Pacific Coast Harbors

A Description of the Harbors, Landings, Roadsteads and Chutes
on the Coast of California, Oregon and Washington
(San Francisco, 1879), pp. 15-18.

[Charles Yale was Secretary of the San Francisco Yacht Club. Copy of Pacific Coast Harbors courtesy of Jack Hunter. Extracts edited and annotated by Dick Miller]

Morro Bay

In about the middle of the bight forming Estero Bay is Moro Bay, a sort of lagoon or arm of the sea, immediately behind a large conical rock called “El Moro.” Once in behind the rock a small vessel is safe from all winds, but the entrance is somewhat difficult, and indeed the insurance companies will not underwrite vessels trading there. The channel is close by the big rock, and after passing it there is a sunken rock in the channel just at the bend, which must be avoided. The shifting sands cause frequent changes in the channel. The entrance is very narrow, and when there is much of a westerly swell it is impossible to enter. In fact the place is hardly save for sailing vessels to go in. There is only four and a half feet at low tide on the big rock in the channel, and while the passage in is bad, it is worse coming out. Small light draft vessels trade there. The little steamer Mary Taylor used to run to this place, Cayucas [now spelled Cayucos] , San Simeon and thereabouts, but there was so little trade last year on account of the dry season, that she was drawn off. [Two years before, on February 5, 1877, A. B. Spooner Sr. was lost at sea while attempting to pilot the Mary Taylor into Morro Bay] There are two small wharves in the lagoon, and a little sloop brings produce from the ranches at the head of the bay down to the steamer. Lumber is carried in the yard to the bay, and dairy produce, wool, hogs, etc., are shipped.

Cayucas

Next above Moro Bay comes Cayucas, where there are good moorings and a wharf, which, with its warehouse, belongs to James Cass & Co. Alongside the wharf, which is very high, and about 900 feet long, there is 20 feet of water at high tide. There is no protection here except that formed by the Estero Bay bight. The steamer can lay here almost any time when the wind is in the northwest. There are several sunken rocks outside the wharf and care has to be taken in making the landing. The landing here receives a good deal of lumber, and dairy produce, wool, hogs, and quicksilver, which are shipped to this city.

Pearl Harbor, named after the steamer Pearl, is a nice little shelter for a few small vessels, but it is not fit for large schooners. Anchorage is found an eighth of a mile off shore in three and a half fathoms. The place is only an anchorage, there being no trade there. [Pearl Harbor was later renamed China Harbor, after the community of Chinese seaweed farmers and abalone fisherfolk who settled there and shipped their products out through Cayucos.]

Leffingwell’s Landing, or Cambria, as it is sometimes called, 20 miles north of Cayucas, is the landing place for the town of Cambria, which is three miles back. The town has become one of no little importance within the past few years, and has more the character of a mining camp than any other place in the lower country. The quicksilver mines in the vicinity attracted quite a population there, and it is the center of a pretty thriving settlement. The wharf at the landing is quite long and very high, freight being loaded or discharged by hoists run by steam or horse-power. Steamers and schooners lie alongside the wharf while being loaded, in smooth water. There is no place here for shelter, and, although there are good moorings, the landing is not visited in bad weather. There is quite a trade in carrying lumber and miscellaneous freight and bringing away dairy produce, hogs, grain and quicksilver. There is quite a farming community in this neighborhood.

San Simeon

At San Simeon, a few mines further up the coast, there is a whaling station. It is also a landing place for the town of Cambria. When the weather does not admit of landing at Leffingwell’s, freight ii put ashore at San Simeon and hauled to Cambria, nine miles. There is a new wharf and warehouse at this point, built last summer, the property of George Hearst. This is really a fine wharf and the warehouse is amply sufficient for the resources of the place at present. The place is open to southerly gales and there is a bad swell there even in strong northerly winds. The Pacific Coast Steamship Company’s steamers stop here. Until a very short time since, freights all had to be lightered off, and the new wharf is a great addition to the harbor. There is 26 feet of water at the end of the wharf, and cars bring freight down.

About half way between San Simeon Bay and Piedras Blancas the coast survey charts show a small contracted harbor. The little place is a few miles south of Piedras Blancas, but the rocks in the way make it difficult of access, and it is a poor anchorage. Right under Piedras Blancas is a small anchorage, where the Shubrick delivers supplies to the light-house on the point. It is smooth in northwest winds, but there is no wharf, it being only a light station. At Piedras Blancas, which is the northwest point of the entrance to San Simeon Bay, is a light of the third order of lens, placed in a white painted brick tower.