GENESIS

(An Overview)

The stories of how Terminal Island and Fish Harbor began conflict slightly. I imagine it is because there was no central historical collecting center.

The names Terminal Island, Terminal, East San Pedro, and Fish Harbor may be confusing. Historically, the western side of the island was known as East San Pedro. It was part of San Pedro and the island was on that town’s east side. Later, the eastern portion of Terminal Island became Terminal. Fish Harbor came into existence when the breakwater was created and the lighthouse built. Fish Harbor became our Japanese fishing village.


Smith's & Mormon Islands 1890 US Land Office document	1880 Wilmington Harbor Rattlesnake & Deadman's Islands	Brighton Beach 1880-1912 heyday Badger Avenue Bridge

After reading articles on the beginning of San Pedro and how East San Pedro resulted from exciting political maneuvering, I have surmised the following as the early beginning:

*Terminal Island was a mudflat/sandbar named: Isla Raza de Buena Gente and then called Rattlesnake Island until being renamed 'Terminal Island' in 1891.

Terminal Island was first known as Rattlesnake Island in 1891. The Indians gave the name to the land, which was mostly sand dunes. The reason behind this nomenclature was that every time it rained, the rattlesnakes from the hills floated down the river (then called the San Gabriel River) and collected at the base of the sand dunes. This part of the island was in the inner harbor of San Pedro. Later, the Los Angeles Railroad Co. completed a track to the western end of the island. The owners decided then on the name Terminal Island.

Terminal Island was bought for $250,000 from the Dominguez heirs by a group of St. Louis investors. They built an eastern track to compete with the Southern Pacific Railroad, which ran into San Pedro on the other side of the channel.

The new track ran on the eastern side of the Los Angeles River and crossed the shallows and mud flats onto the island. From here the track ran west to the end of the island. When a new wharf was built, the owner named this section East San Pedro.

Although it wasn’t on the island, Southern Pacific Railroad was to have influence. In 1893, the future of San Pedro − and Terminal Island − was affected by the powerful Collis P. Huntington, then president of the Southern Pacific. In a contest, he won the right to build the pier, the Southern Pacific wharf, and established Port Los Angeles in Santa Monica.

Although out-maneuvered politically and financially by Huntington, the San Pedro leaders did not give up the right to create a deep water port for large vessels. As the century closed, the beginning of the breakwater in 1899 was a historical milestone in establishing East San Pedro.

It was in 1900 that Japanese fishermen started the abalone industry at White Point (12 fishermen, according to Mr. Kanichi Kawasaki; 15 according to Mr. Kosuke Takeuchi).


Japanese Abalone Camp 1913 San Clemente Island	1905 Kobei Tatsumi White Point Fishermen	Abalone Drying Frames Drying Abalone

Three years later, the Japanese fishermen were leaving the abalone industry and concentrating on fish. Abalone is a gourmet’s delight and very expensive, but the industry was ahead of its time. There also were political pressures. *In 1905, the State of California state passed legislation prohibiting Japanese Americans from continuing the abalone enterprise. Instead, the fishermen caught mackerel with braile net and hand-lined for albacore.

About this time, Southern California Fish Cannery was selling canned fish in local grocery stores, and the company’s Mr. Halfhill was looking for new products. Foreman Wilbur T. Wood began experimenting with albacore, and noticed it turned white when cooked. The new product was named “Chicken of the Sea” by Mr. Halfhill. That was the real beginning of the fishing industry and canneries and the start of Fish Harbor. Mr. Halfhill and Mr. Wood indirectly were responsible for the beginning of “Tami-na-ru,” the Japanese Fishing Village.

By 1908, the San Pedro channel was widened to about 500 feet, however, the entrance of the bay was too shallow at the east end of Deadman’s Island. Bigger boats still couldn’t get through, and there was no fishing in the channel.

Deadman’s Island got its name because many bodies were found there. Skeletons of pirates, criminals, and soldiers supposedly were discovered when leveling work began. Old-timers talked about the ghost who came out on foggy nights, wailing for her missing spouse, lost at sea.

The federal government took over Deadman’s Island in 1916. It leveled the island and started excavation. During the project, 29 bodies, including six U.S. Marines killed in the 1846 Battle of Dominguez were discovered.

(Deadman’s Island was where we trapped rock crabs by the dozens, brought them home in a gunny sack, and cooked them in a huge tub with an open fire. Then we called the entire neighborhood for a feast.)

