{"id":7265,"date":"2017-03-03T00:01:48","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T05:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=7265"},"modified":"2017-03-03T14:56:18","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T19:56:18","slug":"lucilles-big-day-at-a-blast-furnace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/03\/03\/lucilles-big-day-at-a-blast-furnace\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucille’s big day at a blast furnace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lucille <\/a>
Lucille Keitz and a guide climb to the top of the stoves at Pittsburgh Coke and Chemical on Neville Island. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lucille <\/a>
Lucille is dwarfed by the furnace’s stoves. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lucille <\/a>
Lucille in 1957. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Safety <\/a>
Safety director Jim Padovese helps Lucille with safety equipment. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Superintendent <\/a>
Superintendent Eugene R. Dean shows Lucille samples of ore. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\nSixty years ago, a 16-year-old high school student named Lucille Keitz got up from bed, carefully combed her hair, slipped into a fine dress, put on her good winter coat, pinned a brooch to the collar, and went on the ultimate field trip.<\/p>\n

Within a few hours, the Stowe High School freshman stood at the base of a massive assembly of stoves and valves and pipes, all properly stained and splattered. Behind her, smoke or steam rose into the air. \u201cDANGER WATCH FOR GAS,\u201d read a nearby sign. Lucille was getting a close-up view of that most impressive of industrial facilities: the blast furnace. Envy filled the heart of every kid whose most adventuresome field trip was a tour of the local bread factory.<\/p>\n

Lucille\u2019s adventure began with a letter to the Pittsburgh Coke and Chemical Co.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Chemistry class we have to build a project,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI would like to build a blast furnace. Could you please send me the necessary materials for building a blast furnace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizing what Lucille didn\u2019t — that sending several tons of refractory brick, steel and machinery wasn\u2019t feasible — the company wrote back and suggested Lucille visit a blast furnace and learn first-hand how the facility converted raw material into iron.<\/p>\n

Her tour was documented in five photographs and a few paragraphs published in The Pittsburgh Press Sunday Roto Magazine on March 3, 1957. \u201cAmbition pays off,\u201d read the headline.<\/p>\n

In the picture showing Lucille at the base of the furnace, the young woman seems like a miniature version of a person who\u2019d gotten lost on the set of the original \u201cAlien\u201d movie. Everything appears too big, too awesome. The image is the most effective we\u2019ve seen at illustrating the scale of and size of the steel- and iron-making machinery that once lined Pittsburgh\u2019s rivers. <\/p>\n

In another photograph, Lucille and a guide step along what seems a dainty steel stairway suspended 70 feet above a tangle of pipes. Lucille wears a white safety jacket over her coat. A hard hat sits upon her carefully coiffed hair. Set among this dark industrial backdrop, she stands out like a carnation in a coal cellar.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sure Lucille remembers her fantastic tour, and we\u2019d love to talk to her about it. If you know where she can be found, let us know at smellon@post-gazette.com — we\u2019d love to share her memories of the day.<\/p>\n

— Steve Mellon<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A high school freshman got an amazing tour in 1957. We’d like to find her.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesLucille’s big day at a blast furnace<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7278,"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],"tags":[975,961,983,1369],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/BlastFurnace003-1.jpg?fit=3900%2C3235&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7281,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/03\/10\/about-that-student-who-toured-the-blast-furnace\/","url_meta":{"origin":7265,"position":0},"title":"About that student who toured the blast furnace …","date":"March 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader helped us find the young woman who took a stunning field trip in 1957.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Lucille.jpg?fit=1200%2C1030&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5874,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/09\/30\/its-like-walking-into-a-tomb\/","url_meta":{"origin":7265,"position":1},"title":"“It’s like walking into a tomb”","date":"September 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A tour through the Mon Valley's silent and empty steel mills.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"Work boots","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Digs.DuquesneWorks036.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9877,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2021\/03\/02\/the-day-a-prince-visited-the-mon-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":7265,"position":2},"title":"The day a prince visited the Mon Valley","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette Nothing was clear when Prince Charles of Great Britain stepped off a sleek twin-engine business jet at Pittsburgh International Airport around 11:20 a.m. Friday, March 4, 1988. Large snowflakes drifted down and settled on Charles\u2019 wavy brown hair. The prince apologized for being late, but\u00a0the weather was\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/web19880304PrinceCharles02.jpg?fit=1200%2C864&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/07\/things-get-weird-at-2153-brighton-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":7265,"position":3},"title":"Things get weird at 2153 Brighton Road","date":"November 7, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The tiny, one-story stone house at 2153 Brighton Road looked like it was stuck in a vise.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_nen3d4gOrj1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C806&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2309,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/07\/the-three-stooges-at-the-stanley-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":7265,"position":4},"title":"The Three Stooges at the Stanley in Pittsburgh","date":"November 7, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The Stooges remain popular to this day. So says YouTube...","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mcvprkWKh81rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C573&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2104,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/28\/tragic-explosion-on-excursion-steamer-island-queen\/","url_meta":{"origin":7265,"position":5},"title":"Tragic explosion on excursion steamer Island Queen","date":"January 28, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The monetary loss of the tragedy was estimated at $1,000,000.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/tumblr_mhb5j5AAmQ1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7265"}],"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=7265"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7280,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7265\/revisions\/7280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}