Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1879, 1878, 1877, 1876, 1875, 1874, 1873, 1872, 1864, 1862, 1850s, 1828,
Chapter 1: Santa Monica's North Beach (1875-1907)
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"One of the visitors to the Santa Monica area in 1872 was a wealthy San Francisco merchant named Colonel Robert S. Baker. He made his fortune in the sheep ranching business in Kern County's Tehachapi Mountains and had come south to investigate Southern California's booming wool industry. He arrived by steamer at the Shoo Fly Landing, a small pier several hundred yards south of the present pier, near what is now the foot of Pico Blvd. The pier was used for loading shipments of "asphaltum" that was brought overland by wagon from Henry Hancock's Rancho La Brea tar pits. The tar was bound for San Francisco and its roofing and ship building trades.
"Col. Baker found the nearby grassy mesa of the San Vincente Ranchero perfect for sheep raising. The 30,000 acre tract had been granted to Francisco Sepulveda by the Mexican governor in 1828. It was a large ranch that extended south from Marquez and Reyes property to the La Ballona Rancho marked by the stream bed at Pico Blvd., from the Ocean east to Westwood Village, and into the mountains. Like most ranches at the time, it was virtually unused since the drought of 1862-1864 killed off most of the cattle.
"Baker's business partner, General E. F. Beale arrived at the end of 1873. He had been an army suveyor who helped map out the 35th parallel route that pioneers bound for Los Angeles followed across the Mojave desert. He and Baker developed a scheme for a full blown port near the Shoo Fly Landing. In 1874 they bought the Sepulveda's heir's entire San Vincente Ranchero for $55,000, and a one-half undivided interest in Boca de Santa Monica's 6,500 acre Ranchero from Maria Antonia Villa Reyes, Ysidro's widow.
"Baker and Beale acquired a franchise for a fourteen mile narrow-guage railroad designed to link their port with Los Angeles. They then tried but failed to convince Los Angeles merchants and officials to back the venture. They did manage to secure some financial backing from New York interests and christened their dream the Los Angeles and Truxton Railroad.
"Los Angeles, however, attempted to entice Southern Pacific to build a line into their city with an offer of $602,000. They even offered a twenty-one mile railroad to San Pedro harbor as an inducement, but soon they began to have second thoughts. They were afraid that once Southern Pacific established a railhead on the Tehachapi Pass, the lucrative Inyo County mining trade would be diverted away from Los Angeles to the San Joaquin Valley and hence to San Francisco.
"In 1874 former California governor John C. Downey and the Workman Bank in Los Angeles decided to form their own railroad. The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad would keep the silver ore flowing over Cajon Pass and into Los Angeles to the port at San Pedro.
"Senator John P. Jones was looking for a way to stop high freight rates from cutting into the profits of his Panamint city mines in Inyo. When he heard the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad's plans, he invested $220,000 and became its president. Baker realized that his Los Angeles and Truxton Railroad would be a natural extension to Jones' line so they sought a merger. His port would be seven miles closer to Los Angeles and several hours less sailing time from San Francisco.
"Baker sold Jones a three-quarter interest in his Santa Monica property for $165,000. Together they decided to create the townsite of Santa Monica complete with railroad and pier.
"The new railroad posed a threat to Southern Pacific interests because its Santa Monica terminus could kill their San Pedro faciltiy. There was a rush to claim a route through the Cajon Pass since only one of the competing railroads could fit through the narrow pass. Los Angeles and Indepencence's general manager and chief engineer reached the pass first on January 7, 1875 and staked out a claim only one hour before Southern Pacific's surveying crew arrived. Southern Pacific owners then tried to stop them by obtaining an exclusive rail franchise from Congress, but Senator Jones quickly squashed their attempt.
"By February 1875, road gangs of Chinese laborers were cutting through the soft palisade at the end of a Santa Monica arroyo to create rail acccess to a 1,740 foot long wharf. A freighter arrived at the Shoo Fly Landing on April 19th to unload a shipment of Oregon fir logs. Three days later workers, using a steam driven pile driver, began pounding piles for the wharf into the bay's sandy bottom. Construction was also started on the Santa Monica Hotel located on the bluff north of the wharf. It served as lodgings for the railroad workers and later became Santa Monica's first tourist hotel.
