Noon to 3 00 p. M. Eastern on book tv on cspan2. Hi, im john farrell, a producer on our cities tour team. This year we visited 24 cities exploring their unique history and literary life. Right now were going to show you several stops from our visit to that coma, washington, a city chosen as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad. The area were standing in right now is in the southern section of puget sound which is the sort of Washington State and the pacific northwest. Its kind of great inland water. When the Transcontinental Railroad aim, there was talk of one day being able to span puget sound but it really wasnt an undertaking anybody was prepared to do. During the depression, northeasterly policemans like the building of the grand cooley dam and stuff, there were big job creating public works projects happening in the pacific northwest. And in the mid1930s, there began to be talk about creating a bridge over puget sound to reach from tacoma to the Kitsap Peninsula. Tacoma narrows bryn was open on the 1st of july in 1940. After two years of construction. The tacoma narrows is also a bit ive wind tunnel. And people working on the deck began to notice movement. And almost like airplane wing lift in the bridge. So unlike just kind of horizontal movement, they began to feel a vertical lift in the bridge especially in the center span. You know, there was no suspension bridge, anything like this anywhere in our part of the world anywhere in the pacific northwest. So there was an unfamiliarity with just how a big thing like this was supposed to babe. So people excited about it, there is a certain musical kind of gracefulness about a bridge like this. So people i guess just wanted to think it wasnt anything wrong that it was normal and once they would get all the concrete down on the deck and everything, the additional weight was added that that would all go away. Then as we went out of summer and began to get into fall and the winds picked up a little bit, our prevailing wind out of the southwest which blows almost directly on to across the bridge deck, they began to notice that the, that, there was an undulation in the deck. And by fall, soldiers were coming out from the military base for the novelty of riding bridge. So they would go out and kick their feet over the railing and stand on the outside of the bridge and lean out as far as they could and that center deck of the bridge would be rising not just inches but feet. To a point where the undulation was so severe, that two automobiles or a truck and an automobile coming in opposite directions, the headlights of the vehicle coming at you would disappear under the rolling kind of hill of this of the deck. So for conservative people, something was horribly wrong from the very beginning. For a community that was proud of their new bridge, for the many people that participated in building the bridge, it was unthinkable that this was wrong. But the engineers began to work on the idea of some stiffening of the brick. They thought that the railings on the side could be converted into sort of deep i beams and that that would add some rigidity to the bridge. And so some of those minor structural additions, modifications were implemented or were about to be implemented as we got through october of 1940, and by early november of 1940, really only four months, four and a half months after the bridge had been completed, the weather began to shift into its winter patterns. And that have really was the bellwether of what was about to happen. On the morning of november 7th, the winds kicked up to about 40 miles an hour and they were fiercely directed right at the side of the bridge as if the way wind comes over the wing on an airplane. And instead of the normal undulation of the bridge, the deck began to twist began to turn, and everybody noticed immediately that had been watching the bridge that that was a behavior people had not noticed before. And so early in the morning of the 7th, there were hundreds if not thousands of people that had come out on both sides of the bridge to be able to start of to watch what was happening to start to watch this behavior. The bridge keepers it was a toll bridge. So the bridge keepers had decided that they would close the bridge. This just was wrong. It just was not safe anymore. And indeed, it was it was just not a not a action that should happen with an inanimate object of this size. One last car was coming across the bridge even though the access to the bridge had been shutoff. There was one last car coming across the bridge. A man with lis coming from his summer home over on Kitsap Peninsula headed towards tacoma. Had a cocker spaniel with him in the car and by the time he got to the most severely moving part of the bridge deck, he couldnt control the automobile. So the car swung just screeched around and sort of ended up kind of diagonally across both lanes on the bridge and he jumped out and ran and got off the bridge. And then for the next 30 or 40 minutes, the bridge went into just a violent Just Movement that no one had seen before. And all of the crowds on both sides all sort of you know, closed in to just watch. So there was i think everyone started to suspect that the impossible was about to happen, that the bridge was going to give it up, was going to fail. With no one really on the bridge strangely enough, a University Professor who had worked on trying to solve the puzzle, there was enough time for people to be able to get out there and heres a university of washington professor far quarson ran out onto the bridge trying to get the dog out of the car. And theres great foot and of him. It looks like a Steven Spielberg movie. Today you watch that footage and you cannot even imagine that somebody would run out onto the bridge and you know with this tearing sort of deck. He got out there, the dog was too terrified