Jim Cash, age 13, of Hiram, , Georgia... for his question:

How did the Golden Gate Bridge get its name?

The famous bridge is named for a narrow channel of water which cuts through the Coastal Mountains and joins the vast Pacific Ocean with San Francisco Bay. On the north side of the channel steep hills dip down to the water. The south side is a peninsula on which stands the glamorous city of San Francisco. The channel, about one mile wide and four miles long, gives a grandstand view of the setting sun as it dips down into the Pacific Ocean. Very often, the setting sun paints the water and the side of the channel with gold   which is why it is called the Golden Gate,

Some say that the name was first given by Sir Francis Drake on his way around the world in 1578. Others say that the Golden Gate was first named by the American explorer John Charles Fremont, In any case, the name is a perfect one and, when the great bridge was finished in 1937, it became the Golden Gate Bridge.