"Senator Jones travelled to New York City to negotiate with Union Pacific president, Jay Gould, for purchase of rails and rolling stock. Despite pressure by Southern Pacific for Gould not to cooperate, they were too late. By June, the pier was completed and the first ship landed. Rails were laid from Santa Monica to Los Angeles at a rapid pace.
"Colis P. Huntington, who was the principal owner of the Southern Pacific, next began to pressure shipping companies to allow only half their ships to dock at Santa Monica. Jones counterattacked by purchasing the Panama Railroad to gain leverage on Atlantic-Pacific trade as it crossed the narrow isthmus. He insisted that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company schedule regular stops at Santa Monica.
"Meanwhile the two partners hired J.E. Jackson, a civil engineer to survey their townsite. It was initially a modest town that stretched eight blocks along the shore atop the bluffs just north of the railroad terminal, and inland twenty five blocks. They filed a subdivision map for their city with the county recorder on July 10, 1875.
"Advertisements announcing a land auction on Thursday July 15th were placed in Los Angeles and San Francisco newspapers. They boasted that Santa Monica was to be the site of two transcontinental railroads. Senator Jones hired Tom Fitch, a former Congressman and persuasive orator as auctioneer. Fitch stirred up enthusiasm in San Francisco and accompanied prospective buyers on one of two side-wheel steamers that left San Francisco in time to arrive at Santa Monica on the morning of the sale. Hundreds more eager investors traveled by carriage and stage over a crude road from Los Angeles to attend the sale.
"The crowd of nearly two thousand bidders converged at the foot of Wilshire Blvd., where Senator Jones had set up bleachers facing the bay. A makeshift tavern called Grand Palace Saloon was set up nearby and stocked with kegs of beer. After denying rumors that the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad was nothing more than a "paper" route and the city's title was in question, Senator Jones opened the bidding.
"The first parcel, now at the corner of Broadway and Ocean Av., started at $250, and sold for $510. Others on that block went for $300, while those further inland sold for as little as $75. By the end of the day $40,000 in lots were sold, and another $43,000 were auctioned off the following day.
"Work continued steadily on the railroad. A brass-trimmed locomotive accompanied by a string of flat cars and gondolas arrived by side-wheel steamer at the town's new pier in late September. It's maiden voyage on October 17, 1875 over ten miles of track took just 19 minutes. Travellers rode in open cars because of a shortage of passenger coaches, but the tremendous improvement over stagecoach times was worth the inconvenience. The train mostly hauled freight at a dollar a ton, but by December they had regular passenger service twice daily for a dollar fare.
"At first, Santa Monica sought to capitalize on its seaside location and blossoom into a commercial port. The new town experienced a building boom. By the end of the year there were more than one hundred buildings completed or under construction. The railroad brought quick prosperity, and weekend visitors spent freely on beach outings.
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"A thousand lots had been sold by summer 1876 and the town contained more than two hundred buildings, mostly within six or seven blocks of the beach. . . .
"In August 1876 financial panic hit the Comstock securities market when news revealed that the Inyo silver mines were failing. The Workman bank that was involved with the railroad went bankrupt and work stopped only eight miles east of Los Angeles. After the Southern Pacific Railroad completed its route to Northern California in late 1876, much of the freight between San Francisco and Los Angeles was shipped by rail rather than by sea. Passengers also chose the faster rail service rather than risk seasickness, {or their lives} although fares were twice the cost of an ocean passage.
"Although Jones' Los Angeles and Independence Railroad soon began losing money for lack of freight, it was still doing well with its weekend excursion tourist business. . . .
"Senator Jones knew he was licked. He initially tried to sell the railroad to Los Angeles County. In March the presidents of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads visited Santa Monica to look over the property and begin negotiations. On June 4, 1877 Southern Pacific announced that they had purchased the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad for $195,000, less than one fourth the capital originally invested.
"Southern Pacific had no intention of competing with itself in San Pedro harbor. The company immediately raised railroad and steamer rates, and when business in Santa Monica dwindled it announced that only two small steamers, Senator and Ancor would ply the coast. [The Senator last docked in September 1877.]
" . . . The Santa Monica Hotel closed, and even the local newspaper, the Evening Outlook, folded Christmas Day, 1878. When the wharf was ordered removed in 1879, the remaining citizens protested and offered to purchase it. The offer was refused . . .