Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-30
DEEP WATER A FACT.
THE TOPEKA CONVENTION.
ERAZOS AT TOPEKA.
What Has Been Accomplished Since Then.
Brazos the Only Bar That Has Been Re-
movcd-BraZOs Deep Water Port.
San Antonio Light.

San Antonio Light
It was remarked two years aro at the
Topeka deepwa,er convention by one of the
great railway constructors of Texas, 1T is
deep water. Only get it, and | will
build to it as soon as you can
get the water" This statement
covered the whole ground. 1t
! voiced the sentiment of the great trans
| Mississippi region. Deep water on the
| gulf coast of Texas was the one thing
! sought. When found there would be no
with that point. Deep water in the shortest
| time and for the least money waS the key
note that was sounded in that convention
! The where and the how and by what
agency secured were of secondary import
! ance. Sabine Pass, Galveston and Arkansas
Pass were all pressing their claims before
that convention, and demand was made
| for the concentration of efforts and govern
| ment appropriations at one point, in Or
| der that work might be pushed to
| as speedy conclusion as possible,
! and the great Northwest saved the loug
| haul TO the seaboard. Not upon the floor OF
| that convention, but quietly at his rooms in
| the hotel, one of the incorporators OF the
| Brazos river channel and dock company
! was showing plans for the proposed
improvement of the mouth of the
| Era2os; work declared impractiCable by
! the United States government engineers.
and abandoned by the government upon
their Recommendation. Galveston was in
dOrsed as the point at which the appropria-
| tons of the government should be concen-
trated, and the convention united in urging
a congressional appropriation OF. at least,
5000 600 for the work. ArahSaS Pass
asked for and secured the Endorsement of
the. con rention for the privilege of improve
ment by private capital. Both rccoumen-
dations were adopted by congress. Gal
weston secured Z deep water harbor apprO-
priatioE of Sc, 200. Arkansas Pass
was permitted 10 so to work I'M
tramma.eI by tho government
ular appropriation OF government supple
mented by the local funds raised by inter-
ested lumbermen. who desired 4 more rapid
prosecution of the work than the govern
ment appropriations made possible. The
mouth of the BraZos was not so much as
thought OF. This was the condition of
things at the close of the Topeka conyen-
ton.
Two years have passed. Galveston bar
has practically no greater depth OF water
on it than ii had then, but the channel has
narrowed and the bar has gone seaward
Dredging operations have ceased at the
Sabine, and the water on the bar there has
Swallowed two feet. Nothing has been done
at Arkansas Pass, and its future is uncer-
tain. What has been done at the
MOUTH OF THE Err tZos.
Two jetties, SEQ feet apart, have been
constructed to the crest of the bar one
mile from the Old mouth Of the river, ter
minating in twenty-five feet Of water.
These jett.es are substantial constructions
OF brush mattresses, weighted with clay and
shell and secured by triple rows Of heavy
piling. Having settled beyond all reasonable
probability of farther subsistence, they are
now being capped with solid stone and con-
crete, and this work completed there is
every reason to conclude that the ietties
will stand the Entertainments OF sea and
the assaults OF StorI.is for general ions 20
come. The inflteration OF the river
mud as fast as the mattresses were
laid has prevented the work OF the
toredo and tho timber has not suffered from
the ravages OF this enemy to ali gulf coast
constructions. The crest of the bar is
scarcely a ship length across, and the chan
mel inside quickly deepens to twenty feet.
The present depth of water on the bar at
low tide is given by the engineers upon the
work at about seventeen feet. but no sound |
Jugs taken by outside parties during the
past ten days, and there have been
score of them, report less thar IS feet and
in some instances 90 feet. The latter depth |
was reported by Galveston parties, who |
cannot be accused of undue partiaity to |
this location. The depth of channel deep |
ems from the bar until Just within the old |
mouth Of the river, where a depth of AZ |
feet is found. 1t is confidently ex- |
pected that the depth of water on
the bar will be increaeed to 20 |
feet by the close of this year, and once over |
the bar vessels drawing that depth of |
water can sail or steam up the river for sew |
erai miles and safely make their docks at |
Velasco, four miles up the river,
where all overflow by coast storms is i'm |
possible.
Jprl,o,, ,,-,,,- 1900, -,or,-,.aoas -. A.. r..
ties there was five feet of water on the I
bar. To-day a steamer drawing eighteen |
feet can come over the bar and |
make her landing at Velasco without the |
least detention. Passing up the river ons |
sees huge piles of broken stone for con-
crete work piled up at intervals along the
bank. These stones were discharged |
from vessels drawing over sixteen
feet OF water, the depth of channel inshore
permitting the discharge of cargo as readily |
as though lying alongside of dock All the
river needs is the construction of docks |
anywhere for six miles up stream to ac-
contmodate such commerce as Texas has
never dreamed of
There is no more question Of the facts
stated above concerning deep water opera
tons here than of any other demonstrated
fact. Day after day the Light representa-
tive, who has visited this point for the sole
purpose of ascertaining the actual con-
ltlO1 VI tnlnSS. mas passed up and
down the river, made soundings himself
and conversed with scores of others who
have made them, sesn the vessels coming |
and going, both steam and sailing craft,
and he speaks that he does know and testi-
fieS that he has seen. Since the pushing sea-
ward of the iettieS was discontinued the |
bar has not advanced seaward 40 atom,
and from twenty feet inside to twenty feet
outside is so short n distance, and the crest |
of the bar is so certainly wearing away, that
under present conditions there is not a rea-
sonable doubt that there will be twenty
feet of water on the bar by the close of the
year. Should 4 sudden rise occur in the |
liver and current of seven miles set
through the ietties, as it has done on more
than one occasion, the depth of twenty feet
might be realized in almost as many hours |
To the question-Is there deep water
now at the mouth of the Brazos' The an
aver is: There are now seventeen feet of |
water on the Der at low tide; Z reasonable
of twenty feet in less than six /
months by the natural action OF the current; i
and . possibility OF twenty feet at any |
,!Ule there II a great rise in the river.
As the present increase from Ave TO sav
l1.tean feet has been secured without drete-
-1g. there never having been dreiEe 90
he work, il Is reasonable to conclude TIA; 1
he present depth will be maintained and |
no graa1ar depth reached IN the same man
=sr. yiz., by the natural action Of the river