1965 NYC – Workers with absolutely no fear of falling building a skyscraper
1965 NYC – Workers with absolutely no fear of falling building a skyscraper
byu/Sapulinjing inOldSchoolCool
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1965 NYC – Workers with absolutely no fear of falling building a skyscraper
1965 NYC – Workers with absolutely no fear of falling building a skyscraper
byu/Sapulinjing inOldSchoolCool
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Where not many of them of Iroquois background .
Iroquois ironworkers, especially the Mohawks, are legendary for their dizzying work in erecting skyscrapers and steel bridges. Mohawk men have walked and worked on nearly all of New York City’s towering buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center.
Walking the Steel: Generations of Ironworkers
Meh – they have hard hats on, so they’ll be fine even if they do fall.
I worked construction many years ago. The guys doing this kind of work were ripped. Also, totally fearless.
I can’t even walk across the room without falling or stumbling on an object.
Does anyone know what the incident rate was like during this period of time?
Does anyone know what building they were working on?
Fucking iron workers man. The trade with the biggest balls , hardest workers , that is the most dangerous by far , that you NEVER hear about.
Transmission line workers are up there, but like the public never really sees em. Under water welder same, Miners, same.
These guys , even today, are right there for everyone to see, and we’re just blind to them.
Balls the size of cantaloupes. All of em
souce: I worked as a construction electrician for over 10 years. I now work in high voltage construction for a utility. Yes, my experience is anecdotal. However, I’ve seen a fair amount of real-life trade type stuff.
Decent salaries?
Just retired as a Union plumber after 32yrs in the NYC/NJ area…I was told the very 1st day on the job as a 1st year apprentice: NEVER,EVER F**K w the ironworkers!
My grand father, dad, and uncle are all local 40 iron workers, they call this the good old days before they had to start wearing safety harnesses and tying off. Grandfather got his 70 year union pin this summer.
OSHA didn’t start for another 5 years. Also, New York ironman, good chance there is a lot of Native American (Mohawk) blood walking around up there. Could be a bit late in time, but still, quite a bit of New York was build aerially by Mohawks.
What is this a clip from?
Probably a dumb question but how is the footage so crystal clear? Film?
The lady? What’s up with the single frame of footage right at the end of a woman with a wall of wood with peeling paint. I’m sure the camera person was somewhere else before coming back to the construction.
Bless every one of you folks out there who work on building / maintaining tall structures. I get sweaty palms even looking at this. There’d be nothing over 8′ tall on this earth if I had to build it.
I’m an ironworker that only does government buildings so we always have NAVFAC walking around watching us, ready to call us out on anything. The amount of safety regulations nowadays is crazy. It’s so uncomfortable and restricts your movement but atleast I know I won’t fall to my death.
For the individuals who are saying this was exploitative, please keep in mind that this was a different era: metal dashboards and no seatbelts; heavy smoking; the military draft; and dumping ddt on food crops.
I get queasy just watching
This shit makes my feet sweat 😓😬
It’s not just the walking around and the heights but the fact there is a crane moving I beams around and then these guys are muscling them into place. Seems like a good chance to loose a finger. The crane operator isn’t risking his life but he is probably got everyone else’s life in his hands. If you did that 40 years I don’t know how you don’t cause a serious accident
A cool book about these guys is on high Steele. Really explains each man’s job and how they make these tall buildings.
My father served in the Navy Seabees in the late 1960s and early 70s. The Seabees are a combat engineer construction unit and will build almost anything in a combat environment. My Dad already being from New York City made quick friends with a small group of native American steel workers from the Mohawk Tribe in his unit that were also from New York. They are legendary and fearless and helped build New York’s skyscrapers and bridges. They simply have no fear of heights. They are some of the best steel workers ever and a bunch of really brave, loyal and cool dudes. Dad was honored to have them as friends. At the time, a lot of these guys went home to work on the Word Trade Center.
Look up the Mohawk steel workers on Google. It is worth it.
Back then gravity wasnt invented yet
Their Union was so strong, they didn’t allow members to fall.
No harnesses. Pretty nuts
So many Mohawks came down for work that there was a section of NYC known as little Kanawake. Skywalkers.
What’s louder up there? The wind or the sounds of his balls clanging together?
“I only fell about 35 feet.”
Says it like it was just an inconvenience for him.
Yes, but also a lot of them died. The dying part is not cool.
I lied about my age and started working construction at 16. I was a laborer so spent all day fetching and toting heavy stuff. Iron workers were definitely the alphas on the job. They all wore shirts with the sleeves ripped out, a colorful cloth cap under their hard hats, and a belt with a spud wrench. They were loud and cocky. The younger ones seem to always be looking for a fight. I was intimidated by them.
What’s the name of the song in the beginning… someone please
This video quality is insane
Many of them do die. Building a skyscraper like that recklessly takes around 20-30 lives. Look up how many die building modern stadiums with harnesses and all that. Just bc he’s fearless doesn’t mean he wont fall.
Their whole job is trying to get the bolts on the ikea bedframe to line up, but they’re 200 feet up and the pieces weigh a ton each lol. Nope! Couldn’t get me up there. Brave bunch!
Jesus fucking christ. Zero harnesses. No one is tied off. My phone is sliding out of my sweating hand watching this. Also, kind of cool to see some of Bethlehem’s beams in the background.
Your fear fades quickly in dangerous situations. Dealing with explosives, energized electrical, high pressure gas, etc. You have a healthy respect for the dangers but you can’t be scared. If you’re scared failures that will cause significant harm or death are much more likely.
Great video quality was this remastered? And those guys must have strong core muscles for that type of work.
I do this now! The only difference is we have a shit ton more safety gear. It’s giving me the willies just watching these guys “ghost walk”, which is walking around at height with no safety lanyards attached to anything. We are 100% clipped in these days. I have 3 separate hooks dedicated to keeping me attached to the structure, and I always keep at least 2 engaged at a time when working.
Edit: I don’t build sky scrapers, I just build festivals. But a fall from 80 feet is still just as deadly as a fall from 500 feet.
As someone who works at heights, they absolutely have fear. It’s what keeps you alive. You can’t forget for a split second that falling will kill you. Every bit of that work, the first thing you think to yourself is don’t fall. The rest of having control of the steel, getting it under control, getting it in position, aligned, then secured is all way down on the list to don’t fall.