11-30-2009
( Reply#: 4042 ) |
Tom J |
Hey, Tim!
I worked the summer of 1968 for your friendly competitor, Youngstown Sheet & Tube. I worked in the #3 Sheet Mill in the shipping department.
It was a good experience for me, and the money was good. I feel like you do, though, in that I preferred not to make a career in the mills.
Tom |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4043 ) |
tom w |
Good Morning. I sailed with the Inland fleet. When I later started my first year apprenticeship, I went back to Inland with an outside contractor. then a few years with USS and Bethlehem. I finished my 20 years in Florida. Some good mmemories, some tragic. Most people that went to Tech I think, ended up going to the mills. It was, like, our fate. Thats why this site is neat because there were actually people that made it out of the region. Not that I dont love the region and North Hammond as it was, Its just that I never contemplated anyone actually leaving years ago. I do have a question though. At what point did it become clear to you guys that our economy (steel mills) would not recover ever like it was when we were teenyboppers? Thanks Tom W |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4044 ) |
BobK |
I never worked there buy my Dad worked in Research and my youngest brother still does.
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4045 ) |
Jim Plummer |
I spent a summer at LaSalle Steel mostly repairing the roof-got a great sun tan and spent nights in a bar in East Chicago listening to Ristow and The Riders. Also spent time at Pullman-Standard and American Steel.During My summer at General American on the box car line, I made more money playing checkers between line moves than on my paycheck. If we worked half a day we got twenty dollars, a full eight hours got us thirty-six. |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4046 ) |
Roger D |
I worked at Inland from Feb. '63 until Sept.'93. Started two weeks out of high school (Morton) Inland is now ArcelorMittal USA Inc. part of the worlds largest steel company. I consider myself lucky because I not only made a good living but I was able to retire at 49 with 30 1/2 years service. I still able to carry my insurance through them. They have paid me to stay home for the last 16 years.
I worked most of the time in the 44 inch hot strip. I met many wonderful people and several not so wonderful. |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4047 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by Roger D
I worked at Inland from Feb. '63 until Sept.'93. Started two weeks out of high school (Morton) Inland is now ArcelorMittal USA Inc. part of the worlds largest steel company. I consider myself lucky because I not only made a good living but I was able to retire at 49 with 30 1/2 years service. I still able to carry my insurance through them. They have paid me to stay home for the last 16 years.
I worked most of the time in the 44 inch hot strip. I met many wonderful people and several not so wonderful.
Roger:
Did you know Fritz Tonkovich? He was my next door neighbor on Woodward Avenue, and he worked at Inland for years and years.
Tom |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4048 ) |
MrRazz |
The mills were the lifeblood of the region...it is good to know that they are not ALL gone. Many fine, hard working people made a good living as a result of the industry. I don't know if it is just me or maybe I am just getting old, but when I view some of our youth today, I often wonder if we haven't lost some of those work ethics. If so, I am glad I was raised before it was lost. I just had a crew of Hispanics reroof my house, only one spoke English, and I had some reservations. Don't know if they were legal or not, but I haven't seen men hustle like they did in a long time...every minute counted. They enjoyed what they were doing, did a great job. I have often questioned our country's immigration policies, but where would we be or the Region be without them...my grandmother came from Sweden and my grandfather came from Greece, not a marriage made in heaven, but they worked hard.
In my youth, we used to attend church in downtown Gary, when it was a thriving city. When my dad passed in 2000, I took my daughters and son-in-law on a tour of downtown Gary, and it was frightening. So many dilapidated, vacant, deteriorating buildings...some with beautiful architecture in ruins. A lot of scary people just hanging out and doing other things. My son-in-law was relieved when we drove out of there. It was sad to see, and I often wondered if the demise of the steel industry wasn't a cause of that.
Sorry for the long post...got on a roll. |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4050 ) |
Bill Bucko |
quote:
Originally posted by tom w
... At what point did it become clear to you guys that our economy (steel mills) would not recover ever like it was when we were teenyboppers? Thanks Tom W
Russian-born refugee Ayn Rand foretold the disastrous economic and political decline of the United States, in her perennially best-selling novel Atlas Shrugged (published 1957).
Not that she had a crystal ball; she didn't. It's just that she saw the same anti-freedom, collectivist ideas that she escaped from in Russia, spreading in the United States, and knew that they would lead to the same results here.
Bill
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
12-01-2009
( Reply#: 4052 ) |
MrRazz |
quote:
Originally posted by Jim Plummer
I spent a summer at LaSalle Steel mostly repairing the roof-got a great sun tan and spent nights in a bar in East Chicago listening to Ristow and The Riders. Also spent time at Pullman-Standard and American Steel.During My summer at General American on the box car line, I made more money playing checkers between line moves than on my paycheck. If we worked half a day we got twenty dollars, a full eight hours got us thirty-six.
Hey Jim,
"Ristow and The Riders"...never heard of them? Maybe you can introduce me to some new music. You always had good taste.
