Robert Gottlieb and Irene Wolt Thinking Big: The Story of the Los Angeles Times, Its Publishers and Their Influence on Southern California, G.P. Putnam's Sons: NY, 1977. 603 pp., 1909, 1889
"The need for the harbor became more pressing with the announcement of the government's plans to help construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama . . . In the fall of 1889, the Chamber helped organize an expedition of United States senators to the port. The group included California Senators Leland Stanford and George Hearst (father of William Randolph Hearst); Senator William Frye from Maine, chairman of the Rivers and Harbors Committee; Senator John P. Jones from Nevada; and several other officials. . . . "