The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-09-23
GALVESTON.

trade Is not only plfdOhhDle Dul uselui
when restrained within the bounds Of
truthful representation, Even envy
may be pardoned, especially 10 DIES
ieated rival But mock aiIoctation Of
sympathy for the casual Affections Of our
neighbors, used rs means Of more Of.
lectually advertising and exaggerating
the ills attributed them, is simply dis.
gushing to every honorable man, 1t is
human nature, when perverted, to gloat
over the misfortunes Of 9th ers, even Of
friends, But when the expression OF
such I'm worthy feeling tends TO ones
own injury, as well as those maligned,
selfinterest, if not selfrespect and n
love for truth, should restrain It's undue
expression,
We respectfully and kindly com
mend these general remarks to our
brethren of the press, especially to those
of Houston, and refer to articles in the
Aqe of the 18th, 10Th, and Goth, and in
the Telegram Of the 10th, to point our
meaning.
"1'is an i'll bird that fouls its own
nest" Galveston is the nest Of 1eroS,
full of golden eggs, and destined to have
many more Of them. Shall we, sodeep,
" Interested in this our only port, de.
cry its value, and fan the ignorant APP
prehensions Of its safety so prevalent
abroad and ut homer
We speak adviscdly when we say zig
norant apprehensions y for it is ignor-
ance, sheer ignorance, OF the real sur
roundings of the fair Island City,
that can induce any fair mind to heed
tho ominous out,givings of dan.
ger of submorson. The Age
recalls the sad fate of Last Island"
and THEORETICALLY or ignorantly pres
tends to fear n like fate for Galveston
island. Now, let us say, in u word,
that Galveston is less liable to be deep,
ly flooded than Houston, or Dallas, or
Columbus, or Columbia, or any other
city near the level of great river.
Tho reason is Obvious. The island be-
ing narrow and presenting no ridges to
impede the flow Of water, rapidly sheds
from its surface all rain water, or salt
water driven upon it by the winds, In
fifty hours, the other day, nine inches
of rain fell, besides the spray and
waves blown upon it by the storm Of
sixty to sixty>hve miles per hour
and yet we find that in those streets
that have been brought up to the es-
tablished grade, the cutters carried all
the water as it fell, and the sidewalks
were not incommodcd
Now us to the warning of Last Island.
That is, or was, mud bank, from the
silt OF the Mississippi, deposited in
the eddy caused by the meeting of that
river with the inshorc current in the
gulf, by which its whole body of water,
drift and silt, is brought westward and
mostly dropped near the west pass and
on the edge OF the deep blue water of
the gulf, which sweeps around west
ward to the southern coast of Texas,
leaving broad and shallow plateau
between ii and the shores of Louisiana
and Texas plateau no where over
fifty feet deep, averaging not over TWEEN
ty feet, and marked ut low water on the
verge of the deep gulf stream some six
ty or seventy miles of the mouth of the
Sabine where lighthouse is very much
needed and was begun before the war.
Last Island then was the light silt of
the river thrown up by storm>waves
u few feet above low tide, on the
edge Of bench forming the shore of a
mighty river in the sea-" facing the
shore of Yucatan, eight hundred miles
away, without shoal or a stick to
break the accumulated force of the
waves careering over this wide and deep
sea.
Now, contrast this with Galveston
island, which is based on hard blue
clay about eighteen feet below low tide,
and made up above that of sand, indur.
ated clay, conglomorate rock, in strata
and soil, sod and roots of trees and it
stands sixty miles from the edge of the
deep water, and is continually growing
in size and hight. No wave that can be
generated in the Atlantic or the Carib
bean sea can reach it through the mars
row channels on either side of Cuba,
and none formed in the gulf, by wind
or earthquake, can retain any formulas
Bile hight across the shallow flats for
sixty miles. Away, then, with the idle
fancy that sometime tidal wave will
sweep this lirm.anchored isle There
she is, and there she will remain, as
long as the state of Texas shall remain
above the floods of old ocean
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