For generations, Mohawk Indians have left their reservations in or near Canada to raise skyscrapers in the heart of New York City.
High atop a New York University building one bright September day, Mohawk ironworkers were just setting some steel when the head of the crew heard a big rumble to the north. Suddenly a jet roared overhead, barely 50 feet from the crane they were using to set the steel girders in place. “I looked up and I could see the rivets on the plane, I could read the serial numbers it was so low, and I thought ‘What is he doing going down Broadway?’” recalls the crew’s leader, Dick Oddo. Crew members watched in disbelief as the plane crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center, just 10 blocks away.
At first, Oddo says, he thought it was pilot error. He got on his cell phone to report the crash to Mike Swamp, business manager of Ironworkers Local 440, but he began to wonder. Then another jet flew by. “When the plane hit the second tower, I knew it was all planned.”
Like Oddo, most of the Mohawk crews working in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, headed immediately to the site of the disaster. Because many of them had worked on the 110-story World Trade Center some three decades earlier, they were familiar with the buildings and hoped they could help people escape faster. Fires were raging in the towers and the ironworkers knew that steel weakens and eventually melts under extreme heat. They helped survivors escape from the threatened buildings, and when the towers came crashing down, they joined in the search for victims.
In the months that followed, many Mohawk ironworkers volunteered to help in the cleanup. There was a terrible irony in dismantling what they had helped to erect: Hundreds of Mohawks had worked on the World Trade Center from 1966 to 1974. The last girder was signed by Mohawk ironworkers, in keeping with ironworking tradition.
Walking the iron
Mohawks have been building skyscrapers for six generations. The first workers came from the Kahnawake Reservation near Montreal, where in 1886 the Canadian Pacific Railroad sought to construct a cantilever bridge across the St. Lawrence River, landing on reservation property. In exchange for use of the Mohawks’ land, the railroad and its contractor, the Dominion Bridge Co., agreed to employ tribesmen during construction.
The builders had intended to use the Indians as laborers to unload supplies, but that didn’t satisfy the Mohawks. Members of the tribe would go out on the bridge during construction every chance they got, according to an unnamed Dominion Bridge Co. official quoted in a 1949 New Yorker article by Joseph Mitchell (“The Mohawks in High Steel,” later collected in the 1960 book Apologies to the Iroquois, by Edmund Wilson). “It was quite impossible to keep them off,” the Dominion official said.
The official also claimed the Indians demonstrated no fear of heights. If they weren’t watched, he said, “they would climb up and onto the spans and walk around up there as cool and collected as the toughest of our riveters, most of whom at that period were old sailing-ship men especially picked for their experience in working aloft.”
Impressive perhaps, but Kahnawake ironworker Don Angus explains that his ancestors back then were just teenagers daring each other to climb the 150-foot structure and “walk the iron.” Company workers tried to chase them off the bridge, Angus says. “I know that for a fact. They were getting in the way.”
The Indians were especially interested in riveting, one of the most dangerous jobs in construction and, then as now, one of the highest paid. Few men wanted to do it; fewer could do it well, and in good construction years there were sometimes too few riveters to meet construction demand, according to the New Yorker article. So the company decided to train a few of the persistent Mohawks. “It turned out that putting riveting tools in their hands was like putting ham with eggs,” the Dominion official declared. “In other words, they were natural-born bridge-men.” According to company lore, 12 young men—enough for three riveting gangs—were thus trained.
After the Canadian Pacific Bridge was completed, the young Mohawk ironworkers moved on to work on the Soo Bridge, which spanned the St. Mary’s River connecting Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Each riveting gang brought an apprentice from Kahnawake to learn the trade on the job. When the first apprentice was trained, a new one came up from the reservation, and by 1907 more than 70 skilled structural ironworkers from the reservation were working on bridges.
Then tragedy struck. American structural engineer Theodore Cooper had designed the Quebec Bridge, a cantilevered truss bridge that would extend 3,220 feet across the St. Lawrence River above Quebec City. Because the Quebec Bridge Co. was strapped for cash, the company was eager to accept his design, which specified far less steel than was typical for a bridge of that size.
