Things that need to be found.

I am still in the materials phase of writing. Why is it so hard to find simple things, things that should be readily available?
Several things that I would really love to discover are maps of San Pedro Harbor, circa 1890, 1905, and 1910. There is a birdseye of the harbor dated 1905 in many places but it is really a 1893 effort and it doesn't show Terminal Island. I did find an 1893 sketch map of the harbor which will do in a pinch for the earliest period. Favorite would be Sanborn Atlases.
Short of detailed maps what I could really use are locations for the Los Angeles and Salt Lake RR terminal and wharf, and the Carse Machine Works and Shipbuilding Company.
Then there is case law. There are lawsuits brought by John Webb claiming all of Terminal Island, Mrs. Louise M. Hamilton's series of lawsuits claiming possession of 26 acres in East San Pedro, another suit to use Valentine Script to purchase the land, then another staking a claim under the agricultural lands act. San Pedro sued and was counter-sued by Long Beach endlessly between 1905-1909.
The minutes of the Long Beach and San Pedro city council would be very useful.

See...not so much.