Toxic Treatment: Creosote, the Wood-Preservation Industry, and the Making of Superfund Sites
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TOXIC TREATMENT: CREOSOTE, THE WOOD-PRESERVATION INDUSTRY, AND THE MAKING OF SUPERFUND SITES By NICOLE C. COX A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2017 © 2017 Nicole C. Cox ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee—Dr. Jack Davis, Dr. Paul Ortiz, Dr. Benjamin Wise, Dr. William Link, Dr. Bron Taylor, and Dr. Robert Zieger—for their guidance, feedback, support, and patience. I feel privileged to have worked with Dr. Davis who inspires his students to find history in unexpected places and to communicate that history with great care and diligence. He provided motivation, direction, and advice when needed, but also encouraged me to follow the evidence— even when the research took longer than anticipated. In addition to Dr. Ortiz’s guidance on this dissertation project, he welcomed me into the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program family, cultivating my commitment to social justice and the value of personal narratives. Deborah Hendrix, Sheila Payne, Tamarra Jenkins, Jennifer Lyon, Ann Smith, and the rest of the SPOHP family also shared their experience, wisdom, and perspective on oral history, graduate school, and social change, often in the presence of great food. While supporting my research, the UF History Department also provided excellent teaching mentorship. Dr. Steven Noll, Dr. David Tegeder, and Dr. Benjamin Wise demonstrated how to engage students who do not always see how history shapes their past, present, and future. Dr. Glenn Willumson, in the Museum Studies Program at UF, also taught me how to share history with a broader audience. Research for this dissertation would not have been possible without the financial support and assistance of many organizations. UF’s History Department, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, the Office of Graduate and Minority Programs, and the Graduate School, provided opportunities for travel, research, and writing. The National Society of the Colonial 3 Dames of America also offered funding at a critical stage of this project. In addition, the Harrison Institute at the University of Virginia and the Forest History Society supported travel to their collections, but their staff also offered invaluable research recommendations. Archivists at the following institutions also responded patiently and helpfully to my many research requests: the Forest History Society, the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, the Eberly Family Special Collections Department, the Georgia Historical Society, the Virginia Historical Society, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the Louis Round Wilson Library Special Collections Library, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the Denver Public Library, and the UF Libraries Interlibrary Loan Department. Students, staff, and faculty at the Santa Fe College Davis Center provided a respite from writing, and motivated me to complete this project. I also enjoyed working with many professors, graduate students, and staff at the University of South Florida. While Dr. Lu Ann Jones is an accomplished historian, she is also an accessible, approachable, and genuine individual who provided stellar mentorship while I was an undergraduate and graduate student. Even when she pursued a new opportunity with the National Park Service, she remained supportive and helped me focus on the big picture. Dr. Joanna Dyl introduced me to the field of environmental history and prepared me for a Ph.D. program in this field. Faculty in the History and American Studies programs, particularly Dr. Golfo Alexopoulos, Dr. Paul Morgan, Dr. Robert Snyder, and Sheila Tagliarini fostered my interest in historical research and teaching. Dr. Mark Greenberg and the staff in the Special Collections 4 Department and Florida Studies Center at the USF Library also showed me how to collect and preserve history for future generations. There have also been many mentors, friends, and family members who cultivated my early interest in history and assisted me during this protracted process. I am fortunate to have spent time in the classrooms of incredible teachers, especially Leah Helms, Faith Holman, Sheila Bland, and Jeanine Boutwell. Elizabeth Tucker and Jimmy Pritchard—longtime friends—provided encouragement, pet therapy, and proofreading. I also grew up surrounded by people who valued and taught the importance of our pasts. My family—Claudia, Steve, Haley, Hazel, and Wyatt—offered unwavering support and helped me maintain perspective. Ryan Keith and Ruger accompanied me on most of my research trips, provided daily encouragement, and reminded me that there is a life outside of and after graduate school. This project would not have been possible without their love and support. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: “A NIGHTMARE CAMOUFLAGED AS A DREAM”.................... 12 2 “THE GREAT DESIDERATUM”: THE PROBLEM OF WOOD PRESERVATION AND THE RISE OF CREOSOTE ............................................................................ 24 3 “BEFORE A WHEEL CAN TURN A TREE MUST DIE”: AMERICAN RAILROADS AND THE NEED FOR WOOD PRESERVATION ............................. 89 4 “PUTTING THE DOLLAR SIGN ON DECAY”: THE ACCEPTANCE AND ASCENDANCE OF CREOSOTE .......................................................................... 154 5 “A RESULT OF HIS OWN NEGLIGENCE”: THE OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS OF CREOSOTE .................................................................................................... 232 6 “THE BEST DEVICE I EVER SAW TO HANDLE TIES IS A NEGRO”: ENVIRONMENTAL INEQUALITIES IN THE WOOD-PRESERVATION INDUSTRY ........................................................................................................... 294 7 CONCLUSION: A “CLEAN” TREATMENT FOR WOOD? .................................... 366 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 385 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 413 6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 1-1 Carver Terrace community action group and friends marching for relocation from their contaminated neighborhood ............................................................... 23 2-1 Sinking of H.M.S. Royal George at Spithead ...................................................... 86 2-2 Timber tunnelings by Teredo navalis, the Teredo Worm .................................... 87 2-3 1910 Detail of “Nicholson” pavement on Madison. Memphis, Tennessee .......... 88 3-1 Railroad ties layed ready for rails ..................................................................... 148 3-2 Two-million lodgepole pine ties ......................................................................... 149 3-3 Close-up view of log rafts in a log boom at Apalachicola, Florida ..................... 150 3-4 Hewing out a tie with a broadaxe ...................................................................... 151 3-5 Logging train pulling out for the coast - near Pensacola, Florida ...................... 152 3-6 Clearcut forest .................................................................................................. 153 4-1 At the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad tie treating plant .................... 227 4-2 View in yards of Ayer-Lord tie plant .................................................................. 228 4-3 Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. Publications Division .......... 229 4-4 Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. Testing the fire-resistant qualities of various types of wood impregnations and coatings ........................ 230 4-5 Treated telephone poles stored in the yard at the International Creosoting Company .......................................................................................................... 231 5-1 Aerial view of treated telephone poles stored in the yard at the International Creosoting Company ........................................................................................ 291 5-2 Tie-treating plant loading .................................................................................. 292 5-3 Detail of a poison sign on the north end of a wood treating tank ...................... 293 6-1 Pressure-treating fence posts ........................................................................... 359 6-2 Control room of creosote impregnation plant .................................................... 360 6-3 Laborer lifting creosoted railroad tie ................................................................. 361 7 6-4 Negro laborers carrying and laying railroad ties ............................................... 362 6-5 Loading creosoted utility poles onto railcars ..................................................... 363 6-6 Cleaning out a vat in which creosote is stored at the International Creosoting Company