Take a tour of the industrial valley or flats as some people call it of Cleveland, Ohio. Steel mills, railroads, and other related industry of the area.
This is great. I grew up in Cleveland, and remember the steel mills, but I lived on the East side so not familiar with your route. Ironically, I moved to upstate NY and wound up working in a steel mill (specialty steels) for 19 years as a technologist and then as an engineer. I loved it. The company worked for was bought be a Korean steel company, and once they learned the technology of extrusion of specialty steel, they closed the plant and moved mftg. to S. Korea. I saw the handwriting on the wall and left before the steel industry all but disappeared in the U.S. I took my teenage boys through the melt shop (electric arc furnaces) before I left, so they could see something that, likely, no one else they knew ever saw.
After 3rd shift at the salt mine, I used to play "scavenger hunt" by driving around the flats on my way home. Among other treasure, was a beater Suzuki 175 trail bike in a dumpster. That was the best find and it even ran!
I love this, brings back memories of my grandmother driving me around this valley when I was 2. I loved seeing all the the factories 🏭, railroad, steel mills and all the truck traffic.
lol Not memories of the darkened guardrails that were on 77, or the since removed train track where the crossing gates at Broadway and Union would frequently malfunction?
Independence Rd one could get close to the mill where the slag was transferred to rail cars, could see the molten mass as well as feel the heat many feet away on the road. The flames in the sky were waste gasses produced by the mill they were burned off. Dad worked for Republic Steel, 30 years, he took one layoff for a week so a younger guy could stay working. There were many plants in the 60's that offer tours and open houses for the families of the workers. I recall several tours. you would never see that today. Remember the orange dust that covered everything ?
Both of those furnaces are pumping out steel for the new owners,,,,Cleveland Cliffs. There's even a third furnace,,,,not filmed,,,between the two you showed. It's right on the river.👍👍👍😎
In the 80s, this was a great place to take black & white photos,...there were lots of contrasting shapes. Factory buildings, smoke stacks, large piles of aggregate, like gravel in different sizes, Black painted iron bridge scaffolding and framing. Painting the landscapes and contrasting large mechanical buildings. Lots of visual textures.
When I was a kid in the mid 1950s and through the 1970s, the air was so polluted with coal smoke, and smoke generated by the steel mills, smelting furnaces, the skies were always grey. It wasn't so bad in the suburbs, where I grew up, because the area was in "the heights",...an elevated part of the town. We were farther away from Lake Erie, and the industrial core. The amazing waterway that snaked its way through the Flats, coming off of Lake Erie allowing ore boats to reach the factories, is the Cuyahoga River. A century of heavy industry dumping their waste in the water had turned it black with oil and fuel sludge.
Ah, the memories. at 2:30, you passed the place where the western span of the old Clark Avenue Bridge (1915-1978, demolished 1984-85) began its upward climb to West 11th Street; the eastern span began past the intersection with W. 3rd Street and climbed to 65 feet above the Cuyahoga River. It was a long, rickety iron bridge, and its only remaining features are several dozen support columns, and the platform (on the left) you passed at 2:30.
At 1:00 looks like supports for the old Clark Avenue Bridge. I remember going over it once as a child and all I can remember is green sky, black everywhere, smoke and bumps.
@@lisk3822 Yep. Right at the now-end of Clark at Quigley. Beyond that, you can see the supports crossing the CSX Railyard to the center landing at old West Third.
Great video. I came over from Germany to explore and document the "Rust Belt" 30 years ago and did almost the same tour as shown in the video. Sadly a lot of industry has disappeared since.
Old geezer here. So I was born in Cleveland in 1953,...we lived in an eastern suburb, but overall not that far from downtown, Public Square, and the Flats. We used drive around there, occasionally. I did it more in my college years, of the 1970s & 1980s. My dad had a roofing company on East 55th near Carnegie Ave.. East of the downtown. The roads are bad everywhere because Cleveland liberally uses rock salt to control the ice on the roads. There are actual salt mines under Lake Erie, which are still being mined in 2023.
Pretty good views of the area. If anyone want's to know what they're looking at let me know. I can try to explain them. Brings back lots of memories when I in the plant. Thanks for posting!
