This 1960s color film includes 1930s black and white footage on the design, fabrication, construction, and opening of the Golden Gate bridge. It was presented by Bethlehem Steel. The film begins with a bird’s eye view of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. A statue of Joseph Straus, chief engineer, is panned up. The bridge is shown from afar (0:11-1:20). A vintage illustration shows the topography and side-view of the bridge’s construction (1:21-3:57). Black and white footage prior to the bridge’s construction began in 1933 shows the Bethlehem Steel Companies’ factories, including the massive steel trusses in fabrication, parts being transported by train and boat, and cranes lifting sections for transport (3:58-4:47). Workers pour and plane the concrete on a yet-unfinished tower (4:48-6:21). A vintage color illustration shows the measurements and basic layout of a tower (6:22-6:59). Photos of workmen craning and measuring parts are shown. A crane moves a large piece of steel to the tower off a boat (7:00-8:22). Crane workers move large pieces of steel into the base of the bridge (8:23-9:35). A photograph of the first diagonal brace is shown, and the traveler – the crane system used to build the sections – is raised (9:36-10:32). Workers weld rivets on scaffolding, movable platforms, and elevators, shown being raised up and down the bridge (10:33-11:54). Ariel footage is shown of the towers during construction, and the final part of the north tower is craned into place (11:55-13:43). Photos show the progression of construction for the San Francisco tower (13:44-15:30). Workmen use automatically-turning spinning carriages to “stitch” the north and south shores together with 80,000 miles of wire (13:44-16:28). The finished cable bundles are shown, and those bundles are wrapped with galvanized wire (16:29-17:05). A vintage illustration shows the basic anatomy of the road span (17:06-18:50). Massive worker safety nets (credited with saving lives) are raised into place, with workers moving around them (19:02-20:00). Parts of the structure are moved on trollies down the supports, and cranes move steel into place with workers riding (20:00-21:04). Beams are swung into place by crane (21:05-21:38). The net is shown again, workers show off their hardhats, and a worker puts on a safety belt and ties himself to a post (21:39-22:15). Footage pans up the unfinished span base, where both sides are almost touching to finish the bridge, and chief engineer Joseph Straus is shown watching the final part placed in to finish the bridge’s structure (22:16-24:02). Painters from the lines, painting the cable bundles “international orange” (24:03-24:20). The sidewalks and rails are trollied and craned into place, and workmen fasten them (24:21-24:48). Workmen weld the reinforcing steel for the concrete road, and cement is manually poured and leveled (24:49-25:29). The finished bridge is shown immersed in fog. Shown is footage and photos from when the bridge was completed in 1937, only four years after construction began, and film from the opening celebrations (25:30-26:36). The film ends with color footage of the bridge from the time when the film was produced (26:37-27:15).

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com