Pacific Bridge Company was a large engineering and construction company. During World War II, Pacific Bridge Company of Alameda, California was selected to build US Navy Auxiliary Repair Docks (ARD) a type of Auxiliary floating drydock and Type B ship barges.US Navy USS Arco The company was instrumental during the salvage of the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor.
History The Pacific Bridge Company was founded by William Henry Gorrill in 1869. In 1942 The Pacific Bridge Company was chosen to build ships, because of their reputation and skills, particularly welding. Since the coastal shipyards were busy building large vessels for the war effort, such as aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers, there was no alternative but to use other builders, like Bridge builders for the production of small and medium ships. Pacific Bridge Company built the first nine N3-S-A1, Type N3 ship cargo ship sent to Britain in 1943. The type N3 ships were a Maritime Commission small coastal cargo ship designed to meet urgent World War II shipping needs. Two of the N3 ships were completed and ready in a record-breaking 22 days, A crew of 480 men worked on the ship. The SS Samuel Very was one of these ships. Two N3 ships were built at the same time in the two drydocks at the Alameda Shipyard. The Alameda Shipyard had two traveling cranes to move parts.Pacific Marine review, Page 100, Jan. 1943
Henry J. Kaiser's had the Pacific Bridge Company join as one of Kaiser's "Group of Six" construction companies that help build the Hoover Dam, due to Pacific Bridge's expertise. Pacific Bridge also brought its capital into the large projectconstructioncompany.com, Hoover Dam, A Historical Outlook on its ConstructionBig Dams and Other Dreams: The Six Companies Story, By Donald E. Wolf, page 262 The shipbuilding yard was on the Oakland Alameda estuary. Some residential homes near Clement Avenue and Chestnut Street were purchased and taken down or moved to be part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The Pacific Bridge Company was a contractor to the US Navy to build the ships. The shipyard was to the West of the General Engineering & Dry Dock Company. The land for the shipyard was purchased by the Navy from 24 March to 7 July 1942.Historic California Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields, Naval Industrial Reserve Shipyard, Alameda, (Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center, Alameda) The Pacific Bridge Company Oakland Alameda yard discontinued shipbuilding after World War 2, continued manufacturing until 1969. In 1969 the yard was sold for redevelopment and today is the Alameda Marina. The Alameda Marina also has a commercial shipyard, ship maintenance facilities, industrial space, storage, and office buildings. Part of the shipyard became the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center in 1949. The Site had several training buildings that provided training on ship systems.shipbuildinghistory.com, Pacific Bridge, Alameda CA Buildings Once Part of Active Shipyard, Dennis Evanosky, April 16, 2015 On January 21, 2016 demolition started of the Pacific Bridge Company workshop building on Clement Ave. The land will be used for a new condominium complex.Pacific Bridge Company, Demolition Will Erase History, January 21, 2016
Before ship building, Pacific Bridge Company built bridges in both the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland, Oregon. Pacific Bridge Company built 10 bridges over the Willamette River near Portland.Bridges of Portland, By Ray Bottenberg, page 10In The Beginning, Portlandir.library.oregonstate.edu COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEYShanghai Dock: A Portland Mystery Solved, Posted by JD Chandler, January 8, 2013 To provide stone for project Pacific Bridge Company purchased The McBain Stone Quarry from the estate of James McBain, in Klickitat County, Washington near the Klickitat River in 1922."Sunday Oregonian", March 31, 1912The Oregon Daily Journal", March 17, 1913American Stone Trade", February 5, 1914
