{"id":335,"date":"2014-08-22T13:10:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=335"},"modified":"2014-12-23T18:14:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T18:14:12","slug":"mysterious-images-of-pittsburghs-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/08\/22\/mysterious-images-of-pittsburghs-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious images of Pittsburgh’s past"},"content":{"rendered":"
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And now for something completely different\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Updated, Aug. 25: <\/strong>We received a bevy of responses on Friday and over the weekend in response to one of these two mysteries.<\/p>\n

That phrase on the back of the first image is indeed \u201cCelebration 9 ft channel.\u201d It refers to the completion of the series of Ohio River canals that would ensure at least a 9-foot depth for river passage from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Ill.<\/p>\n

One of many reader responses came from Richard Schutte, who provided a detailed description of the project and its purpose. He wrote:<\/p>\n

Remember at this time the rivers did not have significant locks and dams for navigable waterways. My father born in 1922 told me how as a child he could walk across portions of the Ohio River. Flood control for Pittsburgh did not occur until after the Great St. Patrick\u2019s Day Flood in 1936.This event was a huge improvement in river transportation for the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Schutte also noted the time of year (October) and chilly morning during which the photograph was made. He even found an alternative angle of the celebration<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Our image was likely taken from one of the decks of that riverboat.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting item here is the photograph\u2019s date: just one week before \u201cBlack Thursday\u201d and the onset of the Great Depression. One can also see \u2014 in the full resolution version<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 two or three young boys waving at the camera near the river\u2019s shore.<\/p>\n

They were part of a crowd of 100,000 in Pittsburgh that day, according to The Pittsburgh Press<\/a>, <\/strong>and President Herbert Hoover marked the engineering achievement the following week with a speech in Louisville<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Back to the shelf this goes. (In addition to Mr. Schutte, thanks to\u00a0William Baldauf,\u00a0Glenn Heberle,\u00a0Audrey Iacone,\u00a0Justin Reese,\u00a0Jon Schmitz,\u00a0Al Slowik,\u00a0Justin Wotus and Rank & Filed<\/a><\/strong> for handwriting deciphering and storytelling assistance.)<\/p>\n

As for the other image, no one has yet found an answer. We\u2019ll keep looking, too.<\/p>\n

Original story, Aug. 22:\u00a0<\/strong>After our office flood last month<\/a><\/strong>, we decided to take a step back and reevaluate our archive digitizing.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t affect the mission of \u201cThe Digs,\u201d except to perhaps increase our ambition and pace.<\/p>\n

Still, the water spill did require plenty of cleaning and reorganizing. During recovery, we came across about 4,000 photos in a box that had not been refiled into folders for about a decade.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t digitize what you don\u2019t know exists, and so it took about six weeks, but the last image will be put back in its place next week.<\/p>\n

The thousands of miscellaneous photos contained caption details on the back.<\/p>\n

Two, however, did not.<\/p>\n

And so we present to you these images in hope of you helping us find their story and their proper home in our archive.<\/p>\n

The first photo is, we believe, of the Mon Wharf. Thousands of Depression-era Pittsburghers gathered for\u2026 something. The reverse side is visible in the second image.<\/p>\n

Celebration of channel? Abraham of Channel? Elilsabra after Channel?<\/em><\/p>\n

The date is legible: 1929. The rest: not so much. Here\u2019s a full resolution version of the gathering<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The second image contained more intelligible writing. Its caption: \u201cFrank Peekes (the cursive leads one to also think his name could be Peckes?) coming up out of old well in back of garage.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a police constable. A ladder. A few men in overalls. And it\u2019s clearly a scene of relief. The man has been saved.<\/p>\n

But who is the man? Why was he in the old well? When did this happen? Internet searches are of no help for \u201cPittsburgh\u201d and either \u201cFrank Peckes\u201d or \u201cFrank Peekes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you know the story behind either image? Leave us a note here or send an email to socialmedia@post-gazette.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thousands of miscellaneous photos contained caption details on the back. Two, however, did not.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesMysterious images of Pittsburgh’s past<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":336,"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":[1211,1234,1025,1040,1180],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tumblr_naohzo0Jn21rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C971&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/12\/05\/dec-10-1969-three-rivers-stadiums-steel\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":0},"title":"Three Rivers Stadium\u2019s steel","date":"December 5, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"On the materials that went into Three Rivers Stadium: where it all came from, and where it is today.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tumblr_ng2y1lF6Zx1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C872&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2251,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/27\/airship-graf-zeppelin-passes-over-the-point\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":1},"title":"Airship Graf Zeppelin passes over the Point","date":"November 27, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"By the time it cruised over Pittsburgh, the Graf Zeppelin had earned worldwide fame.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_me40zp7MTL1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1029&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2300,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/12\/montgomery-locks-and-dam\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":2},"title":"Montgomery Locks and Dam","date":"November 12, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The Montgomery Locks and Dam has been an essential navigation channel for many industries in the Ohio River Basin for almost 80 years.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mccqz3tZo01rr5swxo1_500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2292,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/14\/gas-explosions-in-1927-on-pittsburghs-north-side\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":3},"title":"Gas explosions in 1927 on Pittsburgh’s North Side","date":"November 14, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The tanks were never rebuilt. Today, the Rivers Casino occupies the site.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mdeci1rxx31rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C905&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":785,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/04\/09\/monongahela-oil-spill\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":4},"title":"The 1988 Monongahela oil spill","date":"April 9, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was the second largest oil spill in the history of Western Pennsylvania.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tumblr_n3qbrkXWec1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2383,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/23\/apr-14-1935-pittsburgh-aerial-view-in-1935\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":5},"title":"Pittsburgh aerial view","date":"October 23, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"In 1935, Pittsburgh was still a city of \u201csweat and gold,\u201d smoky and burgeoning with economic activity.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mcbeghi6uJ1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C611&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4631,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/4631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}