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Hoffmaster, Bob (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This single interview was conducted in Hoffmaster's office in the headquarters of the Long Beach Harbor Department. 7/27/1982
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- 2020-10-12
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- SUBJECT BIO - Bob Hoffmaster worked for the Long Beach Harbor Department and participated in its growth and development. He helped harbor administrators prepare to defend themselves against law suits brought over issues such as subsidence, ownership of the tidelands and the boundaries of parcels of land owned by private parties in the harbor district. Hoffmaster grew up and went to school in Long Beach. He only came to work for the harbor when a bond issue to repair Long Beach schools following the 1933 earthquake failed and the job he had been promised fell through. In this single interview, he talk about the history and development of the harbor. He draws on his own memories as well as on the research he did to help to support harbor administrators in their legal battles to keep control of their land and the oil under it. This interview was conducted as part of a project to study the impact of oil on Long Beach. TOPICS - family background; harbor development; tidelands; Don Marshall; Charles Vickers; oil wells; and Long Beach Oil Development;harbor development; oil wells; subsidence; repressurization; and litigation;subsidence; unitization; repressurization; and litigation;
- *** File: cbbhoffmaster1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:24)... Hoffmaster came to Long Beach in 1923. He attended Lincoln and Whittier elementary schools, Hamilton Junior High, Poly High School and Long Beach Junior College. He worked for a year for the Long Beach schools before going to UC Berkeley. When he graduated, he went to work for the Long Beach Harbor Department. (1:24-4:44)... During the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, many local schools fell down. In the 1920s, the Board of Education authorized construction of many schools that couldn't withstand earthquake. Rebuilding the schools was done under new legislation that required stronger buildings. (4:44-9:45)... Hoffmaster was going to go to work for engineer J. H. Davies when bonds were passed to rebuild the Long Beach schools, but the voters turned down the bonds. So in 1938 Hoffmaster went to work for the Long Beach Harbor Department as chain man on survey crew with Charles Vickers. The Harbor Department had income from oil wells on the city incinerator site, which they used to pay their debts and run harbor. Before the oil wells came in, the city laid off or paid its employees in "warrants." (9:45-15:50)... In 1921 oil was discovered on Signal Hill and the population of Long Beach was 55,000; by 1923 the population had jumped to 120,000 as a result of the oil boom and end of WWI. In 1937 oil was discovered in the harbor district and in 1938 a taxpayer suit stopped the oil drilling and argued that the oil belonged to the state, not the city. Don Marshall, the harbor's general manager, contested the suit and the decision favored the city, in what came to be known as the Marshall suit. The first oil was produced in 1938 and it was from a well known as the Westlake-Greeland. In 1939 Long Beach Oil Development was organized and contracts let to develop more of the oil. It was a lucrative deal for the city. (15:50-17:30)... Hoffmaster worked on the survey crew and plans were drawn for drilling on the tidelands. On April 29, 1939 the first well on the tidelands was brought in and this source of funding was the beginning of a modern harbor in Long Beach. Income from the oil wells was spent to develop the Port of Long Beach. (17:30-21:30)... In 1947 Atlantic Richfield won a contract to drill oil wells along the Los Angeles River. About 1940 subsidence began to be noted when surveys conducted while building roads would not check out. The land under the harbor was sinking. At first, no one could figure out why and the problem lasted until 1965. In 1953 a pioneer water injection program pumped water back in the ground where the oil was taken out to stop subsidence. This was made possible by the 1958 Subsidence Control Act. (21:30-24:45)... In 1965 the Long Beach Department of Oil Properties was organized and the Harbor Department transferred its Petroleum Department, which handled upland and tidelands wells, to the new city agency. A new consortium of Texaco, Humble, Union, Mobil and Standard (THUMS) took over oil development on tidelands. After 1965 the harbor became self-sufficient and no longer received money from oil. At the time of the interview, harbor development was continuing, but it was oil that go the development started. (24:45-28:54)... Hoffmaster became Chief Harbor Engineer and in 1977, he wrote a history of the harbor before he retired. Harbor administrators found themselves in was in court a lot. Once oil was discovered in the area, there were fights over the ownership of property. Often they had to go back into history to determine who owned certain property. He studied ranchos and grants from Spain and Mexico. Later he put the information together and gave a talk to the Port Ambassadors on the history of the harbor. *** File: cbbhoffmaster2.mp3 (0:00-5:28)... The Port of Long Beach has an interesting history. In 1903 William Galer suggested that Long Beach annex Terminal Island, but there was not much interest in this idea. In 1905 the Los Angeles Dock and Terminal Company decided to build a port in Long Beach. In 1906 that company got a permit from the War Department and in 1907 John Craig brought his shipbuilding plant to Long Beach harbor. On June 30, 1909 the channels around Terminal Island were opened and a bridge built for the railroad. Then on September 3, 1909 the City of Long Beach became involved in harbor development when the citizens passed a $245,000 bond and in 1911 the city completed purchase of waterfront land and Pier 1 was completed. In