I work close by and got to stop over today to see the progress of the site and it got me thinking how I never fully got to explore there before the recent changes.

I grew up around the area and never got my butt over there when it was completely abandoned… I think it was one of those "oh it's right down the road, why don't we drive to NY instead to see this other place?! We can hit Beth Steel whenever we want!"

I only went over there a few years ago after Sands had taken over and was spotted by some workers who luckily were pretty cool and just told me to get out. But the place is crawling with people now, so I'm not sure if I'll go there or not at this point.

Anyway, it's a place I never really hear much about so I was wondering who here used to frequent the stacks? Any pictures, stories, etc?

Here's some cell phone pictures I recently took from the new walkway they recently opened:

It was probably among the best abandonments in the world honestly. I didn't get to see anything except the furnaces because I only really went once. We got in at like 10:00PM and climbed around in the pouring rain until morning when the clouds cleared. We only stayed until maybe noon for some reason. I wish I got to see more.

Blast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr

Blast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr


Blast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr



Blast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr



Blast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr

Hey at least it's still there! The Buffalo branch of Beth was 95% demolished in the 90s. I remember hearing the sounds of the the implosions 20+ miles away at my parents house when I was a kid. Although not quite as big as the PA plant it still employed around 20,000 people at it's peak. Most of it is now just a huge overgrown lot on the lake. Some areas have been re purposed, but most is just industrial wasteland. I made a trip there recently to explore the few remaining buildings. Wish I could have seen the place in it's heyday.

I think industrial places like this are some of the best to find/explore. You can just feel the history once you are inside and all of the people that used to work there. Too bad they revamped it.

Posted by Adv.Pack It was probably among the best abandonments in the world honestly. I didn't get to see anything except the furnaces because I only really went once. We got in at like 10:00PM and climbed around in the pouring rain until morning when the clouds cleared. We only stayed until maybe noon for some reason. I wish I got to see more. https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6212/6218898886_c254d5c48d_z.jpgBlast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6102/6218896868_57dd371fb7_z.jpgBlast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6105/6218892990_bca8506f44_z.jpgBlast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6216/6218367811_5daa37009b_z.jpgBlast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6163/6218885344_7b7629fa69_z.jpgBlast Furnace by Chris k, on Flickr click to view

I see it lit up, was this a semi recent trip?

I did most of my exploring here back in 2003/2004.



If you look back near the gas-blowing engine house in that photo you'll see my car lol. Back then there was no fence on that end, and for a brief while no security to speak of either since Beth Steel Corp had dissolved that year. For a glorious six or seven months there you could simply come and go as you pleased.

One story: while I was walking along the tracks beside the furnace a car rolled up on me and a guy got out. He said he was security for the railroad company, and also a former Beth Steel worker. So he took me to this place, I believe it's Control Room B:



He told me he was working here when there was an explosion at the base of the furnace that went right through this room and killed a worker here. Sometime in the 80s I believe. He said they never repaired it and let the furnace remain idle.

Posted by fiftyone_eggs I did most of my exploring here back in 2003/2004. http://www.marcree...dShw/1_img_329.jpg If you look back near the gas-blowing engine house in that photo you'll see my car lol. Back then there was no fence on that end, and for a brief while no security to speak of either since Beth Steel Corp had dissolved that year. For a glorious six or seven months there you could simply come and go as you pleased. One story: while I was walking along the tracks beside the furnace a car rolled up on me and a guy got out. He said he was security for the railroad company, and also a former Beth Steel worker. So he took me to this place, I believe it's Control Room B: http://www.marcree...dShw/1_img_349.jpg He told me he was working here when there was an explosion at the base of the furnace that went right through this room and killed a worker here. Sometime in the 80s I believe. He said they never repaired it and let the furnace remain idle.

Now THAT is a sight to behold.

Posted by CatAndTie I see it lit up, was this a semi recent trip?

I went in 2011. I wish I was exploring in '04 :p

2006. Played cat & mouse with the guards.

Spent a lot of time here at one time.

Funny story...

