By Robert L. Harrison and Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
This report is a lightly edited excerpt from an essay by Bob Harrison for the Anne T. Kent California Room:
Many in Marin are not aware of the name Lime Point, a significant feature of the Marin headlands made less conspicuous today by the presence of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Point is that bit of land framing the north side of the passage through the Golden Gate. Together with its counterpart to the south, Fort Point in San Francisco, it forms the doorway to one of the world’s great harbors. Lime Point was for many years intended to be a key player in the protection of San Francisco Bay. But in recent years that once prominent point of land has become almost invisible.
We have previously described how Golden Gate was named by John C. Fremont in 1848. How Lime Point emerged as a name is less clear. Jose de Canizares in 1776 drew the first map to identify the point. Canizares was the sailing master under Captain Juan Manuel de Ayala of the Spanish ship San Carlos, the first European vessel to enter San Francisco Bay. On his Plan del Gran Puerto de San Francisco Canizares named the northerly edge of the entry to the Bay as the Punta de San Carlos. Lime Point was named Punta de Santiago on later Spanish maps. The Spanish maps made no reference to limes or limestone.
PHOTO © ROBERT L. HARRISON
Lime Point Fog Signal Building in background; the Needles rock formation in left foreground
The first mention of lime appears on a map based on the surveys of San Francisco Bay by Capt. F. W. Beechey of the Royal Navy. In his 1831 Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific Beechey described the entrance to the Bay, “The port of San Francisco does not show itself to advantage until after the fort [Point] is passed, when it breaks upon the view, and forcibly impresses the spectator with magnificence of the harbor.”
The map entitled The Entrance of San Francisco Harbor, based on Beechey’s 1828 survey, identifies the point of land forming the north edge of the Bay’s entrance as Lime Rocks. The English surveyors of the Bay, it seems, believed the rocks that formed this point were of the same white chalk limestone that forms the cliffs of their island nation. Lime Point in fact, often covered in white bird droppings, is dark in color and mostly composed of pillow basalt. Over time Lime Rocks on Beechey’s map became Lime Rock Point. In future references to this most significant segment of the Marin headlands it became simply Lime Point.
President Millard Fillmore established the Lime Point Military Reservation in 1850. In 1853 Congress gave further recognition to the importance of Lime Point by designating it as one of the three locations to be fortified for the defense of San Francisco Bay. A congressional action provided $500,000 to fortify Alcatraz Island, Fort Point and Lime Point.
The government did not own the land at Lime Point in 1853. The debate and court challenges over the purchase of Lime Point dragged on for over ten years and became known by some as the Lime Point swindle. From the Sacramento Daily Union of August 1, 1866: “Lime Point has been at last purchased by the United States. It is rumored that the price paid is $165,000.”
Finally, in 1867 work began on the long promised fortifications for Lime Point. The largest blasting operation in the country was used to create a level site for the proposed multi-tiered casemate fort. However, the work was stopped almost before it began due the expiration of funds. By 1876 a series of smaller batteries located near Lime Point were completed at Gravelly Beach (today’s Kirby Cove), Point Cavallo and on the bluff above the Point.
Heavy fogs that blinded ships attempting to enter the Bay made clear the need for a fog signal at the Point. Of particular note was the wreck of the steamship Costa Rica in September 1873. Headlines in the Daily Alta California read: “The ‘Costa Rica’ Ashore. A Magnificent Steamer Wrecked for the Lack of a Few Barrels of Water. The Vessel Runs on Lime Point While Seeking for the Fog Whistle.” Unfortunately, the steam powered fog siren, recently installed at Point Bonita, was inoperative because no fresh water was available to make steam. It seems the system was dependent on rainfall and by September of 1873 its cisterns were empty. The Costa Rica was heavily damaged but fortunately the incident caused no loss of life and most of the cargo was eventually salvaged.
In September 1883 twin twelve-inch steam fog whistles, powered by coal fired burners, were placed in operation at Lime Point. A reliable fresh water supply was constructed from springs near the top of the bluff, some 1,800 feet from the fog station. In 1902 the system was converted from the coal to more efficient and less polluting oil.
Lime Point Station was automated in 1961 and all structures except the decaying fog signal building were removed. Since the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937, the location just east of the base of the Bridge’s north tower goes mostly unnoticed. It has been largely obscured by the great structure above.