As the bridge grew, disturbing bends in the structure were explained away by Cooper and John Deans, chief engineer of Phoenix Bridge, the company building the bridge, as damage probably caused offsite before the beams were set in place. No one wanted to admit that the expensive bridge appeared increasingly unable to bear its own weight.
On Aug. 29, 1907, the bridge collapsed. Of the 75 men who died, 33 were Mohawks—about half of the tribe’s high-steel workers. But the tragedy didn’t turn Mohawks away from ironworking. According to an elderly Mohawk quoted in the 1949 New Yorker article, “It made high steel much more interesting to them. It made them take pride in themselves that they could do such dangerous work. After the disaster . . . they all wanted to go into high steel.” Less than 10 years later, the American Board of Indian Commissioners claimed that 587 of the 651 men in the tribe now belonged to the structural steel union.
But to ensure that so many tribesmen were never again killed in one accident, the Mohawk women insisted that the men split into smaller groups to work on a variety of building projects. That’s when they began booming out—tribal slang for scattering to find high-steel work away from home, in New York City and other distant places.
Gangs of New York
Mohawk high-steel men worked on virtually every big construction project in New York City: the Empire State Building, the RCA Building, the Daily News Building, the Bank of Manhattan Building, the Chrysler Building, the United Nations, and Madison Square Garden. They also continued to build bridges, including the George Washington Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Hell’s Gate Bridge, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, and many more.
During the heady boom times of the first half of the 20th century, construction of steel structures required three types of work crews: raising gangs, fitting-up gangs, and riveting gangs.
The steel columns, beams, and girders arrived at the construction site already cut to size with holes for rivets, and code marks indicated where each was to be placed. The raising gang used a crane to lift the steel pieces and set them in place, loosely joining them with a few temporary bolts. The fitting-up gang tightened the pieces, ensuring that they were plumb, and inserted more temporary bolts. Then it was time for the four-man riveting gangs, where the Mohawks excelled. Because of the dangerous nature of the job, riveters preferred to work with partners they trusted; for Mohawks, this meant relatives and fellow tribesmen.
In the riveting gang, the heater fired the rivets in a portable, coal-burning forge until they were red-hot. With tongs he then tossed a rivet to the sticker-in, who caught it in a metal can as he stood with the other gang members on narrow scaffolding beside the steel. The bucker-up removed one of the temporary bolts and the sticker-in then shoved the hot rivet into the empty hole. The bucker-up braced the rivet with a dolly bar while the riveter used a pneumatic hammer to turn the hot and malleable stem of the rivet into a permanent head, securing the steel. The men took turns at the four tasks, making sure to give the riveter a regular break from his bone-jarring job.
Though ironworking technology has improved over the years, ironworkers still die on the job at a rate of 35 to 50 fatalities each year—75 percent of them from falls. Akwesasne ironworker Oddo lost his grandfather to a fatal fall from the high steel; his father died on his 25th anniversary in ironworking, driving home from a construction site. Many graves of fallen steelworkers at Kahnawake are marked by crosses made of steel girders.
The pay continues to bring the Mohawks back: Ironworkers today earn about $35 an hour plus benefits, which in busy times yields $65,000 to $70,000 a year.
The highs and lows of steel
By 1960, around 800 Mohawks lived there. A Mohawk steelworker conclave had sprung up near Fourth Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, with grocery stores stocking their favored o-nen-sto cornmeal and churches offering services in their native language.
But just 10 years later, few Mohawks remained. The new Adirondack Northway had halved the time it took to drive between New York and Kahnawake, and along with a growing pride in Indian culture—and rising crime in New York City—the shorter commute convinced most of the Mohawk ironworkers that it was time to go home.
Today most of the high-steel Mohawks still live in the city during the week, often sharing lodgings, and drive home to their families in Kahnawake and Akwesasne every weekend. But work has been slow since the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, and recent improvements in reinforced concrete have made it more attractive in some ways than steel: It goes up faster, requires less height for the same number of floors, is easier to modify during construction, and—most important in the wake of 9/11—it’s more resistant to heat.
