Golden Gate: A Career Essay

It is 1933. Construction begins. 1937, this landmark is completed and opened to pedestrians and vehicles. It is built at a cost of approximately $35.5 million and comes in under budget and ahead of schedule. World War I veteran Harold Wobber, this landmarks first suicide, claimed, "This is where I get off,” and then jumps to his death. Now jump to 2013. Nearly 1,600 people have committed suicide by jumping off. The average number of suicides from this landmark is three per month. The Golden Gate Bridge was an example of a feat of engineering.

were very poor, but somehow, many architectural feats were being made. The U.S. Government was still building the greatest dam in the world before the Depression, the Hoover Dam, which lasted five years to build. It takes a lot of manpower and materials for the Government to build this great dam, so they hired contractors to build it and the The U.S. provides the materials. Men of six companies were hired to build the dam in 7 years or penalties will ensue; the men were called, Six Companies, Inc. Remarkably, the contractors banded together to build the dam because of the immense size of the structure, one contractor cannot do the task alone (America's Experiences). The Dams magnificent feat in becoming USA’s greatest dam inspired the same contracting firm to work on a certain bridge in the west (Hiktzik). During the time Hoover Dam was being constructed, out in the west, another architectural feat was occurring. In 1933 San Francisco, California, construction starts on what will soon to be one of America’s greatest landmarks, The Golden Gate Bridge. One of the bridges architects, Joseph B. Strauss, a man who built many bridges across the U.S., was involved in the bridge project. Strauss and his colleagues had to deal with many problems about the bridge such as people saying it had to be impossible or it was expensive and a hazard to the environment (History.com). Once the bridge was funded with thirty-five million dollars,

One of the few people that were going to fully push for this project would be William Tweed, a New York politician that was said to have a hand in every creek and crevice of business in the area of New York both legal and otherwise. Tweed began his career in 1851 by going from a simple fireman into an alderman and from then on he found that he no longer had to depend on honest work from then on and by 1869 or the time when the bridge would start to be build and the same year that its very own author of the great bridge would sacrifice his life for the sake of both his own pride and according to some accounts, the bridge’s success. By 1869, he was reaching the pinnacle of his influence as he was in his prime and doing everything that he set his mind to and this was when he would become the “Boss” of New York and from then on become known as Boss Tweed and he might as well been since judges made decisions based on his request, legislators passed or opposed laws at his will, and both the Mayor and Governor were in his pockets and were at his beck call. This was the Tweed Machine and it controlled every aspect of politics and was the epicenter

Initially, suspension bridges before 1940 were made of piers, towers, wires, anchorages, and roadways. Piers were the main foundation for the suspension bridges. There usually were two of them, which were made out of cement and were entrenched in ground underneath the body of water that the bridge was spanned across. Towers were built on top of the piers to provide a means of connection for the roadways and wires. Wires were connected to the towers, roadways, and anchorages to provide tension support for the weight of the bridge. The anchorages were large cement platforms that were planted into the ground on either side of the land so that the wires could be connected to it. Lastly, the roadways were the main point of the suspension bridge. They usually were wide enough to provide four lanes of traffic and stretched from one side of the bridge to the other. This was the basic design of the suspension bridges

The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and was completed on October 28, 1965, for $13 million (equivalent to $190 million in 2015). The monument opened to the public on June 10,

“As one of the most important stops in the Pacific Flyway and a critical aquatic ecosystem home to engendered fish, such as coho salmon and eulachon, Humboldt Bay is a unique ecological treasure,” the statement said. “The development necessary to make Humboldt Bay a major West Coast port is extreme and would spoil the bay’s natural beauty and ecological integrity.”

The chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, who designed the Golden Gate Bridge, in 1937 quoted, “The Golden Gate Bridge is practically

If you are looking for a job in Santa Barbara, the Historic Presidio on Canon Perdido street has 10 new job openings. Following the retirement of Dr. Jarrell Jackman on December 31st of 2015, 10 more people have either been fired or “jumped ship” from this historic State Park. One SBTHP anonymous insider explains, “They have 10 of 22 positions open. Even if they hired for these positions tomorrow, they'd have 16 staff members who were hired in the last year.” With this many people fleeing El Presidio Santa Barbara one might ask themselves if these positions (Director of Advancement, Santa Ines Mills State Historic Park Agricultural and Maintenance Supervisor, Facility Rental Coordinator, Maintenance Assistant, Event Attendant, Director of

The fourth most important thing that happened in the 1930’s was the Golden Gate bridge opening. The golden Gate bridge is a historic landmark of San Francisco. It is a suspension bridge that is 8,981 feet long and it spans the Golden Gate. The Golden Gate is a one mile opening that connects the Pacific ocean and the San Francisco Bay. And I know what you are thinking:the Golden Gate Bridge is not made of literal

Over time people settled here and in 1850 it was set by presidential order that the island be turned into a military reservation. On the many buildings were built. To that area in the early 1850’s the gold rush started. This major event in our history also led to a massive growth in the San Francisco area. Due to the growth the military in that area were forced to increase protection of the bay. They built a fortress there to ensure that the area and its surroundings were kept in good standards. The plan for the island at that time was to have more than 100 cannons be put there. This fortress was built to protect and is home to the first operational lighthouse on the west coast of the united

In 1919, a study was begun to see if it would be possible to build a bridge across the Golden Gate. Michael O’Shaughnessy was the San Francisco city engineer. He was in charge of the rebuilding of the city after the devastating 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of the city. O’Shaughnessy knew the need for the city to have bridges. Most said it could not be done and others said it could be done but “it would cost about $100 million to build it” (Barter 23). O’Shaughnessy and Strauss, both wanting the same thing, got together. After the two consulted, they figured the only way to bridge the channel was to use a suspension bridge.

Once the construction began workers risked their lives every day facing the challenges of high winds, ocean currents, and fog. Eleven total workers died in the making of the bridge, ten people all in one day on February 17, 1937 when the scaffolding fell through the safety net. Other than the issues that had gotten in the way, the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 4 years on May 27, 1937. Roughly about 200,000 people had come to celebrate the opening of the bridge. That following day, President Roosevelt signaled to the world that the bridge was open to traffic. The Golden Gate Bridge remained the longest bridge until 1964 when it was passed by sixty feet from the Verrazano-Bridge in New York City. (History

In the past construction also took less time. One reason for this is that safety regulations were not nearly as strict then as they are now. It was understood 80 years ago that any major construction project would come with the loss of life. According to Lisa Vorderbrueggen from Contra Costa Times, for every $1 million to be spent on a project regarding high steel work, there would be one death. In total the bridge cost was $77 million (equivalent to about $1.3 billion in current dollars) and resulted in 24 deaths (Vorderbrueggen).

Learning the stories of the History of the Bay Model the Corps of Engineers at work will allow me to understand the geographic methods the USACE employed to conduct their studies and environmental mitigation. The “Mountains to the Sea” exhibit is of particular interest to me as well because it features an interactive three-dimensional map, interactive exhibits of estuary biology, and an hour-long audio tour. Moreover, I would also like to view the model to help me speculate on the possibility of harnessing the tidal energy currents of the estuary as a source of power. I am a Geography student, and it interests me to begin to focus on environmental studies such as how the ~400 billion gallons of water that flow through the Golden Gate Strait can be extracted as clean, renewable energy. Research estimates that today’s technology could harness up 17 of the 35.5 megawatts presented by the tides

Following the end of World War I, San Francisco city engineer Michael O’Shaughnessy began challenging engineers to design and construct a bridge across the Golden Gate. Due the location’s geography, most claimed that such a project would cost no less than