Angel Island (California)

Battery Ledyard, near Point Knox, was active between 1899 and 1915.

In the later 19th century, the army designated the entire island as "Fort McDowell" and developed further facilities there, including what is now called the East Garrison or Fort McDowell. A quarantine station was opened in Ayala Cove (which at the time was known as Hospital Cove) in 1891. During the Spanish–American War the island served as a discharge depot for returning troops. It continued to serve as a transit station throughout the first half of the 20th century, with troops engaged in World War I embarking and returning there. At the end of World War I the disembarkation center was commanded by William P. Burnham, who had commanded the 82nd Division in France during the war.

In 1938, hearings concerning charges of membership in the Communist political party against labor leader Harry Bridges were held on Angel Island before Dean James Landis of Harvard Law School. After eleven weeks of testimony that filled nearly 8,500 pages, Landis found in favor of Bridges. The decision was accepted by the United States Department of Labor and Bridges was freed.[13]

During World War II the need for troops in the Pacific far exceeded prior needs. The facilities on Angel Island were expanded and further processing was done at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Prior to the war the infrastructure had been expanded, including building the Army ferry USAT General Frank M. Coxe, which transported troops to and from Angel Island on a regular schedule. Fort McDowell was used as a detention station for Japanese, German and Italian immigrant residents of Hawaii arrested as potential fifth columnists (despite a lack of supporting evidence or access to due process).[14] These internees were later transferred to inland Department of Justice and Army camps. Japanese and German prisoners of war were also held on the island, supplanting immigration needs, which were curtailed during the war years.

The army decommissioned the military post in 1947. In 1954 a Nike missile station was installed on the island.[15] The missile magazines were constructed above Point Blunt on the island's southeast corner, and the top of Mount Ida (now Mount Caroline Livermore) was flattened to make way for a helipad and the associated radar and tracking station (IFC). The missiles were removed in 1962, when the military left the island. The missile launch pad still exists, but the station atop Mount Caroline Livermore was restored to its original contours in 2006.[16]

Government building on Angel Island

The bubonic plague posed such a threat to the U.S. that Angel Island opened as a quarantine station in 1891 to screen Asian passengers and their baggage prior to landing on U.S. soil.[17] The construction of this federally funded quarantine station was completed in 1890 at a cost of approximately $98,000.[18] The compound contained many separate buildings including detention barracks, disinfection facilities, convalescence quarters, and an isolation hospital that was known as the "leper's house".[18] Even with the new construction, the facilities were lacking in cleanliness, staffing and adequate space.[19]

In response to the death of Wong Chut King, a Chinese immigrant who worked in a rat-infested lumberyard in Chinatown, the San Francisco Health Board quickly quarantined the local area to neutralize possible disease-causing agents.[17] Persons suspected of having any contact with this sickness were sent to isolation facilities.[17] After more deaths, tissue samples were sent to Angel Island for testing to determine if they harbored Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for spreading the bubonic plague. At this time, the plague was difficult to diagnose due to other diseases which could mask the presence of plague.[17] The culture was tested on animals for four days, and Y. pestis was confirmed. Bacteriologist Joseph J. Kinyoun, who was stationed at Angel Island in 1899, believed that the plague would spread throughout San Francisco's Chinatown.[17][20]

Camp Reynolds (West Garrison) on Angel Island.

The construction of the Angel Island immigration station began in 1905 but was not used until 1910.[21] This zone was known as China Cove. It was built for controlling Chinese entry into the United States.[22] From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island served as an immigration station processing immigrants from 84 different countries, approximately one million being Chinese immigrants.[22] The purpose of the immigration station was to investigate Chinese who had been denied entry from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Immigrants had to prove that they had husbands or fathers who were U.S. citizens in order not to be deported.[23]

The immigration station at Angel Island was predominantly used to inspect, disinfect, and detain Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian immigrants who sailed across the Pacific Ocean.[19] In addition to standard medical examinations, Chinese immigrants were inspected for parasitic diseases, and the tests for intestinal parasites required a stool specimen.[19] Immigrants described the examination and disinfection process as brutal, humiliating, and indecent.[17] Passengers who were found to be sick were sent to the hospital on the island until they could pass a medical examination and an immigration hearing.[18] Investigation processes determined the length of time an immigrant would stay at the station[24] and Chinese immigrants could be detained for a period as short as two weeks to as long as two years.[25] A person's racial identity and social class determined the intensity of the examination imposed, resulting in fewer white Europeans and American citizens being subjected to the inspections.[19]

A fire destroyed the administration building in 1940, and subsequent immigration processing took place in San Francisco. On November fifth of 1940, the last gathering of around 200 immigrants, including around 150 Chinese, were exchanged from Angel Island to brief quarters in San Francisco.[22]

In 1964, the Chinese American community successfully lobbied the State of California to designate the immigration station as a State Landmark. Today, the Angel Island Immigration Station is a federally designated National Historic Landmark. It was renovated by the California State Parks, which re-opened February 16, 2009. Docent tours for school groups can be made by appointment.

