“I knew that to have a prayer, to survive, I had to hit the water feet first.”
— Slim Lambert

In the 1930s, it was pretty much expected that any major construction project would result in a handful of deaths. But with the country in the clenches of the Great Depression, men eagerly lined up for jobs building the longest suspension bridge in the world across the San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate.

The work was grueling, bitterly cold, and dangerous. Yet, just two months from completion, the project had resulted in only one death, caused by a toppling derrick. That changed in February of 1937, when a catwalk broke loose beneath the bridge and sent 12 men hurtling 250 feet into the San Francisco Bay.

Only two survived, a 51-year-old carpenter named Oscar Osberg, and Slim Lambert, 26, a championship swimmer from Washington state. Lambert later recounted how, after entering the water, he narrowly escaped being dragged to the ocean floor by a piece of netting. When he finally surfaced, his neck was broken and his ears and nose were bleeding.

Once completed, the Golden Gate Bridge became an instant icon for San Francisco. But to many of the workers who built the span, it was forever their bridge, emblazoned with the 11 names of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. According to his obituary in the S.F. Chronicle, Lambert visited the bridge from time to time throughout his life and tossed a penny over the egde — a token of gratitude for his good luck.

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Some of the most memorable images of the bridge’s construction were captured by an amateur photographer named Ted Huggins. The California Historical Society has a collection of 50 photos.

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