wuwm and BayViewHistoricalSociety

Near this site in Bay View stood the Milwaukee Iron Company rolling mill, the first major heavy industry in the region and an important producer of iron and steel for the Midwest. The mill, which opened in 1868, transformed ore from Dodge County and Lake Superior area mines into iron products including thousands of tons of rail for the region’s growing railroads.

By 1885, more than 1500 people were employed at the plant, some recruited from the iron-producing districts of the British Isles, and the village of Bay View grew from a rural crossroads to an industrial community surrounding the rolling mill.

On May 5, 1886, the mill was the scene of a major labor disturbance. Nearly 1500 strikers from around Milwaukee marched on the Bay View mill to dramatize their demand for an eight-hour work day. The local militia, called to the scene by Governor Jeremiah Rusk, fired on the crowd, killing seven people.

The mill closed in 1929, and the buildings were demolished a decade later. But the community of Bay View remains: a neighborhood of mill workers houses, shops and churches.

[hmdb]

David Nelson posted six images with the comment:

A few more things about the Bay View rolling mill.   I am repeating some already posted photos, some lesser quality ones not previously posted, an October 1985 aerial view from my (former) condo at Bay View Terrace of the general area. and a Sanborn map.

For those that know the area, notice that it is the rolling mill's own trackage that explains the "dog leg" in S Superior Street!

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[A Wisconsin Memories post provides a date of 1938.]

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[This looks like just a cropped version of Photo 1.]

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[The historical marker is out-of-frame in the lower-left corner.]

LinksToThePast
"Milwaukee Iron Company rolling mill (also known as the Bay View Rolling Mill, North Chicago Rolling Mill, and United States Steel) located in Bay View operated the first major heavy industry in the region, iron and steel production. The rolling mill which opened in 1868, was first built to re-roll railroad rails, but then started to manufacture new rails transforming ore from Dodge County and Lake Superior area mines. In 1883 the furnaces were operated by the North Chicago Rollowing Mills. By 1885, more than 1500 people were employed at the plant, some recruited from the iron-producing districts of the British Isles. The village of Bay View grew from a rural crossroads into an industrial community surrounding the rolling mill."
[The remainder of the article concerns the Bay View Massacre on May 5, 1886, during a strike for an 8-hour work day.]

Wisconsin’s most historic and bloody labor incident occurred on May 5, 1886 on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Bay View area of Milwaukee. That day dawned after four days of massive worker demonstrations throughout Milwaukee on behalf of the creation of eight-hour day laws..

As some 1,500 workers marched toward the Bay View Rolling Mills (then the area’s biggest manufacturer) urging the workers thereto join the marches, the State Militia lined up on a hill, guns poised.  The marchers were ordered to stop form some 200 yards away; when they didn’t, the militiamen fired into the crowd, killing seven persons.

The marchers dispersed and the eight-hour days marches ended. The incident, in spite of its immediate end to eight-hour day efforts, spurred workers and their families to look forward to build a more progressive society in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

[WisconsinLaborHistory]

This is one of the homes that was built for the puddlers to help entice them to leave England and work here. [UrbanMilwaukee]

Street View, Mar 2025

Oak Hill, OH: 1853-1916 Jefferson Blast Furnace provided iron for the USS MONITOR

(Satellite, it is evidently buried under treetops. See map below.)

Abandoned by Sherman Cahal posted

The Jefferson Furnace is an abandoned pig iron furnace located in the Hanging Rock Iron Region near Oak Hill, Ohio. Constructed in 1854 by the Jefferson Furnace Company, it featured a stack 37 feet high with a bosh 11 feet wide. Fueled by charcoal, its cold air blast was powered by a steam engine and had a daily production capacity of 14 tons. It was later converted to a hot air blast, increasing its daily production capacity. The last cast was on December 26, 1916.

The furnace can be spotted at Jackson Lake State Park.

