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