New Orleans daily crescent., 1860-07-10
ew Orleans 9ais Cresteu 0assday zarai snly To- 1860

Mr.. John V. Singer, brother of the famous Sewing
Machine man. John v Singer is sixty-nine years
old, small in stature, long and muscular, with will
like mule and an energy like beaver. He settled
there in ls49, after the Mexican war; and although
rough sailor, at once proceeded to shingle-mak-
ing, business he perhaps knew as much about as
you DO. The island projects into the Gulf consider
ably, and is therefore so situated that consider
able volume Of the Gulf stream constantly rushes
against it, throwing up ever more whatever ltoats
upon the surface of that mysterious current. OF
these waits, large number Of cypress logs from
the Mississippi composed part, and of these
Singer coined his first money by making one
hundred thousand shingles,
Mr.. Singer has since bought a large Mexican
grant, which covers almost the entire island He
has also bought up island script warrants under
the Texas laws, and located them upon portion
of the adjoining island Brazos Santiago. This gives
him almost the entire command of the harbor of
Brazos Santiago, the only port on the coast from
Aransas Bay to Tampico, a distance Of five hundred
miles, into which vessels drawing eight and more
feet of water can enter. Through this harbor all
the importations of the Rio Grande valley must
pass, and it is not eXaggeration to say that in
ten years that trade will amount to $l00,000,000
annually. .~
The peculiar formation of the island renders it
| most desirable for farming purposes, and also for
| stock grazing. 1t never requires rain, the water
being but one two feet below the surface to IT,
rigate the roots while the constant dews refresh
| the growth above ground. Mr.. Singer has been
successful in raising Brazil cotton for four years
| from the same stalk, and the product he sold in
Galveston for Is cents per pound. He has also
grown Sea Island cotton very successfully, and the
| product was sold in Galveston for so cents per
4 pound. Sugar cane has matured two inches thick,
twenty mine feetlong, with thirty six joints
/ Onions and sweet potatoes grow in the greatest
abundance. From very small plat, planted by
| lad on the island, two hundred bushels Of large
yellow onions were gathered, which were sold at
| two dollars per bushel on the ground.
| Another source of wealth to be found in the
\ island is at the termination of Laguna Madre,
where coral reef interrupts the waves in
breaking over the beach. At this point, in
| high wind, the breakers roll over the coral reefs
and spread over a wide extent Of low land.
As the winds go down and as the waves recede,
large quantities of this saline food remain upon the
low lands, and being evaporated afterwards by the
sun, leave field of pure and crystal salt, from an
inch to five feet in thickness and covering an area
| Of ground fer miles and miles in extent An in
definite number Of bushels could be gathered in
that salt vat every week. Probably fifty or sixty
ships could be loaded today.
Mr.. Singer has made application to the Legis-
lature Of Texas for charter to build canal from
Brazos Santiago to the Rio Grande river, which
| will be only seven miles along natural channel
at present almost sufficiently deep for purposes of
| navigation ard when that work is done, as it will
be in one or two years, the trade Of this section
| l. oh rfe haS