🔖 Read on: https://abandonedonline.net/location/jefferson-furnace/

Abandoned by Sherman Cahal shared

Also nomadikphotographer

ohiodnr

ohiodnr

I was looking for which hill the furnace would have been close to. Instead, I discovered that Jefferson Lake is man made by this dam.

1912/35 Oak Hill Quad @ 62,500

Toadvine, AL: Peabody Shoal Creek Mine west of Birmingham, AL

Prep Plant: (Satellite)

Mine: (Satellite)

Warrior Met #7 West Portal: (Satellite, is this a different company? Yes, I found more of their stuff in the area.)

This is one of those wilderness areas in the Appalachians where there are nearby churches, but no nearby towns. Where do the workers at the preparation plant live?

The overhead conveyor is going to an auxiliary storage pile.

Street View, Sep 2025

They ship by barge. The barge dock is on the west side. That dock is on the Bankhead Reservoir on the Black Warrior River.

Satellite

Mining #Shorts posted

Shoal Creek is one of Peabody’s most important U.S. metallurgical coal assets, tucked into Alabama’s Warrior Coal Basin across Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties.

This isn’t a power-station coal story. Shoal Creek produces high-volatile A hard coking coal, a steelmaking product shipped into seaborne markets through Mobile.

Peabody bought the operation from Drummond in December 2018 for $387 million, adding an underground longwall mine, preparation plant and river logistics system to its portfolio.

The mine sits about 35 miles west of Birmingham and works the Mary Lee and Blue Creek seams at depths of roughly 1,000 to 1,300 feet. Coal moves by barge along the Black Warrior River, then heads to the McDuffie Terminal at the Port of Mobile.

Peabody lists 2025 output at 1.8 million tons, with 13 million tons of proven and probable reserves and about 400 employees tied to the site.

Shoal Creek has also had its share of trouble. In 2023, Peabody sealed two longwall panels after a fire involving void fill material in the J panel area. The company later shifted development toward the L panel area, where it expected better mining conditions.

Shoal Creek remains a serious Alabama coal operation: deep, technical, export-focused and directly linked to global steelmaking rather than domestic electricity generation.

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Photo: Peabody Energy

Since they mine coal to produce coke, I added the label "metalIron" to these notes.

The map label for the mine is a maintenance facility. Around it is a lot of evidence of past strip mining even though they have done a decent job of land reclamation. I finally found active mining which is in the upper-right corner of this excerpt. But I could not find any mining equipment! Draglines and/or shovels and haul trucks are big enough to show up on a satellite image. The prep plant is near the bottom of this excerpt.

Satellite

I did find some miscellaneous equipment parked up on the north side of the mining activity.

Satellite

When I saw that the mine was north of Bankhead Lake, but the prep plant was south of the lake, I wondered how they got the coal from the mine to the plant. I quickly found this conveyor belt coming out of the ground in the prep plant.

Satellite

One reason why I spent some time looking for an active mining area was to see if I could find the other end of the conveyor. I think I did:

Satellite

Is the prep plant recent? I don't see it in the lower-right corner where it should be on this map.

1978/78 Tutwiler School Quad @ 24,000

Tuxedo Park, NY: 1751-1891 Sterling Blast Furnace and the Hudson Chain

(Satellite)

Street View, Apr 2025

The Ramapo Mountains had a lot of outcroppings of magnetite, a high-quality iron oxide ore. Production of iron started in 1736 using a bloomery forge. The first blast furnace was built in 1751. It was the first one in New York. The quality of the ore made the iron competitive with European iron. "Sterling's operations marked the inaugural steel manufacturing in New York, achieved through rudimentary cementation processes where wrought iron bars were packed with charcoal in sealed chests and heated for extended periods to carburize the surface, producing blister steel." The furnace provided iron for the needs of the Revolutionary and 1812 wars such as cannon balls, cannons, anchors and chains. Of note was the "forging the 1,700-foot Hudson River Chain in 1778—a 750-link obstruction of 2-inch bar iron, each link approximately 30 inches long and sections weighing over 1,000 pounds—deployed at West Point to block British naval advances up the Hudson. Forged over a period of approximately six to eight weeks of continuous operation, the chain, supported by log booms, deterred enemy warships from severing New England from southern colonies, preserving vital supply lines and fortifications until war's end in 1783, thereby contributing to strategic containment of British forces without direct engagement. Surviving links, preserved at West Point, symbolize American ingenuity in defense manufacturing." The discovery of iron ore in the Mesabi Range in 1866 and the transition of the industry from charcoal to coke (coal) caused the furnace to shut down in 1891. New York State bought the land in 1998 to preserve the ruins. [grokipedia]