to get out of the car so he gave up and kind of strolled back. Was knocked down a couple times by the movement of the bridge. Finally got off the bridge and then in the few moments that followed, the deck tore away from the hangers and they witnesses talk about it being like listening to gunshots because the julys theyre called, these big bolts that are the cable kols down, goes through the deck and then theres a big bolt on the bottom to keep it from pulling out, those julys begin to pop and the cables begin to snap under the force. The light standards on the bridge are just cutting, swirling across rapidly and catching on the cables. And in just a moment, the connection between two sections of the bridge deck fail and theres a violent twist and tear of the deck. And in the moments ha followed that, huge sections all begin to fail. And most of the center span of the bridge underneath the big suspension cables falls away, drops away from the bridge and then just plunge into puget sound. No one is killed in the incident. No ones even hurt. So had he demolish as much as they can this in november of 1940 and then as they begin to think about really having to reengineer the whole thing, the cloud of war close in the Second World War, and by that time, they realize theres no way during the war effort theyre going to be able to get the bridge rebuilt and then pearl harbor happens. The Bremerton Shipyards become a critical strategic thing and the focus shifts away from public works projects and in fact, the towers and the steel on the bridge is actually removed and brought into the war effort recycled and turned into bullets and thanks and whatever. Actually, sections of the bridge of the steel are actually used on the alaska highway to build a highway up to alaska during the Second World War because of the Land Lease Program antis with the northwest and alaska. So it really, the remnants of galloping gertie set in the channel through the war and then its only after the war that they beagain to reconstruct another suspension bridge and then in 1950, the second tacoma narrow bring is complete. Thats the bridge we see in the distance here. The steel bridge thats standing, the steel towers in the distance. I doubt that theres a textbook or a reference book written about bridge engineering that doesnt include tacoma in the index because of the tacoma narrows bridge. And its impossible for me to imagine that engineering students all over the world have seen the film of a galloping gerties collapse. It is one of those absolutely spell binding moments in engineering history, one of those disasters, those utter failures of design that is completely captured on film. And it is amazing. It still is jaw dropping to see a huge endeavor like this, a physical object move with of this much just dance almost with this Much Movement that are out of the parameters of the original design. Now more of c pans visit to that coma washington. Andrew gomez shares the story of how tacomas chinese population was driven out of the city in 1885. I think that this is a perfect setting to tell this type of story because too often i think this type of public face is just about the aesthetic, its just about enjoying the Natural Beauty thats all around the sound. But i think its important to point out to people the history of this place. And the complicated history of this place and what went into founding this beautiful place. These are all part of the same story. The fact youre able to enjoy this, you have to understand this piece of history to understand why youre enjoying this park and this part of tacoma. So beginning in the early 1880s, there started to be a growing sense of antichinese sentiment. In the 1870s, they were able to get by essentially. The conflict wasnt as obvious. But at the beginning of the 180s, there were a series of cant chinese incidents that happened in other parts of the United States and there was a sense this was coming up here part driven by officials and residents that the chinese exclusion act wasnt being upheld that there were undocumented chinese coming through canada. And so far you started to get the sense that there was something brewing here in tacoma. In february of 1885, a group of tacoma leaders including the mayor. Reporter jacob wise back, a german immigrant had a meeting at wise bachs grocery and they started to come up with ideas how to deal with the chinese population in the city. Something just happened in california. In northern california, they had just expelled their chinese population and there were a couple tacoma residents there when it happened. Theyre copping into the meeting saying maybe theres a way we could also expel our community. It started with the initial meetings here in february in ta coax ma. In the following months, there was this antichinese congress that was primarily led by leaders in seattle and that coma led by wise back pril earl that would meet here in catomyma, occasionally in seattle. They would come up with the plans. Everything really went into motion starting in september. Because in september of 1885, the rock springs massacre happened in rock springs, wyoming where at least 28 chinese miners were murdered by white miners in the area setting off a chain of events happening here in the washington territory. There were isolated incidents of attacks on chinese in squawk valley in what is now isiqwa, in new castle, black diamond, growing and taggism against the Chinese Community here. That congress met at the end of september led by jacob wise back and put this plan into motion. What you start to see are plans beak saying the chinese population of western washington needs to be out of here by november 1st. They set a deadline. So whats happened. In terms of what happened on the day off, the november 1st deadline actually passed. By then the majority of the chinese population left