Peter's Golden Bridge
“Tomorrow we will see the Golden Gate Bridge,” said Peter. “I have never seen a golden bridge before.”
Peter's father smiled, but said nothing. Peter would soon see the bridge.
The next morning, his father took Peter to the bridge. Peter saw it from far away. How big it looked! But then he saw something else. The bridge was red!
“The bridge isn't golden!” he said. “Why is it called the Golden Gate Bridge?”
“It isn't named for its color,” said his father. “It's named for the Golden Gate.”
“What is the Golden Gate?” asked Peter.
“A gate is either an opening, or the thing that closes the opening,” said his father. “The Golden Gate is an opening in the land. Water from the sea comes through this opening into San Francisco Bay.”
“Oh,” said Peter. “And the bridge goes over the opening. But why is the opening called the Golden Gate?”
“Years ago men came to California to look for gold,” his father said. “Many came by ship. They came into the bay through that opening. For them it was a gate to gold. They named it Golden Gate.”
“Well,” said Peter, “I still think the bridge should look golden.”
When Peter got home, he sent a letter to a California paper. In the letter he said,
“Red is not the right color for the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge should look golden, the way most people think it does.”
Peter sent $14.78 with his letter. It was all the money he had saved. “This money is to help paint the bridge gold,” he wrote.
Many people read Peter's letter in the newspaper. Right away, things began to happen! Some people sent money. A big company gave real gold to make gold paint. A paint company made the paint.
But some people still wanted the bridge to be red!
Will the Golden Gate Bridge ever be golden? It will, if enough people feel as Peter does. How do you feel about it?