San Francisco Bay · CA
Farallon Islands
Thirty miles out the Golden Gate, and closed to all but the birds.
- Distance
- About 30 miles from the Golden Gate
- Refuge
- 1909
- Egg War
- 1863
Then
- 1579
Francis Drake lands to collect seal meat and eggs.
- 1812–1840
A Russian sealing station takes thousands of fur seals.
- 1863
Rival egg companies clash in the "Egg War," which leaves two men dead.
- 1909
Theodore Roosevelt sets the islands aside as a bird reservation.
Now
The Farallones hold the largest seabird colony in the US outside Alaska and Hawaii, and white sharks come to hunt the seals. Only researchers live on Southeast Farallon, which is part of the City and County of San Francisco.