The history of London Bridge,?

Arizona in the United States is the home of the famous "Grand Canyon". It welcomes thousands of tourists every day, making Arizona one of the top tourist destinations in the world. The second most popular tourist attraction in Arizona after the Grand Canyon is a small town called Lake Havasu. When tourists come to the small town, the first thing they see is a majestic stone bridge, which seems to put a laurel crown on the beautiful Colorado River. Walking towards the bridge, after a while, the tourists came to a small town. On the neat and beautiful streets of the town, there are several gift shops, restaurants, cold drink shops, and British-style bars. The dress and behavior of the residents and service staff in the town have the flavor of an ancient European town, which makes tourists It's like walking inside the illustrations of a Dickens novel. Looking up, the street sign says "British Village". The end of the town is under the bridge. The big letters on the signboard beside the bridge are dazzling: "London Bridge." Visitors don't have to doubt their eyes, this bridge is indeed called "London Bridge", and what's even more amazing is that this This bridge is indeed the "London Bridge" that once spanned the Thames River!

London Bridge was built in AD 43 as a wooden bridge. Everyone knows the famous line in the British nursery rhyme: "London Bridge is falling down!" refers to this wooden bridge. This old wooden bridge has experienced many disasters. One year there was a flood in London and the bridge was washed away. Not long after it was repaired, the Vikings invaded and the bridge was destroyed during their burning, killing and looting. In 1176, Londoners finally decided to build a stone bridge. So they spent 30 years building this London Bridge with 20 arches. David, the protagonist in Dickens's novel "David Copperfield", often lingers on this London Bridge. However, Daqiao was born with many disasters in his life. In 1825, the London Bridge was riddled with holes after hundreds of years of traffic, so it was renovated again. In 1902, the bridge deck was widened again. But by 1968, this centuries-old bridge was finally dying and was about to collapse into the Thames River. That year, the London government decided to auction off the bridge, which was in disrepair.

The news traveled across the ocean and reached the ears of an American industrialist named Robert McCulloch. This person has just established a motor testing base and a residential area in the Lake Havasu area on the Colorado River. The businessman's sensitivity told him that buying the bridge and moving it to Lake Havasu City would definitely greatly increase the popularity of the small town. So he and his friend Wood immediately decided to participate in the bidding. This Mr. Wood is also famous for designing Disneyland. Their bid was $2.46 million. It is said that the basis of this bid is first of all the stone cost of building a bridge. After calculating this cost, it costs about 1.2 million US dollars. Then the construction fee was doubled and it became US$2.4 million. On top of that, an additional US$60,000 was added to make their offer more attractive. On the other hand, it symbolized the hope that McCulloch would celebrate his 60th birthday. At that time, the bridge could reach the Colorado River. On April 17, 1968, McCulloch and his friend Wood won the bid and bought the London Bridge. This deal was a shocking event at the time, and many people said McCulloch and Wood were "crazy." It is undoubtedly a big joke to spend huge sums of money to buy an old bridge that is dying. However, McCulloch and Wood were unmoved. Not only did they buy the bridge, they immediately prepared to move it to the Lake Havasu area.

The summer of 1968 was a heavy day for London residents, because the London Bridge, which had accompanied them for centuries, was about to leave them. At dawn every day, workers come to the bridge and demolish it brick by stone. Many London residents always stop by the bridge to pay attention to their old bridge. At the same time, the dismantled materials were also sealed and numbered on barges, crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, landed in San Francisco, and then loaded onto trucks for transportation to Lake Havasu City. It took a full year to transport all the dismantled materials.

McCulloch and Wood were also busy making preparations in the Lake Havasu area. They first spent nearly a year laying the foundation. Then, after boxes of dismantled materials arrived, the protracted assembly and reconstruction project began. After all, the Thames River is different from the Colorado River, and the geographical environments of foggy London and desert towns are also different. Coupled with the large and small accidents during demolition and transportation, the difficulty of the assembly project can be imagined.

Some people wonder whether the spans of the Thames River and the Colorado River are exactly the same? Could it be that London Bridge was moved just by chance, not missing a brick or a stone? Mr. McCulloch and Mr. Wood, as well as the people of Lake Havasu City, responded to these inquiries with a smile. Without any interference, they just seize the time to build bridges. In fact, for McCulloch and Wood, two strategic gentlemen, what they bought was a bridge, but more importantly, what they bought was a concept, a reputation, and an image. It was demolished in London and installed here in the United States. This is news. Why bother making a fuss about each stone? It is said that for a long time, the old Mr. McCulloch thought he was buying the "Tower Bridge" in London, but did not realize that he was buying the "London Bridge". It can be seen that for him, it is not important which bridge to buy. What is important is to buy a bridge from London. What is important is to let the whole world know about it.

At that time, there were only a few residents in Lake Havasu City. Those who participated in the bridge repair brought together bridge experts and technicians from all over the state and even the United States. The number was far more than the citizens of Lake Havasu City. But this is a joyful project for the people of Lake Havasu City and for the people of Arizona as a whole. Local media regularly updates the state on project progress. On October 10, 1971, when the London Bridge was once again flying over the river and regaining its glory, local residents held an unprecedented celebration. Although the transportation and reconstruction cost of the bridge was US$7.7 million, which was more than three times higher than the price of buying the bridge, people believed that the money was well spent. A bridge brought an unknown town to global attention. Today, no less than 1.5 million people visit Lake Havasu City every year, and of course a considerable number of them are British.