Anniversary of Golden Gate Bridge Opening

Wednesday was the 78th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge opening to the public. On the first day, over 200,000 pedestrians walked over the bridge, and 18,000 of them were lined up waiting for it to open at 6 AM.

Here are a few pictures of the bridge, but you can go here (http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Golden-Gate-Bridge-celebrates-78th-anniversary-of-6286949.php#photo-2957822) to see more.

And here are 2 poems written by Joseph P. Strauss, the Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, upon the completion of the building of the bridge in 1937.

The Mighty Task is Done

At last the mighty task is done;

Resplendent in the western sun

The Bridge looms mountain high;

Its titan piers grip ocean floor,

Its great steel arms link shore with shore,

Its towers pierce the sky.

On its broad decks in rightful pride,

The world in swift parade shall ride,

Throughout all time to be;

Beneath, fleet ships from every port,

Vast landlocked bay, historic fort,

And dwarfing all--the sea.

To north, the Redwood Empire's gates;

'To south, a happy playground waits,

in Rapturous appeal;

Here nature, free since time began,

Yields to the restless moods of man,

Accepts his bonds of steel.

Launched midst a thousand hopes and fears,

Damned by a thousand hostile sneers,

Yet ne'er its course was stayed,

But ask of those who met the foe

Who stood alone when faith was low,

Ask them the price they paid.

Ask of the steel, each strut and wire,

Ask of the searching, purging fire,

That marked their natal hour;

Ask of the mind, the hand, the heart,

Ask of each single, stalwart part,

What gave it force and power.

An Honored cause and nobly fought

And that which they so bravely wrought,

Now glorifies their deed,

No selfish urge shall stain its life,

Nor envy, greed, intrigue, nor strife,

Nor false, ignoble creed.

High overhead its lights shall gleam,

Far, far below life's restless stream,

Unceasingly shall flow;

For this was spun its lithe fine form,

To fear not war, nor time, nor storm,

For Fate had meant it so.

The Golden Gate Bridge

I am the thing that men denied,

The right to be, the urge to live;

And I am that which men defied,

Yet I ask naught for what I give.

My arms are flung across the deep,

Into the clouds my towers soar,

And where the waters never sleep,

I guard the California shore.

Above the fogs of scorn and doubt,

Triumphant gleams my web of steel;

Still shall I ride the wild storms out,

And still the thrill of conquest feel.

The passing world may never know

The epic of my grim travail;

It matters not, nor friend or foe –

My place to serve and none to fail.

My being cradled in despair,

Now grown so wondrous fair and strong,

And glorified beyond compare,

Rebukes the error and the wrong.

Vast shafts of steel, wave-battered pier,

And all the splendor meant to be;

Wind-swept and free, these, year on year,

Shall chant my hymm of Victory!