San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-14
ROPES PASS.

Deep Water Assured-Progress or
the Work-Pushed Night
and Day.
Col. E. HI. Ropes, who is stopping
ct the Menger, was interviewed this
morning by LIGHT reporter. He
says that the deep water problem has
been actually, finally and fully solved
Deep water at Ropes Pass is an abso-
lutte certainty. Work is being pushed
night and day, the dredge Josephine
being at work twenty hours day.
No such vigor as this is exhibited at
any point on the Gulf coast. Other
points are taking 1t out In mere talking
or in waiting for the governments: but
the Port Ropes company is steadily OF
actual work and is spending its own
money and not waiting for anybody
or anybody's money. The banks of the
ship channel are firm and straight.
There is no quicksand and positively
no filling up behind the dredge, as
has been falsely reported. On the
contrary the walls of stiff clay are 60
hard to break through that the
dredge Is not progressing nearly
as rapidly as was hoped. This has
necessitated complete change in the
construction of the dredge which
has been finished, and Captain
Uric, the builder, who has been su-
perintending the changes, declares
that If no accident now occurs she
will be in the gulf in thirty days.
Colonel Ropes, however, thinks this
a sanguine estimate and places the
limit at ninety days. He will be sat-
isfied to see the great ship channel
opened by February. Testimonials
pour In from various quarters, show
ing that the short cut and direct
methods adopted by the Port Ropes
company are scientifically correct.
Negotiations are in progress for
building stone jetties out into the
gulf. The deep water lies nearer the
beach at Ropes Pass than at any pass
on the coast. 1t Is but $500 feet from
the beach to thirty feet of water in
the gulf off Ropes Pass. 1t is about
1000 feet at Arkansas Pass and about
five miles at Galveston to the same
depth of water in the gulf. Jetties
will therefore produce greater results
from the same outlay at Ropes Pass.
Corpus Christi bay is moreover the
deepest bay and the best tidal basin
Oh the whole coast, west of Mobile,
and the engineers estimate that 1t
will admit and discharge from six to
ten times more water than Arkansas
Pass at each tide and therefore pro-
duce a vastly greater depth.
"Deep water at Ropes Pass,n said
Col. Ropes will double the value of
every piece of property in San Anto-
Mo and will be worth millions of
money to all Southwest Texas. We
have solved the whole problem now,
and nothing remains but to work
away on present lines few months
longer. we have now shown how
deep water with its countless bless.
ings is to be had by and for the peo-
Pile of Texas, and If every stakeholder
in all of my companies including my
self should die before tonight, there
would be thousand men with mil
lions of money begging for the privi-
ledge of finishing our work, and reap
ing it's rich reward"
"Do you own much property to be-
affected by deep-water?"
Eyes, we own some S0,000 acres,
including something like 20 miles of
navlgable water frontage, and some
of this land would become worth
many thousands of dollars per acie;
so you see we have ample incentives,
and that is why we are not waiting
for the government or anybody else,
but are spending our own money, and
are working nights as well as. days to
get the work finished and reap the
rewards at the earliest possible day.