Friends of China Camp

This article, the second in our three-part history penned by Friends of China Camp volunteer Kevin Smead, aims to shed light on the roads not taken in the development of the Point San Pedro peninsula.

Part One focused on the arrival after the Gold Rush of the two McNear brothers, John and George, and the duo’s ambitious plans for developing their land along San Pablo Bay. This article, Part Two, focuses on the first half of the 20th century, highlighting the unsuccessful efforts of John A. McNear (1832-1918), and his son, Erskine B. (1872-1956) to develop Point San Pedro for both military and nonmilitary uses. These plans paint an intriguing picture of what the McNear family envisioned for their land—acreage that now protects historical features and endangered species.

PART TWO: The McNears at Point San Pedro

John McNear had big dreams for his land on the Point San Pedro peninsula. By 1889, he had bought out his brother George’s interest in their jointly owned lands in the area. At McNear’s Point, John expanded the existing wharf to make it more suitable for commercial steamship and ferry service. The project aimed to facilitate shipping between Petaluma and San Francisco.

For years, the McNear family had viewed Point San Pedro as an ideal location for deep-water naval development in the north end of San Francisco Bay. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy needed dry dock facilities for its Pacific fleet. Marin’s local paper declared that “the land best suited for the dock is located at Point San Pedro, and is owned by John A. McNear.” But the Navy passed on the site.

Then, in 1907, in the wake of the Russo-Japanese war, President Teddy Roosevelt projected  U.S. naval strength by sending the Navy’s “great white fleet” on an around-the-world voyage, commencing its Pacific crossing at San Francisco. By the early 1900s, the Navy’s expanding Pacific fleet needed a larger fueling station (at the time using coal) on San Francisco Bay. Once again, Point San Pedro was promoted as the perfect locale (albeit with a little jiggering with dikes to make the site more friendly for deep-draft vessels). Again, the Navy passed.

World wars and new ideas for the point and bay

Fast-forward to 1915 and World War I. As the Pacific grew in importance for the U.S. Navy, a West Coast branch of the U.S. Naval Academy was proposed. The $10 million project was to be sited at McNear’s Point. But the plan failed, in part because the McNears declared that the requirement that they give up their quarry and adjacent brickyard located on the point was a deal-breaker.

During WWI, plans for a dry dock facility on the bay were once again resurrected, and Point San Pedro again tossed its hat into the ring. The peninsula even got a visit from then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. Despite the local press’s declarations that the site had “bright prospects,” the naval facility was eventually located at San Francisco’s Hunter’s Point, at least in part because of J.A. McNear’s continued reluctance to let go of the quarry. Even so, as late as 1939, with World War II raging, Point San Pedro was still being promoted as an alternative to Hunter’s Point.

Over the years, the McNears had actively supported the military in patriotic and neighborly ways. Though they resisted a proposed takeover of some of their Point San Pedro acreage for use as a practice range during WWI, the McNears regularly permitted the local militia to train there.

But the relationship with the local military wasn’t without its friction. After WWII, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed creating an “explosives bombing anchorage” (a kind of floating target) for bomber planes flying out of Hamilton Air Force Base in nearby Novato. The family—as well as local fishing and shipping interests—firmly (and successfully) objected to putting the anchorage in the bay off McNear’s Point.

Around that same time, E.B. McNear, responding to a proposal to build a 1,000-bed neuropsychiatric hospital, offered 80 acres at McNear’s Beach for the site. The plan never came to fruition.

Beer brewing and garbage—more surprising schemes

One odd proposal came in 1914. A rumor hinted that Washington State’s Rainier Brewing Company, facing statewide prohibition to take effect in 1916, was interested in relocating to the point. The potential for land and marine transportation was highlighted, as was Marin County’s “pure water.”

But no suds made it to Point San Pedro. The 18th Amendment (ratified in 1919) instituted Prohibition nationwide, making a Rainier relocation moot.

Perhaps the most disturbing Point San Pedro proposal in this era came from E.B. McNear himself. In 1935, he announced a plan to dump 600 tons per day of “dry” San Francisco garbage into the tidelands that edge the bay from Point San Pedro to Gallinas Creek. It was seen as a way of reclaiming “a large acreage of useless land.” An existing law prohibiting bringing garbage from outside the county and dumping it in Marin, not to mention public outcry, put the kibosh on this environmentally disastrous scheme.

These same tidal wetlands, which could have been buried under garbage, now stand as a crown jewel along the San Francisco Bay waterfront, providing critically important habitat for native plants and animals, including several endangered species.

—by Kevin Smead/FOCC volunteer