Ventura County Landmark No. 24: Hueneme Wharf (Original Site)

The idea for building a Port at Point Hueneme was the direct result of a coastal exploration by Thomas Bard in 1867 (The Port of Hueneme, 2023). Bard had learned of an unusual submarine valley — Hueneme Canyon, over 1,000 feet deep, that came within 300 feet of the proposed channel, and how an underground river would keep the channel free of silt. Growing frustrations experienced by Ventura County’s early agricultural industry in getting its expanding grain surpluses to broader markets only tended to confirm Bard’s vision of a port to serve as an entry point for the area’s vast agricultural potential (The Port of Hueneme, 2023).

Taking advantage of Hueneme Canyon, a 1,500-foot (Bard’s) wharf was constructed in 1872 to lighter goods between the coast and ships off shore (The Port of Hueneme, 2023). The wharf was connected by a tramway to a warehouse on shore. For years, three and four-masted wooden schooners brought lumber from the north and carried grain, lima beans, and sheep to markets in San Francisco. Hueneme became the largest grain-shipping port south of San Francisco. After the railroad came through Oxnard in 1905, the Wharf Company was sold (1906). Business gradually declined and finally disappeared with the wharf’s destruction in a 1938 storm. Other Bard family related landmarks include Ventura County Landmark No. 19, 20, 24, 31, 32, 49, 50, 88, and 153.