EARLY HISTORY OF ALAMITOS BAY

The United States Patent boundaries of the Rancho Los Alamitos (The Little Poplars), as first surveyed in about 1858, show that Alamitos Bay and surrounding tide marshes extended from the mesa on which the city of Seal Beach developed, westerly to the high ground generally along the present location of Livingston Drive, and north to about Colorado Street. Alamitos Bay was the ocean outlet for the meandering San Gabriel River and Coyote Creek which flowed through the flat fertile valleys extending back to the San Gabriel Mountains and Puente Hills.

The survey of 1858 shows the inlet to the Bay just east of the present location of 55th Place, and the Bay was separated from the ocean by sand spits extending easterly and westerly from the mesas at Livingston Drive and from Seal Beach. By 1873 the inlet had moved easterly about 1800 feet, and by 1888 had moved another 1800 feet east. The survey of 1902-3 shows the inlet had moved easterly to the Seal Beach Mesa at which location it has become stable.

Alamitos Bay was used as a port of entry as early as 1868. At that time cattle and sheep were raised on Rancho Los Alamitos and boats from many countries landed there to procure hides and tallow. Records show that a ship having a draft of 13 feet was able to enter the bay under its own power, which indicates there was considerable navigable waterwithin the Bay. The large volume of inland waterways is clearly shown on historical maps.

A coastal chart of 1873 shows a vast waste of swamps, marshland and sloughs extending from the San Gabriel River outlet to about Livingstone Drive, and from the oceanfront up to the high ground by the Veterans Hospital, and further maps as late as 1894 show this area practically unchanged. To go from Long Beach to Seal Beach in 1900 it would have been necessary to go North on Alamitos St. to Anaheim Blvd., thence eastward to the high ground above the Bolsa Chica Gun Club and back to Seal Beach.

Under the instructions of the Surveyor General, the tidelands around Alamitos Bay were surveyed by E. T. Wright in December of 1885. Later these tidelands were purchased by the Bixby family from the State of California, under the law providing for the sale of swamp, overflowed and tidelands.

Mr. John Bixby, one of the early pioneers of this community, laid out a townsite known as the Alamitos Townsite, and among other things, it was his hope that Alamitos Bay would be improved as a harbor capable of accommodating large seagoing ships. Mr. Bixby died in 1887, but his plans were carried forward to a large extent by the Alamitos Townsite Company, which proposed a town-site at Alamitos Bay. It was believed at that time that the continental railroads would converge at Alamitos Bay with the townsite as their terminus. Such men as General Bou-ton of Los Angeles, W. W. Lowe and E. B. Cushman of this city were the promoters of the venture. Docks, terminal and warehouse sites were part of the plan. Some evidence of railroad grading still remains in the vicinity of Recreation Park and the Community Hospital.

In 1888, Gen. Edward Bouton of Los Angeles organized a company whose purpose was to build a railroad from Los Angeles to Alamitos Bay. A right-of-way was procured and graded for much of the distance. Bouton believed the Santa Fe Railroad, which had just completed its transcontinental line to Los Angeles, would lay the rails, provide the rolling stock, and establish a terminal at Alamitos Bay. An Alamitos Bay townsite map bore these words: 'The principal shipping business of Los Angeles valley is to be restored to the natural harbor of Alamitos Bay. This bay is 21 miles south of Los Angeles and 7 miles east of San Pedro. Navigable waters extend inland 12,000 feet, with a depth of from 10 to 22!/2 feet, according to recent actual surveys.'

If the reader could have seen the great activity in sales and the tremendous popularity of Naples itself and the promptness with which all payments were being met he would have looked elsewhere for a reason. And here is the reason.

The early-day shipping business of Alamitos Bay had been shifted to Anaheim Landing, and thence, by Phineas Banning, to Wilming-ton slough. Long Beach's interest in the Alamitos Bay project increased when General Bouton's "Los Angeles and Ocean Railway Co." asked for a right-of-way into this city, on Railway St. (now East Broadway). But the real estate boom of the '80s collapsed during 1888, and the associated projects of the railroad and the commercial harbor in the bay followed suit.

The development of these plans had a good start, but the depression of 1888 had impeded their execution and by 1902 all efforts for the establishment of a commercial harbor were directed toward the development of the marsh and tideland area lying between Long Beach and San Pedro, on which the Long Beach and Los Angeles Ports are now located.

One Alamitos Bay project of the '80s was an unsuccessful venture in the oyster business by Wm. Sweeney and associates. According to Brewster Kenyon, another pioneer resident, a carload of seed oysters was brought here from New Orleans or Galveston, and planted in the bay. His recollection was that the bay "was full of cockles, which ate the oysters so that after four years there were no oysters left." On an Alamitos Tract and Townsite map, made in April 1888, the inscription "Oyster Beds" appears across a large area in the bay district.

About 1904, the Bixby family disposed of some of their tideland holdings around Alamitos Bay to the founders of Naples, and by dredging certain portions of the bay, and some of the tidelands, the homesite sections we now enjoy were created.