Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in January 1934. The hospital facilities were checked by three officials from the Marine Hospital of San Francisco. The Bureau of Prisons personnel arrived on Alcatraz in early February; among them was Loring O. Mills, acting chief clerk. In April 1934, the old material was removed from the prison, holes were cut in the concrete and 269 cell fronts were installed, built using four carloads of steel ordered from the Stewart Iron Works. A legend at the works is that a shipment of cells and iron accidentally fell into San Francisco Bay during transportation from San Francisco Dock to Alcatraz
Occupation of Alcatraz Movement noted from their visit to the occupation that the demonstration garnered national attention, while those involved faced no punitive action. When AIM members seized the Mayflower II on Thanksgiving, 1970, the Occupation of Alcatraz was noted as "the symbol of a newly awakened desire among Indians for unity and authority in a white world." The occupation of Alcatraz Island served as a strong symbol and uniting force for indigenous peoples everywhere because of the importance the island held in their ancestors' lives. Indians traveled to Alcatraz about 10,000 years before the Europeans even entered the Bay area. Over the