On Top of Slag Mountain

“It’s weird to say ‘the old Century III mall’. Shameful as it is, I grew up there.”

The Walmart in West Mifflin is built on Brown’s Dump, also known as Slag Mountain. This slag was dropped off by trains from all of the surrounding steel mills around Pittsburgh. At the time the Walmart was proposed, there was concern that the earth hadn’t settled yet and the store would collapse in an avalanche of cheap junk. Truly, there was worry that the prices would keep on rolling, but down onto the streets below. Earlier this morning I was…