Carrie Furnace

This past Wednesday we went on an Enrichment Day field trip to the Carrie Furnace in Braddock, PA on the Monongahela River. This is an historic site associated with the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. It is just about the last of the  non-operational steel mills left standing in the Pittsburgh area. The smoky city gave way to the medical research/ robotics city. But the US Steel Edgar Thompson works still operates nearby.

This is Carrie Furnace #7. It operated from 1907 until 1978 making iron from ore and moving it via special rail car (lower photo) to nearby mills where the iron was made into various steel alloys.

While the Rivers of Steel group has removed most of the hazards, this is still a generally unimproved area. Most of the tour is outdoors as most of the mill was outdoors or in open sheds like these.

How things change! When we had lunch at the Steak n Shake at the Waterfront Mall, I had to tell John and Janine that their granddad worked at the Homestead Works where the mall now stands.

Here's Janine and friends on the torpedo car that moved the molten iron from the Carrie Furnaces to nearby mills.