Becks Run

Becks Run is a tributary of the Monongahela River. As an urban stream, it is heavily polluted, receiving combined sewer outflow from Carrick (Pittsburgh)[1] and Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania. There is a waterfall on a tributary, just downstream from a slate dump, near the intersection of Wagner Avenue and Mountain Avenue. There were coal mines along the stream, including Becks Run #2, owned by the estate of James H. Hays,[2] served by an incline and the H.B. Hays and Brothers Coal Railroad. Other mines at various times were operated by the Birmingham Coal Company, H.G. Burghman, Jones & Laughlin, and the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company.[3][4]

It is the namesake of the Pittsburgh and Beck's Run Railroad (1877-1880), which ran from the Smithfield Street Bridge to the Jones and Laughlin Iron Works, and was absorbed by the P&LE Railroad. A former town, located where Becks Run enters the Monongahela, was also named Becks Run.