On the other hand, steel is still considerably stronger than concrete, and steel-framed buildings are easier to modify to suit the needs of successive tenants. Because of that, many experts say that steel structures will never completely disappear.
That suits the Mohawks, who after six generations have made high steel a tribal tradition. “It makes you a better man,” says Swamp.
Renee Valois wrote about American mummies in the May/June issue of The History Channel Magazine.
A Mohawk Skywalking Tradition
Why would people with deep traditions centered in the earth embrace the trade of building skyscrapers in a city, high above it? Indeed, for decades anthropologists, construction company executives, and even the Mohawks themselves have debated why the tribesmen originally became skywalkers and why they remain high-steel workers today.
Probably the most controversial assertion originated with an official at the Dominion Bridge Co., which trained the first Mohawk ironworkers in 1886. He reportedly claimed that they had no fear of heights and even compared them to sure-footed mountain goats.
Others have suggested that the Indians’ tradition of walking one foot in front of the other on narrow logs over rivers suited them for walking the thin girders of a bridge or a skyscraper. This suggests that they have a natural balance and agility that is probably fictional: Mohawks don’t die in lower numbers than other ironworkers.
Anthropologist Morris Frielich suggests a cultural lure for ironworking: He compares high-steel Mohawks to warriors who risked death and returned with booty. Some anthropologists have also suggested that the risky work gave tribesmen a chance to test and display their courage.
While many Mohawk ironworkers admit to taking pride in doing a dangerous and important job, they dispute the idea that they’re not afraid of heights. Kahnawake ironworker Don Angus says Mohawks simply “have more respect for heights. You’ve got to watch it up there.”
On the other hand, some historians and some Mohawks cite the tribes’ ancient tradition of building longhouses as proof that building has always been in the blood. “It’s a hand-me-down trade, and it’s tradition,” says Angus. “My grandfather and his grandfather worked on iron.” Akwesasne ironworker Mike Swamp agrees: “My father was an ironworker. My son is an ironworker. It’s a family tradition.”
SOURCE
Photos Copyright © 2012 David Grant Noble
Awesome . . .
Excellent! Thank you for telling these mens story!
Very interesting, thanks for the post.
WOW!! They were great!!.teresareilly1950@hotmail.co.uk
Great article and wonderful pictures!
Great photos!
In cities on the eastern seaboard of Australia, the scaffolding is mainly done by Maori men from Aotearoa (new zealand), but our own Indigenous/Aboriginal men are less often able to make headway in any given industry, as a collective group. But we pray that if any such story as tall buildings coming down, will happen to us here, it will be because our men who work in the demolition industry have won the day. Blessings to the Mohawks their way.
proud to b mohawk n proud to b an ironworker best job in the world one that keeps you close to the heavens....
Niawen kowa Onkwehonwe
Thank you so much for your dedication to helping a nation that has not given you any reason to help<3 I will not forget, nor let your story drift into the echoes of the past<3
wow.....thank u for all the hard work and sweat and tears that went into building these bridges and buildings....thank u
Thank you Mohawk Men of Steel, proud of our nations warriors and those that gave their lives on 9-11 aho
Thank you, you have made us proud....
see, as an indian we are different then non natives,, im many ways yet,,, our past,,fought in all wars, did you know that natives,,,couldnt be drafted also,,still we joined freely,, too help our fellow,,,man,,,,yes we are kind people,,,but we always be warriors til the end,,, thank-you,,,wol-wewhen,,
Excellent article and a great way to shine a light on the Mohawk men of steel.
Excellent story.
Thank you for this excellent information of the Mohawk men of steel and my gratitude for all that they due.
lovely article, really enjoyed it///
Great story, thank you. Not many people know this in NYC, especially their involvement on 9/11/01.
Really cool to see my uncle arnold in these photos
I'm proud to see my father, Arnold Goodleaf, in these photos.
Thank you for sharing a living history that too few know.
Excellent article. Native pride 8-)
Excellent article! I learned an even greater appreciation of these noble people,
and workers. I reposted the article onto my FB wall so others could also learn of their valued accomplishments, and help during the 911 disaster. Thank you.