July 1910 the Pacific Electric Railway won the right to operate tracks and switching equipment in the harbor. And finally, on May 1, 1911, the State of California granted title of its tideland to the City of Long Beach. (5:28-6:18)... Los Angeles Dock and Terminal Company had spent $1.5 million trying to keep Long Beach's harbor dredged so it could be used. The Los Angeles River however, continued to dump mud into the port when it rained and this undermined the dredging. In 1914 San Gabriel River flooded and erased the results of 7 years of dredging. (6:18-10:54)... There was severe weather along California coast and it disrupted shipping in 1856. Then between 1862 and 1864 there was a drought followed by floods between 1884 and 1891; new lakes formed throughout California. There are additional examples of bad weather along the southern California coast, but at the time of the interview, Hoffmaster believed that most who people came to southern California after WWII could not imagine such weather here. It was, however, this kind of weather that negated 7 years of dredging with one a storm in 1914. (10:54-14:27)... Following 1914 flood, the Los Angeles Dock and Terminal Company deeded its harbor developments to the City of Long Beach. Between 1919 and 1923 Los Angeles County Flood Control District built the Los Angeles River channel to control flooding along its banks and moved the mouth of the river away from the port. The Greater Los Angeles area Chamber of Commerce formed a Committee and advocated that ports be developed in both Long Beach and Los Angeles. In 1924 Col. Edward Johnston was hired to design a breakwater, entrance channel and flanking moles. Gen. Giles, who built the Panama Canal, wanted to Los Angeles and Long Beach to join, but Los Angeles was not interested (14:27-18:05)... In November 1925, Cerritos Channel opened and in 1926 the main entrance channel opened to deep draft vessels. After that, development on 7th Street peninsula took off. Employment in the area grew and Long Beach was no longer only a seaside resort. In 1928 voters adopted a, $2.1 million bond to develop piers, extended the breakwater and build a Navy landing. (18:05-22:45)... Some people in Long Beach question city spending money to develop the harbor. After the 1933 earthquake and during the Depression, the harbor was broke. But them oil was discovered (22:45-27:24)... When harbor development started in San Pedro bay, it was dominated by Los Angeles. Both ports shared the same transportation system, same unions, same cost for services. In 1938, when Hoffmaster was first hired, the harbor began fighting to clear the title to its land. In some of these cases, the harbor was represented by the law firm of Swaffield and Swaffield. Hoffmaster helped to prepare exhibits for court cases. (27:24-29:00)... Subsidence became a big problem in the Port of Long Beach. There was an oval shaped bowl of subsidence 10 miles long, 2 to 28 feet deep and centered under the Edison Plant on Terminal Island. This subsidence happened in a populated and industrialized area that was resting on the 7th largest oil field in the US. *** File: cbbhoffmaster3.mp3 (0:00-4:20)... By 1968 subsidence had been stopped. The oil operators in the field were forced to accept unitization and the sinking was halted by water injection. Oil companies did not want to believe oil extraction caused subsidence. Subsidence didn't just bring sinking. It also led to horizontal movement which changed boundary lines and required that many areas be resurveyed. Subsidence also damaged oil well casings. (4:20-6:40)... There were many studies on subsidence and most of them underestimate subsidence its extent. Stanford Research Institute published an interesting study. In 1949 Dr. G. D. McCann of California Institute of Technology suggested that the sinking could reach 42 feet. (6:40-13:36)... To combat subsidence the Harbor Department built dikes and pumped water out of sinking areas. By 1959, the port had spent $53 million on this problem. Beginning water injection, however, maintained pressures and the sinking stopped. Even after all of the oil is pumped out, however, the elevations must be watched. Oil companies did not want to believe that oil extraction caused subsidence but the harbor administration pushed to find a solution for subsidence. The harbor put in first water injection wells. Oil companies did not want any liability. (13:36-17:26)... The port history is story of three men, Frosty Martin, Eloy Amar, R. R. Shoemaker. Martin, an oil man, also owned a newspaper. Amar, formerly worked for Los Angeles Harbor, and was a salesman. Shoemaker was intelligent. George Nicholson and Jim Collins drew the harbor's first master plan. . (17:26-19:12)... Long Beach Harbor built facilities to make loading and unloading ships cheaper. They designed new wharves and transit sheds and their designs were copied by others . (19:12-22:54)... Frosty Martin owned Martin and Decker Company that made equipment for drilling oil wells. Three men pushed for port expansion. Shoemaker died 1957 and Amar retired 1959. Martin also died. (22:54-25:57)... When Hoffmaster became Chief Harbor Engineer in 1958 only Pier A, B, C, 1 some of Pier E had been built. The outer harbor was built later. An extension of Pier E was built with circular cells. Hoffmaster became Assistant Chief Harbor Engineer in 1950. In 1953, after the tidelands dispute was settled, they began planning Pier J. (25:57-28:05)... The Harbor Department used the Corps of Engineers facilities in Vicksburg to study expansion plans, unlike the builders of the Long Beach Marina at Alamitos Bay who built their own model. (28:05-31:41)... Between 1958 and 1960 piers F and G were built and this enabled the Port to handle containers. Most shipping was changed from bulk cargo to containerized shipping. The Port built Pier J in 1962 and between 1961 and 1965, the harbor built more terminals for grain, iron ore, salt, as well as containers. Pier E was the harbor's first super tanker terminal.
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