Wednesday, July 4, 1934
This afternoon I went up in the tower on the U.C.campus. The Sather Tower. It is 302' 1 1/4" high from the ground level up the very tip. The floor of the observation tower is 195' 6" above ground level. I could see all over the Bay region from the observation tower and all over the campus. It was very clear today. There are 47 buildings in the Univ. of Cal. It has 12,000 students, 14 tennis courts, 7 swimming pools. They have a Greek theatre 3 gymnasiums a stadium seating 70,000, a football practice field, a baseball practice field and 2 track practice fields. The big "C" up on the hillside overlooking the Univ. of Cal. is 60 ft high, 30 feet wide and 1 ft 18 in off the ground. It is made of cement and painted yellow. On the night before the big football game with Stanford the sophomore class guards the big "C" so that it will not be painted by Stanford. And on the night before the big track meet the freshman class guards it so that some Stanford won't paint it. The campus is 3/4 of a mile wide by 2 1/2 miles long. The tower (Sather Tower) extends 35 feet into the ground. It has 4 clocks on the outside of the tower. The minute hand is 17 1/2 feet long the hour hand is 12 1/2 ft long, the circumference of the dial of each of the clocks is 82 ft and the space between the hours is 6 ft 10 in. The minute hand moves 1 1/2 feet every ten seconds. On the very tip of the tower is a light which is inside a big lantern. The lantern is 7 ft high and big enough for a man to stand in it. Inside one of the corners of the tower is a circular stairway and a man can go up it from the observation tower clear up to the lantern which is 107 feet above the observation floor. The public is not allowed to go up there though. Sather tower is earthquake proof. I learned all this information from a man I met up on the observation platform of the Tower. He said he was a sort of lifeguard to keep people from falling off the tower and to keep people from throwing things over such as pennies which would almost fracture a person's skull if it hit him. It would be going 61 miles an hour when it reached ground. There certainly is a fine view from the tower. I could see Golden Gate.