You are correct about the winding and varied road access to heavy industry sites in Cleveland. While there are huge factories bordering Chicago in Northwest Indiana, most are not accessible and heavily guarded.
Was there they last year of the Hullett unloaders. The guy who knew the photo locations made the mill drive @ night. It seemed like a foreign land with surreal lighting and trains running around. Was a nice refresher. 💘 heavy industry!
Great video, good job. I grew up in Cleveland and the burbs in the 60s and 70s and can't believe the changes. I left Ohio in 77 for the military because the writing was on the wall, everyone in my family and extended family either worked in steel, heat treating, nuts & bolts manufacturing or the auto industry and everyone knew it was coming to an end. I'm kinda melancholy about it since it would have given me a decent job and pay, if they could have retooled to work more environmentally friendly that would have been the ticket. Going to the military because the jobs are taken away is like being drafted, it sucked. Thanks for posting this video.
@@afridgetoofar1818 From 1977 to 1990 I was in the military until the cold war ended and they had a reduction in force. I then spent 10 years as a caregiver until my parents passed away. I than went into surface Mining, until Obama and Hillary shut it down, then Gas & Oil until Biden shut it down. Since then it's been what ever I can do to supplement social security and get by. I'm too old now and injured, for hard physical labor and most of those jobs are gone anyway. I'm not bitter about the changes in Cleveland, just the reasons for it. The drive for profits at any cost is shear stupidity and has resulted in all kinds of anguish.
Hi, thanks for the video! I’m taking a course at Tri-C on Cleveland history and this really helped tie in the material we’ re covering surrounding the Industrial Revolution. Born and raised here but have never been this up close to the mill. I have to explore this for myself one day soon. Oh and super cool tunes as well, much appreciated.
Great Vid! Go on a Sunday and check out the gravel plants across the bridge past shooters, and all the area behind the stadium. And the docks. My Dad worked at Shell oil Till 1975. See the tugs too. They are usually friendly, My Mom Grew up on Holden, 1 street north of steelyards. I still love to explore.
Thanks , I recently been you tubing all things Cleveland Ohio , so ur vid popped up as a suggestion..... glad I watched ! Surely appreciated ur liking that some cities produce things for the nation ,Haters of CLE be that till they die ,I cant and won't ever believe as a nation ,if we don't produce our own steel and other comadities ;(we are dependent on other nations )!My grandpa in 1978 , when i told him I hate my job , told me , Well walk to the next factory, I said ,grandpa ,( it ain't like that anymore....) I kindly said to him , he walked away ,in total disbelief, and called me lazy....hey China , and not because u built u country all alone , thanks to USA , companies ... can we have 200 tons ECT .of steel , we need it for military purposes... ?; oh we will back to you ,yet , I can go to a no longer $1.00 dollar store and buy a bag of frozen vegetables from this asian country how is this possible..... which i won't, personally it is bad ,what r they paying thier people, ? Go industrial cities, Go !
I worked there for about 7 years. My job had me going into almost every building of the plant. There was always somewhere new to explore. Every time I turned around, or ventured down a new hallway or staircase, 5 more unexplored areas would appear. It's a fascinating place.
It would sure be fantastic if we had our heavy industry back in USA.. Kinda like we had in the early & middle of the 20th century... America was booming back then... To bad our politicians don't see it that way anymore.. Politicians are too busy jumping through special interest groups hoops now ....
I would venture to say Cleveland is in a whole lot worse shape today than it was in 1960, at least economically. The pollution levels are a lot better today
I'm surprised to hear that. I grew up in Cleveland but have lived in upstate NY for the last 40+ years. My wife and I travel a lot and we make it to Cleveland twice a year. The healthcare industry is booming and so are the colleges and Universities and entertainment industries. My wife, who is from NY loves Cleveland and would move there but for the same winters we have. Back in the late 90s Forbes and Travel and Leisure Magazines names Cleveland as a top ten destination.
Video moves along too fast. Stop and show the steel mills ( pull over to curb). IF CONGRESS DOES NOT STOP CHEAP STEEL DUMPING FROM OTHER COUNTRIES THIS MILL WILL BE GONE TOO.
