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This week in SF History - Blackie Swims the Golden Gate
On a foggy Saturday in 1938, a swaybacked, 12-year-old horse named Blackie swam - dog-paddled, really - completely across the choppy waters of the Golden Gate. The horse not only made aquatic history with that trip, but he soundly defeated two human challengers from the Olympic Club, and won a $1000 bet for his trainer Shorty Roberts too.
It took the horse only 23 minutes, 15 seconds to make the nearly mile-long trip, and the short film made of the adventure shows that Blackie wasn't even breathing hard as he emerged from the waters at Crissy Field.
His trainer Shorty couldn't swim, but he made the trip, too - and this was part of the bet - by hanging onto Blackie's tail. A rowboat led the way, with Shorty's brother offering a handful of sugar cubes from the stern to keep the sweets-lovin' horse on track.
Before that plunge into the waters of the Golden Gate there had been no swimming on Blackie's professional resume. He had originally arrived in California as a rodeo horse, and after surviving that career joined the Army. He was stabled out at the Presidio, but headed out to Yosemite every spring as part of the park patrol.
Shortly after his famous Golden Gate crossing, Blackie retired from working life, and was put out to pasture in the north bay town of Tiburon. He found a particular spot to his liking in this verdant new home and stood there, rarely moving a muscle, for the next 28 years. He became a fixture of the neighborhood, often visited with gifts of sugarcubes. When Blackie finally passed, Tiburon's unofficial mascot was buried in the pasture.
A life-sized sculpture of Blackie now stands right there, his old home now known as "Blackie's Pasture Park". You may pay him your respects, if you like, at the corner of Tiburon Boulevard and Trestle Glen Road.