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Rights Holder and Contact
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
Date of Copyright
1989-11-15
Description
In the wake of the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Caltrans commissioned an oral history project to document the personal and professional experiences of Caltrans employees who worked to restore the State's damaged transportation system. At the time of the earthquake, Captain Ralph Hill was a Maritime Consultant for Caltrans Emergency Ferry Services. His regular job at the time was a high school science teacher in Whitter, CA. Hill learned about the earthquake from listening to his car radio on his way home from work. Then, when he reached his home, Hill turned on the television, because he wanted to see the World Series. Instead of the World Series, he saw the earthquake damage around San Francisco. On October 25th he received a phone call from George Gray, Deputy District Director for Planning and Public Transportation for Caltrans District 4, who he had worked with in Saudi Arabia. Hill was happy to volunteer to be a maritime advisor. Hill is a retired Coast Guard Officer, who served 34 years and 20 of those years was in maritime safety. In the Coast Guard, Hill was the program manager for the vessel traffic system for San Francisco Bay. In his duties as Maritime Consultant, Hill inspected three donated ferries from Seattle and rode the ferries regularly and was responsible for resolving operational problems, such as, contractor issues, ticket problems, concession problems, dredges that were not deep enough and having boats that were dragging the bottom of the Bay. Hill would ride the ferries from Richmond, Oakland, Alameda, Vallejo and Berkeley. Sometimes he would ride the ferries anonymously and other times in an official capacity to get feedback from ferry patrons about the service. California Audiovisual Preservation Project
Type
sound
Format
Audio cassette
Form/Genre
Oral histories
Extent
1 Tape of 1
Identifier
casadt_000114
Language
English
Subject
Earthquakes--California--Loma Prieta Loma Prieta Earthquake, Calif., 1989
Provenance
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.
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