RON HENGGELER

November 19, 2006
The Farallone Islands from Twin Peaks

The Farallones
The Farallon (or Farallone) Islands, 32 miles west of the Golden Gate, are a group of seven islands visible to San Franciscans on a clear day. They are within the city limits.
The islands were sighted by Cabrillo on November 16, 1542, followed by Francis Drake in 1579. Drake was the first to land on the islands and named them “The Islands of Saint James”.
Sebastian Vizcaino in 1603 called the islands “Los Frailes,” and Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra in 1775 gave them the name “Los Farallones de los Frayles.” (Los Farallones comes from the Spanish word meaning “cliff or small pointed island in the sea.”)
The gathering of murre eggs for table consumption brought early Russian settlers to the islands during the years 1812-1841. Later the Americans, too, consumed large quantities of eggs taken from the islands until the government banned all egg gathering in 1897. The Farallones became a Federal Bird Reserve February 27, 1907, by Theodore Roosevelt’s Executive Order No. 1043.
SAN FRANCISCO ALMANAC by Gladys Hansen 1995 Chronicle Books

The photograph was taken at sunset from the top of Twin Peaks. The Farallone Islands appear on the horizon to the far right.

 

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