2001 Photos - Ground Zero

Escorted by U.S. Representative David Wu and Mayor Katz, a small group of Oregonians were invited to visit the site of the World Trade Center. There wasn’t a dry eye among them as they stood in reverent silence, trying to make sense out of the madness. The Oregonian’s Courtenay Thompson so aptly described the scene when she wrote, “There, in the eerie amphitheater that is the blackened skeletal remains of the trade center, they watched dozens of cranes lift hunks of steel so hot they still melt boots when workers walk on them. Ash and grit filled the air, and an acrid scent like burning electrical wire and powdered concrete wafted over the group.”

Mayor Katz surveying the eerie amphitheater	Cranes lifting hunks of steel	Ash and grit filled the air.
Trying to make sense of it all	The only noise was the roar of equipment.