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The Railroad Comes to Southern California
The Railroad Comes to Southern California
The arrival of the first rail line into Southern California in 1869 is a very significant moment in the history of the region. Rail brings people, economic opportunities and economic challenges to the Southland. This chapter examines the period between roughly 1869 and 1900. This era marks a period of rapid growth and a transition from a rural, agricultural economy to an industrial, urban economy. Numerous cultural changes follow as well, including important changes in the overall demographic makeup of the Southland.
The first railroad in the Southland didn't connect the region to the outside world.
1868 - Banning's Railroad from San Pedro to Los Angeles
1869 - Transcontinental Railroad completed - the Central Pacific meets teh Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point Utah.
1871 - Banning dredges a channel to Wilmington, increasing the ability of ships to dock safely .
1876 - the Southern Pacific connector line links the Southland to the rest of the United States via northern California.
1885 - the Santa Fe Railroad reaches Los Angeles, providing a second option for freight and people to move rapidly to and from the eastern parts of the United States
1893 - Long Warf built in Santa Monica Bay at Santa Monica (photo)
1897 - Free Harbor Fight ends when San Pedro is selected for the Port of Los Angeles
Pico House b. 1870 - fine hotel built to rejuvenate the old peublo.
Chinese immigrants pour in the 1860s - Calle de los Negros
19 innocent chinese were killed
7 whites were jailed, but were all released soon.
Last of the vigilante activities - horrified enough people. End of an era.
1890 Garnier bulding built for Chinese to do business.
1869 - Banning builds rail from port to LA...only two locomotives… and he had a small steam ship that would haul from anchorage to port/RR.
The Southern Pacific blackmailed LA into basically giving a ton of land / concession to the SP including 600 thousand dollars ...threatened to bypass LA.
1885 Santa Fe arrives and a rate war - boom years follow….popualation explodes 5,000 to 50,000 in 10 years 80 to 90…… and then 1900 the population reached over 100,000.
Brighton Beach on rattlesnake island.
Ferry service to rattlesnake island.
1881 dreding oprations
Rattlesnake Island become terminal island.
SP really strangled profits...the octopus. Collis P. Huntingon.
1889 Congress looking to make a real port….the SP wanted a port in Santa Monica; the govt. Supported...engineers thought San Pedro still the best.
Harrison Gray Otis (LA Times) argued for San Pedro and less SP influence.
1896… Whichever location “wins” has to be open to ALL railroads...and San Pedro wins the harbor fight; the SP was beaten.
1899 - the new port was started...complete in 1912…..700 new acres of anchorage.
1913 - Great White Fleet is hosted.
For a while the Pacific Fleet was stationed in San Pedro.
The problem was that San Pedro was not IN Los Angeles.
LA convinced the areas to join LA - shoestring annex….1911...the port area become Los Angeles. Port Lands are not owned, but leased by private interests.
Harbor areas - tend to be even more multi-ethnic than other areas...jobs and fishing industries (common to many places in the world)
HUGE fishing industry. Over fished… tuna replaces mackerell, etc.
Massive chain migration…
Starkist started in La
Cannery row famous in Monterrey, but it was a big deal here.
Day-night on call for women who worked in factories - packing was done when the boats came in.
Union / labor fights begin…”foreigners” - different at the port from the influx of midwesterners.
1913 Harbor Lighthouse -
Point Fermin Lighthouse…
Panama Canal helps increase the importance of the port of LA.
Los Angeles, California. 1891. This Southern Pacific train rests at the Arcade Depot in 1891. Source: Wikimedia
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