Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-28
A GREAT UNDERTAKING.
THE HISTORY OF THE WORK AT
THE BRAZOS' MOUTH.
gineers-The Work Done-Beautiful,
Healthful, Pleasant velasco.
VELAsco. TEX, Sept. q, 1891.

Every reader remembers more or less OF
| the great work done by Capt Eads at the
| mouth of the Mississippi river. 1t was
unique in every important feature. 1t was
done by private capital. If it proved sue
cess, the government was to buy it; If it
proved failure, the undertakers would
lose the millions of dollars which must be
| spent. Capt. Eads, a civil engineer, single
handed, said; eff complete the work on
this plan it will be a success" The gov
| eminent engineers said: ''If Capt. Eads
carries out his plan it will be failure y
Capt. Eads called it the practical solving OF
difficult, though perfectly feasible, under
taking. the government engineers said it
was simply an experiment, which, scien-
tifically considered, exhibited no possible
promise of success.
The work was done. Four is no more
certainly the result Of adding two and two
together than was deep water the result of
Capt. Eads' work The deepening OF one
of the mouths of the father of waters is
now pointed to with pride by every Ameri-
can, and is known by all the world as one
of the greatest accomplishments of modern
times.
The whole territory of the trans-Missis-
sippi has been crying for deep water on the
Texas coast for years. Nineteen years ago
congress lnade the first appropriation for
the work of deepening the entrance to Gal
weston bay. Since then s., 210,000 has been
Appropriated and spent under the direction
of the &yernment's engineers. They had
twelve Net of water when they COM
menced tNwork, and now the engineers in
charge repd that they have Mrteen feet
and three in9Ses: One foot IN three inches inches
teen years of tx and 10000 of the
During the last tkeyee months 81, 100, 600
more has been appIJ kriated, which is now
being spent as tK Their appropriations
were spent. The nost% IMMINENT civil engi-
neers state thaydeep wAer at Galveston,
by the propose8 plan, is impossible; The II
200, OOO to be I Jed at GalvestoHAbut the ap
preparation VI S not made.
The Brazo5 river is the only river empty
ing INTO the Gulf of Mexico westof the
Mississippi Which plunges boldly into the
gulf without bay OF delta.
The Jesuit priests who settled the terri
tory now known as Texas, called the river
Brazo de Dios-the Arm of God. The COM
mercial hope of this great country they
then believed depended on the Brazos river.
Recent events prove that now and forever
the Brazos river will be the "Arm of GCd,"
on which must depend for commercial pros
perity the whole territory between the
Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains.
For years congress has been spending
money at Velasco trying to get deep water.
Two years ago, the government engineers
officially reported that at the mouth of the
Brasos it was impracticable, and advised
that no more appropriations be made for
that place. There was then four and a half
feet of water on the bar.
The BrazOS river channel and dock COM
pany, composed of Texas, Kansas and HI
inois capitalists, employed Mr.. e. l.. Cor
thell of Chicago, widely known by his con-
nection with the work 1T the mouth of the
Mississippi. to examine the mouth of the
Brazos river, and if he found it feasible to
report plan by which it could be made
deep water port. He reported it was emf
nently practicable; and upon the plan pro-
posed by him. with Mr.. Wisner directing
engineer, the work was commenced. Two
years have passed, and Sl.500,0O0 of the
company's money has been spent. To-day
there is water seventeen and half feet
deep in the shalloweSt place on the bar.
Two years. and one and half million of
private money, by direction of civil en-
gineers, have deepened the water at Velasco
thirteen feet. The scour of the river is
adding to this depth all the time. and with
in few months the jettles will be entirely
completed and twenty feet, the full depth
contemplated, will grace the harbor OF We
lasco, Tex, and for all time attract the
commerce of the world.
Having succeeded in this the Brazos
River channel and dock company have COM
menced another great undertaking. They
are building city. Velasco was laid out
on the high bank of the Brazos river, three
miles from the jetties, on July l, 1891. Al
ready it is a port of entry, and has cleared
numbers of larger ships than ever entered
the port of Galveston. The secretary of the
treasury OF the United States on July {,
1891, wrote the collector of customs at Gal
weston as follows: lowing to the insult
ficiency of water on your bar, vessels of
certain draught, although foreign, may go
to Velasco to unload"
The company are constructing wharves, a
splendid hotel, grading streets and boule-
wards. and building railroad to connec-
ton with all the great railroad systems of
the state. They have never offered to sell a
lot or an acre of land till they got deep wa
ter; but since the 18th day OF July sales OF
lots have run from $4,000 to S15O.000 a
week. In November, if the improvements
under construction can be completed, they
will have an auction sale, and every one is
invited to came to Velasco and buy, and
make money and home. 1t is beautiful,
healthful and pleasant, and, not least of eli,
it is place where you can be certain OF get
ting the pecuniary benefits of the rapid
growth of great city. You must expect,
however, only vigorous development with
out booming. o. w. CRAWFORD.