Five days before the release/signing party for The Making of an Icon: The Dreamers, the Schemers, and the Hard Hats Who Built the Gateway Arch, some trivia. About a million people ride the trams to the top every year. They make about 150 trips to the top on a busy day, which amounts to 5,600 to 5,800 people. It is thirty miles from the top of the Arch to the horizon. The surface of the Arch covers 155,000 square feet,
or more than three football fields. A baseball dropped from the top of the Arch would take 7.5 seconds to reach the ground, or 90 miles per hour. But this is no trivial matter: you’ll have lots of fun and can buy an autographed copy of the book, at the party from 2-5 p.m. this Saturday at the Tavern of Fine Arts, 313 Belt Ave. in the Central West End.
Jim Merkel the Writer 