William Henry Gorrill In 1869 William Henry Gorrill founded the Pacific Bridge Company. Pacific Bridge Company was incorporated on March 29, 1872. W. H. Gorrill was President; C. F. Lucas was vice-president and C. H. Gorrill was Secretary and Treasurer.A directory of the city of Oakland and its environs, including Alameda, Berkeley and Temescal, Sept. 25, 1872 William Henry Gorrill was born in 1841. William Henry Gorrill was an Ohio attorney, who was told to go west for his health, due to his tuberculosis and turned from law to building bridges. William came to California in 1870. William Henry Gorrill's wife was Katharine B Gorrill, they had one daughter, Marion H Gorrill and a son William H. Gorrill born in Oakland in 1872. William Henry Gorrill died in 1874. His son William H. became an attorney in Berkeley and for a short time professor at the University of California, Berkeley. William H. died in Berkeley on 20 Dec. 1961.The Life and Careers of William Henry Gorrill, 1841-1874, by R. Bruce Way, January 1, 1996.ancestry.com, William Henry GorrillUniversity of California Press, William H. Gorrill, Ben C. Duniway, Calif Hist Q J Calif Hist Soc, Vol. 41 No. 3, September 1962, page 274An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon: By Harvey Kimball Hines, Jerome W. Campbell, page 368
Swigert family Charles F. Swigert and H. C. Campbell purchased Pacific Bridge Company in the 1890s from William Henry Gorrill. Charles F. Swigert had been working at Pacific Bridge since 1881. Charles F. Swigert became and was President of The Pacific Bridge Company for over 40 years. H. C. Campbell became the Sec. In 1887 Charles F. Swigert and Mr. Campbell built the City and Suburban railway, which they operated until 1905. In 1005 they sold it to the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company. At the time of the sale it had eighty miles of single track. Charles F. Swigert also helped build the Lyle and Goldendale Railroad, later sold to the Northern Pacific Railway. Charles F. Swigert turned the company over to his son Gorill Swigert. Gorill Swigert turned the company over to his son William Swigert. Charles F. Swigert and his wife Rena Bliss Goodnough Swigert had three children: Charles F. Swigert, Jr., was vice president and manager of the Electric Steel Foundry Company; Ernest G., sales manager for Electric Steel Foundry and is married and has two children: Nannie and Ernest G., Jr.; and W. G., a director of the Pacific Bridge Company, and is married and has three children: Phyllis, W. G., Jr., and Juliette. H. C. Campbell built large bridges on the East coast before coming out west. H. C. Campbell was part of The Willamette Iron Bridge Company which failed to build the Willamette Bridge, but became part of the Pacific Bridge Company which built the Willamette Bridge.Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Swigert, Charles F.ancestry.com Charles F. SwigertAn Illustrated History of the State of Oregon: By Harvey Kimball Hines, page 368The West Shore, Volume 1; Volume 13, Jan. 1887
Philip Hart was President of The Pacific Bridge Company in the 1930s-1940s and was president at the building of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge completed in 1940. Was on United Airlines Flight 6, a DC-3, that crashed landed in water a mile off the coast of Point Reyes, CA while flying from Seattle to San Francisco on November 28, 1938. The DC-3 was in a storm and ran out of fuel. There were five fatalities: the first officer, stewardess, and three passengers including Philip Hart.Death of a DC, An Introduction by Guy MeyUnited D18Jan37 - Crashed 29 November 1938 off Point Reyes, CA.
