{"id":2306,"date":"2012-11-08T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=2306"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:11:44","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:11:44","slug":"smoke-steel-bridges-and-rivers-of-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/08\/smoke-steel-bridges-and-rivers-of-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoke, steel bridges and rivers of Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo <\/a>
(Photo by Edward Frank, Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

June 3, 1951:\u00a0<\/strong>We love this image because it combines three elements that, for better or worse, define Pittsburgh\u2019s past \u2014 rivers, big steel bridges and lots of thick, black smoke. The picture was made during a race between two steamboats, the William Larimer Jones and the Homestead, along a 3.1-mile course on the Ohio and Monongahela rivers.<\/p>\n

Smoke from the sternwheelers \u201cblacked out bridges and hillsides,\u201d reported the Pittsburgh Press, and engulfed spectators standing on the old Point Bridge. The race was part of a city celebration called \u201cWelcome Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittsburghers loved the steamboat race. Spectators gathered by the hundreds of thousands along waterfronts, hillsides and, of course, bridges. \u00a0\u201dThey screamed themselves hoarse in blazing heat that left many in a state of near collapse,\u201d \u00a0according to the Press.<\/p>\n

Welcome Week, by the way, was described by the Press as an annual \u201ccivic open house to show off Pittsburgh as America\u2019s busiest city,\u201d and included tours of industrial plants, powerboat racing, rivet tossing contests and parades.<\/p>\n

“It may some day rank with New Orleans\u2019 Mardi Gras and Pasadena\u2019s Tournament of Roses as a national event,” read the Press. That obviously didn\u2019t happen. “Welcome Week” ended after 1952.<\/p>\n

And the steamboat race? It was the last in the city\u2019s history, and it ended in a dead-heat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The picture was made during a race between two steamboats, the William Larimer Jones and the Homestead.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesSmoke, steel bridges and rivers of Pittsburgh<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[946],"tags":[961,1024,1184,1038,1040,1046],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_md54teP4xb1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1032&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2141,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/15\/not-a-bad-picture-just-smog\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":0},"title":"Not a bad picture \u2014 just smog","date":"January 15, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pittsburgh was once the smog champion.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/tumblr_mgnhstsiWx1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=968%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1449,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/08\/30\/the-point-that-became-a-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":1},"title":"The Point that became a park","date":"August 30, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"As early as 1910, Frederick Law Olmsted, the son of the man who designed New York\u2019s Central Park, had, in a written report, proposed turning the Point into a park.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_msbcituCjh1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C988&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/05\/02\/first-pittsburgh-marathon\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":2},"title":"The first Pittsburgh Marathon","date":"May 2, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was a profitable day for Lisa and Ken Martin, the first husband and wife to be marathon winners.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/tumblr_n4whnu9ZJH1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C1067&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6365,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/01\/20\/pittsburgh-flood-jan-20-20-years-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":3},"title":"Floods sweep Pittsburgh region, Jan. 20, 20 years ago","date":"January 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"That's when Pittsburgh saw four seasons of weather pushed together in a two-week period of time in the middle of January.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flood008-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C774&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2400,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/19\/the-wabash-bridge\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":4},"title":"The Wabash Bridge","date":"October 19, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The rail cars were from the Wabash-Pittsburg Terminal Railroad, an ill-fated venture by George Jay Gould to compete with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Pittsburgh.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3hybsuae1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1992,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/06\/why-there-are-no-more-rock-concerts-in-point-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":5},"title":"Why there are no more rock concerts in Point State Park","date":"March 6, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The story behind these photographs of bridge jumpers could have had a happy ending. It was tragic instead.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mj832rdWVi1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=944%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2306"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4559,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2306\/revisions\/4559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}