William Stone
Major Paul Norboe, assistant state engineer for California, saw Sacramento's potential as a port in 1916, and he campaigned for a deeper harbor. Norboe's efforts convinced the state and the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce to make a feasibility study for a deep-water channel and harbor.
Sacramento became a port (79 nautical miles northeast of San Francisco) when a schooner loaded with iron and steel arrived at the wharf in downtown Sacramento. Ships bringing mining tools and equipment, to Sacramento and its nearby gold fields enabled the river port to prosper.
William G. 'Bill' Stone, later known as "The Father of the Port", envisioned an inland Port of Sacramento with all the benefits of lower freight costs, new jobs and industrial development. In 1934, he persuaded the Shepard Line to dock the SS Harpoon in Sacramento to qualify Sacramento as a terminal rate port.
At the end of World War II, Mr. Stone convinced the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to restudy the deep-water project. The Corps's study proposed a 43-mile channel cut to Lake Washington in Yolo County , in what is now the City of West Sacramento. The channel would begin at the Sacramento River near Rio Vista, California.
The U.S. Congress authorized the Sacramento port construction project in July 1946, signed by President Harry S. Truman. Roy Deary, president of the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, appointed a port district organization committee, with meetings held with the County and the City. The Sacramento-Yolo Port District was created in 1947, with the ground breaking ceremony in 1949.
In March 1962, the first pile was driven to start the wharf construction. On June 29th, 1963, with 5,000 spectators waiting to welcome her, the Motor Vessel Taipei Victory arrived. The Port was open for business.
In 2007, management of the Port of Sacramento was assumed by the City of West Sacramento.