Bridges and piers built A few of the many built: Morrison BridgesMorrison Bridges Burnside Bridge 1926 Interstate Bridge 1916-1958 Ross Island Bridge 1926 (one of several contributing contractors, but not the main contractor) Shepperd's Dell Bridge 1914 Multnomah Creek Bridge 1920 Latourell Creek Bridge 1914 Felton Covered Bridge 1892 California Powder Works Bridge 1872 Aliso Road Covered Bridge, Boyle Heights, 1873Aliso Road Covered Bridge, Boyle Heights St. Johns Bridge Tacoma Narrows Bridge 1940 that failed, (note design team was headed by Clark Eldridge, a bridge engineer with the Washington State Department of Highways, not Pacific Bridge)Tacoma Narrows Bridge, William O. Pence, May 18, 2001 Willamette River Bridge, original 1888, replaced by new Oregon City Bridge Bridal Veil Falls Bridge Farm Island Bridge in 1875 in Alameda.Alameda, By Greta Dutcher, Stephen Rowland Rockport Suspension Bridge, 1876 Rockport Suspension BridgeRockport Suspension Bridge, 1876 Old Oregon City Suspension Bridge, 1888 Old Oregon City Suspension Bridge, 1888 Longview Bridge 1928 now called the Lewis and Clark Bridge. Fort Flagler batteries, 1897 Santa Cruz Railroad Bridges, 1874 History of Soquel and Capitola Snake River Bridge at Burbank burns, 1921Snake River Bridge at Burbank burns Bridges for the Monterey Felton & Pescadero Railroad, part of South Pacific Coast Railroad, 1885 New Allen Street Bridge, 1923, replace the Allen Street Bridge disaster Burnside Bridge Ten metal truss bridges were shipped to Hawaii in In 1884Bridge inventory in Hawaii Red Bank Creek Bridge Part of the Hoover Dam, bridge building and underwater foundationsHISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD PACIFIC WEST REGIONAL OFFICE National Park Service, HOOVER DAM AGGREGATE CLASSIFICATION PLANT Part of the Golden Gate Bridge project, awarded contract for San Francisco Tower Pier and Fender, Marin Tower Pier for $2,935,000. Pacific Bridge Company ledgers, 1888-1913, Pacific Bridge Co. (Portland, Or.)Pacific Bridge Company records, 1866-1932, Pacific Bridge Co. (Portland, Or.)vintageportland, Front Avenue Sewer, circa 1928
Pearl Harbor salvage Pacific Bridge Company was awarded a contract from the Navy to salvage the sunken ships at Pearl Harbor after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pacific Bridge divers worked many hours to save ships and lives. The salvage and raising of the USS Oklahoma (BB-37), USS Utah (BB-31) and USS West Virginia (BB-48) was given to Pacific Bridge.A Miracle of Maritime Salvage: The Salvage of the Fleet at Pearl Harbor, December 8, 2017Why, How, Fleet Salvage And Final Appraisal, By Vice Admiral Homer N. WallinThe Plan for the Salvage of U.S.S. Oklahoma, U.S. NAVY YARD, Pearl Harbor, T. H., July 18, 1942Salvage of the USS OklahomaUN Navy USS West Virginia (BB-48)
Ships built from 1942 to 1944
N3-S-A1 cargo ships SS Charles H. Salter, wrecked and lost off Iceland 1946 SS Cyrus Sears, sold: kidby 1951, Borgfred 1951, Lise 1954, Aura 1955, Fernando 1960, Fata Morgana 1962, Giannis 1963), sank 1964 SS Benjamin Sherburn, sold Winga 1949, Rilda 1952, Raed 1968, scrapped 1972 SS Samuel V. Shreve, sold Jura 1949, Barcelona 1957, foundered 1963 SS Reuben Snow, sold Beechland 1949, Teresa Cosulich 1951, Agia Varvara 1963, exploded and sank 1968 SS Caleb Sprague, torpedoed and sunk by German motor torpedo boats on January 31, 1944, off Beachy HeadSS Caleb Sprague +1944 Wrecksite. SS Benjamin Tay, sold Benue 1951, Anglo 1952, Lindvang 1965, Danaos 1969, Veta 1974, Agios Favourios III 1975, scrapped 1980 SS Charles Treadwell, sold Dundrum Bay 1950, Esito 1952, Sandra 1953, West Indies 1953, Esito 1954, wrecked 1964 SS Samuel Very, sold Angusloch 1951, Changsung 1953, scrapped 1985
Type B ship barges Freight Barges YFN were not self-propelled, but towed to place. A YFN could carry a load of 550 long tons. YFN were used near shore and had a steel hull. They worked in harbors, rivers and other protected waters. They were 110 feet long, with a 32-foot beam and a maximum draft of 8 feet. Pacific Bridge built 27 YFN Freight Barges in 1943. Pacific Bridge also built 90 of the 138-ton barges, these smaller barges were sometimes called lighters, they were 110-foot-long, some were covered workshops, due to their simple and well-built construction some are still in service today.digitalcollections, Pacific Bridge Company construction barge