Jones & Laughlin Trivia #1

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by RollingMills

A photo or two would have given mood to this thread. Below is a link to an image in the University of Pittsburgh's Jones & Laughlin collection. Paste this link in your browser and show your kids what some of us will always remember as the true Steel City.

MSP33.B004.F06.I02 - Senator John Heinz History Center - Historic Pittsburgh Image Collection

I'm quoting this so the link works for the OP and everyone. (You need a few more posts before your links will work.)


That's some impressive pollution!

[RollingMills]

Thank you, Hopes, for the link. That's what mine looked like in Preview form but when I submitted I got that long contraption, which works if you paste it in your browser.

Yes, some pollution, and everyone complained about it. Now that it's gone we get sentimental about it. I suppose anyone who spent much time sucking those fumes didn't count on reaching a high number. When I was in Hazelwood at the coke batteries around 1975, the men working there had green complexions. Maybe it wasn't as bad as the Great Donora Smog of 1948, but it couldn't have been a whole lot healthier, even though the two plants were producing different substances.

Szug-bot: Yes, we're talking about a real person - and he wasn't Bob Prince either.

One additional piece of information I neglected to include in my original post is that the superintendent at Pittsburgh might have been the same person who later on became superintendent in Aliquippa. So Aliquippa hands, please stand in if you know of anyone who worked there. When I was in the Hazelwood plant around 1960, the man whom I believe was in charge there couldn't have been more than 35-38 years of age.

Zug, did you live up of Frazier Street?

wpipkins2: I believe I must have visited the exact neighborhood where your aunt lived. Do I recall correctly that the terrain was totally void of any vegetation? It was actually a spectacular view, assuming you get turned on by steel making and its relatives.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by RollingMills

Yes, some pollution, and everyone complained about it. Now that it's gone we get sentimental about it. I suppose anyone who spent much time sucking those fumes didn't count on reaching a high number. When I was in Hazelwood at the coke batteries around 1975, the men working there had green complexions. Maybe it wasn't as bad as the Great Donora Smog of 1948, but it couldn't have been a whole lot healthier, even though the two plants were producing different substances.

A friend of mine was telling me about someone she knew who developed cancer. She had 5 different types of breast cancer and two different times of lung cancer. The doctors told her it was because she grew up next to a steel mill. Even though the majority of Pittsburgh didn't grow up directly next to a steel mill, it's concerning for those of us who lived here during those decades. I didn't move to Pittsburgh until 1970, but your sharing about Hazelwood in 1975 is concerning. Add that to a significant amount of our areas houses are built over mines, it's amazing our cancer rates are significantly higher than the rest of the country.

Look at this CDC map of the cancer rates by state. Pennsylvania is among the top ones. What's perplexing is rural states like Maine and Washington have high cancer rates? Why is that? I've read that new England states have a high incidence of asthma due to the wood burning stoves for heat. That doesn't explain Louisiana. The second CDC map is death rates by state. Pennsylvania fairs slightly better there. Interestingly, some states that don't have high cancer rates have high death rates. Ohio is one. What is Ohio doing differently from Pennsylvania to have such a high death rate without a high cancer rate. And why is the southwest low on both? Arizona is a retirement state with high population of seniors, but its cancer and death rates are low. It's mindboggling to figure out the environmental and social health impacts of different areas when comparing to our region.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by RollingMills

Thank you, Hopes, for the link. That's what mine looked like in Preview form but when I submitted I got that long contraption, which works if you paste it in your browser.

Yes, some pollution, and everyone complained about it. Now that it's gone we get sentimental about it. I suppose anyone who spent much time sucking those fumes didn't count on reaching a high number. When I was in Hazelwood at the coke batteries around 1975, the men working there had green complexions. Maybe it wasn't as bad as the Great Donora Smog of 1948, but it couldn't have been a whole lot healthier, even though the two plants were producing different substances.

Szug-bot: Yes, we're talking about a real person - and he wasn't Bob Prince either.

One additional piece of information I neglected to include in my original post is that the superintendent at Pittsburgh might have been the same person who later on became superintendent in Aliquippa. So Aliquippa hands, please stand in if you know of anyone who worked there. When I was in the Hazelwood plant around 1960, the man whom I believe was in charge there couldn't have been more than 35-38 years of age.

Zug, did you live up of Frazier Street?

wpipkins2: I believe I must have visited the exact neighborhood where your aunt lived. Do I recall correctly that the terrain was totally void of any vegetation? It was actually a spectacular view, assuming you get turned on by steel making and its relatives.

Possibly but that would depend on your age. Im 38 years old and by the late 70s and early 80s the clean up was well underway. My older family members have pbotos from the 40s. The landscape off of State St./Rt. 837 lacked vegetation of any kind. It amazes me how fast the trees grew back once the environmental clean up started after WW2.

[szug-bot]

and was he the inspiration for the mauler figure in the glass on Wood Street?

[Copanut]

I'm pretty sure it was Pie Traynor.