How To Get From Here To There
Most of us (at least those who read my “Encounters”) live comfortable lives. We have a roof above our heads, cable television, and transportation to get us around. We easily travel from one place to another, often without thinking that life can be different. For those who came to San Francisco after discovery of gold in 1848 it was. Since the city is surrounded by water, the way to get from here to there, regardless of the destination, was by boat. As the population grew, some settled across the Bay in Marin and others on the Oakland side of the Bay. Ferry service actually started much earlier, in 1826, to get to the other side of the Bay. But the first recorded system on the Bay was established in 1850. By the end of the 1800s, twenty-two passenger cross-bay ferry companies were in operation, and another five companies carried only automobiles (You can read more in, “A Brief History of Ferries on the Bay”. Among many personalities who lived in San Francisco in the early days, was Emperor Norton, who was considered to be eccentric, visionary or simply crazy. On the 6th of January, he proclaimed the need to “bridge the Bay”. Two months later, on March 23rd 1878, the Emperor made a second proclamation, “That a suspension bridge be built from Oakland Point to Goat Island (Yerba Buena Island), and thence to Telegraph Hill, provided such bridge can be built without injury to the navigable waters of the Bay of San Francisco.” He suggested that the Central Pacific Railroad Company be granted the right to lay down trucks to connect two destinations.
Then on the 15th of June, 1878, Emperor Norton envisioned the possibility of an underwater rail tunnel to connect both coasts. It took some time for his visions to come to life. The construction of the Bay Bridge started on July 8th, 1933 and opened on November 12th, 1936. About 240,000 cars cross the bridge. daily. In 2002, construction began to replace the East Span. It was completed on September 2nd, 2013 with the estimated cost of 6.3 billion dollars.
Driving on the new bridge and seeing the old one in the middle of the bay, I wondered how it is going to be dismantled. The answer came in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 6th in the article, “Millions of Memories – and Pounds of Steel”. The image shows the process. You can see remarkable photographs of the Bay Bridge construction progress in the Bay Bridge History.
The Golden Gate Bridge, which is a famous symbol of San Francisco around the world, was opened on May 27, 1937. I found many incredible photos online, but if you want to see remarkable photos, buy or rent “Mystical San Francisco” by Frederic Larson in the San Francisco Public Library.
P.S. I use every opportunity to photograph the bridge, which appears differently every time I photograph it.
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