West Mifflin, PA: Slag Dump

(Satellite, between PA-51, Lebanon Church Road and Clariton Road. It is the home of a lot of "big boxes" today. See the topo maps at the bottom of these notes.)

US Steel had blast furnaces along the shores of a lot of the Monongahela River. The slag from three of those mills was dumped here. The railroad was Union Railroad, which I think was a US Steel railroad.

David Janusek posted
Dumping slag at night in West Mifflin PA
Butchie Honsaker: You know years ago there were 17 Blast Fces. in the Mon Valley. Just 2 left at the Edgar Thomson where I worked for 35 years.

Christopher Porter commented on David's post

A remnant of the slag pile.

Street View, Sep 2013

David Janusek posted
Dumping slag West Mifflin PA
Julianne Biehl: After my high school prom in 1947 we went to watch the slag be dumped. It was a high school dating location!
Nick Shelton: That would be cool to see at night

David Janusek commented on Nick's comment

David Janusek commented on Nick's comment

David Janusek posted
Dumping slag West Mifflin PA
Scot Bierman: Not the only slag dump in the area. Directly across from the Homestead Works at the foot of the High Level Bridge, now renamed the Homestead Gray's Bridge is a slag dump off of Browns Hill Road. It is now a housing development called Summerset. The homes have no basements like a typical Pittsburgh house will. Because you can't get through the slag except at extreme expense. I grew up about a half mile from the back side of this dump. Slag was hauled there and to West Mifflin constantly.

Clinton Kough commented on David's post
I was just down there today.

Bill Quillen commented on David's post

1953 Glassport Quad @ 24,000

1969 Glassport Quad @ 24,000

1979 Glassport Quad @ 24,000

Armistead, LA: Red River Lignite Coal Mine and Marion 7820

(Satellite, my guess. It does have yellow catwalks like the photos below.)

Nick Stork posted three photos with the comment: "This 7820 will either find a new home or soon meet it's maker. Let's hope for the first option. Anyone interested in buying it?"

[Comments indicate it has a 50 cu yd bucket.]

Jay Wilson: Did it strip coal or dig in the pond ??

Clark Moseley: Jay Wilson I bought the machine for Red River Mining. Moved it from Pennsylvania, to Louisiana. It uncovered lignite for NACoal and its partner. In 2001 NACoal bought out Phillips Coal. AEP bought the mine over (I don't know exactly) 10 years ago.

Jay Wilson: Clark Moseley Was it an old C&K Coal machine ??

Harley D. Stone: Jay Wilson no two separate machines. This is a sister machine as it has the same boom and gantry configuration. I ran the c$k machine until 2010 when I went to work underground. She was parked up in 17 I think or 2016. Out of sizable reserves to mine.

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Chris Miller commented on Nick's post

It’s great to see these pictures.I personally was an operator on this machine in Pennsylvania.It’s the 7820-5 machine from Midway Coal Company. It was in service for 15 years stripping coal.It was an outstanding dragline for us.It was owned by the Aloe family in Southwest Pennsylvania.

Buffalo, NY: 1915 Colonel Francis G. Ward Pumping Station

(3D Satellite)

This article has an animated diagram of how the triple expansion piston pumps worked.

Jim Cavanaugh posted
One of the massive 60 foot tall, 1,100 ton steam powered water pumps at the Col. Francis G. Ward Pumping Station and Filtration Plant in the City of Buffalo. Built in 1915, this 1200 horsepower pump could pump 30 million gallons of water per day. These pumps were replaced in 1938 with much smaller and more efficient electric pumps.
Jim Cavanaugh shared
Jim Greene: "Replaced" might be a little misleading. The 5 steam engine pumps are still very much there. Present electric pumps are alongside in the same building.
Jeff Brauer: Used to do a yearly tour there. I believe early September. Checked their website and said all tours have been cancelled until further notice. 
Dan Mo: I remember taking an employee off one of those bad boys when he dislocated his knee. 2nd or 3rd level and that was just the beginning of the Journey out of that massive building. Had to be late 90's

Richard Szczepaniec commented on Jim's share
This is from September 2006 open house. The three yellow pumps do all of the pumping now. The boiler room is empty. There was talk of using compressed air to operate the triple expansion steam engines.

Street View, Aug 2017

pixels, photo by Jim Markiewicz

 

Steven Heselden posted
Colonel Ward Pump Station Buffalo, New York

3:50 video @ 0:50

Jim Cavanaugh posted
The water intake valve control gallery at the Col. Francis G. Ward Pumping Station and Filtration Plant in the City of Buffalo. The control units were updated from direct mechanical control to electronic touch screen control. The electronic units were mounted into the original, refurbished mechanical pedestals. CRA Engineers.
Jim Cavanaugh shared
Brian R. Wroblewski: Where is this part of the building? Never seen that before.
Jim Cavanaugh: Brian R. Wroblewski The low building on the southeast corner of the complex. On the left and right (behind the glass walls) are large sediment holding tanks. If I remember correctly, It is where initial treatment takes place.
Jim Cavanaugh shared his post
Adding to last Friday's aerial photograph of The Col. Ward Pump Station [below], here is the pump control room inside that building. The building, that draws water in from Lake Erie and then pumps it into large holding pools, was completely renovated between 2006 & 2008. All the massive pipes, valves and pumps were replaced along with additions like the glass walls that separate the holding pools.

