A love letter to a giant analog computer made of concrete, copper, and tidewater.

Mike and Kate spend a day inside the San Francisco Bay Model, an enormous mid‑century scale model in Sausalito that once tested radical plans to dam, pave over, and reroute the Bay. Guided by long‑time Park Ranger Linda Holm of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they trace how this 1.5‑acre, hand‑sculpted “water computer” helped sink the Reber Plan, shaped debates over the Peripheral Canal, and continues to inform navigation, oil‑spill response, and sediment management today.

As they lose their way among waist‑high concrete channels, toy bridges, and signposts, they trace tide cycles that run 100 times faster than nature and tally up “points” in a long-standing argument. Kate is an engineering fangirl, while Mike brings a healthy dose of environmental skepticism, sparking a lively back-and-forth about the promises and pitfalls of trying to “fix” nature with infrastructure.

🌊 Learn More

• To see images and other information about this episode, go to https://www.onceuponabay.org/post/more-about-episode-4-geeking-out-at-the-bay-model.
• For visitor info and hours at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model Visitor Center (Sausalito, CA) – go to https://www.spn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Bay-Model-Visitor-Center/.
• If you’d like to help protect and celebrate San Francisco Bay, visit onceuponabay.org and click the button that says “Be a Keeper!"

🌊 Credits

• Theme music by Zac Bentz.
• Voice work by Ted McDonald.
• “Heaven is Free” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed by Kelvin Ruijters t/as Frequency under an Attribution 4.0 International License.
• “Smooth Rumble” by David Renda is royalty free music from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com. Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. This content is owned by FesliyanStudios.
• Cover art by Level Five Graphics, Inc.
• Thank you to Point San Pablo Harbor for giving us safe haven!

Who pays for the growth of a world‑class city?

In this episode of Once Upon a Bay, Mike and Kate sit down with historical geographer Gray Brechin, author of Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Together, they trace how gold, mercury, dirt, and long‑distance water grabs turned shared waters into real estate, wealth, and leverage for a handful of powerful landholders.

From hydraulic gold mining that poured eight Panama Canals of sediment into the water, to filling in one-third of the Bay to create more real estate, to water schemes that irrigate cities like high‑value crops... this is the story of how imperial San Francisco grew by conquering other people’s rivers, lands, and lives.

🌊 Learn More

• To see images and other information about this episode, go to https://www.onceuponabay.org/post/more-about-episode-3-dirt-water-power.
• If you’d like to help protect and celebrate San Francisco Bay, visit onceuponabay.org and click the button that says “Be a Keeper!"

🌊 Credits

• This episode was produced with the assistance of Sam Anderson and Earthstory Studios.
• Theme music by Zac Bentz.
• Voice work by Ted McDonald.
• “The Gold Rush Is Over” by Smokey Hormel was recorded live at WFMU on Jeffrey Cobb's Show on 4/3/2008. It is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 International License.
• “Oh, Susannah” was recorded by violinist Lauren Abels and graciously donated to this episode. Abels is the founder of The Tune Project at https://www.thetuneproject.org/.
• “Healing Water” by David Renda; “Mighty Russia” by Steve Oxen; “It Is Coming” by David Fesliyan. Royalty free music from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com. Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. This content is owned by FesliyanStudios.
• Cover art by Level Five Graphics, Inc.

Marine archaeologist Jim Delgado uncovers the shipwrecks, secrets, and human stories buried under San Francisco’s streets and waves.

From Gold Rush vessels entombed beneath the Financial District to wrecks off the Marin Headlands, Jim reveals how these “unread books” preserve a hidden record of the city’s boom-and-bust beginnings.​

Along the way, we visit the buried Gold Rush ship Niantic, trace forgotten hulls under downtown sidewalks, meet tragedy under the Golden Gate Bridge, and hear Jim's riveting tale of solving one of the greatest mysteries in U.S. naval history. He shares the poignant human stories preserved in mud: cigar boxes, bunk beds, family photographs, and the long-awaited answers for descendants of sailors who never came home.​

🌊 Learn More

• To see the map of buried ships and other images from this episode, go to https://www.onceuponabay.org/post/more-about-episode-2-gold-cuban-cigars-mud.
• If you’d like to help protect and celebrate San Francisco Bay, visit onceuponabay.org and click the button that says “Be a Keeper!"

🌊 Credits

• This episode was produced with the assistance of Sam Anderson and Earthstory Studios.
• Theme music by Zac Bentz.
• Voice work by Ted McDonald.
• “Looking for Clues” by David Robson and “Lovers” by David Fesliyan. Royalty-free music from Fesliyan Studios at https://www.fesliyanstudios.com. Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. This content is owned by FesliyanStudios.
• “Massive Structure Bend” by Kostas17 is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 International License at https://freesound.org/people/Kostas17/sounds/529620/.
• A remix of “Slow Motion Part 2” by Peter Rudenko is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International License at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Peter_Rudenko/Inner_Mechanics/Slow_Motion_Part_2.
• Cover art by Level Five Graphics, Inc.