Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-23
LOS ANGELES
HARBOR TO Be
WORLDS BEST
LEEDS TELLS OF ADVANTAGES
POSSIBLE AT SAN PEDRO
ENGINEER URGES DOVER PLAN
AS MOST FEASIBLE
Commission May Advocate All Con-
crete Docks and Warehouses, as
These Would Assure Larger
Amount of Patronage

Facts and figures given out yester-
day at the offices of United States En-
gineer Charles T. Leeds, in charge of
the development work at Los Angeles
harbor, show that the inner harbor
possesses numerous important advan-
tages over natural or ordinary bay
harbors, and especially is this true of
the Los Angeles inner harbor, although
the outer harbor also is shown to pos
sess many advantages over similar
ports.
At most navlgable river mouths, in
the entrance of nearly every bay or
estuary harbor, and in all delta chan
nels, navigation is possible only by
periodical dredging which costs mil
lions of dollars annually throughout
the world.
Lieutenant Leeds of the federal en-
gineer corps and his assistants are
called on every three or four years to
dredge the sandbar at the entrance to
San Diego bay, and the dredging but
recently completed there for the second
time within five years is said to have
cost the city of San Diego not less
than $4,000.
This same expense is incurred in the
maintenance of a clear passage at the
entrance to San Francisco bay. Hum
DOldL DdN, 1OeS nay anu tho VI
| thousands of dollars, ii is said, are
spent Annually in Keeping down the
sand spits on the half dozen larger har-
bors of Oregon and Washington. The
Astoria and Humboldt bars have re-
quired the expenditure of inestimable
sums. and still are dangerous and
| seemingly unmanageable Most of
these bars and spits accumulate almost
as rapidly as they are dredged.
Harbor Conditions Ideal
The outer harbor of Los Angeles has
none of those difficulties to contend
with, and once dredged to the desired
mean depth will remain unchanged.
The breakwater off San Pedro pro-
tects the outer entrance, and the con-
nection of the inner harbor at Will
mington with the Long Beach harbor
insures a tidal flow to and from the
inner harbor from its remot.st inland
estuary to the two outer entrances, in
cluding the east, west and turning
basins, which will keep the 1900 or
more acres of navigable water free from
sand accumulation. Once dredged, there
will be no further expenditure to main
tain the desired depths, and no danger
of reefs, shoals or sandbars, to Jeopar-
dize vessels.
The absence of any large inflow of
river water eliminates the numerous
objections and difficulties which usual
ly characterize such large harbor as
now Is being developed by Los Angeles.
Harbors Of this size, with such mag
nifcent inner bays, usually are found
| only at the mouths of large rivers, and
! therefore are handicapped by deltas
| and sand spits; but hydraulic engineers
declare Los Angeles has been blessed
by nature with all the protection of
river-mouth harbors without any of
/ i l. ,tg,rr i'll,
| ditiOn is not only unusual and should
| spur Southern CalifOrnians to develop
| it's natural advantages, but should
| cause them to rejoice that, once de-
veloped, they will not be called on to
eXpend vast sums of money to main
| tain it.
At present. harbor experts declare,
one of the greatest harbors in the old
| world is that at Dover. The people of
Dover. aided by the British govern
ment have what is said to be the only
| all-concrete. fire aud ratproof harbor
| in the world
Dover has spent $2O,OO0.O00 to dredge
its harbor and is proud of having go
acres of navigable protected water
Yet Dover also must expend about $5O,-
900 annually in dredging its dock ap-
proaches and channels.
May Consider Dover Plan
Dover harbor however, possesses
modern advantages which harbor ex-
perts declare Los Angeles should seri-
| ously consider before the erection of
| her proposed municipal docks and
warehouses, and the greatest of these
! advantages is found in the all-concrete
| piers, docks, warehouses, etc. The
| city of Dover does not have to carry
! one cent of insurance on her harbOr
and she does not have to contend with
rats Plague and rodent Infection
| which so recently cost San Francisco
| and which brought the northern city
| into worldwide notoriety as a rat
ridden port, will not bother the citizens
! of Dover. There is no chance for the
rats to thrive there, it is said, be-
cause every door is of metal and ev
cry floor and pier of concrete. There
| is no wear and tear, no danger of
| fire nor of rats destroying the goods
stored in warehouses,
| If Los Angeles could boast of all
| concrete, rat and freproof warehouses,
! she could command undreamed of COM
merce and her warehouses would get
a large amount of business which now
| goes to other coast cities
Secretary A. p. Fleming of the Los
! Angeles harbor commission stated
] yesterday that he regarded the all-cOn-
I crete harbor and warehouse project
vastly important, and while he said
it was yet too early for the commits
sion to commit itself relative to the
advisability of such a harbor equip
ment, he believed when the time comes
the project should be carefully con-
! sidered.
With 1900 acres of outer and inner
harbor, all protected, dredged to a
depth of thirty-fve feet. and with the
| all-concrete docks and warehouses such
as harbor enthusiasts predict will here
be decided on, Los Angeles will have
more than three times the harbor
space of Dover and therefore will pos
sess the greatest harbor in the world
Her situation relative to the great
| Panama canal, which will reverse
many shipping conditions and revolu-
tionize the system of the seas, makes
it imperative, say harbor experts. that
Los Angeles should have just such
! conditions
The concrete harbor has long since
passed the experimental stage and high
| authorities now are said to be agreed
that the concrete harbor is the best,
| trrhi