The Machine That Built the Gateway Arch (1963-1965)

Before a single piece of steel left Pennsylvania, an insurance company did the math and wrote down a number. Thirteen. Thirteen men were expected to die building the Gateway Arch, working six hundred and thirty feet in the air on curved steel with no nets and almost no harnesses. This is the story of the machine that made it possible, a climbing crane called the creeper derrick that had never existed before, and the men who rode it into the sky over St. Louis. Every documentary takes days of research. You can help us keep going by leaving a small donation — just click the link and support us: https://buymeacoffee.com/Construction... We trace the impossible inverted catenary shape that engineers swore could not be built, the orthotropic skin with no skeleton inside, and the two free-standing legs that had to meet at the top within a fraction of an inch. We cover the creeper derricks that climbed rails bolted to the legs, the sixty-ton stabilizing truss lifted by two operators working blind, the weld inspector who took a rod to the mouth and went back to finish his shift that same night, and the final day in 1965 when the sun expanded the south leg and the St. Louis Fire Department was called in to hose it down so the last section could drop into place. Thirteen men were supposed to die. Every one of them went home. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The insurance company's prediction 1:39 The impossible shape 6:15 The crane that climbed the Arch 11:01 The men on the steel 20:35 The final day, October 1965 28:39 Thirteen predicted, zero dead 📚 SOURCES & FAIR USE This video is based on historical records, National Park Service archives, period newspaper reporting from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and recorded interviews with the men who built the Arch. Archival footage and images are used for educational and historical commentary purposes under fair use. All material is presented for documentary and educational value. 🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more forgotten machines and the men who built America:    / @constructionlegends   #GatewayArch #StLouis #ConstructionHistory