The Golden Gate Bridge is located in San Francisco and when it was finished in 1937, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Today it no longer holds that title – that belongs to a bridge in Japan. Just the name “Golden Gate” has an interesting backstory. Captain John C. Fremont named the waters that in 1846 because he envisioned the riches that cargo ships coming into the port would bring similarly to the Golden Horn located in present day Turkey.
The bridge was built by a team led by Joseph B. Strauss, a civil engineer. Strauss submitted his blueprints for the bridge design in 1921.The bridge would have to cover a mile of water. By the time the bridge was finished if you factor in the approaches to the bridge, it spans 1.7 miles. Not everyone supported the construction of the bridge. For one, it was going to be costly – 25 Million to be exact. Due to the Great Depression, money to build the bridge was going to have to be raised locally. The Federal Government owned the land on either side of the water. They feared that the construction would cause a disruption to military operations or block ships from being able to get in and out of the harbor. A Ferry company aptly named Golden Gate Ferries didn’t want the bridge to be built either. After all, how many people would need a ferry if there was a bridge they could cross. It took almost a decade to garner the support Strauss needed to build the bridge. Construction began on January 5, 1933. Built during the Great Depression, workers were paid $11 dollars a day. This was good pay for 1933 and the jobs were highly coveted. There had been calls for a long time to try to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. The population of San Francisco was given a boost by the discovery of gold. The city of San Francisco was growing much slower than other cities and it could be better connected to neighboring counties, that would certainly promote the growth of the city. Ferry service was the only way across. Ferry services began as early as 1820 and by the 1840s ferries were running regularly mainly for delivering water to San Francisco. That need diminished once the city had access to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and stopped relying on groundwater. The Golden Gate Ferry company which I mentioned earlier carried passengers and automobiles across the bay. The journey took about 20 minutes and cost $1. When the bridge opened, they decreased their fare in the hopes of being able to compete. They couldn’t compete; the ferry service closed down 11 months after the bridge was opened to traffic.
There were a number of challenges to building the bridge, many were environmental. Strong gusty winds which can sometimes reach up to 75 miles per hour, strong currents and dense fog just to name a few. All of these proved to make construction difficult. Strauss created a movable safety net in the hopes of keeping workers safe and preventing deaths. The net cost $130,000. Over the four years of construction, 11 workers were killed. Most when the safety net failed on Feb. 17, 1937 due to the collapse of some scaffolding. Workers who survived a fall from the bridge due to the nets formed what they called the Halfway to Hell club! Strauss insisted on a number of safety measures. Workers had to wear hard hats, they had to wear safety lines, if they didn’t they would be fired. The thought at the time was that for every million dollars that a bridge cost, it would lead to the death of 1 worker. With cost estimates for the bridge to be 35 million, they anticipated the death toll to be about 35 workers. Strauss hoped to limit that number as much as he could. Respirators were then required at one point due to a sickness that developed in many of the workers. It was known as Golden gate disease and caused hair and tooth loss. The primer when met with the hot rivets released toxic vapors. So the workers wore respirators to protect themselves.
The design of the bridge was created by a number of different engineers and architects. Strauss’s original design was thought to be visually unappealing. The final design for the suspension bridge was done by Leon Moisseiff who was the engineer for the Manhattan Bridge. The design was further helped by a local architect, Irving Morrow who designed the shape of the towers, tower decorations, lighting and even the walkways. Most notably it was his selection of the color to paint the bridge International Orange. The color helps the bridge to stand out in dense fog. The color and his designs helped to make the Golden Gate Bridge one of the most iconic structures in California. The senior engineer on the project, a man by the name of Charles Ellis who unfortunately didn’t get the credit he deserved for his involvement in the bridge design during his lifetime because he was fired by Strauss. Due to San Francisco being a major port city, the US navy demanded that the bridge clear even at high tide 220 feet. The addition of an arch was included in the bridge design in order to protect and preserve an old civil war era fort.
The first part of the bridge built first were the towers. A temporary pier had to be built in order to build the south tower. Explosives were used to excavate the floor of the bay to build the towers. There are great news reels of this. Barge after barge brought all of the needed materials to build the bridge. Constant shifts of workers were required – making sure that there was a team working 24 hours every day. Work needed to be constant to make sure that the concrete that was being poured would set properly. The 73,000 tons of steel used in the construction of the bridge was forged in the Bethlehem Pennsylvania steel plants. Special wires were created for the cables needed for the bridge. In order to suspend the cables, shipping lanes were closed across the bay. The process of putting the cables up was no easy task. Spinning wheel carriages helped to bring wires across the span. Workers connected the wires together by hand. In total it took 191 days. Once the cables were bundled together they were painted to protect them from water. Next came the steel track and the roadway. In May of 1937, a golden rivet was placed in the middle of the span during the week-long celebration for the bridge’s opening. The city celebrated the completion of a fete once thought to be impossible. When the bridge opened, the fare was 50 cents each way. The toll today for a car is just under $10. In recent years, changes have been made to protect the bridge in the case of an earthquake. The changes would allow the bridge to withstand the impact of the 1906 earthquake that destroyed 80% of the city,
The bridge is a major attraction. Anywhere from 9-14 million people go to walk or ride across the bridge. When I went to San Francisco. I rented a bike and rode across the bridge. It was beautiful. The bridge is consistently being maintained, especially painting it. Workers are constantly going along the cables to look for areas that require paint and prevent rust. The weather, salt air and fog, cause this constant maintenance. If you go to San Francisco, you will marvel at the bridge and it will certainly be in the background of a number of your pictures. Take a drive or even a bike ride across the bridge if your legs are up to it, it’s a great experience.
