{"id":5874,"date":"2015-09-30T00:15:57","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T04:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=5874"},"modified":"2015-11-02T14:36:11","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T19:36:11","slug":"its-like-walking-into-a-tomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/09\/30\/its-like-walking-into-a-tomb\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s like walking into a tomb”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Abandoned <\/a>
Light streams through an abandoned steel shed at the Duquesne Works. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Work <\/a>
Work boots on the floor of a mill locker room. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Empty <\/a>
Frank Bunda chats with reporter Christine Vorce in a massive shed. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Blast <\/a>
Base of a cold blast furnace. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Duquesne <\/a>
Frank Bunda, supervisor of the demolition in Duquesne and McKeesport, walks through the Duquesne Works. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Signs\" <\/a>
Signs offer instructions and warnings. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Abandoned <\/a>
Scattered papers in an abandoned mill office. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Workers <\/a>
Demolition workers take a break in an office. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Broken <\/a>
The mill, as seen through a broken window. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Trash <\/a>
A lone trash can. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Quiet <\/a>
The empty mill buildings were eerily quiet. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Stoves <\/a>
Stoves and furnaces at the Duquesne Works. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Debris\" <\/a>
A worker sweeps debris from an office building. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Blast <\/a>
Blast furnace at one of the mills. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lockers\" <\/a>
Emptied lockers at one of the mills. (Steve Mellon\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In September 1989, a chirpy Madonna love tune dominated the airwaves, but the song seemed jarringly out of place in Pittsburgh. Many of us awaited a more angst-ridden soundtrack for what had become a turbulent decade. Our beloved city anchored the grotesquely named \u201crust belt,\u201d a swath of the country defined by epic failure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not much of an identity for a place of such pride. \u201cWe built the United States, right here in this valley,\u201d said one former steelworker, who emphasized his point by jabbing his stubby finger into the bar at Chiodo\u2019s Tavern in Homestead, two blocks from the cold carcass of the the mill that had employed he and his father for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

A question hung in the air: If we\u2019re no longer makers of steel, then who are we?<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a difficult question to ponder with those terrifyingly empty mills still looming over us. Their demolition and transformation would dramatically change our landscape and our psyche.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a warm and sunny Tuesday in early autumn, a reporter and photographer for The Pittsburgh Press were offered a pre-demolition tour of two idled mills: the Duquesne Works and McKeesport\u2019s National Tube Works. The story and pictures were published in October 1989 and gave readers a tiny glimpse of the cost and waste inherent in the shutdown of an industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Duquesne mill was an assortment of steel sheds, stoves, ovens and brick buildings that stretched two miles along the Monongahela River. The McKeesport mill continued across the river for another mile.<\/span><\/p>\n

The size of the sheds is difficult to convey. Most of us today never enter a structure larger than a Walmart. Some sheds within the mills were large enough to swallow a few big box stores and still have room for a movie theater and a few fast food joints.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceilings rose nearly 100 feet above the dusty floor. Everything was oversized — the huge hooks still dangling from overhead cranes, the 15-foot high iron ladle laying on its side like a monstrous thimble. The only items human in scale were the boots and gloves scattered on the floor of a locker room.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the site, there is an eerie sense of quiet,\u201d wrote Press reporter Christine Vorce. \u201cThe air smells of dust, rust and the slightly acrid odor of coke gas wafting out of a pipeline that a USX contractor is removing ….\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Frank Bunda, supervisor of the demolition, was blunt: \u201cIt\u2019s like walking into a tomb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The mills were full of asbestos, various forms of oils and lubricants and PCBs. Dismantling the the facilities would be one of the largest demolition jobs ever undertaken in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Duquesne mill had closed in 1984. McKeesport\u2019s mill closed Oct. 28, 1987. Workers on the final shift tapped a keg and ate a picnic lunch. A few lifted beers and sang \u201cOma Rechka Pegla \u2026\u201d, a Croatian tune about a mother who irons one day, sings another and dances on Saturday. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was a prescient tune. We\u2019d all have to broaden our skill set, learn to become something new.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re feeling pretty good about ourselves, with our high-tech mojo and new bike lanes and the accolades that come almost weekly: most livable city, must-visit city, most affordable city, best place to retire.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s worth remembering that we\u2019re here, among these rivers and hills, because of what we had once been: A city that gathered a few of earth\u2019s elements and cooked them into a useful thing called steel.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tour through the Mon Valley’s silent and empty steel mills.<\/p>\n

Look at the pictures“It’s like walking into a tomb”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[946,945],"tags":[964,1046],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Digs.DuquesneWorks036.jpg?fit=1296%2C863&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2199,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/18\/pittsburgh-press-reporter-maddy-ross\/","url_meta":{"origin":5874,"position":0},"title":"Pittsburgh Press reporter Maddy Ross","date":"December 18, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Everyone starts somewhere and Pittsburgh journalist Madelyn Ross is no exception.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/tumblr_messn9woEX1rr5swxo1_500.jpg?fit=500%2C707&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":841,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/21\/pittsburgh-from-the-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":5874,"position":1},"title":"Pittsburgh from the air","date":"March 21, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pittsburgh\u2019s skyline is one of the most photogenic in the country.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n2rdpa9BUd1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1000%2C644&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6011,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/10\/21\/who-wouldnt-want-to-take-a-chopper-from-pittsburgh-downtown-to-airport\/","url_meta":{"origin":5874,"position":2},"title":"Who wouldn’t want to take a chopper from downtown Pittsburgh to the airport?","date":"October 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Both companies called Pittsburgh Airways were doomed to fail, for different reasons.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"Celebration of the opening of the heliport on the Mon at the foot of Wood Street. 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