Ballast Point is a unique landscape of beauty and very picturesque from any angle of view to the eye. Only a very few naturalists have actually ever written about Ballast Point. However, Charles Francis Holder, a famous naturalist and first Tuna Club President, wrote an article pertaining to Ballast Point in the magazine Scientific American in 1899. He said:

"A glance at the coast line of Southern California will show that it is lacking in harbors below San Francisco, and in five hundred miles there are but two perfect harbors, one at San Diego, the other at Catalina Harbor at the island of that name. The latter is small, but more protected than any other on the coast. It lies on the west side of the island and would not be noticed until its entrance was reached, the opening being a cut in the mountains that front the west coast, the harbor then extending in between lofty hills and cutting the island almost in two; in fact, there is good reason to believe that in former days there were two islands here, the narrow passage being filled up. So peculiar is the harbor that it has caused great speculation among those who have observed it. It reaches in half a mile, has water deep enough to float the navies of the world. At its head a short walk brings one to a protected bay on the opposite side of the island where a town is being laid out and by August, of 1900, will have in all probability, a summer population of several thousand. In the large harbor there is an extraordinary neck of land that reaches out like a terminal moraine, made up of large and small rocks and shaped in such graceful lines that the impression is conveyed that it is the work of man. From an examination it appears to have been formed by a heavy sea which could have tossed the rocks so high above water; yet the bottom around the peculiar curve or spit is devoid of rocks. This breakwater forms a second complete harbor for small boats."

Nearly 100 years has passed (98 to be exact) since Charles Holder wrote this article but little has changed at Ballast Point and Catalina Harbor. Thank goodness no large town located there and several thousand people never moved to Catalina Harbor.

The mystery of how Ballast Point formed still remains a mystery! And finally, Charles Holder included a photograph of Ballast Point in his 1899 Scientific American article and I recently re-photographed Ballast Point from the Charles Holder's landscape vantage point. If you are interested in seeing the nearly 100 year old photograph, inquire in the Interpretive Center.

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