the city in fear. There were 500 to 700 Chinese People in tacoma. By the day of the expulsion there were only about 200 left. November 3 the expulsion happened. The mob xop poses of 200 people and swelled to 500 white ta kommiaens went house by house expelling them. Any chinese person essentially that tried to fight back or question what was happening, there were instances where it became vi leapt. They were forcefully expelled. Had you that mob going through the city, lining up all the chinese and once they had them all, chinese residents were forced to march to lake view train station which is several miles south of tacoma to get on a train to go to port lap. After the expulsion happened, there was a legal case to be made. What are you going to do to the people that led this act that was clearly illegal. They rounded up 27 of the leaders of the expulsion who were known as the ta kom na 27. It was a strange who had podge of people, people like judge james wicker sham, like the mayor and others who were just working class residents of the city. They were rounded up but they were never brought to trial. So a series of legal technicalities happened and they were never brought to justice. As a result, they were all free to go back to that coma and there was no lee consequence for what happened. The United States government later issued a onetime lump sum payment of a little over a quart quartermyon dollars to Chinese Government for a series of antichinese incidents including the tacoma expulsion but there was very little in the way of justice in terms of what happened afterwards. The Chinese Community in tacoma following the expulsion was nonexistent for decades. It became known as an area inherently inhospitable to chinese immigrants. Its not till the mid 20th century where you start to see concerted numbers of Chinese Americans moving into tacoma again. The chinese exclusion act was held into place till pretty much during world war ii. Thats why you dont see a Chinese Community here and thats why there was very little in terms of remembrance of the events up till the 1990s. It was well over a century of time that passed without any real public acknowledgement from the city that this happened. So the plans to build chinese reconciliation park were announced in the 1990s essentially through a series of agreements which included a formal apology by the city council of tacoma for the expulsion. The park broke ground in 2005 and the first phase of the park was completed in 2010. There are two more phases of the park that are still yet to be built. But when visitors come to the park now, what they see, first of all it, overlooks this beautiful part of tacoma, commencement bay. You are walking through essentially this walkway and a bridge which leads to this chinese pavilion down there which is sort of the center fees of the park. That was constructed in in china in one of our sister cities and put together here. Thats what visitors can do, walk through the park and see different plaques that explain where the Chinese Community used to live and what happened during the expulsion. So i think when people come into the park, they walk away with aupding that this is a city with a complex history. Its not just a pretty little town next to the water but it has a complicated immigrant history like a lot of other towns in the American West and when you look at a city like tacoma, overwhelmingly white, its not that way by accident. Whether were docking about displacement of natives, whether were talking about the chinese, red lining of africanamerican communities where they can only live in certain parts of the city, theres a reason the city looks the way it does. This story is an important part of that. I think thats what visitors take a small part of when they walk away from it. Washingtons importance in the national sufage effort comes by the fact that we were the first state in the 20th century and followed almost a 20year lag between states adopting their own suffrage amendment and it takes a certain number of states to pass a National Amendment to the constitution. And we were the fifth state and all of the first states, the first about six, were located here in the west. And washington became a pivotal state making that leap into the 20th century and after we passed it in 1910, there was a dop know effect across the country. Immediately oregon passed it in 1911 followed by california, and then moved to the dakotas, nebraska, montana, and then progressed across to in 1919 and then of course, the National Amendment passes in 1920. So you could call us a big turning point in the effort to gain suffrage for women in the United States. In 1848, the big event that began the Suffrage Movement however, did happen in new york. That was the Womens Convention in in senecafalls led by susan b. Anthony among other leaders. Interestingly enough right after that she began, susan b. Anthony began a whirlwind trip to territorial areas of the United States and states tols advocate for womens rights. And to vote. And one of the early leaders in the 20th century in Washington State saw her in 1848 as an 8yearold. Barnstorming through illinois and that is Emma Smith Davos who ends up becoming a leader of the Washington StateSuffrage Movement and lived and worked right here in tacoma near our history museum. She saw susan b. Anthony in Central Illinois when she was years old. And susan b. Anthony asked, who in the audience believes women should have the right to vote and as an 8yearold, she stood up. And that was a memorable experience that definitely has a connection to our state from 1848 right through to 1910. Right about the same time as the Womens Convention seneca falls, women and men of course, families who are traveling west, these were hardy people and at that time, about 1850, Congress Passed the oregon donation land claim laws. Any