Alcatraz Island Lighthouse to earthquake in 1906. The automation of the lighthouse with a modern beacon took place in 1963, the year Alcatraz closed as the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. It is the oldest light station on the island with a modern beacon and is part of the museum on the island. Although when viewed from afar it easily looks the tallest structure on Alcatraz, it is actually shorter than the Alcatraz Water Tower, but as it lies on higher ground it looks much taller. Even though the Native Indians of the San Francisco area are stated to be the original settlers on the
June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt to death by guards because he wouldn't help investigators locate his brothers. A 2014 study of the ocean currents by scientists at Delft University and the research institute Deltares indicates that if the prisoners left Alcatraz at 11:30 pm on June 11, they could have made it to Horseshoe Bay just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and that any debris that were released into the bay would have floated into the direction of Angel Island, consistent with where the paddle and belongings of the prisoners' was actually found. A 2015 History Channel documentary presented further circumstantial evidence gathered over