12 - Water Tower

WAYSIDE LAYOUT: Cream colored, vertically oriented panel with a dark banner running across the top. The banner reads “Golden Gate National Recreation Area” on the left and the National Park Service logo on the right. The panel with two columns. The first column has text, then two pictures, one above the other. The second column has a picture with text and a large photo below it.  

FIRST COLUMN:  

TEXT: Not Just a Water Tower: A Message to the World. The Alcatraz water tower is one of the most visible landmarks in San Francisco Bay. As such, it was an ideal place for American Indians who occupied the island to broadcast their message of “peace and freedom” to the world. Standing on each other’s shoulders to paint the letters, they staked their claim to the land.  

The 19-month protest from 1969 to 1971 became the longest occupation of Federal land in the US history, and is credited with launching a national American Indian civil rights movement. When the National Park Service (NPS) restored the water tower in 2012, original occupiers and family members were invited to repaint the historic message. The NPS continues to work with the occupiers to restore their inscriptions around the island.  

DESCRIPTION #1: Colored photograph of NPS staff and original occupiers atop the water tower.  

DESCRIPTION #2: Colored photograph of some of the original occupiers talking. Above them, in the background, is the water tower with the restored messages visible. 

CAPTION: Park staff and original occupiers and family members participating in repainting the water tower messages after its restoration in 2012.  

SECOND COLUMN:  

DESCRIPTION: Black and white photograph of Alcatraz Island from the water, with the Water tower visible on the left side and buildings to the right and below it.  

TEXT: History of the Water Tower: When the US military transferred Alcatraz to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 1934, the BOP signed a contract to provide laundry service for Bay Area army bases. With no fresh water source on the island, large volumes of water were transported for drinking, fire suppression, and the prison laundry. Installed in 1940, the water tower stored 250,000 gallons (950,000 liters) of fresh water brought by boat twice weekly. Today the island uses approximately 1500 gallons of water a day that is stored in a nearby cistern.  

DESCRIPTION: Black and white close-up photograph of the reinstated messages on the water tower. Message reads, “Peace and freedom welcome – home of the free – Indian Land”.  

CAPTION: Water tower with messages in 1965.