James Cavanaugh Photography posted
From my Archive. A 2007 view of a portion of the Col. Ward Pump Station in Buffalo, NY. This building is where water comes in from the eastern end of Lake Erie. The water is pumped into large settling pools that is the first stage of purifying the water.
Jim Cavanaugh shared with the same comment

Deborah Brown posted nine photos with the comment: "Good Afternoon Buffalorians 🚶🏿‍♀️ One of Buffalo NY's hidden treasures are the Holly Steam pumps inside the Col. Francis G. Ward Pumping Station on Porter St Buffalo NY., built by the Holly Manufacturing Co. Buffalo NY. in 1914. The pumps still exist in their original configuration and are intact. The station has pumped Buffalo's drinking water since 1915. The sign pictured in the 3rd photo is in one of the corridors leading to the pump house. The reason for the sign, the corridor was the way people went to the pumping station offices to pay their water bills and due to the prevalence of TB during that time there was fear of spreading the disease 💦"

Kathleen Macaluso: TOo bad they left the fluoride out of water for last almost 10 yrs. A true rip off for young people not to have tooth decay. Why didn't Brown step correct this.

Dennis DeBruler: Kathleen Macaluso That is unfortunate. I'm over 70 years old, but I was raised with fluoride in my tap water because I was raised in Fort Wayne, IN. It was one of the test markets for adding fluoride to the water. When I went to a dentist in Naperville, IL, he had his staff come in and look at my mouth when he learned I was raised with fluoride because I had so few cavities. The only health problem I have is being overweight, but I doubt that fluoride caused that.

Brandon Lawrinowicz shared

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Jim Heine posted
Mechanical things. Col. Ward pumping station.
Jim Myers shared

Hawthorne, NJ: New York, Susquehanna & Western Roundhouse

(Satellite)

Jack Norris posted
Google Earth view of the former NYS&W roundhouse in Hawthorne, NJ. Now part of an industrial complex. Not accessible for viewing.
[He has North at the bottom.]

1938 Paterson Quad @ 31,680

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jack's post
Aerial photo

Longview, TX: Nucor/Komatsu Steel Closing

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2022

Anonymous participant posted
Few more weeks left before they shut this place down🚮 Nucor Steel Longview
Robert Enyart: I didn't think nucor shut down mills or laid people off? That's all I hear from the nucor crowd. What's up with this?
Dylan O'Hara: Robert Enyart we've shut down multiple operations. We shut down Gulf States, ABC West, and Nucor Longview. Everyone was offered a job. We've already accepted two at our new plant in West Virginia. Many went to Jewett, several to Berkeley, a few to our new plant at Lexington, NC. Some guys don't want to leave home and they're awarded amazing separation packages. We take care of our people far better than to say we're just going to lay off entire union sections. I worked at Longview shortly after the acquisition. I'm excited to work with some of these guys again.
James Torgeson: IIRC, Nucor bought this mill from Komatsu a few years ago.
Dylan O'Hara: James Torgeson no, we bought this mill from Joy Global. We split the mining manufacturing operation and the steel making operation between ourselves and Komatsu.

RecyclingToday, photo courtesy of Nucor Corp.

"Purchased by Nucor in 2016 for approximately $29 million, the mill produces heavy steel plate and has a rated annual capacity of 100,000 tons. The assets at Longview will be evaluated and deployed across Nucor's mills where appropriate." [nucor]

Satellite

I presume these slabs are coming to the plant to be rolled into plate. This is another illustration of how heavy steel is. Just a couple of slabs is a full load for an 18-wheeler.

David Keen, Nov 2021

Pittsburgh, PA: Quality Rolls/E. W. Bliss/Mackintosh-Hemphill

(3D Satellite)

Mackintosh-Hemphill was formed in 1859. Over the decades, it merged with other companies including the Pittsburgh Foundry, which was founded in 1803. [HistoricPittsburgh]

There is more information about this company in "Midland, PA: 1922 Mackintosh-Hemphill."

Jim Burke posted
South Side, Pittsburgh in the early 70s
Mackintosh Hemphill - "The Roll With The Striped Red Wobbler"
Glen Nye: Bliss made stamping presses. This is interesting.
Gina Grande-Brandon: My great-grandfather worked here but I never knew much about “Mackintosh” except it was a manufacturing plant. If anyone can enlighten me as to what they made in the early years I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Paul Chiplock commented on Gina's comment

Paul Chiplock commented on Gina's comment

VintagMachinery
The company was founded to make steam engines. But by the late 1870s Mack-Hemp "specialized in outfitting steel rolling mills, and they were responsible for outfitting many, if not most, of the Pittsburgh-area steel mills. Over the decades they made metalworking machines of interest to us here, including very large lathes."

"About a month ago I started working at a machine shop that owns a MH lathe. It's got an 84 inch chuck and the bed is about 75 feet long. I've seen it running many times in the last month and am always impressed. sounds like a jet engine starting up! A guy at work said it was made in 1943, or something like that." [PracticalMachinist]

1951 Pittsburgh East Quad @ 24,000

Barcelona, Span: Grain Elevators

Ergransa: (3D Satellite)

Bunge: (3D Satellite)

Cargill: (3D Satellite)

Carl Mottern posted two photos with the comment: "Barcelonas’ version of “Cilo City”…"

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A satellite image shows a ship at the loading dock. Note the conveyor belt going out-of-frame near the upper-left corner. It goes to...

3D Satellite

...Bunge Ibérica.

3D Satellite

Further west is a Cargill plant. It looks like they use long buildings for their grain storage. The ship on the left is at a loading dock. I think the one on the right is at an unloading dock.

3D Satellite