Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [17]
Alcatraz was the site of the first lighthouse on the Pacific Coast, which commenced operation on June 1, 1854. The structure featured a Cape-Cod-style two-story cottage with a central light tower. The optical lens concentrated the luminance from the flame of a whale-oil lamp into a powerful beacon that could be seen from nearly twenty nautical miles out at sea. The small signpost visible next to the planter indicates that this building also served as a post office.
A full view of the original lighthouse, surrounded by the fort’s arsenal of cannonballs. A close study shows what appear to be children and their mother (left) sitting atop the pile of fifteen-inch cannon balls, each of which weighed over four hundred pounds. Also visible (far left) is the post headquarters.
An early San Francisco defense map drawn in 1863 shows cannon firing ranges from various strategic locations. As the port and city of San Francisco continued to flourish, the military established a concentrated system of fortifications to protect the prosperous settlement. Clearly visible is the triangular defense pattern, which was anchored by the strategically located Alcatraz. Hostile ships entering the harbor would first come under fire from both Lime Point and Fort Point, and would eventually progress into the operative firing range of all three positions. It was an effective and lethal schematic.
On November 1, 1850, a joint Army-Navy military commission presented a report detailing a military defense plan to guard San Francisco from unfriendly powers. Their report stated: “The first consideration in conjunction with defense would be to prevent the passage of hostile vessels through the channel of entrance.” This would be achieved by creating two lines of defense:
“The outer one at the Golden Gate to consist of a fortress at Fort Point of one hundred and fifteen guns and a battery of one hundred guns directly opposite on Lime Point; the inner to consist of a fortress at Alcatraz with batteries at Black Point (now Fort Mason), and Angel Island.”
The aim was to create a gauntlet of cross fire, which could pour down a continuous barrage of shell all the way from Point Lobos to Telegraph Hill, a distance of about seven and a half miles – which no vessel of the day could survive. In its report, the commission urged immediate development of the fortresses to solidify authority and enhance protection of the infant U.S. territory.
By 1851, the United States had started preparing detailed plans for the three new forts and batteries. The Pacific Army of Engineers arrived at Alcatraz in the winter of 1853, and began to finalize specific plans for the development. Construction at Alcatraz would commence in 1854, with a $500,000 appropriation from the U.S. Congress. In his first report to Washington, Major John L. Smith gave a description of his initial surveys, writing: “The island of Alcatraces is a mass of rock with a very thin layer crust of soil and bird manure on the surface.” Construction at Alcatraz would commence only months later. First Lieutenant Zealous Bates Tower had been assigned to manage the building of the fortress at Alcatraz, along with his assistant, Second Lieutenant Frederick Prime. The topography of fine-grained sandstone proved to offer more challenges than was originally predicted. Tower would report:
The island is rougher than I anticipated, very rough, steep, and broken on the Eastern Portion of the North West Battery and where the three gun battery is designed to be placed... The sandstone composing the island is very friable; even where hardened on the surface it can be cut with a hatchet. Wrought iron spikes can be driven into the Rock without much trouble... During the month of October, I expect to finish all of the temporary buildings required for the rapid progress of the work, including water tanks, to build