Tim |
12-02-2009
( Reply#: 4054 ) |
tom w |
Exactly Bill.
There have been several blatant signs over the years that were either ignored or not seen by many. The first one that I saw was when the market for scrap steel collapsed years ago. And the end of the family farms. And the year that USS closed the tube mill and then buldozed the building with more closings and clraring to follow. And the Chinese purchase of the railroad that runs from Minnesota to the Pacific. You know Britan was a super-power when they were industrian, then we were industrial. Now we are service oriented and export almost nothing. I am uneducated and might not be right on the money with some things but people always blame the unions for the collapse of the economy or others stealing our jobs but I see it as pure unadulterated greed and the collapse of the family as a unit. O.K. sorry for the soap-box. Tom W |
12-02-2009
( Reply#: 4055 ) |
Roger D |
I didn't know him Tom. Of course at it's height Inland employed 27,000. Now, I am told, there are only about 8,000 total. |
12-02-2009
( Reply#: 4057 ) |
Andrew Murchek |
My brother and sister-in-law worked at Inland. Jim Murchek and my sis-in-law Linda. Where they worked at, I dont know. Not to familiar with it because its been awhile. I left to Germany a couple of moths just after that accident with the highway they were building just over the road there in Markstown. |
12-02-2009
( Reply#: 4058 ) |
Paddy |
I worked full-time at LaSalle Steel in '65, then part-time in the summers of 66' and '67 when I was attending PUCC.
What strikes me about growing up in the Region is how teachers dealt with us kids from "working class" families. I never received any encouragement to go beyond high school. The expectation seemed to be that we should not aspire to anything other than manual labor in the mills or refineries. It was only after I enlisted in the USMC that I was encouraged to "expand my horizons."
|
12-02-2009
( Reply#: 4059 ) |
duane |
I didn't work at Inland, but worked at Union Carbide one summer. On the Prestone line.
My brother worked at Inland during summers home from college. He worked at the coke battery and he came home just covered in coal dust. His description of the work always gave me the mental picture of those guys from Flash Gordon that were shoveling coal into the furnaces to keep the floating city afloat. I've never been to the coke plant at the mill, so I don't really know if that's an accurate portrayal, but it sticks in my mind from his stories.
Oh yeah, and what I learned about Prestone...that K-Mart, Atlas Permaguard, and several other brands are ALL THE SAME. They would just change the color of the dye. One day we'd come in and Bubbles (the forman) would say "today were are gonna run XX brand" |
12-03-2009
( Reply#: 4062 ) |
Jim Plummer |
It was a three man band and I worked with one of the guys at Pullman-Standard who was from southern Illinois. I don't remember any names but the bar was on the south side of East Chicago's main street. My girlfriend and I use to close that bar everynight and I would be at work at 7am the next morning. Wouldn't do that now!!! My father used to say I shouldn't have done it then!!quote:
Originally posted by MrRazz
quote:
Originally posted by Jim Plummer
I spent a summer at LaSalle Steel mostly repairing the roof-got a great sun tan and spent nights in a bar in East Chicago listening to Ristow and The Riders. Also spent time at Pullman-Standard and American Steel.During My summer at General American on the box car line, I made more money playing checkers between line moves than on my paycheck. If we worked half a day we got twenty dollars, a full eight hours got us thirty-six.
Hey Jim,
"Ristow and The Riders"...never heard of them? Maybe you can introduce me to some new music. You always had good taste.
Tim
|
12-03-2009
( Reply#: 4063 ) |
Roger D |
My uncle, Bud Barker, retired from LaSalle. He is now 93 and still going strong. |
12-04-2009
( Reply#: 4072 ) |
dilligaf717 |
My next door neighbor was in personnel for Inland Steel for years. I just read that he passed away this past summer. His name was Dewey Conces. A real good person. Salt of the earth.
Still runnin against the wind. |
12-04-2009
( Reply#: 4076 ) |
seejay2 |
I put my time in at Inland starting in Sept 1969. I worked the #2-2a Bloomer and Billet mill, plant 2. At the time, it was a brand new computerized mill. I was a vocational motor inspector. My illustrious career lasted 5 years, then I migrated over to Youngstown Sheet & Tube.........Cj
|
12-04-2009
( Reply#: 4079 ) |
Paddy |
quote:
Originally posted by Roger D
My uncle, Bud Barker, retired from LaSalle. He is now 93 and still going strong.
When I started out at LaSalle in 1965, I worked the "lead pit" and moved up to "Draw Bench No. 7."
Your uncle will remember Ray Makelovich, who operated an overhead crane back then. He also owned a bar in Cal City called Ray and Lee's, where I used to hang out. He was the one who got me the job at LaSalle. |
10-20-2010
( Reply#: 6161 ) |
class_of_66 |
[url][/url]http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2FIS&CISOSTART=1,101 |
11-21-2010
( Reply#: 6250 ) |
briz57 |
Well...Inland Steel.....I was there as well as alot of kids getting their REAL 1st job right out of High School...I was sent to the Blast Furnace Department....It was dirty, nasty and not to mention very hot there....But at that time (1975-76) the $9.37 hr was excellent wages, and living with mom and dad, it was great....
