October 1941. "General Motors Fisher Body Ternstedt Division manufacturing plant. West Trenton, New Jersey." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size.

January 1941. "A section of Rochester, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio River. Photographs show Ohio River town in western Pennsylvania -- bridges, houseboats, coal barges, railroad yards. Abandoned stove and glass works. Automobile graveyard. Cemetery and gravedigger. Substandard housing occupied by Negroes." Photo by Jack Delano for the FSA. View full size.

Cincinnati circa 1904. "Elsinore Tower entrance, Eden Park." Valve house for the Cincinnati Water Works. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

Cincinnati circa 1904. "Reservoir and pumping station, Eden Park." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

August 1940. "Kentucky. Louisville waterfront along the Ohio River." Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

November 1940. Ansonia, Connecticut. "Taking a temperature reading in the foundry at the Farrell-Birmingham Corporation." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

August 1939. "Pelican Bay Lumber Company. The burner is as characteristic of the Northwest landscape as grain elevators are to the Plains. There are many types of variations. It is an essential part of the sawmill. Disposes of sawdust and waste. Near Klamath Falls, Oregon." Photo by Dorothea Lange. View full size.

November 1940. Shasta County, California. "Towers connecting with central tower from which material for construction of the Shasta Dam is distributed." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

        "Those icicles have been known to kill people!"

January 1941. "Houses and Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Company in Midland, Pennsylvania." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size.

Ecorse, Michigan, circa 1905. "Gantry crane, Great Lakes Engineering Works." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

August 1939. "Independent refinery. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma." Last seen here. Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

January 1941. "Industrial area around New Bedford, Massachusetts." 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.

1942. "White-hot steel pours like water from a 35-ton electric furnace at Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp., Brackenridge, Pa. The finest quality steels and alloys are produced in these furnaces, which allow much greater control of temperature than other conversion furnaces. The proportion of electric furnace steel is rising steadily, even though this process is the most expensive. The furnace is tilted for the pouring; the flying sparks indicate the fluidity of the steel." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

1942. "Bessemer converter (iron into steel), Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp., Brackenridge, Pennsylvania." 4x5 inch Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

Winona, Minnesota, circa 1899. "A sawmill plant." Our title comes from the cryptic sign on the utility pole: DO NOT MEDDLE WITH THE WIRES. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.