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The 1930's

The Golden Gate Opens

The Golden Gate Opens
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.84

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    tolls, upkeep, vermilion, waterfowl, finance, suspension, crossing, difficulty, frequently, toll, span, towers, surrounding, pedestrian, natural, shellfish
     content words:    San Francisco Bay, Native Americans, Captain Drake, Golden Hind, Francisco Bay, San Francisco, Pacific Ocean, Joseph B., Irving Morrow, United States

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The Golden Gate Opens
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     People have lived along the cliffs surrounding San Francisco Bay for hundreds of years. Native Americans found the area rich in waterfowl, shellfish, game for hunting, native plants, and fish. In 1579, Captain Drake recorded that his crew on the Golden Hind stayed in the area for five weeks making repairs and restoring their supplies. It wasn't until 1769 that the entrance to San Francisco Bay was discovered. A few years later, in 1776, the first American colonization party was sent to the area to establish a city. San Francisco is located on a peninsula with the Pacific Ocean on one side and San Francisco Bay on the other.
 
2     The location of San Francisco was perfect for ships sailing in from the Pacific Ocean. There was one difficulty with its location, however. In order to reach the land area north of the city, one either had to sail the treacherous water at the mouth of the bay or take the long land route around the bay.
 
3     Joseph B. Strauss designed a suspension bridge that would open a way from San Francisco to the northern counties after a newspaper article mentioned the need in 1917. It was not a very attractively designed bridge. Other engineers stepped in to make the bridge a bit more appealing, but with little success. Irving Morrow and his wife, Gertrude, were architects who offered some suggestions to make the bridge more attractive.

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