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Joe Magarac, the legendary folk hero of the Pennsylvania steel industry, first appeared in print in a 1931 Scribner's Magazine article by Owen Francis.
Credit: Courtesy of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
It is unclear whether his story was born in Pittsburgh area steel mills or local newspapers, but by the 1930s Joe Magarac was the folkloric hero of Pennsylvania steelworkers. Working 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, Magarac, which means "donkey" in Croatian, could squeeze out railroad rails from between his fingers and appear out of nowhere to protect steel workers from molten steel and other dangers. One tale says that Magarac, who was made of solid steel, melted himself in a Bessemer furnace for material to build a new mill. Another suggests that today he waits in an abandoned mill, waiting for the day when the furnaces burn again.
Credit: Courtesy of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
It is unclear whether his story was born in Pittsburgh area steel mills or local newspapers, but by the 1930s Joe Magarac was the folkloric hero of Pennsylvania steelworkers. Working 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, Magarac, which means "donkey" in Croatian, could squeeze out railroad rails from between his fingers and appear out of nowhere to protect steel workers from molten steel and other dangers. One tale says that Magarac, who was made of solid steel, melted himself in a Bessemer furnace for material to build a new mill. Another suggests that today he waits in an abandoned mill, waiting for the day when the furnaces burn again.
