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Former Duquesne Works Equipment Goes on Display at Carrie Site

By Submitted Report
The Tube City Almanac
February 20, 2015
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

(Rivers of Steel photos by Rick Rowlands)

A bucket and skip car from U.S. Steel's former Duquesne Works site have been placed on display at the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin and Swissvale boroughs.

The Carrie Furnace site is part of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, which was recently reauthorized by the U.S. Senate through 2021, a spokesperson said.

The 15-ton capacity bucket was built by Blaw-Knox and will be installed permanently in the ore yard. The Neeland skip car, the last physical remnant of the Duquesne Works No. 1 Furnace, will be placed in the ore yard near the existing skip hoist. A spokesperson said it will "provide visitors to the site an up-close and personal look at these important artifacts."

Beginning in 1886 as a state-of-the-art Bessemer steel rail mill on the banks of the Monongahela River across from McKeesport and the National Tube Works, the Duquesne Works' use of the "direct" process for rolling rails quickly led to the addition of a twelve-furnace open hearth steel plant. Each furnace was capable of pouring out fifty-ton heats of steel up to three times each day.

The Duquesne Works closed in May of 1984.

The Duquesne Works No. 1 Furnace was the first blast furnace built in the United States to utilize a skip hoist as well as the traditional ore yard-high line-skip hoist method of material handling. "We are proud to be providing a permanent home for these outstanding elements of the iron industry," a Rivers of Steel spokesperson said.

Regional Industrial Development Corporation, Century Steel and Rick Rowlands of the Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation assisted with the preservation of the artifacts.

Rivers of Steel was created by Congress in 1996 to conserve, protect and promote the industrial and cultural heritage of Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania covering Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

The passage of the National Defense Authorization Act contained language reauthorizing Rivers of Steel and several other National Heritage Areas. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania sponsored the legislation to reauthorize Rivers of Steel.

The bill was approved by the U.S. House and must be signed by President Obama.

"Rivers of Steel is grateful to Senator Casey for his strong support and leadership in pursuing the reauthorization of Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area," said Augie Carlino, president and chief executive officer. "We look forward to continue working with Senator Casey and the other members of the southwestern Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation, the local governments, our partners and the communities."

Originally published February 20, 2015.

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