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- The gold rush of 1849 turned San Francisco from a sleepy village of 300 people into a booming city - and a tempting prize for possible foreign invaders. The Army's first plans were for forts on each side of the Golden Gate, with Alcatraz as a secondary defense.
www.nps.gov › alca › learnFortress Alcatraz - Alcatraz Island (U.S. National Park Service)
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Alcatraz Island (/ ˈ æ l k ə ˌ t r æ z /) is a small island 1.25 miles (2.01 km) offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison.
Alcatraz, former maximum-security prison located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, off the coast of California. Alcatraz, originally envisioned as a naval defense fortification, was designated a residence for military offenders in 1861, and it housed a diverse collection of prisoners in its.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
4 days ago · Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay, California. In March 1964 a group of Native Americans claimed the island, citing an 1868 treaty with the Sioux allowing Indians from the reservation to claim any “unoccupied government land”; however, they occupied Alcatraz for only several hours.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Opened to the public in fall 1973, Alcatraz is one of America's most popular national park sites and currently welcomes more than 1.4 million visitors each year. Historical Timeline: 1775: Spanish explorer Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala maps San Francisco Bay and names the island "La Isla de los Alcatraces" (The Island of the Pelicans).
Just a year later, Franciscan missionaries arrived in San Francisco by land, setting up Mission Dolores and a presidio (military outpost) on the bays edge. An American Fortress Alcatraz Island was turned into a military outpost designed to protect the entrance to the bay from invasion, as it lies at a strategic location facing the open sea.
Share. Lighthouse. Alcatraz was the home of the West Coast’s first lighthouse. Equipped with a simple oil lamp, the Alcatraz light began guiding ships in 1854. In 1909, when construction of the cell house threatened to block the light, the old lighthouse was replaced with the iconic 84-foot tower seen today.
Alcatraz Island, Rocky island in San Francisco Bay, California, U.S. It has an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is located 1.5 mi (2 km) offshore from the city of San Francisco. The site of the first lighthouse (1854) on the California coast, it became an army garrison (1859) and a military prison (1868).
