The Miracle of a Muddy tideflat, a Guide Through the Photo-Mural Exhibit, the General Phineas Banning Residence Museum.

Port Admiral Society, Los Angeles [Published date: 1980]. Paper covers, xi, 35 pp; illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs, drawings, and a map; 14 x 22 cm. In very good condition. Staple-bound cream stiff paper wraps printed in sepia brown with historic harbor photographs on front and rear. Small nick to top edge of back cover; minor handling wear and soiling; light scuffing to edges; binding tight; pages clean and unmarked. Written by Merry L. Thompson; preface by Robert A. Weinstein; design and layout by Marcia Howard; illustrations by Becky Smith. This illustrated guide accompanied the photo-mural exhibit "The Miracle of a Muddy Tideflat," documenting the 19th-century transformation of San Pedro Bay from shallow tidal flats into the Port of Los Angeles. Chapters trace the port's early commercial development - from Phineas Banning's arrival in 1851, the first rail connection, and the 1873 breakwater, to the role of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the harbor's 20th-century expansion. Includes historic maps and photographs of Wilmington, San Pedro, and Los Angeles Harbor. Contents include: Introduction; The Beginning - A Muddy Tideflat; The Needed First Step - The Railroad; The Second Step - The 1873 Breakwater; The Southern Pacific Connection; Growth Begins; A Port Emerges; Point Fermin's Lighthouse; New Land from Dredged Mud; Ship Building; The Southern Pacific Slip; Fishing; Fight for an Outer Breakwater; When Lumber Was King; Catalina / The Good Life; San Pedro's Changing Face; Into the Twentieth Century; Bibliography.…