The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, Cal., city, county-seat of Los Angeles County, about 15 miles in an air line from the Pacific Ocean, in the valley of the Los Angeles River, a dry river-bed in summer, but in winter a considerable stream after heavy rainfalls. The Sierra Madre range of mountains, about 10 miles north of Los Angeles, may be seen from most any part of the city. There is also a lower range of mountains extending from the city to the ocean. Originally Los Angeles covered an area of 36 square miles, extending three miles in each direction from the old plaza. Within the past few years numerous additions have been made, including a “shoe-string strip” extending from the city to the ocean and taking in the ports of Wilmington and San Pedro. The area at present is 351.1 square miles. The average altitude is 270 feet above sea-level. The northern part of the city is hilly.
The city has railroad competition in four transcontinental lines, two southern Pacific systems, by way of Ogden and El Paso, the Santa Fé, by way of Albuquerque, and the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, from Salt Lake. Altogether there are a dozen lines of railroad leading to Los Angeles, including an elaborate suburban electric railroad system, aggregating over 1,100 miles of track, some of the lines having four tracks. The electric street railway system is also extensive, the total mileage of single track being over 300 miles. Half a dozen lines run large and commodious steamships 475 miles northward to San Francisco, also to Portland and Puget Sound on the north, and to San Diego on the south.
Los Angeles Harbor is guarded from the rare storms of the Pacific by a breakwater two and one-half miles long, built by the United States government at a cost of $3,500,000. Active work has been accomplished on the further dredging of the harbor, construction of wharves and warehouses. The harbor is municipally owned and controlled. The harbor projects under construction include 21½ miles of municipal wharfage, besides a large area of wharfage under private ownership. Los Angeles Harbor is absolutely safe and in any weather may be entered by vessels under their own power. Los Angeles has the advantage of being located on the shortest road by the lowest grades between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Since the opening of the Panama Canal it is close to the direct route of vessels sailing from the Atlantic to the Orient. Los Angeles is the commercial and social metropolis of the Southwest, including southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona. It also does a large and increasing trade with northern Mexico, Central and South America. The two most important products of the country surrounding Los Angeles are citrus fruits and petroleum. The annual value of the orange and lemon output of this section is about $40,000,000. These fruits are marketed under a thoroughly organized co-operative system of distribution. Los Angeles is the central distributing point for important petroleum fields with an annual output aggregating about $40,000,000. There are half a dozen beet sugar factories in the country tributary to Los Angeles, with a total output of $18,000,000. Other important products of the surrounding country are beans and other vegetables, deciduous fruits, walnuts and grain. Los Angeles is rapidly becoming an important manufacturing city, possessing great advantages in the way of mild climate and cheap fuel in the shape of crude petroleum and electric power, derived from mountain streams. The annual value of its manufactured products is placed at $140,000,000. There are 32 banks in the city with a total combined annual clearance of about $1,293,000,000. Building operations have an annual average value of about $20,000,000.
Los Angeles is a residential city, a large proportion of the people owning their own dwellings. The city is practically frostless; callas, heliotropes and other delicate plants flourishing throughout the winter in the open air. The residence streets are generally aligned by evergreen shade trees. The city is the seat of the University of Southern California, a Methodist establishment. Occidental College is conducted by the Presbyterians. The Roman Catholics have a college and three academies. There is a State normal school, several high schools, a polytechnic high school, a public library with nearly 280,000 volumes, 350 handsome church buildings of all leading denominations and a model institutional church. There are 25 public parks within the city limits, aggregating over 4,000 acres, four of them having lakes of considerable size. The city derives its water supply from the snow-clad slopes of Mount Whitney, in Owens Valley, 240 miles from Los Angeles, and from wells. A sewer system extends to the ocean. The mayor of Los Angeles holds office for two years. He appoints five trustees for the library and is ex officio a member and chairman of several committees. The city council of nine members, chosen by election from the city at large, has four commissioners who have charge respectively of police, health, fire and park departments. The board of education consists of nine members chosen by election from the city at large.
The pious Spanish pioneers who first introduced civilization in Alta, California, were in the habit of giving names to places in accordance with the Church calendar. Consequently, when mass was first celebrated on the present site of the city, in 1781, it was named Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles, which the practical Yankees upon their arrival at once proceeded to abbreviate.
The growth of Los Angeles has been remarkable. Until 1817 Los Angeles alternated with Monterey as the seat of Mexican provincial government of Alta, California. In 1846 it was taken by Commodore Stockton of the United States navy. It received its city charter in 1851. In 1850 its population was 1,610. The census of 1880 gave it a population of 11,311. The census of 1910 gave it 319,198. In 1914 the government estimate of the population was 438,914, and the present estimated population is 590,000.