Awesome. Must respect men who work hard to earn the pay.
This is why we are Native Strong despite adversity!
I was so happy to finally hear some good news about any Native Culture in our country doing something good instead of something bad all of the time. Am so proud of the these men who gave their lives; saved lives; and built something that other were proud to write about.
On a differant note does anyone in the mohawk;Iroquoi; tribe know of the names Comeau (Como) being of the tribe or chiefs of the tribe? My grandmother Emmajane Comeau from Canada brother I was told and have the paper was chief of the tribe in New York. Please e-mail of any info at helen.sawyer56@yahoo.com Thankyou helen
Throughout the years/centuries, our Native peoples have "never ceased to amaze me".
I'm proud to say all my brothers & father had the talent and the nerves for this type of job, along with all their native & non-native brothers, relatives,& friends. A job where their accomplishments were seen by many.
wow
Excellent article and proud to say my father is a Kahnawake Mohawk who worked 47 years as an Ironworker!
Thank you so much for sharing this awesome story! It is always wonderful to hear a story from a native's perspective.
gee love the pictures... and love that the mohawks helped build the tower. keep me posted:)
wow, for the guy who is standing on the iron beam(? i think thats what it is?)
As a young ojibway child growing up in Manitoba, my Dad told us of our brothers to the east and of their bravery. He called them "high riggers" and my uncles spoke of them also. It made us very proud!!
Well done Men of Steel your Bravery knows no Bounds.xMaureen...Dublin..Ireland.
My dad and brothers who, although Tuscaroras and not Mohawks, worked the high steel too. Have always been so proud of them - after this article, even moreso.
you know your the best when the union hall calls you to go to work that was my dad norman "froggy" jamieson R.I.P. local 6
YES to Tuscarora steelworkers! My Tusky uncle, Ted Wright [RIP], a steel riveter from Six Nations Reserve, as well as many Tuscarora cousins and family members have 'boomed out' for decades. Thank you for this wonderful post, on a solemn day that reminds us of our profound dependence upon one another.
Native pride keep the spirit on... great article. Love it
Nice tribute...I too recognize my father Roger Little Horne in these photos.
PRIVILEGE TO BE NATIVE and proud of all our mohawk men.
My father, a Kanien:keha'ka, is the last in his line to continue this tradition. I regret that I didn't know him earlier in my life to learn the craft to carry it on myself. Love ya, Dad! Gordie Hill :-)
PJ Hill
When these Towers were being constructed, I lived in a small studio apartment facing the towers.. I worked a grave yard shift in Jersey City at that time and when I got back to the apartment at 7am, I would see these Iron Workers already on site building.. I watched the towers rise, and was always told that the workers were all indian... Never was told what tribe... until now... Thank you to the Pendelton Woolen Company for this information, and thatk's to the courage and talent of these workers..
What strength in these "Mohawk" Steel workers as well as there families. More power to you!
niaweh kowa for this, the day this happened I was up on the reserve it took several days and lots of phone calls to account for everyone. beautful tribute. we left that day got thru worked on my sisters camp on the roof ridge. I watched levi peters at age of 72 walk that like the most graceful cougar. oh yes i am in great awe of these men. walk proud konaronkwa
In minnesota we have the Como Zoo..does that help?
That was a jokes btw
In minnesota we have the Como Zoo..does that help?
Courage, simple courage. Knowing what they can do and doing it. Seems a native way, a survivors way. Maybe better even, continuity of survival to adapt and grow.
With that, I wonder if there are any Mohawk iron workers that remember the massive rectangular tube of the concrete core cast inside the steel exoskeleton they framed. It was usually about 5-10 floors below the top, but the elevators ran inside it to exit at the top of the concrete cast tube housing the shafts, which ever, taller floor, that was. The iron workers had to climb temporary stairs with their gear that pierced the floors surrounding the core which did not yet have concrete on them.
Any iron workers who do remember, are asked to write their recollections and email to elanuslecurus at lycos doot comm. Castenango would approve.
