Amazing building photos of old

I feel queasy just looking at them. Thanks for posting
 
Wonderful stuff,

had a chuckle the other day when a dry ski slope was closed for health & safety reasons...................It was snowing! (true story)
 
Must have been pretty risky for the people on the ground too :eek:
 
Nothing but respect for these guys,
I regularly work at heights for a living but wouldn't dream of stuff like this.
 
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Very strong set of images of men of gumption from a bygone era!
 
They would kill dozens of men on jobs like this, I watched a programme a few weeks ago about how China is building roads/ bridges/ tunnels to create an infrastructure to reach the most remote parts of the country . The guys building the bridges are still doing things like this where they are moving from one steel section to another whilst they are being manouvered into place with no harnesses etc.

I work in the construction industry and heights do not bother me at all, but I doubt I would do anything like that .
 
Larger cojones than me for sure! One of the reasons I gave up painting and decorating was a loathing of ladder work. Not so much fear (although the top of a big 3 section is a scary place to be) as intense discomfort - I was heavier back then and most of our ladders had round section rungs.

IIRC, much of NY's cityscape was erected by Native Americans but their contribution was little documented. The building of the Boulder Dam (now the Hoover Dam) cost over 100 lives.
 
joescrivens said:
Not the photography per se but the conditions these guys worked under

http://www.britishpathe.com/gallery/vertigo/
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I heard that only 1 person died in the construction of the Eiffel Tower, and he was a young lad showing off to his gf when all the workers had left. Not 100% sure if its true.

These are brave men.
 
Made my guts churn. Very brave men indeed. (y)
 
Thanks for sharing Joe. I just admire the way they all turned up for work wearing trousers, shirts, braces and jackets back then. Real men!!
:)
 
kudos to the workers & photographer in those pics ! No way you would get me up there fully strapped to everything in sight :LOL:
 
Life before health and safety laws. Men had to earn money to provide for their families
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Sod that!..... Let the kids starve....
 
Amazing stuff - I've always been fascinated by these images. None of the Mohawks though.

Mohawk Indians were hired from the 20's right through to the 70s for NY skyscraper construction including the Empire State Building. The construction bosses knew that Mohawks did not fear heights, were happy with dangerous working conditions and signed up to contracts with low wages and limited if not no union membership.

For anybody interested - to mark the completion of the 10 year restoration project, they've just put up two 7 foot bronze memorials at either end of the Forth Bridge to commemorate the 73 men who lost their lives during it's construction.
 
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