Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-20
WHOLE HARBOR
AT SAN PEDRO
is INSPECTED
FRIES SHOWS POSSIBILITIES
OF DEVELOPMENT
MEMBERS OF BOARD OF TRADE
ARE SURPRISED
Consolidation Committee Glad to Get
Opinions of Engineers on Proposed
improvements to inner and
Outer Bays
Especial to The Herald.l


San Pedro board of trade made an In
spection of the whole harbor here to-
day. ID. T.. Hughes, Capt. Fries as
sistant, was in the party and eXhlplteo
maps of both the outer and inner mar
Dor development and government har-
Dor lines. The local committee was
Richard Quinn, NJ. l.. Campbell, II. w:
Armour, August Sederlund, o. c. ABB
bott, r, Treiehel, Alexander Muhlberg,
w. ID. Birchfield, John M. Keagy ana
Secretary %. D. Seward.
The party took the government
launch at Fifth street at $3.50 O'Clock
this morning and proceeded Immediate
ly to Long Beach by way of the inner
harbor 1t was mean high tide ana nc
difficulty was experienced In gettlne
through the narrow and shallow chan
mel beyond wilmington.
At the Craig shipbuilding plant the
party was taken through the WORKS py
Manager Craig. After the buildings
had been visited the new $65,00O tug
which is being built for the western
Pacific railroad at San francisco, was
Inspected, as was the first section OF
the big S50-foot dry dock which is being
built by the Craigs.
Inspect DraWbridge
After leaving Long Beach the launcn
took the party to the 1S0-foot Scherzer
rolIing-lift drawbridge recently com
pleted by the Salt Lake Railroad com
pany. on the return trip through tue
Cerritos slough the launch passed into
the east turning basin, running alohs
its northern and eastern edge to the
slim which the Consolidated LumpeI
company Is dredging up to its yard
near Wilmington. The location OF tne
proposed' municipal wharves OF the city
of Wilmington were pointed out. Pass
irig the big dipper dredge of the Ban
nings the party reached the govern
ment suction dredge San Pedro. when
is now working On the last half or the
turning basin. A..
party viewed the west basin. CAPT.
Fries said, at this point:
"The great future of San Pedro mar
bor lies in these flats. The outer mar
Dor is at best going to be congesteu'
We may think of the Importance or the
outer harbor, but the future Will be
here. There can be developed from
thirty to forty miles of wharfage space
in the inner bays, while with conges;
ton only four miles can pe ueVeiopeu
in the outer bay"
Asked al to the way the greater city
could proceed in the west basin the
captain proceeded: Let the city con-
denim whatever it may get by the de-
cisiof of the court as to what Will re-
vert back to the public. l am advance
ing these ideas, for 1 believe that II a
mistake Is made at this time 1t will be
bad for the future of the great harbor.'
Could Build 18oo-Foot Wharf
After leaving the dredger the party
proceeded down the channel to the en-
trance at Deadmans island, known as
Angels Gate. Here Mr.. Hughes eX-
plained that the government owned
everything within 900 feet of the lslanu
and beyond the west jetty was a piece
of land 300 feet wide and 1900 feet long
which could be obtained for mun1cipal
wharves. This would mean that a
wharf 1900 feet long could be built
along this jetty and connected with
the city by means of San Pedro street.
A depth Of water from twenty-five TO
twenty-four feet could be obtained
here. This could be improved, he
stated, at comparatively small cost. =.
Continuing to the breakwater past
the United States steamship cheyenne,
which was at anchor, the party looked
at the 146 acres of submerged land ex-
tending from the government reserva-
ton on the north to the breakwater on
the south. This big area, which could
be reclaimed, would be hard to reach,
according to the engineers, on account
of the 200 feet of right of way which
the Southern Pacific railroad obtained
from the state in 1887. Mr.. Hughes ex-
planned that in 1874 the state made q
grant to the railroad of right or
way across state lands providing tney
were not within three miles of an In
corporated city. In 1887 the city Of
Wilmington was disincorporated, and
Immediately the Southern Pacific Sc
cured from the surveyor general a
right to 200 feet along the entire 'front.'
age of what was later San Pedro.
around Timms point to the beginning
of the present breakwater.
Railroad Retains Right
In 1891 suit was brought by the city
of San Pedro to restrain the Southern
Pacific from building toward Timms
point, but the supreme court held that
the railroad still had the right al
though 1t had not availed itself OF It's
privilege. The state alone could take
back the land. 1t was held that the
permit by the state did not convey any
title and could not be revoked.
This, according to Mr. Hughes, would
preclude access to the 146 acres even
If the tunnel scheme were feasible. He
also held that until the shore end of
the breakwater was filled in the docks
at this point would not be a success.
A map which he exhibited showed
slips from this 146 acres running out
into twenty-six feet of water, slips
from the end of the Miner concession
and again slips from the Huntington
franchise.
Committee Pleased
On the east of Deadman's island tho
map showed a beautiful scheme of
docks and slips protected by a sea
wall extending out in front OF East
San Pedro and Terminal island. Ir
this section alone were some sixty odd
slips, but according to the engineer
this was dream Of fifty years hence.
After looking over the outer harbor
the party returned to San Pedro, we'll
pleased with the trip, which, as far as
the Long Beach harbor was concerned.
had been an eye opener to most of
them.
They all appreciated the courtesy of
Capt. Fries and Engineer Hughes and
were glad to get the opinions of those
men who look upon the Improvement
by the greater city only from en-
gineers' viewpoint.
OF WILMINGTON