Anyone Afraid of Heights?

These dramatic photographs show men working on the catwalks or footbridges connecting the towers of the western span, before the main suspension cables were strung. The ten-foot-wide catwalks, suspended hundreds of feet in the air, consisted of a mesh floor supported by wire ropes. The ferries present at the bottom of each photograph provide a sense of scale.

Identification Information: Dept. of Public Works, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Construction Photographs (F2516:1-93).
Top: North Catwalk, 05/27/1935: Box 13 (C5229), photograph 6-958.
Bottom: Catwalks, 05/31/1935: Box 13 (C5229), photograph 6-979.