Sunny view trees above Fort Baker to coastal batteries and San Francisco Bay fog from Golden Gate Vista Point, San Francisco
Blue sky view, across waters of San Francisco Bay and advection fog cloud, from footpath from Golden Gate Vista Point to Alexander Avenue, Bunker Road and Fort Baker. Beyond the wooded valley, overlooking the waters of the Bay, stand the concrete gun emplacements of the Endicott-era Battery Yates, built in 1903 at a cost of $ 41,407, to the east of Fort Baker, and named after Captain George W. Yates, killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. It was transferred to the Coast Artillery in June 1905 and de-activated in 1943. Battery Yates had six gun emplacements , each with a 3-inch M1902l rapid fire gun, and each having its own magazine. The guns used complete cartridges and ammunition was stored that way to support the rapid fire of the guns. For short periods, the guns could fire 2--30 rounds per minute. To the left of Battery Yates is the older, post-Civil War earthworks fortification, with underground magazines, of Battery Cavallo, built 1872-1876. Earthwork batteries replaced brick Civil War era forts such as that at North Point, at the southern end of the Golden Gate Straights. The bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbour, in 1861, made brick forts obsolete. By the 1890s, the US War Department was concerned about the state of the country's seacoast fortifications and made recommendations to modernise and re-arm all existing sea-ports. The 'Endicott Board', named after Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, ranked San Francisco as the most important harbour defence on the Pacific Coast. Fort Baker was built between 1902 and 1910 to house the soldiers at eight new 'Endicott' batteries on the north side of the Golden Gate Strait. In contrast to the dark, cramped and often infested 19th century frontier barracks, those at Fort Baker were large, well ventilated, having clean, running water and modern indoor toilet facilities.
Size: 4221px × 2814px
Location: Footpath to Alexander Avenue from Vista Point, north end Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, USA
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: advection, architecture, army, baker, batteries, battery, bay, blue, buildings, california, car-parks, cavallo, clouds, coast, coastal, colonial-revival, endicott-era, fog, fort, francisco, grass, green, grey, ground, historical, parade, post, san, sky, tourism, tourists, trees, usa, valley, view, yates
