Source: Visiting 7 Man-Made Wonders in the US

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That poem is about our first man-made wonder -- the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. It extends more than 480 meters over the East River to connect the areas of Brooklyn and Manhattan. A famous bridge builder David B. Steinman wrote the poem. But he did not build the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It is still a beautiful structure. The bridge has tens of thousands of suspension wires that spread many meters across and up and down to towers on each side. 

The Golden Gate Bridge is named after the waterway it crosses. The Golden Gate Strait lies between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The bridge over it links the city of San Francisco with Marin County. Joseph Strauss used newly developed protective equipment for the men who worked on the bridge. 

The color of the bridge, International Orange, is very important. It was chosen partly because it is easier to see through the heavy fog that often covers San Francisco. Many people consider the Golden Gate Bridge the most beautiful bridge structure in the world.

Joseph Strauss wrote a poem about his bridge when the work was done. 

The Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri is the tallest freestanding monument in the nation. The shiny, steel curve rises to almost 200 meters. Below, the arch is exactly as wide as it is tall. The Gateway Arch rises above the Mississippi River. It was named in honor of Saint Louis, which was historically called "The Gateway to the West."

The famous Finnish American building designer, Eero Saarinen, designed the Gateway Arch during a national competition in the late 1940s. However, building did not begin until February, 1963. It was completed in October, 1965. Later a transport system was added to permit people to visit an observation area inside the top of the arch.

We go next to one of the largest and most difficult structures ever built in the United States: Hoover Dam. The dam is in the Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, Nevada. It controls the water of the Colorado River and produces electric power.

Workers began to build Hoover Dam in 1931. They finished in just five years.

More than 20,000 men worked on the project. It was very dangerous. Ninety-six workers were killed. Many others were injured.

The Hoover Dam is 221 meters tall. It weighs more than six and one half million tons. At the time, it was the largest and tallest dam in the world. And it was one of the largest producers of electric power ever built.