ALCATRAZ - The Rock

 

San Francisco Co., CA

 

By

 

Gary B. Speck

 

 

I spent time on The Rock!

 

I can say that with pride, as I HAVE spent time in the nation's most notorious prison...The Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, California.

 

My "tour of duty" on The Rock began at waterfront San Francisco's Berth 41 on an unusually beautiful, warm, sunny April morning. Twenty minutes later, I stepped off the gangplank onto the bobbing dock attached to the wharf on the north side of the prison island. Screaming California Gulls, a brisk breeze, weathered concrete buildings and rusty steel greeted all of the ship's passengers as we clustered on the dock waiting for the federal employee to give us our orientation talk. A chill breeze blew across the cold water of the bay, and the warmth of the city faded as a few clouds blocked the sun. In a few minutes we headed up the sloping walkway through the ancient Sally Port, past the crumbling post-exchange, looped back up past the chapel and electric shop, and finally reached the massive concrete Cellhouse.  The line queued through the main entry and into a small room. I watched as the people in front of me emptied their pockets of money -- to rent headphones that delivered an audio tour of the complex.

 

What were you thinking?

 

I was only 12 when the prison closed in 1963!

 

My family and I elected not to pay the several dollars for the audio tour, and slipped ahead of the Swiss, French and German tourists lined up in front of us. We wandered around inside the huge concrete structure, and across the open areas of the grounds surrounding it. 

 

Alcatraz Island would never win any beauty contests. It is stark and forbidding, and life here was not easy for the 100 or so prison employees, their families, and the 260 prisoners that were usually here. Alcatraz had a total of 336 cells available, but the maximum number of  "guests" never exceeded 302.

 

Alcatraz Island is a 12-acre, 1650 foot long by 450 foot wide rocky island in San Francisco Bay, just a mile and a quarter north of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf tourist area. In 1775, the strategically located island was originally discovered and named by the Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala. He called the uninhabited island "La Isla de los Alcatraces", which means Island of the Pelicans.

 

In 1848 when the United States took over California, the strategic importance of the island's location was noted. In 1853 the Army began to build fortifications on the island, and in 1854 built the first lighthouse on the Pacific Coast here. They blasted and shaved the edges into vertical cliffs, and imported barges full of soil. Two years later, Fort Alcatraz, was armed. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the island bristled with 154 cannons and was manned by 300 soldiers. It was one of the series of coastal gun emplacements that could lay down a deadly crossfire on any enemy ships foolish enough to attempt entry into San Francisco Bay. None of the cannons was ever fired in anger. The guns were in place on the island from 1855 through 1901.

 

Some of the early construction included barracks and the Sally Port (Guardhouse/main entrance, built in 1857), as well as several brick casemates (1865-67) still visible above the dock area, under the wooden superstructure of the barracks.

 

In 1905, a three-story wooden barracks building was built on top of the brick gun casemates. These were later converted into apartments for the correctional officers and their families. This massive building overlooks the dock area. The ranger station, and museum/bookstore is housed in its lower level.

 

After 1901, the island was still an active military post, even though the cannons had been removed. Part of the facility had been used as a prison ever since a small contingent of military prisoners arrived in 1861. The post was used off and on as a military prison until 1907, when part of the fort was officially converted to the Army's Pacific Branch Military Prison. It was during this era that the landscaping and much construction took place.  Other amenities were added such as a post-exchange (1910), which in 1934 was converted into an officer's club/recreation hall with a two-lane bowling alley, dance floor, gymnasium and soda fountain, which served the prison employees and their families. The building burned in 1970, and the gutted concrete shell still stands.

 

In 1909 an 84-foot high lighthouse was built (still standing and in use) to replace the old lighthouse. Construction also began on the massive concrete cellhouse, which was completed in 1912, and for a short time was the largest reinforced concrete building in the world.  The cellhouse consists of a main level with three tiers of cells organized into four major cell blocks. At the east end is the main entrance and the guard rooms and offices. At the west end was the dining hall, kitchen and entrance to the recreation yard. Above the dining hall was a hospital; downstairs were the showers. The cellhouse is the highlight of the tour, and several exhibits are marked, so even if you elect not to take the audio headset tour, you can figure out what went on in a particular location.

 

In the 1920s, a two-story addition was added to the top of the Sally Port. The upper floor was used as a school and chapel, and the lower floor was living space. In 1934 the entire building was converted to apartments for the employees and their families.

 

In 1929, the Post Commander's concrete home was built just to the east of the cellhouse, and behind the barracks building. From 1934-1963 four prison wardens served the facility, and each in turn lived here with their families. In 1970, the building burned, and its unstable shell still stands, although badly damaged by the 1989 earthquake.

 

In 1933 the military post and prison were transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a maximum security prison, making Alcatraz Island the home of the nation's most non-reformable prisoners. The men (there were never any women prisoners on the island) were some of the worst in the American Prison system. They weren't sent here because of their crimes, but because most of them were disruptive, or problem convicts in other facilities.

 

The entire complex was guarded with barbed wire, double barred windows and six guard towers, as well as one of the best naturally isolated locations in the prison system. In all, 36 men were involved in 14 known attempted escapes. Only five were never accounted for, but they were presumed to have drowned in the extremely cold, treacherous waters around the island.

           

Because of high transportation costs for the prison's supplies, cost became a major concern. Along with deterioration of the physical facilities and reforms of the prison system, the facility was outdated and on March 21, 1963 it closed. The prisoners incarcerated here were then transferred to other facilities across the country.

 

For six years the island sat empty, but in November 1969, a group of Native-Americans occupied the island. Their occupation began in earnest, but by June 1971, the few remaining people left. A year later the island was transferred to the National Park Service and it became another unit in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. A year later the island was opened for tours, and since then an average of 750,000 visitors a year now spend time on The Rock.

 

On that cool April morning, we walked slowly across the prison grounds and peeked into buildings that once housed some of America's worst behaved criminals It was here that Al Capone and Robert (The Birdman of Alcatraz) Stroud were incarcerated. We saw the buildings described above, but also the morgue, water tower, and recreation yard. We stood on the overlooks and looked over the electric shop, warehouse and bakery, the model industries building, the new industries building and laundry. We could see the old quarry dock, incinerator, and the ruins of what once were apartments east of the former parade grounds. Searching through the underbrush you can still make out piles of rubble that once was Officers' Row: a line of homes housing Fort Alcatraz' military officers and their families.

 

Alcatraz is a chilling place to visit, and ranks in my top ten favorite locations. No matter how warm it may be in San Francisco, if you visit the old prison island, dress warmly. The bay is cold and the wind always blows. It is also recommended that if you plan to visit Alcatraz, purchase your ferry tickets in advance as they sell out rapidly. Alcatraz Island is a unique ghost, awaiting you the followers of Ghost Town USA. Be brave...then you too can say..."I spent time on The Rock!"

 

This was our GHOST TOWN OF THE MONTH for January 1999.

 

LOCATION:

·        T1S, R5W, Mount Diablo Meridian (sections not shown on GNIS)

·        Latitude: 37.8268723 / 37° 49’ 37” N

·        Longitude: -122.4227493 / 122° 25’ 22” W

 

 

 

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THIS PAGE

FIRST POSTED:  January 01, 1999

LAST UPDATED: September 21, 2009

 

 

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