Asarco Stacks, ca 2009

Asarco Stacks, ca 2009

The image shows the ASARCO industrial complex in 2009. The plant, the smokestacks and a couple of houses can be seen. In the back, Mount Cristo Rey, New Mexico, is visible. The stacks were torn down in 2013. This industrial area was called Smeltertown. It was situated west of downtown El Paso and it came into being with the construction of the Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company (later the American Smelting and Refining Company, or ASARCO) copper and lead smelter, in 1887. In the 1880s the Mexican employees of the smelter began building houses west of the smelter, beside the Rio Grande. School, church and post office were added later. The facility was a custom smelter that processed several different metals from ore that came from diverse sites. Although lead and zinc were extracted at the site, copper was the main product in the later years of operation. In 1945 the El Paso Herald-Post called attention to the poverty in Smeltertown and in the early 1970s it became the center of an environmental controversy. ASARCO was charged with violations of the Texas Clean Air Act. It was also found out that 72 out of 500 residents suffered from lead poisoning due to a huge amount of lead emission between 1969 and 1971. Another study confirmed “undue lead absorption” of people living in a one-mile radius in 1975. In the same year an injunction ordered ASARCO to modernize and make environmental improvements, which were not done due to the high costs. Against their wishes the residents were forced to move; their former homes were razed, as well as the business buildings and stacks, leaving only the abandoned school and church buildings to mark the site of El Paso's first major industrial community.

Área: Central / Smeltertown

Fuente: C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections, University of Texas at El Paso Library. Collection Name: Asarco smokestack scans. Photo ID: MS585-B-09-F-03-088.

Cargado por: UTEP Library Special Collections

Comentarios

Hacer un comentario
Gracias por su comentario

Reportar esta entrada

Elige la razón más importante para este reporte

Tu nombre

Tu correo electrónico

Detalle opcional

Gracias por su reporte

Más sobre la misma comunidad-colección

American Dam - East Bank Levee

American Dam - East Bank Levee; view north from Levee. Photo ...

American Canal

American Canal - View north (opposite Jones School); showing ...

American Canal

American Canal - View of location north (Wuerthman Rock House). ...

American Canal

American Canal - View south (Wuerthman Rock House). Photo taken ...

American Canal

American Canal - View of location north (Globe Street). Photo ...

American Canal

American Canal - View of location north. Franklin Canal Heading ...

American Canal

American Canal - View of location north (Hart's Road). Photo ...

American Canal - Demolition of Wuerthman's houses

American Canal - Demolition of Wuerthman's houses; view west ...

American Dam, 108

Workers on the American Dam project place bonded riprap. Riprap ...

American Dam, 109

American Dam workers use forms and steel, anchor bolts and ...

American Canal

American Canal - View of location north from hill. Photo taken ...

American Dam, 110

American Dam workers use reinforcing steel, anchor bolts and ...

American Canal

American Canal - View of location north from hill. Photo taken ...

American Dam, 111

Piers two, three, four, and five of the American Dam begin to ...

American Dam, 112

The transit mixer provides concrete for the American Dam.

American Dam - first work done by contractor, cleaning up trash

American Dam - View southeast from center of foot-bridge; Gate ...

American Dam, 113

The transit mixer takes a tumble during the construction of the ...

American Dam - Crane crossing river

American Dam - View northwest. Crane crossing river. Photo taken ...

American Dam, 114

Forms and steel form the south end of the east abutment. Note ...

American Dam - Driving first pile in coffer-dam

American Dam - View northwest. Driving first pile in coffer-dam. ...

American Dam

American Dam - View from west, along axis. Photo taken on ...

American Dam, 115

American Dam view from upstream with gates three through eight ...

American Dam, 116

Breaking the concrete pavement over the east half of the highway ...

home.search_collection