18 



coming at the time of the financial depression, resulted in the abandonment of many 

 wharves, already referred to. Due to this and other influences the general harbor 

 conditions were soon in a chaotic state. 



To remedy this situation and secure other benefits, the Board of State Harbor 

 Commissioners was created in 1863 to control the San Francisco waterfront, and this 

 body has continued in control to the present time. When they took up their duties 

 about twenty-five large wharves existed, built for the most part on city streets. It is 

 recorded that on the day before their first meeting the Steuart Street wharf collapsed, 

 dropping 150,000 feet of lumber into the Bay, and that the Vallejo and Jackson 

 Street wharves failed shortly afterward. Rehabilitation of the wharves to place them 

 in operating condition was immediately undertaken as far as limited resources would 

 permit, $67,000 being spent in the first year and $80,000 in the next. 



In 1863 the San F"rancisco & Oakland Railroad Company completed a wharf at 

 Oakland for its rail and ferry terminals "twelve hundred yards long, so that access 

 was given to that town at regular hours, instead of being dependent on the tides as 

 before." This was the start of Oakland Long Wharf, which was later to attract con- 

 siderable attention because of the long life secured from creosoted piling used in its 

 later construction. 



The seawall for San Francisco was now considered urgently necessary, particu- 

 larly because it would permit a permanent fill where piling was being maintained at 

 great cost. In 1865 the Harbor Board took definite steps to accomplish the project; 

 plans were formulated, and two years later the work began. The starting of the wall 

 gave promise of a permanent waterfront development, but at the same time brought 

 attention to the absolute inadequacy of unprotected timber piling for whatever new 

 piers were projected. 



THE SECOND PERIOD: THE R.^ILROADS; PIONEER 

 EXPERIMENTS IN PILE PROTECTION 



In 1869 the Board reported as follows: "... the Commissioners have deemed it 

 of great importance to make some experiments with well-known processes for the 

 preservation of timber used in wharf structures. The piles in this harbor are attacked 

 by the shipworm, known as the Teredo navalis, and in from three to five years are so 

 much injured as to become entirely worthless. Although this has long been known it 

 is only within the last year that any establishment for the protection of timber against 

 worms and decay has been put in operation on the Pacific Coast. Works during that 

 time have been erected by two companies operating separate processes — the Pacific 

 Wood Preserving Company, using the 'Robbins' patent, and the North American 

 Wood Preserving Company using the 'Samuels' patent." The "Robbins" process 

 consisted of treating piling with condensed vapors of creosote — the injected preserva- 

 tive amounting to about one pound per cubic foot. The nature of the "Samuels" 

 process is not known. 



At about this same time it was noted that piles driven with bark on resisted 

 borer attack better than those without bark; and this, with the "Robbins" process, 

 became general practice for many years. 



At this critical point in the development of the San Francisco harbor, with revenue 

 decreased because of business depression, income reduced because of unserviceable 

 structures and resources drained by constant heavy renewals, a competitive agency 

 entered the field formerly held exclusively by the shipping interests. In 1869 the 

 Central Pacific-Union Pacific final link in the transcontinental railroad was completed. 



