Kanawha River Valley Rust Belt

Charleston in Winter.

The mouth of the Kanawha River flowing into the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, WV.

Next to South Charleston perhaps the most industrialized town in the Kanawha Valley was Nitro, WV. Named after an explosives plant, Nitro still features a few remnants of a once great chemical industry, like the old Amtex plant pictured here.

The offices of the Great Lakes Chemical Corporation in Nitro in ruins. From the 1950s through the 1970s the Kanawha Valley was one of the largest producers of chemicals in the world.

Where once a sprawling Great Lakes Chemical Co. plant once stood, I found only these brownfield foundations.

Ballfield next to the sprawling complex of Bayer in Institute, WV. One of several chemical plants in the Kanawha Valley, this one manufactures polyurethane.

Industrial landscape of South Charleston, WV.

Union Stamping and Assembly plant stamps steel body panels for automobiles in South Charleston, WV. At times it has been used by AMC (American Motors Corporation) and Volkswagen.

The Union Carbide plant on Blaine Island dates back to the 1920s.

Taverns in South Charleston, WV with the Dow / Union Carbide plant in the background.

Another view of the Dow / Union Carbide plant.

Detail of the Kanawha Valley chemical industry, in South Charleston.

3:00 am near downtown Charleston.

Charleston, WV.

This Libby Owens Ford plant in Kanawha City made glass for automobiles until it was demolished in the 1980s.

The most common freight on the Kanawha River by far is coal. The Amherst coal dock is on the left side of this photo. Other coal docks on the Kanawha include the Marmet, Winifrede, Chelyan, Quincy, and Mammoth docks.

There are three locks on the river - Winfield, London, and, pictured here, Marmet. The Marmet Lock/Dam was built in 1934-35 and generates electricity through the three hydroelectric turbines within it.

DuPont's Belle plant was built just after World War One and recently had the best safety record of all DuPont plants. The barges of an unrelated firm, Kanawha River Terminals, are in the foreground of the photograph.

The flame on this flare at the Dupont plant had been burning my entire life on the evening of this photograph.

Evening mist over the industrial Kanawha Valley in West Virginia.

Barges full of coal in front of Kanawha River Terminal's Marmet Dock, with the Dupont Belle plant across the river in the background.

The Elkem Metals plant at Alloy, WV produces ferroalloys for use in blast furnaces elsewhere. The plant was built in the 1911-13 era, with later additions, to replace an earlier one that burned in 1911. At that time the plant was owned and operated by EMCO, or the Electro Metallurgical Company, a division of Union Carbide.

Another section of the Elkem Metals plant. The facility is best known for its source of electricity. In the 1930s the nearby New River was dammed up at Hawk's Nest, and the river was diverted through a tunnel to a hydroelectric power station to produce power for the manufacture of alloys at the EMCO plant. Over 600 workers died from silicosis either during or after working on the tunnel.

Elkem Metals as viewed from across the Kanawha River. The river becomes non-navigable a few miles above this point. Elkem purchased the facility from EMCO in 1981.

At night the Elkem Metals plant lights up the area.

Another portion of the Elkem Metals plant at night.

The company town of Falls View, WV, built in 1930-31 for the employees of the EMCO ferroalloy plant. U.S. Route 60 is in the foreground.