Thank You for this film. THIS Is When America Was Great; When We were SELF SUFFICIENT. When We Manufactured ALL of Our Needs; from Clothing, Autos, Appliances, Food, etc. Before Politicians of The Day & Owners of the Companies, Allowed Greed to Rule Their Hearts...Out Sourcing & Importing KILLED AMERICA.
In the late 70's I took a geology class at the local community college; we took a field trip to the Kaiser steel mill in Fontana. The tour took us through the whole process from raw materials delivered to the mill to the final product being shipped out. They were in the process of installing a new electric arc furnace at that time and planned to shut down the coke ovens and in a few years, the mill had enough slabs of raw iron in soaking pits to last at least a year if the mill quit making steel that day. I had the chance to take the class again and another trip to the mill, this time the raw material piles were almost gone, and the blast furnaces were down to two, the electric furnace was running, and the guide said production of iron would end when the raw material pile was gone but they had enough iron on hand to keep the rolling mill going for a while. It was done and shut down in a couple years and the mill dismantled soon after. One of the most interesting field trips I had ever been on while in school. with the need for a mill on the West coast to feed the shipyards reduced it was a matter of time before it closed.
By the way, did you know that the 1952 movie "Steel Town" was filmed at Kaiser Steel's Fontana Works? The steel mill looks real because it is real! The iron ore was hauled by two railroads, the Eagle Mountain Railroad from the mine to Ferium (the Latin name for iron-which explains why the chemical symbol for iron is Fe), and then my favorite railroad, The Southern Pacific, from Ferium to Fontana. Santa Fe hauled the coal, but I'm not sure who hauled the limestone. Anyway, nice film.
I did know that movie was made at the plant. I'm third generation at the plant. My grandad was a railroad engineer, my dad was a maintenance manager and I was also in maintenance at cal steel.
I know the train engineer Jim who worked for Kaiser although i think he worked later in the 70s. We belong to the same train club in Indio CA. wonderful guy, dedicated train enthusiast, and a artist when it comes to building/working on the layout or rolling stock ect. This is a great documentary and thanks for posting it.👍
Great video. The 4 blast furnaces were built between '43 and '59, served by 8 coke ovens. I worked for KSC on environmental concerns with plant operations and closure '83-'90.
I grew up in fontana about two blocks from kaiser steel mill or C.S.I (california steel industies) i remember riding in my dads truck with him loading there in fontana and dropping huge rolls of steel sheeting (4 rolls to a load) in long beach 3 runs a day but this is so awesome it makes me wish i was a young man in the 40's or 50's instead of the early 2000's totally born in the wrong era this was man work no automated computerized plastic machines then it was manual this muscle that it was work smart or die learning these guys were the pioneers of industry the men who r&d'd for the computerized automated lazy know nothing of hard work generations to come trailing along years later Thank you for these videos absolutely fabulous informational and entertaining GO FOHI STEELERS
My dad worked at Kaiser steel. I went to preschool right there at eagle mountain. When the mine closed we moved to Victorville and he started working at a limestone mine. Great film! Thanks for posting.
Rex where did you find these?? The beginning of part one, Holy Crap that's my HOME!! I moved to EM in 1959 when I was 3! I recognize many of the men shown at the EM Mine!!! So GLAD you shared these!!!!
Clive we scattered to the four winds. We have gathered on Facebook to keep our community and friendships alive. It is an interesting phenomenon and a testament to how close we all were.
love seeing this, i work at the old kaiser steel location, Now its California Steel Industries. Alot has changed over time obviously but its cool going in there every day and seeing some of the old kaiser remnants still around. I can only picture what it was when kaiser was at its peak.
So it not true, that the eagle mountain was a zombie ghost town. I saw the other post in the youtube that the eagle mountain was zombie ghost town. So I search about the real history if it is real or not.
Thank You for this film. THIS Is When America Was Great; When We were SELF SUFFICIENT. When We Manufactured ALL of Our Needs; from Clothing, Autos, Appliances, Food, etc. Before Politicians of The Day & Owners of the Companies, Allowed Greed to Rule Their Hearts...Out Sourcing & Importing KILLED AMERICA.
