Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby just over 8 years you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
While on holidays last year we travelled through San Francisco, of course going through there we went on the Golden gate Bridge.
This very long and tall suspension bridge was first started in 1933, with completion not until 1937. At the time it had the most height and length of any other bridge in the world. It goes across 2 highways U.S Route 101 and the California State Route 1 which is also known as the Pacific Coast Highway this bridge also has a walkway for pedestrians. Across the world there are now other bridges that are now larger, but the Golden Gate Bridge still has more people attracted to it, as a hugely big tourist trap it is photographed more than any other bridge.
The color is a vermilion orange color, which helps to be very visible in the fog helping the ships to guide their way. At night-time the bridge is lit up with floodlights and it then shines on the water creating a golden glow hence the name Golden Gate Bridge. The vermilion orange color also fits in with nature’s scenery in the daytime.
During the time of building the bridge, a lot of obstacles would halt some of the construction, there were quite a few storms, tons of fog, and very fast tides. During a very foggy night in 1933 a cargo ship crashed into the access trestle that caused a lot of damage.
The workers had issues trying to blast rock under the water planting a foundation that would be earthquake proof. They had a moveable safety net made which helped to save 19 men who almost fell to their deaths. But the safety net didn’t always work it let go with the weight of a scaffolding collapsing killing 10 of 13 men in 1937. Two of the men survived their fall in the water, and the other one had luckily jumped clear of the falling scaffolding. During construction on a different day another worker had fallen to his death, marking 11 men in total that had died during the construction of the bridge.
On May 28, 1937, the bridge opened to the traffic of vehicles. The bridge was 4,200 feet long and 746 feet high.
If you ever get to San Francisco go on the bridge, it’s very busy but very cool as well.
