Today, I would like to tell you about the Port of Watsonville complex also known as Port Rogers.
In 1881 Camp Goodall had been leased by Charles Ford who built cottages and a hotel where the Pajaro River meets the Monterey Bay. This area had become a very popular resort that was famous for its clam bakes.
In 1903 two promoters W.J. Rogers and H.H. Main decided to make Watsonville an important seaport on the Central California Coast. They were joined by Watsonville investors to form the Watsonville Transportation Company.
Land was purchases just north of Palm Beach and materials were ordered from San Francisco. Power poles were installed down Third Street (now Beach Street) that connected the port with the City of Watsonville.
The Steam Schooner Aurelia delivered her cargo of piles to the site. Construction began on a 400-foot wharf with a train trestle running to it. The piles ran six abreast with heavy timber bracing. Reinforcement stringers were mortised into the timbers for stability.
Including the trestle, the entire wharf construction project was 1,300 feet.
Construction began on a narrow-gauge electric rail line with two turbine powered enclosed cars. Passengers would ride inside the cars while those cars pulled flat cars and boxcars containing freight. Along the tracks, they constructed a powerhouse to generate electricity, a freight warehouse and a car barn.
The tracks ran from Watsonville down Beach Road to Camp Goodall which was a shipping port at the mouth of the Pajaro River for Pajaro Valley grown produce. Then, the tracks made a wide northern turn to get to the wharf. Lots of other construction was planned on the beach and in the general area of the wharf including a dance hall, hotel and baths, and an area was divided into town lots for future sales.
In August of 1904 the mood was electric awaiting the arrival of the Kilburn. She was 175 feet long with a 30-foot beam. 45 staterooms were located on the upper deck and cargo was contained on the lower deck. She was built especially for the Watsonville Transportation Company. Her maiden voyage from Eureka coming to Port Watsonville was to pick up a cargo of Pajaro Valley produce. People jammed the Electric powered car as well as an observation car to see the Kilburn arrive at the port. It was a day of great anticipation and celebration.
However, in November of 1904, heavy seas and high winds destroyed 200 feet of the wharf. With local producers turning to the Southern Pacific Railroad to ship their produce, the Port of Watsonville was left without a facility and without freight.
Redwood piers were delivered from Green Valley and the wharf was repaired. But their troubles were not over. Teredo Worms had weakened the pilings and soon, 500 feet of the wharf and the approach had fallen into the bay.
It wasn’t long before the company declared bankruptcy and the assets as well as the company were sold. And so goes the short sad history of the Port of Watsonville.
If you would like to know more about Port Rogers or other Watsonville, California, historical events, let me recommend Betty Lewis’s Books: Watsonville, Memories that Linger Volumes 1 and 2.