In 1903, Long Beach resident William Gayler made a proposal to annex Terminal Island. That summer Terminal Islanders favored joining Long Beach by one vote. Next, Long Beach tried to annex Wilmington. However, with only a few minutes to maneuver, Sen. Judge Savage (the father of our sixth grade teacher Margaret Dever) used a legal strategy and outwitted the Long Beach representatives and saved Wilmington and East San Pedro from annexation.

The Los Angeles City Council created Los Angeles Harbor Commission and Port Los Angeles (now Los Angeles Harbor) in 1907. Terminal Island was duly established.

There weren’t many Japanese on the island at this early stage. Here is a list of the people living in the area until about 1911, according to Mr. Takeuchi’s and Mr. Kawasaki’s books:

1899: These three worked in Los Angeles as house-boys: Kanezo Maeda, Jutaro Sujushi, and Kotaro Yamamoto

1900: These men were the abalone divers off of White Point, San Pedro: Kojiro Hatashita, Kobei Tatsumi, Jinshiro Tani, Yotaro Hatashita, Buntaro Uragami, Sankichi Hatashita, Yoshimatsu Koji, Yoshimatsu Hanamura, Kichirobei Ryono, Takeshiro Higashi, Ukichi Kobata, Seko. Mr. Kawasaki mentions 12 Japanese fishermen and Mr. Takeuchi adds three more names. I am sorry I could not locate the additional names. However, these people started the fishing industry in Fish Harbor.

1905: The married couples were Mr. and Mrs. Katsuichi Hayashi, Mr. and Mrs. Harumatsu Hatashita, Mr. and Mrs. Kyotaro Shiroyama, Mr. and Mrs. Kikujiro Iida. These couples and bachelors were the early occupants of the houses on stilts.

A row of houses along the breakwater. They were built on wooden stilts where the Japanese

fishing colony started before the construction of Fish Harbor. (Courtesy San Pedro News-Pilot)

Growth came quickly. By 1907, there were about 150 Japanese fishermen in East San Pedro. The largest group came from the southern-most point of Wakayama-ken. They lived on the coastline, and the majority of them were fishermen. The next largest group were the hardy fishermen from Shizuoka-ken. Several other prefectures were represented, but with fewer people. The numbers grew as the first contingents would write home and urge brothers, relatives, and friends to come to America. They arrived via San Francisco and Seattle. There were many from Taiji, Katsuura, Wabuka, Tanabe, Shimozato, and Shingu, to name a few.

The year 1910 ushered in the construction of the first fish cannery in Fish Harbor. With so much fish, the proliferation of the industry was easy to predict. With the growing acceptance of canned fish by the consumer, the number of fishermen increased with Italians, Slavonians, Portuguese, and Japanese in the business. The number of canneries also increased, and boat builders were kept busy.

Yoshitaro Tani, Dentaro Tani, Torao Takahashi, Hikotaro Sarae, and Kaneshima had the foresight to start the San Pedro fish cannery. The name Nihon-jin Cannery was always mentioned among the Japanese and it soon became the Linde Fish Cannery. (I believe George and Toshiaki Yamasaki’s father’s boat, “Linde,” was named after the cannery.) At this time, White Star Cannery, Van Camp Seafood, and others were in operation. Long Beach had one cannery, the West Coast Cannery.

There must have been a Chinese cannery at about this time because Mr. Joe Mardesich’s Franco-Italian Cannery, which came later, was referred to as “China” by the Japanese of Fish Harbor.

World War I did not seem to affect Fish Harbor very much. I could not find many articles on the fish industry in San Pedro during World War I. However, one can assume the period was profitable, as it is during most wars.

Our Japanese fishing village. Note the Naga-ya, a long building

containing four to eight units. (Courtesy of Mr. Takeuchi) *another aerial photo

The years 1920 to 1922 saw the beginning of the final construction of Fish Harbor and the San Pedro breakwater.

With the beginning of fishing prosperity came the influx of fishermen from Monterey and San Diego. Santa Monica pier was destroyed and fishing families from there moved to Fish Harbor. Immigration was becoming a problem that escalated tremendously with the Great Depression.

The beginning of Terminal Island was over with the completion of San Pedro lighthouse in 1922. The beaming bright light would guide the destiny of the island, as it does for vessels in a thick fog. The foghorn would sound loud and clear, warning vessels of lurking danger. As long as the lighthouse stands tall and erect, Fish Harbor will be there for Terminal Islanders to visit and nostalgically remember the past.