Traveling along Waterfront Drive in Homestead, the new, upscale shops and restaurants make it easy to forget the historical significance of what we now call the Waterfront.

But, at the end of the drive, beyond Lowe's Home Improvement complex, is a yellow-brick building that reminds us of the rich history of Pittsburgh steel making, as well as the stories of the settlers of the Mon Valley. This is the original Pump House of the Homestead Works, formerly known as the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Co. Steel was made at that site for more than 100 years.

This Pump House was also the site of the seminal battle between mill workers and Pinkerton Detective agents during the 1892 Homestead Lockout and Strike. The battle, which killed 16 and wounded many more, was a watershed in U.S. labor relations.

Today, the building is renovated for use as an interpretive space. And this Saturday and other dates this summer, local historians and tourists will stop by to learn not only about making steel, but also about the lives of the immigrants who made it -- and who made Pittsburgh grow.

Usually the tours are led by Jan Dofner, of Bellevue, a director of communications for the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.

Created by Congress in 1996, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is committed to preserving, interpreting and managing the historical, cultural and natural resources related to Big Steel and its related industries.

The Heritage area is a public-private partnership. With the support of colleague Ron Baraff, of Beechview, his staffers and about 20 trained volunteers, Ms. Dofner has developed a series of educational tours, which are available by reservation.

Ms. Dofner also puts together specialized tours or field trips for school groups, typically middle and high school students who can grasp the subject matter.

This tour, geared to teenagers, is meant to help visitors understand how an American immigrant might have survived on $1.65 a day at the turn of the last century. In 1908, for example, the average workday for a laborer lasted 12 hours.

Visitors sometimes can also watch trained volunteers demonstrate typical jobs for a day laborer at the steel mill. Those jobs had such names as gravel shoveler or gandy dancer, the name given to a laborer, often an itinerant, in a railroad gang.

Volunteers also explain the chores of the grueling domestic life back then.

In the early 1900s, it took every able body available to keep a household running. Children, adult relatives and boarders chipped in with housework, often in primitive conditions without running water.

Saturday's Babushkas and Hard Hats Tour is described by Ms. Dofner as "a magical mix of immigrants, industry and the sweet taste of the region's famous cookie table."

The bus for this tour leaves at 9 a.m. from Station Square by the entrance to the shops and parking garage. Stops include Bessemer Court, the West End Overlook and various points in the South Side, then Homestead's Bost Building, the national historic landmark and a one-time nerve center of the Battle of Homestead and now Rivers of Steel's visitor center. There, tour participants can try on steelworkers' gear.

Tickets for the 3¹/₂-hour Babushkas and Hard Hats Tours are $17 and can be purchased at the group's Web site, www.riversofsteel.com (click on shop), or by calling 412-464-4020. Other dates are July 21 and Aug. 4 and 18.

The Carrie Furnaces Hard Hats Tour explores the majesty of the region's oldest standing blast furnace in Swissvale and Rankin. It is the more rigorous of the two tours, because it takes visitors through an abandoned industrial site.

This tour includes a guided walk through the Ore Yards, the Hot Stoves and the Cast House. Visitors also can see an original Torpedo Car during the trip. Sign up for the tour to find out more about the Torpedo Car. Participants must not wear open-toe or open-back shoes for the Carrie Furnaces Tour.

More Hard Hats Tours are set for July 14, and Aug. 11. Tours depart from the Pump House at the Waterfront at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. Cost is $25. To reserve, call 412-464-4020, ext. 32.

Tour guides, among them are retired history teachers and U.S. Steel employees, encourage tour participants to touch, explore and ask questions.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are considering bills that would designate the 38-acre site encompassing the Carrie Furnace, Pump House, Hot Metal Bridge, Battle of Homestead site and Bost Building a National Historic Site. U.S. Rep. Michael Doyle, D-Swissvale, introduced the House legislation, HR 285. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced the Senate legislation, S697; both have been sent to committees.