​​The Canal Society of Ohio Inc.

FALL TOUR 2021 REFLECTIONS

More than 50 participants came from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and Virginia for the CSO Fall Tour in Pittsburgh, organized jointly with the Pennsylvania Canal Society and the Society for Industrial Archeology.

Friday October 1 began with a guided tour of the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Swissvale, a remnant of the legendary U.S. Steel Homestead Works.  After lunch in McKeesport, participants visited several historic industrial sites in the Monongahela Valley, including a 1906 railway roundhouse, a never-used floodgate designed to protect the Westinghouse factory complex along Turtle Creek, and the 1890s Westinghouse headquarters "castle" in Wilmerding. On Friday evening, historian Todd Wilson, co-author of Pittsburgh’s Bridges, delivered a presentation.

The highlight of the weekend was an all-day riverboat cruise on the Monongahela River, on Saturday October 2, which included two transits through the Braddock Lock, as well

as close inspections of historic bridges and industrial sites. On Saturday evening 

Dr. John Oyler, engineering professor from the University of Pittsburgh, delivered a presentation on the history of lock and dam projects on the three rivers around Pittsburgh. On the morning of Sunday October 3, participants chose between a guided walk on municipal stairways north of the Allegheny River, or a bike ride along riverside trails culminating with a trip on the Duquesne Incline to the top of Mount Washington. 

Riverboat Cruise

​​ 2021 Fall Tour - Pittsburgh River Cruise 

​                                                   Friday - Sunday October 1 - 3, 2021