The San Francisco call., 1896-12-25
Huntington's Men Routed by the
Convincing Testimony of
Seamen.
Shippers Who Tell Where the Deep.
Sea Harbor Should Be
Located.

bly, executed by engineers Hood and Cor
thel OF the great corporation, +" is slowly
but surely falling to pieces before the
steady fire of the old salts who have testi-
fed here to-day in favor of San Pedro,
that favorite southern port of harbor and
refuge. The ground work of the Port Los
Angeles arguments was largely under
mined yesterday by shipmasters either
retained by the Southern Pacific Com
pany or in its service, who had been
brought here by Huntington's marine
managers. These old sea captains have a
way peculiarly their own. They told the
truth, the unpalatable truth to Hood and
CorthelI about the prevailing winds and
the dangerous ones at both San Pedro
and Santa Monica. and in doing so they
contradicted every Gland lubber'' who
had tod his tale of woe about the lawful
southeasters" at San Pedro. The Hunt
ington crowd apparently built their hopes
on being able to show that the southeast
winds were not only frequent but very
severe at the port of San Pedro. If this
theory were established, then of course a
very large black eye would be given to the
refuge feature of the San Pedro's preten-
sions of safety.
. in this attempt and in consequences they
are ct a great disadvantage in this con-
test, for the trite but caustic saw says that
"a liar is not to be believed even when
he tells the truth" The very air seemed
tainted with salt at the opening of the
session by the Hsrbor Commissioners this
forenoon, so numerous were the shippers
in the room. Years before the mast seems
to have clothed these old salts with a
sturdiness of manhood and an honesty of
purpose not observable in Huntingtons
army retained" in this fight. They had
few opinions to express. What they
testified to was the result of their own ex-
perience. San Pedro's friends had every
thing their own way to-day, and put up
an impregnsble fortress in front of their
fayorite port. Unlike the other side their
statements and conclusions tailed nicely
in every part.
After q brief additional statement by
Engineer Hargood of a technical nature
John 81. Hooper of San Francisco was IN
troduced. He read prepared communI-
cation sent down by large number of big
ieIloH-m erchsnts in favor OF San Pedro,
for commercial and other purposes. The
statement represented, Hooper said, 70
per cent of all the sailing vessel owners in
California. Twenty-Five feet of water, the
speaker said, will easily accommodate the
best part of the shipping nowadays, and
18K feet draught carries 1000, 900 feet of
lum Der. His and the firms in the petition
filed have for years been landing at San
Pedro in preference to Santa Monica.
Santa Monica, he said, can never be made
q commercial hsrbor. Its location is bad
and its facilities worse. He could not
transact his business at all If he had to do
1t at Santa Monica. Ten million feet of
lumber could not construct for him a
proper sort OF wharf. If he had to have
yards inland it would increase the cost of
lumber about 81 so per thousand feet, or
from $50 600 TO $50, 600 year, for his firm
alone. Facilities as they exist for yards
and mills at San Pedro cannot be con-
structed in Santa Monica.
The Santa Monicaites, when they could
not get from the unpleasant truth that
the dangerous winds are from the ''sou-
sou'-west," then argued that Santa Cata-
lima Island afforded no protection to San
Pedro at all. This was completely de-
molished by q rare old skipper. by the
name of Polhemus, now employed at San
Diego. He had been a pilot at Whining
ton and sailor and skipper off San Pedro
and also Santa Monica for thirty-six years.
Pointing to a map of both harhors fur
nfshed by the Southern Pacific Captain
Pohemus made the startling statement
that it was misleading in that San Pedro
Is really at present protected from the
winds from the east and southeast. The
captain declined positively to have any
thing to do with the private map. He
told all about southeasters at San Pedro,
their birth and death, their ramifcations
and general pIayfulness. The captains
references to things marine were character
istio is the extreme and provoked great
laughter, and that misleading map kept
staring the captain in the face, much to
his diseomforture. He told funny story
of a German captain who ran ashore be-
cause she was insured, and said that if
there was a breakwater at both Santa
Monica and San Pedro and he was in
charge of a ship close by he would soon
try to hunt the open ocean.
The captain in 1860 went to San Pedro
dn charge of the tugs and lighters there.
During the first four years he found only
two feet of water at low tide in the inner
In6 bdnQb WOAiA OhOAO up VIC
channel off Deadmans Island and shift it
nearly every one and half years. The
drift of the sand was With the contour OF
tine coast line and TO the eastward. The
captain commented on the fact that when
the padre mariners years ago settled in
this vicinity they preferred San Pedro to
santa Monica as landing.
President Colin Stewart of the Pasadena
Board of Trade presented series of reso-
Iutions adopted by the board In favor OF
San Pedro.
Captain D. W. Weldt, San Pedro port
pilot, with fifteen years experience there,
was the next witness. His testimony was
that some eighteen years ago he had be-
gun investigating currents at San Pedro,
and he was convinced that in nine hours
out of ten the fow was toward the north
and east. The reef off Point Firmin is
protection to the anchorage. He would,
if there were breakwater at both santa
Monica and San Pedro, in storm, choose
in, oaaa nf 0afA there being |