There was a protracted steel strike in 1959.
In the late 70's I took a geology class at the local community college; we took a field trip to the Kaiser steel mill in Fontana. The tour took us through the whole process from raw materials delivered to the mill to the final product being shipped out. They were in the process of installing a new electric arc furnace at that time and planned to shut down the coke ovens and in a few years, the mill had enough slabs of raw iron in soaking pits to last at least a year if the mill quit making steel that day. I had the chance to take the class again and another trip to the mill, this time the raw material piles were almost gone, and the blast furnaces were down to two, the electric furnace was running, and the guide said production of iron would end when the raw material pile was gone but they had enough iron on hand to keep the rolling mill going for a while. It was done and shut down in a couple years and the mill dismantled soon after. One of the most interesting field trips I had ever been on while in school. with the need for a mill on the West coast to feed the shipyards reduced it was a matter of time before it closed.
By the way, did you know that the 1952 movie "Steel Town" was filmed at Kaiser Steel's Fontana Works? The steel mill looks real because it is real!
The iron ore was hauled by two railroads, the Eagle Mountain Railroad from the mine to Ferium (the Latin name for iron-which explains why the chemical symbol for iron is Fe), and then my favorite railroad, The Southern Pacific, from Ferium to Fontana. Santa Fe hauled the coal, but I'm not sure who hauled the limestone. Anyway, nice film.
I did know that movie was made at the plant. I'm third generation at the plant. My grandad was a railroad engineer, my dad was a maintenance manager and I was also in maintenance at cal steel.
my Dad and Grandpa both worked at kaiser steel. grew up playing in the company play area for employees families. cool movie.
I was raised at that gymnasium.
I know the train engineer Jim who worked for Kaiser although i think he worked later in the 70s. We belong to the same train club in Indio CA. wonderful guy, dedicated train enthusiast, and a artist when it comes to building/working on the layout or rolling stock ect. This is a great documentary and thanks for posting it.👍
My dad worked there mid to late 70s I think. He had a good job.
Great video. The 4 blast furnaces were built between '43 and '59, served by 8 coke ovens. I worked for KSC on environmental concerns with plant operations and closure '83-'90.
I worked at Eagle Mountain for a few years in the late 60's an interesting operation to say the least
Extremely cool! San Bernardino County has some great history.
I grew up in fontana about two blocks from kaiser steel mill or C.S.I (california steel industies) i remember riding in my dads truck with him loading there in fontana and dropping huge rolls of steel sheeting (4 rolls to a load) in long beach 3 runs a day but this is so awesome it makes me wish i was a young man in the 40's or 50's instead of the early 2000's totally born in the wrong era this was man work no automated computerized plastic machines then it was manual this muscle that it was work smart or die learning these guys were the pioneers of industry the men who r&d'd for the computerized automated lazy know nothing of hard work generations to come trailing along years later
Thank you for these videos absolutely fabulous informational and entertaining
GO FOHI STEELERS
My dad worked at Kaiser steel. I went to preschool right there at eagle mountain. When the mine closed we moved to Victorville and he started working at a limestone mine. Great film! Thanks for posting.
Rex where did you find these?? The beginning of part one, Holy Crap that's my HOME!! I moved to EM in 1959 when I was 3! I recognize many of the men shown at the EM Mine!!! So GLAD you shared these!!!!
Glad you enjoyed them.
What happened to the people
Clive we scattered to the four winds. We have gathered on Facebook to keep our community and friendships alive. It is an interesting phenomenon and a testament to how close we all were.
mine shut down
love seeing this, i work at the old kaiser steel location, Now its California Steel Industries. Alot has changed over time obviously but its cool going in there every day and seeing some of the old kaiser remnants still around. I can only picture what it was when kaiser was at its peak.
Glad you enjoyed it. I worked at California steel.
I grew up in Eagle Mountain my dad was one of the Railroad Locomotive Mechanics
wow! amazing! incredibly dangerous work, wonder what the fatality rates were?
Great Video
So it not true, that the eagle mountain was a zombie ghost town. I saw the other post in the youtube that the eagle mountain was zombie ghost town. So I search about the real history if it is real or not.