On November 2, 1769, Portolá’s party climbed the eastern side of Sweeny Ridge and documented the large waterways that led to an open ocean. Yet despite their astonishing discovery of the San Francisco Bay, Portolá was convinced that he had failed in the objectives of his mission. He turned his expedition south to retrace his steps back to San Diego, arriving safely on January 24, 1770.
Six years after Portolá’s discovery of San Francisco by land, and in the same period when Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were completing the first draft of the Declaration of Independencein the new America, Juan Manual de Ayala, a young Spanish naval lieutenant, commanded the San Carloson a voyage to chart the waters of the San Francisco Bay.
After so many explorers had sailed right past it in their search for safe harbors, Ayala would be the first to log the discovery of the island of Alcatraz in 1775. Here is an excerpt from the ship’s log of the San Carlos:
August 11, 1775: The boat was launched and I set out to search for better anchorage for the ship. I went out toward the island I named de los Angeles (Angel Island), which is the largest in this harbor, in search of proper moorings for making water and wood; and though I found some good ones, I rather preferred to pass onward in search of another island, which when I reached it proved so arid and steep there was not even a boat-harbor there; I named this island La Isla de los Alcatrazes (Island of the Pelicans) because of their being so plentiful there. After this I attempted to reach the SW shore at the mouth of the of the inlet running to the SE, in order to examine a bight, but neither wind or current allowing it, I returned aboard the San Carlos at 5:30 p.m.
An original survey chart drawn in 1775 by José Cañizares, the First Pilot of the vessel San Carlos. This detailed chart of San Francisco Harbor was surveyed from a small boat during a forty-five-day expedition.
Nevertheless, the Spanish maps of the bay waters would mislabel the names and locations of Alcatraz and Yerba Buena. It would not be until 1826, when British Naval Captain Frederick Beechey secured permission to survey the San Francisco Bay and surrounding waters that the names would be properly assigned. There also is still considerable speculation as to why the bay went undiscovered for so long, despite a series of explorations that sailed in close proximity to the inlet. A United States Survey Map from 1851 indicated that the Farallon Islands might have played a role in the deception. This survey suggests that the Farallons may have influenced explorers to stay clear of the coastline, since they indicated hidden reefs lying close by, which could have kept the mariners sailing in deeper waters far from shore. Along with the near perfect positioning of Alcatraz across the mouth of the bay, and the textured blending of the East Bay Hills, this may have been what kept the Golden Gate from discovery for several centuries.
This United States Survey Map from 1851 illustrates how Alcatraz Island masked San Francisco Harbor. The combined factors of the near perfect positioning of Alcatraz across the mouth of the bay, the textured blending of the East Bay Hills, and the frequently foggy weather conditions may have hidden the Golden Gate from explorers for several centuries.
Alcatraz –The Fortress
When the territories of Mexico were granted their independence from Spain in 1822, the Mexican Government inherited the land title for California. Despite the development potentials of Monterey and San Francisco, the government’s focus remained on developing the lowlands within the southern regions of California.
On May 13, 1846, when relations dissolved between the United States and Mexico, the U.S. Congress officially declared war against its southern neighbor. In June of 1846, John Charles Frémont and Kit Carson led an attack to seize a Mexican garrison in Sonoma, and declared California’s independence from Mexico. In their victory, they raised a makeshift flag with the claim seal entitled in bold print, The California Republic. The flag was made from white cotton sheeting fabric, with a broad strip of red flannel and a woven California Grizzly Bear, representing power and strength. The flag was later officially adopted by the territory, and is flown today as the state flag of California. Frémont also took Colonel Mariano Vallejo, one of the most respected Mexican military officers, as a prisoner. This event would go down in history as the Bear Flag Revolt.
Frémont and Carson continued their migration south, ultimately engaging in another attack, and taking the Mexican Fort in San Francisco. They again raised their flag, announcing the independence of the newly founded republic. Soon two United States warships arrived in San Francisco, and announced to Frémont and his men that the territories were now under martial law and that California was under jurisdiction of the United States. The Stars and Stripes were then raised over the flag of the California Republic. In another of his more notable acts, Frémont would also take credit for naming the Golden Gate. As he wrote in a personal memoir, he would christen the grand entrance to the bay Chrysopylae,or Golden Gatefor the same reason that the harbor of Constantinople was called Chryoceros,or Golden Horn.
John Charles Frémont, the disputed first governor of California, purchased Alcatraz Island for a mere $5,000 in 1846. As a military officer, Frémont recognized the strategic importance of the barren island as a potential site for military fortification.
Several years prior to the war, Mexico had passed legislation allowing governors to grant coastal land titles to Mexican citizens who would agree to develop the land. On June 8, 1846, the last Mexican Governor of California, Pio Pico, granted the title for Alcatraz to Julian Workman, a Mexican national. Workman had petitioned Pico for use of the island stating that “Alcatraces, or Bird Island, has never been inhabited by any person, nor used for any purpose,” and sought the right to develop the land. Alcatraz was granted to Workman under the sole condition that he “cause to be established as soon as possible a light, which may give protection on dark nights to the ships and smaller vessels which may pass there.” It is also documented that Workman never visited the island and never made any attempt to establish a lighthouse as he had agreed. In 1846, his son-in-law Francis Temple sold the island to John Charles Frémont, “in the terms of a bond for the purchase money in my official capacity as governor of California,” for the price of $5,000. The property was eventually conveyed to Palmer Cook & Company, but the money was never paid to Temple.
The earliest known photograph of Alcatraz, taken in 1853 from Nob Hill. This picture shows the island’s original topography, with soft desolate features, prior to any development or habitation.
United States Commodore Robert F. Stockton, a grandson of one the signers of the Declaration of Independence, eventually appointed Frémont, a man with strong political ambitions, as California’s Governor. However the U.S. Government disputed Frémont’s appointment, and later formally ruled that he did not have the authority to make purchases of land as an agent of the United States. Palmer Cook & Company eventually sued the U.S. Government, but they lost their case. The government insisted that even if the land had been rightfully purchased by Frémont, he had made the purchase under the name of the United States Government and therefore had no right to claim it. Frémont would later be court-martialed in Washington D.C., and his unauthorized purchase claims contributed to the trial verdict.