Then there was the culture shock of working with people of all races for the 1st time too....It was very much a reality check to see that we were all just people, and we never had control of our up bringing....The millrat life was an excape for some and a curse for others....But now for the harsh reality of it all....The Region was very dependant on those jobs, and as the mills became more scarce, so did the business community...Since 1980 (or so), the whole country has seen a great loss in manfacturing, and now we have become a service driven economy instead of a manfacturing leader in the world....Steel was the life blood of our economy, but now we are at the will of Wal-mart as the countrys #1 employer...I hope to God we (our countrys leaders) can see this...Stop out sourcing jobs so we have a future for our children and their children... Ok...That was my rant...hope it didn't offend anyone !!! B
BRIZ 1957 |
11-21-2010
( Reply#: 6252 ) |
Bill Bucko |
Briz, when businesses outsource jobs, they do it so they can GET AWAY FROM the taxes and costly regulations the Federal and state governments lay on them. Can you really blame them for that?
Bill
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
11-21-2010
( Reply#: 6253 ) |
Tom J |
I remember those wonderful times in The Region when any person who was willing to work could get a good paying job.
I worked the summer of 1968 at Youngstown Sheet & Tube, so I got a taste of being a mill rat. For me it was just a summer job, but I think I could have been happy working there long term.
It is so sad what has happened to The Region, but I guess it has happened all over our country.
Tom |
11-21-2010
( Reply#: 6255 ) |
Jim Plummer |
It's another sign of how things change and not always for the better. The closest I ever got too Inland was LaSalle Steel and American Steel. My three times at Pullman Standard were hot, miserable and happy! |
11-22-2010
( Reply#: 6256 ) |
briz57 |
HaHa...I see my little rant has stirred some intrest...My thoughts on the economy are that the government should raise tarrifs on all goods not produced in this country...that inturn would force all the business' to rethink their production practices and bring jobs back to this country....then company's like US Steel, Inland, Youngstown (JBL) and all the little business' would begin to return to the once mighty region....Oh, sorry for getting off topic also...
BRIZ 1957 |
11-22-2010
( Reply#: 6257 ) |
seejay2 |
I worked at two of those places. My first was Inland in '67 at the #2 Bloomer & Billet mill as a Vocational Motor inspector. After returning from the Army and Viet Nam, I went to Youngstown (J&L, LTV, ISG and Arcellor or whatever it may be now) in '73 into the Bridge Shop as a Boilermaker. These jobs paid excellent money and bennies as long as you wanted to put up with the conditions. At the time, we just did what we did and went home at the end of the day.
As far as "I hope to God we (our countrys leaders) can see this..." is concerned, they do see this and they are the lion's share of the reason that things are crumbling in this country...Cj |
12-24-2010
( Reply#: 6359 ) |
mcgyver |
Inland was where Mom and Dad met... so I am a child of Millrats... so no stranger to Steel Mills was I... I even had a service route where I went in to Inland to service "Telautograph" equipment (anyone ever work with that stuff?) there... In fact, My Dad was in charge of the Stripper and Track coming from the #4 BOF and had a few of their units in the office... I could go and service the stuff and have coffee with MY "Old Man" when he was there...
But probably the best experience there was to find out just how many friends he had there... My car broke down (a gas line ruptured)in the mill, so I went to the nearest building to call Dad... When I went inside, of course being an unknown Outsider, I got the "looks" from everyone... The Supervisor asked... "well, who's your Dad?" When I told him the tune changed... "Hey, You're Eddie's Boy?? Hey... Me and Eddie go WAY back... Where's your car at??" It turned outI was at a fleet maintenance shed... they towed my car in and repaired the leak and got me back on the road again... whan I asked how to repay them the Sup said "Hey, I owe your old man so many favors this is just one way of paying him back! Taught me a serious lesson about how the world REALLY works
BTW... when someone helps you out of kindness or generosity... remember that the best way to pay them back is by returning the favor to someone else in need... that's how the whole system works (See the movie "Always")!
Mcgyver |
07-22-2011
( Reply#: 6698 ) |
tommy51 |
I started out on the Summer of '69 (sounds like a song title) at the old Coke Plant. What a hell-hole! We wore asbestos suits and wooden shoes on top of the Coke battery.
Our neighbor worked in Admin, and later got me into the 80" Hot Strip - then the newest mill at Inland. When they laid-off I went to work for Youngstown, in shipping. Soon after, laid-off again, I left Hammond for good (boo-hoo). I really did learn a lot about life while working there.
I really do miss my youth there; glad I ran into this forum. |
12-04-2011
( Reply#: 7577 ) |
seejay2 |
I started working in #2 Bloomer & Billet mill (right next door to the OH, as I recall) in '67. I did the Nam thing and then returned in 71. I stuck around until 73 (I think) and parted company forever with them. I hated working the shift work...Cj |
