Snowdon and Sons Vulcan Iron and Machine Works: Day 9

Hello Everyone,

        Today we had a reporter from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review out on the site today. He asked me an interesting question, one that I hadn't given much thought. "Out of all the places you've worked, in the forests [Allegheny National Forest], the plains, and in urban environments, which one do I like the most? I was taken aback by this question. Usually I would say that I love working in the woods, excavating sites hidden by nature and in areas that are far less traveled than most places. However, urban archaeology has really caught my eye. The urban environment. Here the sites aren't obscured by trees or shrubs (not always!), but here they are hidden in plain sight. Often times we walk past them everyday, an old building, an empty lot, a field by the river. What was there? Our limited ability to measure time in our own life cycle leaves enormous gaps in our historical record. Take the Snowdon and Sons foundry. Many have said, "I thought this was just an empty field!" or "Wasn't this only used by the railroad? I remember the railroad ran through here." The urban environment allows the archaeologist to peal away like an onion the many layers of time and present an ever present population with their own history. Everyday I get to shock someone into thinking about the past in a novel way, not a static past, but one that gets evolve and incorporate their memory. In urban archaeology I get to demystify my field and bring it out of the esoteric and into the tangible world. There is nothing like seeing a retired steel worker holding a tool from the foundry and perhaps wondering if their experience was similar to that of their 19th-century counterpart. How cool is that?      

Juls, Sean, and Liz. Looks like a Penndot road crew!

Pattern Shop Wall extending 6.5 feet below ground surface. The original ground surface was at the bottom of the unit.

Same unit as above, notice the brick debris from the Pattern Shop wall.

Hopefully this is where the foundation turns a corner eastward.

Same unit as above from a different angle looking east.

Archaeology useless? Not in educated society

Hello All,


        Here is an interesting article from the Columbus Dispatch. I believe that the author, Bradley T. Lepper from the Ohio Historical Society explains it well. To discourage bright, intelligent minds from archaeology, let alone any subject is wrong in our society. The very thing that makes the United States stand out, is that everyone has a choice in what they want to study and what career to follow. Granted, barring socio/economic standing! This article reminds me of the use rant that Governor Rick Scott from Florida went on about not needing any more Anthropologists in his state. What the hell is wrong with these people? I feel that as an archaeologist, part of these notions fall directly on myself and the archaeological community. I think we should be more visible in our places of residence and conduct more excavations at the community level. Thus Brownsville Archaeology Month. I couldn't tell you how many visitors reacted to the site as if I had just performed a magic trick, or revealed a hidden object from under a cloth. I guess that's what I did. Except my cloth is 3 feet of railroad fill and my hidden object is a 600ft iron foundry. to my fellow archaeologists, let's be more visible in our communities and more interactive with the very people who appreciate our finds. If we could all just give a few talks a year to a bunch of 6 year-olds or bring a bus of screaming kids out to our sites once in a while, maybe we can secure our own future.   


Archaeology useless? Not in educated society

Snowdon Foundry Weekend Work Day 7-8.

Hello Everyone,


             Updates didn't occur these past couple of days due to a lack of Internet service. Anyhow, I'm back to report on this weekend's activity at the Snowdon and Sons Vulcan Iron and Machine Works. This weekend was the Market Street Arts Festival in downtown Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Like last year, this is a time when we coordinate Brownsville Archaeology Month to coincide with the festival. After all, isn't archaeology an art? Sure it is, we paint and sculpt the past as well as any artist! So to say the least, we had quite a few visitors to our site to check it out. Although we have been excavating for over two weeks, we still have yet to see any Brownsville Council person, the mayor, or any Brownsville Historical Society official at the site, let alone anyone from the Fayette County Historical Society. A shame really, as these are the people who we expect to advocates for the town, but really only care about the limited world views that they have. Anyhow, here are the pics from the weekend!  

Pattern Shop Wall

Pattern Shop Wall Excavation Block with Security Fence

The Pattern Shop Foundation extends 6 feet below ground surface

Interior Pattern Shop Excavation Block

Liz taking elevations

Left to right: Jonathan Crise, Kyle Norman, and Marc Henshaw (Archaeology Dude)

Archaeologist laments razing of house in Brownsville - heraldstandard.com: Local News

A nice little article based on my rant here on this blog.

Archaeologist laments razing of house in Brownsville - heraldstandard.com: Local News

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Vulcan Iron and Machine Works: Day 6

Hello All!


        Yesterday was busy, and today will be no exception. It was hot out at the site, no shade out on the old brownfield. Discoveries keep turning up at every scrape of the trowel and shovel of dirt. I have some great photos to show you and I'll leave at the moment, the interpretation to you. Remember, this part of the foundry was converted into a tenement apartments!

Remnants of a crawl space filled with brick from foundry walls.

Julz and Liz holding a comb they found.

The Comb!

It's a horse shoe with "Good Luck" stamped on its front/

Snowdon Vulcan Iron and Machine Works: Day 5

Hello Everyone,


       Sorry for such a late post, things have been, as always busy. Today was no exception. I missed half a day of fieldwork due to some aggravating personal matters. And I locked my camera in the field equipment shed, so no pictures tonight. I was visited today by Scott Beveridge, who works for the Washington, Pa Observer Reporter newspaper. You can follow his blog on my blog list. We are trying to get as much coverage on the Snowdon and Sons Vulcan Iron and Machine Works as we can, after all, it is the foundry that patterned and casted the parts of this nation's first cast iron bridge.
      Yesterday we began finding the remains of a knob and tube electrical wiring system. I knew the foundry had not been electrified during its operation as the Brownsville Electric Company didn't start running until the late 1890's and the mill was out of work for several years before. I decided to return to the documentary evidence, and examine the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps once again. Here is what I found:
      If you'll notice in the area circled in RED in the second image, the pattern shop was converted into tenement apartments! (Even in the 19th century they understood to adaptively reuse structures...one day we'll learn) Anyhow, the first image is from 1891 the second is from 1901. If you examine the 3rd image closely, there is a power/telegraph pole in the far left corner. The conversion of the shop to apartments would explain the blue painted plaster we are finding, the bones from livestock, and the broken whiskey bottle. Perhaps these aren't evidence of workers, but of tenants?    

1891 Sanborn Insurance Map

1901 Sanborn Insurance Map

Photo courtesy of Donna Jordan

Snowdon & Sons Vulcan Iron and Machine Works: Day 4

Hello Everyone,

A volunteer and Jonathan Crise cleaning the foundation.

       Today was a rainy, overcast, and dreary day in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Most archaeologists would have called it a rain-day and went home. Not us. The well drained soils of the concrete and railroad fill makes digging in the rain possible. Besides, does wet concrete make it any easier to dig through? NO! But a good maddock does. I only have two photos today of some archaeologists at work in their trenches. The foundation of the foundry seems largely intact with a sharp break for about 3 feet. The it turns into a pile of bricks, and then back into a cut stone foundation. From a photograph we have, it might represent where a crawl space was located. Only more time and more exploration will tell. Right now, I have to get back to transcribing oral histories from river workers here on the Monongahela, take care. 

Carl Maurer excavating the layer of brick at the bottom of his unit.

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