Economy
November 10, 2017
Slag to Sculpture: Historical Reminder of Pittsburgh Steel Industry
Written by Sandy Williams
Have you ever seen the metal mushrooms that seem to be growing on Route 51 near Century III Mall in West Mifflin, Pa.? They are actually remnants of the Pittsburgh steel industry that dominated the industrial landscape in decades past.
West Mifflin is the site of Brown’s Dump, a 410-acre slag dumping area used by the Pittsburgh steel mills for over 50 years. Beginning in 1913, trains carrying molten slag dumped the waste product of the steel making process on a site near the old Duquesne, Edgar Thompson and Homestead Steel works. The molten slag would flow from the train cars like glowing lava. Day and night for years, the trains could be seen traversing an ever-growing hill, emptying their cargoes of slag. Over time, the hill rose over 200 feet and covered an area equivalent to 130 city blocks, creating the largest man-made mountain in Pennsylvania.
