Fort Point National Historic Site

The Spanish had built a fort in the 1770s (Castillo de San Joaquin) on the tip of the land they called La Punta de Cantil Blanco to protect their settlement from foreign invaders (British, Dutch, Russian, etc.). When the Americans took over California, they utilized the Presidio that the Spanish had built near the early fort. Realizing that Americans were exposed to foreign aggressors also, the U.S. War Department recommended that a larger, state of-the-art fort be built. These Third-System forts, as they were called, were to be built of brick, with three tiers of casemates (vaulted rooms housing cannons) and a barbette tier on the roof with additional guns. About 30 such forts (Fort Sumter, Fort Pulaski, etc.) had been built on the East Coast for defense, but this would be the only one of this type built on the West Coast.

The 90-foot cliff where the Castillo fort had been was now reduced to a mere 15-foot elevation for better observation from the new fort across the water-line and for a better and more lethal shot at an enemy ship. Seven-foot thick walls protected the multi-tiered casemate construction. Work was hindered by the weather, but by 1860, the barbette (top) tier of the fort was completed. In 1864, a lighthouse with a Fresnel lens was installed on the barbette tier. By 1867, a list of cannons included six 24-pounders, 11 32-pounders, and 38 42-pounders, as well as eight 8-inch and two 10-inch columbiads. Later, 10-inch Rodman guns were placed in the lower casemates. These guns could fire a 128-pound shot approximately two miles. Thus, for legal purposes, the territorial waters that a country could claim then extended two-miles from shore, the distance such a shot could go.

When the Civil War began, only 69 guns had been mounted. The 500 men garrisoned there spent their days maintaining the fort, drilling, sentry duty, etc. ... Although the guns were used in practice drills and in celebrating national holidays, they were never used in defense of the Golden Gate. And because of technical advances in weaponry, they became obsolete soon after being installed. The fort fell into disuse after the Civil War and all of the original guns were removed by 1890. Similar guns have now been installed for display purposes.

Recognizing the architectural importance of Fort Point, chief engineer Joseph Strauss created a special arch which allowed the Golden Gate Bridge to be built over the fort without disturbing it. On Oct. 16, 1970, the Fort Point Museum Association successfully lobbied for and got a National Historic Site status for Fort Point. The site is open to the public three days a week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can reach the fort by going through Crissy Field or along Lincoln Boulevard and take Long Avenue to the fort. Phone (415) 556-1693 for visitor information.

A few years ago, some relatives came to visit and at the top of their list-to-see was the Golden Gate Bridge. We took them on the obligatory tour, ending at the bridge.

Their first utterance was one of dismay. "The Bridge – It’s not golden! It’s ORANGE!” I took off my tour-guide hat and put on my geology-teacher hat and attempted to explain that the "Golden Gate” referred to the entrance — the gate-way — to one of the most extraordinary harbors in the world, and that the orange bridge was there simply as a link between the two shores.

The formation of the Golden Gate Strait is a recent tale, geologically speaking. A hundred-thousand years ago, the earth was warm and the water level high in this area. The water deposited a layer of rocks called the Colma Formation.

Then the temperature cooled and an ice-age developed that locked up tremendous amounts of water from the oceans of the world. Enough water was frozen into glacial ice to lower the seas by 300 feet.

That left the Golden Gate Strait high and dry, with a small river flowing westerly to the vicinity of the Farallon Islands where it emptied into the Pacific Ocean.

About 20,000 years ago, the temperature warmed up again and the glaciers melted, retreated and the water level rose again by 300 feet. Now the Golden Gate Strait was full of water again and a great inland harbor formed, the Bay of San Francisco. When the Spanish ships passed the opening on their way to and from Mexico, the captains sailed to the west of the Farallon Islands to avoid water hazards that could sink their ships. From that distance and because fog frequently was present, the view to the east (toward the Coast Range) seemed to be that of a continuous range of mountains.

It was not until Gaspar de Portola and his explorers discovered that the Coast Range was not continuous, but that there was in fact an opening through which ships could enter the harbor.

And this incredible opening, this Golden Gate to a magnificent harbor, was reason enough for some men to build fortresses and for other men to build bridges, even bridges that are orange.