Pump House

Pump House. . , Pumps, Pipes and Pressure, At the end of the nineteenth century, technological innovations at the Homestead Steel Works led to an increased need for water to cool and temper steel. Pump House #1-the oldest of three Pump Houses within the Homestead Works-supplied water to the original section of the mill., The Pump House was one of the Homestead Works' early riverbank structures. Only the earliest section of the Pump House-where you are standing-was in place during the 1892 Homestead Lockout and Strike., An almost identical extension was added to the original pump house around 1898. This doubled the size of the upper and lower portions of the building and allowed for a total of five pumps of various capacities., At the time the Pump House ceased operations, there were four electric and one steam driven pump, moving an average of 17,740 gallons of water per minute. By 1986, the Pump House-like the rest of the Homestead Works-lay dormant., (Captions):, Image Courtesy of Rivers of Steel, HAER No. PA-200 P20, Jet Lowe, Photographer, 1989 , Some maintenance jobs required the roof panels to be removed so that large machinery could be moved in and out of the building., Courtesy of Rivers of Steel, HAER No. PA-200 P23, Jet Lowe, Photographer, 1989 , Pumps and equipment were changed quite frequently. The steel lattice columns located in the original building were used to support large steel beams that ran the width of the building. These beams were used for the installation and removal of equipment. In later years, a small crane was installed to assist with these tasks., The high-capacity pumps pushed water from the pump house through underground pipes directly to the tower, the mills, and their furnaces. , The Water Tower provided the "head" or pressure for the water distribution system while at the same time regulated flow. It also acted as an emergency water supply for the surrounding mills., Pump House and Homestead Works, c. 1980s , Image Courtesy Rivers of Steel Archives, View of Pump House and Water Tower with Carrie Furnaces in background c. 1894. , Courtesy of Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, Carnegie Library of Homestead Collection, c.1894