One night NickSan, Motts and I were up on the roof of the office building just chillin out sitting on an air duct. I walk over to the ledge and look down at the guard shack. The guard is outside. He walks several feet away from the shack in the direction of the building. He's standing there looking up. I start thinking "You've got to be kidding me, this fucking guy made us? He knows were up here?" I'm just about ready to turn around and say something to Nick and Motts when the guard pulls up his zipper and turns around and walks back to the shack. The dude was pissing in the gutter. LOL

Shortly after the duct that NickSan was sitting on collapsed. I thought I was gonna piss my pants I was laughing so hard.

Good times and thankful to have those memories.

Back in the early 90s I drove by Beth at night when the blast furnaces were active. It was unearthly and magnificent with red sparks going high into the red glowing smoke.
When Beth Steel died that town died. Nothing left worth seeing now. Casinos suck monkey balls bad.

http://www.mcall.c...150622-column.html

Posted by blackhawk When Beth Steel died that town died. Nothing left worth seeing now. Casinos suck monkey balls bad.

I certainly can't deny that, from an economic standpoint, the casino generates nothing for the town as compared to the steelworks.

Still, I think the Sands casino has done an admirable job with the mill. When I was there in '03/04 I thought it would all soon be gone. But here it is 13 years later - still fairly intact. Pretty amazing. And as you can see from CatAndTie's photos a walkway has been constructed that allows you a very close view into the blast furnaces.

For those who didn't get a chance to see it back in the day it's totally worth checking out now.

Posted by fiftyone_eggs I certainly can't deny that, from an economic standpoint, the casino generates nothing for the town as compared to the steelworks. Still, I think the Sands casino has done an admirable job with the mill. When I was there in '03/04 I thought it would all soon be gone. But here it is 13 years later - still fairly intact. Pretty amazing. And as you can see from CatAndTie's photos a walkway has been constructed that allows you a very close view into the blast furnaces. For those who didn't get a chance to see it back in the day it's totally worth checking out now.

It's a tourist trap now. A sterilized rotting hulk. The complex literally was 5 miles long with all sorts of industrial buildings. Gone.

Of the hundreds of satellite industries that supported Beth many died with her. This isn't a success story. It's a rotting carcass of what was once the world's greatest industrial power. Sucks to be today's youth.

Posted by blackhawk It's a tourist trap now. A sterilized rotting hulk. The complex literally was 5 miles long with all sorts of industrial buildings. Gone. Of the hundreds of satellite industries that supported Beth many died with her. This isn't a success story. It's a rotting carcass of what was once the world's greatest industrial power. Sucks to be today's youth.

I agree completely. The casino will not and cannot equal the economic force that was Beth Steel. But I appreciate the fact that it's still there, or what little is still there. Sands could have scrapped those furnaces to make maybe a million dollars in scrap metal - like what happens practically everywhere else. So I admire the fact that they didn't. At this point it is what it is and it certainly could have turned out worse - for the old mill and for the town of Bethlehem.

Probably my favorite place, I wish I would have seen it sooner when more was accessible...


Outside Industry by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr




Office-esque by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr


Elevate by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr




Outside Industry by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr




image02 by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr




Steel stacks by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr




Finding ourselves in rotten places by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr




Hello Industry by Dustin Gilbert, on Flickr



Looks like the first time I went was in 2012, there were workers there so I kinda just chilled here...

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until they went away, and continued exploring it. Avoiding the area I saw them in. Went back the next day and no one was around. It looked like where the workers had tools set up, they were dismantling parts of one of the blast furnaces.

Posted by fiftyone_eggs I agree completely. The casino will not and cannot equal the economic force that was Beth Steel. But I appreciate the fact that it's still there, or what little is still there. Sands could have scrapped those furnaces to make maybe a million dollars in scrap metal - like what happens practically everywhere else. So I admire the fact that they didn't. At this point it is what it is and it certainly could have turned out worse - for the old mill and for the town of Bethlehem.

Millions? Not for scrap steel. Demo contractors make a lot of their money from non ferrous metals and stainless. Most of the copper has been long stripped out.
Asbestos is integrated into the blast furnaces in large quantities I suspect. If so a huge abatement cost for that alone. They would need to use O2 cutting lances and/or explosives to cut those massive steel furnaces with and that's not cheap to do.

