Joliet in Will County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
High Risks & Hard Work
Photographed By Jason Voigt, September 30, 2020
1. High Risks & Hard Work Marker
Here at the Joliet Iron Works, high-risk jobs required the most manual labor and paid the lowest wage.
Men dumped materials into the top of 70-foot tall blast furnaces. Escaping gases could suffocate the workers, causing falls to the ground or into the molten mix.
Hot Stuff
Workers called "clay busters" drilled tap holes at the furnace bottom to release the 2800°F molten iron. Imagine that heat, with only a few wood planks to protect your feet! Men also transported the molten ore and cleaned the hot machines armed with little more than aprons.
(photo captions:)
A worker's shoe, with a burn hole in the toe, shows how close workers were to potentially devastating injuries during their work day.
Workers break up pig iron in the casting beds.
Erected by Forest Preserve District of Will County.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce.
Location. 41° 32.411′ N, 88° 4.753′ W. Marker is in Joliet,
this page online
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. What's Cooking? (here, next to this marker); Men of Steel (within shouting distance of this marker); Language Barriers (within shouting distance of this marker); Forging a City of Steel (approx. 0.2 miles away); After the Whistle Blows (approx. ¼ mile away); George Kiser, Iron Works laborer (approx. ¼ mile away); Ruby Street Bridge (approx. 0.3 miles away); Route 66 Park (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Joliet.
Also see . . . Forest Preserve District of Will County. Website address for the Forest Preserve District, which is at the bottom of this marker, among several on this trail. (Submitted on October 17, 2020, by Jason Voigt of Glen Carbon, Illinois.)
Photographed By Jason Voigt, September 30, 2020
2. High Risks & Hard Work Marker
Marker is next to the "What's Cooking?" marker.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 17, 2020. It was originally submitted on October 17, 2020, by Jason Voigt of Glen Carbon, Illinois. This page has been viewed 95 times since then and 30 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on October 17, 2020, by Jason Voigt of Glen Carbon, Illinois.
