"Nine Nations" Notes 2

"Foundry"

Where do redheads come from? How did so many of them get to the Chesapeake Bay area?

In the mid-1800s the Bessemer steal making process was invented. In 1864 at Wyandotte, Michigan the first commercial pour of Bessemer steel was mad in North America. From those ingots the first steel railroad track was made.

The "Foundry" is what, not very long ago, we were calling the "rust belt."

A great advantage of the area were its water ways: The Great Lakes, the Ohio River, the Erie Canal, etc. Those water ways are still the cheapest way to move heavy bulky items.

Mr Ford did a lot in the Foundry. He put a lot of men to work, including 'SWAT' teams of strike breakers.

The present 'ressesion' may be said to have some of its earlier roots in the Foundry. Great numbers of men there felt loss of identity and self-respect along with loss of their livelihoods. Now some new productivity is alive there.

I think that the Saint of our local "Mexamerica" mount San Jacinto is the St Hyacinth known to the Polish Catholic workers who once populated the Hamtramic area of Detroit.

Detroit has the largest concentrations of Arab-Americans on the continent. Who remembers Danny Thomas?

Remember the problem with the Three Mile Island reactor? Three Mile Island is in the Foundry, just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Some of the worst chemical dumps may be in "Dixie," but Love Canal is better known thanks to Hooker Chemical. Houston Ship Chanel is bad, but it was the Cuyahoga River of the Foundry that burst into flames. Lake Erie of the Great Lakes nearly died and doesn't feel very well today.

The Ocean Blue

Who was Admiral  of the Ocean Sea first, Zheng or Columbus?
Was Columbus Polish? Did Columbus have red hair? Have you ever been redundant and anachronistic at the same time? What do you think about '1492' and 'the ocean blue?'