Bonito, are three 16-inch rifles
mounted in a similar way. The second pneumatic terror is also at this
point, commanding the entrance to the Gate. Point Diablo is fortified
with three 12-inch and two 10-inch rifles on disappearing carriages, and
Lime Point will defend the harbor with four 10-inch rifles mounted in
the same way. The outer harbor seaward of Fort Point and Point Diablo
has been well mined, making it impossible for a vessel to enter in
safety even though she had escaped the tons of steel hurled at her. The
cables from the mines are led to a central station on the bluffs back of
Fort Point. If by chance the enemy's ships should ride over this hidden
explosive, the simple pressure of a key in this station would send them
all to destruction. At the mine station are two observers, who, by an
instrument similar to a range finder, discover from time to time the
position of the enemy on their chart. When the unlucky vessel is over a
mine the key is pressed.

On Sutro Heights is a heavily armored tower, the inside of which to an
inexperienced eye would appear like a central telephone station. It is
the General's headquarters in action. From here he and his staff will
direct and control the battle. This is the brain of the intricate
fortifications. The nerves run to every battery and central station,
making it but the work of a minute to transmit orders to any point.
Before another half-hour has slipped away everything is activity within
the forts. The wires from the General's tower are busy with the many
orders transmitted.

Actual hostilities began months ago in the East, but as yet have not
laid their cruel hand on the Pacific slope. New York has been the scene
of most of the strife.

While the army has been making the Golden Gate a fortress, the navy has
not been idle. All the fighting ships on the coast have been collected,
and the work on the new ones so expedited that a formidable fleet has
been massed in the harbor. The _Oregon_, the only first-class
battle-ship of the West, cleared for action, the Admiral's blue flag
flying at her truck, is lying behind Alcatraz Island; made fast to the
different mooring-buoys by slip-ropes is the rest of the Pacific fleet.
The _Monterey_, low and formidable, is nearest the island, barely
distinguishable against the dark land; her heavily armored turrets,
bristling each with two great 12-inch rifles, are a menace to any
battle-ship. The _Monadnock_, a double-turreted ve