San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-05-12
FIRST DEEP WATER PORT.

on the coast of Texas seems solved
beyond all reasonable doubt at the
mouth of the BrazOs river, despite
the official verdict of the government
engineers that it could not be done.
Authentic information to the LIGET
is to the effect that the BrazOs River
Channel and Dock company, who are
constructing the jetty works there
with their own money, without any
government aid at all, now have
fourteen feet of water on the bar, and
from twenty-six to twenty-eight
feet between jetties as far
as built; that the bar is
rapidly deepening, and that from
twenty to twenty-four feet of water
over the bar is confidently looked
for in short time, the work already
done and result attained warranting
this expectation. The mouth of the
Brazos has now the deepest water
over the bar of any port in Texas,
made so by private capital after be-
Ing abandonded as hopeless by [. S.
Engineers. The company have the
territory to build mighty city up
on, tree from danger of overflow as
at Galveston, being on the main land,
and well supplied with pure artesian
water.
The mouth of the Brazos is only
forty-two miles from Galveston;
thirty-eight miles from the Santa Fe
at Alvin; eighteen miles from the
international at Chenango; sixty
miles from the Sunset at Rosen burg
Junction; only few miles farther to
the Arkansas Pass at Sealy; and less
than one hundred from the NJ, X. &
T. terminus at New Tim. Not only
so, the BrazOs company will soon
build a road to Houston, connecting
with the entire railway system Of the
state. What use then to spend
s., 200, 900 of the peoples money in the
a deep water port already at hand
within so short q distance and readily
accessible by rail? Before the first
million, OF which that St, POO, 900 may
only be the beginning, can he eX-
pended at Galveston, Brazos will
have several railways to her mouth,
and the plea of no railway communi-
cation cannot be accepted as valid
excuse for any member of congress
voting the appropriation for the Gal
weston experiment.
The outcome at BraZos is only q
Notification of the wisdom of the late
lamented Eads as contrasted with
that Of the government engineers,
and shows the larger results attain
able with private capital directed by
competent civil engineers, as against
government money expended by
West Point officers, called engineers,
who are too generally but disbursing
officers of the government. Now that
the success of this enterprise at the
mouth of the Brazos seems 50 fully
assured, let it be seen what Arkansas
Pass can do with private capital.
Let President Harrison sign the
Arkansas Pass bill and Western Texas,
by the expenditure of private capital,
will have a deep water port before
Galveston can fairly begin work.
fit be true, as the LIGHT is reli-
ably informed, that Galveston
people have expended $4,000
to lobby their bill as far as it
has gone, it seems self evident
that they have more confidence in
government aid than in their own
efforts to help themselves. Had Gal
weston felt sure of deep water, with
any outlay, she would long since have
put money into the hands of the gov
eminent engineers to supplement the
appropriations and hasten the COM
pletiOn of the work. This lobby
money expended on the bar would
have given the country much more
faith in the possibilities of deep water
at Galveston than the country now
has. 1t looks very much, as the
LIGHT said some days since, that the
expenditure of government money
and not deep water was the Interior
end.
Much credit is due Engineer GEORGE