568 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 



San Francisco pier was recognized as a major task. It was located 

 1,100 feet out from shore in water having an average depth of 65 feet. 

 The site was exposed not only to the destructive ocean winds and 

 waves, but also to tidal currents of 7 miles per hour. The difficulties 

 were multiplied by the fact that the floor of the strait was bare rock 

 and consequently it was diflficult to anchor equipment and get a 

 "toe hold." The completed pier would have to have the protection of 

 a very substantial fender to guard against damage from derelicts or 

 ships out of control. It was decided that this fender would be built 

 as a part of the pier— a wall 27M feet thick forming the circumference 

 of the pier. It was conceived that this wall could be built first in 

 small successive units so that as exposed surface to tides increased, 

 the mass of previously placed wall wo\dd afford a corresponding in- 

 crease in stabihty. The initial section could be placed by anchoring 

 to the rock a steel form about 30 feet square. Divers could place 

 forms around this frame and then the box thus formed could be filled 

 with concrete. The initial unit in place, succeeding units could be 

 built out in both directions, eventually encircling the whole pier site. 

 The pier within the wall could then be completed with full protection 

 against tides and storms. 



This general scheme was carried out with frequent adjustments in 

 plans in order to meet the conditions. It was a battle between men 

 and the forces of nature. When one attack failed, new tactics were 

 employed and finally the job was done. The first operation in the 

 field was the excavation of the rock at the pier site until there was a 

 bowl-shaped hole about the size of a football field, w^ith sloping rock 

 sides varying in height from 25 to 45 feet, and with the bottom at an 

 average depth of 100 feet below the surface of the water. Within 

 tliis bowl the circumferential fender wall was built. The lower course 

 of the wall projected toward the inside of the bowl so as to interlock 

 with the central portion. Thus the pier and fender are united into a 

 solid mass from the bottom up to a point 35 feet below the water sur- 

 face. Above that point, the fender wall rises as an independent struc- 

 ture so that it alone must withstand any blows directed against it. 

 Two years of struggle brought completion of this pier. Meantime 

 the corresponding pier on the Marin side had been completed and the 

 steel tower erected upon it. Anchorages had also been completed in 

 readiness for cable construction which had to await completion of the 

 San Francisco tower. This required another 6 months, but in the 

 meantime the contractor for the cables was getting everything in 

 readiness so that there would be no delay after the tower was ready. 

 At each anchorage he set up machinery for unreeling the wire of which 

 the cables would be built. This ynre was manufactured at Trenton, 

 N. J. It was shipped in coils of about 4,000 feet (400 pounds) each. 

 These coils were put onto reels at the "reeling plant." Each reel 



