Republic Steel (Ling-Temco-Vought - LTV)

We cruised some neighborhood areas and found our way back to a powerplant area littered with abandoned parking lots and incredibly huge ruins of what Otto thinks might have been a dry dock. Otto really wanted to get some photos of the place and my curiosity was chomping at the bit. There was a guard house at the entrance to the road leading back in. The sign posted that photography was forbidden in the plant, but we just wanted to see the ruins. I asked the guard what the ruins were. He had no clue and wouldn't let us in. We gave up and moved on.

We cruised around the industrial area and passed the abandoned railyard we had checked out before. It seemed that it just wasn't as interesting in the light of day as it was when we had checked the place out at night a couple of months ago.

We cruised on across a bridge around the river and along a lake. People were picnicing and we all were getting a bit hungry. We had to stop for a light when we glanced off to the left and saw some factory buildings. There was a left turn signal and we swooped into the left lane, waited for the light and proceeded onto a gravel road. We followed along a fence line until it came to a wooded area and a sail boat. We pulled in behind the cover of the trees and popped out to check out the boat. It had been dumped there. It lay on it's side without a hole in the bottom. Someone didn't want it anymore. It was kind of strange.

We proceeded on foot down a road overgrown and trashed. We saw more signs of dumping and came to an opening where we got a better view of the vastness of this factory and it's property. There were huge overhead cranes in the distance dumping objects into piles and to the west of us there was factory buildings as far as the eye could see.
We tracked back past the car and through the opened gate. Otto went off into the bushes and Jehreg and I decided to check out a building that had pipes leading to it from the factory on the other side of some railroad tracks.
We are always surprised that things are left unattended or unlocked. We assume that security guards don't always like to carry their keys and bother even closing the doors. We approached the building and Jehreg opened the door. I heard the sound of machinery as I entered into the place and smelled the distinct odor of chlorine.
Just to give you a feel for this mission...Have you ever played Resident Evil? Well, this mission was full of what could only be described as scenes from any Resident Evil game. Abandoned interiors with odd machines humming and dim lighting, if any. Rays of sun piercing through ceiling holes and illuminating dust and floor with glowing beams of light in the darkness of the building interiors.

The building contained a big pump room. Up some grated stairs were large control panels with signs about water. Below us was one huge, black tank (among the pipes and fittings) that reached up to the roof. It was interesting. Otto found the guard's "punch in" key attached to a small box on the wall. We left and moved on to cross the tracks and enter the factory buildings. We walked through the weeds and into the opening of rail tracks and flat cars still loaded with steel. Apparently we were entering a steel mill. Otto took some photos and Jehreg headed for the large opening to one of the buildings. She peered inside and shouted, "You gotta see this!". I excitedly moved forward into the building. It was huge! I would estimate that it was approximately two city blocks long and about five stories tall. The roof was riddled with holes which allowed eerie beams of light to randomly shine down into the rumble that Jehreg believes must have been the firing pits for molten steel. There were piles of fire bricks everywhere, pits now filled with water, grated walkways and two overhead cranes. the walls had openings and as we explored we moved though them. One area was still being used as a shipping dock. The round stock was ticketed with dates of May 2001. We moved carefully across the pits and on to more ruined areas of the building. We explored a small office and mechanical shop still filled with rusty old tools and filing cabinets with tickets and papers. We found the name of the steel company on the headers....Steel.

We moved out of the building through the back. It was all so curious as to what had happened there. The place was covered in dust and dirt. Most things were covered an almost cobweb residue. Out around the back of the building, we found a door that looked as if it had been rammed inwards. It was pretty beat up and laying on the ground. It's sign read something about the dangers of electrical shock.
Just beside this door was an open door to a men's locker room. In all of our adventures, locker rooms have been the most interesting. The contents of the lockers had mainly been dumped out on the floors. There were boots, shoes, hard hats, clothes, jackets, toiletries and liquor bottles strewn everywhere. We rummaged through some of the items and found the latest of dated things being 1986. It was strange. Some of the items were even burned, yet no real sign of fire on the interior. I collected a few hard hats and a union agreement booklet dated August 1, 1980.
We left the place in wonder and plan to return to explore further. I am still trying to find out if there was a fire or explosion and can not find a thing about such a disaster.

RELATED LINKS

Massacre at Republic Steel
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/republic.htm

1937, May 30: Memorial Day Incident, Strikers Killed at Republic Steel
( Chicago Public Library )
http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/memorialday_strike.html

An American scandal
"U.S. Steel, Inland, and LTV helped build the towns of Gary and East Chicago, Ind...."

YST/J&L/LTV/ISG CHRONOLOGY