Long before it became ingrained in the cultural lexicon as America’s first “escape proof” prison, Alcatraz Island was “White Rock” to the native Ohlone tribe, due the pelican droppings that littered its surface. With the exception of occasional outings to scout for Murre eggs, they largely avoided the rocky 22-acre islet — the belief being that it was a lair of evil spirits and a portal to the next world. Foreshadowing its future use as a penitentiary, especially pernicious violators of tribal law would we be banished to the island, where they would most certainly die of exposure.

The Spanish first reached the island in the 1769, naming it “La Isla de los Alcatraces” or “Island of the Pelicans,” but assigned little importance to it. The Mexican governor eventually sold it to one Julian Workman in 1849, who, within months, had hawked for it $5000 to a new owner. The United States government sued for ownership, realizing its potential as strategic outpost in the Golden Gate strait and began devising plans for a lighthouse, and later, a fort at Alcatraz.

Work on the $15,000 lighthouse began in 1854, but planners and workers soon found themselves confronted with horrendous conditions, rough terrain and no fresh water supply. Compounding matters were the turbulent waters of the Golden Gate, which made provisions from mainland difficult to obtain at a regular rate. Nevertheless, a wooden shantytown sprung up around the construction site, though death among workers on Alcatraz from starvation, disease and on-site accidents were not uncommon.

The island’s fort was completed in 1859 and with it came a squadron of 200 men – and Alcatraz’s first four prisoners, military offenders all. Two years later, the Department of the Pacific designated Alcatraz their official disciplinary barracks and, for the whole of the Civil War, a separate wing would be used to keep Confederate prisoners and sympathizers under lock and key – including one group of that had attempted a raid on Alcatraz with stolen schooner in March 1863 before being apprehended.

The fort on Alcatraz remained in continuous use through the turn of the century. In the 1870s, it housed Indian prisoners and, after the 1906 earthquake, many of San Francisco’s civilian prisoners were transferred to island for safekeeping. A three-story cellhouse was built on the island in 1912, which, at the time, ranked as the world’s largest concrete structure. In October 1933, the Department of Justice took over the fort and barracks, officially setting “The Rock” on its course to become America’s most notorious federal penitentiary.

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History Store Breakout From Alcatraz Western Leg Cuffs Western Jailer Handcuffs Hollow Ball and Chain with Leg Cuff

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