Oakland Point and the Piers  

Estuary waters were too shallow for most ships. One solution was to build piers out from Oakland Point into the deep waters of the Bay. The first Oakland Pier at the Point, built around 1863, was extended by the Central Pacific to 6,900 feet in 1869. In 1871, the Long Wharf was opened parallel to the Pier. Next, the Oakland Pier (a trestle) was filled in as an earth embankment and extended; it opened as the Oakland Mole in 1882. After that, the Long Wharf handled freight, while the Mole served Southern Pacific passengers. In 1903, the Key System completed the
Key Route Pier which extended three miles out into the
Bay along the path that the Bay Bridge later took.

From Beth Bagwell
Oakland, the Story of a City

  "Walk Along the Water"
  © Oakland Museum of California, used with permission.

Explore this Topic at Other Sites:

Maps & photographs of the CPRR Long Wharf ca. 1885 - Central Pacific RR Photographic History Museum

The Oakland Long Wharf at the turn of the century - Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library
 

 

The Oakland Long Wharf and Mole as seen from Yerba Buena Island in the 1880s - Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library (or Port of Oakland Archives)

 

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