The Site includes abandoned chemical wood tar deposits associated with a former wood chemical plant located in and adjacent Kinzua Creek.
Historically, wood chemical manufacturing facilities produced charcoal, methanol, and acetate lime. The basic process was to heat hardwood in the absence of oxygen to a very high temperature, which would drive off its chemicals and turn the remaining wood to charcoal. The chemicals were captured and treated to produce methanol and acetate lime. A by-product of the process was wood tar, a complex mixture that contained at least 200 different compounds. The wood tar by-product was deposited directly on ground surfaces, in pits, in waterways, or in lagoons within the vicinity of the wood chemical plants.
The Site includes wood tar deposits associated with the Backus Facility. Remnants of former industrial activity remain in the northern investigation area of the Site, including building foundations from the Backus Facility. Brick debris is scattered throughout portions of the impacted area, and remnants of a rail spur and buttress are also observed adjacent to a building foundation on the Backus Facility.
