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Are you the guy in these photos?  These are really great shots.

in the napa pictures... where are you at in picture #9

The Napa series, photo number nine was taken near the top of Mt. Saint Helena.

Shit, that is depressing as hell. Our once economic and manufacturing might, now a distant memory :(

The Youngstown photos sure are different from the ones I posted earlier! Nice job!

That was amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Very well done, Ytown Steel.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Excellent slideshow Ytown Steel.  It's amazing to think that only 50 years ago, things were pretty good in Youngstown; almost unimaginable how things can change so quickly. 

WOW.

"You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers

Nice pics. You're really good.

Very powerful.

Excellent slideshow Ytown Steel. It's amazing to think that only 50 years ago, things were pretty good in Youngstown; almost unimaginable how things can change so quickly.

 

Even 30-some years ago it was assumed that Youngstown would go on being a world powerhouse in steel production. I posted the findings of a mid-1970s study on Youngstown's economic future elsewhere on this forum. The study was cautious but optimistic. After all, why would anyone think differently after 130 years of near-continuous expansion of the local industry? Yet just a year later, in 1977, the largest single plant closing in U.S. history would be announced -- Youngstown Sheet & Tube's Campbell Works.

 

Five years later, all of Youngstown's major steel plants had closed.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

There was a movement known as the "ecumenical coalition" where local churches and union leaders tried to keep the mills open as a worker owned enterprise. They estimated it would have taken $300 million to modernize and convert the mills in order to make them sustainable. The coalition lobbied the government for a grant but they were refused, that was the end for steel in the Mahoning Valley.

But even the International United Steel Workers Union (not USW Local 1462 in Youngstown) was opposed to the $150 million grant because it would keep a large mill operating in an environment in which steel prices were low and falling. The international union said some capacity needed to be shed in order to save remaining steel jobs. What the union didn't recognize was how much capacity needed to be shed (and jobs to be lost) before prices would start to rise again.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

god forbid the union give up salary. and the rest is history....

Everybody was too fat and happy back then. I remember that time very well. The problems were always someone else's fault.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Awesome stuff!

Very nice.

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