GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into thePacific Ocean The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed duringthe year 1937, and has become one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and of theUnited States. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longestsuspension bridge main span in the United States Construction began on January 5, 1933. The project cost more than $35million.
The weight of the roadway is hung from two cables that pass through the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end.Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles (129,000 km) of wire in the main cables. The bridge hasapproximately 1,200,000 total rivets. Despite its red appearance, the color of the bridge is officially an orange vermillion calledinternational orange. Since its completion, the Golden Gate Bridge has been closed due to weather conditions only three times:on 1 December 1951, because of gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on 23 December 1982, because of winds of 70 mph (113 km/h);and on 3 December 1983, because of wind gusts of 75 mph (121 km/h)
The Golden Gate Bridge is not only the most popular place to commit suicide in the United States but also the most popular inthe entire world. The deck is approximately 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpershit the water at some 76 miles per hour (122 km/h). At such a speed, water has proven to take on properties similar to concrete.Because of this, most jumpers die on their immediate contact with the water. The few who survive the initial impact generallydrown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.
Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boatacross a section of San Francisco Bay. Ferry service began as early as 1820
The Twin Peaks are two hills with an elevation of about 922 feet (281 m) situated at the geographic center of San Francisco,California. They form the second highest point in San Francisco, after Mount Davidson Before the arrival of the Europeans,the native Ohlone people may have used Twin Peaks as a lookout or hunting ground. The ecological diversity of Twin Peaksprovided medicinal or ceremonial plants, grains and berries. When the Spanish conquistadors and settlers arrived beginningin the 18th century, they called the area “Los Pechos de la Chola” or "Breasts of the Indian Maiden" and devoted the area toranching. When San Francisco passed under American control during the 19th Century, it was renamed "Twin Peaks The twopeaks have a north-south orientation and are divided by Twin Peaks Boulevard, which is the only road leading up to the summit.
ALCATRAZ
Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) offshore from San Francisco, California. Oftenreferred to as The Rock, the small island early-on served as a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a FederalBureau of Prisons federal prison until 1963. Later, in 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received landmarkingdesignations in 1976 and 1986.Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the GoldenGate National Recreation Area and is open to tours.
Following the war in 1866 the army determined that the fortifications and guns were being rapidly rendered obsolete by advancesin military technology. Modernization efforts, including an ambitious plan to level the entire island and construct shell-proofunderground magazines and tunnels, were undertaken between 1870 and 1876 but never completed. Instead the army switchedthe focus of its plans for Alcatraz from coastal defense to detention, a task for which it was well suited because of its isolation.In 1867 a brick jailhouse was built (previously inmates had been kept in the basement of the guardhouse), and in 1868 Alcatrazwas officially designated a long-term detention facility for military prisoners. Among those incarcerated at Alcatraz were someHopi Native American men in the 1870s. In 1898, the Spanish-American war increased the prison population from 26 to over450. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, civilian prisoners were transferred to Alcatraz for safe confinement. By 1912 therewas a large cell house, and in the 1920s a large 3-story structure was nearly at full capacity. On March 21, 1907, Alcatraz wasofficially designated as the Western U.S. Military Prison, later Pacific Branch, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, 1915.
In 1909 construction began on the huge concrete main cell block, designed by Major Reuben Turner, which remains the island'sdominant feature. It was completed in 1912. To accommodate the new cell block, the Citadel, a three-story barracks, wasdemolished down to the first floor, which was actually below ground level. The building had been constructed in an excavatedpit (creating a dry "moat") to enhance its defensive potential. The first floor was then incorporated as a basement to the newcell block, giving rise to the popular legend of "dungeons" below the main cell block. The Fortress was deactivated as a militaryprison in October 1933, and transferred to the Bureau of Prisons. During World War I the prison held conscientious objectors.
The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz was acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12,1933, and the island became a Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison in August 1934. During the 29 years it was in use, thejail held notable criminals. It also provided housing for the Bureau of Prison staff and their families.
During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoners had ever successfully escaped. 36 prisoners were involvedin 14 attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, and three were lost at sea andnever found. The most violent occurred on May 2, 1946 when a failed escape attempt by six prisoners led to the so-called Battleof Alcatraz. On June 11, 1962, Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin successfully carried out one of the most intricateescapes ever devised. Behind the prisoners' cells in Cell Block B (where the escapees were interned) was an unguarded 3-foot(0.91 m) wide utility corridor. The prisoners chiseled away the moisture-damaged concrete from around an air vent leading to thiscorridor, using tools such as a metal spoon soldered with silver from a dime and an electric drill improvised from a stolen vacuumcleaner motor. The noise was disguised by accordions played during music hour, and their progress was concealed by falsewalls which, in the dark recesses of the cells, fooled the guards.The escape route then led up through a fan vent; the fan andmotor had been removed and replaced with a steel grille, leaving a shaft large enough for a prisoner to climb through. Stealinga carborundum cord from the prison workshop, the prisoners had removed the rivets from the grille and substituted dummyrivets made of soap. The escapees also constructed an inflatable raft from several stolen raincoats for the trip to the mainland.Leaving papier-mâché dummies in their cells with stolen human hair from the barbershop for hair, they escaped. The prisonersare estimated to have entered San Francisco Bay at 10 p.m.The official investigation by the FBI was aided by another prisoner,Allen West, who also was part of the escapees' group but was left behind (West's false wall kept slipping so he held it into placewith cement, which set; when the Anglin brothers (John and Clarence) accelerated the schedule, West desperately chipped awayat the wall, but by the time he did his companions were gone). Articles belonging to the prisoners (including plywood paddles andparts of the raincoat raft) were located on nearby Angel Island, and the official report on the escape says the prisoners drownedwhile trying to reach the mainland in the cold waters of the bay.The MythBusters investigated the myth, concluding such anescape was plausible.
By decision of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the penitentiary was closed on March 21, 1963. It was closed because itwas far more expensive to operate than other prisons (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day atAtlanta), half a century of salt water saturation had severely eroded the buildings, and the bay was being badly polluted by thesewage from the approximately 250 inmates and 60 Bureau of Prisons families on the island. The United States Penitentiary inMarion, Illinois, a traditional land-bound prison, opened that same year to serve as a replacement for Alcatraz.
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