214 Modern Business Geography 
a shallow bay from the 
Gulf of Mexico. It 
has converted part of 
the bay into a deep 
harbor, well protected 
from the storms of the 
Gulf by great jetties. 
The wealth of the hin- 
terland has made it 
profitable to dig a har- 
bor at great expense, 
to build numerous rail- 
roads, and also to raise 
large parts of the city 
several feet in order to 
free them from the 
danger of being flooded 
by great waves during 
tropical hurricanes. 
Why some Pacific 
ports have grown great. 
The Pacific coast has 
four chief ports. Two 
of these, San Francisco 
and Seattle, owe much of their growth to the fact that they lie on two of 
the world’s best harbors. The other two, Los Angeles and Portland, 
have had to make for themselves good facilities as seaports. 
Beginning with the most southerly, we find that Los Angeles was 
founded about 18 miles from the sea. When it grew so big (page 260) 
that it wanted a seaport, it reached out to San Pedro on the coast; there 
it has built a harbor that receives more ships each year than any other 
harbor in the country except New York. Oil from the great fields not 
far away is the chief export, while huge quantities of lumber from the 
north and rubber from the Far East are among the chief imports. 
San Francisco is fortunate in being on the only good natural harbor 
from the Columbia River to San Diego, a distance of 950 miles. It is 
like the boy who has the only newspaper stand on a busy street; he 
gets all the trade because his competitors are far removed. 
It is true that Oakland, just across the bay from San Francisco, has 
deen helped by the same broad deep harbor to become a large city — 
nearly one half the size of its neighbor. But it is not so much a com- 
rv