Without the heat of the blast furnaces and the constant maintenance when it was active, it's literally rusting into oblivion. Think of it as a living entity. The furnaces are dead and rotting now. Even 10 years ago the corrosion was widespread. Quarter inch plate decking that was paper thin. Rust never sleeps. Not sure how much money been put into preserving the blast furnaces themselves however they'll not preserving any of the miles of catwalks, decks, smaller pipes and such that made it so amazing to see and explore. A matrix of all sizes and types of pipes, conduits, and high tension electric lines. They gutted and stuffed it like a trophy deer. Eventually what little is left of it may have to be demoed.
But Sands doesn't care, by then they'll have made their profit and have moved on like locusts leaving behind nothing of value. The town of Bethlehem made a pact with the devil. Seems oddly appropriate.

To understand the devastating impact of the lose of large industry in the USA and the harm of globalization you need only to understand why we won WW2. Today we would lose a large scale conventional war like WW2. We be forced to use nuclear weapons because we've lost our industrial infrastructure and capacity to self reliantly produce the vast array of heavy materials and goods needed for an all out war. It would literally takes decades to ramp up to that level today. Don't forget we have also lost over 80% of our RR infrastructure as well since 1950. Without RRs we can not support large industries massive hunger for materials and transporting finished steel to assembly areas.

Never say a world war won't happen again. History tells us it will. This is the inheritance we have left future generations because of greed, corruption and lack of vision on both political and business levels. Beth was doomed to die eventually, but fools killed US industrial supremacy and perhaps ultimately the USA. Beth is a sick grave marker of a dead giant.

Posted by blackhawk Millions? Not for scrap steel. Demo contractors make a lot of their money from non ferrous metals and stainless. Most of the copper has been long stripped out. Asbestos is integrated into the blast furnaces in large quantities I suspect. If so a huge abatement cost for that alone. They would need to use O2 cutting lances and/or explosives to cut those massive steel furnaces with and that's not cheap to do. Without the heat of the blast furnaces and the constant maintenance when it was active, it's literally rusting into oblivion. Think of it as a living entity. The furnaces are dead and rotting now. Even 10 years ago the corrosion was widespread. Quarter inch plate decking that was paper thin. Rust never sleeps. Not sure how much money been put into preserving the blast furnaces themselves however they'll not preserving any of the miles of catwalks, decks, smaller pipes and such that made it so amazing to see and explore. A matrix of all sizes and types of pipes, conduits, and high tension electric lines. They gutted and stuffed it like a trophy deer. Eventually what little is left of it may have to be demoed. But Sands doesn't care, by then they'll have made their profit and have moved on like locusts leaving behind nothing of value. The town of Bethlehem made a pact with the devil. Seems oddly appropriate. To understand the devastating impact of the lose of large industry in the USA and the harm of globalization you need only to understand why we won WW2. Today we would lose a large scale conventional war like WW2. We be forced to use nuclear weapons because we've lost our industrial infrastructure and capacity to self reliantly produce the vast array of heavy materials and goods needed for an all out war. It would literally takes decades to ramp up to that level today. Don't forget we have also lost over 80% of our RR infrastructure as well since 1950. Without RRs we can not support large industries massive hunger for materials and transporting finished steel to assembly areas. Never say a world war won't happen again. History tells us it will. This is the inheritance we have left future generations because of greed, corruption and lack of vision on both political and business levels. Beth was doomed to die eventually, but fools killed US industrial supremacy and perhaps ultimately the USA. Beth is a sick grave marker of a dead giant.

Man!

I personally like that at least the blade furnaces are still standing and showcased for people to see instead of imploded like many similar industrial sites.

I tired going back in 2010 or so, but we got caught almost immediately by security.

Never went back until last summer to see the catwalk they made. I got a few exteriors, but missed out on all the cool stuff inside. Ah well.

For a little while the site was, in my opinion, the single greatest industrial abandonment in North America

Posted by fiftyone_eggs For a little while the site was, in my opinion, the single greatest industrial abandonment in North America http://www.marcree...rnace_a_b_800p.jpg http://www.marcree...beth_pana_800p.jpg

bump. It was explorers heaven. It was like walking back in time half a century plus in much of it. So much of it was intact too. The size and complexity of it floored me. So many good shots that you could have spent weeks there. One of the most dangerous sites I've ever been to as well.
Every trip there was a blast