In the summer of 1919, Charles Rumford Walker began work in the open hearth department of a large steel mill outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where pig iron from the blast furnace was further processed into steel. Working 12-14 hours a day, six days a week, he saw steel as a basic industry of America that made locomotives and skyscrapers possible through steel frames, rails, and tools. In his 1922 diary, he recounted a first night shift with a 130 ton ladle, which held molten pig iron as furnaces tilted to pour into it, while men on a narrow platform prodded the spout until a stream of fire broke through and they jumped back before the molten steel surged out amid showers of sparks that could set clothing ablaze. He wrote of heat he guessed reached 120 to 130 degrees, of work that exhausted him three times faster than labor in cooler air, and of ending the shift with weariness, sore arms, and burns on his ankles. About twenty-five years after he began this work, conditions in steel mills had improved greatly across the country, but many jobs remained hot, dirty, dusty, and dangerous, with burns from water and ladle explosions still a constant concern. Heavy gloves and clothing, hard hats, safety goggles, later face shields, and ear protection helped guard workers from sparks, flying debris, deafness, and loud safety sirens.