Golden Gate Bridge Cable

This piece of cable is a section we extracted from the vertical suspension cable that was used on the bridge for about 40 years until its replacement in the 1970s. It is now a collectible artifact of extreme engineering. It may even have some International Orange paint still clinging to its surface.

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed in 1937. It is lauded as an engineering and architectural marvel and has been named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

As a suspension bridge, the roadway is hung from two tall masts by steel cables. The roadway spans nearly 1 mile long over the Golden Gate, an especially deep strait carved by glacial runoff during the last Ice Age.

The 36” main cables were the largest ever made and had to be wound on-site. In total, the bridge required 80,000 miles (130,000 km) of galvanized steel wire—enough to circle the globe 3 times.

Length: ~3.5”

Vintage photos of bridge during construction courtesy of goldengate.org/