The Yacht Harbor was one of the first things built, and for a practical reason: the exposition needed somewhere to land lumber. Work began in December 1912. By April 1913 it was far enough along for heavy lumber orders to be delivered at its wharves, and rock for the roads came in through its bunkers. Nearly 81 million board feet of Douglas fir came over the exposition's docks by a fleet of 30 steam schooners.
In the finished fair it formed the western end of the Marina promenade; the road "broke at the Yacht Harbor," and travelers had to turn back to the Esplanade. On a mole projecting east from its northwest corner, dressed up as a miniature "Moro Castle," stood the Scintillator. Todd also mentions the harbor mole's "make-believe Pharos." Across the basin was the fireworks pier, where a Southern Pacific locomotive stood with its wheels spinning clear of the rails to make steam for the searchlights to paint.
The harbor was busy all season. The Crowley Launch and Tugboat Company ran bay trips from its wharf, including visits to the Oregon and the other warships offshore, and carried over 150,000 people. From the west side the Loughead hydro-aeroplane took passengers on ten-minute flights over the Golden Gate for $10. The war shrank the international regatta, but the Royal Danish Yacht Club sent King Christian X's Nordug IV, and Director John Barneson had the six-meter Lady Betty built in 30 days to race her, winning one race of three.
The Yacht Harbor, with the Scintillator pier as a breakwater, is a permanent addition to the water-front facilities at this point.
Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. 5, ch. XXXVIII (1921)
