Johnson and His Crew

Johnson and His Crew. . , “I’ll put this crew up against any ‘hire and fire’ outfit in the country,” supervisor E.S. Johnson told the Colorado Transcript newspaper on April 29, 1937. His crew was confronting a huge building challenge: a race against time to build the large north abutment of the Washington Avenue bridge before the spring runoff waters could ruin it. Cast as a single megalith of concrete, it was to be a trapezoid 14 feet 8 inches tall, 10 feet 4 inches wide at the bottom, 4 feet wide at the top, 72 feet long. Built without steel reinforcement, cracks, joints, or breaks, large stones were incorporated into the pour of the concrete, acting as reinforcement. , Johnson, a Colorado native, spent his early professional life as an electrical engineer working with George Steinnmetz. Finding himself in San Francisco, he worked as a steel construction consultant on the piers of the Golden Gate Bridge. When he returned to Colorado, the federal Works Progress Administration called upon him again. This time he was asked to lead a ragtag crew of men, none of whom had any experience, in building the new Washington Avenue Bridge. Johnson hesitated, believing the rumors that WPA workers were lazy and undependable. , Nevertheless, Johnson accepted the assignment. His men, including Joseph Allgood, Magpie Perry, Harley and Winston Summers, and Nork, had lost their jobs in the Great Depression. Johnson quickly pulled this band together, and they worked as a precision team. Referring to his crew as “we” and not “I,” Johnson instructed methods and assigned tasks before each operation so that every man knew exactly what to do. Johnson was proud of his men, saying they handled the work like old experienced steel men. , When the crew began building the abutment, they encountered major difficulties, including an order to start work all over again. However, the resilient crew volunteered to work in multiple shifts around the clock to get the job done. On May 14, 1937 the new bridge was opened to traffic. The work of Johnson and his crew stood, undamaged through several floods, from 1937 to 29003. When replaced, it was torn down only with great difficulty, its base still remains beneath the bridge.