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For the past few weeks workers have been attacking a 100 ton hunk of slag that was discovered at the Port of Rochester last spring. Yesterday I noticed the giant plume of smoke from the O’rorke Bridge and made my way down to the scene of this epic battle. When the dust settles, who will remain standing? Man? Or The Slag?

This is what the beast looked like in June. It’s called a “button” and it’s made up of limestone, phosphate, iron and other heavy metals; the byproduct of the iron-making process. It was created by a huge blast furnace once operated here by the Quinnesee Iron Mining Company nearly a century ago. [Read more about the “button”]

A cool bit of history of you ask me. But the City wants it gone so they can begin work on the new marina project.

Workers are using blow torches and heavy equipment to drill holes into the hunk, slowly breaking it up into pieces small enough to be hauled away – to where, I have no clue. If you’d like a decorative boulder for your garden I suggest you come on down to Charlotte.

The thick orange smoke is probably some indication of the minerals contained within. But I can’t say what. Is there a chemist in the house?!

That guy in the middle of the crater is standing on top of the button which extends down at least 5 or 6 feet into the hole. The thing is truly massive. I’m almost expecting a Martian spaceship to bust out of that thing and start vaporizing everything in sight.

Something’s inside there I tell you! RUN YOU FOOLS!

Tags: Bethlehem Steel, blast furnace, Charlotte Beach, City of Rochester, construction, iron button, iron mill, Ontario Beach Park, Port of Rochester/Charlotte, Quinnesee Iron Mining Co., Rochester, Rochester Gas & Electric (RG&E), Rochester NY, slag, steel mill

This entry was posted on Friday, August 30th, 2013 at 7:57 am and is filed under Rochester History, Rochester Images, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.