Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1893
4. The Long Wharf
" . . . Ernest Marquez Port of Los Angeles . . .
"The major player in the drama was Collis Huntington of the Southern Pacific Railroad, whose reputation for ruthless business dealings had preceded him. Years before, during the gold rush, he had made his fortune in the hardware business in Sacramento, selling necessities to the miners at cutthroat prices. Now that competition from the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad had been eliminated, Huntington moved to reinforce the Southern Pacific's monopoly in the area and raised rates on the San Pedro line to an exorbitant level.
"At the same time, in the mid-1880s, the Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads sought their own outlets to the sea, threatening the Southern Pacific stranglehold on shipping. Congress recognized the need for an improved deep-water port for Los Angeles and began a series of investigations and hearings to decide on the most suitable location. Senator William B. Frye of Maine, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, visited Senator Jones at his palatial new home in Santa Monica overlooking the bay, and became a zealous champion of Santa Monica's bid for the harbor. The contest gained momentum when Collis Huntington and the other top nabobs of the Southern Pacific decided to build their own harbor in Santa Monica and to push for Senate support.
"As the new owner of Abbot Kinney's land . . . Huntington went on to acquire a right-of-way across the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon . . .
". . .
"Work was completed on July 14, 1893. The imposing structure was 4,700 feet long; it included huge coal bunkers, a complete depot facility, warehouse areas, accomodations for employees, and a public dining room . . . Collis Huntington . . . predicting that a new town would rise in the canyon and . . . a future industrial site offshore behind a massive breakwater.
" . . . That summer, a carnival atmosphere prevailed, as The Great Harmon made flying seventy-five-foot leaps from the Long Wharf into the ocean, and the canyon offered a Great Ballooon Ascension and Double Parachute Drop featuring aerialist Wesley Woodford and the "Queen of the Air," Mlle. Leroy. . . ."