The island's native plant communities include coastal grassland and coastal scrub, mostly on the island's south- and west-facing slopes and ridge tops, and evergreen woodland – predominantly of Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), bay (Umbellularia californica), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), and madrone (Arbutus menziesii), with California Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) and Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) in the understory – on the eastern and northern portions of the island sheltered from the westerly winds from the Golden Gate.[26]

It is thought that the Coast Miwoks used regular fires to expand the grassland and shrublands at the expense of the woodlands. The grasslands and shrublands provided edible seeds and bulbs, and supported larger numbers of deer and small game.[26]

The Angel Island Mole, Scapanus latimanus insularis, is a subspecies of broad-footed mole endemic to Angel Island.[27]

The military had planted 24 acres of Bluegum Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) on the island for windbreaks, beautification, timber, and erosion control. By the mid-1980s, the area covered by eucalyptus had expanded to 86 acres. In the 1980s, California State Parks undertook environmental studies to remove most of the Eucalyptus from the island, in order to restore native flora and reduce fire danger. The proposal generated controversy and received much local media coverage, and was approved to begin in 1990. Eucalyptus were removed from 80 acres between 1990 and 1997, and nursery-grown native plants were planted in the cleared areas. Six acres of historically significant eucalyptus trees were retained.[28]

As elsewhere in California, intensive cattle grazing in the 19th Century allowed annual grasses introduced from Southern Europe to replace the native perennial grasses.[26] Ongoing removal of non-native plants, including French broom (Genista monspessulana), Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) and Ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis), continues in an effort to restore the original evergreen woodland, perennial grassland, and coastal scrub plant communities.[28]

In addition to the eucalyptus, plantings from the military period of Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata), Cork Oak (Quercus suber), Australian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis), Century Plant (Agave americana), Japanese Redwood (Cryptomeria japonica), Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara), Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla), Monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) and others can be found in and around the former military bases and immigration station.[26]

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were reintroduced to the island by the army in 1915 for hunting. In the absence of predators, the deer population expanded and overgrazed the island. The deer population is now managed annually by California State Parks and the Department of Fish and Game.[29]

In 2002, the summit of Mount Caroline Livermore, which had been flattened in the 1950s to build the Nike missile radar and tracking installation, was re-contoured to resemble its original appearance, and increased 16 feet in height as a result. The access road up the west side of the mountain was removed, and replaced with a winding trail up the east side.[30]

The fire at about 7 a.m. on October 13, 2008

A helicopter, faintly visible amid smoke near center of image, drops water on the wildfire in the morning on October 13, 2008.

Fireboat Liberty deploys her watercannon on an otherwise inaccessible shoreline fire, on October 12, 2008.[31]

On October 12, 2008 at approximately 9 p.m. PDT, a fire visible from all around the San Francisco Bay broke out on the island and spread to an estimated 100 acres (40 ha) within an hour.[32] By 8 a.m. the next morning, the fire had scorched 250 acres (100 ha) – a third of the island – and was 20 percent contained.

Firefighters run around from the mainland and helicopters dropped water and fire retardants to protect the historical buildings and extinguish the fire that was fully contained by October 14, 2008 at approximately 7 p.m.[33] 380 of the island's 740 acres (300 ha) were burned in the fire.[34] With the exception of one abandoned water tank, no structures were lost in the fire.[35]

Firefighting efforts were coordinated from the USCGC Sockeye.[36]

In portions of the evergreen woodlands, the fire burned through quickly, consuming the understory, but leaving the trees mostly undamaged.[35] The fire burned several stands of Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata) originally planted by the U.S. Army, which will be restored to native evergreen woodlands.[29]

Prior fires include one in 2005 that burned 25 acres (10 ha), and a smaller 2–3-acre blaze in 2004.[35]

Access to the island is by private boat or public ferry from San Francisco, Tiburon or Vallejo. The Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry operates daily from Tiburon to the island. During the off-season (October–March), all ferries run a reduced schedule. All fares include park admission. The California State Park Annual Day Use Pass can be used to pay day use dock fees for private boats, but it is not accepted from visitors coming via the public ferries.

Bicycles can be brought on the ferry or rented seasonally on land and used on the island's main roads. Electric scooters and Segways can also be rented. Due to the terrain, roller skates, roller blades, skateboards, kick scooters, and personal Segway scooters are prohibited.

Dogs (except service dogs) are not allowed.

Wood fires are prohibited. Charcoal fires are allowed, but charcoal is not available for purchase on the island.

There are 11 environmental campsites, including an ADA site, 9 numbered sites (each site accommodating up to 8 people), and a kayak-accessible group site (holds up to 20 people).

Night travel on the island is prohibited in some areas for reasons of park security and public safety.

Metal detectors, while allowed, are not recommended, because digging or disturbing the soil or ground in the park is prohibited.

Angel Island is served by PG&E via two 12 kV undersea cables which cross Raccoon Strait from Tiburon.[37] As of mid-2015, peak electrical load is approximately 100 kW.[37] One cable is out of service and the other is deteriorating.[37] Instead of replacing the cables, PG&E is investigating using the island for a distributed energy resources microgrid pilot project.[37]