It should have been easy, finding the backstory of the Bianchi Lane bridge — but the pieces of the puzzle were scattered and some are still missing.
Still unanswered is where exactly the bridge was originally installed.
One of the little-known lanes in San Luis Obispo running between Lube N Go and Megan’s Organic Market, the Bianchi Lane bridge is slated to be replaced as San Luis Obispo embarks on a project to expand the capacity of San Luis Creek to carry flood waters.
Building on the banks of the creek have constricted it into a flood-prone “V” shape rather than allowing for a broader flow during flood events.
The old steel bridge is part of the problem.
Giant plaques on the Bianchi bridge seem to pinpoint when it was built — but not where.
How did a bridge maybe pick up and move, you ask? Here’s what we know.
Contractor F.C. Mitchell’s name and the date June 30th, 1905, are cast in the steel plates mounted on the bridge. The plate is chipped today, partially obscuring the date, but an internet posting has a photo showing the complete year.
But it is nowhere to be found on the 1923-25 era map of San Luis Obispo that shows the auto racing track at Exposition Park along South St.
It does later show up on a July 4, 1941, map of San Luis Obispo, with a bridge depicted crossing San Luis Creek.
The Morning Tribune regularly wrote about public works projects during in the early 20th century, and Frank C. Mitchell was a frequent subject. That included stories on building a bridge across San Luis Creek on French Street, now Madonna Road.
That bridge opened July 13, 1905 — a time very close to the Bianchi bridge date.
But there is no mention in that era’s newspapers of the Bianchi bridge.
A wider timeline search of The Tribune archive on Newspapers.com turned up a mention that the bridge was built in 1905 for the railroad according to a Aug. 16, 1985, story.
The Telegram Tribune article identified four bottlenecks in the creek from Bianchi Lane to the Elks Lodge. The city planned to raise the Bianchi bridge 30 inches.
“It is used by heavy construction trucks going to Alex Madonna’s property on the west side of the creek,” the article read.
Meanwhile, it seems the reason for the Bianchi name is because some of the current Madonna property on Cerro San Luis was once the Bianchi ranch.
So what is the Bianchi backstory?
Fifty years of San Luis Obispo!
Seventy years of work, love, saving money, getting ahead, happiness, all the things that go to make life worth living!
These two anniversaries were celebrated Saturday by Charles Bianchi, of Bianchi Lane, San Luis Mountain, San Luis Obispo.
Fifty years ago that day, two young Swiss boys came into this country. The other was Eugene Bianchi of Cambria. They landed at San Simeon, headed for Cambria where other Swiss had preceded them. That day was Mr. Bianchi’s twentieth birthday.
Sunday he and Mrs. Bianchi, their sons and daughters, were hosts to some 200 friends, coming from San Simeon, Cambria, Cayucos, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo for a barbecue served on the Bianchi ranch lawn.
Left Switzerland
The journey from Switzerland half a century ago was the most talked of event. Mr. Bianchi and Mrs. Bianchi cooperated in the telling of the story, which started when 13 Swiss youths set forth from the Alps to seek new lives and greater opportunities in the new world.
Three important happenings stand out in the long journey, by foot, by steamer, by rail. By common consent, both historians passed over their stay in Paris without comment. On board the steamer, Vancouver, they did a bit of life saving, according to Mr. Bianchi.
“A young Frenchman was going to jump overboard,” he explained, “because his bride smiled too often at some of the Swiss fellows. Charlie (meaning Charles Bianchi) and I followed the Frenchman to the ship’s side and talked him out of jumping in. We told him the water was awfully cold.”
New York and Detroit were the only cities investigated until San Francisco was reached.
Sail for San Simeon
“But we only had $20 apiece so we didn’t stop long,” Mr. Bianchi said. “Leaving the rest in San Francisco, Charlie and I sailed for San Simeon. When we got there we asked how we could get to Cambria or Cayucos. We were told a wagon went once a week, and that it would be six days before another wagon set out for Cambria. So we walked, strapping all our belongings on our backs.”
The young men found employment the day after reaching Cambria, and both now have fifty years of work behind them, and both have much in the way of material gains to show for their work.
‘Work and Save’
“There’s no excuse for being poor in this country,” Mr. Bianchi declared. “All a young man has to do is to work and save. Why, I know a man out in the county home today who when he was younger used to spend on a Saturday night all he earned during the week. He called that having a good time, but I often told him he would end up in the poor house if he kept on having good times like that.”
Mr. Bianchi is having his good times now, on his large, well-stocked, and well-cultivated ranch on San Luis Mountain where he can overlook a large part of the county and know his sons and daughters are happy and prosperous with him. Two of his sons came down from San Francisco to help him celebrate the double anniversary. One is a prominent attorney of the bay region.
Tooted His Horn
“Charlie was the best bandman in Cambria for years,” Mr. Bianchi said. As proof he displayed a photograph taken on Columbus Day, Oct. 12, 1892. The horn Mr. Bianchi played that day was brought out and again he “made music” with it until Mrs. Bianchi gently but firmly took it away and locked it up again.
“When we left Switzerland,” Mr. Bianchi added, “we promised our mothers and sweethearts that we would stay here only a little while and then come back. We never did go back.”
This may be explained by Mrs. Bianchi who emigrated three years later and met her future husband in Cambria or it may be explained by comparing California climate with the snowdrifts of Switzerland.
Of the eleven Swiss youths coming over on that boat with them, James Gnessa alone was present to celebrate with Bianchi and Bianchi and their friends, who Sunday aided in the barbecue affair.
