California Seaports

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: ° Alameda: ° Berkeley ° Oakland
Contra Costa County: ° Crockett, ° Martinez ° Port Costa
Marin County: ° Point Reyes, ° San Rafael (China Camp), ° Sausalito, ° Tiburon
° Mendocino ° Sacramento
San Francisco (City and County)
Solano: ° Benicia (St. Paul's Church), ° Vallejo,° Mare Island
Sonoma: ° Petaluma ° Fort Ross
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Richmond (Alameda County)

The City of Richmond is located 16 miles northeast of San Francisco, directly across San Francisco Bay. Richmond is on a peninsula separating San Francisco Bay (on the south) and San Pablo Bay (to the north), and the city has 32 total miles of shoreline. The city's total area is 56.0 square miles, of which 33.7 are land area and 22.3 are water area.

Richmond is located on the western shore of Contra Costa County, and is the largest city in the "West County" region consisting of five cities: Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Hercules, and Pinole.

The earliest inhabitants of Richmond were the Ohlone Indians, who settled here an estimated 5,000 years ago. Distinct and separate groups lived a stable and peaceful existence, with a culture based on strong community ties, spiritualism, and rich artistic creativity. The Ohlone were hunters and gatherers that built extensive shell mounds along the Bay. Amid the coming of the Europeans, the Ohlone way of life gradually came to an end and was destroyed.آ 

After the rush of 1849 Captain George Ellis began operating schooners between Ellis Landing and San Francisco. He delivered hay and grain from the rich fields of Contra Costa County to the new city of San Francisco. In those days the channel ran from San Francisco, past Ellis Landing, to San Pablo Bay, through the present site of the Standard Oil Refinery. The Potrero Hills formed an island, subject to government occupancy. Later on the channel was closed, which made this section part of the mainland.

In 1859 Captain George Ellis (after whom the landing was named) acquired the property. He operated two schooners, the "Sierra" and the "Mystery," carrying produce and freight between the landing and San Francisco. The late John Nystrom, one of Richmond's most respected public men, was the manager of the landing at that time. Upon the demise of Captain George Ellis, his children inherited the property. The old Ellis home, with ninety acres of harbor property, was purchased from George Ellis and his sister, Selena Ellis, by the present owners, the Ellis Landing & Dock Company, of which M. Emanuel is president.

A great inner harbor became imperative for the future growth of the bustling young city of Richmond, and this was the logical center. At tremendous expense, the Ellis Landing & Dock Company is improving this ground to make it worthy of the position it occupies as the front door of this great industrial city.

It was this six miles of deep water which induced the Santa Fe Railway to select Richmond as its western terminal in 1899-1900. The Standard Oil Company soon followed, locating its great refinery in 1902. This was quickly followed by other large manufacturing industries, and this record is still going on, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the country, the General Roofing Company, having just completed a very large factory here during the year 1916, and others are now negotiating so to do. Among the largest of the earlier locations was that of the California Wine Association's immense winery, one of the most extensive in the world, operated by one of California's largest corporations.

In 1895, Augustin S. Macdonald visited Point Richmond and conceived the idea of a transcontinental rail terminal and ferry service to provide a direct route from Richmond to San Francisco. Macdonald presented his idea to the Santa Fe Railroad and in 1899 the railroad established its western terminus in Point Richmond. The first overland passenger train arrived in Richmond from Chicago in 1900. In 1901, Santa Fe moved its shops to Richmond and the Standard Oil Company built its refinery.آ 

Henry Coleman Cutting

In 1917, the United States Government chart of San Francisco Bay shows that the headland of the peninsula on which Richmond is located is six miles long, extending from Point San Pablo at the north to Point Potrero at the south. This headland faces a natural deep water channel for its entire length. The channel varies in depth from ninety feet at the northern end to eighteen feet off the southern shore. The channel is directly against the northern shore of this headland and diverges slowly until at the extreme southern end the deep water line is about a mile off shore. Thus while no wharfing out is required at Point San Pablo, a short wharf will reach deep water at any point in the whole six miles.

When Richmond incorporated as a city in 1905 it had a population of 2,150 and was already an established industrial town. The city charter was adopted in 1909, and by 1910 the town numbered 7,500. Within a few years the following substantial industries locate to Richmond: Winehaven, Pullman Palace Car Shops, American Radiator, Standard Sanitary Company, Stauffer Chemical Company, and several others less well known. Town sites began to emerge around these industries, as Rancho San Pablo's vast grain fields were subdivided into uniform city lots.آ 

May 5, 1911, San Francisco Call, San Francisco, California

Richmond Harbor Survey to Begin Soon
United States Engineer Asks for Shipping Data

RICHMOND,آ May 4.ق€”According to a letter received by the city council ofآ Richmond, through City Clerk Vaughan, from Colonel William M. Biddle, United States engineer corps, the work of surveying Richmond harbor, for which an appropriation was made last February, will begin at an early date.

Colonel Blddle asks, as a preliminary, for a great deal of statistical Information concerning the commerce andآ  shipping آ of this city and as to whether local interests will assist in making extensive improvements. Statistics show Richmond to be now the second largest shipping point in California, being next to San Francisco and ahead of Los Angeles.

The data asked will be supplied to the government at the earliest possible time, that the work of Improvement may be set ahead that much.