Heroes of the Golden Gate

The human story of San Francisco's magnificent Golden Gate Bridge is revealed here for the first time through the lives of the people who envisioned it and built it -- the discoverers and explorers, the politicians and bankers, the engineers and construction workers, and others in a colorful galaxy of characters involved in this monumental project. Who were the extraordinary men who Fist encountered the Golden Gate and conceived the idea of a bridge? What motivated the men who designed it and built it? Where did they come from, what attracted them to the bridge, and what kept them there? Why did it mean so much to them and why did some of them devote so many years to it? What were their thoughts as they labored on it over the years and how were their lives changed by it? What inspired their dreams, fueled their hopes, and lured them on? Much of this history is based on first-hand inter- views with dozens of the men and women who shaped and built the bridge-people now in their later years, but whose clear memories and bright reminiscences bring the creation of this engineering marvel back to life -- Frenchy Gales, Bill Smith, Peanuts Coble, Bunk Mersereau, Jerry Conser, Fred Divita, Pete Williamson, Slim Lambert, Ruth Natusch, and others. Together, they recapture the spirit of the place and period-San Francisco in the 1930's -- just in time for the celebration of the golden anniversary of the completion of the bridge. The author's extensive research and interviews weave both the facts and tales of human interest and heroism into a fascinating story. He places on record a series of events never before told completely, including the full account of one of the most tragic accidents in the history of bridge building. Through years of vision and derision, dreams and disappointments, determination and danger, the "heroes of the Golden Gate" combined to give San Francisco and the world a truly majestic structure. Jacket design by Joan Ingoldsby Brown.