Islais Creek Drawbridges

This is the third known moveable bridge to span Islais Creek at Kentucky Street, now Third Street. A Strauss designed, single leaf bascule bridge, it was the first modern steel bridge over that creek. Southern Pacific Railroad built the bridge for the City of San Francisco in 1915 at a cost of more than $200,000. S.P./S.F.P.W. photo.

This view shows the span's heavy counterweight above the tracks of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads. Notice the single auto traffic lane outside of the trusses on each side. Fortunatly, autos could also use the center part of the bridge when trains were not using it. S.P./S.F.P.W. photo.

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This great shot was reportedly taken on the opening day of this bridge, which was March 4, 1950. You may wonder where the crowds and banners etc are and rightly so. The answer is, there were none. Although it cost more than a million dollars and was ten years getting to the "grand opening" stage, only a handfull of people and one city representitive made it to the event. The city official's only official act was be the first to drive across the bridge. S.F.P.W. photo.

This aerial photo shows Islais Creek and the existing drawbridge as they looked in 1964. The ship is docked at the copra plant. For those who don't know what copra is � it's coconut meat and it is pressed to extract the oil, which is used in soap and cosmetics, among other things. The remaining pulp of the coconut is further processed into fertilizer.

How do I know this? Well, in early 1941, I spent forty days on a ship full of copra and copra bugs as we traveled along the equator from Borneo to Mexico. One doesn't forget being aboard a ship full of stinking, buggy copra for forty very hot days.
During World War ll, large sea-going tugs tied up to the dock on the opposite side from the copra ship and just this side of the bridge. Also, during that period, the area beyond the bridge on the right hand side, was the location of the largest sardine canning industry in the U.S. and maybe the world. Port of San Francisco photo.

mibgda-2day@sfchangehappens-books.com