Within just a couple of miles of the furnace, Google Maps has labels for the Augusta, Red Back and Moorhead (Morehead) Mines.

hmdb, Photographed by Clifton Patrick, October 15, 2007

hmdb, Photographed by Leslie Smith, August 24, 2008
What we see today is the second Sterling Furnace, which was built adjacent to the original furnace.
[It was reconstructed in 1952. That is when a dome was added above the furnace. [grokipedia]]

Kevin Morris, Jul 2024

Kevin Morris, Jul 2024

Peter Townsend owned the iron works during the Revolutionary War to support the war effort. But he had a hard time competing with the military for men and food. [rcls_furnace]

"In early 1778, amid British naval threats along the Hudson River, Continental Army leaders sought to obstruct navigation at West Point, a strategic chokepoint. Following the failure of an earlier chain at Fort Montgomery in 1777, which broke under tidal strain, General George Washington directed the production of a stronger barrier using superior iron from the Sterling Iron Works in Orange County, New York." [grokipedia]

rcls_pdf, p3

The iron works were deep in the mountains, so transportation was an issue. "Sections of nine links, exceeding 1,000 pounds each, were forged on-site before ox-cart transport over mountains to assembly points near New Windsor, requiring about 100 sleigh trips." [grokipedia]

rcls_pdf, p6

KingJamesGalleries
"The story of the chain is a fascinating one. During the Revolution, the British ruled the seas. The English with their Hessian allies, occupied Long Island and New York City. The Continentals held New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. If the British could sail up the Hudson from New York City and connect with their forces in Canada, they would essentially be able to cut the United States in half. Washington endorsed a scheme that would string a giant chain across the river, resting on pine floats. The entire system of chain and floats had to be removed before the river froze over and then put back in the spring. If frozen into the Hudson, the chain would have been destroyed by the ice. That is the moment I chose to depict." 
[I think Mort Kunstler was the painter.]

hmdb, Photographed by Bill Coughlin, September 5, 2009
"Thirteen links from the chain that spanned the Hudson River at West Point are seen here at the U.S. Military Academy. They were forged at Sterling Furnace."

Facebook Reel

Kevin Morris, Jul 2024

Franklin, PA: 1843-50 Victory Blast Furnace

(Satellite, "very close to where Victory Run joins Sandy Creek.")

Old Blast Furnaces Overview

William Foster posted two photos with the comment: "Victory iron furnace just south of Franklin.  Link to video how to get there:  https://youtu.be/1GBBXYw0AtI."

Don Maier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDkNec7RiVk, Old Iron Furnaces of Venango & Clarion Counties, PA (1820 - 1850)

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Jim Braun commented on William's post
Picture from 1910

Facebook Reel

Jewett, TX: Nucor Steel Bar Mill (Including Rebar)

(Satellite)

Brian Olson posted two images with the comment: "Irony.  US Steel's American Bridge division supplied the original 50 ton EAFs to Nucor Jewett facility in Texas in 1975."

Jonathan Haynes: They used Fuchs eafs also.

Brian Olson: Jonathan Haynes I they have a completely new high bay now. I'm sure the American Bridge furnaces are all gone and the area is used for some other purpose now. They did their job.

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Satellite

The railroads were CB&Q and MoPac.

1982/83 Jewett Quad @ 24,000