MAMMOTH BRIDGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 9 December 1936, Page 9

MAMMOTH BRIDGE

I AMERICAN TRIUMPH. SAN FRANCISCO CHEERS. OPENING OF GREAT SPAN. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SAX FRANCISCO, November IS. The opening and dedication of the world's longest bridge proved oil? of the most colourful events in the history of California and hundreds of thousands of interested visitors thronged San Francisco, which was decorated 011 the most lavish scale in American annals. The newspapers overdid themselves in attempting to describe the complexities and beauty of the eight and one-quarter mile structure of steel and concrete which spans the second largest harbour in the United States and removes San Francisco's isolation from the mainland. The dedication occurred without a hitch and the day was perfect with the sun shining from a cloudless sky and a 70-degree temperature. v Distinguished guests made the usual speeches which, fortunately, were brief and did not remove the interest of the waiting 4000 motorists who were at the ends of the giant structure waiting patiently to make the first crossing of the steel bridge. Governor Frank Merriam sundered 1 three goklcn chains, one for Oakland, one for San Francisco and one for the news reel-i, the latter right in the middle ] of the bridge with only a professional , speetatorate. ' Former President Herbert Hoover, i himself a former engineer of j South Africa, Australia and China who, with former Governor Young, gave the < San Francisco® bridge its start, was there and told of these days of begin- 1 nings when all the world seemed to be 1 againct the bold project. 1

Dignitaries Galore. One literally stumbled over mayors and supervisors—aldermen—and officials of high and low degree. One. was outstanding and the real hero of the da) 7 , Charles H. Purcell, chief engineer of the bridge. He built the bridge, which was an all-California engineering project. Reminding the former soldiers of days spent in France, there were many men hurrying about in steel hats, and one of them was Walter Gains, wearing the "tin hat" and a zipper jacket, who came forward and spoke for organised Labour. Senator William J. McAdoo, himself a noted, American builder, wearing a posy in his buttonhole, com- ' mended the policy of Government loans for great public projects. He said it " gave new meaning to the Constitution, believing Americans were at the threshold of a new prosperity. There was a poignant note in the ! speech of Mr. Hoover, who paid a great • tribute to those 24 gallant men who had i sacrificed their lives in helping to build . the bridge. He said: "This bridge stands as a monument to community 1 action and the genius of modern crea- ' tion, and to those men who gallantly i sacrificed their lives in its erection." Mr. Hoover said: "Some Roman claimed ' to have been the first man to swing a bridge across a river, and I suppose that if the ghost of Julius Caesar were ' to come around here he would claim some credit." (Laughter.) He related 1 how the Hoover-Young commission ori- . ginallv frowned upon the project for "military reasons." and that certain . critics had claimed an enemy attack from the air could wreck the span and "bottle up" the naval fleet anchored south of it. Mr. Charles Purcell. the chief engineer of the project, paid tribute to his staff of engineers, the "best in the world." | Messrs. Young and Gillette, two former Governors of California, were at Mcrriam's side when the chain barrier was severed. As the east barrier* fell, 1500 carrier pigeons were released, mingling in flight with a flock of seagulls .attracted to the scene.

A s=alute from 19 guns on the men-o'-war of Uncle Sam's fleet anchored in the bay marked the conclusion of the dedicatory ceremony as the Governor cut the barrier at the San Francisco approach.

: Adding to tlie clamour of tlie scores of thousands in the crowds was the thunder of 250 fighting 'planes from navy carriers, engaged in stunt flying ; and manoeuvres. The 'planes flew in | .esclielon formation in squadrons of 15 in line; and crossed and reerossed the 1 length of the bridge at a high altitude, ' presenting one of the greatest aerial spectacles in the world of aviation. Roosevelt flashes "Go." [ Then, at his desk in an interrupted , Cabinet session 3000 miles away, the , President tapped the famed golden tele- [ graph key used for such occasions. An electric impulse sped across the nation ' with the speed of thought, and a "go" sicnal flashed the green Lamps as a , signal for all to cross the bridge—for . all time. Then moved forward a strange host, as is conjured from the pioneer past by some magic wand. A fleet Indian runner, Billy Epperson Swift. Feather, who had sprinted afoot from Bidwell's Bar, near Oroville, nearly a hundred miles distant, from the oldest suspension bridge in Califorir • to the newest. A team of plodding oxen, top speed two miles an hour, from historic Sutter's Fort, where California's great gold find was located. A swift pony express rider, who had loped in from Placerville and the famed Mother Lode. A creaking prairie Schooner that had crossed the continent in ISM, here from its museum spot in Woodland. A strange band out of the hnlyeon past trooping over this mighty span of a halycon future. And as the parade of present and past moved through \erha Buena's tunnel out on the wide thoroughfare under skyseraping towers, a colourful marine procession bobbed over the waves below. A half thousand gaily bedecked pleasure craft, with sirens and whistles at full blast, glided in past the anchored fleet, to the island and on to Fort Mason's transport dock.

Conquest of Man. Waiting at the San Francisco end of the bridge at Fifth and Harrison Streets was another great throng, held back for blocks by a corps of extra police, a milling mob eager to witness the final phase in flinging the span open. Across the bridge, built of steel and concrete, of sweat and sinew, of human hopes and dreams and life itself, stretched f" figurative handclasp the arms of great cities.