The herald., 1897-11-11
LONG REPORT SENT EAST
APPROVED AT THE DIRECTORS
MEETING YESTERDAY
Invitations Received From Pasadena
and Pomona-Assistance Asked
for Dawson-New Members


at s:15 with the following present:
Messrs. Bluett, Forman, Croft, Klokke,
Newberry, Patterson, Story, Waters,
Willard. President Forman occupied
the chair.
Director Patterson, chairman of the
committee on commerce, reported as fol-
lows:
LOS ANGELES, Cal, Nov 5, 1897.
To the Directors of the Chamber of Com
merce-Gentlemen The committee on COM
merce, to whom was referred the special
consideration of an editorial which APP
!. peared some weeks ago in the New York
Times, respectfully report, advising the
president of the chamber of commerce to
send to that paper a communication in sub
stance as follows:
Charles r. Miller, Esq. Editor of the
New York Times, New York City. n. Y -
Dear Sir: The following editorial was pub
lished in your paper of Oct. 9Th:
SAN DIEGO AND SAN PEDRO BAYS
San Diego is much exercised over the
proposal to appropriate 81, 900, 600 of the ma
tional fund for the construction OF a deep
water harbor at San Pedro. The argu-
ments are direct and cogent and unless
there is some good argument on the other
side-which does not appear-they ought
to be convinced. San Diego has 4 large
and splendid harbor for the accommoda- :
tion of deep-draft vessels. This might not
be good argument If the proposed harbor
at San Pedro were at distant point, but
1t is only eighty miles from San Diego:
1t looks as if So, 10000 were to be expended
simply for the benefit of interested per
sons and not for the general good. San
Diego bay has a good entrance, with
twenty-three feet of depth over the bar at
low water, and vessels drawing twenty
seven feet Uhe draft of the cruiser New
York;, enter in perfect safety and find
plenty of water and good holding ground
Inside. There are four thousand acres of
anchorage room, and the bay is the winter
rendezvous of the Pacific squadron and
the coaling station for the English war
ships. The government has begun to for
tify San Diego bay, and the people urge
that the expenditure of the sum of $780,
900 would make it one of the strongest
harbors in the world. The Atchison has
its terminals at San Diego, and there are
abundant means of communication. The
claims of San Pedro are pushed by Los
Angeles, which is only twenty-five miles
away. San Diego. however, protests that
the demands of Los Angeles are local and
not representative of the general desire of
Southern California. Commercial inter-
ests have decided in favor of San Diego.
In the current year up to the month Of
June. H131 tons of shipping went to San
Diego. while 5000 went to San Pedro.
Vessels in distress would never seek
refuge in San Pedro. 1t seems that
the people of San Diego have good
arguments to support their claims. a
breakwater would have to be built to make
San Pedro harbor a good one. Nature
makes much better harbors than man and
at very small cost. The best policy for
the government to pursue is to improve and
fortify its natural harbors and not so out
of its way to create artificial ones.
The Los Angeles chamber of commerce,
an organization of this city, with men,
bership of one thousand representative
citizens of Los Angeles and Southern CAL
ifornia, has instructed me to forward to
you the following brief statement of the
facts bearing upon the matters treated of
In the foregoing editorial. with the re-
quest that you will kindly give the facts
herein stated the same publicity. in your
influential and widely read paper, as was
given the editorial above copied. which we
believe we can show you does an injustice
to large and important section of our
country.
REASONS WHY NOT
First-San Diego has a good harbor
which will safely accommodate vessels of
twenty-three feet draft, but the topograph-
ical character of the country surrounding
that city is such that 1t is practically i'm
possible to construct a railroad directly
from that city to the east on grades favor
able to doing a large commerce. 1t is a
fact that the Atchison company. which, as
is stated in your editorial now has its
terminus at San Diego, finds itself consid-
erably Handicapped by heavy grades upon
its San Diego line, and that that corpora
tion recognizes the necessity of another
harbor for Southern California is proba-
bly, best shown by the fact that 1t has been
and is q warm advocate of the construction
by the government of the proposed harbor
at San Pedro, to which the Atchison COM
L. l, Il,
secure a terminus by building a very few
miles of additional track
Second-The demands of Los Angeles in
relation to the deep-water harbor at San
Pedro are not local. but are representative
of the general desire of the people of
Southern California. which is probably best
shown by the fact that the boards of trade
chambers of commerce and boards of SUI
pervisors of every county composing
Southern California, save San Diego coun-
ty. have at different times filed petitions
with congress asking for the construction
of the proposed harbor at San Pedro.
That it is an Improvement affecting
much larger portion of the nation than
Southern California is shown by the fol-
lowing quotation, among other things. from
the report of the board of engineers of the
United States government appointed in
1892 to report upon the necessity for ana
select the site of a deep-water harbor for
Southern California. This report was
signed by Colonel, afterward General,
William P. Craghill, Lieut.. Henry NJ.
Robert, Lieut.-Col. Peter c. Haines, Major
c. w. Raymond and Major Thomas II.
Handbury. AS to the national Importance
of the proposed harbor at San Pedro. this
board on page of its report Executive
document. No. Al, Fifty-second congress,
second SESSION. says:
THE ENGINEERS REPORT
By far the most important aspect of this
subject. however. is its relation of the
probably future development of the deep
the Asiatic trade has naturally gone to
San Francisco. but it has been pointed
out that the construction of the Canadian
and Northern Pacific railways has intro
duced two competitors for the overland
transportation of the Asiatic commerce.
Two through lines, the Southern Pacific
and the Santa Fe systems, cross the con-
tinent from Los Angeles at much lower
elevations than the northern lines and
also connect the Pacific with the Gulf
of Mexico, and their operation is
never obstructed by snow or ice.
If a safe. accessible and convenient
harbor for deep-draft vessels existed on
The southern coast these would appear The
most favorable lines for the transporta-
ton of Asiatic and Australian commerce
Should the Nicaragua canal be completed
the importance of the proposed harbor will
become still greater. AT the present time
the most convenient course for sailing ves-
sells coming around the Horn is to go into
the mid-Pacific and strike the trade winds
to make the port of San Francisco. With
the completion of the canal commerce
will be principally transported by steam