It is of no surprise to me that Indigenous peoples of this land played an essential role in the making of the steel forests that we now know as cities. We may have disputed the development of the land that was never to be sold as if they were some piece of meat, but we nevertheless did what we had to do in order to survive after the Europeans arrived.. I honor and respect those that built the steel forest but detest its existance.. Wakan Tankan
My name is Tj Bronson and my given name is Chinaugua..Pronounced-Schi-nAh-gwa-Meaning: Raging Wolf of the Cheyenne/Aropoho Nation. I wrote the comment below.
That sure is a lot of steel that blew away in the wind that day.
I to was a ironworker, retired now. Seeing these pictures and stories of brother ironworkers made me very proud. Through the years I able to work along side of Mohawk Ironworker and they are truely the high iron walkers.
It seems that we fought with the people who helped us when we arrived in the new world but they continue to help our country. Yet, the foreigners we try to help turn on us at every chance. Perhaps we should no help the proven untrustworthy and turn our faces to our American Brothers and Sisters to honor them.
Debi, who's not enough Cherokee to count but honor the blood.
Hon, niawen kowa for the great coverage of our Mohawk people walking the high steel.
Mohawks WERE drafted into the Army. Many natives were drafted. My father, from Akwesasne, served in North Africa and Europe as a triple A gunner.
The Mohawks walked steel in NYC long before the advent of the skyscrapers.The 1850 census shows my gggGrandfather there. He went from being a Cooper to an Ironworker, building the first tall buildings before the scrapers went up. I honor his memory...Charles Edward Strang...niawen kowa Grandfather...and all the other courageous Mohawk men that continue to touch the sky!
This country needs more positive accounts of Natives and what they contributed to this country instead of the constant 'negative' image of the Original Americans.
Excellent Article thanks for sharing ....
My Father was also an ironworker from Seneca Nation he worked on the Gateway Arch. So proud of Him, he's gone now but can still see pictures of him during the building of the Arch
courage, respect and family values all part of the Mohawk way of life and living.
Great Article and great pictures !
My father-in-law , a native Mohawk, worked the bridges and skyscrapers for many years in Boston. He had several brothers who worked in NYC. Brave men.
It's about time First Nation peoples got well deserved recognition for their contributions to their own countries' development.Keep up the flow of praise.
Olioni to my Brothers Native Pride IS Alive! From an Abenaki sister
Thank you for this story! Excellent!!!
So interesting, thank you.
Awesome photos and the story.......thanks
My tribe was here... THANK YOU for these pics..
An amazing story that deserves a wide audience. Thank you for sharing.
amazing no other words
Love this. My Dad was an Ironworker for Dominion Bridge Local 97 for many years. He has such fond memories of his time... building bridges, buildings, the original roof of BC Place Stadium. So many stories. I am so proud of him. A couple of my cousins are now Ironworkers. We are Interior Salish from British Columbia in Canada. Much respect to all the Ironworkers out there, as well as their families.
Awesome reading. Sometimes indigenous people just have the ability, capability to just be. it's in their essence of being.
Some of the ironworkers and their friends/families who are also artists have been decorating their hardhats and this has become quite a respected art form. Anyone interested in further exploring these extraordinary workers might want to look into this growing group of artists and works. I'm sure a google search of Mohawk ironworker hardhats art or similar would give a good start. I've seen a few and they are wonderful!
I am proud of all these men, but they were not only just Mohawk, my uncle Richard Buck, who was Cayuga Bear, worked on steel projects most of his life. He used to take his own crew until he fell but even after his fall, after he recovered, he still supervised his crew.
great story great legacy!!!
great story bout real brave men with amazing pictures to show it ! very nice !
duke hoyer,germany
tomohawkman: Natives were not considered poeple until in the 1960's. So no they were not drafted, they had to sign away their Indian Statis Rights and then they could volunteer for Military Service.Point of Information! I too am very proud of my Mohawk Heritage, my military service( in peace time ) and my life in construction!!
I am glad that it turned out so well and I hope it will continue in the future because it is so worthwhile and meaningful to the community.
I love your wp format, where did you get a hold of it?
The article is grate and very nice picture
oblow jacket
Luv this comment..just had to reply..thank you!