The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-07
SECTION THREE

road Salt Lake VIII be on the =
= transcontinentsI highway, over =
? which viii pass the trade Of the =
= United States with the teeming ?
Orient. What benefits in popula- 2
= ton and wealth thia viii bring 70 ?
= salt Lake only tn future as II =
= un1Olds its secrets can disclose
For decades the construction Of ,
deep sea harbor near Los Ange- =
? les and the building of railroad .
= direct to salt Lake city have been 2
= dreamed Of and fought for. In ,
= the pathway stood a huge OBJ +
= stacle, which for many years was ?
y unsurmOUnta ble-the bitter oppo- >
? sitiOn Of c. p Huntington and the ,
Southern Pacific railroad The =
= building of this railroad meant >
breaking of the Southern Pacific =
monopoly in California. The con- >
. strUCtiOn Of a deep sea hdTbOT at =
- san Pedro meant the founding of =
= an open port which could not be =
y controlled by that formidable or =
= ganiZatiOn. The battle ragged =
= fieTcely. on the field of finance, =
= in the halls of the legislature, in =
= congress. and even in physical con =
f1iCt on the right Of way i, was ?
y fought. At last the people OF Los g
= Angeles. backed by the public p
y sentiment of the nation, won their =
= free harbor fight Then Senator =
= quered IN the railroad field. Diff >
> ferences were smoOthsd away. and =
y now the harbOr is half constructed, ,
= and the railroad viii be pushed TO =
= completion with all possible speed =
The story in its details is fun of >
= dramatic and human interest
,A%AAAAAA = - =
7 ONG ere that iH-assorted band OF
colonists ascended the James river
and founded jamestown in the
heart of the Virginia wilderness, and
eighty eight years before the stern
hearted. stif-necked. devout Puritars
landed on Plymouth rock to heW out
an abode for free worship of God and
for civilization, white men had sailed
into the harbOr Of san Pedro
CabrilO, one of those fearless and
adventurous sea captains who carried
the Spanish flag into the far corners of
the earth and added rich dominion t.
the ancient monarchy until she was
the weaIthiest and most powerful on
all the earth. sailed into this port in
1872 just thirty-siX years after the
death of Columbus. He carried the
ccIors- of the celebrated Emperor
Charles Y. When the squalid Indians
for they were not noble redskins" in
those parts-saw a strange, winged
thing flying in from the sea. they set
fire to the grass of the plains to pro-
pitiate the Great Spirit Captain Ca
briIlO saw the great clouds of smoke
Overhanging the land. and named the
inlet Bahia de los HumOs OF the Bay
of Smokes.
De Soto at that time was making his
tOilsOme bloody way up the Father Of
Waters. Henry VIII ruled and welded
~ England. There was no New York,
a0r even a New Amsterdam, for sixty
seven years elapsed before Hendrix
Hudson blundered on Manhattan ISL
and and ascended the river which flows
past the present metropolis of the
greatest nation in the world.
Naming of the Harbor.
The name San Pedro was given the
harbor in 1903. Captain ViscainO, an
other Spanish explorer. having wealth
cred the furious and nCful winds about
Cape Horn and sxirted the South Amer
lean coast put for the Bahia de los
Humos that CabrillO had marked on
the navigators' maps. It was on Nov
2S. St Peters day, that his ship
reached the haven. and consequently he
gave the port the name of san Pedro,
the Spanish nomenclature of the saint
The harbOr was visited AZ intervals
subsequently by wandering craft
but il was not until the latter part
Of the eighteenth century that 1t be-
that period the Franciscan fathers
founded their chain Of missions in
southern California. The mission ~
san Gabriel was founded thirty miles
70 the northward. and the Pueblo de
Los Angeles a dozen miles lnland'
These settlements grew rapidly Soon
fhev began TO have great quantities OF
hides and taIIow to export. receiving in
return supplies of all kinds from the
New England trading vessels which
sought out every chance for bargain
and the port of san Pedro became the
gateway for this traffic
Richard Henry Dana, when a sailor
on board the brig Pilgrim, visited the
barbor in 1925. In Two Years Be
fore the Mast ne thus describes
the scene on the arrival Of -
trading vessel -
I learned to my surprise y 4
that this desOlate looking y =
place furnished more
hides than any port on -
the coast. 1t was the ~
only port for a dis ~
tance OF eighty ~
miles and about ~
thirty miles in ~