The Shasta courier., 1864-07-30

we copy tue ioto"inS Sei'P''' " ~
defenses of San Francisco harbor from the
A i of yesterday
FORT POINT.
Fort Point is situated on n tongue of land
running out quarter OF mile from the gen
eral course of the southern shore of the Col
den Gate. which opposite the fort the mar
rowest place. is seven eighths Of a mile wide
A place had to be made fir the fort by cut
ting away large extent of rock, and now
the iower tier OF guns is very near the water
level The fortliicatioh is the most elaborate
on this coast. The building. of brick, is
about two hundred feet hong by one hundred
wide. and is three stories hig =, with three
tiers of guns III slsemate. or under cover of
arc'ied r,of, and an opaa Or barbe:te battery
on the roof. The entire number of guns Is
about l2O. some of which are mt yet noun
tel. The cannon are mostly 81 Founders,
with some C ilumb biad>. ur 6S-pounders. There
Is large furnace for heating shot, so that
they can lie fired red hot. Tie fort is now
garfisoned by twn mpanies, but If an at
tack were expecte |, "a much larger body OF
m n might be thrown IN. Besides the can
non. there are IA number of NOR ars-Snme of
them eight and ten inches IN bore. Shot and
shell are pilel round in great profusinn.
At the entrance of the fort are two old
Spanish bronze gurs. which passed with Cal
i!ornia into the hands Of the American GOV
ernment. They bear the fol owing inscrip-
ton:
Governando los Senores &c la real audi
encia de Lima. 16I3."
Which means
'.Undcr the government Of the Lords of
the Il val Court OF Lima 1913
Inside of the entrance are tso similar guns.
which were cast in Manila.
Fort Point, staining as it does on sharp
point of land. commands considerable more
than half circle with it, guns. M vessel
can enter the harbpr during daylight with
out being in sight from the time nf leaving
the ocean until she enters the inner bay
hides behind Angel Island. If Il vessel were
IL attempt to enter the harbor in defiance of
Fort Poiut. hy keeping cluse to the northern
shore of the Golden Gate, she would have to
run four miles from Point B inita to Point
Cavallos, and at no time would she he more
than two mites from the fort For adi>tnnce
of more than a mile she would lie within II
mile of the fort. and any large vessel ought
to be repeatedly struck where so many and
such heavy guns can he brought to bear on
her.. However. the proposed fertilization on
Lime Point will undoubtedly tend to give
greater security to the harbor. There is a
barbete battery on the hill above the fort.
and in case OF danger, extensive earthworks
would be made to prevent an attack on the
fort from the rear
ANGEL ISLAND.
The fortifcation on Angel Island is n sim
pie earthwork or harbette battery, at Point
knox, on he southwestern corner Of the is
I nd a. & l.,.t Il,
so as to command Raccoon Straits, the other
faces the south and commands part of the
passage north of Alcatraz. There are now
six 80 Founders in the barbette battery. and
three others much heavier. are soon to be nut
in place. Besides t.,ese, there are four other
32,paunders on heavy field carriages at the
wharf, and an earthwurk should lie construc-
ted for them. The work done at this place
is very simple, but there is room for srme five
guns. Tnere Isl good wharf at the landing,
and IA dozen large and comfortable houses dot
the little valley, which was formerly the site
of an Indian ranchera, as is shown by the
peculiar soil. made up partly of the fragmen'
of the shells of CLANS harnacleS and crabs.
The battery is called Camp Reynolds and is
two miles east Of Saucelito, about two miles
northwest from Al.aEraz, and three quarters
of mile from the northern shore of RaccOon
Straits.
ALCATRAZ.
Alcatraz Island is rock about quarter
of u mile long by two hundred yards wide
and one hundred and thirty feet high The
island is the property of the Government. AMI
is nothing but IL tnrtifcation. and it is sup.
posed TO he one of the strongest fnrtficati"ns
in the world. Barhelte batteries, prepared
for one hundred AMI eighty five guns. are
construcIe all round the island, and many
of the guns are already in position Tie ma
loriry of the guns are thirty-two and sixty
eight Founders; but there are some consid
erably larger, including two Union guns,
which have bore of fifteen inches. and throw
n ball of four hundred pounds. The wei .ht
of each is fifty thousand pounds. or twenty
five tons These are not yet in place, but one
of them coul be ready for use at a few days
notice.
The landing place at the northeastern cor
ner of the island could not be reached with
out running the gauntlet of half the guns on
the land, and after landing, hostile force
would have to march up Il narrow road III
the face of raking fire and if they could
defy that. they would soon iinl themselves
arrested by deep ditch. from which the
drawbrdge had been Withdrawn. They
might pass the ditch. and get up to the bat
terry. and succeed in driving away the gun.
ners but 1T they should think of using the
battery, they would find themselves under
the range of an intilading fire from stone
bomb prunf caSrnate built on purpose tn
meet an emergency. Aud even after taking
that c,>emate. the a~sailing force would still
not have The island for on ighcr level still
is the harrack building. which is strongly
balt of brick. surrounded by deep dit h
withdraw bridges. and has narrow windows
suitable for mu>keiry. The building com
pietely comm ,nds the upper plateau Of this
island, aud not one Of the heavy guns can be
used against it. Nature has given W nder-
ful advantages to the island for the purposes
OF fertilization. and art has increased them.
The distance from Alcatraz to Point San
Jose otherwise known aS Black Point. is
one mile; to Angel Island. two miles; I,
Point Cavallos tnear Sancelito) two miles
ana half; and to Fort Point, about four
miles
POINT SAN JOSE.
Point San jose. o berwise kaown rs Black
Point. has harhette battery, which makes
the fourth Of the forjiicaiions now mounted
to defend the harbar of Saa Francisco.
4 PRINCES FRALIc.-Abnut a year agh nj
P3tsdam, the Prince R,,yal had invited to