ILLUSTRATION FROM SAUSALITO NEWS
Maynard Dixon’s depiction of the dangers of ferry travel on foggy San Francisco Bay.
By Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
It’s hard to imagine that the Golden Gate Bridge, considered one of the Wonders of the Modern World, was once the center of a long, ferocious controversy. Opponents argued that the bridge would be unsafe, and far too expensive for a Depression-era economy. In his book Moments in Time, historian Jack Tracy recounted the contentious atmosphere:
“As the propaganda wars were being waged over the Golden Gate Bridge, the main activity of bridge planners in the 1920s was in the courtroom. Litigation brought by individuals and groups opposed to the bridge dragged on for years. After the California legislature passed the Golden Gate Bridge Highway Act in 1923 that authorized creation of a special bridge district with power to levy taxes, the legal battle began. Joseph Strauss, still an unpaid engineering consultant [who became the chief engineer of the bridge], refuted the arguments that a Golden Gate span would be unsafe. Sausalito attorney George H. Harlan, also an unpaid consultant, successfully battled in the courts on behalf of the bridge. At last, on December 4, 1928, the Golden Gate Bridge District was incorporated. Incorporation led to a new wave of litigation.
“The propaganda campaign supporting a bridge over the Golden Gate took a vicious turn after it was revealed that Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries, Ltd., was party to a lawsuit attempting to block the bridge project.”
Southern Pacific warned that a bridge would be an enormous cost to taxpayers. Some Sausalitans were concerned that the “only undiscovered suburb of San Francisco” would be ruined by the hordes of visitors the Bridge would bring into town.
The development-minded Sausalito News backed the idea and editors expressed the more popular sentiment of the time: "Let's help San Francisco to discover Sausalito. Sausalito is the most accessible of any residential suburb to the city of San Francisco...the cream suburb of the Bay region. It is time to tell the world about Sausalito."
An October 1930 editorial took Southern Pacific to task for its opposition to the project with a bit of rancorous doggerel, perhaps inspired by the 1901 ferry collision Jack London fictionalized three years later in his novel The Sea-Wolf:
"Look, ye who cringe when the transportation
giant speaks! Look, ye —and remember!
When the transportation giant cracks his whip there are
puppets who scuttle to do his bidding —to prostitute
their heritage of manhood.
"The transportation giant and his puppets would hide the
fact that under the present system LIVES and not Gold will be forfeit that the people may be called upon to pay.
SOME DAY—THE FOG — —!
"Just four words, but what tragedy they spell. Until now the fathers and mothers crossing the bay each day have been fortunate. Only occasionally have there been
sorrowing dependents left at home.
SOME DAY—THE FOG--!
"If the transportation giant and his puppets have their way that day might be expected.
Until now a kindly Providence has protected against the horror pictured above.
But, ye who cringe when the transportation giant speaks —
Look, ye and remember—
SOME DAY—THE FOG — —!"
The newspaper even hired Sausalitan Maynard Dixon to draw editorial cartoons depicting Southern Pacific as a villain. Dixon, one of the finest artists specializing in southwestern culture, grew up in California and during his illustrious career his works were exhibited at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and he contributed to murals at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, including one of Califia, the ancient warrior queen of a fictional island called California which gave our state its name. But he was willing to set aside his paints and sketch the accompanying political cartoon.